Putting the Genie(+) back into the lamp

Walt Disney World
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Well, darn. I HAD been all excited about it. I guess because my hope for FP+ replacement had been MaxPass. I’d have paid for the cell phone upgrade, so I consider this equivalent. I’m not concerned about the DLR MaxPass getting the photo thing and Genie+ not getting it because I was planning on doing a photo share anyway.

My main hope now hangs on my trip (Feb 2022) coming soon enough that Disney won’t have a chance to short-change the park experience too much. I can totally see Cheap-ek doing those things mentioned the first post.

We are part of the target audience for this though. The once-in-a-lifetime trip family. Not in the top-whatever percentage for wealth, so I’d put us as the second tier target audience. When I can add them to our tickets (all days, I’ll do it) Sorry, Liners.

I AM grumpy about the rides that are pay-per-ride though. We’ll have 10 park days in early February and early entry. So, I’m guessing that early entry, end-of-the-day standby and multiple tries at boarding groups we’ll be able to do those. Now, if that doesn’t happen I’ll be really ticked.

The recent changes have made us change the overall plan, though. They’ll be getting a lot less dining money from us even with Disney+. We were able to add on the park-hoppers at a discount though the TP recommended site. Most days, we will arrive for early entry having already eaten breakfast. Leave maybe 1pm, eat not-Disney, then come back full after a rest to close out the parks. We’ll probably pack more food than we otherwise would. Assuming TS is back to close to pre-lockdown, we’ll probably do a max of 3 in-park TS, 1 resort TS, no QS and only the special snacks. We will still be doing the AK Trek and Epcot DiveQuest.

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Our friend here keeps focusing on “profit.” That’s not the only variable that goes into a publicly-traded company’s share price, far from it. If we held on to such antiquated notions as PE ratio, God-King Elon Musk would be pushing testosterone supplements on late night cable teevee.

There is absolutely nothing institutional investors hate more than labor costs. Take Costco, for example. For years they’ve paid all their people what we now call a living wage, plus generous benefits. They do it because it reduces their annual turnover from the 90%+ common in retail to under 15%. It saves them money because they don’t have a constant churn of new employees to train, and, let’s face it, happier employees are more productive.

Despite these higher labor costs, they always exceed their revenue targets. Costco has done stupendously well this past year. What do they get by way of thanks? A quasi-criminal enterprise like Deutsche Bank carrying on a decades-long shrieking jihad about how bloated Costco’s labor costs are and how bad it is for shareholders.

Disney is very labor-intensive, so any effort at reducing labor costs, even if it’s not large in real profit terms, gives it a halo effect with the vampire squids.

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It’s likely that G+ in early Feb. won’t save you enough minutes in a day to be worth it or necessary.

I don’t know if those special tours will be back by then…

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I agree somewhat with the original post- I just think that the price point is to low to actually create any kind of advantage to the purchasers…

To be honest the express pass at universal cost almost 6 times the rate of GP+ per person and usually does not include new rides…but it functions and functions well waits are minimal really minimal and they throw this perk to top tier resort guests and top tier pass holders, although pass holders are restricted to late afternoon…

For years I have been wishing WDW offered a program like this instead of fastpass cause it worked you either waited on line or purchased-

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I whole heartedly agree with @ryan1
I was at Disneyworld one of the first years it opened… and I remembered Walt Disney wanting it to be “an affordable magical experience for families”
affordable was key for him…
Sad that this Walt-ism is gone now…

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As someone who knew how to operate FPP to his advantage I am sad that it is gone. That being said, I do remember thinking that FPPs are not quite as important as you may think. On my last two trips I was given a fourth FPP per day as compensation for whining about things. I found those extra FPPs less valuable and necessary than you might think. (Of course the did exclude things like FOP and 7DMT.)

If I’m understanding it correctly, G+ is MaxPass. And MaxPass is very popular at DLR. It’s annoying that the cost of a park ticket is effectively $15 more per day now, but there’s only one of me and I have at most six WDW park days, so that’s not a deal-breaker.

I’m interested to see how LL+ will work in practice. The equivalent at DLP is an oddly random list and there’s really only one ride I’d even think about paying for: BTMR, which is $12. The DLP version is a long ride, and a much better one that the WDW version, and it’s my clear favourite ride in the park. Also, it has a hideous queue line that is hot and claustrophobic.

PP at DLP is $15. Now way. Never. Not going to happen. Not remotely worth it for me. Buzz is also $15. That’s a better ride, but it’s not worth $15 to me. In both these cases, I’ll get in line if the line is under 30 mins. If not, well, I just won’t ride.

What would I pay for at WDW? 7DMT? It’s a very short ride. I guess maybe. SDD? Same. FOP? I might actually enjoy getting in the regular line if it were, say, under an hour. It’s a richly-themed line. NRJ? Yup. I’d pay. Dull line and I love that ride.

I didn’t really have budgets for my first five WDW trips. I had 0% credit cards. And I used them. A lot. There comes a point where you can’t do that any more. I’ve reached that point. Now I have a budget. So there is now a cap on how much Disney can take from me. If I start spending money on LL+ then something else is going to have to be cut. Dessert parties, or ticketed events, or resort downgrades, or staying off-property, or character breakfasts. And so on.

I do think WDW will stop being a twice-a-year thing for me. Well, it definitely will. It may become a once every two years thing. Which is a lot less money for Disney.

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Is there a date when Genie is starting?
I am going to Disney mid-September… will I avoid it?? (I hope)

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Well, we have 5 months, and those have to be very profitable. So, I’ll hope. If they aren’t back, then oh well. Just like if Eeyore isn’t back at CP, that will be one less TS.

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You are good. G+ is rumored for mid October.

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My wife and like the way Universal does it. You can either pay for a Express Pass straight up per day or you can stay a Deluxe resort that gives you an Express Pass. Either way you still pay extra to go to a faster line. None of this pick your fastpasses 60 days out with add ons once you have used them. Is this fair for all guests? No. But then it isn’t fair to pay more for a resort room than a Florida resident. It isn’t fair to charge extra For MNSSHP which started at 7PM and closed the park to guests that paid for the full day that closed at 9PM or later. You get what your willing to cough up, as in the new Halloween event Boo to You. And if I hear one more stating that these increases are for the benefit of the stock holders, I am going to puck. Of course they are and it what corporation are they not? That’s what corporations are all about. Now I own Disney Stock and so can you. If you feel you are getting screwed, by some of your own. People there are the have’s and the have not’s. Some have more funds than others and can afford more than others. Some got it by the silver spoon and others worked their asses off to make their’s. Point being here is a corporation is going to make every dime it can at the least expense. Some people can deal with the changes and some don’t wish to. Makes no difference to Disney unless they see the bottom line getting smaller. The corporation is far more than the stockholders and the people in high places want the money and let’s not forget, POWER. So here lies the dilemma, to spend or not to spend that is the question. Example: Boo to You costs $160 or more for three added hours to your night. Is it worth it? I and my wife say NO. But many DO NOT agree. Disney is selling these tickets like hot cakes. So there you go. Some will think it is worth the extra cost and other’s won’t or can’t. It will be no different with Genie+. Never has in the past and people with the funds will chuck them out not caring one way or the other if you have to wait longer. Why would they. If you can afford WDW then you get what your willing to pay for and believe me the corporation will suck it out of you and the top people will not lose a wink of sleep one way or the other unless of coarse it effects the bottom line but you know that isn’t going to happen so cough it up people and enjoy the MAGIC. :roll_eyes:

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Easy cut now since you no longer eat sugar.

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Haha. Except the dessert parties were always about the viewing spot for me. I rarely ate much dessert.

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I think it is worth mentioning that my issue isn’t actually with Disney trying to make more money, or getting more expensive. I am not even sure I take issue with them pricing people out. I don’t like it, but I don’t have an issue with it, per SE.

My main issue is the WAY they are using G+ to make money. The fact that they are manipulating things to artificially create a need, and then how that devalues the experience for others. They profit by taking time away from others, rather than actually profiting by offering something legitimate.

Here is something of an analogy. Let’s say that Disney offered a new add-on. If you pay an extra $20 per day, you get to take 20% off everything you buy. BUT, the catch is that each time you use it, the prices go up for anyone who buys something after you. If you don’t use it, the prices remain the same. Does that seem fair, or even right? No. But it is no different, when you consider time is money. If you use G+, or LL, then everyone behind you has to wait longer. Disney is robbing other guests of their time in order to “pay you” a shorter wait. Disney isn’t offering you something, like a product or food or experience that costs them anything extra. Instead, they are taking time away from other guests and selling it.

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I agree with your points, but I don’t think there is any way to boycott this.

The overall cost for a Disney vacation can and will go up as long as there are people willing to pay for it (same principles of the house market, or any market really).

I’m sure Disney has carefully calculated how much more they can charge and still have enough guests to provide positive revenue.

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To be fair, over the last 5 years COST stock is up 3x - so the overall stock market has rewarded them for their practices despite some critics of those same practices.

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Although when MK opened we had ticket books that limited what you could ride. Want to ride more E-Ticket rides? Buy more passes. One could argue that G+ & LL$ are essentially ticket books in the modern digital age…

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That’s true…although, usually you either charge admission, or you charge per ride/attraction…not both.

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But WDW and DL opened charging for both. That evolved when the ticket books went away, but let’s not pretend this is something Walt would be aghast by. It’s something he essentially did.

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Right? This pay to play thing feels like it has come full circle a bit. Pricing is different but I keep thinking about the ticket books too

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Did they? I didn’t think that was the case. I don’t know why I thought it was just a ticket book concept.