Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Chi84]

You should watch that video…it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen put together about line management and is indisputable truth why fastpass+ didn’t actually work.

But it worked more for people such as us…which is why we no longer get to have nice things

I was never fooled by +…

Have you ever used FP+?

 

[DisneyCane]

Why can't they just send a dadgum push notification when someone in your party is eligible for another pass?

Because that would increase utilization and decrease inventory for the people who remember to check themselves. It would result in popular rides running out of passes sooner.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Have you ever used FP+?

3 rides and out?

Yeah…bout 20 times. Thanks for asking

You could skip the snark and watch the video. It explains everything with numbers…not the standard “I think” nonsense.

 

[Chi84]

3 rides and out?

Yeah…bout 20 times. Thanks for asking

You could skip the snark and watch the video. It explains everything with numbers…not the standard “I think” nonsense.

I used it too.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I used it too.

Never in doubt. Doesn’t change the flaws/disastrous operations impact.

You know how they’d “fix” it?…I bet?

Charge everyone and have them sit at 6 am refreshing their cell phones in a free for all meat market for the same slate of things inadequate for normal attendance.

 

[Figgy1]

i am driving now because of the taking of magical express. with my car, i can go anywhere. though the drivers on I-4 are very scary.

A bit off topic but you can rent your DVC points and stay at a deluxe at UNI get EMH, fp and lounge days and not leave their bubble. Seeing you rent a 1br you could maybe even do club level to break even or come out ahead Yes I know it's a room instead of a suite but you'd be able to be in a bubble and relax. UNI has a shuttle from the airport

 

[JAB]

I've been running through various scenarios using my newfound understanding of the most recent changes to the G+ LL rules, and wanted to run things by the folks here to make sure I haven't misunderstood or screwed anything up.

Given a situation where return times for the most popular ride immediately jump into the late afternoon (like SDD). something like the following should theoretically be possible given timing and availability, yes?

7 am - Book A (5 pm) 11 am - 120 min A +A Book B (12:30 pm) -A 12:30 pm - Use B +B Book C (3 pm) -B 2:30 pm - 120 min C +C Book D (5:30 pm) -C 3 pm - Use C 4:30 pm - 120 min D +D - Book E (7 pm) -D 5 pm - Use A 5:30 pm - Use D 6:30 pm - 120 min E +E Book F (8:20 pm) -E 7 pm - Use E 8:20 pm - Use F +F

 

[Chi84]

Never in doubt. Doesn’t change the flaws/disastrous operations impact.

You know how they’d “fix” it?…I bet?

Charge everyone and have them sit at 6 am refreshing their cell phones in a free for all meat market for the same slate of things inadequate for normal attendance.

My point wasn’t about the irrelevant FP+ system. It’s gone and not coming back.

My point is that blaming guest behavior for the declining guest experience is a useless exercise. I used FP+ thinking it was a good system. You used it knowing it was a bad system. People will do whatever is best for their vacation in the moment.

Neither one of us is the reason “we can’t have nice things.” That distinction belongs to the greedy and short-sighted decisions made by Disney management over the last several years.

From what I’m seeing, I think they’ll lose me as a customer long before they change course. I hope that’s not the case because WDW was always the perfect vacation for my family.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

My point wasn’t about the irrelevant FP+ system. It’s gone and not coming back.

My point is that blaming guest behavior for the declining guest experience is a useless exercise. I used FP+ thinking it was a good system. You used it knowing it was a bad system. People will do whatever is best for their vacation in the moment.

Neither one of us is the reason “we can’t have nice things.” That distinction belongs to the greedy and short-sighted decisions made by Disney management over the last several years.

From what I’m seeing, I think they’ll lose me as a customer long before they change course. I hope that’s not the case because WDW was always the perfect vacation for my family.

I wasn’t blaming “guest behavior” for fastpass+…

That’s why I said watch it.

Acceptance of all bad changes and shoulder shrugging as “oh well” as you plan a trip kinda is on them, as usual.

 

[Chi84]

I wasn’t blaming “guest behavior” for fastpass+…

That’s why I said watch it.

Acceptance of all bad changes and shoulder shrugging as “oh well” as you plan a trip kinda is on them, as usual.

What’s the difference between shrugging your shoulders while you buy Genie+ and getting upset and angry while you buy Genie+? No difference to Disney although it may affect your blood pressure.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

What’s the difference between shrugging your shoulders while you buy Genie+ and getting upset and angry while you buy Genie+? No difference to Disney although it may affect your blood pressure.

I’m not worried about Disney’s “best interests”…neither should anyone here. It’s a product, not a religion.

Everyone is worried about themselves…my stance is do that when you buy Disney product. Do what makes sense. It isn’t making excuses for them.

 

[Vitamin Dee]

I've been running through various scenarios using my newfound understanding of the most recent changes to the G+ LL rules, and wanted to run things by the folks here to make sure I haven't misunderstood or screwed anything up.

Given a situation where return times for the most popular ride immediately jump into the late afternoon (like SDD). something like the following should theoretically be possible given timing and availability, yes?

7 am - Book A (5 pm) 11 am - 120 min A +A Book B (12:30 pm) -A 12:30 pm - Use B +B Book C (3 pm) -B 2:30 pm - 120 min C +C Book D (5:30 pm) -C 3 pm - Use C 4:30 pm - 120 min D +D - Book E (7 pm) -D 5 pm - Use A 5:30 pm - Use D 6:30 pm - 120 min E +E Book F (8:20 pm) -E 7 pm - Use E 8:20 pm - Use F +F

This is what I'm not understanding. I thought we could book one every two hours, like in this example, but in posts above people seemed to be saying that you can only have two scheduled and outstanding at a time.

 

[NelsonRD]

This is what I'm not understanding. I thought we could book one every two hours, like in this example, but in posts above people seemed to be saying that you can only have two scheduled and outstanding at a time.

You can stack more than 2 outstanding at a time. I was wondering how redeeming genie plus selections affects the ability to book more. In that case, it seems that if you have a reservation in the future, redeeming does not help scheduling another, unless you redeem your last selection.

 

[Andrew M]

You can stack more than 2 outstanding at a time. I was wondering how redeeming genie plus selections affects the ability to book more. In that case, it seems that if you have a reservation in the future, redeeming does not help scheduling another, unless you redeem your last selection.

That is correct. My strategy is to get them every two hours and have them stacked for the afternoon. I've had 6-7 of them lined up for all after 4pm at MK. However you must keep waiting every two hours for your next selection until you redeem your last one, then you can look for a new one right away.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Why can't they just send a dadgum push notification when someone in your party is eligible for another pass?

It would completely overrun a system that already doesn’t have enough seats to accommodate the crowd

 

[Ayla]

3 rides and out?

Yeah…bout 20 times. Thanks for asking

You could skip the snark and watch the video. It explains everything with numbers…not the standard “I think” nonsense.

You know you got more than 3 fastpass rides, right? You could continue booking one fastpass at a time until they were gone for the day, with no restrictions.

 

[Chi84]

You know you got more than 3 fastpass rides, right? You could continue booking one fastpass at a time until they were gone for the day, with no restrictions.

We actually had quite a bit of success doing so, especially at MK and HS. Most times 3 rides were fine for us since we rarely spent an entire day in the parks, but if we wanted additional FastPasses we generally were able to get them for rides like HM, ToT and Dino. I should clarify that we don’t visit at the busiest times of the year.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You know you got more than 3 fastpass rides, right? You could continue booking one fastpass at a time until they were gone for the day, with no restrictions.

We actually had quite a bit of success doing so, especially at MK and HS. Most times 3 rides were fine for us since we rarely spent an entire day in the parks, but if we wanted additional FastPasses we generally were able to get them for rides like HM, ToT and Dino. I should clarify that we don’t visit at the busiest times of the year.

I’m aware…

It never worked. As in I was there every month of the year except I think may…”packed times”…”slow times”…early arrivals…late arrivals

It gave you fastpasses for those things that never should have had them probably 90% of the time.

Now you could stalk them…stay on the app and search/refresh. But the funny thing about that is it did exactly what people swore it did better than fastpass 1.0…it made you hustle to get them. But instead of walking…you stood or sat and did it. Exercise is better for the chef Mickey crowd

It was barley passable…but it also was a harbinger of what was to come…standbys longer than pre fastpass and a logjam on cell phones because the capacity just isn’t enough.

And now you make a donation for it. Scary thought: what if attendance isn’t close to 2019 yet as Bob sells to Wall Street?

What cluster of a boondoggle is off the port bow, captain?

Watch the video. It’s either you want to be reality based or you can’t process “my Disney” and the truth. It will lead to better discussion and probably less patronizing/preaching.

And as far as “3 were enough”…yeah…us too. But that’s just why it didn’t work. It rewarded those that were there too much and didn’t require return on tickets…which forced everyone else in to logjams and allows Iger to sell more upsells and crank prices. It was bad for everyone.

 

[Purduevian]

Just did sold out magic kingdom yesterday. Was able to LL Space, buzz, Pooh, tea cups, mermaid, pan, haunted mansion, big thunder, pirates, and jungle cruise in my 12.5 hours there. Averaged a FP redemption every 75 minutes. Also had time to ride standby on people mover, monsters Inc, tea cups, big thunder, splash, pirates, and watched fireworks!

No early entry. I would say G+ was for sure worth it for my family, longest wait of the day other than fireworks was 30 mins for splash. Hit the 120 min rule only twice!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

I have a friend who was there this past week. Her and her husband have two little kids, a baby and a 4 year old. They pre-purchased Genie+ for their length of stay. The biggest issue they had was after tapping into their first ride, most of the return items were for later in the day. They knew they’d be leaving by mid afternoon/early evening. If the old system was in place, they could have scheduled 3 for the morning hours. They were aware that by constantly refreshing, they might have been able to pull better times but with two little kids, there was no way they could spend that much time on their phones. Most days they were only able to book one or two before leaving. So they were very disappointed.