Should I buy an AP with the new Genie?!

[disneyfan2kids]

We are DVC members. I Admittedly have not kept up with Genie plus and the new changes to Disney World. We have not traveled since December 2019. We are going to travel in January 2022. I assumed it would be better to get annual passes and try to travel three times in one year. However it will now cost us close to $4700 for a family of five to do for AP’s!

If we can actually get three trips out of it I suppose it may be worthwhile, although way more expensive than we have done in the past?!? However I’m not up-to-date on Genie plus and the lightning lane. Is this almost $5,000 not even going to allow us to ride some rides? I need to do some research I know, I’m hoping the experts here can advise me. We typically do not wake up early, we get up around eight or 9 AM and make it to the parks typically by 10 Or 11AM. It’s always been worthwhile to us because we had a few fast passes. However we are not commando park types we just like to ride a few rides that we love and then people watch and walk around the park for the day. If we can no longer even ride a few rides arriving at 11 AM without paying MORE than the 5K AP cost, then that absolutely affects my decision about whether or not we get annual passes. Can someone Summarize the differences for a familiar like ours?

 

[GBRforWDW]

Genie+ and lightning lane options are the New Fastpass+. You can still ride all the rides without, you'll just be using the regular standby queue for everything.

However, for rides that utilize the boarding pass system, Rise of the Resistance and Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, you will still need a boarding group to ride If you opt not to purchase the Lightning Lane option. With the 2 boarding group drops per day, you can still sleep in and get to the park late morning and have one opportunity at 1pm to try for the boarding pass.

Just remember, the 7am boarding group drop, you don't need to be in the park for, whereas the 1pm, everyone in your group must have at least scanned into the park once that morning to be eligible for the boarding pass.

Here's a list of rides that will most likely be eligible for either a Genie+ pass or Lightning Lane pass:
https://blogmickey.com/2021/08/rumo...aid-disney-genie-and-lightning-lane-services/
Genie+ rides are all under 1 purchase, meaning you can get a pass for any of these rides throughout the day, based on availability and eligibility of the new rules in place for obtaining a pass.

Lightning Lane passes are individual ride charges and are separate from Genie+ purchase. You can only purchase 2 LL passes per day, so if you're a park hopper and you use LL for the 2 rides in your first park, you won't be able to get the LL passes in any other park that day.

Here's more info on the differences between Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane:
https://blogmickey.com/2021/08/differences-between-disney-genie-disney-genie-and-lightning-lane/
Since "Fastpass+" is now a paid option and not something everyone has, I would imagine standby lines won't get as long as they used to when everyone had FP access, but they'll still be worse than they have during the recovery time. Therefore, if you don't mind 20-40 minute wait times for lower tier rides and 30-60 for higher tier, you'll probably be fine without the paid options. However, if you're on a shorter trip and want to get more rides in, the paid option may be useful for that trip. The nice thing about Genie+ is, at least for APs, it sounds like it will be a day of purchase and for that day only, so if you only want to pay the days you visit MK and Hollywood Studios, for instance, you can just buy those days and not spend extra when going to Epcot or AK. Or if you want to utilize it on a 3 day trip, but not a 10 day trip, you have that option.

 

[buffy71]

I am with you trying to wrap my brain around everything and the significant increase in costs. As someone that utilized Magical Express- that alone will add an extra $200 to my trips.

I would typically purchase APs and we would schedule two trips. My calculations are not showing value in doing that going forward. Plus extra $15 per person per day for Genie and I haven’t seen the extra price for securing two rides.
I have been a DVC member for over 15 years. How we use our DVC is going to change going forward. One of things I loved to do is walk from an Epcot resort through Epcot (grab a drink) and head over to monorail to go to MK. Freedom to go from park to park was a major value in the AP. The park reservations alone is a significant deterrent for APs unless you live locally and are able to frequent parks regularly.

 

[Marionnette]

We are DVC members. I Admittedly have not kept up with Genie plus and the new changes to Disney World. We have not traveled since December 2019. We are going to travel in January 2022. I assumed it would be better to get annual passes and try to travel three times in one year. However it will now cost us close to $4700 for a family of five to do for AP’s!

If we can actually get three trips out of it I suppose it may be worthwhile, although way more expensive than we have done in the past?!? However I’m not up-to-date on Genie plus and the lightning lane. Is this almost $5,000 not even going to allow us to ride some rides? I need to do some research I know, I’m hoping the experts here can advise me. We typically do not wake up early, we get up around eight or 9 AM and make it to the parks typically by 10 Or 11AM. It’s always been worthwhile to us because we had a few fast passes. However we are not commando park types we just like to ride a few rides that we love and then people watch and walk around the park for the day. If we can no longer even ride a few rides arriving at 11 AM without paying MORE than the 5K AP cost, then that absolutely affects my decision about whether or not we get annual passes. Can someone Summarize the differences for a familiar like ours?

There will be some attractions that are either IA$ (the paid individual attraction option) or virtual queue (such as ROTR). There will be 2 IA$ in every park initially and they will not be available as a part of the $15 Genie+. Not every IA$ will be limited to VQ as your only alternative. Some (like Space Mountain) will likely be a combination of IA$ and standby line. When TRON and Guardians opens, those will probably be IA$ or VQ only.

So, it's quite possible that in the future you will not be able to ride some rides without ponying up for the IA$ because getting a boarding pass for the VQs will be like the cornucopia scene from the Hunger Games. May the odds be ever in your favor.

 

[Sandisw]

To add, some of us have not been successful in getting a BG for ROTR. My guests didn’t get to ride so that has been happening now.

The only drawback to buying the pass is if you end up not getting the trips in. Other that the cost for GP+ and IAS will be the same.

As already stated, those are add ons and not required as long as you plan for standby and touring that way.

We won’t pay for GP* at all l parks. MK for sure, maybe HS but not the rest because the main rides at those other parks people would want are IAS anyway so those are individual pay anyway.

One option is to buy an AP for just one person and add the photo pass for it. It will then cover the entire year and all 3 trips. With multi day tickets you have to buy for each trip.

Unless coming up with the upfront costs of APs is an issue, I’d probably go that route. Of course, the multi day ticket option even if it ends up more spreads it out for you.