Correct this sale happened back sometime in early/mid April and the news got released yesterday.

So perhaps part of their stock drop was due to that report coming out yesterday and being made public for the first time.

The vote to strike situation from what I'm seeing is still just that…a vote….because there still hasn't been a date set on when the workers will actually leave and not sure how it's supposed to work with them announcing it.

Apparently the last time this happened with Disney was in 1984 and it lasted 22 days.

Timely article.

https://local12.com/news/nation-world/disney-world-slashes-admission-prices-amid-mounting-customer-dissatisfaction-lake-buena-vista-discount-discounting-costs-hotel-stays-declining-park-attendance-cincinnati-packages-deals-hopper-pass-normal-rates-all-star-movies-resort-resort-vacation-vacay?-fbpost&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0JUcv77Qu4MaFkpKqHkoomSnbt68SQnaOvLbn77uWKnJZnepw3FXXOKmw_aem_VxiTuH7W4FzHSTswpe96rg

I saw this firsthand a few months ago. The June crowds were lighter than what we used to see when we went during Thanksgiving break which was about 3/4 of a Summer crowd.

Apparently Genie+ is going away soon (I believe starting next year)

Honest question with no ill intent meant...this also may be better suited for a different thread

What did people not like about Genie+? I didn't have experience prior to the Genie+ rollout with the old ways of fast passes, etc, but my wife and I took our son to DW in Dec 2021 and DL in June 2023. Both times, Genie+ seemed easy to use, efficient (relatively speaking, obviously not every ride was available when we wanted), and we were able to ride a lot of popular rides multiple times.

I saw a lot of folks online complaining (FB groups and the such) and I kind of chalked it up to not understanding the app. It seemed very straightforward to me. We were with friends in 2023 at DL, and the last night we were there my wife and her friend were back at the hotel with the kids and she was stacking rides for the other dad and me until closing time (all of the rides the kids weren't big enough for). Was it just having to use the app, or was it the day of? I will admit having to be buried in your phone during your park time wasn't ideal, but it never felt overbearing.

That makes sense. The early times didn't impact us as were on property and going with the early entrance anyways, but I can see that being a bother if you aren't getting there at rope drop.

Being on the phone like we were was annoying at times, and with only one child it probably was easier for us (one of us could watch him while the other booked a ride). The technology limitation was something I assumed was a problem for some, we just didn't struggle there.

We just thought it was interesting to see how much dislike there was when we felt like it was an overall positive for us and definitely helped us maximize experiences.

So basically they're turning into Microsoft

I don't like that the Genie+ essentially is another way to nickel and dime you. It seems basically the same as the old fast pass model to me, but now you have to pay for it. I think when we went, it was another $25 or $30, which is on top of the already $150+ for the ticket. It's still easy cheaper than paying for Universal Studios fast pass system (which can cost an extra $200 per ticket), but it's still annoying, especially since the old fast pass system was free.

What I really don't like are the lightning lanes. When I was there, it was the only way you could ride Guardians and Tron. You had to be ready at 6 am (maybe it was 7) with your phone, and you had less than a minute before they sold out. After that, you had to buy a spot, and I think it was $89 a rider. I realize they are doing this to prevent from having an insanely long line (and make money), but I am of the opinion that if some kid loves Guardians of the Galaxy and wants to spend 7 hours waiting in line, they should be allowed to.

All of this could be just because I really liked the old fast pass system. It came with the price of admission, so everyone who bought a ticket got an equal chance at a short line, and if you didn't get a fast pass, but were willing to wait in line, that was always an option.

We had a good experience with Genie + last year. But it was because of the reasons that are listed here. It costs money, and there is a barrier to entry.

I put in the effort before the trip to educate myself and learn how to best use the app. So we were at an advantage over people who didn't do that or didn't want to pay. We had fun filled days with hardly any long waits for rides, but it was only because I put in the effort.

Aggie_Journalist said:

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TopFlightReject said:

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"meat and greet"

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Definitely get why they kept this dude more than 20 feet away from Cinderella.

No doubt that helped, because even my wife mentioned the old system was better. That said, like double aught posted above, we also made sure to understand it and had a really committed idea of what we were willing to spend on rides to money-whip things a bit. (Easier to do with just 3 people total, but also important to us because our kiddo doesn't have siblings to entertain him during the long waits. Double edged sword there.)

I didn't mind the phone apps too much when they first started making appearances. When the virtual queue was introduced at Disneyland it was part of the Disneyland App and it was called MaxPass (I think). It replaced the paper fastpass kiosks. It was fairly simple and quick. There were restrictions on how many queues you could join, and rides would "sell out", but it was easy enough to navigate. It was a decent system that took about half a day to master.

Now, with the Genie+, if you look around inside the park you'll see half the people there on their phones trying to make reservations. If I'm going to be spending an average of $2,000 per day on a vacation, I don't want to waste 1 or 2 days trying to learn an app.

But the most grating part of it is the extra money you pay for the app, daily, and in the app itself paying to join certain queues.

The last time we went to Orlando, I used a separate credit card for all the Genie+ daily in-app purchases so I could easily track it, and in a 5 day trip we spent about $900.

sounds like the strike was adverted for now as there was an agreement between the two sides and there's supposed to be a vote on it this coming Monday. Assuming that gets a majority approval (no idea if its over 50% or needs to be more) then all should be good there.

Apparently if it's approved then it should be made public on what was in that agreement but for now it's not public info

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/disneyland-workers-reach-tentative-deal-company-averting-strike-rcna163427

We had the same guy egged we went in January of this year. For all the people in social media who were insisting that the adults complaining needed to stop because the kids wouldn't realize it, my 13-year-old asked me while we were in line watching other guests intact with the queen of that was a man in the costume. Yes, people, the children can tell and it was pretty weird.

Just got back from a week at Disney and got to experience the new system that has replaced Genie+. Overall it has a lot more pro's than con's relative to genie+. Basically you get to start by booking 3 lighting lanes per day, you can do this up to 7 days before the first day of your trip. We did 4 days of parks and had 3 lighting lanes booked for all the days, 7 days before we left. No more staying up to purchase or hitting refresh at 7AM to book anything. Overall I think you get a bit more bang for your buck, without the annoyance of the purchasing and initial 7AM booking.
Once you scan into the first ride you can book another, so you can theoretically always have 3 lighting lanes booked at any given time. While it doesn't remove the need to refresh and look at the app during the day. It takes the pressure off to always be immediately searching and refreshing the second you scan in to try and book another. You still have to use the app plenty, but you don't have to be glued to it the second you scan in to get your moneys worth.
If you have a park hopper ticket, you have to initially book all 3 at the first park you visit for that day, but as soon as you scan into the first ride you can book your next one at any park.
We booked 3 LL for the morning we visited EPCOT, but then once we scanned for the first one in EPCOT we booked something in Hollywood studio's for the afternoon and did that was we completed our EPCOT morning. When we left EPCOT for Hollywood we already had 3 LL booked at Hollywood which was really nice and we got a lot out of the day.
The downsides are it's still expensive and I feel like the available booking times are more spread out due to everyone getting to book more. With Genie+, IF things weren't to busy in a particular area, you could hit a whole section with hardly any breaks between lighting lanes or long walks between sides of the park. With the new system, we were never really able to get our bookings to line up back to back in the same area of the park. Seemed like the bookings had us walking back and forth more than Genie+ did. I averaged about 5,000 more steps per day this trip verses the last trip with Genie +.