Disney Genie announcement

[Airb330]

I’m thinking rope drop will be more important than ever, for everyone.

Rope drop AND 7AM genie+/LL/Virtual queue picks will be important.

One thing I did like about FP+ was I could sleep in, go to the pool, and then go to MK at 3PM and actually get a lot done.

 

[Rebs007]

I wonder how well the app itself is gonna work in general... I'm sure we are all familiar with Disney's IT

Yep. And how angry are guests going to get when something they pay for doesn’t work! Wouldn’t want to be a cast member when this goes live

 

[JakeAZ]

I don't do rope drop anymore. I'm a night person

Disney has a $249pp "solution" for night people too

 

[PFopma]

We are going in Oct 2022 with some friends. I will absolutely pay for this for our entire group of 6. That trip is going to be a bucket list trip for the 2 friends who are going with us...they've never been to DL, we'll only be there for a week, etc.

We used Max Pass at DL on 3 different occasions before the pandemic shut everything down. We LOVED Max Pass.

I like how in this new system, there's no reserving your ride time 2 months in advance. I hated that about FP+. Preventing people from getting a ride FP before the actual day they're at the park makes it more equitable for everyone.

On the Max Pass system, what we'd do in order to take best advantage of it is this:

• request a FP on the DL app using our Max Pass for all of our tickets.
• app tells you what your 1-hr return window is.
• go to the ride during that return window.
• after you've scanned your ticket (and, thus, 'used' that FP), then while still in the FP line waiting to get on the ride, select your FP/MP for the next attraction. Sometimes, we'd have to wait to do this after the 2nd "scan your ticket" spot (only a couple of rides at DL had that...all the rest of them were 1 ticket scan from what I remember)
• app tells you what your 1 hour return window is for ride #2.
• go on a different ride or do something else while you wait for return window for ride #2 to begin.
• go to ride #2 during your return window.
• Lather, rinse, repeat.

On one evening, ODD & I did this all evening long from about 6:30 - 11:00 pm and used 13 different FPs in that time frame.

This is how the old paper fast pass system worked at DL - it let you move efficiently around the park

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

What's interesting is this appears to be similar to Universal's Express Pass system, but far cheaper. Universal's Express Pass is almost like buying a second park ticket. The advantage of that though it generally the Express lines are fairly short since not many people want to pay for it or their deluxe hotels that offer the service. I can see these new Lightening/Genie lines getting really long

It will be interesting to see if they offer it as a perk for deluxe guest. Needless to say this is a plan money grab. Socialism in the park on full display now.

 

[disneyworldsk]

tired of this 7 a.m. nonsense. now there's more 7 a.m. nonsense. what is it with disney and 7 a.m. They're like my mother when i was in high school pulling me out of bed to start my day....isn't that why we all moved out of mom's house?!!!

 

[Disneylover99]

Absolutely. Just like with previous FP. Arrive at RD, ride as many as you can, and have your 1st pass for about 2 hours after opening time.

Or you could have just scheduled your 3 fp’s for later in the day and not get up early.

Wasn’t that the whole point of fp+? Avoid the running of the bulls like original fp? Spread out the crowds throughout the day? Now we’re back to survival of the fittest in the mornings - Genie style. Lol.

 

[JakeAZ]

Socialism in the park on full display now

huh?

 

[Jothmas]

They will also want to get as much bang for their bucks as possible.

There are some people who travel to WDW who don't appear to want to get as much bang for their buck as possible. For example, I put into that category people who wait in a 180 minute line for an attraction. I think even with the new system there will be people who don't use it efficiently.

 

[Airb330]

Or you could have just scheduled your 3 fp’s for later in the day and not get up early.

Wasn’t that the whole point of fp+? Avoid the running of the bulls like original fp? Spread out the crowds throughout the day? Now we’re back to survival of the fittest in the mornings - Genie style. Lol.

Yes it feels like a huge step back unless you’re a morning person.

 

[JakeAZ]

tired of this 7 a.m. nonsense. now there's more 7 a.m. nonsense. what is it with disney and 7 a.m. They're like my mother when i was in high school pulling me out of bed to start my day....isn't that why we all moved out of mom's house?!!!

There's only 7am nonsense if you want to purchase specific rides. From what I've read, you don't get the 7am head start for regular Genie rides

 

[beachdreamr1229]

So, I'm totally fine with the $15 for tier 2 rides because I've already done that at DLR with MP. But, this a la carte stuff for all the best rides...I don't know. It seems just overly complicated and frustrating. I hate the idea of separating haves and have nots, too. The cost of the tickets is bad enough and all these up-charges just make it worse.

 

[Wiltony]

Hm, I just skipped straight to the last page to see if we’d burned anything down yet. I’ll check back….

Definitely ready to start setting things on fire!

Socialism in the park on full display now.

I think this is just about the farthest you can go in the opposite direction of Socialism lol.

 

[SealedSeven]

I'm holding out until I can purchase specific seats on rides (like in a theater or airplane) at a moment's notice and have a drone pick me up wherever I am in the park and throw me directly into the seat. Sure, it will be a million spacebucks, but it will be worth it!

Shh. Stop giving ideas. What they may do is make it so Genie+ guests get the full show, ex RotR, while regular queue skips the pre shows...

 

[VandVsmama]

I think there will be a lot inflexible people who will choose the attraction they want to go on next, regardless of when the next window is. People who are flexible will be able to take advantage of choosing whatever attraction has the shortest time until you can get on it. It could be like it it was with FP+ where all day you could just keep picking whichever attraction had the soonest start time for your next one and use FP+ for every attraction.

That’s exactly how we used Max Pass at DL. If you’re willing to be flexible, then it was great. Some attractions did have the FP windows get “taken” sooner than others (Splash Mtn, Space Mtn).

 

[Lupin]

So, you can make "one at a time". Does that mean if my next lightning pass is 3 hours from now, I can't book another one until I ride that? The "next generation of Max Pass" sounds very restrictive.

If I recall with Maxpass you could only do one at a time and there were times when you booked something, waited for the time to arrive and then when you went to book something else most of the stuff worth getting a fastpass for was like 4 hours away. It kind of sucked in that respect. It was much nicer in WDW when you could at least reserve 3 rides ahead of time and then start reserving again when the first one was starting.

This is basically just another pay-to-play price increase in an attempt to keep the crowds at bay. It's virtually impossible now to do Disney on a budget and receive the same experience as 2-3 years ago. It costs a lot more now for the same product.

 

[VandVsmama]

This is how the old paper fast pass system worked at DL - it let you move efficiently around the park

yep! I remember those days!

 

[Mike Mantis]

huh?

I've made a few snarky posts in my time here and this is a Disney money grab. But I've made peace with having to pay more to get more / better service as that is the way most things in life have moved. (Don't flame me!)

I remember when a 5 day pass with park hopper and 2 "waterpark" days was $250 and never expired just 15ish years ago. Times change. We now have a $6k *two night* Star Wars hotel experience. That is literally a 10 day European Cruise with airfare!!! For some it's worth every penny.

Right now the person who has never been to Disney World or going for their first time, or who was saving and canceled because of COVID and rebooking are the ones who really get the shaft here.

However, this may get more play than just on the "disney blogs". Already saw postings on CNBC, Fox, Hollywood Reporter... Places where normal Disney news isn't posted...

 

[SL6827]

Wonder when DCL will start charging you to ride the AquaDuck and to enter Castaway Cay?

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

The average European spends 14 nights at WDW, lets say they are average size (family of four) that’s just short of $1000 for Genie+ depending on exchange rate. So that’s a total of nearly $3000 (including park tickets) just to utilise the parks! Does Chapek not realise that consumers are as important as shareholders?