Walt Disney World Tech News & Discussion- Magic Bands, Genie+, and more

[Nick]

Wow. Seems to imply Disney's been dealing with lots of guest complaints. There's no other great explanation for why they would be trying to discourage guests from giving them money.

Ultimately a good thing if that's the case, because it might force them to rethink the path they've chosen with Genie+. Might.

It won't cause them to rethink (to the point where they ditch the service) more as alter the way they are running the service. Chapek has stated that Genie+ was very successful in its first quarter of operation and stated that based on those numbers, they are expecting the service to generate around $300M in 2022, which is an extra $300M than they were making since the service was previously free pre-covid.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Expecting them to up the price any day now, surprised they don't change the base price depending on crowd levels.

 

[Nick]

Expecting them to up the price any day now, surprised they don't change the base price depending on crowd levels.

That’ll probably come with time.

 

[Mad Dog]

Maybe they'll have a ceiling cutoff for sales. or restrict it to onsite hotel guests for WDW.

 

[HandsomePete]

Expecting them to up the price any day now, surprised they don't change the base price depending on crowd levels.

One issue is that there's not a switch to flip to immediately curb demand. So many of the purchases are advance purchases so the demand relief from raising the price wouldn't happen until probably August. And variable G+ pricing gets difficult when you package it with multi-day tickets that are good for a range of days.

So many people have demonstrated that they're willing to pay base ticket price + $15 that free G+ with more aggressive strategies on base ticket pricing is actually a viable way to make even more money.

 

[Tobias]

Starting June 8th, Genie+ will no longer be available as a pre-arrival ticket add-on. You'll have to purchase it on the day of your visit, which is now stated as "Subject to availability".



Disney states this is to "Manage the incredibly strong demand our guests have shown for Disney Genie+." But I don't see how this is going to manage things. At the moment, the price isn't changing, so there's no effective price wall to curb everyone from trying to get it. And now having everyone buying Genie+ the day of their visit is gonna' put a strain on WDW's reliably unreliable system. Now with Disney now adding "Subject to availability" to the stipulation, that might mean they'll limit how many people can get it which could help...but with the still cheap price and Disney themselves stating there's an "Incredibly Strong Demand" for Genie+...that's still not going to help things if they do limit how many are given each day.

Now if they later announce dynamic pricing etc. for the day of purchases, then they might be on the right track. But ultimately, they need to curb the demand for Genie+ in order for it to have a chance of working, and a higher price wall is the way to the go.

 

[Ron101]

So you have to be right on your phone at 12am now and then again at 7am… ridiculous.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Disney.....plan your dinner and when you will go on every ride....also might have to now log on at midnight or else your plans are ruined

What a joke

 

[Nick]

So you have to be right on your phone at 12am now and then again at 7am… ridiculous.

This is the stupidest part. If they were going to change to day-of, they should've changed so you can't buy it at all until 7am.

 

[fryoj]

I think the point of this is to remove the people from the system that just click options when they book their vacations without knowing if they actually want or need it. How many people booked it without ever using it or wouldn't have bought it on site?

 

[SailwiththeTide]

Disney just needs to rip the bandaid off and stop with the half effort. Just sell an all attractions Pass like express and price it correctly so everyone and their mama doesn’t buy it. Every theme park has figured this out.

 

[fryoj]

God could you imagine what an unlimited express pass at WDW would have to cost to make it so too many people didn't buy it? With Disney's clientele, $500 a day?

 

[SailwiththeTide]

God could you imagine what an unlimited express pass at WDW would have to cost to make it so too many people didn't buy it? With Disney's clientele, $500 a day?

It would be better for everyone including the stand by plebes.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

What a mess

 

[JoeCamel]

Disney just needs to rip the bandaid off and stop with the half effort. Just sell an all attractions Pass like express and price it correctly so everyone and their mama doesn’t buy it. Every theme park has figured this out.

So you show up with your shiny express and can't get in because you didn't get a ressise?
They can't sell unlimited AP's with a reservation system in place and who would buy one if you may never be able to use it? The suits would be flying as they found out out west.
Express will not solve the "World's" problems, just another band-aid that happens to generate a few extra bucks
The reservation system is not leaving as they can adjust staffing based on it so no APs wanting to "do" all the rides and onsite is not needing it.
What a fine mess you have gotten us into Ollie Bob

 

[Mad Dog]

Making a smartphone the basic standard of touring the parks has ruined the experience. Stop all the app bs, and the parks will be a better place. High tech is not necessarily better, especially
when you should be able to relax and leisurely enjoy a vacation, or just a trip to the parks. Keep it simple, stupid.

 

[JoeCamel]

Making a smartphone the basic standard of touring the parks has ruined the experience. Stop all the app bs, and the parks will be a better place. High tech is not necessarily better, especially
when you should be able to relax and leisurely enjoy a vacation, or just a trip to the parks. Keep it simple, stupid.

Only way that happens is build capacity or limit attendance but that assumes someone cares about the guest experience and not just the money.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Damn, operations must be struggling catastrophically if they're making it harder for you to pay for something.

 

[SkiBum]

Disney just needs to rip the bandaid off and stop with the half effort. Just sell an all attractions Pass like express and price it correctly so everyone and their mama doesn’t buy it. Every theme park has figured this out.

Disney does not like to admit that other parks are smarter. Blinders on or head in the sand, they'll keep pushing forward out of refusal to admit a mistake.

 

[GAcoaster]

I think the point of this is to remove the people from the system that just click options when they book their vacations without knowing if they actually want or need it. How many people booked it without ever using it or wouldn't have bought it on site?

I agree-- I think the real issue was having to refund people who bought it and didn't realize they needed reservations for a park as well. There's always confusion when you sell ad-ons ahead of time where people assume they are getting something that was a separate item. That's why they put those big disclaimers on dining reservations in the parks that people still need to buy a ticket to get in. Someone always assumes they are entitled since they bought one piece that they get it all.