Disney Genie announcement

[Biggen]

From what has been reported by reputable bloggers, not necessarily directly from Disney:

1. You can hold two IA$ concurrently. They just cannot be for the same experience and you cannot purchase a third that day. You can also have a Genie+ selection while holding those 2 IA$ reservations. It's possible, under certain circumstances, to even have 2 Genie+ selections reserved if the first one is 120+ minutes away from the time when you reserved it.
2. Genie+ will be limited to once per attraction per day.
3. You cannot add Genie+ to your AP for the length of your AP. It will be a daily purchase.

I have a hard time believing that you can only use Genie+ once per ride per day. I guess we will see but that doesn’t seem like great value.

 

[jujubiee4]

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 like this except for Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom there is no extra evening magic hours.
There is morning but some people don't rope drop.(Us) lol

So if you don't rope drop is Epcot and AK worth getting genie+?

 

[Marionnette]

I have a hard time believing that you can only use Genie+ once per ride per day. I guess we will see but that doesn’t seem like great value.

Even Deni's article here on the DIS is reporting that. You may want to wait until first-hand reports come back after the 19th, but I find it difficult to believe that so many sources have this wrong.

"Essentially, a guest who purchases Genie+ is paying for the ability to be able to use Lightning Lanes (former FastPass queues) at attractions that have them in order to ride those attractions once."​

​

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...ney-world-oct-19-weve-got-all-of-the-details/

 

[mom2rtk]

You are very, very much in the minority with that. Which is ok. Its often regarded as the best theme park ride in the world. I've ridden it about 15 times and I would gladly pay $15 for it every trip.

I think "very very much in the minority" is a bit of hyperbole. Plenty of people aren't willing to pay an extra $15 per person to ride something they already paid over $100 to ride.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I think "very very much in the minority" is a bit of hyperbole. Plenty of people aren't willing to pay an extra $15 per person to ride something they already paid over $100 to already ride.

Did you read the post I quoted? It had nothing to do with that, at all.

 

[Twitterpaited]

Now that we know it will begin on October 19, the attractions it includes, and price ranges for IAS, I can’t wait to see how it affects wait times and forming #touringplans. I hope that touringplans gets a great host for their YouTube channel (like Brian was) to keep us informed and share the information with us #LenTesta.

 

[mom2rtk]

The more I think about this, the more I see why it had to be one time per ride per day for Geni+. There aren't enough Genie+ rides in all the non MK parks. Too many people would have clogged up the works at a handful of rides. It's the same reason 3 of the parks were tiered with FP+. This is the equivalent of tiering.

I suppose they will go with once per attraction when it starts at DL as well, in the name of consistency. But what a waste that will be. Those parks are well suited to re-rides because they have enough attractions to handle it. It's going to be a tough pill to swallow though for those used to getting re-rides with MaxPass.

I was prepared to buy Genie+ but likely won't now. That "no re-ride" clause makes a HUGE difference in the decision process.

 

[mom2rtk]

Did you read the post I quoted? It had nothing to do with that, at all.

Yes, I did. One's opinion on the ride is certainly a piece of the decision making process. We enjoyed it and thought it was pretty impressive. But it wasn't worth $15 each to reride when we think our admission didn't buy us enough to start with.

And this might surprise you. But not everyone is a huge Star Wars fan.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Yes, I did. One's opinion on the ride is certainly a piece of the decision making process. We enjoyed it and thought it was pretty impressive. But it wasn't worth $15 each to reride when we think our admission didn't buy us enough to start with.

And this might surprise you. But not everyone is a huge Star Wars fan.

Lol. I guess the bolding didn't make my post clear because you still don't seem to understand what I was saying. Oh well.

 

[mom2rtk]

Lol. I guess the bolding didn't make my post clear because you still don't seem to understand what I was saying. Oh well.

Lol. I can read. And I saw the bolding. People will have a variety of reasons for not wanting to pay $15 each to ride. Some won't be SW fans. Some won't think anything is worth extra to ride. Some will be making a statement about the new "pay to ride" approach. Some people will even find the ride underwhelming.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Lol. I can read. And I saw the bolding. People will have a variety of reasons for not wanting to pay $15 each to ride. Some won't be SW fans. Some won't think anything is worth extra to ride. Some will be making a statement about the new "pay to ride" approach. Some people will even find the ride underwhelming.

Still not what I was referring to (not even close). But that's ok.

 

[Jonfw2]

Let’s be very clear about something here:

It does NOT cost $15 to go on Rise or Everest or Flight. You still have the option of waiting in line for the price you paid for your ticket.

 

[mom2rtk]

Let’s be very clear about something here:

It does NOT cost $15 to go on Rise or Everest or Flight. You still have the option of waiting in line for the price you paid for your ticket.

Definitely on EE. But for some a 90 minute wait is the equivalent of not riding. And there used to be great options for avoiding that wait without paying more.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have a hard time believing that you can only use Genie+ once per ride per day. I guess we will see but that doesn’t seem like great value.

Maybe not great value, but I can see why this would be necessary. Few would be choosing the less popular rides. The most popular rides would quickly have return times late in the day, skewing the system. People paying for this would be grumbly.

 

[Jonfw2]

Definitely on EE. But for some a 90 minute wait is the equivalent of not riding. And there used to be great options for avoiding that wait without paying more.

You mean fastpass? You’re right. IF you could get one. And we all knew for years Disney wasn’t letting all that money disappear when every other park charged for the same program.

 

[mom2rtk]

Maybe not great value, but I can see why this would be necessary. Few would be choosing the less popular rides. The most popular rides would quickly have return times late in the day, skewing the system. People paying for this would be grumbly.

Disney keeps trying different ways of avoiding building enough attractions in the 3 non-castle parks. No matter how they slice it though, there just aren't enough. This is just the latest attempt to paint over that fact.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

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.

Speaking for myself, we used to ride almost everything with Fastpass+—many rides more than once—and rarely, if ever, waited in long lines. Now, there is no way to recreate that experience. The closest you can come is to pay an additional ~ $140 per day for a family of four (Genie+ and two IA$), and even then you can’t ride anything twice without waiting in a long line.

 

[Juventus]

Here's another way to word it:
After selecting a LL ride, you can select your next ride after you ride your selection or after 2 hours, whichever happens first.

I think...

 

[tony67]

Speaking for myself, we used to ride almost everything with Fastpass+—many rides more than once—and rarely, if ever, waited in long lines. Now, there is no way to recreate that experience. The closest you can come is to pay an additional ~ $140 per day for a family of four (Genie+ and two IA$), and even then you can’t ride anything twice without waiting in a long line.

Agree for the most part - but it remains to be seen what the waits will be like in standby - the FP lines did add a lot of time to the standby lines
I dont think that will be the case anymore - between the cost and the once per ride - standby for many rides may not be too bad - other than the inflated wait times

I dont think we will really know until January how this plays out - you need the busy holiday season and time to work out the kinks

 

[Jonfw2]

Here's another way to word it:
After selecting a LL ride, you can select your next ride after you ride your selection or after 2 hours, whichever happens first.

I think...

I’m absolutely going to try it but here’s my concern:

You pay at 7am then select Jungle Cruise and the first available time is 8pm. Or, you get a ride at 8:30am when there’s no line anyway and then when you get off of it, the next available ride isn’t til 8pm.