Disney Parks head Josh D'Amaro says Disney will continue to simplify the park experience following criticism of being overly complex

May 22, 2023 in "Disney Genie"

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Posted: Monday May 22, 2023 10:09am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Josh D'Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, speaking earlier today in a question-and-answer session at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media & Communications Conference said that Disney will continue to try to simplify the theme park experience for guests after receiving feedback that it can be overwhelming.

Responding to a question about the complexity of visiting the Disney parks, D'Amaro said that Disney is listening to guests and fans and will continue to make adjustments to the guest experience. He referred to recent changes to theme park reservation requirements and eliminating the need for reservations with date-based tickets at Walt Disney World as examples of improvements based on guest feedback.

A trip to Walt Disney World can be complicated, especially for those who are first time visitors

Talking about the cost to visit the parks, he said that variable and flexible pricing helps to make Disney's parks more accessible by offering entry-level ticket pricing during certain seasons, whereas on peak days, more aggressive pricing is in place to handle demand.

Disney has faced criticism in recent years that the parks need to be simpler to plan for many visitors, especially first-time guests. Genie+, Lightning Lane purchases, virtual queues, park reservations, and ticket buying are all areas that can be daunting for those guests who do not spend time researching and carefully planning.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip requires detailed understanding of Genie+, Lightning Lane, and park reservation requirements

Earlier this month, Disney said it is working on ways to let guests plan with Disney Genie+ service and individual Lightning Lane selections before the day of their park visit. A post on the official Disney Parks Blog said, "Our goal is to give you the opportunity to spend less time planning in the park and more time enjoying your visit with friends and family. While we are not yet able to share specific details, we look forward to sharing more information at a later date."

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Purduevian6 days ago

Learned a new G+ tip the other day and I thought I would share. If you are refreshing looking for a better time on a single ride... Don't pull down to refresh then click the ride once you see a better time come up. Often times you will be too slow and someone else will have gotten that better time. Instead of refreshing that main page, simply click the ride on whatever time it does to move on to the confirmation screen. The time will automatically shift to the latest time available (which might be different that the tip board screen). If it is not the time you want, click back and do it again. This way if you see a time, you are holding that time as soon as you see it.

allgiggles7 days ago

I've seen many people say they don't like having to be on their phone all day. I didn't experience that. I'd book a LL, set an alarm for a few minutes before the next booking time, and then put my phone away. Lather, rinse, repeat. I don't remember spending more than about 5 (*maybe* 10) minutes on my phone every time I was scheduling another LL. My husband spent *way* more time than that on his phone and he didn't schedule *any* LLs. It was no worse than it was with FP+. And it sure beats having to walk to the ride you wanted to ride to get a FP for it or walking to a kiosk and standing in line to schedule a FP+ before you could do it on the app. I'd venture to guess that I spent more time in the FP/FP+ kiosk days walking back and forth across the parks to get the rides we wanted compared to the amount of time I was on my phone for G+. At least I can parallel process when using my phone -- doing the scheduling while eating a snack or meal or while standing in line somewhere.

GhostHost10007 days ago

Well I’ve had decent luck using it as well after learning the tricks but I spend an enormous time on my phone all day playing the game which I don’t like

allgiggles7 days ago

Didn't need fixing. I'm ok paying for it, I just don't want it to be $35/day. I felt like $15-20 was a good price. We were FP+ power users, but we had even better success with G+/ILL.

GhostHost10007 days ago

Fixed your post

allgiggles7 days ago

Oh how I wish these would be the prices when we're there next month.

DCBaker7 days ago

Here's a look at pricing for Genie+ today - the last time prices were at this level was February 25, 2024.

Splash4eva10 days ago

& to pre pay before the trip for its entirety

Fido Chuckwagon11 days ago

Lol, how I long for the days when it was $15…

capndave11 days ago

Doesn't include the more popular attractions. You have to pay even more to access the lightening lane per ride for those attractions. Total money grab! Disney is pricing themselves out of existence .