Disney Genie+ and ILL$ Details & FAQ - Launches 10/19 at WDW, Paid "FastPass" at WDW and Disneyland (date TBD)

[CWTC]

Though more expensive, I far prefer US paid express pass. You get to go on all the rides (with exception of one or two of the newer ones) whenever you want. With unlimited EP, you can ride multiple times. My daughter and I always try to beat our daily Mummy record (11 times in one day so far, btw). There is no reserving one ride at a time or constantly refreshing your phone or waiting hours for your first reserved ride. For your $15 at WDW you will probably max out at 4 or 5 rides. I always stay at the US deluxe hotels for free EP but if I wanted to stay offsite I would shell out the extra bucks pretty quick for at least one day of easy touring.

Agreed. I think the comparison of the express pass and G+ is an “easy” one to make but they are two completely different products and not necessarily an equal comparison. I would happily pay more for G+ if it gave us what the express pass gives us at Universal (and we always stay deluxe there to get it as a perk of the room).

 

[Jrb1979]

I think there's going to be low demand and I think it's going to crash anyway.

With how popular MaxPass was at Disneyland, I see it being the same at WDW. Your average guest who isn't on these sites will most likely buy it for their length of stay.

 

[Liquidice]

I think the majority of people will end up buying Genie+. I personally love this new system. Getting rid of the advanced booking was the best thing to happen IMO. It benefits people like me who rope drop all the time.

I agree most people will buy it, but one can dream right? Interesting you say it benefits rope droppers - I was pretty happy with the old FP+ system and rope dropping. At most parks (not MK) you were limited to 1 Tier 1 Fastpass and 2 Tier 2 Fastpasses. So what I would do is rope drop a Tier 1 attraction that I did not get a Tier 1 Fastpass for (even better when you could combine it with Early Magic Hour). If there were multiple Tier 1 attractions you might try to hop on another in the morning. Then your Fastpass got you a 3rd Tier 1 attraction.

There are rumored to be 2 Tier 1 attractions per park now with Genie+ and Individual Attraction passes, so the positive is you can try to rope drop and ride both of them in the morning I guess.

 

[Moliphino]

LOL - my hope is the opposite, there is such low demand for G+ and the Individual Attractions that there is no load on the servers - especially as crowds decline this fall (the re-opening of ASM is due to low demand) - and Disney is forced to reconsider their "pent up demand" signal and perhaps reinstate some perks to encourage more guests to come back to Disney.

However, reality I'm sure will be different and the system will crash due to extreme demand for G+

I'm good with that, too. Any failure would work.

 

[cakebaker]

I think there's going to be low demand and I think it's going to crash anyway.

It may well crash, but at $15 pp, I think it's a sure sell to most guests. I don't the average visitor to WDW pays as much attentiont to cost as people on these boards do. It's $15- to most people who can afford to go to WDW, that's just not a lot of money. IAS? That may be a different story depending on what the final prices turn out to be.

 

[EmilyGahr]

I think there's going to be low demand and I think it's going to crash anyway.

I'm really curious to see the demand. As a couple, we are 100% planning on buying G+ because it's just two of us. $30 per day for our 10 day trip is well within our budget (we're already spending thousands, what's another $300).
But parents with three kids? Families that bring grandma and the grandkids? Might start to become unaffordable for parties like that.

I do, however, think that LL$ might see lower demand, depending on surge pricing. Spending $30 a day for G+ then also having to pay anywhere from $10-$50 just to get a FP for Flight of Passage for just the two of us? Definitely a deterrent, and I can't imaging $25 per person for one ride for a family of 4-5 or more!

 

[jade1]

I think the majority of people will end up buying Genie+. I personally love this new system. Getting rid of the advanced booking was the best thing to happen IMO. It benefits people like me who rope drop all the time.

Details will decide for our group. We "commando" about 4 days out of our 7-so those appear to be looking very successful-unless they surprise us with tiers, or Rope Drop is swamped, or simply the choices are not that great throughout the day.

The other days are later arrival (plus arrival day), they could end being similar to before as well since we really only had 3 FP+ reserved anyway.

I do remember you preferred riding things over and over but that doesn't seem possible with this. Also you weren't big on planning (like compared to US EP) and liked just doing whatever you felt next. This seems to be nonstop planning and taking what we can get.

 

[pinnypanny]

Do you think Disney will give refunds for the IA$ rides when they go down. In the past they've given the anytime/ride (with exceptions) FP when that happened, but if I'm spending $80+ dollars for a ride, it's because I want to ride THAT ride. I will want my money back. There's only one ride I'm even considering paying for.

 

[Jrb1979]

Details will decide for our group. We "commando" about 4 days out of our 7-so those appear to be looking very successful-unless they surprise us with tiers, or Rope Drop is swamped, or simply the choices are not that great throughout the day.

The other days are later arrival (plus arrival day), they could end being similar to before as well since we really only had 3 FP+ reserved anyway.

I do remember you preferred riding things over and over but that doesn't seem possible with this. Also you weren't big on planning (like compared to US EP) and liked just doing whatever you felt next. This seems to be nonstop planning and taking what we can get.

I'm not big on advanced planning. I'm talking about making a spreadsheet before I even arrive to Disney. I don't mind planning when I am in the parks. I can deal with the way Genie+ is. I already do that at other parks by planning my day depending on wait times

 

[Liquidice]

Do you think Disney will give refunds for the IA$ rides when they go down. In the past they've given the anytime/ride (with exceptions) FP when that happened, but if I'm spending $80+ dollars for a ride, it's because I want to ride THAT ride. I will want my money back. There's only one ride I'm even considering paying for.

I sure hope so - and you would hope it would also encourage Disney to try to avoid downtime on their Tier 1 attractions so they can avoid having to refund people. You would also hope that they would figure out something to do when the ride comes back up - because we have all seen FP+ lines get extremely long when a ride comes back from being down. Would you enjoy paying $80 for a IA$ ride and then having to wait 60 minutes to ride because the Lightning Lane is more Mater speed than Lightning McQueen speed?

 

[cakebaker]

Do you think Disney will give refunds for the IA$ rides when they go down. In the past they've given the anytime/ride (with exceptions) FP when that happened, but if I'm spending $80+ dollars for a ride, it's because I want to ride THAT ride. I will want my money back. There's only one ride I'm even considering paying for.

I would assume they'd give you an anytime pass for that specific ride and if that's not possible, a full refund.

 

[BrianL]

I would assume they'd give you an anytime pass for that specific ride and if that's not possible, a full refund.

Yeah. Remember that "Anytime" passes were always good for the ride originally selected or others, jsut maybe not a different Tier 1 ride. You could always come back to the selected ride though. I would imagine for paid, it would be jsut for that ride and if that could not be fulfilled, then you would get a refund.

 

[jade1]

I'm not big on advanced planning. I'm talking about making a spreadsheet before I even arrive to Disney. I don't mind planning when I am in the parks. I can deal with the way Genie+ is. I already do that at other parks by planning my day depending on wait times

Hmm. And what about wanting to ride attractions over and over?

That's where I am different. Last year I went to 7 different theme parks. I would do Disney more but all the planning involved is too much for me. I just want to go to a park and enjoy it on my time, not be told to what to ride and when.

 

[NuJoy]

()

 

[cakebaker]

Charging a fee for access implies a certain guarantee of services advertised. I don’t care how many disclaimers they put in small print, bait & switch is still unethical. Disney is claiming G+ will be available to park hoppers.

It's not bait and switch when they have the disclaimers in what is essentially, a contract when you purchase. It says subject to availability and I'd believe them when they say it. If people choose to assume they are guaranteed any kind of specific numbers on how much they can ride because they were charged, then that's on them I'm afraid.

But I also think that's why they're allowing park hoppers to reserve across the parks- to insure availability of some kind.

 

[Brocktoon]

Charging a fee for access implies a certain guarantee of services advertised. I don’t care how many disclaimers they put in small print, bait & switch is still unethical. Disney is claiming G+ will be available to park hoppers.

Yes, but ethics and legality may be two different things. We may get a lot of angry guests and Disney will want to avoid that from an optics POV, but their official press states:

attractions subject to limited availability

From a legal standpoint Disney may be able to keep pointing back to the above

 

[pinnypanny]

I sure hope so - and you would hope it would also encourage Disney to try to avoid downtime on their Tier 1 attractions so they can avoid having to refund people. You would also hope that they would figure out something to do when the ride comes back up - because we have all seen FP+ lines get extremely long when a ride comes back from being down. Would you enjoy paying $80 for a IA$ ride and then having to wait 60 minutes to ride because the Lightning Lane is more Mater speed than Lightning McQueen speed?

Something I hadn't even thought of. I really hope they are prepared for these things. It seems like rides go down quite often. I'm hoping this is released a good month or more before my November trip so I can get an idea of what I'm in for and Disney can work out the kinks.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I think the majority of people will end up buying Genie+. I personally love this new system. Getting rid of the advanced booking was the best thing to happen IMO. It benefits people like me who rope drop all the time.

i dont know if they will or not, yeah its not that expensive per, person, its the multiplier for families on a week long vacation that's going to get people to say "nope".

You want to make a dad grumpy on vacation, nickle and dime his family and he isnt going to be happy.

It's not very magical.

 

[ChipnDale79]

(we're already spending thousands, what's another $300).

yeah, no offense, but thats exactly what they want you to say.

Same with the parking.
All of a sudden, what's another $200 for parking? and what's another $400 for fast passes?

$600, for services you were already getting before.

 

[Garyjames220]

yeah, no offense, but thats exactly what they want you to say.

Same with the parking.
All of a sudden, what's another $200 for parking? and what's another $400 for fast passes?

$600, for services you were already getting before.

yeah parking and fast passes and magic bands and bus from airport the list goes on