Genie+ Reimagined

[TinkerPan]

I’ve been thinking how Genie+ could be improved. Here are the major complaints I hear expressed repeatedly about Genie+.

• Have to get up by 7:00 am every morning to make a selection.
• Stress to try to quickly get the most popular ride.
• Don’t know what time you’ll get.
• Time assigned might not be convenient or worse may conflict with ADR.
• Good rides run out of availability fast.
• No re-rides.
• Have to generally wait 2 hours until next availability selection window.
• Tend to do a lot of crisscrossing the park; lots more walking.
• Hard to do a plan.
• Not flexible.
• Need to do a lot of phone monitoring and refreshing.
• Difficulty understanding how it works.

So, here is my plan for Genie+ Reimagined (Genie+R):

1. You make your first selection once you’ve entered the park.
2. Return time is equivalent to the Stand-by wait time.
3. You may enter ride after return time, but the Genie+R-Pass is open-ended, don’t have to use within an hour.
4. You can only hold one pass at a time. You must use or cancel to get another.
5. You can use it to re-ride, but must get a new time.

That’s it. Pretty simple.

Here are what I think are the advantages:

• No need to get up by 7:00 am every morning to do a first selection. No need to rush to the park to make a given time. The Reimagined pass will work whenever you arrive.
• More spontaneous.
• Don’t have to zig-zag all over the park. Less walking.
• Because there is a built-in wait time, it will encourage guests to use lesser attractions, view a show etc., thus spreading folks out within the park.
• As for Disney, it means more folks have time to spend money on food and shopping.
• No more conflicts with ADR or other plans.
• Can use with ease when park hopping.
• Easier to do a touring plan, and more flexible.
• Less resentment of those “cutting” the line, as they will have virtually waited.
• It’s simple, easy to understand and implement.
• Self-regulating. The wait times for Stand-by drive the return times for the Genie+ R pass.
• Should reduce guests need to go to Guest Services over time conflicts, etc.

So folks what do you think? Would this work? Would it be preferable to the current Genie+?

 

[sheilafri]

You have some interesting ideas that might be worth trying.

I don’t know about not restricting the return time at all. Could throw off calculations if too many people show up for a ride at a popular time. Also, can Disney monetize this?

 

[TinkerPan]

You have some interesting ideas that might be worth trying.

I don’t know about not restricting the return time at all. Could throw off calculations if too many people show up for a ride at a popular time. Also, can Disney monetize this?

Sure, Disney can still charge for this just like they do for Genie+. So, you would still buy the Genie+ Reimagined (or whatever they want to call it.) They could also still keep the $LL for the most popular rides like they do now.

As for restricting the return time that's certainly a possibility, but I'm not sure whether or not it would be needed. Have to think that one through a bit more. Re-rides are also something I'm not certain about. They could start out not allowing, and then add it later.

 

[lockets]

Remind me what’s the promise of G+ now from Disney? Is it 3-5 rides? How about on-site pick 3 scheduled rides by midnight the day prior. Off site pick 3 scheduled rides a half hour prior to park opening the day of. At 1 PM both groups allowed to pick 2 more rides. If people want more than 5 rides they opt to pay for the ILL rides. Keep ILL to 2 major rides at each park so Disney still gets its money and people have the chance to get 7 rides total under their belt using both the systems.

Just brainstorming here. Something like that…

 

[Meglen]

Remind me what’s the promise of G+ now from Disney? Is it 3-5 rides? How about on-site pick 3 scheduled rides by midnight the day prior. Off site pick 3 scheduled rides a half hour prior to park opening the day of. At 1 PM both groups allowed to pick 2 more rides. If people want more than 5 rides they opt to pay for the ILL rides. Keep ILL to 2 major rides at each park so Disney still gets its money and people have the chance to get 7 rides total under their belt using both the systems.

Just brainstorming here. Something like that…

right now they say 2-3 rides

 

[Genie+]

Pretty sure I’d prefer this Genie+ system over the one now. Sounds similar to DAS with the return times. I think it’s OK to leave the back end of a return time open since there’s no stacking.

I was wondering what could improve Genie+ too and thought about a points system where guests would get an amount of points to start and rides would have different point values. But that would be waaayyyy too complicated. Your idea sounds much better!

 

[Jrb1979]

The biggest way to fix Genie+ is to limit how many people buy it. Too many people right now are buying with not enough capacity for it to work good.

 

[Smugpugmug]

The biggest way to fix Genie+ is to limit how many people buy it. Too many people right now are buying with not enough capacity for it to work good.

Agreed 100%. They need to cap sales like Universal does with Express. They could also make it more expensive like Express so inherently less people buy it but with WDW I feel like people would still buy Genie+ anyway if it was $100 per person per day.

 

[PaladinButters]

I would prefer current G+ to this. Can't select anything until you're at the park takes away the one tiny amount of a game plan going in we currently have and leads to everyone running at open *while* they have their phones in front of their faces with is just another layer of danger we've had to deal with at DLR.
Removing the time expirations to let people come back whenever takes away the whole point of having times to make sure that the paid line doesn't get longer than the standby line when everybody tires to return at once.

 

[TinkerPan]

The biggest way to fix Genie+ is to limit how many people buy it. Too many people right now are buying with not enough capacity for it to work good.

I am not sure under my suggested scenario it matters how many buy it. It should be self regulating. If a lot of folks buy it and select a popular ride causing the Stand-by line to lengthen than the return times are automatically adjusted for those later choosing to ride.

 

[Jrb1979]

I am not sure under my suggested scenario it matters how many buy it. It should be self regulating. If a lot of folks buy it and select a popular ride causing the Stand-by line to lengthen than the return times are automatically adjusted for those later choosing to ride.

IMO that just makes it more complicated then it needs to be. The simplest solution is make it similar to Express pass.

 

[TinkerPan]

IMO that just makes it more complicated then it needs to be. The simplest solution is make it similar to Express pass.

Yes, Express pass could be a simple solution. The problem with it as an alternative is that it would be more expensive - a lot more. Having a limit on the number of Express passes and making it very expensive would assure a wonderful experience for those few who could pay. But, what about everyone else? So, while it is a solution for some, its not a solution most guests would benefit from, just an elite few. I am looking to improve the current Genie+ system for most everyone.

 

[Jrb1979]

Yes, Express pass could be a simple solution. The problem with it as an alternative is that it would be more expensive - a lot more. Having a limit on the number of Express passes and making it very expensive would assure a wonderful experience for those few who could pay. But, what about everyone else? So, while it is a solution for some, its not a solution most guests would benefit from, just an elite few. I am looking to improve the current Genie+ system for most everyone.

That's the thing Skip the line systems don't work if everyone has it. It's why every other park limits it.

 

[Genie+]

The problem with an express pass type system is very high cost along and very low availability cap that will essentially lock out what… 85% of guests or more to make it work similar to UO. More people than that want to buy something similar to FP where they can skip a few lines. It wouldn’t be good for business because if the cap locks people out, many will postpone or cancel their trip. I’d guess there are plenty of people who would balk at having no option but to stand on every line because it’s already been sold out for months. The balance is somewhere between very expensive low cap and 50-70% genie usage with high disappointment rates.

Really $15 seems reasonable for squeezing one hard ride and two medium rides, anything beyond that is icing. Most people are able to do that.

 

[lockets]

right now they say 2-3 rides

Oh.

 

[Disneychick13]

My suggestion? Scrap the whole thing. It’s really that bad. I mean going back to FastPass+ and monetizing it would be far superior. That had major flaws but really the system now is so bad. Ok but short of that, here’s what I would do:

You pay for 3 genie+/FastPass/whatever you want to call it a day. You cannot get more/you cannot pay for more. They will be limited per attraction so choose wisely! They will be scheduled per day but not per time/ anytime that day you can use it for the attractions you have chosen. No more being tethered to your phone! There would be modifications allowed but that of course would be based on availability. Under this system there will be no advantage to staying onsite/AP/DVC, etc.

My only other suggestion would be an express pass like Universal has. Free to club level guests only. Paid but obviously at a high cost to anyone else. Price should be less than you would pay for a VIP tour. And obviously very limited. AP and Dvc discounts available.

 

[TinkerPan]

I suspect that Disney's recent announcement that they won't be selling Genie+ in advance means that some major change for Genie+ is in the works. Some have speculated its related to price. That may be a component. but I doubt that's driving this decision Not allowing advance sales of Genie+ is leaving money on the table. I think there are other major changes coming that are driving this decision. They are shielding themselves from complaints if folks who buy Genie+ now don't like the future changes.

 

[Jrb1979]

I suspect that Disney's recent announcement that they won't be selling Genie+ in advance means that some major change for Genie+ is in the works. Some have speculated its related to price. That may be a component. but I doubt that's driving this decision Not allowing advance sales of Genie+ is leaving money on the table. I think there are other major changes coming that are driving this decision. They are shielding themselves from complaints if folks who buy Genie+ now don't like the future changes.

They are looking at different things for Genie+. The biggest reason for the changes is they weren't expecting as many people to buy it. Due to more people buying it then expected it's causing a lot of the problems. Capping sales is a step in the right direction. I don't see them going back to the preplanning days again.