Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
Purduevian said:
I like that booking is NOT 60 days out. (wish you could book your first LL for each day 7 days out for every day of your vacation)
-60 days is just too far out for me. I don't even know if I'm going to disney until like a month out sometimes
I like that booking is 1 at a time, allowing you to go with the flow more
-Booking all 3 had its advantages, but also I felt like I was micromanaging way too much before I got there. 1 prebook sounds good to me
I like that you can book another LL 2 hours after you last booked, regardless of when you actually booked the LL
-with FP+ the only time you could book your next FP was after tapping in. Making later FPs basically useless as it locked you out of the system until then.
I like that G+ has no onsite advantage (ILL excluding)
-This allowed me to save money and stay offsite for the first time ever

Things I really miss
-modify button
-prebooking at least the first one, i don't like getting up at 7am every day.
-free

Things I feel like are the same
-My phone time
-crossing the park randomly
-availability of attractions
-I always took the earliest FP+ available, so only being able to book the nearest time slot doesn't affect me
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Fair enough..........honest assesment....my points below

1) As a resort guest, I miss the opportunity to book in advance of others...Maybe thats what WDW wanted to get rid of, but if thats the case, then they got rid of me as both a resort guest and park guest...........I would suggest resort guests book in advance per hotel tier and that should leave inventory for others................deluxe get 3 at 60 days, moderate 2 at 30 days, value 1 at 20 days and then all others get 1 selection 10 days in advance

2) i hate booking 1 at a time....if im flying 1500 miles and paying over $1k a night in a deluxe, i want to know i can get on the headliners and rides i want without waiting hours........

3) fine keeping the 2 hour rule and dont let resort guests book a 4th until they used their 3 and then they get the 2 hour rule

4) no onsite advantage is going to bite them in the butt eventually.....people arent going to pay 3x, 4x, 5x offsite prices with no benefit


Stuff we agree:
- no modify button is a joke
- pre booking (obviously)....
- free
- waking up pre 7am is a deal breaker
- attraction availability

i dont agree with:
- phone time......my experiences are WAY (3x-5x higher) higher with Genie(-)
- criss cross park way more
- final, but biggest = not selecting return times..........even you have to admit that Genie(-) "next available" blows........if you plan an afternoon at pool but only get SDD for 4pm? or FOP for when you have dinner ressies? my experiences are that you dont get early times, even booking at 7am
 
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MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
This is nothing new.
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They have long been in the habit of having the option of making last minute changes, but the level to which they now make last minute changes has increased. Epcot was almost always 9-9, AK was mostly 9-5 or 9-6pm, and HS was mostly in the 9-8 range (sometimes 9-7, sometimes 9-8:30).
The only park that really fluctuated was MK, and reg hours for MK were almost always 9-9 or later, except party nights.

I've been to many MK PM EMH that went past midnight.

Over spring break/Easter week, I was regularly in a park by 8am and out until midnight or later. I still have multiple paper FP with return time windows of 1am and 2am. (I rode P Pan at 2am, I just didn't need the FP at that hour. :))
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Jeff4272 said:
Do you book your park pass reservations? how about dining?

let me answer that for you, YES, you do.....you have to

so you can go not knowing if you can get on a ride without waiting 2 hours after you spent all that $ on tickets, a hotel and reserved a park and booked a ressie and then Genie(-) gives you muppets at 6pm that overlaps with your dining ressie? Thanks but Id rather know what rides im getting and what times

if you oversleep you're screwed........if you wanted to eat breakfast, youre screwed........if you wanted to go to the pool first, youre screwed...........
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If you do EVERYTHING you are supposed to do, and the system locks up....you are also screwed.



That's my biggest peeve. I am not really bothered by the idea of booking this each morning, except that it doesn't give you any freedom at all. As you say, you are already locked into your park pass.

It would be vastly improved if they allowed you to modify passes, like they did with FP+. Also the giving you some random time that doesn't match what you initially booked is rotten to the core. That's something a Disney villain would pull!

It also completely bites that we are no longer guaranteed a min of 3 passes when we buy G+.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
ChrisM said:
In other words, you knew how to efficiently use the system and it worked with your particular preferences and vacation planning proclivities. Some of which may have evolved in direct response to the requirements Disney has been putting in place over the years.

Fantastic! Gross and antithetical to any notion of what a vacation should be, but great. For you.

I'm simply calling a spade a spade: FP+ was a ludicrous system. In the meantime, I will continue to spend most of my theme park based vacations at Universal where it's actually, you know, a vacation.
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Wha?

Initially, FP+ did suck, but over time it got much better.

You were able to do both: pick in advance, and MODIFY as much as you wanted.

Granted, I agree Express Pass is much better. I REALLY wish WDW had something closer to Express Pass. Even if WDW had to impose a few limits to make it work. Like you get 3 passes...and like a 4-hour window to use them..or something like that. Just simple and easy like EP.
 
C

crazy4disney

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
What baffles me is why not just charge for the same version of FP+ that already existed and could have maybe tiered it... charge X to book in advance and Y for what is Genie +? Were they really worried about a PR nightmare after all this company has done & taken away already?
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Another aspect of G+ is that it really favors full day park days. You can also make okay use - perhaps- with an afternoon/PM at MK (booked in the AM).

On your last/departure day, G+ for just the AM is useless, especially if MK isn't your park. You may not get any usable passes at all!

I think parkgoers are going to figure that out pretty quickly.
 
Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
Another aspect of G+ is that it really favors full day park days. You can also make okay use - perhaps- with an afternoon/PM at MK (booked in the AM).

On your last/departure day, G+ for just the AM is useless, especially if MK isn't your park. You may not get any usable passes at all!

I think parkgoers are going to figure that out pretty quickly.
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one of the MANY flaws of Genie(-)
 
Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
Another aspect of G+ is that it really favors full day park days. You can also make okay use - perhaps- with an afternoon/PM at MK (booked in the AM).

On your last/departure day, G+ for just the AM is useless, especially if MK isn't your park. You may not get any usable passes at all!

I think parkgoers are going to figure that out pretty quickly.
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afternoon at the pool? no chance with Genie (-)

3pm arrival and stay until close? not possible with Genie(-)

Sleep in past 6:45am (on vacation)? not possible with Genie (-) **who wants to sleep in on vacation anyway, so dumb**
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
You looked at ONE day and decided that = all WDW park hours?

You are partly correct: Park hours in 2019 were already somewhat reduced from prior years.

But you are forgetting that in 2019 the parks actually opened half an hour before the posted opening time, so that's another 14 hours/week.

On top of that, Easter week in particular had bonus EMH. In 2017, Easter week had 18 hours of EMH (2019 had 10EMH. they were: AM: HS, AK, Epcot, MK, AK, HS and 2 PM offerings: MK and Epcot)

Looking at full week of Easter 2017:

MK: 9-11, 8-11, 8-12, 9-9, 8-12, 8-12, 8-11 and 8EMH hours (5AM EMH days and 3hours of PM)
Epcot: 9-9, and 7EMH (1AM, and 6hours of PM EMH)
HS: 9-9, and 2EMH (2 AM EMH)
AK: 9-8:30 and 1EMH (1 AM)

Even if I use your metric of just the Tues after Easter:
MK: 8-12 +1EMH = 16+1 +.5
Epcot: 9-9 + 3EMH =12 +1 +.5
HS: 9-9 = 12 +.5
AK: 9-8:30 = 11.5 + .5

Is a total of 51.5hours plus another 4EMH plus 30min unannounced = 57.5 total park hours on that 1 day.
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Few things wrong with this:
  • 30 minutes of bonus time was not a thing. It sometimes happened, but not with any regularity, especially at MK and Epcot in 2017. Occasionally you'd get it at Studios and AK (especially once FoP and Rise opened) but it was not a consistent thing. I don't know about 2015 (wasn't visiting back then) but I'm sure it didn't exist in 2017. So it's not really reasonable to count that because it can't be verified for any particular dates.
  • You can't count EMH in 2017 but not count ETPE in 2022.
  • You also shortchanged AK an hour in 2017
  • Your hours are a bit off for the week as a whole.
2017:
MK: 8-12 + 1 EMH = 17
Epcot: 9-9 + 2 EMH = 14
DHS: 9-9 = 12
AK: 9-9:30 = 12.5

Total: 52.5 regular park hours + 3 EMH = 55.5 hours open

2022:
MK: 9-11 + .5 ETPE = 14.5
Epcot: 8:30-9 + .5 ETPE = 13
DHS: 8-9 + .5 ETPE = 13.5
AK: 7:30-8:30 + .5 ETPE = 13.5

Total: 52.5 regular park hours (same) + 2 ETPE = 54.5 hours

So, 1 hour less on this particular day in 2022 vs 2017. Now, let's look at the whole of Easter week (Sunday to Saturday), since you did that:
2017:
MK: 8-11, 8-11, 8-12, 8-12, 8-11, 9-11, 9-11 + Morning EMH x 6 (no Saturday), Evening EMH (2 hrs) x 1 = 105 + 8 EMH = 113
Epcot: 9-9 x7 + Morning EMH x1, Evening EMH (2 hrs) x 1 = 84 + 3 EMH = 87
DHS: 9-9 x 7 + Morning EMH x 1 (no evening EMH) = 84 + 1 EMH = 85
AK: 9-9:30 x 7 + Morning EMH x 2 (no evening EMH) = 87.5 + 2 EMH = 89.5

Total Regular Park Hours: 360.5
Total EMH: 13
Total park open: 373.5

Now, 2022:
MK: 9-11 x 7 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) + Evening Extra Hours (x 1) = 98 + 3.5 ETPE + 2 Night = 103.5
Epcot: 8:30-9 x 7 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) + Evening Extra Hours (x1) = 87.5 + 3.5 ETPE + 2 Night = 93
DHS: 8-9 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) = 91 + 3.5 = 94.5
AK: 7:30 - 8:30 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) = 91 + 3.5 = 94.5

Total Regular Park Hours: 367.5
Total Extra hours: 18
Total park open: 385.5

So, for Easter week, yes, MK is less, than in 2017, but total park hours with and without extra hours is decently higher than in 2017.

Now let's look at a non-holiday week, the week after Easter week:

2017:
MK: 9-10, 9-11, 9-10, 9-10, 9-10, 9-11, 9-11 + Morning EMH x 1 + Evening EMH (2 hours) x 1 = 94 + 3 EMH = 97
Epcot: 9-9x 7 + Morning EMH x 1 + Evening EMH x 1 = 84 + 3 EMH = 87
DHS: 9-9 + Morning EMH x 1 = 84 + 1 = 85
AK: 9-9:30 + Morning EMH x 2 = 87.5 + 2 = 89.5

Total Regular Park Hours: 349.5
Total Extra hours: 9
Total park open: 358.5

Now, 2022:
MK: 9-11 x 6 + 1 day 9-10 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) + Evening Extra Hours (x 1) = 97 + 3.5 ETPE + 2 Night = 102.5
Epcot: 8:30-9 x 7 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) + Evening Extra Hours (x1) = 87.5 + 3.5 ETPE + 2 Night = 93
DHS: 8-9 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) = 91 + 3.5 = 94.5
AK: 7:30 - 8:30 + Morning ETPE x 7 (.5) = 91 + 3.5 = 94.5

Total Regular Park Hours: 366.5
Total Extra hours: 18
Total park open: 384.5

For a non-holiday week, that's a difference in 17 regular park hours and 9 extra hours for a total of 26 more hours in 2022 vs 2017.

MickeyLuv'r said:
Looking at 2015:
MK: 8-1am and AM EMH - every day Easter week +.5 early 119 reg +7EMH hours +2.5 unofficial park hours
Epcot: 9-9, plus 5 EMH hours =84 +5EMH + 2.5
HS: 8-9:30 plus 7EMH = 94.5 +7EMH +2.5
AK: 8-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 8-7= 81 + 3EMH +2.5


The one Tues after Easter WDW was open 54.5 regular park hours, plus 2EMH plus 2 unofficial park hours = a whopping 58.5park hours.

It was possible to be in a park for 17.5 park hours per day, every day of Easter week 2015: Pre-opening at 7:30am until 1am closing.
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Again your numbers are wrong, especially for EMH, so here we go:

Looking at 2015
MK: 8-1 AM + Morning EMH x 6 (Saturday did not have it) + 1 Evening EMH = 119 + 8 = 127
Epcot: 9-9 + 1 Morning EMH + 1 Evening EMH (2 hours) = 84 + 3 = 87
DHS: 8-9:30 + 1 Morning EMH + 1 Evening EMH (2 hours) = 94.5 + 3 = 97.5
AK: 8-7, 8-7, 8-8, 8-8, 8-8, 8-7, 8-7 + 2 Morning EMH = 80 + 2 = 82

Total Regular Park Hours: 377.5
Total Extra hours: 16
Total park open: 393.5

I'll concede that hours for a holiday week are lower than what they were in 2015 - but that's a far cry from your original assertion that hours have been cut recently. As we saw earlier, at least as recently as 2017, hours were lower than they were today both for holiday weeks, and, more dramatically, for non-holiday weeks. But let's look at 2015 from a non-holiday week, again focusing on the week after Easter week.

Week after Easter week:
MK: 9-11, 9-12, 9-12, 9-11, 9-12, 9-12, 9-12 + Morning EMH x1 + Evening EMH x 1 = 103 + 3 = 106
Epcot: 9-9 x 7 + Morning EMH x 1 + Evening EMH x 1 = 84 + 3 = 87
DHS: 9-8, 9-9:30, 9-8, 9-8, 9-8, 9-9:30, 9-9:30 + Moring EMH x 1 + Evening EMH x 1 = 81.5 + 3 = 84.5
AK: 9-8, 9-6, 9-7, 9-6, 9-7, 9-6, 9-7 + Morning EMH x 2 = 59 (!) + 2 = 61

Total Regular Park Hours: 327.5
Total Extra hours: 11
Total park open: 338.5

Wow. That means in 2022, the week after Easter week (next week) will have 50 more regular park hours and and 7 more extra hours than in 2015, for a total of 46 more park hours next week than in the same week in 2015.

Look, I have a lot to criticize Disney about. I think Genie+ is garbage, their getting rid of Magical Express short sighted, and they need more in the non-MK parks. But I also will not criticize them when criticism is not due, and that's certainly the case when it comes to park hours.
 
P

Purduevian

Well-Known Member
Disney4Lyfe said:
?
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Basically if you buy G+ you should be getting a minimum of 3 decent attractions. Looking at DHS (the park that sells out of good passes the quickest) on Easter Saturday (very busy day).

Book 1 pass before park open: Chance to get anything, but SDD might have sold out if you weren't quick
At 10am (2 hours after park open) Only thing sold out for the day is SDD, TOT (sold out right at 10am), and MFSR(sold out at 10:10am). So still have options of TSMM, RnRC, MMRR.
At 12pm (2 hours later). SDD, TOT, MFSR, and now MMRR (sold out right at noon) are all gone. However, TSMM (sold out at ~1:20pm), RNRC (sold out at 12:25), Alien (Sold out at 2:35pm), Star Tours, all shows, meet and greets are all still available.

So no G+ does not guarantee 3 LLs, but if you don't get 3 decent rides in, its user error. BTW this is without any refreshing or being on the nose at the exact second you are able to book.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
Purduevian said:
Basically if you buy G+ you should be getting a minimum of 3 decent attractions. Looking at DHS (the park that sells out of good passes the quickest) on Easter Saturday (very busy day).

Book 1 pass before park open: Chance to get anything, but SDD might have sold out if you weren't quick
At 10am (2 hours after park open) Only thing sold out for the day is SDD, TOT (sold out right at 10am), and MFSR(sold out at 10:10am). So still have options of TSMM, RnRC, MMRR.
At 12pm (2 hours later). SDD, TOT, MFSR, and now MMRR (sold out right at noon) are all gone. However, TSMM (sold out at ~1:20pm), RNRC (sold out at 12:25), Alien (Sold out at 2:35pm), Star Tours, all shows, meet and greets are all still available.

So no G+ does not guarantee 3 LLs, but if you don't get 3 decent rides in, its user error. BTW this is without any refreshing or being on the nose at the exact second you are able to book.
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I used to be able to get three FPs in the morning though, so I could go back to sit by the pool in the afternoon, and then grab 1-2 (sometimes more) at night when park hopping.
 
ChrisM

ChrisM

Well-Known Member
Jeff4272 said:
afternoon at the pool? no chance with Genie (-)

3pm arrival and stay until close? not possible with Genie(-)

Sleep in past 6:45am (on vacation)? not possible with Genie (-) **who wants to sleep in on vacation anyway, so dumb**
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This is, quite simply, factually incorrect.

For my AK and HS days I could have easily done an afternoon at the pool, as we left AK at 3pm (and actually spent 4pm - 6pm at Volcano Bay) and left HS from 2pm - 5pm (took the Skyliner to Epcot, walked around the Boardwalk).

Now, a few (possibly big!) caveats:

1) We roped dropped both days.

2) We had no explicit intention of carving out afternoon time; this is just how the days happened to flow and what we ended up wanting to do. Which means if you were specifically trying to hit a set time to head back for the pool it would be impossible to plan that ahead of time and could be really stressful trying to craft your itinerary on the fly to accommodate that plan.

A 3pm arrival seems more than doable by stacking LL's for later in the afternoon. With, of course, the huge caveat that you're going to devote some (possibly significant) time working the phone to stack them up as the morning goes by. Not ideal but certainly possible.

You technically could sleep past the 7am window but there's obviously a big opportunity cost baked into that.
 
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Purduevian

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
It also completely bites that we are no longer guaranteed a min of 3 passes when we buy G+.
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mikejs78 said:
I used to be able to get three FPs in the morning though, so I could go back to sit by the pool in the afternoon, and then grab 1-2 (sometimes more) at night when park hopping.
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I wasn't arguing anything about that where you got the skip the line passes. Just the fact that if you are at least semi-knowledgeable about G+ you are basically guaranteed 3 good skip the line passes. They may not be the exact time or ride you were hoping for, but you will still get 3.
 
D

Disney4Lyfe

Well-Known Member
Purduevian said:
Basically if you buy G+ you should be getting a minimum of 3 decent attractions. Looking at DHS (the park that sells out of good passes the quickest) on Easter Saturday (very busy day).

Book 1 pass before park open: Chance to get anything, but SDD might have sold out if you weren't quick
At 10am (2 hours after park open) Only thing sold out for the day is SDD, TOT (sold out right at 10am), and MFSR(sold out at 10:10am). So still have options of TSMM, RnRC, MMRR.
At 12pm (2 hours later). SDD, TOT, MFSR, and now MMRR (sold out right at noon) are all gone. However, TSMM (sold out at ~1:20pm), RNRC (sold out at 12:25), Alien (Sold out at 2:35pm), Star Tours, all shows, meet and greets are all still available.

So no G+ does not guarantee 3 LLs, but if you don't get 3 decent rides in, its user error. BTW this is without any refreshing or being on the nose at the exact second you are able to book.
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Are you completely ignoring return times?
 

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