Disney Genie service deeply unpopular among fans before it has launched

wahoo skipper said:

If I could have a crowded, uncomfortable, unfulfilling experience for $120 or an 80's type experience (midways not jam packed, reasonable wait times for attractions, characters walking freely in the parks) for $240 I would take the later.

That seems like an important statement. What kept the crowds away in the 80's? Was a trip back then more costly than it is today? Did people not care about disney back then? Is there a lot more money floating around today which allows more people to go?

The latter, I think. There are a lot more people with a lot more disposable income (and a lot more people with a lot less disposable income). There are also just a lot more people period.

Disney in the 80s wasn't the ginormous vacation mecca it is today. Only two parks existed, and speaking for my family, Epcot held no interest back then. Magic Kingdom was a single day out of a full 10ish day Florida vacation for us, twice: once in '79 (pre-Epcot) and again in '87. That was our "Disney." And during our first visit at age 6, I have vague memories of my dad's utter frustration fumbling with ride tickets all day long for the five of us. And being midsummer, even then we experienced awful crowds and long lines.

I'm not sure the difference is so much about the total number of people who visit (which has been going up), so much as Disney's success at promoting what used to be off-season time into busy-busy-busy. Food & Wine plus continuously expanding Halloween and Christmas displays/activites/etc. turned Fall from a pretty sleepy period into a very popular one, and arguably more popular than summer because the weather doesn't suck. Marathon weekend filled in the dead period between the Christmas/NYE holidays and MLK weekend, and the Festival of the Arts is trying to bridge MLK to President's Week. The Princess Half is starting to fill in the short lull between P-Week and the start of Spring Break season.

That pretty much leaves very late August and September, which is still relegated to the Free Dining dustbin. Other than that, it's getting a lot harder to find a "low" time in the calendar.

They need another Magic Kingdom to distribute the crowds. Just mirror the existing park. :)

Since we’re talking about doubling single day ticket prices why not just delete the season pass all together and let the tourists have their parks back. ;)

That's an approximation of what Disneyland is doing. Season pass (er, "Magic Key") reservations for the next several weekends are completely booked. Day tickets? No problem.

I don't think that would work out in Florida. Anecdotally, I think the AP crowd makes a difference, and they spend a lot of money. I imagine that's why they specifically had an Epcot after-4 pass for so long. The AP's don't significantly impact the tourists. I'm surprised that in talking to randos waiting for stuff that we rarely encounter other AP's.

Brian Noble said:

That pretty much leaves very late August and September, which is still relegated to the Free Dining dustbin. Other than that, it's getting a lot harder to find a "low" time in the calendar.

Food and Wine started on July 15th this year.

It seems like it would come down to the number of APs in the parks. If it is a small number then I don't think keeping them out would have much benefit, except for making the tourists feel better that the local scum are being kept out. But if it is a significant number of people then there would be a benefit to thinning the crowd. And while the locals may spend a good bit of money in the parks, and for the pass itself, I would guess that the tourists are going to spend more on a per capita basis.

I don't know, I may be an outlier, but the three of us are in for almost $6k this year, including the passes, which we got in April. That includes a two-night resort stay and many, many gift card recharges for F&W. That's the danger of the event being four months long this year.

You might have a problem😂

$6K so far this year seems like a lot, but the tourist family sounds like they will spend just shy of that in a week.

Jeff said: That's the danger of the event being four months long this year.

If that’s dangerous, I don’t want to be safe.

The passes for three of us were already $2,300 after taxes. We immediately scored discounted water park tickets, $150, the hotel stay was in Art of Animation suites, there have been some merchandise buys, and yes, your average F&W visit, when it includes alcohol, is likely going to be around $80 for three of us. It adds up. I do imagine some of that is pent up demand. We've been slower to visit in the last two months.

You don't even want to know what we've spent for the cruise line, and we haven't even stepped on the boat yet.

$80 for Food and Wine? I don't think I get off that easy. It would be a little better if I didn't want to try so many beverages.

Jeff, do you have to buy the Genie+ service in order to take advantage of the Individual Attraction purchase? I'd like to do Remy (and would pay for it once) but don't feel the need to have the Genie+ necessarily.

I don't think they're codependent.

Yeah, I guess I should have done my own research on that one. I did see that you can by an individual ride for Remy and for Frozen. May do that for Remy but I'm not seeing the value in purchasing Genie+ for $15 per person to ride rides I've been on too many times to count.

Now, if I could get a Lightning Lane to get to the Beef Filet Mignon in Canada and the La Passion Martini Slushi in France that is money I'd spend. (I made the mistake of looking a the menu for this year's event. That was a mistake. $80 isn't going to cut it.)

The waits in France have been intolerable this year. Thankful for very little waiting at India (chicken korma) and Morocco (chicken kabobs). Also, some insane person jacked up the price for the Italy entrees to $13 for the chicken ravioli. There's no wait because no sane person wants to pay that.

I saw that ravioli and had put it on my list. May be coming back off. I'm a wings guy so I was excited to see that new experience pop up this year.

Jeff said:

Also, some insane person jacked up the price for the Italy entrees to $13 for the chicken ravioli.

Given that Italy's booth is often among the worst in terms of quality, that's....bold.

eightdotthree said:

They need another Magic Kingdom to distribute the crowds. Just mirror the existing park. :)

That is a completely ridiculous idea....

...but I like it. For somewhere like Disney with more land than they know what to do with, I wonder whether actually building two versions of the Magic Kingdom side-by-side might actually be an effective way to distribute the crowds.

Of course it'll never happen, but it's fun to think about.