Possible update to Genie+

[fatmanatee]

I for one actually think killing this service is a good thing. It is a bit egregious to have a service instantly be booking without going through the GUI to do so. I don't have an issue if they searched and sent an alert to say it was available (similar to the dining) but made you book yourself.

I don't think in this case it has anything to do with Disney greed because killing it or keeping it around didn't cost them money. Though it certainly does seem like bad optics to keep a service around like this.

It's very good. I was talking to a family on my last trip that hadn't been able to get a Tron VQ and they seemed pretty peeved about it, they would have blown a gasket if they heard that other people were getting in via a workaround in the system.

 

[SkyGuy]

It's very good. I was talking to a family on my last trip that hadn't been able to get a Tron VQ and they seemed pretty peeved about it, they would have blown a gasket if they heard that other people were getting in via a workaround in the system.

It couldn’t book VQ or the paid ILL, only the lightning lane, so your friends weren’t competing with it. Just unlucky or a tad too slow.

 

[fatmanatee]

It couldn’t book VQ or the paid ILL, only the lightning lane, so your friends weren’t competing with it. Just unlucky or a tad too slow.

The one I'm talking about could book VQ.

 

[TaraS29]

I wish Disney would change to be more like those 3rd party apps and hold the time you see when you click to book it - if it says 2.30pm, I want 2.30pm…not 8.30pm! Then those apps probably wouldn’t even been needed.

It does feel like they’re quick to crackdown on external stuff like this but are happy to leave their rubbish IT as it is!

 

[DVCjj]

Never heard of Standby Skipper and I’m actually shocked someone would give a third party access to their MDE. Wow.

 

[SkyGuy]

The one I'm talking about could book VQ.

Wow, never heard of that one. I only know of Standby Skipper, and I know it can’t.

 

[tjkraz]

Disney can't find the time/money to fix their HORRIBLE glitchy and slow website from 2003 (OR fix their issues in the app) but when they figure out a way to squeeze even more money out of each individual guest, it's all-hands-on-deck for their IT team.

It's getting harder and harder for me to defend the Disney parks

Apps which maliciously leverage Disney's APIs are absolutely part of the problem. Not just in terms of the resources they consume--which contribute to the sites being slow and unreliable--but also in the impact on the guest. I'm all in favor of Disney closing loopholes and leveling the playing field for guests. The only people who suffer are those who were paying for such workarounds in the first place, and of course the people running those services for a profit.

Do the same for dining reservations and we'll all be better off for it.

 

[New Mouse]

The price has never bothered me as that's normal across most parks now. In fact I find that it's cheap. Most parks charge more than $100 per person.

They charge more but are also much less restrictive with access. Universal really only.gets complaints about express when staff just aren't doing proper ratios.

 

[rmclain73]

Pricing for today is not awful.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

So Genie is staying, I thought I read here it was going away sometime soon.

 

[Jrb1979]

So Genie is staying, I thought I read here it was going away sometime soon.

The only change is in 2024 there will be some sort of advanced booking available.

 

[Jwaire]

HS used to be the definition of a half day park before Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge. That park has attractions people are willing to spend money to skip the lines for. Epcot and AK certainly have rides like that but not enough of them.

It only became a half day park after management shuttered the working studio and closed half the park's attractions.

Billions of dollars in investment only to gain something like 2 million extra guests per year that you may have gotten anyway, but hey that's a better ROI than Animal Kingdom's Pandora.

 

[rdevans_2000]

The only change is in 2024 there will be some sort of advanced booking available.

Very anxious to see what Genie+ advance booking looks like. It would be nice to be able to book at least one or two attractions per day well before your vacation starts.

 

[rdevans_2000]

So Genie is staying, I thought I read here it was going away sometime soon.

Park reservations are going away for date based tickets in early 2024 but Genie+ is not.

 

[sheilafri]

Nah. They would get far more people going for it at $5. $20 is enough to make people angry, not willing to pay for more than one ride.

I think that is Disney’s point. They aren’t pricing for the hood of the guest, they are pricing to maximize profit.

 

[rdevans_2000]

It doesn't seem that complicated. If you have a park hopper pass, buy the multi-park option. If not, buy whichever park you plan on going to (and until 2024, the one you have a reservation for.

ETA: It is a fair bit of nickel and diming from Disney.

Agree with this comment. The entire WDW experience, when taken as a whole, is far too complicated now. But this one change doesn't really make it more complicated. The cost is getting stupid high, especially for multi park Genie+. You are already paying a significant amount more just for the park hopper ticket, and now Genie+ will add $25 to $35 (or more someday) per person. What baffles me is how Disney still doesn't seem to be hitting the price point where people are bailing and vacationing elsewhere. Demand seems as strong as ever. Or maybe we are at that tipping point now. I "hear" demand is suffering and attendance is down, likely due to the recession, but I don't know where those sources got their data.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Can anyone verify if Standby Skipper and others have indeed been made defunct by new updates or if it's something still "in the works". Genuinely curious.

 

[Jrb1979]

Very anxious to see what Genie+ advance booking looks like. It would be nice to be able to book at least one or two attractions per day well before your vacation starts.

Unless they totally revamp the whole thing again, it's most likely that you will be able to book your first LL each day a head of time. There isn't enough ride capacity to give out more than 1 per party a day.

 

[sheilafri]

As an AP holder I find the strategy of per park pricing to be an interesting question. Prior use of G+ at multiple parks encouraged park hopping on days when one purchased G+. Are they trying to disincentivize hopping? Incentivize hopping from MK to another park? Will they lose more on people eliminating hopping and buying multiple park G+ than they’ll gain from per park pricing? Do they hope to maximize the nickel and diming of the infrequent visitor?

As an AP holder I suspect I’ll be less likely to hop. Or only hop from Epcot to HS. Still can’t see getting G+ for AK and I view it as a half day park so likely to go there even less. It all leaves me wondering what was Disney thinking?

 

[Jrb1979]

Agree with this comment. The entire WDW experience, when taken as a whole, is far too complicated now. But this one change doesn't really make it more complicated. The cost is getting stupid high, especially for multi park Genie+. You are already paying a significant amount more just for the park hopper ticket, and now Genie+ will add $25 to $35 (or more someday) per person. What baffles me is how Disney still doesn't seem to be hitting the price point where people are bailing and vacationing elsewhere. Demand seems as strong as ever. Or maybe we are at that tipping point now. I "hear" demand is suffering and attendance is down, likely due to the recession, but I don't know where those sources got their data.

This is quoted for Len Testa who runs Touring Plans in regards to attendance.

"The thing that strikes me is the lack of crowds.

Another way of looking at this is with actual crowd levels from our crowd calendar. We use Disney's posted wait times between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., at key attractions, as a proxy for crowds (because wait times are transparent and objective). We convert those wait times to a 1-to-10 scale for easier understanding.

Here are the actual MK crowd levels for this year and past years, from June 1 to June 23:

2023: 5.1 out of 10
2022: 6.0
2021: 1.8
2020: -
2019: 5.7
2018: 7.6
2017: 6.8
2016: 8.9

Excluding the pandemic summer of 2021, this year has the lowest average posted waits at the MK since at least 2016."