Disney4Lyfe
Well-Known Member
Ok. That’s completely different. That’s someone cancelling maybe? You’re talking about, like a said, a handful of times popping up. There’s no rhyme or reason, and no consistency.
The system is a joke.
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Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
The system is a joke.
homerdance
Well-Known Member
I’ve used it.
You can also monitor when new drops on Twitter via:
nickys
Premium Member
Not true at all.
The person you’re responding to has been monitoring these drops for several months now. So much so that not only do a lot of people successfully use them but there have been blogs written that use his findings.
Hi would you be able to send a link to these blogs please?
nickys
Premium Member
Someone already linked to a Twitter account that does the same thing, and several WDW related blogs have articles that give the drop times. The information isn’t secret, it’s there to be found by watching the return times throughout the day and looking for the patterns. Just like for FP+
Blog Mickey and Touring Plans are two that have both given drop times in blog articles.
Perfect thanks.
DisneyCane
Well-Known Member
My cousin is going to the parks today. I didn't realize how ridiculously complicated this system is (I never purchase genie+ or ILL) until I was trying to give her tips on optimizing it. She had purchased genie+ before talking to me. To have any chance of getting a decent value you really need an in depth understanding of the system which is nuts for something that is supposed to make a vacation more enjoyable.
This is kind of it for me too. I didn’t love the advance planning, but I knew I could sit down at 60 days and come up with some daily plans that worked for us eg. 3 FP+ that worked around ADRs I already had, maybe I’d book the FP+ in the park we were planning to hop into for lunch or after an afternoon break. As we’re in the UK and would stay on-site for around 10 days, I knew even if I couldn’t get the big hitters on the first few days, I’d be in luck towards the end of the trip. All the bookings for the whole trip would be sorted in 30 minutes give or take, from my kitchen table.
This was when staying on-site had a bit of value of course with free parking, longer EMH, free magic bands, free dining for UK bookings and the above FP+ booking benefit for example.
Anyway, the point is I would go on the trip knowing what we had planned and feeling happy with it. Now, it’s a feeling of stress leading up to and at 7 am each and every day that you’re planning to use Genie+. Then it’s battling the glitchy system and seeing times slip away as you try and secure them, or ending up with something that clashes with your ADRs or plans to park hop later in the day. And this is while you’re trying to relax on vacation.
Trying to get everything to line up when you‘ve placed whatever bookings you could get first thing (say an ILL and a G+) and kind of reroute the day ‘I was hoping we’d get Slinky for late morning so we could finish with that before our lunch ADR and then a resort break but we got 3 pm so I guess we’ll just….hang around until then and won‘t bother park hopping.’ It kind of feels like sorting out a work problem or something, having to think on your feet when you’re trying to relax.
Then after how your day looks initially, you kind of go through the same thing every two hours when you’re trying to book the next one, and if you give into the multiple refreshes to try and get something better….not exactly relaxing.
My teens (one has ADHD) would ask what the plans were for the day and besides which park we were starting at and any ADRs, the rest of the day is just ‘wait and see and hope for the best’.
We used Genie+ for three days on our Christmas trip and have no plans to buy in when we go back in August (this trip was already booked before our December vacation and we’d lose money to cancel). We’ll use rope drop, early entry, deluxe evening hours and park closes instead of paying for the broken, frustrating Genie+.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I'm not surprised.
G+ seems like a classic bait and switch to me.
If we clicked to buy a 10am G+, then if should be illegal for WDW to give anything OTHER than a 10am G+ pass. Period.
Their system also locks up, and if that happens to you, you're screwed at HS.
The CM's simply don't care if you paid for G+, clicked exactly at 7am, but were only allowed to book Muppets (at 7:01am) due to a system lock-up.
The AP's not getting park passes is also a problem. If someone pays for 365-day park ticket, they ought to be able to get 365days of park access.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
So, not only do we have to be glued to our phones to watch MDE, we *also* need to be constantly monitoring twitter, too? Gee, that sounds like a delightful vacation.
Ayla
Well-Known Member
We plan on doing the same on our upcoming trip.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
Late afternoon? Try 7:05am. Within seconds....there's almost nothing left to choose.
A G+ pass for Muppets isn't a pass for anything. I mean literally mid-day during spring break Muppets is walk-on. A G+ pass doesn't = any special seating or anything at all.
But if you miss out on a good HS FP, you're still stuck with a non-refundable park ticket, and often not even an option to swap to a different park that day.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
Except all that time you are refreshing...your *crappy* options are also slipping away. It is not like FP+.
Under FP+, you could lock in a pass, then keep looking for something better. With G+, you don't really have that option.
mikejs78
Premium Member
Oh I agree completely. I much preferred FP+ and Genie+ is a pile of horse s***. I'm just saying it is doable to find stuff later in the day.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
Except again I say, early entry is also just as broken as G+ and ILL.
1. WDW has reduced overall park hours.
2. A larger % of park goers are in the parks for EE than ever were for RD- probably due to reduced park hours and G+'s 7am factor.
3. This week, AK EE starts at 7am; so you either choose G+ or EE.
4. Only a portion of attractions are open for EE, so the ones that are open mostly get long lines- in seconds. By the time you get off your 1st EE attraction, waits are already 60+ for top attractions.
On the other hand, deluxe evening hours are a little better. Regular park goers can get in line right up to park close, so many waits are still pretty long at the very start, but they go down pretty quickly. Posted wait times are WILDLY inaccurate, so they can't be trusted, but that just creates a confusing mess. When the posted wait says 75minutes, well...the wait might be 75, might be 30, might be 5min? It is a total crap shoot.
Also, well, I used to regularly go to MK past midnight. But if we didn't feel up to staying out so late, it wasn't a huge deal. Now though, the price for those precious few hours is steep. And the way WDW releases then modifies park hours is also very last minute and kinda crappy. WDW has long modified previously released park hours in unexpected ways, but now they have taken the idea to an extreme. They release minimal park hours and then modify them about 2 weeks out. We are comparatively MUCH more at the mercy of WDW's whims then we were just a few years back.
MK might close at 9pm, or it might stay open until 11pm! Epcot might open at 9am, or maybe 8:30am. You get what you get. Right now, April Epcot opens at 8:30am, but May 7 onwards the posted opening says 9am. It seems likely those hours will change, but WDW is under no obligation to open Epcot at 8:30am. Total crapshoot!
mikejs78
Premium Member
Really? I don't think that's true.
Let's pick the Tuesday after Easter, 2019 as an example.
MK: 8:00 AM to Midnight
Epcot: 9 AM to 9 PM
DHS: 9 AM to 8:30 PM
AK: 9 AM to 9:30 PM
Total regular park hours: 52
Now let's look at today, the Tuesday after Easter:
MK: 9 AM to 11 PM
Epcot: 8:30 AM to 9 PM
DHS: 8 AM to 9 PM
AK: 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM
Total regular park hours: 52.5.
So, not really any difference in total number of hours, just distributed differently across the parks.
Now let's look at early entry. EMH in 2019 consisted of a one hour morning plus a two hour evening set of hours for each park, for a total of 12 hours.
Taking current morning ETPE, you get 30 minutes in every park every day. That equates to 14 hours of extra park time for all park guests per week - which is two hours more than *both* morning and evening EMH combined in. 2019. Add in the evening hours for deluxe and DVC, and you can argue that the extra hours benefit gives more hours to all resort guests, and a lot more to deluxe and DVC.
So the narrative that park hours have been cut is patently false. You can say that hours have been cut at MK compared to prepandemic, at least for Easter Week. But you can't say that's the case across the board, as every other park has more hours in April of 2021 than they did in April of 2019.
Disney4Lyfe
Well-Known Member
Early entry at MK is pointless. Half the park is closed. By the time 9a hits, the park is slammed to the gills.
This system is a travesty.
Sorry Jeff, you were right.
This system is a travesty.
Sorry Jeff, you were right.
mikejs78
Premium Member
The attractions open for early entry at MK are the exact same ones open in the old Extra Magic Hours.
mikejs78
Premium Member
This is nothing new.