Goodbye, Maxpass. Hello, Disney Genie.

[DLgal]

LOL!! Don't get me started.... I was just picturing Genie pop up chat on Microsoft Teams "hey there friend! would you like to go on Rise for $20 at 8pm?, or $100 right now!"

annnnnndddd someone from Disney corp just read my reply and is working on that as we speak

You're acting like this isn't how Disney Genie is already designed to work...

 

[Wesley815]

You're acting like this isn't how Disney Genie is already designed to work...

Sad but true. Electronic version of having cash on hand.

It's funny how bad it would look if someone offered to pay an attractions CM cash to cut in line, yet this is exactly what Disney execs are doing, laughing all the way to the bank.
(I know, I know- supply & demand)

 

[DLgal]

Sad but true. Electronic version of having cash on hand.

It's funny how bad it would look if someone offered to pay an attractions CM cash to cut in line, yet this is exactly what Disney execs are doing, laughing all the way to the bank.

They're simply adopting the "pay to play" platform that stupid mobile games have been using forever. Sure, you can play Candy Crush for free and wait 20 minutes to unlock the next level, OR pay to unlock it immediately. There are ALWAYS people who are willing to pay for faster access. I've never paid a penny to a mobile game to unlock anything. I also won't pay for a LL ride. If enough people don't pay, Disney will change it. I can honestly see the pay to ride portion of Genie backfiring on them. A year from now, they will walk this whole system back under the guise of being heroes and turn Genie into what Maxpass was all along. This is their attempt at quick cash. I don't think it will work at Disneyland specifically. I can see it being successful at WDW, though. I just don't think enough frequent DL visitors feel like they NEED to pay to ride anything.

 

[Drewski77]

They're simply adopting the "pay to play" platform that stupid mobile games have been using forever. Sure, you can play Candy Crush for free and wait 20 minutes to unlock the next level, OR pay to unlock it immediately. There are ALWAYS people who are willing to pay for faster access. I've never paid a penny to a mobile game to unlock anything. I also won't pay for a LL ride. If enough people don't pay, Disney will change it. I can honestly see the pay to ride portion of Genie backfiring on them. A year from now, they will walk this whole system back under the guise of being heroes and turn Genie into what Maxpass was all along. This is their attempt at quick cash. I don't think it will work at Disneyland specifically. I can see it being successful at WDW, though. I just don't think enough frequent DL visitors feel like they NEED to pay to ride anything.

Good points, and the changes do seem to be with an eye towards short term profits, we shall see how it all plays out.

Next up might be:

Your mobile food order costs $35 and has a 45 minute wait, but for just $10 you can jump in line and it will be ready in 20 minutes…

 

[Wesley815]

They're simply adopting the "pay to play" platform that stupid mobile games have been using forever. Sure, you can play Candy Crush for free and wait 20 minutes to unlock the next level, OR pay to unlock it immediately. There are ALWAYS people who are willing to pay for faster access. I've never paid a penny to a mobile game to unlock anything. I also won't pay for a LL ride. If enough people don't pay, Disney will change it. I can honestly see the pay to ride portion of Genie backfiring on them. A year from now, they will walk this whole system back under the guise of being heroes and turn Genie into what Maxpass was all along. This is their attempt at quick cash. I don't think it will work at Disneyland specifically. I can see it being successful at WDW, though. I just don't think enough frequent DL visitors feel like they NEED to pay to ride anything.

Great points, and very true about pay to play.

My first reply was more sarcastic pointing out how many guests would be shocked to see others pay cash to cut in line if Bob Chapek was standing in front of attractions, yet since it's through an app it makes it "ok" to do.

 

[Drewski77]

Great points, and very true about pay to play.

My first reply was more so pointing out how many guests would be shocked to see others pay cash to cut in line if Bob Chapek was standing in front of attractions, yet since it's through an app it makes it "ok" to do.

I agree with this, and I do see potential awkwardness when a group that has waited in a 90+ minute RSR line is paired with a group that just paid $30+ to skip the line.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I agree with this, and I do see potential awkwardness when a group that has waited in a 90+ minute RSR line is paired with a group that just paid $30+ to skip the line.

but thats like when I used to do single rider lines. Often times I had a 10 minute wait and was put in a car with a family or group from standby line who had been in line 90+ minutes.

 

[Drewski77]

but thats like when I used to do single rider lines. Often times I had a 10 minute wait and was put in a car with a family or group from standby line who had been in line 90+ minutes.

Sure, and could the group you were paired with also do the single rider line for free?

How about a Lightening Line for free?

All I’m saying is the potential for awkwardness, no judgment from me on someone paying to get on right away.

 

[AndrewC]

I was chatting with a couple in 2019 and we were talking about Halloween Horror nights. They had mentioned that the night they went they had only done 4 out of the ~10 mazes because they ran out of time since each had a wait of 120 minutes or more. They were talking about buying tickets again and going the next week to see the rest.

I had been able to do all the mazes once, and my favorite two or three twice…. But I had paid ~$400 for VIP tickets instead of the ~$70 for basic tickets.

The couple lived in LA. I live out of state and spent ~$500 on flights, ~$700 on hotel, a few hundred on a rental car, etc. An experience like the couple had likely would have resulted in an end to my annual Halloween holiday to the LA area.

When you do a guest survey and an out of town family mentions they are extremely disappointed in the thousands they spent because they couldn’t do Rise or Spider-Man because of boarding groups or other lock outs you potentially lose that family entirely, as well as all their coworkers they talk to and say “wait a few years, the parks are so crammed you can’t do what you want to do the most.”

Are people that are taking a week off work, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, spending thousands of dollars for hotel and everything really upset about the change from a free chance to passively wait for an attraction to a paid guarantee to get on the attraction? To me it just doesn’t make sense. Even before this change there were days I missed RSR because the fast passes were all gone. The free system couldn’t get me on. I feel much better about my upcoming (very expensive) trip knowing that I’ll be able to get on Rise, RSR, and any other *must do* attraction, assuming the new system is live by late October.

If you’re semi local or local, and can (and do) go three, four, etc times a year and are upset about this change… why don’t you go on a Tuesday? Or why don’t you go not the weekend of a holiday or some other prime busy time? Right now, on a Sunday, RSR is showing 45 minutes, and likely that is a slight over estimate since lines never seem as bad as Disney says. Falcon is 30 minutes, Indy is 30 minutes, GoTG is 25. Are those standby wait times impossible? You have the flexibility to go during a Halloween party when things are slammed and skip a couple top tier attractions, but be happy with the Halloween food and decorations and stuff… and then return in the middle of January when the park is kinda dead and maybe do RSR twice in a day, Indy a couple times, Falcon, etc all for free in the standby.

I look at a $20 line jump as being much more doable (and acceptable) than a ~$500 minimum to visit again, even just for a quick fly in Friday night, do the park Saturday, and fly out Sunday type of deal.

I also still think this will allow standby lines to go faster. I suspect 75% of the ride capacity will now be working the standby line. With FP/MP I suspect possibly 50% of the ride capacity was going to pass people which was slowing down the standby. Lines might be “long” at 45 to 60 minutes, but likely won’t get crazy at 75-120 minutes except for the busiest holiday weekends. If this happens, they’ve improved the most basic free experience, standby, and allowed an improved experience for those once in a lifetime visits, once every few years, or just dang expensive because of travel visits.

The only guest I see being seriously negatively affected by this is the once a month (or more) type person that is within 45 minutes drive, gets to the park within the first 30 minutes of open, and only visits on a holiday, three day weekend, or Saturday/Sunday.

 

[dieumeye]

Sure, and could the group you were paired with also do the single rider line for free?

How about a Lightening Line for free?

All I’m saying is the potential for awkwardness, no judgment from me on someone paying to get on right away.

I guess it’s possible, but most FP lines merge with the main line prior to loading, and then when loading happens the lines are often split further into rows or other spacing.

So by the time you actually board, you’d never really have much certainty who was where anyway. And besides, most people are only paying attention to their group most of the time anyway.

It’d be a sad person who is really focusing on which line someone came from all the way from the merge points, then as they’re split into the loading area, and holds a grudge when they board. I’d say that person needs to get a life!

Personally, I see VIP tours all the time. I’m not upset when I’m close to boarding, but need to wait one more vehicle because a VIP party boards. Those people paid to skip the line. It’s always been a option. Why would anyone be mad about it?

 

[Drewski77]

I was chatting with a couple in 2019 and we were talking about Halloween Horror nights. They had mentioned that the night they went they had only done 4 out of the ~10 mazes because they ran out of time since each had a wait of 120 minutes or more. They were talking about buying tickets again and going the next week to see the rest.

I had been able to do all the mazes once, and my favorite two or three twice…. But I had paid ~$400 for VIP tickets instead of the ~$70 for basic tickets.

The couple lived in LA. I live out of state and spent ~$500 on flights, ~$700 on hotel, a few hundred on a rental car, etc. An experience like the couple had likely would have resulted in an end to my annual Halloween holiday to the LA area.

When you do a guest survey and an out of town family mentions they are extremely disappointed in the thousands they spent because they couldn’t do Rise or Spider-Man because of boarding groups or other lock outs you potentially lose that family entirely, as well as all their coworkers they talk to and say “wait a few years, the parks are so crammed you can’t do what you want to do the most.”

Are people that are taking a week off work, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, spending thousands of dollars for hotel and everything really upset about the change from a free chance to passively wait for an attraction to a paid guarantee to get on the attraction? To me it just doesn’t make sense. Even before this change there were days I missed RSR because the fast passes were all gone. The free system couldn’t get me on. I feel much better about my upcoming (very expensive) trip knowing that I’ll be able to get on Rise, RSR, and any other *must do* attraction, assuming the new system is live by late October.

If you’re semi local or local, and can (and do) go three, four, etc times a year and are upset about this change… why don’t you go on a Tuesday? Or why don’t you go not the weekend of a holiday or some other prime busy time? Right now, on a Sunday, RSR is showing 45 minutes, and likely that is a slight over estimate since lines never seem as bad as Disney says. Falcon is 30 minutes, Indy is 30 minutes, GoTG is 25. Are those standby wait times impossible? You have the flexibility to go during a Halloween party when things are slammed and skip a couple top tier attractions, but be happy with the Halloween food and decorations and stuff… and then return in the middle of January when the park is kinda dead and maybe do RSR twice in a day, Indy a couple times, Falcon, etc all for free in the standby.

I look at a $20 line jump as being much more doable (and acceptable) than a ~$500 minimum to visit again, even just for a quick fly in Friday night, do the park Saturday, and fly out Sunday type of deal.

I also still think this will allow standby lines to go faster. I suspect 75% of the ride capacity will now be working the standby line. With FP/MP I suspect possibly 50% of the ride capacity was going to pass people which was slowing down the standby. Lines might be “long” at 45 to 60 minutes, but likely won’t get crazy at 75-120 minutes except for the busiest holiday weekends. If this happens, they’ve improved the most basic free experience, standby, and allowed an improved experience for those once in a lifetime visits, once every few years, or just dang expensive because of travel visits.

The only guest I see being seriously negatively affected by this is the once a month (or more) type person that is within 45 minutes drive, gets to the park within the first 30 minutes of open, and only visits on a holiday, three day weekend, or Saturday/Sunday.

Perhaps it’s because under the old system of a free fast pass or a paid Max Pass, both in-town and out of town travelers had benefits…while the new system has fragmented the customer base.

And speaking as an out of town traveler who stays at the Grand and spends a lot of money, for me it is more about:

The hassles of pre-opening Boarding Groups that are not guaranteed, a Genie+ program that omits the top attractions, and the keeping track of LL options with “dynamic” pricing…just not as easy of an experience that I prefer.

Whether all of this will be good for Disney in the long run we’ll see, but certainly as it is today many guests believe they will have a worse experience than previously.

 

[Drewski77]

I guess it’s possible, but most FP lines merge with the main line prior to loading, and then when loading happens the lines are often split further into rows or other spacing.

So by the time you actually board, you’d never really have much certainty who was where anyway. And besides, most people are only paying attention to their group most of the time anyway.

It’d be a sad person who is really focusing on which line someone came from all the way from the merge points, then as they’re split into the loading area, and holds a grudge when they board. I’d say that person needs to get a life!

Personally, I see VIP tours all the time. I’m not upset when I’m close to boarding, but need to wait one more vehicle because a VIP party boards. Those people paid to skip the line. It’s always been a option. Why would anyone be mad about it?

Good points and perhaps it will be a non-issue, it was just the imagery of “line cutting” that made me think there could be some awkwardness.

And if the lines merge well before, it probably will have zero impact, likely that way regardless.

And judging from the reaction of most people about these changes, perhaps there won’t be many using the Lightening Lanes anyway.

 

[clarker99]

I was chatting with a couple in 2019 and we were talking about Halloween Horror nights. They had mentioned that the night they went they had only done 4 out of the ~10 mazes because they ran out of time since each had a wait of 120 minutes or more. They were talking about buying tickets again and going the next week to see the rest.

I had been able to do all the mazes once, and my favorite two or three twice…. But I had paid ~$400 for VIP tickets instead of the ~$70 for basic tickets.

The couple lived in LA. I live out of state and spent ~$500 on flights, ~$700 on hotel, a few hundred on a rental car, etc. An experience like the couple had likely would have resulted in an end to my annual Halloween holiday to the LA area.

When you do a guest survey and an out of town family mentions they are extremely disappointed in the thousands they spent because they couldn’t do Rise or Spider-Man because of boarding groups or other lock outs you potentially lose that family entirely, as well as all their coworkers they talk to and say “wait a few years, the parks are so crammed you can’t do what you want to do the most.”

Are people that are taking a week off work, traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, spending thousands of dollars for hotel and everything really upset about the change from a free chance to passively wait for an attraction to a paid guarantee to get on the attraction? To me it just doesn’t make sense. Even before this change there were days I missed RSR because the fast passes were all gone. The free system couldn’t get me on. I feel much better about my upcoming (very expensive) trip knowing that I’ll be able to get on Rise, RSR, and any other *must do* attraction, assuming the new system is live by late October.

If you’re semi local or local, and can (and do) go three, four, etc times a year and are upset about this change… why don’t you go on a Tuesday? Or why don’t you go not the weekend of a holiday or some other prime busy time? Right now, on a Sunday, RSR is showing 45 minutes, and likely that is a slight over estimate since lines never seem as bad as Disney says. Falcon is 30 minutes, Indy is 30 minutes, GoTG is 25. Are those standby wait times impossible? You have the flexibility to go during a Halloween party when things are slammed and skip a couple top tier attractions, but be happy with the Halloween food and decorations and stuff… and then return in the middle of January when the park is kinda dead and maybe do RSR twice in a day, Indy a couple times, Falcon, etc all for free in the standby.

I look at a $20 line jump as being much more doable (and acceptable) than a ~$500 minimum to visit again, even just for a quick fly in Friday night, do the park Saturday, and fly out Sunday type of deal.

I also still think this will allow standby lines to go faster. I suspect 75% of the ride capacity will now be working the standby line. With FP/MP I suspect possibly 50% of the ride capacity was going to pass people which was slowing down the standby. Lines might be “long” at 45 to 60 minutes, but likely won’t get crazy at 75-120 minutes except for the busiest holiday weekends. If this happens, they’ve improved the most basic free experience, standby, and allowed an improved experience for those once in a lifetime visits, once every few years, or just dang expensive because of travel visits.

The only guest I see being seriously negatively affected by this is the once a month (or more) type person that is within 45 minutes drive, gets to the park within the first 30 minutes of open, and only visits on a holiday, three day weekend, or Saturday/Sunday.

FP to SB was 10 to 1. Stand by for RSR and Space should be better than FP/Max Pass days. I personally am not seeing any difference in how I will attack the parks with Genie+ or w/o. LL purchases just dont concern me at this time. I am assuming they will be more expensive than most realize (esp RotR).

 

[dieumeye]

And judging from the reaction of most people about these changes, perhaps there won’t be many using the Lightening Lanes anyway.

That’s the thing I’m also interested in.

The reaction has had a lot of negative, but that doesn’t mean the actual impact to the park experience will be negative. I do see how it could all work out for the better in the long term, so I’m curious to see what happens once APs, Genie, Genie+, LL all get into place. Although it’ll probably be awhile until we can get a good read on it.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I’m on a non-Disney family trip right now. My family usually goes. It’s been awhile since the grands came but aunties do. My mom asked awhile ago if they could come with us. Sure! More baby snugglers are always welcome.

To start conversation I asked my sis if she’d heard about the end of maxpass. No. But my dad pipes up from the drivers seat, I did. It’s crap. I’m never going again. Lol My dad has never been a big disney fan. He went with my grands and me 35 years ago and it was too expensive and too crowded. He didn’t come again until my much younger sibs were early teens and after I had gone my honeymoon and loved it. But back then even I didn’t frequent these boards. He bought a one day ticket and the kids liked it so the next day he went back again. Complaining that they didn’t offer half off your next day upon exit like sea world. He could have upgraded. We didn’t know.

I thought it was funny that my Disney hating dad knew about the change before my Disney loving sibs.

 

[AndrewC]

Perhaps it’s because under the old system of a free fast pass or a paid Max Pass, both in-town and out of town travelers had benefits…while the new system has fragmented the customer base.

I guess I looked at FP/MP already being fairly useless when it came to really popular attractions. RSR often was out of FP/MP by noon, maybe even 11am. Within the first hour or so return times were already into the afternoon. The system was getting overloaded and broken for those really high demand attractions. The benefits to me were the low to moderate attraction rides that had returns within one or two hours and I think genie+ will continue that.

 

[Drewski77]

I guess I looked at FP/MP already being fairly useless when it came to really popular attractions. RSR often was out of FP/MP by noon, maybe even 11am. Within the first hour or so return times were already into the afternoon. The system was getting overloaded and broken for those really high demand attractions. The benefits to me were the low to moderate attraction rides that had returns within one or two hours and I think genie+ will continue that.

RSR was definitely the quickest Fastpass to run out, but at least Maxpass included it unlike Genie+.

Just seems that there could’ve been a better setup than what Disney is going with, but hopefully I’m wrong about that.

 

[lcp9]

I guess I looked at FP/MP already being fairly useless when it came to really popular attractions. RSR often was out of FP/MP by noon, maybe even 11am. Within the first hour or so return times were already into the afternoon. The system was getting overloaded and broken for those really high demand attractions. The benefits to me were the low to moderate attraction rides that had returns within one or two hours and I think genie+ will continue that.

Nah, if you strategized it was actually really useful - especially if you were hopping. If we started in DL, we would usually immediately get a FP that we knew would be almost immediate, and then rope drop a couple quick rides. Once we had gone through a couple quick return FP, we would book an RSR for mid-afternoon - right about the time we were ready to hop. Once the 90 mins was up we could get a return for GOTG, maybe Soarin, all just depending on what return times were available. It allowed us to ride RSR without 1. having to run over to DCA when we planned to start at DLR, and 2. without standing in the standby lines and 3. Not paying an extra $20 a person

 

[Sun_soakin]

Nah, if you strategized it was actually really useful - especially if you were hopping. If we started in DL, we would usually immediately get a FP that we knew would be almost immediate, and then rope drop a couple quick rides. Once we had gone through a couple quick return FP, we would book an RSR for mid-afternoon - right about the time we were ready to hop. Once the 90 mins was up we could get a return for GOTG, maybe Soarin, all just depending on what return times were available. It allowed us to ride RSR without 1. having to run over to DCA when we planned to start at DLR, and 2. without standing in the standby lines and 3. Not paying an extra $20 a person

Yep! We had those strategies dialed, and we usually got a head start during EMH. We’d usually do RSR 2x/day. Hard to settle for what’s being offered now. DH was a bit sad about canceling our November trip, but agreed it’s not worth it. I liked another posters idea about trying to plan a trip to Tokyo or Shanghai!

 

[Sun_soakin]

I hope this Genie+ and LL go poorly for Disney, so we can get back to something better. I do miss DL. We are being stubborn and don’t like the idea of this nickel and diming and spending so long on our phones scheduling things, but we could easily afford it. However, there was definitely a time when our kids were little and we were getting through grad school, etc, where we couldn’t spend on extras yet we never would have waited forever in standby lines. That would have sucked. I really don’t like the idea of haves/have nots in the park. At least not blatant. Front of the line stuff comes at the expense of other people waiting longer; as long as everyone has the option of free FP it doesn’t bother me, but with only paid FP it would make me feel bad.