Touring plans blog series on Genie+

[Chaitali]

Touring plans is doing a blog series on Genie + and which parks it might be worth it for. I wanted to share since I found it interesting. They’ve only done Epcot and Animal Kingdom so far. https://touringplans.com/blog/potential-usefulness-of-genie-at-epcot/

Their basic premise is that on average, an hour of park time equals about $15. So Genie+ would have to save an hour of time waiting in line for it to be worth it for that park. It looks at it for low crowd, medium crowd and high crowd days. They also acknowledge that they had to make a bunch of assumptions for this preliminary analysis. I’m sure they’ll do more thorough analysis once the system actually starts and they can figure out details.

 

[Chaitali]

Here’s the Animal Kingdom post. https://touringplans.com/blog/potential-usefulness-of-genie-at-animal-kingdom/

 

[disneyfan123]

Thanks for sharing the link. Those are interesting articles that show the importance of a good touring plan (and rope drop). FP+ enabled you to sleep in and still hit all the big rods, but if you are unwilling to pay extra, you have to take advantage of the early morning or late evening crowd levels.

 

[DisneyFive]

Their basic premise is that on average, an hour of park time equals about $15. So Genie+ would have to save an hour of time waiting in line for it to be worth it for that park.

I can see why touring plans would want to correlate the cost to some other factor, like time, but to me I would not necessarily correlate it to simply time alone. It is also the wear and tear on your feet standing in line and the lack of ability to enjoy the parks just wandering, or shopping. It also helps with managing your touring around the park, not having to crisscross so much, etc. There are a lot more factors than time alone in my opinion. A lot of this is based on our experience with FP+, which I know G+ it’s not equivalent to (it’s worse, Even though we have to pay for it)

Dan

 

[Marionnette]

I can see why touring plans would want to correlate the cost to some other factor, like time, but to me I would not necessarily correlate it to simply time alone. It is also the wear and tear on your feet standing in line and the lack of ability to enjoy the parks just wandering, or shopping. It also helps with managing your touring around the park, not having to crisscross so much, etc. There are a lot more factors than time alone in my opinion. A lot of this is based on our experience with FP+, which I know G+ it’s not equivalent to (it’s worse, Even though we have to pay for it)

Dan

In fairness, they have to compare the cost of Genie+ to something that is quantifiable. Wear and tear on your feet is not quantifiable. Time is. Most people who purchase Genie+ are going to be looking at the time saved standing in a queue. Their not-so-aching feet will be a benefit, but only if they aren't criss-crossing the parks to get from one LL reservation to the next.

 

[daae3]

Thanks for sharing the links- this is interesting analysis!

 

[TikiRob]

Interesting read, though I'm not sure anything you pay for that is for enjoyment can be quantified as "worth it" or not. Every person is different.

 

[Chaitali]

Right, they have to go with something quantifiable. And saving time in line does give you more time to do other things, like enjoying wandering around the park, shopping, or resting back at the hotel. And it’s a starting point for a general analysis, which will then allow individuals to add on with their own priorities before deciding whether it’s worth paying for genie on any particular day in their situation.

 

[Stephy811]

Definitely useful…however the most important factor in any of this is what availability will be like after people choose their first G+. If there’s nothing “good” left for second or third choices throughout the day none of this will matter as it still won’t be “worth it”. That’s the part none of us know yet and I’m so anxious to find out once we get real world reports of people using before trying to develop any sort of strategy.

 

[Chaitali]

Yep, I’m really looking forward to seeing what some real world experiences look like. A lot of this will depend on what percentage of ride capacity Disney allocates to lightning lane. If it’s similar to back when there was paper fast pass, most rides did have passes available into the afternoon. It was only the super headliners that didn’t and those are now the ones that will cost extra money for the most part.

 

[Suzabella]

Thanks for posting this! I had not correlated Genie+ to being a per day charge and not per park if hopping or using APs. Somehow that makes me feel like I'm getting more of a ROI. And I do get them using the time saved approach because that's exactly what it is. We've used Unofficial Guide and TPs for years. I'm anxiously waiting for their actual use analysis.

 

[Marionnette]

It's also important to note that the author based their analysis on the average cost of a 1-day ticket and a touring plan than includes going from park opening to park close. That's where the $15 per hour cost of a park visit is derived. Every part of the analysis is based on those two assumptions (the author acknowledges this).

I've seen references to a post by an APH that claimed their park visits cost $21 per day. That would change the math considerably. Even having a multi-day ticket which was purchased at a discount is going to skew the math. And number of hours that a park is open will also come into play.

I'm looking forward to the next two blog posts. HS is next and should drop on Saturday. MJ is supposed to drop next Wednesday. Those are the two parks where I thought that buying Genie+ makes the most sense.

 

[Suzabella]

It's also important to note that the author based their analysis on the average cost of a 1-day ticket and a touring plan than includes going from park opening to park close. That's where the $15 per hour cost of a park visit is derived. Every part of the analysis is based on those two assumptions (the author acknowledges this).

I've seen references to a post by an APH that claimed their park visits cost $21 per day. That would change the math considerably. Even having a multi-day ticket which was purchased at a discount is going to skew the math. And number of hours that a park is open will also come into play.

I'm looking forward to the next two blog posts. HS is next and should drop on Saturday. MJ is supposed to drop next Wednesday. Those are the two parks where I thought that buying Genie+ makes the most sense.

I agree. The cost per ticket is an important factor. I also expected that AK and EP were the 2 parks where Genie+ really wouldn't be an advantage. At least not for us. There are only a couple things per park that we consider must do's. HS is seeing higher lines because of the people trying for BGs and is a smaller park. MK has more rides to spread that higher crowd out a bit. Anxious to see those.

 

[DisneyFive]

In fairness, they have to compare the cost of Genie+ to something that is quantifiable. Wear and tear on your feet is not quantifiable. Time is. Most people who purchase Genie+ are going to be looking at the time saved standing in a queue. Their not-so-aching feet will be a benefit, but only if they aren't criss-crossing the parks to get from one LL reservation to the next.

Not disagreeing. My point is that there is so much more than just time saved by not standing in lines. To me, it's a compounded benefit which was my point. Having toured late July/Early August this year, and being forced into standby all day, I can say that there are many other benefits that come along with not standing in queues so much each day. These weren't necessarily obvious at first, but after a few days they became apparent. The trip was simply lacking in so many ways versus all of our other trips.

1. Saved time
2. Less standing in hot outdoor standby lines (hopefully this mostly goes away when all queues are open on attractions again)
3. Less standing around, barely moving (which makes my feet far more sore than actually walking for the same amount of time, and I'm a fit individual)
4. Ability to do something else... (these are those intangibles that don't get thought of necessarily)
   1. Slow down and enjoy the park atmosphere
   2. Browse the shops
   3. Grab a snack
   4. Ride something else in the meantime
   5. The feeling of being productive in the parks
   6. Etc...

Dan

 

[DisneyFive]

It's also important to note that the author based their analysis on the average cost of a 1-day ticket and a touring plan than includes going from park opening to park close. That's where the $15 per hour cost of a park visit is derived. Every part of the analysis is based on those two assumptions (the author acknowledges this).

I've seen references to a post by an APH that claimed their park visits cost $21 per day. That would change the math considerably. Even having a multi-day ticket which was purchased at a discount is going to skew the math. And number of hours that a park is open will also come into play.

I'm looking forward to the next two blog posts. HS is next and should drop on Saturday. MJ is supposed to drop next Wednesday. Those are the two parks where I thought that buying Genie+ makes the most sense.

Exactly. Our last few visits have been 10 nights. Including tax our late July/early August tickets averaged $62 per person for a base ticket, or $71 per person with park hoppers (we had PH's). $15 per person per day for G+ is far more than 1 hours worth of time in these scenarios.

Dan

 

[Marionnette]

Exactly. Our last few visits have been 10 nights. Including tax our late July/early August tickets averaged $62 per person for a base ticket, or $71 per person with park hoppers (we had PH's). $15 per person per day for G+ is far more than 1 hours worth of time in these scenarios.

Dan

Agreed. I have a DVC Gold AP that I got a voucher for in 2018. I paid $627 for it. I will probably get 19 days of park visits out of it, which means my daily admission will have cost me around $33. If a park is open for 12 hours, each hour is valued at $2.75. Genie would have to save me almost 5.5 hours out of that 12-hour day.

But even using my own numbers, the math is a bit flawed. We are not very likely going to be in any park for 12 hours. Even if we were, not every hour would be spent in a line for an attraction. Nor do I want to be queued up all day just because Genie+ would need to save me 5+ hours in order to be worth it from a financial POV.

I'm still not a fan of Genie+, but my reasons for my dislike don't include the price tag, which I don't necessarily find to be unreasonable. I just wish that it was structured differently.