Genie Service

[igrsod]

Can you just buy the lightning lane with out Genie? I will pop in early, ride a few rides, pay for a headliner or two and then go hang at the pool. I am not paying $15 per day to rider star tours or TSMM.

Yes you can

 

[igrsod]

I don't understand why anyone would pay a premium for Space Mountain.... that one befuddles me.
I understand the new big rides being an upcharge (don't like it, but I understand the concept), but to pay for a 1970s ride that hurts your entire body.?????

 

[AdamsMum]

I'm happy with $15 day. I don't expect to be given a DVC discount - don't use it if you don't want to. Disney is a business - they want to be here another 50 years ! Disney has CMs that deserve get paid and if this improves life for all I say go for it, 2020 was a hard year for all.
Even as former CM I will never get over the things people feel they "should be entitled to" at WDW.

$15 per day times a family of 4 who have already paid in the range $3,000 for theme park tickets, is not just $15/day.

The things we feel "entitled" to at WDW are the reason we chose WDW over Six Flags, Universal, Canada's Wonderland...name your theme park. It was a different kind of theme park experience, more expensive, but much more enjoyable.

Disney CMs do indeed deserve to be paid a living wage. But if you think this is being done to pay the average CM, you are being misled. The CMs that are expecting to be paid more are the upper echelon whose bonuses will be restored to their pre pandemic glory.

If WDW becomes keeps going down this road, there will be nothing to distinguish the Disney experience.

 

[artesian]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong in my logic please. We as a fam have always been captain commando rope droppers. This past trip a few weeks ago was no different. We always try to bang 1 or 2 larger e ticket rides then start back to the tier 2's. Now with this genie thing in place it would appear to me that my strat would be a little harder during peak times of year. So we as a fam have collectively agreed that mid summer trips are out and will need to find times when the parks just arent as packed. ( I know this is getting harder to find but mine are grown now so we are almost at the point we can go any time) So my feeling is and this is where I need to know if I'm wrong, if I do start going low capacity park days and stick with an early rope drop method do I really need to bother with any part of Genie at all? Although park reservations still somewhat force me to pick what park I have to go to I can still somewhat freely move within one without worrying about some stupid app suggesting where I need to be. I hate micro management at work and refuse to deal with it on vacation and Genie makes me feel like Dis is trying to control everything on me.

 

[Yinn]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong in my logic please. We as a fam have always been captain commando rope droppers. This past trip a few weeks ago was no different. We always try to bang 1 or 2 larger e ticket rides then start back to the tier 2's. Now with this genie thing in place it would appear to me that my strat would be a little harder during peak times of year. So we as a fam have collectively agreed that mid summer trips are out and will need to find times when the parks just arent as packed. ( I know this is getting harder to find but mine are grown now so we are almost at the point we can go any time) So my feeling is and this is where I need to know if I'm wrong, if I do start going low capacity park days and stick with an early rope drop method do I really need to bother with any part of Genie at all? Although park reservations still somewhat force me to pick what park I have to go to I can still somewhat freely move within one without worrying about some stupid app suggesting where I need to be. I hate micro management at work and refuse to deal with it on vacation and Genie makes me feel like Dis is trying to control everything on me.

Do you need to? No. Does it still help? Yes.

The time of year to travel will make a tremendous different. If you're traveling during hurricane season while school is still in session for young ones through college, the park will be very manageable and no, you won't need Genie.

I've gone during these times and did use fast pass, but didn't refresh them. If you combine a rope drop strategy, leave mid-day and come back for a late night wrap up; you'll get the majority of your rides in during a low attendance period.

 

[Sandisw]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong in my logic please. We as a fam have always been captain commando rope droppers. This past trip a few weeks ago was no different. We always try to bang 1 or 2 larger e ticket rides then start back to the tier 2's. Now with this genie thing in place it would appear to me that my strat would be a little harder during peak times of year. So we as a fam have collectively agreed that mid summer trips are out and will need to find times when the parks just arent as packed. ( I know this is getting harder to find but mine are grown now so we are almost at the point we can go any time) So my feeling is and this is where I need to know if I'm wrong, if I do start going low capacity park days and stick with an early rope drop method do I really need to bother with any part of Genie at all? Although park reservations still somewhat force me to pick what park I have to go to I can still somewhat freely move within one without worrying about some stupid app suggesting where I need to be. I hate micro management at work and refuse to deal with it on vacation and Genie makes me feel like Dis is trying to control everything on me.

I don’t think it has to change all that much. You can still rope drop the big ones and then begin the rest of your plan using GP+ as you begin the other rides.

For all we know, the paid option for those LL rides won’t start for an hour into opening so the impact may not be too bad at rope drop?

I think the difference is really for those who had strategic use of FP+ and spaced out the 3 because they were morning to night park goers. But if it works like it should then there will be people spread all over to help cut down on standby at many rides.

I guess I just don’t see this as all that different against those who constantly did the refresh aspect, other than it’s paid and you don’t have to be scheduled so much in advance.

I let a lot of FPs expire and go unused when we decided to change plans once there. At least now everyone gets one at a time and I think more options wlll last longer as you can’t schedule the times.

It’s hard to know for sure until it’s in place and we have real info to compare it in practice.

 

[ammo]

So the Disney base ticket is losing a valuable feature, the FP+ system. I guess that means Disney will be dropping the base price for all their tickets.

Hahahahaha! Sometimes I say the most ridiculous things.

 

[AdamsMum]

Mickey shaking a guest upside down to empty his pockets

I've had that image in my head for 35 years since we first went to Disney as a couple. Except in my head, it was happening before you leave the park on your last day. No money left? Okay, you can go now.

It's always been expensive, but I agree the experiences now being charged for were baked into the price. It was an illusion of affordability, but I could accept that it was all paid for before I left for vacation. No big cc bill on return. I'm hoping for better than I'm expecting, I'll find out in December.

 

[Boopuff]

I still remember back when legacy FP came into being. I remember standing in a line waiting for a machine and watching the return time increase, and watching large tour groups send one person with a stack of cards hog a single machine. Then FP+ came along and 'sigh' had to plan FP 60 days out (but I liked it much better) now I'll have to do a wait and see approach to the Genie. I'm guessing people will either love/hate it. Personally, I can live without the big tier 1 rides (not a coaster fan) I've yet to try ROTR but if the lottery stays, I"m good. Still holding out hope for onsite stays getting something!

 

[zavandor]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong in my logic please. We as a fam have always been captain commando rope droppers. This past trip a few weeks ago was no different. We always try to bang 1 or 2 larger e ticket rides then start back to the tier 2's. Now with this genie thing in place it would appear to me that my strat would be a little harder during peak times of year. So we as a fam have collectively agreed that mid summer trips are out and will need to find times when the parks just arent as packed. ( I know this is getting harder to find but mine are grown now so we are almost at the point we can go any time) So my feeling is and this is where I need to know if I'm wrong, if I do start going low capacity park days and stick with an early rope drop method do I really need to bother with any part of Genie at all? Although park reservations still somewhat force me to pick what park I have to go to I can still somewhat freely move within one without worrying about some stupid app suggesting where I need to be. I hate micro management at work and refuse to deal with it on vacation and Genie makes me feel like Dis is trying to control everything on me.

We don't really know what the impact will be. I think that the 30 minutes headstart that onsite resorts get can be used to know out at least one headliner and then move to 2nd tier attraction before offsite guests have a chance to enter. This might give the edge against crowds.
However all depends on adoption rate of the paid option for 2nd tier attractions. If it's high and Disney dedicate a lot of capacity to them (likely, since they're paying the extra), after the first hour or two everything might have prohibitive lines without genie+

 

[WilsonFlyer]

All you people excited about the possibilities of early rope-drop tickle me. I'm glad you're so excited there may be a momentary "out," but you're just dismissing the real issue and giving them a pass. Stop doing that. We don't do ropedrop anymore. I'm not in my 20s anymore. I don't want to get up at the crackass of dawn on vacation anymore. I beat the sun up every morning to make a living. I don't want to do it on vacation. And I am not alone. I'd bet money on it.

Stop. Giving. Them. A. Pass.

 

[Yinn]

I still remember back when legacy FP came into being. I remember standing in a line waiting for a machine and watching the return time increase, and watching large tour groups send one person with a stack of cards hog a single machine. Then FP+ came along and 'sigh' had to plan FP 60 days out (but I liked it much better) now I'll have to do a wait and see approach to the Genie. I'm guessing people will either love/hate it. Personally, I can live without the big tier 1 rides (not a coaster fan) I've yet to try ROTR but if the lottery stays, I"m good. Still holding out hope for onsite stays getting something!

I remember the good ol days. Running to all of the machines at rope drop. Because you were eligible to grab another FP once you were in your current FP window. Well at open, every FP machine was in the current window. So we ran through the park and did nothing but collect FP for the first 30 minutes or so after rope drop. It was kind of a broken system then..

 

[Chuck S]

In a way, this reminds me of the old Ticket Books, only without any "E" tickets in the book. I remember back when Disneyland was just beginning to phase out ticket books, and introduced an All Day Passport for Magic Kingdom Club members for $11. The general public still had to buy the ticket books. And you had to pin your all day passport to you clothes because every attraction needed to see it.

 

[AlanBradley]

Not a popular opinion it would seem, but this new system sounds great to me!

Guest willing to spend more deserve to get more.

If $15 a day is a tipping point for you - Disney is likely happy to see you leave as you clearly are not a high spending visitor. There is already too many people in the parks and if this will help filter out people who were only purchasing tickets and not food and merch this is going to be a win for Disney.

 

[Chuck S]

Not a popular opinion it would seem, but this new system sounds great to me!

Guest willing to spend more deserve to get more.

If $15 a day is a tipping point for you - Disney is likely happy to see you leave as you clearly are not a high spending visitor. There is already too many people in the parks and if this will help filter out people who were only purchasing tickets and not food and merch this is going to be a win for Disney.

I have a group of 11 going in November for 6 days, $15 per person per day isn't chump change for a large group. $990. For one or two people, OK, but even some families of four it could be part of a tipping point, considering no free airport transportation next year, not so much for DVC. But for cash guests, it could be the difference between on site or offsite, which may leave Disney wanting to fill hotel rooms after the 50th anniversary celebration is over.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

Not a popular opinion it would seem, but this new system sounds great to me!

Guest willing to spend more deserve to get more.

If $15 a day is a tipping point for you - Disney is likely happy to see you leave as you clearly are not a high spending visitor. There is already too many people in the parks and if this will help filter out people who were only purchasing tickets and not food and merch this is going to be a win for Disney.

If you are a single person, yes, this might not be as big of a deal.

We are a family of 4, but I believe it will be a $1000 up charge for every trip we take. We usually go for 10 days so that's $600 for just the regular rides and then they are stating that E tickets are $8-24 per person per ride. (Btw, that range is CRAZY.) So let's say we just pick 4 of the biggest E rides...that is an additional $400.

That's a LOT of cash for something that used to be FREE. And we aren't even getting into the fact that in the past you could repeat many of the E rides for free. And, goodness, I feel for people with larger families.

 

[AlanBradley]

I have a group of 11 going in November for 6 days, $15 per person per day isn't chump change for a large group. $990. For one or two people, OK, but even some families of four it could be part of a tipping point, considering no free airport transportation next year, not so much for DVC, but for cash guests, it could be the difference between on site or offsite, which may leave Disney wanting to fill hotel rooms after the 50 anniversary celebration is over.

990 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things - especially if it means you will have more time to enjoy your time with family. It's the equivilent of adding an additional day at WDW - you add a day to get MORE time with family - which is exactly what this does.

 

[Chuck S]

990 isn't that much in the grand scheme of things - especially if it means you will have more time to enjoy your time with family. It's the equivilent of adding an additional day at WDW - you add a day to get MORE time with family - which is exactly what this does.

When you consider that $990 is more than most of my tenants pay in monthly rent, I think they'd consider it a big deal.

 

[AlanBradley]

When you consider that $990 is more than most of my tenants pay in monthly rent, I think they'd consider it a big deal.

But as I mentioned - I don't think Disney wants your tenants. They want the Landlord.

 

[jennypenny]

I can pay whatever Disney charges if I want to, but now there's no amount of money I can pay (beyond booking a VIP tour) that lets me book experiences ahead of time anymore. That's a true loss, and affects several different types of park-goers.