My morning coffee mug
I am starting to get consistent overall balance and perspective and don’t see the lean I did in my other drawings. I will try and capture review notes right on the drawing in the future. Not to be too critical but to provide learning points as I move forward.
Disney - Why Are You Going Backward with Genie+?
You can do better than this.
Disney just announced they are replacing FastPass and FastPass+ with Genie and Genie+.
The Genie free service helps you plan your visit to the Parks. According to The Walt Disney Company:
“We’ve made significant investments in this cool new technology, which guides you through our theme parks with tips that can help you reduce time in lines, discover magic around every corner, and take the guesswork out of “what’s next.
Built right into the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps, Disney Genie service will maximize your park time, so you can have more fun. It includes a personalized itinerary feature that will quickly and seamlessly map out an entire day. From specific attractions, foodie experiences and entertainment, to general interests like Disney princesses, villains, Pixar, Star Wars, thrill rides and more – just tell Disney Genie what you want to do, and it will do the planning for you.”
This free version of Genie will be built right into the My Disney Experience app.
However, if you want to avoid the lines (i.e., FastPass style), you need to pay for the Genie+ service. Enter Genie+. According to Disney: Genie+ is:
“For even more convenience and flexibility, there are two other options for enjoying our theme parks, through a queue we are introducing called the Lightning Lane entrance that also saves you time in line:
“Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase): For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance. You can make one selection at a time, throughout the day – from classics like Haunted Mansion to thrill rides like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and newer favorites like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (attractions subject to limited availability). This convenient option is the next evolution of the fan-favorite Disney MaxPass service from Disneyland Resort. Disney Genie+ will also include Disney parks-themed audio experiences and photo features to capture your memories – augmented reality lenses for those visiting Walt Disney World Resort and unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from your day if you are visiting Disneyland Resort.”
But wait, there is more. If you want to avoid the lines for the most popular rides, they are not included in the Genie+ upcharge. Instead, for the E-Ticket attractions, you need to pay for the “Individual Attraction Selections.” Again, according to Disney, this means:
“Individual attraction selections (available for purchase): Schedule a time to arrive at up to two highly demanded attractions each day using the Lightning Lane entrance – like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom Park and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park (subject to limited availability; attractions not included with Disney Genie+). Pricing for this option will vary by date, attraction, and park and will be announced closer to launch.”
With this upcharge, Disney is going back to the E-Ticket era.
You need to go through now and decide what you want to ride and then see what level of attraction it is.
A bit of history. When Walt Disney World opened, you had to purchase tickets to ride the attractions, and the more popular, better attractions required an E-Ticket. According to Wikipedia:
“An E-ticket (officially an E-coupon) was a type of admission ticket used at the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks before 1982, where it admitted the bearer to the newest, most advanced, or popular rides and attractions.”
The more you wanted to ride these attractions, the more E-Tickets you needed to buy. Unfortunately, it looks like Disney is going back to that business model. Even though the Parks are already profitable coming out of the COVID lockdown, Disney feels compelled to monetize the FastPass experience.
This is a bad thing. Bad because this demonstrates Disney’s inability to think creatively to improve the guest experience, and they are just creating another cash grab. Part of the lure of Disney is the immersive experience. You come on the property, and you can leave the “real world” pressures behind. You can pay one price, set up your magic band, and just enjoy yourself in these COVID times. That is what we need.
Having the ability to get free Fastpasses to enjoy your day should not be replaced by another upcharge. Come on, do you need another $15? And then another upcharge based on attendance, popularity? You are getting like Six Flags. Go back to the way of one price, and you are in to enjoy the experience. Let’s focus on the experience, not the nickel and diming.
It tarnishes the Disney experience. The Disney experience is not to be the best or beat Universal or SeaWorld – it is to create an immersive experience for your guests. This goes back to the carnival days of needing tickets, albeit digital tickets. Come on, Disney, you can do better. Get back to your roots of focusing on the experience.
That is what we want.
Differential yourself. You will create tiers of visitors, those who can barely afford the price and can’t afford the upcharge and need to sit in line, long lines vs. others who can pay to play.
Disney, you can do better.
Comment down below on what you think of the new Disney Genie and Genie+ feature.
EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival
The EPCOT International Food and Wine festival is a great non-kid outing. My wife and I come down to Orlando every year for this annual event.
The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival runs a little over seven weeks (2015) and is an event that features food, wine and drink in 30 booths including local fares from Florida. The food selections are in small appetizer sizes with each booth / country featuring 3 - 4 specialties. The booths are set up around the Seven Seas Lagoon allowing you to eat and drink "around the world".
They also have concerts each night with some well known bands from the past that are free with your admission at the American Gardens Theatre at the American Adventure. In addition to the food and bands there are food and wine related seminars and VIP events. If you are a Disney VISA card holder there are also events exclusively for you. All in all a great event and highly recommended.
Disney knows how to market for increased attendance. The timing of the event is well planned as typically parents are not going to take their kids out of school in the Fall to vacation at Disney so this festival allows Disney to promote attendance in an otherwise slow period. Similar to the Disney Marathon being the first weekend in January after the Holiday rush. I think EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival is a great way to try new foods and wine at a relatively inexpensive price (at least by Disney standards).
What we like to do is try and go over at use this as dinner during the week days and lunch on the weekends. The weekends tend to get crowded and the lines at each booth can be long. I would say picking up a "guide book" is essential. As there are only two ways to go around the World Showcase and you tend to start eating and drinking from that end and are quickly full before making it all the way. What we do is alternate by day as to which Country / side we start with. This year we came down on Thursday morning and enjoyed relatively light crowds Thursday and Friday, but Saturday and Sunday were busy as this was the last weekend of the Festival. Also this year the attendance was high as people came down to hit the last weekend of Food & Wine and the first week of the Osborne Light show at the Studios. This being the last year of the Osborne lights that won’t be an issue going forward.
We also fly down and back mid week so you can get pretty good deals on airfare. We stay on property and take advantage of Disney transportation both from the airport and while at Walt Disney World. This also eliminates any issues with drinking and driving if you do enjoy the drink a little too much.
That section of Epcot (World Showcase) opens everyday at 11:00 am so a great way to have lunch as well. The early hours are typically much less crowded and easier to navigate.
I would also recommend coming early to middle of the Food and Wine Festival run. We are here on the last weekend and while the lines were short and managable on Thursday and Friday, the lines were extremely long on Saturady and Sunday.
There are other events surrpounding the festival outside of just the food and wine. This year annual Passholders can get a limited edition commerative port wine glass on your third visit to the park. There are also limited events avaiable to Disney VISA cardholders as well.
If you want to really be efficient I would book the Boardwalk or Yacht and Beach Club resorts for your stay. These access EPCOT through the back International Gateway entrance. Not only is this entrance much less crowded but it brings you into the park between France and England; right in the heart of Food and Wine. Also don't forget to get your fastpasses for your favorite EPCOT attractions. The Futureworld section of EPCOT opens early depending on if there are extra magic hours but generally no latter tan 9:00 am. You can come enjoy future world and then at 11:00 head over to World Showcase. A great way to spend a day. I highly recommend the EPCOT International Food & Wine festival.
Picture of Guide Book Picture of some of the food Pictures of some of the food booths