can anyone share the USA TODAY story from Yesterday about Disney World..

[Djsfantasi]

I just came back from a 4 day trip and had purchased Genie+ for two people the entire trip.

I want my money back. In four days, we used it twice for rides that normally would not have a wait. I couldn’t get any premier rides. Apparently, you have to get up before 7am to get them.

Even if I could get up at 7, I’d be so groggy I’d get the wrong rides. I’m just not a morning person.

We rode Remy with a 40 minute wait in the Standby line. We ride ToT with the same wait in Standby.

I’m a planner by nature and Genie+ doesn’t fit my style at all.

if I return, it will be without Genie+. If I return at all. The best I can promise is my biannual trips are a thing of the past and maybe I’ll go back in 3-5 years.

 

[bjlc57]

I just came back from a 4 day trip and had purchased Genie+ for two people the entire trip.

I want my money back. In four days, we used it twice for rides that normally would not have a wait. I couldn’t get any premier rides. Apparently, you have to get up before 7am to get them.

Even if I could get up at 7, I’d be so groggy I’d get the wrong rides. I’m just not a morning person.

We rode Remy with a 40 minute wait in the Standby line. We ride ToT with the same wait in Standby.

I’m a planner by nature and Genie+ doesn’t fit my style at all.

if I return, it will be without Genie+. If I return at all. The best I can promise is my biannual trips are a thing of the past and maybe I’ll go back in 3-5 years.

wow... and this last line should scare the Pants off the Mouse..

 

[Heppenheimer]

wow... and this last line should scare the Pants off the Mouse..

The bald mouse, though, will just think "Hmm, maybe we didn't increase the price enough yet?"

 

[WishIWasRetired]

The article states "While one-day ticket prices, which start at $109 for guests age 10 and up, have held steady"
Not sure where they are getting that price from, I took a look at their calendar and a 1day ticket is between 174 and 224

 

[Trackmaster]

Was the impetus behind the new system really guest complaints or just Chapek and his underlings seeing yet another opportunity for up-charging?

The history of Fast Pass is that the park felt like a free virtual queuing system would increase in-park spending and overall guest experience/satisfaction and pay for itself without needing to charge for it. It would essentially be built in the price of the expensive tickets and expensive APs. Since other park chains were making a ton of money off of charging for Fast Lane, Fast Track, Express, Quick Queue, etc. guest enthusiasm would have had to be have been off the charts for them to have kept Fast Pass in place. I think that guest response being controversial and mixed is what made them throw their arms up in the air and give up on something that wasn't specifically making them money.

I think that what ultimately did Fast Pass in was crowd levels getting out of control compared to park ride capacity. Virtual queues seem to make the problems worse and more obvious when you don't have enough ride capacity for everyone. Plus, ride breakdowns and unreliability make virtual queues more impractical as well. I think that if the crowds were more manageable and reasonable a virtual queue could have improved everyone's experience. The intention was for the Fast Pass allocation to mimic ride capacity -- and standby existed to fill in unclaimed Fast Passes or arrival timing issues. It was never intended to be the true waiting line. But when Fast Passes quickly ran out, people had to use the stand-by line in desperation. That's where the problems started.

 

[Trackmaster]

FastPass was not that difficult to use (I'm talking about original, not FastPass+, and certainly not Genie). You could enjoy all the chill vibes and magic you wanted to with FastPass. FastPass+ really ramped up the need for planning exponentially, and it looks like Genie has finally taken everything over the edge.

Yeah, I think that Fast Pass Classic was more fair overall. The only part that was a little unfair is that it benefited those who could make rope drop and made it harder for those who had to get there later. But FP+ took the unfairness to another level. Plus, with armies of AP holders and diehards who know about the Pound the App loophole, it might it a nightmare for people who were casual and didn't know much about the park. If they were staying off site or blew their exclusivity window for being onsite, their options were Fast Passes were lower tier rides/capacity monster/shows or toughing it stand-by lines that FP+ heavily inflated. Allowing guests to book before ropedrop was the beginning of the end of Fast Pass.