Disney Genie announcement

[Sunelis]

Does anyone know if ILL$ allows you to choose the ride time or do you have to purchase the time it gives you? In other words, if I want to park hop to HS later in the day, can I wake up at 7:00 and select a late afternoon time for ROR, or do I have to continue checking throughout the day for when a late afternoon time is available?

From what I understand yes for ILL$ you can choose any available time.

 

[Disturbia]

Disney wants you to think of the price of ILL$ as the cost to skip the line, not the cost to ride the ride. And there really is something to that. It can be quite valuable to skip a hot and tedious line of 90 minutes or more---especially if you have whining kids and only limited time in the park, and have already sunk huge sums of money into your vacation. But at some point, it's hard to avoid feeling like you just paid $10, $20, or more to ride a ride. Especially with short rides like SDMT, that is a tough pill to swallow. You're paying more money than it costs to see a movie, for a cute and fun but hardly thrilling ride that lasts less than 1% as long as a movie! Even if you don't add up the costs for multiple rides and multiple family members over multiple days, it's still a lot of money! And you're right that, once you do add it up . . . .

To think we had free fast passes, dining and resort offers just last year..

Timon: stop living in the past Pumba!

 

[katyringo]

Does anyone know if ILL$ allows you to choose the ride time or do you have to purchase the time it gives you? In other words, if I want to park hop to HS later in the day, can I wake up at 7:00 and select a late afternoon time for ROR, or do I have to continue checking throughout the day for when a late afternoon time is available?

you can choose the time for the individual lightening lane upgrades.

 

[LSUfan4444]

That certainly was not the case late July/early August.

I was there for 9 nights over July 4 and another 4 nights in late August evacuating for Hurricane Ida...lines were long, actual standby times were low. It's been that way for over a year now outside of a few exceptions. Rope dropping, being there late and usual "tips and tricks" made things much more simple to spend the days without tons of time in standby lines

 

[WDWRNTLK]

Please lmk if there is a better thread for this, but I have 2 things to add/ask.
1- Our son is now old enough that we were looking forward to skipping RD and staying until park close instead. Sooooo that means that I'm going to have to set an alarm everyday at 0700 so that I can make G+ reservations if we are going to use it that day? That freaking sucks. I'm not a person that can get back to sleep once I've gotten up. Ugh.
2- If we're using G+ that day and I get up at 0700, can I tell it that we won't be in the park until later in the day? Or does it give 1st time available no matter what? Ex if I want mine train but we aren't getting to the park until 1PM, will it give me a 1000 reservation or can I tell it that I want something after 1PM?
Do we even know the answers to these questions yet?

 

[LSUfan4444]

The only major issue I have with G+ is no re-rides.

This is why, to me, early morning G+ is not really an advantage. Thats where rope dropping should pay big dividends I'm thinking. Like others have said, I think the key here is to use them in the manner that I used FP+ which to me, was never about quantity and more about quality (certain attractions at certain times). The implementation still remains to be seen but with our touring style of rope drop, a normal mid day break and coming back int he evening I could see myself using both ILL and G+ if I could schedule a ILL just before we left the park around lunch then G+ and my second ILL in the afternoon evening.

 

[LSUfan4444]

I hope I’m wrong but it’s a feeling I’m getting!

The pricing will be static but very few will cost $20

 

[Isabelle12345]

I guess we don’t know the question to that yet, but does your first LL selection have to be in the park where your park reservation is?
For instance, we are planning on RD Animal Kingdom, take advantage of the early entry to do Fop and Navi, then Everest and dinosaur standby, then do a trail or two and go back to the resort, then go to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon
Could I book LLs for popular rides at MK starting at 2PM without making a first LL in AK?

 

[Marionnette]

Please lmk if there is a better thread for this, but I have 2 things to add/ask.
1- Our son is now old enough that we were looking forward to skipping RD and staying until park close instead. Sooooo that means that I'm going to have to set an alarm everyday at 0700 so that I can make G+ reservations if we are going to use it that day? That freaking sucks. I'm not a person that can get back to sleep once I've gotten up. Ugh.
2- If we're using G+ that day and I get up at 0700, can I tell it that we won't be in the park until later in the day? Or does it give 1st time available no matter what? Ex if I want mine train but we aren't getting to the park until 1PM, will it give me a 1000 reservation or can I tell it that I want something after 1PM?
Do we even know the answers to these questions yet?

G+ offers the next available return time for a party of your size. Getting up at 7 AM to book your first G+ may not be necessary. So much will depend on how quickly some attraction's G+ get booked up. If you want SDD or MFSR, they are likely to go quickly. If you want IASW, chances good are that sleeping in won't hurt you.

 

[lorileahb]

Is genie going to magically appear in my Disney app or am I going to have to update it?

 

[Marionnette]

I guess we don’t know the question to that yet, but does your first LL selection have to be in the park where your park reservation is?
For instance, we are planning on RD Animal Kingdom, take advantage of the early entry to do Fop and Navi, then Everest and dinosaur standby, then do a trail or two and go back to the resort, then go to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon
Could I book LLs for popular rides at MK starting at 2PM without making a first LL in AK?

Are you referring to G+ selections or ILL$ attractions when you say LL? I think the answer would be different for the two.

For ILL$, you will be able to choose a return time when you pay for them. It's possible, but not confirmed, that you could purchase them for your second or third park of the day.

G+ selections are "next available" time slots. So getting G+ selections at a second or third park for later in the day will require waiting and constant monitoring of return times for the "popular" rides. They could easily book up by mid-afternoon.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Is genie going to magically appear in my Disney app or am I going to have to update it?

I'm assuming there will be an app update. The big question is 'when'....

 

[Sunelis]

I'm assuming there will be an app update. The big question is 'when'....

The 18th at 11h59 pm.

 

[Delirium]

I really, really hope this is a colossal flop. It may have appeal to some Disney visitors, but I have to think the vast majority would prefer FP+.

 

[Turksmom]

The 18th at 11h59 pm.

It's Disney IT- the 21st at 9:32am, after wiping everybody's hotel, dining, and park reservations and being completely inaccessible for 3 days.

 

[lorileahb]

It's Disney IT- the 21st at 9:32am, after wiping everybody's hotel, dining, and park reservations and being completely inaccessible for 3 days.

Big ADR glitch of 2020 is flashing through my mind...

 

[scrappinginontario]

I really, really hope this is a colossal flop. It may have appeal to some Disney visitors, but I have to think the vast majority would prefer FP+.

I really don't see them ever going back to FP+. FP+ was free and this will earn them money. It's extremely rare for a company to go back and offer something free when the new system is earning money for them.

Paid FP have been rumored and a topic of conversation here for over 2 years. It's just now becoming a reality. I may not purchase it or, not purchase it often but I'm not holding my breath that they'll go back to free FPs.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

It's Disney IT- the 21st at 9:32am, after wiping everybody's hotel, dining, and park reservations and being completely inaccessible for 3 days.

Time for me to screenshot ADRs for upcoming trip!!

 

[Disturbia]

At midnight is when my tickets get grayed out and I can’t search for dining.

Also Disney clearly stated that LL is limited and can run out; I would think Remy (because it’s new) and ROTR (demand) are the ones more at risk of selling out. Also check if park passes are sold out, busy day would mean more demand. You can book both LL rides in your second park it’s just 2 limit per day. If you want a Remy BG, you need to have that as your first park (park reservation required) even if passes are available after 2 pm when you’re allowed to park hop.

I think Genie+ was intended to be more of an in park thing. If there is a limit of 8 (we don’t know if we have to select few top pick rides for Genie+ and it uses the same screen as Genie-limits 8, erases ride if you rode standby). If they do limit then I can see availability for Big Thunder still available at 11 am.

 

[Disturbia]

Screenshot everything as you need proof if something goes wrong, even a holdup during payment etc