Disney Genie announcement

[rileyz]

yeah, the Disney obsession is strange. I‘ve even heard there is places on the internet where people go to discuss Disney in their free time. They even create names and have pictures associated with Disney. It’s just so strange.

Check out how often I post since 2008 and then judge my “obsession”. Fights over tumblers? $5000 for 2 nights at a Star Wars hotel? It’s not for me but I do question what hole people are trying to fill in their lives. I’ve been around long enough to see it go from fun and fandom to obsession.

 

[btk2333]

I will definitely use both Genie+ and LIghtning Lane for some days but not all of my park days.

I'm especially looking forward to being able to pay to ride Rise of the Resistance and not deal with the virtual queue. I'd happily pay $30 for my son and I to ride that at a predictable time and move on with our day. Since I've never done Remy, I'll pay for that one too. The other Lightning Lanes would depend on the day and the rest of our plans. We paid for MaxPass at Disneyland and this system seems similar.

My wife and I have a short trip coming up for Wine and Dine without the kids and I'm excited to be able to pay a little extra and get a lot more done than we otherwise would be able to.

We're going in February with the kids and in-laws and could see us buying this multiple days on that trip as well.

I'm excited to try things out in a few weeks. I get limited vacation and time off and often would be happy to pay more to get more done

 

[DisWeaver]

Check out how often I post since 2008 and then judge my “obsession”. Fights over tumblers? $5000 for 2 nights at a Star Wars hotel? It’s not for me but I do question what hole people are trying to fill in their lives. I’ve been around long enough to see it go from fun and fandom to obsession.

Maybe people are trying to ensure that the time they spend at the parks is enjoyable to them? I’ve been around long enough not to worry about such things.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

List of Attractions included in Genie+ and those which will be LL.

This doesn’t say anything about stacking… This makes it look like if it’s 10 am, and the next G+ SDD LL is at 5 pm, then you’re not doing any other LL’s…

 

[Jennasis]

My breakdown on Genie+ is this, assuming a busy park day like the summer:

Magic Kingdom? Worth it. 17 attractions, 5 to 6 of which generally have substantial wait times.
IAS—Mine Train? Yes; Space Mountain? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Mine Train and Space Mountain at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only)
Note: Space Mountain will likely go to Genie+ once Tron is online.

Animal Kingdom? Not worth it. 8 attractions, only 3 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Flight of Passage Yes; Expedition Everest? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only). Expedition Everest also has a fairly quick single-rider line.

Epcot? Not worth it. 9 attractions, only 2 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Ratatouille? Yes; Frozen Ever After? No.
Alternative? Mixed; You can ride Frozen Ever After at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only).
Note: Frozen Ever After will likely go to Genie+ once Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is online.

Hollywood Studios? Worth it. 12 attractions, 4 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Rise of the Resistance? Yes; Mickey's Runaway Railway? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Rise of the Resistance and Mickey's Runaway Railway at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only)
Note: They're throwing us a bone with Slinky Dog Dash being available on Genie+. Who slipped that by Chapek?

Get out of my head. This. ALL of this.

 

[Tonyz]

This is just so convoluted... what is Disney doing???

 

[Jwaire]

This is just so convoluted... what is Disney doing???

Getting that 7 billion back, unfortunately.

 

[Tonyz]

Getting that 7 billion back, unfortunately.

Is that the reported amount they lost during COVID?

 

[wisblue]

I was hoping this wouldn't start until after my trip Oct 25 - 31. I will be watching closely when it starts to see if we will need to use it

My son's favourite ride is Space... having to pay for that will be really annoying.

If it’s a favorite that would seem to make it a good candidate for Early Entry rope drop.

 

[Jwaire]

Is that the reported amount they lost during COVID?

Disney reported they lost $6.9 billion on Parks in 2020. The overall company lost around $2.86 billion. They returned to profitability in Q3 of 2021. So, they have a little make up work to do it. They're used to the [domestic] Parks propping them up without having to spend much on them. It's generally the 2nd most profitable division behind media (ABC, ESPN, etc).

 

[elgerber]

Reading the info on Disney’s site, they do have it worded to sound like you can only pay for one IA$ at a time. It says one at a time then also says you can book your “first” at 7am (on-site). I truly hope I am reading that wrong

 

[wisblue]

Here’s a prediction.

When Genie+ first comes out, if this board is any indication, a lot of people will decline to pay and a lot of others won’t know about it or won’t know how it works and won’t pay.

That will make Genie + very useful for early users because the supply of available LL reservations will disappear much more slowly than paper FP and FP+ ever did.

As people report on their positive experiences (especially at MK and DHS) more people will bite the bullet and buy Genie+ and that greater demand will drive the $15 price up.

My plan for a 3 day trip in November with 4 people and hopper tickets is to get Genie+ every day to see how well it works in conjunction with Early Entry, rope drop, and park hopping. I might also get an IAS reservation or 2 if it will help avoid rope drop crushes to things like FOP and ROTR.

How well that all works will help me decide what to do on future trips. If I think it wasn’t worth it I’ll chalk it up to experience.

 

[Doogieca]

Right in the middle of our trip! October 19th is our 3rd day, we have 3 more after it. I wonder how that will all work.

I'm in the exact same boat, have two nights of EEH as well, but probably will p(l)ay along to just see what it's like. I've already budgeted in my mind for the G+ and will take a wait and see on the IA$.

 

[gharter]

My breakdown on Genie+ is this, assuming a busy park day like the summer:

Magic Kingdom? Worth it. 17 attractions, 5 to 6 of which generally have substantial wait times.
IAS—Mine Train? Yes; Space Mountain? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Mine Train and Space Mountain at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only)
Note: Space Mountain will likely go to Genie+ once Tron is online.

Animal Kingdom? Not worth it. 8 attractions, only 3 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Flight of Passage Yes; Expedition Everest? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only). Expedition Everest also has a fairly quick single-rider line.

Epcot? Not worth it. 9 attractions, only 2 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Ratatouille? Yes; Frozen Ever After? No.
Alternative? Mixed; You can ride Frozen Ever After at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only).
Note: Frozen Ever After will likely go to Genie+ once Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is online.

Hollywood Studios? Worth it. 12 attractions, 4 of which have substantial wait times.
IAS—Rise of the Resistance? Yes; Mickey's Runaway Railway? No.
Alternative? Yes; You can ride both Rise of the Resistance and Mickey's Runaway Railway at 1) rope drop, 2) early morning magic hours or 3) extra evening magic hours (Deluxe Guests only)
Note: They're throwing us a bone with Slinky Dog Dash being available on Genie+. Who slipped that by Chapek?

I would agree MK is worth paying for Genie +.
Not sure on HS. I think it all depends on how busy the park is. Unfortunately you probably won't know that before paying for Genie +.
Agree no reason at EPCOT or AK.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

To all the good folks saying “I won’t pay for this”.

Exceptional. Do not pay for this. Huzzah.

Wishful thinking. I think we all know that 98.2% of all the people saying "I'll never pay for this" are going to pay for this. It's simple human psychology.

My wife and I will be there for a quick off site stay 10/19-21. I guess I will feel compelled to give this a try since it will be brabd new the day we get there

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I would agree MK is worth paying for Genie +.
Not sure on HS. I think it all depends on how busy the park is. Unfortunately you probably won't know that before paying for Genie +.
Agree no reason at EPCOT or AK.

That's what I was thinking too. Epcot and AK have so few attractions that it hardly seems to make G+ worth it.

 

[DavidNYC]

Yup. This is legit FastPass+ under a new name, with no advance booking (which should be a positive the day of for getting Genie+ times and for Standby) but now fee based. I don't understand all the angst that now you can't do anything unless you pay for this.

Not at all. The fact that you have no control over a return time makes this nothing like FP+. It’s more like a paid electronic version of the original FP system. The angst is that Disney has taken nearly full control of your schedule unless you just want to resign yourself to standby all day. Their marketing for this is truly Orwellian. In one sentence it tells you how the app will keep telling you where to go and the next sentence talks about how you can be more spontaneous. No matter how you look at it - people whom actually liked planning their Disney trips - which is a great number of people on this board - just lost a hell of a lot of control over their day and most likely a great increase in wait times overall (not to mention how bad this is for people who don’t want to wake at 7am and rope drop).

 

[g-dad66]

So I'm sitting here thinking about our upcoming trip with 6 Disney days planned, will do 2 parks twice.

But we could outlay $90 per person:
$15 Genie+ for each of the 4 parks, plus $15 IA$ for FoP and $15 IA$ for RotR, do Early Entry rope drop for Space Mtn, Everest, Frozen, and MMRR, if lucky get BG for Remy (if unlucky, another $15 IA$), and we'll skip Seven Dwarfs.

And we could conceivably accomplish everything we want in 4 days instead of 6. Suspect we would save quite a bit more than $90 per person....

Too late to modify upcoming trip (already have 6-day park tickets), but it's certainly something to ponder further for future trips.

 

[Kbrb]

And there is it is.

How on earth they think they will get overseas guests to stay 14 nights on site and expect them to fork out $60 average for 10 of those days is beyond me. If we pay we do everything in shorter time meaning we dont need 14 day tickets at all.

God speed Geniepigs, i await the honest reviews.

 

[jrsharp21]

I will definitely use both Genie+ and LIghtning Lane for some days but not all of my park days.

I'm especially looking forward to being able to pay to ride Rise of the Resistance and not deal with the virtual queue. I'd happily pay $30 for my son and I to ride that at a predictable time and move on with our day. Since I've never done Remy, I'll pay for that one too. The other Lightning Lanes would depend on the day and the rest of our plans. We paid for MaxPass at Disneyland and this system seems similar.

My wife and I have a short trip coming up for Wine and Dine without the kids and I'm excited to be able to pay a little extra and get a lot more done than we otherwise would be able to.

We're going in February with the kids and in-laws and could see us buying this multiple days on that trip as well.

I'm excited to try things out in a few weeks. I get limited vacation and time off and often would be happy to pay more to get more done

Rise of the Resistance hasn’t had a virtual queue for about 2 weeks now. You have been able to wait in a normal line to ride. Going towards park close lately has been a walk on.