Genie Plus, a must for busy days.

[igrsod]

We're undecided on adding Genie+ and this thread hasn't really encouraged us to purchase it. It appears the biggest complaints are the need to watch your phone continuously throughout the day (and the battery life of the device), the lack of availability on busy days midway through the afternoon, and the propensity to bounce around the park. It would seem a good touring plan for the day would likely better serve a family. The lack of movement by the standby lines is very concerning.

I already had decided that I would not purchase Genie + for a variety of reasons, but this thread solidified it for me. I still think with a good plan, and a good attitude, you can have a great day and ride what you want to ride.

 

[Doug7856]

I already had decided that I would not purchase Genie + for a variety of reasons, but this thread solidified it for me. I still think with a good plan, and a good attitude, you can have a great day and ride what you want to ride.

Exactly! I think attitude and outlook are key when being on vacation.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I was sure I would buy genie+ for my 3 MK days during my April vacation just to avoid extended waits with my toddler but all the recent posts are making me hesitant to purchase it now. We are going April school vacation that starts right after Easter so not sure if the Easter crowd would still be there. First time going during school vacation where it borders Easter so really unsure of what crowd levels to expect. Are Fantasyland rides seeing times last a little longer during the day? My hubs and I are planning on getting rides in that we miss during deluxe hours at MK. Also, after this week's experience with pulling rides on genie+, would people say that AK is worth getting just to avoid waiting 1hr+ for safari? Back in the day, we usually do an early breakfast at Tusker House and then go on safari with a FP.

 

[Disneyfamily145]

Week after Christmas all parks are at capacity and there are no reservations available at any of the parks. I’m thinking there is no way getting around without Genie+ and LLs. Thoughts?
Question- if you have friends that are not in your reservation group but are in My Experience as with my group and linked tickets, can I be the lead person and make Genie and LL reservations for the whole group?

 

[Gentry2004]

Week after Christmas all parks are at capacity and there are no reservations available at any of the parks. I’m thinking there is no way getting around without Genie+ and LLs. Thoughts?
Question- if you have friends that are not in your reservation group but are in My Experience as with my group and linked tickets, can I be the lead person and make Genie and LL reservations for the whole group?

LL$ yes. But Genie+? The problem is will there even be any options left for a second or 3rd selection?

 

[jimbostacks]

I an also going the week between Christmas and New Years. I hope I can use it at "least" 3 selections. I went a few weekends ago at MK and it was awesome... seems like with bust parks it will be huge challenge. Hopefully the parks mgmt recognize this and adjust... either minimize the Genie + passes or open up more LL capacity. I pre bought.. so I am stuck

 

[wisblue]

LL$ yes. But Genie+? The problem is will there even be any options left for a second or 3rd selection?

Depending on your perspective you could look at Genie+ as paying $15 for at least one major attraction (like a 3rd IALL) with at worst a couple of lesser attractions thrown in, especially at MK.

When it’s really crowded LL reservations for attractions like Buzz, IASW, Pooh, POC, and others can still have value, especially for people with small children.

At DHS, getting SDD or MFSR plus Star Tours or TSMM might be worth $15 to you too. You might not get as many LL as you would when it’s less crowded, but you might save even more time waiting in lines.

 

[MomOTwins]

Depending on your perspective you could look at Genie+ as paying $15 for at least one major attraction (like a 3rd IALL) with at worst a couple of lesser attractions thrown in, especially at MK.

When it’s really crowded LL reservations for attractions like Buzz, IASW, Pooh, POC, and others can still have value, especially for people with small children.

At DHS, getting SDD or MFSR plus Star Tours or TSMM might be worth $15 to you too. You might not get as many LL as you would when it’s less crowded, but you might save even more time waiting in lines.

True, in hindsight the low price (not much more than an ILL) should have been a red flag that you weren’t guaranteed to get much more than a ride or two with +

That was the most surprising part of this to me—when you compare to universal’s EP which can cost $100 pp per day, and when you compare to Disney’s past options like after hours for $200 pp or early morning magic for $80 pp. But you get what you pay for I guess. And I’ll never pay for a VIP tour… blech.

 

[Figment of Speech]

Also, after this week's experience with pulling rides on genie+, would people say that AK is worth getting just to avoid waiting 1hr+ for safari?

I haven't been to try it first-hand yet, but both Tom at Disney Tourist Blog and Molly at AllEars (the experts I trust most) say that for most people G+ is probably not worth purchasing at either Animal Kingdom or Epcot, because both of them have few enough attractions — and most of the rides have moderate enough lines — that you can ride everything in a day without it.

Of course, it's not one-size-fits-all, so it could still be worthwhile if, for instance, you're parkhopping (especially between those two in the same day), or if you have a limited amount of time at the park you're going to, or if you have someone in your party like a small child who starts to get fidgety if they have to wait a long time. So with your toddler, you might find it useful. The positive is that since fewer people are going to be buying it for DAK, it'll be easier and less stressful to get the reservations you want there.

I was sure I would buy genie+ for my 3 MK days during my April vacation just to avoid extended waits with my toddler but all the recent posts are making me hesitant to purchase it now. . . . My hubs and I are planning on getting rides in that we miss during deluxe hours at MK.

Is one of your MK days after the night you're doing Extended Evening Hours? If so, then you can wait until after you've done your Extended Evening Hours and use G+ to help you fill in the gaps on one day rather than shelling out for all three. That's probably what I'd do with that schedule.

 

[Delirium]

At DHS, getting SDD or MFSR plus Star Tours or TSMM might be worth $15 to you too. You might not get as many LL as you would when it’s less crowded, but you might save even more time waiting in lines.

For Thanksgiving week at HS in 2018, I was able to secure the following FP+ reservations at no cost and no requirement to get up at 7 o'clock on those days to 'maybe' get lucky and get them. Granted, this was before Galaxy's Edge, but still....

Monday of Thanksgiving Week

• Toy Story Mania
• Tower of Terror
• Fantasmic!

Saturday after Thanksgiving

• RNR
• Slinky Dog
• Star Tours

I can analyze that from now till the cows come home, but there is no way I'm ever going to feel good about Disney giving me the opportunity to pay them $15 (actually $60 for my Family of 4) to get up at 7 A.M. and MAYBE securing two of those rides.

It's just not ever going to happen for me. My only hope is that there are so many others that feel the same way I do that Disney Management ultimately realizes the absurdity of this 'deal' and recalibrates it to something more sensible.

 

[mab2012]

I assume they are constrained by staffing issues. If so, they should bite the bullet and offer a lot fewer park reservations. They now have the ability to reduce attendance to allow for better guest experience and they should use it.

They can, and they should, but they won't. One wonders why they're still capping park attendance at all. By all accounts, they've done away with distancing measures, so it's not because of COVID. And I've never believed that they have any interest in reducing attendance to improve the guest experience. What they want is to maximize the profit / attendance curve. If they could pack the parks so tightly that you can barely move at $1000/day, they would do it. They'll assume that if people are still paying to be there, the guest experience must be good enough.

If anyone still needed convincing of that, surely Genie+ is the evidence. They are selling it to people when it it literally useless, with no capacity left in the system to book anything at all.

 

[mab2012]

I understand where you are coming from if they raise the price of Genie+ but the problem is the system doesn't work. Look at the complaints with only getting 1 or 2 rides a day.

They need more attractions for it to work. Since that isn't going to happen any time soon, the only option is to cap the amount of Genie+ that can be bought or raise the price so fewer people buy it. Genie+ is not going away or will ever be free.

But FP+ did work. It didn't work for everyone, all the time, and not everyone loved it (including you, as I understand it.) But G+, in its current form, doesn't work for anyone on busy days, and has limited value on quiet days, when standby lines are short anyway. There's a window of opportunity on moderate days when someone who knows how to maximize the system can make it worthwhile, but even on those days, whether it is better than FP+ is, at best, a matter of personal preference.

So there are other options besides an exorbitant price raise on G+, one of which would be to go back to a FP+ model, even if it is monetized. Do I think that will happen? Almost certainly not. But I'd far rather pay $15/day to have FP+ back than to deal with this hot mess. And if it comes to a choice of paying upwards of $50 or $100 pp/day for G+ or waiting in 60+ minute standby lines for my $150 entrance ticket, we'll just skip WDW entirely.

 

[Jrb1979]

But FP+ did work. It didn't work for everyone, all the time, and not everyone loved it (including you, as I understand it.) But G+, in its current form, doesn't work for anyone on busy days, and has limited value on quiet days, when standby lines are short anyway. There's a window of opportunity on moderate days when someone who knows how to maximize the system can make it worthwhile, but even on those days, whether it is better than FP+ is, at best, a matter of personal preference.

So there are other options besides an exorbitant price raise on G+, one of which would be to go back to a FP+ model, even if it is monetized. Do I think that will happen? Almost certainly not. But I'd far rather pay $15/day to have FP+ back than to deal with this hot mess. And if it comes to a choice of paying upwards of $50 or $100 pp/day for G+ or waiting in 60+ minute standby lines for my $150 entrance ticket, we'll just skip WDW entirely.

I hated FP+ and I hate Genie+ as well. I travel to parks all across the US every year and have seen how skip the line systems should work. Disney's system doesn't work for many reasons.

One being there isn't enough attractions. The biggest reason it doesn't work is that too many people have access to it. Judging by the responses on Genie+ and the cost, it feels like a lot of you have never been to other parks much or have bought skip the line systems there.

They cost more for a reason. Most parks understand if you want to make those happy that do buy skip the line, they should be able to have short waits and ride a lot of rides. People have to understand that skip the line systems are a privilege. They don't work when everyone has it. Genie+ is showing that right now. Paying $15 and getting 2-3 rides is absolute garbage.

They need to up the price to $50 or more for it too truly work.

 

[itf]

But FP+ did work. It didn't work for everyone, all the time, and not everyone loved it (including you, as I understand it.) But G+, in its current form, doesn't work for anyone on busy days, and has limited value on quiet days, when standby lines are short anyway. There's a window of opportunity on moderate days when someone who knows how to maximize the system can make it worthwhile, but even on those days, whether it is better than FP+ is, at best, a matter of personal preference.

So there are other options besides an exorbitant price raise on G+, one of which would be to go back to a FP+ model, even if it is monetized. Do I think that will happen? Almost certainly not. But I'd far rather pay $15/day to have FP+ back than to deal with this hot mess. And if it comes to a choice of paying upwards of $50 or $100 pp/day for G+ or waiting in 60+ minute standby lines for my $150 entrance ticket, we'll just skip WDW entirely.

I think the problem is that they know now money is being left on the table, at the very least with ROTR. They've shown that at busy times they could definitely charge even more than the $15 current cap, they just don't know how much yet. And they're definitely going to want to find out. I can't see the outcome of all this being anything other than G+ going up and individual LLs going up even further. :|

FP+ really screwed us over as an unprepared group who went for one day last year (and it turned out to be busy) but this isn't going to work better for us, even though we're prepared.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

Is one of your MK days after the night you're doing Extended Evening Hours? If so, then you can wait until after you've done your Extended Evening Hours and use G+ to help you fill in the gaps on one day rather than shelling out for all three. That's probably what I'd do with that schedule.

We currently have MK days scheduled for Monday (arrival day), Wednesday, and Friday (flight is a little after 4pm). I'm now debating whether to get G+ on arrival day since we'll probably arrive to our resort around 11am. Maybe not get it that day and play it by ear. Figure we will use Genie+ to avoid long waits with the toddler on Wednesday in MK and anything that us parents miss, we will try to ride during extended hours that night while grandma stays back at the resort with him. Now thinking it might be better to get G+ on arrival day, try to stack times for later in the day and not get it for Friday. Might be a waste of $45 for the 3 adults on Friday since we'll head to the airport around 2pm. Thinking of using that money for G+ at AK just to avoid a long line at the safari. Definitely not getting G+ at Epcot and just paying $ for Remy.

 

[Jrb1979]

I think the problem is that they know now money is being left on the table, at the very least with ROTR. They've shown that at busy times they could definitely charge even more than the $15 current cap, they just don't know how much yet. And they're definitely going to want to find out. I can't see the outcome of all this being anything other than G+ going up and individual LLs going up even further. :|

FP+ really screwed us over as an unprepared group who went for one day last year (and it turned out to be busy) but this isn't going to work better for us, even though we're prepared.

They messed up by trying to keep it affordable to everyone. They need to limit availability so that do buy it can get on 6-8 rides a day.

 

[itf]

They messed up by trying to keep it affordable to everyone. They need to limit availability so that do buy it can get on 6-8 rides a day.

Then it becomes a resort guests can buy it at 7 and you peasants off-site can buy any that are left I guess like the paid LLs. My trip is already expensive enough as an international traveller. I keep teetering around cancelling because I can just see the costs mounting and value diminishing as an off-site guest.

 

[Jrb1979]

Then it becomes a resort guests can buy it at 7 and you peasants off-site can buy any that are left I guess like the paid LLs. My trip is already expensive enough as an international traveller. I keep teetering around cancelling because I can just see the costs mounting and value diminishing as an off-site guest.

I understand where you are coming from. People are missing the point in that you don't need to buy it. That's how it works every where else.

 

[Miffy]

It didn't work for most people. The only ones that seem to love it were the spreadsheet planners. I hated FP+ due to the amount of pre planning. It's why I love Universal. Going to a theme park shouldn't require a PHD to navigate it. Not saying Genie+ is any better with availability going so quick. The problem is there isn't enough rides to make it work. Since that isn't getting fixed any time soon, the only way to make Genie+ work is to either cap sales or price it high enough that most don't buy it.

I'm not a spreadsheet planner at all and FP+ worked for me. I spent maybe 30 minutes, max, planning out what FP+s I would choose and maybe 20 minutes on the day of earliest booking making the reservations.

Many people I ran into in standby lines had zero idea that FP+ even existed. If they did know it existed, they didn't realize they could use it and/or that it was free. Yet WDW told onsite guests very clearly that they had access to FP+, sent reminders re the first booking date, etc. It wasn't a mystery and it wasn't all that difficult to use.

Raising the price of G+ is not the only solution to the current situation. If it is, then pretty soon the price is going to be out of reach for a lot of us. Perhaps not you, but I would be unable to pay an additional $200 or $300 a day for a week's vacation to WDW. Do they want guests like me--an out-of-state AP who in non-pandemic times comes for a week twice a year--to instead come for 3 or 4 days once every 2 or 3 years? Maybe they do.

 

[itf]

Many people I ran into in standby lines had zero idea that FP+ even existed. If they did know it existed, they didn't realize they could use it and/or that it was free. Yet WDW told onsite guests very clearly that they had access to FP+, sent reminders re the first booking date, etc. It wasn't a mystery and it wasn't all that difficult to use.

I was one of those who didn't know it existed. For me, as someone who bought a day ticket direct from Disney, but didn't stay with them, I had zero communication from them apart from a receipt for the ticket. All it would have taken to improve my visit would have been a simple email telling me I could get FP.