How Disney Could Fix Genie+

Walt Disney World Attractions
1

Genie+ Launched with mixed reviews. After spending a full week utilizing G+ and reading many trip reports, I’m trying to summarize my thoughts on it here and what Disney could do to mitigate these issues.

disneys-aladdin-jafar-didnt-even-need-the-genie
disneys-aladdin-jafar-didnt-even-need-the-genie1200×675 81.9 KB

Current problems:

  • 7am first selection is inconvenient.
  • Top Tier rides book up through the whole day too quickly
  • With G+, ILL, ILL$, drops, double taps, stacking reservations, it is too complicated
  • Average users are only getting 2-3 (Free) LL per day anyways. Power users are maybe doubling this.
  • 2/4 parks Do not have enough attractions to justify G+ purchase on those days
  • You can only book your full trip ahead of time or purchase day by day.

Here is my proposal to fix the frustration and would make Disney more money and improve guest satisfaction:

  1. Eliminate Genie+ pre-buy and convert all LL and ILL$ to Lightning Lanes only Every user with a valid park admission has what we now call Genie. There are no $15 fees to pay up front.

  2. Charge $5 per (non-tiered) ILL used across the board. If the average users are getting 2-3 LL anyways and the cost per person per day target is $15. Then revert the charges to a flat $5 per lightning lane. If necessary keep the tiered ILL$ pricing for top tier rides. I know this sounds more expensive but hear me out.

  3. LL Passes become a pooled resource in a group and transferable. IE if grandma doesn’t want to ride anything, she doesn’t need to use any passes. You can use them as you choose. If I buy 4 passes and 2 people chicken out, the other two users can use the unspent passes.

  4. Guests can make first reservations upon entering park. Onsite guests still get advantage here (due to EE) but don’t necessarily have to wake at 7am.

  5. Refill reservations every 2 hours. The amount of passes for every ride based on target throughput per ride. If the LL fills up (Peter Pan), the sign and the app at the ride should read wait until 11:00am for next passes.

  6. Instant Access, If there are still openings (ie, Dumbo), LL sign says Open with the price and you tap at the turnstile, it automatically charges your band account $5, and you walk in with no wait.

  7. Genie Grants 3 wishes, Last but not least, and how Disney missed this obvious thing: the Genie must grant 3 wishes: (one full window override, one free show pass, one discounted merch/food item)

Let me know your thoughts, thanks for signing up for my newsletter.

2 Likes
2

It’s not more expensive for the people getting 2 or 3 but it’s more expensive for people who know how to use the system to their advantage. Or as we call them, liners. And you can already pool them by swapping magic bands if someone decides not to ride, though I’m not sure why you’d buy one for grandma anyway if you knew in advance she didn’t want to do coasters or whatever. I also think picking your first one as you enter the park is if anything less convenient than 7am.

Yeah, this doesn’t work for me at all. I’d rather keep it as it is now and that’s saying something.

5 Likes
3

This is a supply/demand issue, and there is no way to solve it in a way that will make most people happy (other than building more capacity in these rides).

5 Likes
4

That’s technically against the rules and Disney reserves the right to kick someone out (Not that we didn’t do exactly this rather than waste a pass). Other consideration is we got to the front of the line and someone chickened out or were told DS3 was not tall enough to ride. How do you clear those passes? Do you just waste a paid ILL$?

This is a tough one and I couldnt think of a better time. When do you think would be good to pick your first? I was thinking at Turnstile because that’s how MAXpass works at DL.

5

Idea being that every 2 hours you have another chance to book a pass. Or you can get in standby which is surely less than 2 hours.

6

I think you have some good intentions with this plan. However, I don’t think Disney would agree with you that this “fixes” things. Genie+ exists for THEIR benefit, not their guests. (Well, any benefits it gives guests is, ultimately, so that they can benefit themselves.)

The same can be said with the old FP+ system. It wasn’t really in place to benefit guests (even if some guests did benefit), but rather it was a means that Disney could use the control and predict crowds, and even better direct staffing. You could argue that, in the grand scheme, FP+ probably hurt more than it helped. I’m not talking about the individual wait times, but the fact that it gave Disney tools to reduce staffing.

Anyhow, Genie+ is, once again, in place to benefit Disney. The indirect benefits that the guests get are merely there to sell a product.

Now, if you eliminate the “pre-sale” feature of Genie+, Disney will lose out. Why? Because Disney relies heavily on the FOMO factor. But if you can wait until you are there, guests will be less inclined to pay when they see that the SB wait isn’t so bad. As a result, while they might have solve Genie+ to a guests sight-unseen, those same guests are less likely to fork over the money (even at $5) when they see the wait is only 15 minutes anyhow.

So, I think your plan would likely reduce revenue for Disney as compared to Genie+/ILL, and is therefore likely an automatic “no” from them.

Now, if Disney starts to see discontent with Genie+ by way of fewer people buying it than they had hoped, I could see them changing it. But as long as 1/3 of guests (as currently reported) are buying it, I just don’t see them thinking this needs to be fixed.

Actually, what I WISH/HOPE would happen is that people WOULDN’T buy it. The most fair and equitable system is no pay-to-play system at all. NO ONE likes to wait, but when some people can pay for something that “steals” time from other guests who can’t (or at least don’t), it is completely unfair.

2 Likes
7

I don’t believe it is against the rules. CMs will happily tell you that you can do it. You’d clear them in exactly the same way, someone would ride twice.

For the timing, I would much rather be able to do it before the trip even started. I get that not everybody would like that though. Otherwise I’d probably stick to 7. If I can’t do it properly in advance I might as well do it just before we head to the bus stop.

1 Like
8

It is. Otherwise, people would be walking in with two park passes to double their fast passes/G+ reservations.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-rules/:

Tickets, credentials and other entitlements are non-transferable, non-exchangeable, non-refundable, revocable and void if altered. The ticket must be used by the same person on all days during its period of validity and is not valid for special events that require a separate admission charge. Applicable ticket and valid identification confirmation are required for entry, re-entry or if applicable, crossover into any park on each day of the ticket’s validity. Tickets used to redeem or access benefits and entitlements such as Disney Genie+ service must be the same ticket used for park entry.

I do agree with your sentiment on booking ahead (days if possible) but that doesn’t work for everyone.

9

People did used to do that, although I can’t quite remember how it worked. But that was FP and it was free. I think if someone is willing to pay twice, good luck to them to be honest.

I didn’t realise that was specified in the rules. But in practice, it makes no difference because you can do it and CMs are fine with it.

2 Likes
10

I agree on pay to play being a dangerous tactic overall, but that decision has been made, so they have to optimize the highest paying customers experience now.

I think everyone will start buying it because of FOMO. If they pay more and have a bad experience their once every 2-4 years trip will fall off their radar to a once every 6-8 years. Disney is playing with fire based that its much much more expensive to gain a new customer than retaining an existing one.

1 Like
11

The INTENT of that rule is so that people don’t try to use someone else’s band to access features they aren’t otherwise allowed to. For example, if they borrow the Magic Band of a person who is staying on property to gain access to EE, or booking an ILL, etc.

I think this is why CMs are allowing the use case mentioned, since it isn’t really violating the intent of the technical rule

3 Likes
12

I think some people are going to be unhappy under any system.
The only change I would make to the current system is that on-site isn’t getting enough perks, so I like your #4.

When you think of a rule change, imagine what the results would be with that rule change. For example, I was really grumpy about the ILL$$$ rides not being included in G+. In fact, those three $ rather than one $ are probably my personal protest about it. But, imagine if those were under G+. Then every last person going to HS or EP would get G+ in order to get on what is now the top three ILL$$$ rides. And they wouldn’t use G+ on just those rides. Every last person that now had G+ would want to use G+. Then the LL would just become standby with an added price and no flexibility.

1 Like
13

Yep. My niece had a FP for Splash she didn’t want to use because she didn’t feel like getting wet. I took her Magicband and rode instead. There’s no way they could police it - even if it is in the rules.

2 Likes
14

And I could see how sharing would be more of a problem under FP+ since that was free. Someone could use the MB of someone with an AP. But, with G+, you are paying for it.

15

No when I said people used to do that, I was talking about having 2 sets of magic bands. And getting 2 lots of FPs. I think at the kiosks you could get a FP for every MB so if you had a few you could get endless FPs basically. Or if your family all had APs but weren’t all coming, people would book FPs for all of them and use the change party feature to move them over to their own MDE. Which is probably why change party disappeared.

But yes, swapping MBs is definitely done and is what I said in my first response that CMs are happy for you to do.

2 Likes
16

I’m wondering how this was even possible. If a MB doesn’t tap in (or, rather, if person doesn’t tap in using ANY MB tied to their account) then the MB shouldn’t be valid within the park. It isn’t really tied to the MB itself, but to the MDE account to which the MB is tied. So, if I have two MBs, I can tap into anything using ANY of my own MBs, but it all amounts to just ME (singular). I couldn’t get multiple FPs because I have multiple MBs. I could still get the same amount, regardless of how many MBs I have.

And if I tried to use the MB of a guest who wasn’t there, that MB would have needed to tap into the park (or, rather, the guest tied to that MB would have had to tap into the park in some fashion) in order to be valid for obtaining a FP.

So, the only “hack” you could get away with would be if you entered the park with one MB, and then exited the park and entered the park using a DIFFERENT MB from a DIFFERENT GUEST (but one for whom there is a ticket), you could possibly do it. This assumes they aren’t verifying identity, though, as they typically would do for AP or even when using finger scanner.

17

If sharing bands is allowed then reservations should be pooled by group? So my group of 6 can get 6 ILL$ for 7DMT and I can use all 6 if I want?

18

I had me and both kids on my fingerprint so it’s definitely not checking if fingerprints repeat

1 Like
19

The “tap in” requirement was not always there. So your sister who lives in Florida has an AP? You could bring her Magic Band and get FP on her APs. Disney caught onto this and started freezing accounts of people who hadn’t tapped in but made FP.

That said, if grandma went back to the room early, you could still use her MB. But it would have been going to waste anyway, so that was more like a courtesy.

1 Like
20

This would have to be modified slightly. This was how MP did it, but that was not convenient for people who didn’t RD. I prefer being able to make it when the park opens (30 mins early for onsite). That way if you come later, you can still make some.

I know this is mitigated by the 2 hour refresh, but still.

Bottom line, MP worked well at DLR because of the volume of available rides. Without, this system struggles.

1 Like