Here is how you can best voice your displeasure (or approval) regarding the Genie/Genie+ Service

[MickeyMouse3!]

Not going as a protest to this change will mean absolutely nothing to Disney. They will have guests pouring in regardless. However, telling them, in writing, gives them hard proof that what they are doing is not popular and may cause loss of revenue. That is what Chapek will feel. More importantly, his employment board. The Genie+ program, as I see it, will only create two stand-by lines. Those who paid to stand in in line, and those who didn't.

 

[Barnabas T Bullion]

I fantasized about wearing a t-shirt with Genie = Scrooge ... I also keep going back to this image, surely taken from a WDW G+/LL planning meeting ...

Scroogenie?

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

Scroogenie?

Scroogenie? or Screwgenie!

 

[Disneylover99]

I guess I have no problem with them charging for it, as that will hopefully bring the numbers down of use, which should not slow standby down as much.

I don't think standby will move faster. There was a ratio they used for standby to fast pass with fp that varied with rides and probably throughout the day. I'd imagine they'd need to manipulate ratios so the Genie+ line moves much faster than standby. People need to feel satisfied with their purchase and it will encourage people who opt for standby to purchase Genie+.

 

[Elle23]

What’s the point? Emailing never seems to change anything.

They have people run interference for a few days after the announcement and then move on with their plans. They don’t care.

 

[Bete]

I went to Disney World when they had coupon books. I've done over 50 trips there through the years and we are not locals. I've seen a lot of changes through the years. I'm not liking this new Disney World. In some ways I see this Genie system being more fair for all. However, I felt more special being an onsite resort guest and getting special perks for doing so which is now gone. I was willing to pay more for staying onsite to get these perks. So, this new Genie system seems like a punch to the stomach. Also, I don't want to be glued to my phone all day doing the Genie. Fastpass wasn't broken; except, Disney wasn't getting extra money for it. This is pure greed by Disney, now. All the cutbacks by Disney has saved them money and yet they want to find ways to charge us more not just for Genie but higher prices for parties and such.

I'm glad for all my Disney trips and memories but I'm done with this new Disney World until it changes more back to what it was before. Walt Disney would be ashamed of this new Disney World. I know everything changes but this is too much for me.

 

[Barnabas T Bullion]

Scroogenie? or Screwgenie!

I just got one-upped. Well played... didn't even think of that one!

 

[MouseyMin]

I wish they'd just put back fastpass+. I'd even pay to have it. But I don't think I'll be paying for this system.

 

[MrWonderful]

Updated without comment. Numbers speak for themselves.

Disney video 1: 8400 thumbs down, 842 thumbs up : a 91% disapproval rate
Disney video 2: 12000 thumbs down, 1400 thumbs up : a 90% disapproval rate
Disney video 3: 5700 thumbs down, 746 thumbs up : a 88% disapproval rate

as of 8/22/21 3:00pm EST

 

[Disney mac]

Ever been on a plane? How do you explain that some people get to sit in better seats, board first, sit in front of the curtain, etc? Or that their friends' families drive nicer or less nice cars, have bigger or smaller houses, etc?

So many ACTUAL issues in the world and people are concerned about how to talk to their kids about other people having more money to skip lines at a theme park.

Kids don’t see plane seats as better or worse. They don’t see cars as nicer or not. What they do see is people getting to cut in front of them while they are sweating, hungry, and crabby. It contradicts every lesson every parent tries to teach their children of fairness and wait your turn. Do we teach our kids life isn’t fair? Sure. But every Disney movie, show, etc since birth tries to teach them that Disney is fair.

 

[StarrySkye21]

Call me crazy, but I'm always going to hate paying $60 plus dollars per day for my family when both original FP and FP plus worked perfectly for us and was free.

Think of it this way: with the FP+ program, 100% of guests were welcome to grab FP tickets throughout the day. Beginning with 3 at once. This significantly clogged up the FP lanes and made standby lines move like mud. Often this led to FP lanes wait times being as long or longer than standby.

I believe this new genie+ program will rectify that because less people will be willing to cough up extra money which will unclog the FP lanes while enabling the standby lanes to move faster.

In theory, it could be a solution that will please a majority of people. Whether or not it works is yet to be seen. I’m not ready to fire off complaints to Disney yet. While I agree that their agenda is $$$ (what business’ isn’t?), I doubt they want their guests miserable.

Maybe give it a chance first?

 

[Indio]

When the Genie+ announcement came out, I felt the same way as most people here - "really?? another perk gone?" But then I got to adding up which of these perks we actually used:

1) We did love the original FP, then we loved FP+ - we enjoyed trying to get those coveted FP and got up early on our 60 day out. So, we will probably pay for the Genie+ (which sounds like it will work like the original FP system), but we will NOT be paying for LL unless it is ridiculously reasonable pricing - which I'm not expecting. And we're early risers so if we want to get a FP at 7am, we will but, not a deal breaker.
2) Dining Plan - been going to WDW for 30 years and we've never done the dining plan - could never make the numbers work for the way we eat
3) We usually drive, so the Magical Express (while we do enjoy it when we fly) is not a deal breaker for our family.
4) EMH - we did try to get to early EMH if they were in a park we were planning to go to - didn't plan our days around the. Evening EMH, we occasionally went to those, but for the most part, by park closing - our feet are done!.
5) We never eat buffets so that doesn't affect us.

So all in all, our touring plan won't really change much. If I'm already paying $15 for a hamburger/fries, $15 to use FP is not much of a deal....

I'm sure a lot of people take advantage of all the perks that were offered, but I think there are more people that are in the same boat our family is in.

 

[StarrySkye21]

.double post

 

[katyringo]

Kids don’t see plane seats as better or worse. They don’t see cars as nicer or not. What they do see is people getting to cut in front of them while they are sweating, hungry, and crabby. It contradicts every lesson every parent tries to teach their children of fairness and wait your turn. Do we teach our kids life isn’t fair? Sure. But every Disney movie, show, etc since birth tries to teach them that Disney is fair.

This year we bought season passes to our local amusement park. They sell “fast lane” passes for $45 per person per day.. or we could have added them to our seasons passes for $250 per person for the whole season.

we had one day where we knew it would be very busy that we splurged. We didn’t the whole rest of the season.

we told our kids all about how it cost extra and to be grateful for their skip the line day and the other days we wait. One time while waiting in line some folks showed up to the fast lane entrance with their wrist bands. We were suppose to be next but my son goes:

“Oh mama we will wait a little longer those folks paid that money they need to go ahead of us..”

my son gets it. In the same way we talk about how santa brings some kids PlayStations and some kids not.

Disney is full of upgrades. What is Disney said “have front of line access to all rides and shows for an entire day for $3000”

oh wait.. they already do that. It’s a VIP tour.

or front row seats ti shows for $100
Person. That would be dessert parties..

Whenever we do an upgrade at Disney like that I am sure to point it out to my kids that we paid for it and it didn’t just come with it..

 

[PaladinButters]

What’s the point? Emailing never seems to change anything.

They have people run interference for a few days after the announcement and then move on with their plans. They don’t care.

I'll take you one further - what's the point of a thumbs down on Youtube like Disney was sitting there expecting nothing but positive reinforcement on ANY kind of price increase. Unless this actually doesn't make them money like they want, or somehow the parks stop being packed they don't give a [redacted] about a few e-mails. They expected it. They scheduled CS reps around it.

 

[Disneylover99]

Think of it this way: in the old FP days, 100% of guests were able to grab FP tickets throughout the day. Beginning with 3 at once. This significantly clogged up the FP lanes and made standby lines move like mud.

I believe this new genie+ program will rectify that because less people will be willing to cough up extra money which will unclog the FP lanes while enabling the standby lanes to move faster.

In theory, it could be a solution that will please a majority of people. Whether or not it works is yet to be seen. I’m not ready to fire off complaints to Disney yet. While I agree that their agenda is $$$ (what business’ isn’t?), I doubt they want their guests miserable.

Maybe give it a chance first?

I never had issues with clogged fp lines, unless a ride went down.

I do think Genie + lines will move extremely fast though. With people paying for this, they’ll need to ensure guest satisfaction. The ratio of guests going through with Genie+ may need to be increased. So I don’t think standby will move any faster. But they’ll adjust the ratios to find the sweet spot. Time will tell how it all pans out.

For me, it’s not about giving it a chance. I’ll still go. I’ll still try it. But I’ll never be happy about paying for something that was free and worked great for us. If this works great for others and they love it? Great. I’m happy for them.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We are happy they did this. Now just adjust it so Onsite resorts guests get 60 days in advance sets of three in G+ and LL and all will be right with the Disney World.

 

[Delirium]

For me, the monetary aspect of it is down the list. I would rank my dissatisfaction points like this.

1. It's yet another meaningful perk taken away from onsite. We have always enjoyed the experience of staying onsite, and liked the little rewards we used to receive for paying the inflated resort prices.
2. It forces you to do same day planning that you previously were able to do 60+ days in advance. And, the planning is continuous throughout the day. I liked going into a vacation knowing that I would not have to worry about getting on FOP, Slinky, or Mine Train. I liked knowing whether I had a 2 hour window between FPs or whether they backed right up to each other. It was wonderful to time your FPs so that you could walk off Thunder Mountain and go right to Splash with no wait. Or, walk off RNR and get directly on TOT.
3. Having to get up at 7 A.M. to start This is the most mind-boggling piece of the whole thing. Who at Disney thought that would be something someone would want to do on vacation. Even if you do get up that early, now your worried about scheduling something instead of getting the kids up, getting dressed, or eating breakfast. It's absolutely insane someone thought this was a good idea.
4. The cost. This ties a little but back to #1. I don't mind paying extra for something if I get something in return. Resort Guests should have a significantly more meaningful head start on it than what they've done. If you want to charge me for priority in line, then I'll make it work. But, give me the 60 day window for resort guests versus 30 that was in place before.

 

[jjb1974]

I'll take you one further - what's the point of a thumbs down on Youtube like Disney was sitting there expecting nothing but positive reinforcement on ANY kind of price increase.

Agree with this: there is no social media post, no matter how much you think "There is no human in the world who would disagree with this viewpoint" where 10% of the replies don't contradict your opinion.

Likes are cheap, dollars are not.

 

[bunkerchump]

Thanks for having this out there. As a DVC member who stays for months at a time this is just not realistic. I can see it for the majority who go for a day or two here and there but for us we may as well stay home.

Agreed - but they Dont care. They've done their market research and would much rather replace your monthly stay with 4 1st time guests who will spend much more $$ per minute than you do. All of their actions in the last 2 years speak to this. I don't know if it will backfire for them - Time will tell.