Possible update to Genie+

[tjkraz]

They would've had 3 already booked months out.

I was responding to the prior poster's hypothetical family who shows up at the park at 3pm, buys genie and expects to get a bunch of good rides. My point was that they would have been even worse off with FP+ where reservations were booked 2 months in advance.

Genie+ is far more forgiving of the first-timers or non-planners. With FP+, by day 59 there were already attractions which were off the table (FOP, Mine train were common in the late 2010s.) Try to make same-day FP+ reservations for EPCOT and you'd be lucky to get Spaceship Earth, Mission Space and Nemo. With genie, you can log on same day and still secure a reservation for every single attraction.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

I was responding to the prior poster's hypothetical family who shows up at the park at 3pm, buys genie and expects to get a bunch of good rides. My point was that they would have been even worse off with FP+ where reservations were booked 2 months in advance.

Genie+ is far more forgiving of the first-timers or non-planners. With FP+, by day 59 there were already attractions which were off the table (FOP, Mine train were common in the late 2010s.) Try to make same-day FP+ reservations for EPCOT and you'd be lucky to get Spaceship Earth, Mission Space and Nemo. With genie, you can log on same day and still secure a reservation for every single attraction.

I don't dispute that FPs for the most popular attractions were gone by day 59 in a lot of instances. But I would point out that the hypothetical family showing up at 3 pm is still a lot worse off with G+ in this scenario from the perspective that they spent hundreds of dollars extra on G+ and got little to no return. If they showed up late and the FPs were all gone, at least they hadn't paid extra for FP+.

Yes, from the perspective of availability to skip the lines, they might have had fewer opportunities with FP+, but when you add in the cost-factor, bad availability at high cost is worse than really bad availability for free.

 

[tjkraz]

I don't dispute that FPs for the most popular attractions were gone by day 59 in a lot of instances. But I would point out that the hypothetical family showing up at 3 pm is still a lot worse off with G+ in this scenario from the perspective that they spent hundreds of dollars extra on G+ and got little to no return. If they showed up late and the FPs were all gone, at least they hadn't paid extra for FP+.

Yes, from the perspective of availability to skip the lines, they might have had fewer opportunities with FP+, but when you add in the cost-factor, bad availability at high cost is worse than really bad availability for free.

1) It's a silly hypothetical to begin with. Anyone who blindly purchases Genie at 3pm wasn't going to get the maximum benefit from any form of ride reservation system.

2) Same day availability under Genie is much better than it ever was with FP+. More often than not, nearly every park attraction *IS* still available at 3pm. You could count on one hand the number of attractions which are prone to running out earlier than that (Slinky, Test Track, Remy, Frozen.)

3) Focusing on cost as a point of comparison is always going to leave Genie+ lacking. But there's no reason to think a fee will ever go away. If we limit the discussion to "Genie+ sucks because it costs money", it's a bit pointless. Free ride reservations aren't coming back.

 

[Jwaire]

According to survey screenshots sent to Disney Dish, Disney is surveying guests for upcoming Genie+ changes at Walt Disney World:

1. Can be purchased ahead of time, maxes out at $35 per day per guest, can be as low as $15.

2. Attractions will be in two tiers. Tier A attractions (Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Big Thunder, etc.) and Tier B (Mansion, Dumbo, etc.)

3. You get one Tier A attraction per day (pre-booked) and two Tier B attractions (pre-booked) per day. The day of, you can also get additional Tier B attractions after you've used your pre-booked attractions if available (like the old FastPass days, limit based on availability not arbertrary one ride per day). No Tier A attractions day of (if you pre-booked).

4. Can book up to 3 Lightning Lane attractions 7 days ahead of time for resort guests and 3 days ahead time for regular guests.

5. You would get a choice of available return times for each attraction.

6. Current "individual" lightening lane attractions will remain (Tron, Mine Train, FOP, etc.)

Welcome back, FastPass+. Now, you're just a paid service. I'm not surprised.

I bet Disneyland keeps the current version of Genie+.

 

[jade1]

According to survey screenshots sent to Disney Dish, Disney is surveying guests for upcoming Genie+ changes at Walt Disney World:

1. Can be purchased ahead of time, maxes out at $35 per day per guest, can be as low as $15.

2. Attractions will be in two tiers. Tier A attractions (Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Big Thunder, etc.) and Tier B (Mansion, Dumbo, etc.)

3. You get one Tier A attraction per day (pre-booked) and two Tier B attractions (pre-booked) per day. The day of, you can also get additional Tier B attractions after you've used your pre-booked attractions if available (like the old FastPass days, limit based on availability not arbertrary one ride per day). No Tier A attractions day of (if you pre-booked).

4. Can book up to 3 Lightning Lane attractions 7 days ahead of time for resort guests and 3 days ahead time for regular guests.

5. You would get a choice of available return times for each attraction.

6. Current "individual" lightening lane attractions will remain (Tron, Mine Train, FOP, etc.)

Welcome back, FastPass+. Now, you're just a paid service. I'm not surprised.

I bet Disneyland keeps the current version of Genie+.

One Tier A (which is actually a Tier B+ anyway?) max?

So basically like $35 for Space?

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

1) It's a silly hypothetical to begin with. Anyone who blindly purchases Genie at 3pm wasn't going to get the maximum benefit from any form of ride reservation system.

2) Same day availability under Genie is much better than it ever was with FP+. More often than not, nearly every park attraction *IS* still available at 3pm. You could count on one hand the number of attractions which are prone to running out earlier than that (Slinky, Test Track, Remy, Frozen.)

3) Focusing on cost as a point of comparison is always going to leave Genie+ lacking. But there's no reason to think a fee will ever go away. If we limit the discussion to "Genie+ sucks because it costs money", it's a bit pointless. Free ride reservations aren't coming back.

I wasn't implying that a free service would come back. I was just commenting on the hypothetical that others presented in which someone (blindly?) purchased G+ late in the day and got little to no return on that investment.

The comment was that they were better off than someone trying to get FP+ late in the day. I'm not saying "G+ sucks because it costs money." But if you're going to compare G+ and FP+ I don't think you can ignore the fact that FP+ was free and G+ is expensive.

In both circumstances, the guest didn't benefit from the system. But in one instance they are also out a significant amount of money. I would agree that someone blindly purchasing G+ late in the day probably isn't going to get maximum (or even marginal) benefit from that purchase. Yet Disney will gladly sell G+ to them even if they are not going to benefit from purchasing it.

Again, I was just saying that IF someone did that, they were in a worse position than if they had shown up late and not been able to get free FPs in the before times. In both cases, they have an equally bad experience but, in one case, they are also out big bucks.

I'm not trying to argue that FP+ is better than G+. I've purchased G+ on multiple trips since it's introduction and gotten good value/benefit and been very happy with it. But if I'd paid that much and gotten very little return, it's worse than paying nothing and getting little or even nothing.

 

[Minnie1222]

One Tier A (which is actually a Tier B+ anyway?) max?

So basically like $35 for Space?

According to the post above, $15 to $35 for a tier A like Space + 2 tier B. More tier B rides can be added just like old FP.

Yes, only 1 tier A per day.

 

[Minnie1222]

I wasn't implying that a free service would come back. I was just commenting on the hypothetical that others presented in which someone (blindly?) purchased G+ late in the day and got little to no return on that investment.

The comment was that they were better off than someone trying to get FP+ late in the day. I'm not saying "G+ sucks because it costs money." But if you're going to compare G+ and FP+ I don't think you can ignore the fact that FP+ was free and G+ is expensive.

In both circumstances, the guest didn't benefit from the system. But in one instance they are also out a significant amount of money. I would agree that someone blindly purchasing G+ late in the day probably isn't going to get maximum (or even marginal) benefit from that purchase. Yet Disney will gladly sell G+ to them even if they are not going to benefit from purchasing it.

Again, I was just saying that IF someone did that, they were in a worse position than if they had shown up late and not been able to get free FPs in the before times. In both cases, they have an equally bad experience but, in one case, they are also out big bucks.

I fully understand your point. But realistically, most budget-conscious, AP-less folks aren't going to show up at 3 P.M.

 

[Jwaire]

One Tier A (which is actually a Tier B+ anyway?) max?

So basically like $35 for Space?

Yeah, really it's FastPass+ you just don't have to go to the ticket machines to get your additional FastPasses after your 3 pre-booked ones and there's now an S tier level of attractions that aren't included (Tron, Mine Train, Cosmic Rewind, Ratatouille, Rise, Slinky, FOP, Did I miss one?).

 

[Jacq7414]

3. You get one Tier A attraction per day (pre-booked) and two Tier B attractions (pre-booked) per day. The day of, you can also get additional Tier B attractions after you've used your pre-booked attractions if available (like the old FastPass days, limit based on availability not arbertrary one ride per day). No Tier A attractions day of (if you pre-booked).

Yea I wouldn’t be a fan of this at all. Because at Epcot, let’s say Test Track, Frozen & Remy are all tier A, there’s really nothing else at that park that would be worthwhile. What if you park hop also? Could you do a tier A in another park? What we currently have is better than this for sure.

 

[Jacq7414]

Yeah, really it's FastPass+ you just don't have to go to the ticket machines to get your additional FastPasses after your 3 pre-booked ones and there's now an S tier level of attractions that aren't included (Tron, Mine Train, Cosmic Rewind, Ratatouille, Rise, Slinky, FOP, Did I miss one?).

Ratatouille and slinky aren’t individual LL anymore

 

[Jwaire]

Ratatouille and slinky aren’t individual LL anymore

They are Tier A in this, not ILL.

Yea I wouldn’t be a fan of this at all. Because at Epcot, let’s say Test Track, Frozen & Remy are all tier A, there’s really nothing else at that park that would be worthwhile. What if you park hop also? Could you do a tier A in another park? What we currently have is better than this for sure.

They are.

You could pick your Tier A of the day at another park if you want to park hop.

 

[Jacq7414]

They are Tier A in this, not ILL.



They are.

You could pick your Tier A of the day at another park if you want to park hop.

Ok that’s not so bad, I guess it’ll be something to get used to. We won’t be going back to Disney World for at least a few years though .

But I do think what we have now is better. I was just there and I was able to get LL for a bunch of the rides that would be tier A in the same day

 

[New Mouse]

So basically with the new suggestions, they are taking fastpass which was broken (mainly due to not enough desired rides), eliminating some more of the desired rides as options and capping what you can get?

Sounds brilliant.....

While fastpass plus wasn't great, it was free so there were only so many complaints to make about it. Now they just look dumb and greedy.

 

[Moliphino]

Yeah, really it's FastPass+ you just don't have to go to the ticket machines to get your additional FastPasses after your 3 pre-booked ones and there's now an S tier level of attractions that aren't included (Tron, Mine Train, Cosmic Rewind, Ratatouille, Rise, Slinky, FOP, Did I miss one?).

Fastpass+ did let you book more tier 1 rides after your pre-booked ones, though.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

One advantage we see with G+ over FP+ is the ability to have overlapping reservations. With FP+, you could not have overlapping time ranges. With G+, you can. On a recent trip, we actually stacked reservations for later in the day, and we were able to do 4 attractions in less than 2 hours. The 'modify' option really helps. With FP+ we often found down time waiting on the next reservation window. As with any of the changes Disney makes to their parks over the decades, there are pros and cons......

 

[Jacq7414]

Fastpass+ did let you book more tier 1 rides after your pre-booked ones, though.

I thought it did! I was pretty sure that it did and I was looking back at old blogs to verify. So now you have to pay for it and can only get 1 tier A ride a day at a park? That’s terrible.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I thought it did! I was pretty sure that it did and I was looking back at old blogs to verify. So now you have to pay for it and can only get 1 tier A ride a day at a park? That’s terrible.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the example, you are not restricted to only one "Tier A" attraction per day with Genie+. You just can only book any specific 'Tier A' once per day through G+ - but you can certainly book and ride multiple 'Tier A' attractions.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

They just need to do away with the need for the extreme amount of pre-planning crap. Who wants to be booking rides 6 months ahead of your trip, that's foolishness. The early bird should still get the worm!

 

[Moliphino]

They just need to do away with the need for the extreme amount of pre-planning crap. Who wants to be booking rides 6 months ahead of your trip, that's foolishness. The early bird should still get the worm!

I do. Who wants to wake up at 7am every day on vacation?