MAJOR changes to Genie+!

[oceanmarina]

We are going on mid August- what are the chances of getting genie + the morning of? (We plan to stay on site)

 

[emmabelle]

I have to wonder if this is all Disney gaslighting us? You better buy it as soon as you can or it may run out. FOMO


I was there Memorial Day weekend and Epcot and MK were very crowded and yet there was still pretty decent selection at 7pm for MK on Genie+. The park was open until 11pm so that of course helps. We only waited a few minutes with every Genie+ ride, while the standby times were over an hour for headliners. I talked to a group in line for Elsa and Anna and they had no idea how Genie+ worked. They only go to the parks every couple of years. I just feel like a lot of guests still aren't buying into it. JMHO

 

[Jrb1979]

I have to wonder if this is all Disney gaslighting us? You better buy it as soon as you can or it may run out. FOMO


I was there Memorial Day weekend and Epcot and MK were very crowded and yet there was still pretty decent selection at 7pm for MK on Genie+. The park was open until 11pm so that of course helps. We only waited a few minutes with every Genie+ ride, while the standby times were over an hour for headliners. I talked to a group in line for Elsa and Anna and they had no idea how Genie+ worked. They only go to the parks every couple of years. I just feel like a lot of guests still aren't buying into it. JMHO

That's a good thing that less people are buying it. IMO it's what needs to happen. Right now too many people are buying making it hard to get many attractions

 

[pinkxray]

We are traveling for 7 nights after Thanksgiving. I have been holding off on getting tickets bc my boss still won’t ok my vacation request. I want to make sure it’s approved before spending anything else.
We have 1 day tickets for 2 of us from a cancelled trip earlier this year. We need two more tickets. My kids are little so part of me wants to do a Disney only 4-5 day park hopper. But when depending on how this all plays out we might just use up the 1 day pass and then renew our Universal annual pass instead, which we hadn’t planned on doing.

 

[emmabelle]

But when depending on how this all plays out we might just use up the 1 day pass and then renew our Universal annual pass instead, which we hadn’t planned on doing.

we just did five nights at Royal Pacific and it was so much easier flashing our room keys and riding when and what we wanted. We added on Volcano Bay to our AP's while there, that place is so fun.

I still prefer Disney but it's just getting ridiculous

 

[lugnut33]

There is no way in heck Disney will limit Genie purchases. Has Disney ever said, "No, we don't want your money"? Also, G+ hasn't been a great experience, yet people are buying it in droves.

 

[Jrb1979]

There is no way in heck Disney will limit Genie purchases. Has Disney ever said, "No, we don't want your money"? Also, G+ hasn't been a great experience, yet people are buying it in droves.

That's the problem. Genie+ isn't a great experience due to people buying it in droves.

 

[DaviVascaino]

There is no way in heck Disney will limit Genie purchases. Has Disney ever said, "No, we don't want your money"? Also, G+ hasn't been a great experience, yet people are buying it in droves.

I am almost 100% sure they will make changes in the pricings of Genie plus based on day, month, etc... peak season: higher price. It will be like ILL I am sure

 

[erinch]

Yesterday in DHS, June 8, I has triple stacked LLs for an afternoon arrival. We have LoS Genie+.

 

[JBelle19]

Yesterday in DHS, June 8, I has triple stacked LLs for an afternoon arrival. We have LoS Genie+.

Thank you for reporting in! I think everyone has been on edge to see if stacking worked yesterday. Doesn't mean it can't still change (I really hope it doesn't) but this is good to hear.

 

[Tom_E_D]

There is no way in heck Disney will limit Genie purchases. Has Disney ever said, "No, we don't want your money"? Also, G+ hasn't been a great experience, yet people are buying it in droves.

Every day that there are no park reservations available, and there have been plenty of them, Disney says "No, we don't want your money" and refuses to sell tickets for that day.

 

[Jennny]

If they must raise prices for G+, wouldn’t it make sense for them to just include all rides - that would help with inventory as well as help them justify a price increase ( now factoring in individual lightening lanes) .

 

[Marionnette]

If they must raise prices for G+, wouldn’t it make sense for them to just include all rides - that would help with inventory as well as help them justify a price increase ( now factoring in individual lightening lanes) .

I think that would create a PR nightmare. It's one thing if you're willing to pay an extra $$ for ILL$. It's another thing to pay $+ for Genie Plus and not be able to get FOP, RoTR or GoTG.

 

[lugnut33]

Every day that there are no park reservations available, and there have been plenty of them, Disney says "No, we don't want your money" and refuses to sell tickets for that day.

That is a great point, but let's remember who they are trying to keep out of the parks with park reservations..... Local Annual Passholders (who Disney has determined probably hurt their revenue per guest metrics and that looks bad at the quarterly calls).

 

[Jennny]

Maybe, but it worked for FP+ and with the tiers. I guess I am wanting G+ in the form of FP+ ( along with ability to make changes and time choices) . I can’t r believe I just want to pay more for what I used to get for free

I think that would create a PR nightmare. It's one thing if you're willing to pay an extra $$ for ILL$. It's another thing to pay $+ for Genie Plus and not be able to get FOP, RoTR or GoTG.

 

[Marionnette]

Maybe, but it worked for FP+ and with the tiers. I guess I am wanting G+ in the form of FP+ ( along with ability to make changes and time choices) . I can’t r believe I just want to pay more for what I used to get for free

But it didn't really work for FP+. Headliners like FOP were a top tier that booked up at 60+ days out, making it almost impossible for offsite guests to book it at 30 days out. It was so bad that Disney began holding back time slots and dropping them the day of at predetermined times just to quell complaints. And that was for a no-fee ride skipping program.

 

[Jennny]

You are so right- FP+ was definitely not perfect. One would think this new system would have looked at past issues with FP+ and perhaps would have improved on it, or at least taken the old operation ( good and bad) into thoughtful consideration when building G+

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Has Disney ever said, "No, we don't want your money"?

Every day that there are no park reservations available, and there have been plenty of them, Disney says "No, we don't want your money" and refuses to sell tickets for that day.

Also, many parties, After Hours and Early Morning Magic events, virtual tours, etc. have sold out over the years. Including most of the recent Halloween and Christmas events. So Disney does sometimes turn would-be paying guests away. I sure hope that they do so with Genie+ as well.

 

[MomOTwins]

That is a great point, but let's remember who they are trying to keep out of the parks with park reservations..... Local Annual Passholders (who Disney has determined probably hurt their revenue per guest metrics and that looks bad at the quarterly calls).

Except park reservations are separated in to AP an non-AP buckets, so that is built into the system. When they say no reservations even for resort guests who are forking over a lot of money to stay at a Disney hotel, and they HAVE done that on many occasions since 2020, it doesn't have anything to do with APs.

I remember going down for spring break 2021 and meeting this family at our local airport while we were waiting to board the plane and starting a chat. They were staying at AKL, all dressed up in their matching Mickey outfits, and super excited for a big Disney trip. They asked what our plans were for the day and I said we were going to AK and they said maybe they would too since their hotel was so close to AK, but they hadn't decided. (Uh oh). I asked if they've made their park reservations. They said "what's a park reservation?" Eek. All parks were fully greyed out that week and had been that way for over a month. I'm not sure what they did, but I recommended they start looking into park reservations on the disney website and scurried away because I didn't want to see their faces when they found out their entire trip was ruined. And that trip, we did in fact see numerous people outside the park gates yelling at staff because they would not give them a park reservation or sell a park ticket and the park was full.

So yeah, it is definitely a real thing. Disney cares about ticket money, sure, but they ALSO care about operational aspects, and sometimes that means turning down money when you don't have the staffing or operational capacity to accommodate more people.

 

[lugnut33]

Also, many parties, After Hours and Early Morning Magic events, virtual tours, etc. have sold out over the years. Including most of the recent Halloween and Christmas events. So Disney does sometimes turn would-be paying guests away. I sure hope that they do so with Genie+ as well.

Great points!! The afterhours events have steadily increased in attendance through the years. The sold out in 2010 is way different than sold out in 2022. Also, Disney didn't spend a billion dollars on the after hours events like they did Genie/FP+