Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[wedenterprises]

We spent 14 days and Universal each of the last 2 Decembers.

This was the change we were looking for Disney to make to even consider returning and now they've rendered it useless.

It's not even shocking. We should only ever expect the dumbest from Disney.

 

[Saskdw]

You are correct. As always, Disney will do what Disney will do and guests *have* to accept it.

In all cases someone will be unhappy.

In my opinion, international guests should have all the capabilities.

We don't have to accept anything. That's why we stopped spending our money a WDW in 2016 and haven't been back.

 

[nickys]

I guess US travel agents are going to become a workaround for international guests. What a slap in the face to the international guests but also the international travel agents.

US travel agents can’t book the UK tickets and packages though.

So you’d be paying much more for the tickets. Added to which would the TAs be willing to book the LLs for their clients?

One idea I had, other than a vpn, was to link as friends& family to someone in the US and get them to book. But I wonder if the UK tickets would be recognised?

 

[Splash4eva]

Yep, that or just grab it first. In the 3 years of G+ I never once missed a headliner at HS or MK unless I wanted to and using it at AK was not even remotely needed. EPCOT wasn't a great value either but it could be useful on occasion.

I was just gonna say i just did 2 full days at HS and grabbed every attraction and my 1/2 day there grabbed all that time allowed before heading to MK

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

I wonder if this will help Disney increase table dining service reservations. When we were there recently, previously hard to get reservations had many same day openings. We were very surprised. Maybe some people were hesitant to book dining as it could impact Genie+ timing?

 

[nickys]

I've got 16-17 months to go until I visit, they'll probably reinvent the whole system by then!

But the simple answer would be to sell the multipass LL as part of a UK ticket, not from within the app.

That wouldn’t get around the prebooking of the LLs though.

 

[Dranth]

Well no. There was a pretty decent chance that your first LL selection (SDD, Space, Jungle Cruise etc.) was later than the 9-10am hours. So you had to wait to use it and roll the dice on your second selection or the 11am window opened for you to snag your next headliner which wasn't guaranteed to be early enough still in the day.

This new system allows you to pick Tier 2 attractions that should almost have availability for the first our of park open to give you a shot at getting another headliner with your first rebook of the day.

I see what you are saying. Sure, that is more useful to the people who get there early. Basically they made it easier on one subset of guests while making it harder on the other.

It is what it is and we all have to live with whatever they offer if we want to keep going, but I think this was a terrible idea compared to what they could have done.

• G+ with one prebook and time selections
• Drop it all and go standby only
• Switch to a Uni style EP and charge so very few use it
• Use any system while increasing the number of hours the parks are open each day

All of those look like better options to me. I sincerely hope I am wrong or if I am not, they course correct quickly this time.

 

[easyrowrdw]

I get that a lot of people felt that way, but it seems based on a misconception of how G+ worked because in reality it wasn't uncommon to get EVERY headliner in a day. With this you will get one as you have no opportunity to grab a second until you use the first, which in your case will be later in the day when all the inventory is gone.

If that suits your touring style and you are happy with one a day because you can spread them out over a longer vacation great, but it is leaps and bounds worse for the overwhelming number of visitors (at least based on the information we currently have).

I think many here have used G+ enough to make informed judgments. Ascribing different opinions to misconceptions is rather dismissive. FP+ got us more than G+. So did regular FP. I don’t see anything leaps and bounds worse about this compared to G+. I think the tiering is worse, but not leaps and bounds. Being able to plan is better. But until we see how it is actually implemented this is all speculation.

 

[nickys]

They’ll be gone…we already had 10 years of how that plays

But not everyone will buy the Multipass. So the number of guests trying to book them is much smaller.

 

[UK Disney]

Exactly, and have fun arriving at MCO at night then immediately rushing to your phone to plan an entire trips worth of tier 2 duds.

I'm going to see how the VPN pans out, it seems to work for everything except the pre ordered magic bands. We're staying at Wilderness Lodge next year and won't hesitate to cancel it. So frustrating they are even annoying folk who are willing to pay for it.

 

[newf709]

They don’t *have* to do everything. I’d bet that most international guests aren’t exactly LL power users. Even back in the free fastpass days a lot of international guests had no idea that fastpass was even a thing and they just waited in standby lines. They are probably betting that their average first time international visitor won’t even notice this.

They (we) will if we can't ever prebook a Tier 1 attraction because we don't arrive on US soil until a day before our first park visit.

 

[nicb88]

I'm going to see how the VPN pans out, it seems to work for everything except the pre ordered magic bands. We're staying at Wilderness Lodge next year and won't hesitate to cancel it. So frustrating they are even annoying folk who are willing to pay for it.

It already will not allow you to purchase Genie Plus due to geo-location before even asking for dates etc. And I’ve tried a number of VPNs and it won’t work with that either.

 

[wedenterprises]

What if you live near the US border and nip into the states 7 days before your trip for 10minutes to book Lightning Lanes? I can't believe I'm even typing this and I can't believe Disney has ruined FP so much they've made this a viable planning solution.

 

[wdwmagic]

Did you get a chance to ask them why?

They fixed the issue of dining. If it’s truly just a matter of the app being geo fenced they could take that off.

No reason given, but I suspect there are numerous regulatory issues at play.

 

[Splash4eva]

I wonder if this will help Disney increase table dining service reservations. When we were there recently, previously hard to get reservations had many same day openings. We were very surprised. Maybe some people were hesitant to book dining as it could impact Genie+ timing?

If dining interferes with genie all you need to do is go to a blue tent and they will adjust. I have had it happen. Character Dining was down at every place we ate. I was shocked how “empty” it was vs prior years

 

[wdwmagic]

It already will not allow you to purchase Genie Plus due to geo-location before even asking for dates etc. And I’ve tried a number of VPNs and it won’t work with that either.

Yes I suspect they may be looking at more than just IP location, and more of where your account is located.

 

[Dranth]

I think many here have used G+ enough to make informed opinions. Ascribing different opinions to misconceptions is rather dismissive. FP+ got us more than G+. So did regular FP. I don’t see anything leaps and bounds worse about this compared to G+. I think the tiering is worse, but not leaps and bounds. Being able to plan is better. But until we see how it is actually implemented this is all speculation.

FP+ was only able to get someone more due to rerides, without that feature it is capped to the exact same limit as G+. Every ride that uses the system once a day.

Also, the biggest complaint Disney dealt with leading up to the change to G+ was the planning. You may like it, the majority of guests did not. It only being 7 days in advance will certainly help some with that. We will have to see how much.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

US travel agents can’t book the UK tickets and packages though.

So you’d be paying much more for the tickets. Added to which would the TAs be willing to book the LLs for their clients?

One idea I had, other than a vpn, was to link as friends& family to someone in the US and get them to book. But I wonder if the UK tickets would be recognised?

Oh wow what a mess. I didn’t realize there’s hurdles there as well.

 

[nickys]

So… If I add an international guest to my MDE in the US, can I buy and book for them?

That was my idea too.

I was worried whether MDE would recognise the UK tickets as valid, but I think it would have to, since Disney couldn’t determine when you arrived in the US.

 

[Splash4eva]

What if you live near the US border and nip into the states 7 days before your trip for 10minutes to book Lightning Lanes? I can't believe I'm even typing this and I can't believe Disney has ruined FP so much they've made this a viable planning solution.

This wins the forums today! Give this man a medal