Genie+ park based priced!

[thevolcanogod]

One year, in the mid-00s we went during our son’s school spring break and the parks were empty. We kept running into other families from our school and we felt like we had the parks to ourselves. So empty it was almost spooky.

Yup I remember riding splash back to back to back so many times because there was no line and my bros and I held a contest to make the dumbest pic possible. They musta caught on because they stopped showing our ride photos. That had to be 97-ish - and in the early evening. Because I remember the lights in the outside queue and the music were always one of my fave parts of that ride - we would hang outside the gift shop and just soak it up between rides.

For our trip in July I will be buying Genie+ also - but I feel like I’m buying a broken product that isn’t even as good as the free stuff they used to allow. Ig I could better stomach paying if it’s a better experience. Or even the same. But this is worse. Way worse.

 

[Wakey]

Genie+ is shockingly bad. The greed was so much they even made you pay extra for Lightning lane rides. It is actively putting people off visiting the parks now. I’m braced for the $50 rip off price being hit (or $44 or $49) at Xmas.

 

[tbre1982]

I’m in the parks now and can report it’s definitely annoying that if you opt to go from a one-day genie purchase to a park- hopper genie purchase you have to pay Full price TWICE and THEN go to guest services for a refund. They need to correct this asap.

Case in point: today we only planed to go to AK so I bought genie+ just for AK around midnight last night at $16pp. 5x 16 = $80

BUT after being done with AK by noon today we decided we wanted to take a break then go to MK tonight for a few more rides and fireworks

Unfortunately I could not simply add on a park hopper option— ie upgsdee from $16pp to $25pp

The system FORCED me to buy the $25 per person park hopper option on top of the $16 pp I had already bought.

And only guest services could fix this. Which is honestly mildly annoying in that it costs u time and energy to find a blue umbrella and remedy the situation.

I mean. Come on Disney. We are already paying you so much $$$ for all this genie+ stuff. Surely u can find a way that we can upgrade From a 1-
Park genie to a park-hoper genie to match our tickets without so much hassle.

 

[Wakey]

I’m in the parks now and can report it’s definitely annoying that if you opt to go from a one-day genie purchase to a park- hopper genie purchase you have to pay Full price TWICE and THEN go to guest services for a refund. They need to correct this asap.

Case in point: today we only planed to go to AK so I bought genie+ just for AK around midnight last night at $16pp. 5x 16 = $80

BUT after being done with AK by noon today we decided we wanted to take a break then go to MK tonight for a few more rides and fireworks

Unfortunately I could not simply add on a park hopper option— ie upgsdee from $16pp to $25pp

The system FORCED me to buy the $25 per person park hopper option on top of the $16 pp I had already bought.

And only guest services could fix this. Which is honestly mildly annoying in that it costs u time and energy to find a blue umbrella and remedy the situation.

I mean. Come on Disney. We are already paying you so much $$$ for all this genie+ stuff. Surely u can find a way that we can upgrade From a 1-
Park genie to a park-hoper genie to match our tickets without so much hassle.

They are greedy so have no interest in making it easy to upgrade. They just hope people will pay twice.

 

[AustinTink]

I’m in the parks now and can report it’s definitely annoying that if you opt to go from a one-day genie purchase to a park- hopper genie purchase you have to pay Full price TWICE and THEN go to guest services for a refund. They need to correct this asap.

Case in point: today we only planed to go to AK so I bought genie+ just for AK around midnight last night at $16pp. 5x 16 = $80

BUT after being done with AK by noon today we decided we wanted to take a break then go to MK tonight for a few more rides and fireworks

Unfortunately I could not simply add on a park hopper option— ie upgsdee from $16pp to $25pp

The system FORCED me to buy the $25 per person park hopper option on top of the $16 pp I had already bought.

And only guest services could fix this. Which is honestly mildly annoying in that it costs u time and energy to find a blue umbrella and remedy the situation.

I mean. Come on Disney. We are already paying you so much $$$ for all this genie+ stuff. Surely u can find a way that we can upgrade From a 1-
Park genie to a park-hoper genie to match our tickets without so much hassle.

I wondered about this. The days of spontaneity are gone at WDW. You have to know in the morning if you are park hopping and purchase your genie plus accordingly. I’m just going to bite the bullet each day and try not to think about it once it’s done.

 

[Guest Mode]

I’m in the parks now and can report it’s definitely annoying that if you opt to go from a one-day genie purchase to a park- hopper genie purchase you have to pay Full price TWICE and THEN go to guest services for a refund. They need to correct this asap.

Case in point: today we only planed to go to AK so I bought genie+ just for AK around midnight last night at $16pp. 5x 16 = $80

BUT after being done with AK by noon today we decided we wanted to take a break then go to MK tonight for a few more rides and fireworks

Unfortunately I could not simply add on a park hopper option— ie upgsdee from $16pp to $25pp

The system FORCED me to buy the $25 per person park hopper option on top of the $16 pp I had already bought.

And only guest services could fix this. Which is honestly mildly annoying in that it costs u time and energy to find a blue umbrella and remedy the situation.

I mean. Come on Disney. We are already paying you so much $$$ for all this genie+ stuff. Surely u can find a way that we can upgrade From a 1-
Park genie to a park-hoper genie to match our tickets without so much hassle.

I'm not in the hates Genie+ camp. I don't mind it and I didn't find it difficult or overly time consuming to use. I DO however think it's ridiculous that you can't switch to the park hopping option by just paying the difference between it and what you already bought.

 

[Miffy]

I’m in the parks now and can report it’s definitely annoying that if you opt to go from a one-day genie purchase to a park- hopper genie purchase you have to pay Full price TWICE and THEN go to guest services for a refund. They need to correct this asap.

Case in point: today we only planed to go to AK so I bought genie+ just for AK around midnight last night at $16pp. 5x 16 = $80

BUT after being done with AK by noon today we decided we wanted to take a break then go to MK tonight for a few more rides and fireworks

Unfortunately I could not simply add on a park hopper option— ie upgsdee from $16pp to $25pp

The system FORCED me to buy the $25 per person park hopper option on top of the $16 pp I had already bought.

And only guest services could fix this. Which is honestly mildly annoying in that it costs u time and energy to find a blue umbrella and remedy the situation.

I mean. Come on Disney. We are already paying you so much $$$ for all this genie+ stuff. Surely u can find a way that we can upgrade From a 1-
Park genie to a park-hoper genie to match our tickets without so much hassle.

Very sorry to hear this--you must be sorrier still--but thank you for reporting your experience. It's outrageous and seems designed to be yet another confusing G+ element, one that some people won't bother going to Guest Services about. The system knows you already bought G+ for one park. The price to buy the multi-park G+ should automatically revert to the difference between what you already paid and the new price.
Nevertheless, I hope you're having a fine rest of your day at MK.

 

[Miffy]

I wondered about this. The days of spontaneity are gone at WDW. You have to know in the morning if you are park hopping and purchase your genie plus accordingly. I’m just going to bite the bullet each day and try not to think about it once it’s done.

I think this is our plan for our upcoming trip. Just bite the Genie+ bullet and buy the multi-park one no matter what our other plans are. It's easier than having to go to Guest Services later.

But, gee, this makes me wonder: If you buy the multi-park G+ and use it for only one park that's not MK, can you go to Guest Services at the end of the day and get a refund for the difference if you never hopped? I'll bet the answer is no, but I'll be interested to see if anyone here posts about this circumstance.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hoping they fix the upgrade to hopper soon too.

Word to the wise, as long as the price remains the same, when purchasing G+ for the MK, always choose the ‘Multiple Parks’ option to kept the park hopping doors open.

 

[JMLBrats]

Dynamic pricing and algorithms run rampant in the vacation sphere. I long for the “olden” days of price simplicity.

Is it cheaper? Is it more expensive? It’s really the never ending particulars that have become “too much.”

I love Disney but they are that one friend that just cannot help but complicate things!

Now I just go and bow down to the Genie Gods, but I no longer do table service except for one meal. Still feel blessed.

Yeah, isn’t it amazing that something like this can get implemented so quickly but something like the dining plan that i definitely would’ve used this summer, just can’t start again until next year…hmmmm just sayin

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I think this change will end up saving us a little money over the course of our vacation. We’re another family that doesn’t buy park hoppers. We used to park hop waaaay back in the days when all multi day tickets came with park hopping. But once that became and add on we stopped using it and haven’t missed it. We take midday breaks but just go back to the same park.

Actually, we did buy it for one trip back in 2019. We ended up park hopping and once that whole week, and only so I could justify the upgrade

 

[georgina]

Tickets have gotten crazy! This year is the first time we decided to buy UK tickets. We were able to get 7 day hopper plus, includes photopass (and free magicbands if you pick up in Disney Springs) for $650usd each. Hoping not to have any issues but so far I have not come across reported problems from others sharing recent experience using. With tickets being electronic nowadays, mailing address is not the same issue it was even just a few years ago. You get a ticket number, put it in MDE and Good To Go!

ETA - for our Dec dates, WDW wants $827 for 7 day hopper, and BWticketing $785.

Wow that's a big price difference, and December tickets must be pricy! I haven't been paying enough attention to ticket prices at different times of the year. A couple of months ago I paid $670 for a 7 day PH for late August/early Sept directly from Disney.

 

[Minnie1222]

We're here and have been using Genie+ for the past few days. I can tell the majority is not buying G+ because 99.9 % of the lighting lanes are walk-through. I realize some of the lines are short anyway (15-30 min wait), but the LL stroll is only 1 to 3 min.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Here is a question I am hoping someone has the first hand knowledge to answer: as an AP holder, if I buy the park hopper genie in the morning, can I immediately start booking LL for different parks later in the day? I know under the old system, I would have to wait until 2pm when park hopping began to book a LL for an additional park. I am hoping that if I am paying for the hopper price in the morning, I won't have to wait until 2 to start booking a LL for my second park

 

[Miffy]

Here is a question I am hoping someone has the first hand knowledge to answer: as an AP holder, if I buy the park hopper genie in the morning, can I immediately start booking LL for different parks later in the day? I know under the old system, I would have to wait until 2pm when park hopping began to book a LL for an additional park. I am hoping that if I am paying for the hopper price in the morning, I won't have to wait until 2 to start booking a LL for my second park

I look forward to someone on the ground answering this question too, although my guess is that you won't have to wait until 2 to book it--you didn't before--but you will have to wait until return times for the attractions you want to book in your hopped-to park are 2 or later. Since you still can't hop until after 2. Correct?

 

[tbre1982]

I look forward to someone on the ground answering this question too, although my guess is that you won't have to wait until 2 to book it--you didn't before--but you will have to wait until return times for the attractions you want to book in your hopped-to park are 2 or later. Since you still can't hop until after 2. Correct

I look forward to someone on the ground answering this question too, although my guess is that you won't have to wait until 2 to book it--you didn't before--but you will have to wait until return times for the attractions you want to book in your hopped-to park are 2 or later. Since you still can't hop until after 2. Correct?

With the multi park Genie+ I was not able to book a pass for the 2nd park until the ride's RETURN time reached 2pm. But if the return time was post-2pm I could book it pre-2pm. IE I could book a Magic Kingdom Space Mountain return time for 2pm at 1230pm.

 

[Genie+]

With the multi park Genie+ I was not able to book a pass for the 2nd park until the ride's RETURN time reached 2pm. But if the return time was post-2pm I could book it pre-2pm. IE I could book a Magic Kingdom Space Mountain return time for 2pm at 1230pm.

Good to know!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Here is a question I am hoping someone has the first hand knowledge to answer: as an AP holder, if I buy the park hopper genie in the morning, can I immediately start booking LL for different parks later in the day? I know under the old system, I would have to wait until 2pm when park hopping began to book a LL for an additional park. I am hoping that if I am paying for the hopper price in the morning, I won't have to wait until 2 to start booking a LL for my second park

Booking LLs for your second park has not changed. As others say, once the return time for an attraction is booking for 2 PM or later, it may be booked by someone who does not have a reservation for that park. This is as it previously was. No change.

What has changed is that to book for a park you don’t have a reservation for you must either purchase the Multi Park G+ or, purchase G+ for the park being hopped to.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Thanks. That is what I needed to know

 

[Disturbia]

If you have park hoppers but park passes for MK but only plan to book Genie+ rides after 2 pm for a different park (say AK/Epcot - cheaper) do you have to pay for park hopper Genie+ or a regular Genie+ for AK or Epcot?

You could buy a LLI$ in AK AND Epcot so I suppose you would have to buy the park hopper Genie+ but just want to see if anyone experienced this.

Also, has anyone tried getting refunded via chat? I got FOP refunded (booked for a child too short accidentally) and on a separate occasion switched an anytime pass for ROTR (LlI$ ride broke down all evening) for GOTG (our next day park).