Rise of the Genie ???

[PaHunter]

See that Rise of the Resistance is going to a physical stand by line instead of the virtual one. Trying to force people to pay to ride or spend half your day in line at the park.
Not sure how this will work, but depending on price for a family of 4 or more this could be ridiculous in terms of cost.
RIP fast pass, you were loved. Now it is nickel and dime for everything.....Walt would not be proud.

 

[tiggerdad]

Yep, I agree Chris. Saw that today. Disney is on the brink of pricing me out. Too much cost, and less and less in return.

I'd pay for a fastpass to watch Walt blow cigarette smoke in the faces of these folks if it were possible.

 

[FtW Mike]

I keep coming back to this thread and have to agree with both Tiggerdad and PaHunter. As I read about the experience of others during the Covid Suspension of Fast Pass I had a very good feeling. I happily remembered back to the 80s and 90s .
Okay in those days there weren't some of the newer technologically advanced thrilled rides nor were there any FP. Wait times rarely exceeded 45 minutes ( Our trips took place in Oct/Nov period) and often lasted no more than 20 to 25 minutes. no matter how long the line it moved. That same experience I was reading about.
Disney made all guest feel important but did offer some extra and free perks to on property guests. Like making dining reservations 3 days in advance. Today every perk or previously included amenity requires an extra payment. Even ALLEARS.net had an article about how Universal is a better value than WDW.
Like Tiggerdad Disney may be pricing me out if they keep cutting back and charging more. We can only hope that the powers that be wake up. Charge me less up front and I am more likely to spend more over the course of the day. Fifteen Dollars a day per person for Genie + add another 15 for Genie + advantage and there goes a sit down restaurant in favor of quick serve or brown bagging it

 

[Sjm9911]

I keep coming back to this thread and have to agree with both Tiggerdad and PaHunter. As I read about the experience of others during the Covid Suspension of Fast Pass I had a very good feeling. I happily remembered back to the 80s and 90s .
Okay in those days there weren't some of the newer technologically advanced thrilled rides nor were there any FP. Wait times rarely exceeded 45 minutes ( Our trips took place in Oct/Nov period) and often lasted no more than 20 to 25 minutes. no matter how long the line it moved. That same experience I was reading about.
Disney made all guest feel important but did offer some extra and free perks to on property guests. Like making dining reservations 3 days in advance. Today every perk or previously included amenity requires an extra payment. Even ALLEARS.net had an article about how Universal is a better value than WDW.
Like Tiggerdad Disney may be pricing me out if they keep cutting back and charging more. We can only hope that the powers that be wake up. Charge me less up front and I am more likely to spend more over the course of the day. Fifteen Dollars a day per person for Genie + add another 15 for Genie + advantage and there goes a sit down restaurant in favor of quick serve or brown bagging it

You ust gave me a good idea to supplement my trip! I can stand outside and sell bagged lunches, a peanut butter sand with a banana, bag of chips and a drink for 5 bucks. I'll make enough money to be able to afford the new pay to play system! Plus ill have a lunch. Win , win. Or i could go upscale , like the fry festival? The possablilites are endless......

Ok , for this trip, i will be paying for the genie. And maybe a ride or two. I will not be eating at the parks. I will do maybe 2 restaurants for dinner. And one outside of disney. If we need a quick dinner because i dont feel like cooking, we will be heading into town and off disney property to eat. Hell, even wallmart sells fried chicken these days! Some will pay for this stuff, but for me its to the point of very expensive for things that my daughter will outgrow after this year. While i like trips for nostalgia sake, when it gets to a certian point its just not worth it for me. I started a collage fund for my daughter when she was born, maybe i should have started a disney fund for her also, so she can afford to take her future kids.

 

[jbrostek]

Yeah this is clearly a monetizing grab and the only ones that like it are the ones willing to dump money into that system.

I think our best trip so far was the last where FP did not exist. We spent more time in parks, ride queues where reasonable. Adding this pay per view feature will just push us out of the parks and likely off campus so disney will start loosing a LOT of money from us. As other said, they are pricing out their value or reason to stay more often.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Yep, I agree Chris. Saw that today. Disney is on the brink of pricing me out. Too much cost, and less and less in return.

I'd pay for a fastpass to watch Walt blow cigarette smoke in the faces of these folks if it were possible.

Only if it was smoke from the strong French cigarettes he favored

 

[Stratman50th]

I'm driving my coach back down to the Keys. It was cheaper and I enjoyed it much more than my last visit to Disney...

 

[Teamubr]

I'm driving my coach back down to the Keys.

Where are you staying? That trip will be on my short list in a few years. We love the Keys, but that is a LONG drive from StL.

j

 

[Stratman50th]

Where are you staying? That trip will be on my short list in a few years. We love the Keys, but that is a LONG drive from StL.

j

We liked Blue Water Key resort. I'm sure there are places others like better but it worked for us. MM-15.

 

[team bradfield]

We liked Blue Water Key resort. I'm sure there are places others like better but it worked for us. MM-15.

BWK is saved in my favorites folder, if we do the keys, this will be the place

 

[Teamubr]

That looks great. And a nice location. My parents used to have condos in St Pete. We would go down for several weeks each summer spend time in St. Pete and drive down to the Keys for a while. We usually stayed at a B&B on Big Pine Key at MM30. That was a little too far from Key West, but not bad. We've never hauled the camper that far south. When we have plenty of time, we will definitely do it.

j

 

[bama_ed]

We liked Blue Water Key resort. I'm sure there are places others like better but it worked for us. MM-15.
View attachment 606459

Blue Water Key is for big rigs and they don't allow pop-ups. Snobs!

But IIRC, you can "buy" a site and then lease it out for rentals. That might be a better investment than DVC (until the next hurricane sweeps through the Keys). We could start discussing a DIS discount for rentals on my site. But the current rates are VERY comparable to the Fort (not a good sign for the Fort).

I've stayed at Boyd's Campground at mm10 which is on Stock Island (good restaurant nearby).

It's America's Tropical Mainland Paradise.

Bama Ed

PS - looks like a nice site, Don.

 

[Stratman50th]

Blue Water Key is for big rigs and they don't allow pop-ups. Snobs!

But IIRC, you can "buy" a site and then lease it out for rentals. That might be a better investment than DVC (until the next hurricane sweeps through the Keys). We could start discussing a DIS discount for rentals on my site. But the current rates are VERY comparable to the Fort (not a good sign for the Fort).

I've stayed at Boyd's Campground at mm10 which is on Stock Island (good restaurant nearby).

It's America's Tropical Mainland Paradise.

Bama Ed

PS - looks like a nice site, Don.

I wasn't aware. I actually saw a bunch of different rigs. The only restriction is you have to be self contained. They don't have comfort stations so I guess that would make sense.

 

[Sjm9911]

Wow, 700,000k to over a million for a site. Then about 10 k in taxes and fees. Pay your own volts and water seprate. If you rent it out , 12.5 percent to the assosiation and 2.5 percent for cc fees. So, yea, real close to how disney is. At least the added fees and extras!

 

[Sjm9911]

Ok, quick math , if you rent it out , and keep like a month for yourself, you can make 30 k a year. Lol. I rather rent. And i dont have 1 mil tonput up front. So, ed you buy and ill rent from ya! I expect the family discount for cousin eddie.

 

[bama_ed]

Spence, that's fine, however I expect full payment in advance for your 3-month minimum stay!

I don't want to be the person accused of a so I will say that .....

I believe Disney will purposely overstate wait times in the MDE app (and in the case of RoR, use a physical queue) to sell the $15 Lightning Lane upcharge. For the E-ticket rides like RoR, I've been pretty busy the last couple days so if those individual ride rates came out, I haven't seen them yet. But when they do come out, we'll get a sense of how desperate Disney is for cash.

Bama Ed

 

[jbrostek]

You know it was 3 years before I went on Mine Train. I could never get FP and I have zero interest in waiting hours on end. Same for FOP, I got on it when Melissa and I just happen to see the wait was 45 minutes (took about an hour). I never found the the FP+ system helpful, nor have I ever paid for front of the line passes anywhere else. If the pump up wait times I know we will just go ahead and roll out of the parks and do something else. We were discussing the our planned June 2022 trip and everyone agreed, if this new system really is the SS I expect it to be we can just chill by the pool and check out other attractions outside the Disney campus.

 

[Teamubr]

I thought I read somewhere that Standby wait times and dynamic pricing for Lightning Lane would be used to control demand. Not sure if it was speculation or experience from DLP where something similar has been implemented. I fully expect pricing on Lightning Lane to be dynamic based on demand/availability. The question is "how" dynamic it will be. If it is based on a full day, the way ticket pricing is, that would be easy to predict, but wouldn't really help with volume/flow throughout the day. If it changes throughout the day, I would be really annoyed if it was really expensive when I purchased it due to demand at that time, but there was no demand (and lower price) when I finally get on the ride.

Devil is in the details and we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. My confidence in Disney IT is not encouraging that this will be dynamic enough to manage demand AND feel like the pricing is equitable.

j

 

[Sjm9911]

Im wondering if you need to have purchased the genie to purchase the lighting pass.

 

[Bishoparc]

Im wondering if you need to have purchased the genie to purchase the lighting pass.

• Genie itself is "free", it's the set of algorithms Disney thinks will help you have the "perfect day"
• Genie+ (For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort) choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day
• Lightning Lane Individual Attractions is to purchase LL access for attractions that aren't included in Genie+ (such as RoTR, 7DMT)

The way I read the descriptions, it did not appear you had to purchase Genie+ to purchase the individual attractions but I'm not positive.