Disney Genie announcement

[Delirium]

Actually I think it's a huge advantage for offsite guests. Top tier fastpasses were usually gone by 30 days.

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Correct. My point was in response to someone touting the 'benefit' to onsite guests of getting to make your choice at 7 a.m. If anyone thinks that is a better deal for onsite guests than what we had with FP+, then I have some beachfront property in Nebraska to sell them.

 

[mouserrificmom]

I won't complain before I have a chance to see it in action . . . the concept (except for the additional fee for headliners) feels very much like the orginial paper fast pass program back in the day, but at a cost and without the benefit of being able to gift a random stranger coming in to the park as you are leaving with a fastpass you won't be using - gosh how I loved doing that!!

What surprises me most is how Disney does seem to be doing their very best at stripping the benefits of staying on property away from guests. I have several close friends who no longer stay on property due to the resort parking fees, more who will not because of the loss of Magical Express. We still value the feeling of the "Disney Bubble" but when I look at what trip might cost if we were to move off site and benefit from more space I am sometimes amazed at what we do continue to tolearte paying for. Our family trip costs will rise significantly now that we will no longer be able to take advantage of ("free") Magical Express and will likely pay a per day fee for genie+ If am reading it correctly, I will no longer have to purchase memory maker which I typically purchase for every trip, but the cost increase would far exceed the cost of memory maker (for my family of 5, if I were to purchase Genie+ benefits for each of our park days, a trip cost would rise $525). I wonder too how that will work - are you only eligible for photo downloads on the days that your purchased Lighting Lane, and not necessarily your whole trip?

Sounds like there are a lot of kinks that still need to be worked out - while I am certain it would never happen, I wish that the cost of entering a park might be reduced to accommodate for the additional cost of paying for your ride selections. The costs are already so outrageous, and add on after add on makes it so much more so. I just hope that my children will be able to bring their children to Walt Disney World when they get to that stage in life and that it doesn't become so expensive that it is out of reach.

 

[tguz]

This will add $1050 to my 7 person family’s 10 park days. For something previously free. Insane.

I don't have any way of knowing but maybe it is allowed to only buy the $15 add on for certain days and not all days of the vacation? I am hoping so because we have a 10 day trip in December and I wouldn't need to buy it for every day since we will visit all parks multiple times.

 

[dunkindonut]

I also think that using LL as a pay to enter thing is such garbage. Rise of the Resistance is a phenomenal ride but the queue issue is non other but the fault of Disney. Disney clearly should have designed it better, and now if you REALLY want to ride ROTR you can just pay? Such garbage. What a sickening time.

 

[jim01]

This will add $1050 to my 7 person family’s 10 park days. For something previously free. Insane.

You also get park music and photo filters, sounds like a deal to me.

 

[gharter]

So in the end, they raised ticket prices by $45+ per person without raising ticket prices.
Would have been nice to have given some benefit to those staying on site. Maybe let you get your LL a week earlier, give an extra LL ordinary or top tier for spending the extra to stay on site.
Losing many of the perks of on site, I wonder if this will drive more people to stay off site?

 

[CarolynFH]

If am reading it correctly, I will no longer have to purchase memory maker

I think that’s just for Disneyland, not for WDW - sorry!

 

[jimmymc]

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Correct. My point was in response to someone touting the 'benefit' to onsite guests of getting to make your choice at 7 a.m. If anyone thinks that is a better deal for onsite guests than what we had with FP+, then I have some beachfront property in Nebraska to sell them.

Oh yes that's definitely true. The value of being on-site continues to drop.

 

[mouserrificmom]

I think that’s just for Disneyland, not for WDW - sorry!

well phooey!

 

[Goofy'slady]

Great article from DFB that breaks it all down:
https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021...isney-world-soon-and-its-called-disney-genie/

Thank you so much for linking this article. Now that it’s clearly explained and laid out to me in a way I can understand I believe my family will be taking advantage of this if it’s ready for our mid October visit. I would like to think it would be since they made mention of the new Ratatouille ride in EPCOT which opens Oct 1st.

Since my family is staying off property it makes perks like this more affordable. However, for next year’s visit we were planning on staying back on property so this will need to be heavily considered as it will increase the overall vacation for my family of four drastically.

 

[jimmymc]

So in the end, they raised ticket prices by $45+ per person without raising ticket prices.
Would have been nice to have given some benefit to those staying on site. Maybe let you get your LL a week earlier, give an extra LL ordinary or top tier for spending the extra to stay on site.
Losing many of the perks of on site, I wonder if this will drive more people to stay off site?

I think it all depends on how many people buy it. If only a few people do, then it's like any other park and everyone just waits in standby lines. If everyone buys it, then you're correct.

Also I agree it's a big blow to on-site perks.

 

[PirateNovelist]

Boarding passes will still be free, or you can pay for a guaranteed ride.

You join a virtual queue like RotR, subject to it being avaiable, but you could also pay extra for a Lightning Lane - subject to one being available.

As much as I would hate to be like "I am going to save $15 and risk it". I am spending 2 days at Epcot for my own reasons as I didn't get to explore it the last time I went. However, it's just myself and my mom.

While I hate to spend extra and I totally get the negative of it for those who have bigger families, I will be going for it. I won't bet getting photo pass because that going to be my ride budget and if that's all I spent it on. I recognize my own privilege with this and it's just my own personal situation.

If this means I can basically at 7 am guarantee I get ROTR and Remmy for my trip, it's worth the money for my situation. I am not dining every meal, I will be bringing my own food for most of the small trip I am going.

Since my mom is disabled, but unable to qualify for the DAC, the $15 a day for the + will really help us maximize rides. Thank you for the info.

 

[Scott McDuck]

Posting for the first time in 1.5 years just to express my disgust. To me, it’s as simple as charging for something that used to be (and should be) free. Also not a fan of having to wake up at 7am every morning on vacation or…well, I’m not sure what you need to do if you stay off-site. And then on top of that, getting to pay REALLY big bucks for tier 1 rides. But once they smell all this new money, watch out--Rise of the Resistance around Christmastime is just going to be a flat-out auction to see how much money they can extract from their wealthiest patrons. $500 per ride? Do I hear $600? (And then the ride breaks down.)

They only thing more disappointing than this is the people who don’t mind or, worse, actually applaud the move. There is a very large segment for whom no price increase, no removed benefit, no cutback in hours/shows/ride capacity will be a concern. They will happily pay for whatever Disney does, and Disney will happily oblige.

Perhaps my favorite are people saying “we should have been expecting this.” Why, because Disney can charge for anything? Coming soon…Want to swim in your hotel pool? Buy your Little Mermaid pass (or pass+ if you want a beach chair). Nightly fireworks show? Sorry, have to buy a special ticket for that. As people earlier asked, how long until they charge for toilet paper, air? They’ve become a more expensive version of Spirit Airlines.

 

[HopperFan]

I am wondering though if the genie plus will know you have that reservation and will try for something else. For example you have a sci fi reservation, they are probably going to suggest Star Tours/Muppets/something in Galaxy's Edge.

Or you just got off Haunted Mansion and CHH is too busy right now come back later/go to pecos bills.

Its definitely going to be trial and error for a while but I do wonder if that is something that is going to happen.

I was part of test group for MagicBands. I had a long conversation with a CM who was an IT guy. He told me all about the new PhotoPass that was coming out attached to the MagicBand. That is could get photos without tapping etc. That the expectation was that the sale of the PhotoPass packages alone could pay for the cost of developing the MB in xx years.

Part of our conversation was the huge capability that came with the MagicBand and what it could be used for in the future. Well the program slowed down, stuff happened and it never got off the ground BUT our phones became very sophisticated and MDE was developed and by looking at the new video of what we can do with Genie .... we are all dwelling on Genie+ but .... the potential bigger program for Disney is the Genie which almost all of us will be forced to use.

What you are saying is EXACTLY what the original plan was for these MagicBands, now to include Magicbands and your phone. To know where you are at all times, to know if you are in a slow part of the park so they can push you to do things there OR if it's really busy to push you to a slower part. If a restaurant isn't full, send to notifications that they are open for dining right then or if they really need it push discounts to you if you go dine. They know if you are hanging in your room or hotel too much - Genie could be used to push you offers or tell you tickets are still open for after event or dining is open at the restaurant at your hotel. Genie is there to put all kinds of ideas in your head that will help you feel like you did so much with the Genie helping BUT it will also allow Disney to drive income, manage crowds, pull CMs to areas of need. It can even do sophisticated data collection for sales and marketing - doesn't help us but could alter how things are done later.

What you are saying was part of a plan many years ago that didn't happen (according to this man but everything he said regarding PP happened for the most part) that took longer to get here than I thought, but appears to be happening from the video they made about Genie.

 

[scard192]

our trip in April 2022 will the last for my family. If I hadn't promised my 2 DGD that we would celebrate my retirement (March 2020) at Disney I would just cancel.

Does not seem to be much advantage to stay on site anymore. No free transport to/from the airport. No attraction booking advantage for staying on site. No more extra magic hours. Extra costs for things that were included a few years ago are adding up. Can I afford it, yes but I will choose not to after this trip.
Likely going to have to buy a new phone. the 2 year old one works fine for me now that I am retired, but doubt it will for Genie.

Grand kids really want to visit Universal; that will be our next trip to Orlando.

 

[cdurham1]

I don’t see how the free version of the genie will be beneficial if everyone has access to it and thousands are touring the parks in essentially the same way. Maybe at MK this will be somewhat helpful as there are a lot of attractions but at parks like HS where there are only a handful I just don’t see how this will be a benefit. Pay to play will be the new norm. Really gonna miss fast pass as I had it down to a science

I think, theoretically, you are supposed to pick the attractions and interests and then genie recommends a course of action. So, not everyone would be the same. If everyone just picks all the attractions, then, yes, it probably won't help. But I am generally in agreement with you. It will be really interesting to see what percentage of guests just go with the free option and what percentage go Genie+

 

[cdurham1]

our trip in April 2022 will the last for my family. If I hadn't promised my 2 DGD that we would celebrate my retirement (March 2020) at Disney I would just cancel.

Does not seem to be much advantage to stay on site anymore. No free transport to/from the airport. No attraction booking advantage for staying on site. No more extra magic hours. Extra costs for things that were included a few years ago are adding up. Can I afford it, yes but I will choose not to after this trip.

Grand kids really want to visit Universal; that will be our next trip to Orlando.

Do it! Universal was, by far, the highlight of our recent trip!

 

[Lashed34]

I think, theoretically, you are supposed to pick the attractions and interests and then genie recommends a course of action. So, not everyone would be the same. If everyone just picks all the attractions, then, yes, it probably won't help. But I am generally in agreement with you. It will be really interesting to see what percentage of guests just go with the free option and what percentage go Genie+

Could possibly work at MK, but HS? It will run out of suggestions within an hour.

 

[brightlined]

Except that Galaxy's Edge is Disney's belated response to all of HP.

That doesn't really mean anything. I mean, it still exists - they still built it. (They built Pandora, too.)

On the first day of opening ROTR was down for hours. I know, I was there. And it continues to break down almost daily.

So does Hagrid's. The point that I've been making is that Universal isn't immune from the problems that Disney has. It's closer to a "six of one-half-dozen" kind of thing. Going from Disney to Universal is trading these issues for those issues.

For people who love roller coasters (I do not), Velocicoaster is in a league of it's own. My husband said it's the best roller coaster he's ever ridden.

I wasn't noting the quality. (I've also heard that it's amazing - but I'll nudge that you're an echo of the many people who can't/won't be able to enjoy the new great ride at the park.) Someone was lauding how quickly Universal installed it compared to Tron or Cosmic Rewind, and it's not a fair comparison, especially with the latter.

 

[PJ]

Maybe someone already said this, but part of this sounds an awful lot like our first trip to DL in 1975 when you bought a coupon book but you could buy additional coupons for the "E ticket" rides.