Of course there will be some people who buy in advance for their entire trip … I think that will be a substantial number of people, but still a minority.
I feel like I’m leaning towards that now. It’s just more convenient. But then I feel like I’m a mug, doing just what they hope people will do by buying it when it’s not needed.
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thank you!!
Someone needs to make a chart with all of the recent news because I keep confusing things in my brain.
Can we talk about Photopass / Memory Maker? It’s not included in G+ at WDW, right? And it is also no longer included in AP’s, right? So if I want it, I have to pay for it separately or as an add-on to my AP if I purchase one? For some reason I was thinking it came with G+, but that wouldn’t make sense if we can get G+ for some parks and not others.
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Memory Maker is included with the Disneyland Genie plus so that is why it is extra confusing. Otherwise it is the AP add on, or the trip add on.
I think people using travel agents to do the majority of their planning will either buy it or not buy it.
If I hadn’t already sprung for park hoppers, I would consider purchasing Genie+ for my whole trip.
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With the photo thing they talk about my photo add-ons to G+ at both DL and DW.
so that makes it confusing.
But at DW it is just AR overlays on your photos
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I agree in that I think G+ will be more useful with park hoppers. Because of the park reservations and open and close being the best time to ride the super headliners, I went from being against getting park hoppers, to adding them and planning on mid-day breaks. Which means two parks per day will be the norm. With park hoppers it won’t seem such a waste to have G+ at EP if you can start to get ride reservations with long delays at say HS when you leave for a break. Or if you started the day at HS and finished up at EP.
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I’m leaning towards buying it for my entire trip.
In the end, it’s a ticket upgrade like Park Hoppers and I purchased that just to have the option, not because I have specific plans to hop every day.
In fact, I’m far more likely to use G+ on any given day than park hop.
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This is an interesting thought. I wonder if those people who normally purchase hoppers, in order to keep costs from ballooning, will choose G+ instead?
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It was one of the most frequent questions on the DLR chat, PH or MaxPass. People were split but maybe trending towards MP and that is a place where rhe 2 gates are right next to each other.
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So I’m going to present an alternative take that I’ve heard from a Disney insider. I don’t know whether or not that I buy it, but it seems plausible.
- FP+ as a free service was becoming unsustainable from an operational standpoint before the pandemic. Back when it first debuted, the average number of FPs used per guest per day was 1.2. That number has ballooned to 4+ per day in early 2020 given increased awareness and utilization of FP+.
- Couple that with the increase in attendance over the same period, and you have a problem that can either be solved by getting rid of FPs altogether, increasing ride allocation to FPs (and thus making standby even longer), or resulting in 20-30 minute FP lines. None of those were tenable.
- Yes, some of you may want no more like skip, but the biggest complaint Disney has had in the last year is no FP.
- Guest surveys have shown people are willing to pay, and it also does help Disney’s profit.
So the thought process going through Disney is that introducing the new system solves 3 problems - introducing a line skip for those who want it, constraining the demand for line skips because fewer people will be using it, thus resulting in better standby lines, and adding revenue. Win-win-win in their mind.
So they are willing to take the short-term PR hit in order to introduce what they honestly feel is a better system given the state of how people go to the parks. Despite what many think, Disney does really care about guest experience, even if they also care about revenue and profits.
Anyways, just another perspective.
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That makes sense in theory, but if they think people are willing to pay for it will it really decrease demand? Or will they limit the number that can be purchased in a day? Seems like they would have to limit availability to solve their demand issue, but I don’t see them leaving any money on the table. To me it really just comes across as a way to monetize their previous offering.
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They expect about 40-50% of park goers to purchase it, which is significantly less than what uses it now, from what I’ve heard. And if demand ever exceeds that, they’ll probably just raise prices to keep demand constant (my own speculation).
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This is basically what I think their thought process was. It really will all depend on execution and how many people end up shelling out the dough.
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Great info. Shouldn’t there be at least half the Lightning Lane Passes used than Fast Passes, since 100% of visitors will not automatically get 3 free anymore? So in theory, the Standby waits should be considerably lower with the G+ system than how the FP+ system was affecting SB.
Hopefully attraction’s entering allocation will be more like 2:1 (G+:SB) instead of between 4:1 and 10:1 (FP+:SB). I guess it also depends on how long Disney is willing to have guests wait in the Lightning Lane. I guess higher crowds would just lengthen the SB wait, not the LL wait??
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This sounds sensible to me. Simple.
We’re firmly in the ‘don’t need a line skip option’, having instead a limit on length of wait. And being happy to skip a ride until next trip. Or the trip after.
We’ve also rarely bought into the extras. We got the after hours MK ticket once back in 2004. And got the Halloween party in 2019 for 3 of the 19 at the birthday bash (the rest of us were happy at Marrakesh).
Our major disappointment in December 2020 was in dining - not enough options, mostly. We didn’t miss FP at all. We did miss character dining. 
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That’s what I’m hoping for.
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I honestly don’t understand how this will work. My last trip was the 3rd week in June. It was not a big crowd time, but it was not low crowds. I will look but I expect the crowds would be 4s or 5s. Within minutes of opening park attraction waits were over 60 minutes for just about everything. These were not exaggerated times. How will stopping the standby line decrease the waits? I expect the crowds will increase above 5s.
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I think @bebe80 was comparing standby waits with fpp+ to anticipated standby waits with Genie+ and not at all comparing to the current nothing available but standby lines.
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Well in June there were certain shows not operating among other things in the parks due to the pandemic, CM shortages, any ride capacity restrictions, etc. I’m thinking past the current times, when everything is clicking on all cylinders 100% again.
But yes, I’m comparing the standby wait from the FPP days to future G+ days.
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