WDW updates Genie+ guidance, average of 2-3 rides per day

[Liquidice]

First on-site doesn't need perks when people are filling the hotels right now without them.

I agree Genie+ has been terrible but IMO a big part of that is that many are trying so hard to make it work like FP+. What I mean by that is trying to get return times that work with their schedule. IMO to get the best out of it is to take what's available.

So what you're saying is when Genie+ shows Dumbo as being available for Lightning Lane, even though standby may only be a 5 minute wait, I should still pick Dumbo to increase my satisfaction of Genie+

Then afterwards, use it for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and then Magic Carpets of Aladdin and then Little Mermaid.

Even though I could have waited in the standby line for all of them with roughly the same wait time as Genie+, I will have gotten my money's worth for Genie+ since I got to ride 4 rides, better than average!

I'm obviously joking, but just taking what is available often means getting a LL for a ride that doesn't really need it.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

If it's not tied to how expensive your hotel is then it's still fair for everyone. Because locals, offsite guests and on-property guests all have the same possibility of access regardless of how they price it.

It is not about fair in the end. The fact it costs extra already takes the fairness out of it. No skip the line add on is what would be considered fairest to all park guests.

 

[Jrb1979]

So what you're saying is when Genie+ shows Dumbo as being available for Lightning Lane, even though standby may only be a 5 minute wait, I should still pick Dumbo to increase my satisfaction of Genie+

Then afterwards, use it for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and then Magic Carpets of Aladdin and then Little Mermaid.

Even though I could have waited in the standby line for all of them with roughly the same wait time as Genie+, I will have gotten my money's worth for Genie+ since I got to ride 4 rides, better than average!

I'm obviously joking, but just taking what is available often means getting a LL for a ride that doesn't really need it.

I was meaning more in terms of taking whatever is available return time wise for what you want to ride. IMO are trying to hard to find return times to fit their park touring schedule. With the way Genie+ works you will never get more then 2 to 3 rides doing that.

 

[Miffy]

I was meaning more in terms of taking whatever is available return time wise for what you want to ride. IMO are trying to hard to find return times to fit their park touring schedule. With the way Genie+ works you will never get more then 2 to 3 rides doing that.

I think it's been pretty well established here that G+ works best for people who are either in the same park from open to close or who use G+ for their hop-to park (although even that isn't as effective as the first example).

 

[starlite_]

It is not about fair in the end. The fact it costs extra already takes the fairness out of it. No skip the line add on is what would be considered fairest to all park guests.

Not really because everyone has the possibility of buying it regardless of any other money spent at disney property. If you tie it to how much money someone spends for the hotel room then you are effectively gatekeeping it for folks who can spend hundreds extra per night on hotels. Even if it's $79 vs $15 then value hotel or offsite families can still have the opportunity to buy it. IMO it's about everyone having access to buy it.

Or have no add-on and just stand-by lines, that works just as well.

 

[Liquidice]

I was meaning more in terms of taking whatever is available return time wise for what you want to ride. IMO are trying to hard to find return times to fit their park touring schedule. With the way Genie+ works you will never get more then 2 to 3 rides doing that.

I don't agree here, there are people who are not as aggressive with refreshing their phones, who are just taking whatever is available and still only getting 2 rides per day of the rides they actually want.

There is probably some truth to what you're saying in that if you have a "stop" time of lets say 8pm, that you could have gotten one more Lightning Lane if you stayed later when the parks close at a later time.

An example of this is at Hollywood Studios, at 7am you try to get Slinky Dog Dash and get a return time of ~2-3pm, then at 11am (9am opening) you get another Lightning Lane and you choose Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway with a return time of ~4-5pm. At 1pm, when you look again - the only times available are at 8pm or later. Refreshing constantly probably gets you something at 6pm, but not everyone is doing that.

I'm just saying the experience for the average guest is not amazing.

On FP+ if you were staying on site, you could often get 3 FP's all for the morning timeframe (before lunch) and then try to get a 4th FP for the afternoon or go back to the resort and enjoy some pool time.

I think where Genie+ seems to work better is for people who want to hit the park in the evenings where they can grab a Lightning Lane at 7am and then keep stacking them so you get 2-3 or more LL's all back to back in the evening.

 

[Jennasis]

Not really because everyone has the possibility of buying it regardless of any other money spent at disney property. If you tie it to how much money someone spends for the hotel room then you are effectively gatekeeping it for folks who can spend hundreds extra per night on hotels. Even if it's $79 vs $15 then value hotel or offsite families can still have the opportunity to buy it. IMO it's about everyone having access to buy it.

Or have no add-on and just stand-by lines, that works just as well.

Sorry. It is EXACTLY the same. Either you can afford to spend extra on it/choose to spend extra on it or not. Of it were tied to onsite v offsite you can also afford to stay onsite/choose to stay onsite or not.

Fairness would be free to all with no advantage given for spending anything extra. But that's not what we have or really have ever had.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Not really because everyone has the possibility of buying it regardless of any other money spent at disney property. If you tie it to how much money someone spends for the hotel room then you are effectively gatekeeping it for folks who can spend hundreds extra per night on hotels. Even if it's $79 vs $15 then value hotel or offsite families can still have the opportunity to buy it. IMO it's about everyone having access to buy it.

Or have no add-on and just stand-by lines, that works just as well.

but not everyone can afford to add $79 a person to the already price of a ticket thus limiting who can actually afford it.

I would prefer no add on and just normal lines.

 

[starlite_]

Sorry. It is EXACTLY the same. Either you can afford to spend extra on it/choose to spend extra on it or not. Of it were tied to onsite v offsite you can also afford to stay onsite/choose to stay onsite or not.

Fairness would be free to all with no advantage given for spending anything extra. But that's not what we have or really have ever had.

It's not tho, paying for Genie+ it's just paying for Genie+ regardless of how much it cots everyone has the opportunity to buy it. By gatekeeping it to hotels you are ensuring that only folks who spend money on premium hotels have the opportunity to buy it. It leaves out both locals and offsite guests and value hotel guests. We are talking about having to spend at the very least $100 more per day just to have access to pay for Genie+. That's paying twice, once for access and once for the actual product. And only those with the possibility to pay for access can actually buy the product.
As I said, fair to me is every guest having equal access to pay for the product regardless of how fancy their hotel is. Or as you mentioned, free to all.

 

[starlite_]

but not everyone can afford to add $79 a person to the already price of a ticket thus limiting who can actually afford it.

I would prefer no add on and just normal lines.

I agree, but at least everyone has the opportunity to buy it even if they don't have the means.

 

[Jennasis]

It's not tho, paying for Genie+ it's just paying for Genie+ regardless of how much it cots everyone has the opportunity to buy it. By gatekeeping it to hotels you are ensuring that only folks who spend money on premium hotels have the opportunity to buy it. It leaves out both locals and offsite guests and value hotel guests. We are talking about having to spend at the very least $100 more per day just to have access to pay for Genie+. That's paying twice, once for access and once for the actual product. And only those with the possibility to pay for access can actually buy the product.
As I said, fair to me is every guest having equal access to pay for the product regardless of how fancy their hotel is. Or as you mentioned, free to all.

Everyone also has the opportunity to book a night at a Disney resort.

Relax...they won't ever do make it a resort only perk.

 

[starlite_]

Everyone also has the opportunity to book a night at a Disney resort.

Relax...they won't ever do make it a resort only perk.

We weren't discussing a resort only perk tho, we were discussing an expensive resort only perk.
You can relax as well, it's only a what-if discussion.

 

[Jennasis]

We weren't discussing a resort only perk tho, we were discussing an expensive resort only perk.
You can relax as well, it's only a what-if discussion.

No, we were discussing what hypothetically would be FAIR. And there are those who think current genie+ pricing is expensive.

 

[ChipnDale79]

so with Fast past plus, you were able to schedule and were guaranteed 3 fastpasses per day, and once you used those, you were able to get more, and it came with the cost of admission.

Now, you can MIGHT get 2 or 3 "fast passes" that you can not schedule, and does not include the big time rides, AND you have to pay for it per day.

Yeah, huge downgrade.

Disney is now setting expectations that the product that is a paid for replacement of a free product, is worse than the free product on all accounts. Amazing.

 

[Miffy]

I agree, but at least everyone has the opportunity to buy it even if they don't have the means.

I have to disagree here. This is like saying that everyone has the opportunity to buy anything at all even if they don't have the means when in fact, there's no opportunity, per se, just because something is for sale. Opportunity means (per Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary): "1. a favorable juncture of circumstances (the halt provided an opportunity for rest and refreshment); 2. a good chance for advancement or progress."

Someone without the means is not afforded a favorable juncture of circumstances or a good chance for anything. There is zero opportunity there. Possibility, maybe, but not opportunity. And very very low probability.

 

[starlite_]

I have to disagree here. This is like saying that everyone has the opportunity to buy anything at all even if they don't have the means when in fact, there's no opportunity, per se, just because something is for sale. Opportunity means (per Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary): "1. a favorable juncture of circumstances (the halt provided an opportunity for rest and refreshment); 2. a good chance for advancement or progress."

Someone without the means is not afforded a favorable juncture of circumstances or a good chance for anything. There is zero opportunity there. Possibility, maybe, but not opportunity. And very very low probability.

English is not my first language so I apologize if I used the word improperly.

 

[Miffy]

English is not my first language so I apologize if I used the word improperly.

That's okay. No need to apologize!

 

[maya213]

Except with Genie+ some people are getting only 2 rides per day. While there are people who are getting 3 or more - there are a lot of stories of people who started at 7am and got a LL for 1 ride in the afternoon (~2-3pm) then for a 9am opening, were able to stack a 2nd at 11am in the early evening time (~6-7pm) and then by the time 1pm rolls around there were no more LL's available for rides. The only thing remaining were for things like entertainment where having lightning lane access is not really that beneficial.

For the people who are "experts" at using Genie+ you can definitely do better than this - but I don't think my above example is abnormal for the average family.

It also disadvantages average families I think who are able to pre-plan and were able to get 3 FP+'s.

My opinion - if they want to charge for it, go back to the old system where you could pre-select 3 rides in advance and just charge for it.

Exactly that. I want to spend time with my kids, have good time. Not spend time on my phone trying to get us a return time somewhere.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508992394380861440

Disney World updated their website recently ( https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/genie/lightning-lane/#drawer-card-drawerRecommender ) to add that "On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day."

It seems like Disney is admitting defeat that Genie+ is not better than Fastpass+ in fact it may actually be worse if on average guests are only getting 2 attractions per day.

Have to wonder if Disney really intends for Genie+ to work like this and if they are at least considering changes to the system.

I wonder if there is any chance of going back to the old FP+ system even if still costs money.

They just need to reload the old system and slap a genie sticker over top of it. Would be 100000x better.

 

[RamblinWreck]

Not really because everyone has the possibility of buying it regardless of any other money spent at disney property. If you tie it to how much money someone spends for the hotel room then you are effectively gatekeeping it for folks who can spend hundreds extra per night on hotels. Even if it's $79 vs $15 then value hotel or offsite families can still have the opportunity to buy it. IMO it's about everyone having access to buy it.

Or have no add-on and just stand-by lines, that works just as well.

So $79 per person for a family of 4 comes out to $316 extra per day.

How is that not only for rich people, but hotels that cost less than the $316 more per day are?