Genie+ Question

[Mickeyfan0805]

Originally Posted by Nickys

Disney are seriously worried about their high value guests, those at the deluxe resorts, who are deeply unhappy with how Genie+ is working...

In order to try and “put out the flames”, as of June 8th sales will be severely restricted. They are hoping this will increase the satisfaction ratings from those who do have it. Of course it will also increase the dissatisfaction amongst those who cannot buy it, including onsite guests, but they hope they can at least stop the complaints about the product itself and then slowly increase the number sold.

Meanwhile other changes are being considered and will be put to guests in surveys during the remainder of the year, with changes made early 2023. That way anyone who pre-buys it until the end of the year will still have the same T&Cs as when they bought it. * And at the moment they are going back to the drawing board to try and fix it.

This is the part that deeply concerns me. A constrained supply leads to only one realistic end - higher costs. I am deeply concerned about the extent to which Disney might hike up the costs for G+ access moving forward. I didn't love having to pay for a product that I felt was no better than FP+, but at least it was still moderately attainable for a family. If the prices start skyrocketing, you could quickly be talking about something that prices out a lot of families seeking to visit.

[sawickipedia]

Originally Posted by Nickys

Despite the official Disney line that Genie+ is a stunning success, the reality is very different.

According to both the owner of WDWMagic and someone else with an inside connections, the guest satisfaction results for G+ is lower than Disney execs have ever seen before for.

Disney are seriously worried about their high value guests, those at the deluxe resorts, who are deeply unhappy with how Genie+ is working.

The number of people buying it is several orders of magnitude higher than they anticipated. (How they misjudged it is beyond comprehension). The reality is too many people are buying it and so it’s not working as it should be. And they are refunding he cost to lots of guests every day. As much as 50% of those who buy it are being refunded.

In order to try and “put out the flames”, as of June 8th sales will be severely restricted. They are hoping this will increase the satisfaction ratings from those who do have it. Of course it will also increase the dissatisfaction amongst those who cannot buy it, including onsite guests, but they hope they can at least stop the complaints about the product itself and then slowly increase the number sold.

Meanwhile other changes are being considered and will be put to guests in surveys during the remainder of the year, with changes made early 2023. That way anyone who pre-buys it until the end of the year will still have the same T&Cs as when they bought it. * And at the moment they are going back to the drawing board to try and fix it.


* the flaw in that thinking is that I can currently buy tickets either as part of a package or stand-alone through the end of 2023, with Genie+ included. Which means that for all U.K., European and possibly other international guests will have the T&Cs changed from when they bought it, and Disney might well have to refund unhappy guests.

Interesting that Disney execs are supposedly surprised at the dissatisfaction.

Question - did DL limit the # of Maxpass's sold per day? Wondering why Maxpass worked so well and Genie+ has not.

[rowrbazzle]

Originally Posted by bubster

Of course they aren’t going to admit it’s a failure this soon. I wouldn’t call 33-50% purchasing a resounding success. What % of those purchases are satisfied customers? The only way to know for sure is to see how many repeat customers they get.

I don’t think they will shut it down any time soon as they have way too much $ sunk into it. Disney IT is crap, they should fix it before they attempt to launch something this ambitious during a huge 50th celebration.

What I didn't understand is if G+ usage is lower than FP+ (50% vs up to 100%), why was availability so much worse on G+ than FP+? I got way more rides under the previous system than I did on Genie. I figured the only good thing about Genie was lower adoption rates would make for more availability. That certainly wasn't my experience. And Disney is saying 2-3 rides? That's kind of pitiful.

I'm happy for the folks that have had a good experience. Although based on what Nickys is saying, that doesn't seem to be the norm.

[johnb]

Originally Posted by rowrbazzle

What I didn't understand is if G+ usage is lower than FP+ (50% vs up to 100%), why was availability so much worse on G+ than FP+?

Great question.

Yesterday, I was looking at DHS LL availability on thrilldata and wait times on MDE. By 12-1 PM, wait times for all of the major attractions were over 1 hour. LL for ToT and Slinky were gone. If I'm in DHS and I see that, I'm headed to the pool.

I think part of the DHS problem is that ToT is operating at 50% capacity. They say it's maintenance, but my guess is staffing. Another problem is character meets are cut back/gone, Citizens of Hollywood gone, Mermaid show gone, and (going back a few years) Animation is gutted/gone. All of these are "people eaters." They get you to stop and watch, stop and meet, etc. Without these, the ride lines are increased.

[Shewill]

Another problem at. studios is Fantastic is still closed. That ate up huge crowds in the evening. Now people
Are just mulling around waiting for the genie plus ride to open up . Thee is little to do I then evening

[pdude81]

Originally Posted by johnb

Great question.

Yesterday, I was looking at DHS LL availability on thrilldata and wait times on MDE. By 12-1 PM, wait times for all of the major attractions were over 1 hour. LL for ToT and Slinky were gone. If I'm in DHS and I see that, I'm headed to the pool.

I think part of the DHS problem is that ToT is operating at 50% capacity. They say it's maintenance, but my guess is staffing. Another problem is character meets are cut back/gone, Citizens of Hollywood gone, Mermaid show gone, and (going back a few years) Animation is gutted/gone. All of these are "people eaters." They get you to stop and watch, stop and meet, etc. Without these, the ride lines are increased.

ToT is maintenance

[Nickys]

Originally Posted by Mickeyfan0805

This is the part that deeply concerns me. A constrained supply leads to only one realistic end - higher costs. I am deeply concerned about the extent to which Disney might hike up the costs for G+ access moving forward. I didn't love having to pay for a product that I felt was no better than FP+, but at least it was still moderately attainable for a family. If the prices start skyrocketing, you could quickly be talking about something that prices out a lot of families seeking to visit.

Apparently they want to try and make changes to improve things without pushing up the cost too much. At least initially. I expect it will go up, or there will be tiers of access which is what it looked like a couple of months before launch.

I suspect they got carried away with how well Max Pass worked at DLR and thought the same basic model would be simpler. Except it doesn’t at WDW because there simply aren’t enough attractions at any park.

They really didn’t expect so many people to buy it, and when they’re paying out over 50% of the income in guest recovery it just doesn’t pay to have so many buying it.

That means their model of whatever proportion of the ride capacity is going to G+ doesn’t work, with too few options available to people to book.

So all the options that were initially proposed and ultimately discarded, plus anything else that they can come up with, are back on the table.

Originally Posted by sawickipedia

Interesting that Disney execs are supposedly surprised at the dissatisfaction.

Question - did DL limit the # of Maxpass's sold per day? Wondering why Maxpass worked so well and Genie+ has not.

See above.

Disneyland Park alone has 52 rides. California Adventure has another 18.

WDW has a total of 58, across 4 parks. And some of the big people-eater shows haven’t re-opened yet.

[erikthewise]

Originally Posted by Nickys

......
WDW has a total of 58, across 4 parks. And some of the big people-eater shows haven’t re-opened yet.

This is clearly what we need!

A favorite of my Mom when I was little! And still partially performed at Sci-Fi.

And the followup on YouTube also has an obvious use in WDW...

[jflatto]

Originally Posted by Nickys

Disneyland Park alone has 52 rides. California Adventure has another 18.

WDW has a total of 58, across 4 parks. And some of the big people-eater shows haven’t re-opened yet.

I find those numbers incredible. WDW has 4 parks with I assume more acres but still has less rides that California.

We have some of our points rented out but after those rentals, I see us getting rid of a number of points at AKV and maybe keeping our BLT points and see if we feel the magic again in a year or so.

We are going to Universal Orlando on Wednesday of this week. Staying at Hard Rock Hotel so have the express pass. Don't need ADRs, transportation between the parks nor to the parks. Less planning overall.

[pdude81]

Originally Posted by jflatto

I find those numbers incredible. WDW has 4 parks with I assume more acres but still has less rides that California.

We have some of our points rented out but after those rentals, I see us getting rid of a number of points at AKV and maybe keeping our BLT points and see if we feel the magic again in a year or so.

We are going to Universal Orlando on Wednesday of this week. Staying at Hard Rock Hotel so have the express pass. Don't need ADRs, transportation between the parks nor to the parks. Less planning overall.

Let us know if the short walking path is open over to UO/Citywalk. I've heard it's been closed mostly during the exterior renovation.