Just paid $30 for Genie+

[mom2rtk]

So I was a huge fan of MaxPass and Genie+ has several different rules that make it inferior in my opinion:

1. One ride per attraction per day (can’t repeat favorites, if your child is too small or scared to ride the bigger attractions is a much worse value)

2. You have to wait 2 hours to get a new LL (under MaxPass this was 90 minutes)

3. With MaxPass you could get your next pass once your next return window opened. You did not have to wait to scan into the ride like with Genie+

4. Top tier rides have been removed to be sold as ILLs.

 

[starlite_]

4. Top tier rides have been removed to be sold as ILLs.

Top tier rides, the only one is Radiator Springs Racers. Rise and Webslingers were never part of MaxPass or fastpass. They had a virtual queue.

 

[mom2rtk]

Top tier rides, the only one is Radiator Springs Racers. Rise and Webslingers were never part of MaxPass or fastpass. They had a virtual queue.

That's kind of a big one.

 

[starlite_]

That's kind of a big one.

I agree, but it's incorrect to say it's multiple rides, when it's just one at DLR.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

4. Top tier rides have been removed to be sold as ILLs.

Oh YES! Excellent point!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Top tier rides, the only one is Radiator Springs Racers. Rise and Webslingers were never part of MaxPass or fastpass. They had a virtual queue.

If there was no ILL I imagine that RotR would have become part of Genie+ at some point the way WS now is.

 

[starlite_]

If there was no ILL I imagine that RotR would have become part of Genie+ at some point the way WS now is.

Agree! ILL sucks in general.

 

[twodogs]

To me, Disney does not feel that their G+ is competing with the EP at Universal. They only worry about how the pricing and experience compare to other Disney experiences. If they are “full” literally almost every day, why do they care what is happening at Universal?? In my prior post, I outlined the pricing of the current VIP tour offering, and how much that would cost per person per full park day, compared to the current price of G+. I honestly feel like that is all Disney management cares about. They could care less what the pricing or experience is at Universal as long as they are not losing any guests to that. And those that will say “I’ve gone to DL for 20 years and I am fed up and going to Universal from now on”, I would offer that Disney had plenty of people to fill your shoes, so it is not a worry to them at all.

 

[limace]

I wonder how Universal’s very positive earnings call this week factors in. They are definitely picking up market share.

 

[pennym]

I am interested in what you say about Fastlane at Knotts because when we used it very few of the rides got you straight on. For Xcelerator we still waited nearly an hour, Pony Express over half an hour. Very few rides seemed to have any kind of efficient system for use of the pass....only Log Ride and Jaguar from memory could we get straight on.

 

[flav]

Do we know what percentage of guests buy Genie+? And what percentage of a given attraction loading capacity they allocate for LL? From what I read, too many people with G+ want to get return time and don’t get them, too many people still end up in the LL and with 1/10 being let through in the regular standby, everyone spend their day waiting somewhere.

Rough calculation for a 5 days trip for me, and it’s about the same for both coasts:
Transportation (airport transfers+plane+luggage fees): 500$
Hotel: 1150$
Base tickets: 550$
Add food and souvenirs and I am already at 500$ per day.

The questions I have for Disney are:
If not buying G+, will I be able to do anything in the park and feel like my trip is not a waste of money and vacation time?
If everyone buys G+ including myself does it provide a better chance for me to enjoy the trip? I.e is the added cost of G+ providing enough value to make the overall trip costs (time and money) worth it? Of course the cost of G+ and it’s adoption rate have an impact on all of these.

That said, I know the answers for myself, I can manage my pace and my expectations but I would have problems if my family was with me.

ETA: The cost breakdown would be different for DL and WDW but for a 3 days DL or 5 days WDW trip the cost per day would come to 500$.

 

[bookbabe626]

As a follow up, we went to Halloween Haunt at USHollywood on October 31 with an After 2pm pass with the Express Lane. Got there just before 3pm. Went on every regular ride before HH started (except for the studio tour, which we didn‘t realize closed at 4pm). Went through every haunted house/scare zone and were done the whole park by 9:30pm, including a dinner break around 5pm. Lines were okay to short for the regular rides, but stupid long for the HH stuff. Their Express Lane Option was worth the price. Yeah, things were really crowded. The HH portion of the night was way more crowded than our OBB night. But we felt like we got more done.

IMO, I’d pay way more than the current G+ prices for a Disney equivalent to Express Lane. No picking times, just do the ride as you get to it. We felt it was way easier, and even though it was a lot more money, we felt like we got our money’s worth as opposed to our recent DL experience with G+. YMMV

 

[mich311e]

As a follow up, we went to Halloween Haunt at USHollywood on October 31 with an After 2pm pass with the Express Lane. Got there just before 3pm. Went on every regular ride before HH started (except for the studio tour, which we didn‘t realize closed at 4pm). Went through every haunted house/scare zone and were done the whole park by 9:30pm, including a dinner break around 5pm. Lines were okay to short for the regular rides, but stupid long for the HH stuff. Their Express Lane Option was worth the price. Yeah, things were really crowded. The HH portion of the night was way more crowded than our OBB night. But we felt like we got more done.

IMO, I’d pay way more than the current G+ prices for a Disney equivalent to Express Lane. No picking times, just do the ride as you get to it. We felt it was way easier, and even though it was a lot more money, we felt like we got our money’s worth as opposed to our recent DL experience with G+. YMMV

My family wants to do this exact event + early entry next year. We aren't big Universal people, we went once 17 years ago. But we love scary stuff. In previous years we attended Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest, usually every other year, and loved it. The prices for USH for a Horror Night and early admission with Express Lane seemed super expensive when I priced it out. Was it like $250 a person? If you don't mind sharing. I'm glad to read you had a good time and got everything done. I can't see us doing more than one day at USH.

 

[bookbabe626]

My family wants to do this exact event + early entry next year. We aren't big Universal people, we went once 17 years ago. But we love scary stuff. In previous years we attended Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest, usually every other year, and loved it. The prices for USH for a Horror Night and early admission with Express Lane seemed super expensive when I priced it out. Was it like $250 a person? If you don't mind sharing. I'm glad to read you had a good time and got everything done. I can't see us doing more than one day at USH.

It was pricy, maybe $200 each. Buy as early as you can, the prices got higher the closer to the date you got, I guess as tickets started to get scarcer.

On a Scare Level, DH rated USH as a lot scarier than MHSSHP or OBB, but way less scary than the one Cedar Point event we went to. Haven’t been to a Six Flags event, so no idea where they would fall into DH’s scare scale.

 

[mich311e]

It was pricy, maybe $200 each. Buy as early as you can, the prices got higher the closer to the date you got, I guess as tickets started to get scarcer.

On a Scare Level, DH rated USH as a lot scarier than MHSSHP or OBB, but way less scary than the one Cedar Point event we went to. Haven’t been to a Six Flags event, so no idea where they would fall into DH’s scare scale.

Thank you so much! I will definitely be looking to get the tickets when they go on sale!

 

[CrazDisMom]

Send Disney a suggestion with your $275 proposal.

Don't do that lol!!! The website is currently showing $125 per person for July of next year

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Don't do that lol!!! The website is currently showing $125 per person for July of next year

What? Disney’s site for Genie+? Per person/day?

 

[CrazDisMom]

What? Disney’s site for Genie+? Per person/day?

Hi SOCAL! I saw the price listed on the Disney Blog but can't find it now. And I think it might have been an error because that seemed like a crazy price hike to me! Plus when looking at the ticket prices it shows that it's a $100 per person for a 5 day ticket. Which makes more sense since that averages out to $20 a day. But I'm gonna keep my eye on it since Disney likes to raise their prices.