Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[dreday3]

I’m here now and it’s been a disaster for us so far. Went to HS yesterday. Tried to buy ROTR and it was sold out in 30 seconds and got shut out. Got SDD genie+ at 7 am window for 5:40 return time At second return window at 11am for RnR for 7pm return time and that was it for the day. Everything else was sold out. Complete waste of time and money as I thought it would be during the busy times.

today we were doing AK in am and Epcot at night. Paid for FOP and had 8:50am original time and when I hit enter it was 5:20pm that I got. Went to guest relations and they wouldn’t switch the times and would only refund my money. Got safari st 7am genie+ window for 9:40-10:40. So we decided to hit FOP at park open and even though we were resort guests and got in line at 7:40 it was still 145 minutes to ride so we didn’t get to safari until after our window closed b FOP went down 2 x, both after we went into the pre show room. Went to book second genie+ and everything was gone. Everest closed their single rider line b the park was at max capacity so we left.

then booked our second genie+ for test track after refreshing at 11:31 for the drop and got 2-3pm return time. At 1:31 on the next drop, some later times came up so I cancelled and tried to rebook but it wouldn’t let me b it said I wasn’t eligible for the next window yet even though I should have been able to get one b it was a replacement. Went to guest relations and they gave me an anytime return for Test track.

total disaster. Got up at 6:45, didn’t get ILL got to ride 2 rides while waiting over 2 hours.

2 things that desperately need to change are:
1) when you get a window to book, you should get 30 seconds and keep that window and if you don’t then it goes back. Thinking we had FOP for 8:50 and getting 5:20 is a joke

2) if you find a different ride or time, it should allow you to “switch” rides instead of cancelling and rebooking so you don’t lose your original ride and get shut out of
.

Well, bright side is you were already expecting this! Hope your trip gets better.

 

[G00fyDad]

You should seriously complain to GS and demand your money back.

They'll have a shiny new gift card ready for you.

 

[mikejs78]

They'll have a shiny new gift card ready for you.

That's fine. Disney just has to know the people are unhappy and that the current system is untenable. And the only way that happens is that people complain and make an issue out of it

 

[Jeff4272]

That's fine. Disney just has to know the people are unhappy and that the current system is untenable. And the only way that happens is that people complain and make an issue out of it

It’s really bad. Worse than I thought. Was on my phone all day every day since I’ve been here and waking up that early really is awful.

the non rope droppers get penalized bad in this system too. Kind of a joke

 

[Purduevian]

Played the G+ from home game to see what I could have gotten on a sold out day. My rules were I could refresh up to 3 times at each time slot.

@7:49am I got a MFSR for 11:40am
@11am I got a 4:45pm ToT
@11:45 (which should have been about the second touch point at MFSR) I got a 7:30pm TSMM
@1:02PM I got a 7:30PM Alien
@3pm I attempted to get any ride (thought i would get a ST) but after my 3 refreshes nothing came up.

If i was actually in the park I would attempt to refresh more and try to get one, but not going to try that at home. Looking at current lines (i know they fluctuate throughout the day)
MFSR 105 minute wait, ToT 60 minutes, TSMM 85 minutes, and Alien 45 minutes.
So if all those LL were used right now it would skip 295 minutes of line OR $0.05 per minute per person

I wouldn't be thrilled about this, but I still would have bought it and felt it was worth $15

 

[Jrb1979]

6. Make it limited to onsite and APs only. That would anger alot of people but then be considered an onsite "perk"

7. Up the ratio of LL to Standby and give out more LL availability. Make it 9 LL for everyone 1 standby guest. If your going to offer a paid system make it worthwhile for those paying for it. Every other park does it with their paid systems. I don't want to hear how Disney should be different cause they aren't.

 

[Jeff4272]

Well, bright side is you were already expecting this! Hope your trip gets better.

There is no bright side

So tomorrow we are supposed to do HS in am and hop to MK. We have to have 3 of us up at 6:50am and on the phone ready to book the rides at the exact second of 7:00:01. My 12 year old son is in charge of SDD genie+ 7am selection. I’m in charge of buying ROTR and my wife is in charge of buying SDMT for the afternoon

This is not what I want to be doing every morning of my vacation

this system really blows. It is very stressful to not know what you can get on and it’s a roll of the dice with how fast your fingers snd internet connection is

FP + was so superior. Bring that back in a paid version

 

[drizgirl]

7. Up the ratio of LL to Standby and give out more LL availability. Make it 9 LL for everyone 1 standby guest. If your going to offer a paid system make it worthwhile for those paying for it. Every other park does it with their paid systems. I don't want to hear how Disney should be different cause they aren't.

Yeah, never mind that people paid in the neighborhood of $150/day to be there. Why should they actually get to ride anything?

 

[Jrb1979]

Yeah, never mind that people paid in the neighborhood of $150/day to be there. Why should they actually get to ride anything?

Why should those who paid to get Genie+ only get a few rides cause availability is gone? If I buy Genie+ I should be able to ride more then 3 rides using it regardless of how busy it is.

 

[hopemax]

7. Up the ratio of LL to Standby and give out more LL availability. Make it 9 LL for everyone 1 standby guest. If your going to offer a paid system make it worthwhile for those paying for it. Every other park does it with their paid systems. I don't want to hear how Disney should be different cause they aren't.

What people don't get yet, is they could make it entirely LL lane, no standby at all, and the popular rides would still sell out early on a day like today. Then what do you do?

 

[Purduevian]

Why should those who paid to get Genie+ only get a few rides cause availability is gone? If I buy Genie+ I should be able to ride more then 3 rides using it regardless of how busy it is.

G+ people can still ride standby. I think people forget about how bad the DHS tiers were at the end of FP+ The only ride in tier 2 was star tours.

 

[pdude81]

Why should those who paid to get Genie+ only get a few rides cause availability is gone? If I buy Genie+ I should be able to ride more then 3 rides using it regardless of how busy it is.

I am surprised anybody would expect more than they got with FP+ for $15. A hot dog and fries costs $15 at WDW

 

[HauntedPirate]

My unscientific, not-exact, just-counting-what-I-see method on several rides this week seems to suggest they are letting in LL consumers vs standby consumers at a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio. For example: I counted 10 standby consumers let in at the RnRC merge point and then 10 LL consumers were allowed to gather for the pre-show. Roughly the same at HM and Space, but a few more standby vs LL consumers. Don’t take this as any sort of factual proof, just what I observed.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

It is beyond frustrating.

My folks were in a half-hour "lightning lane" for HM. They've been here more than a dozen times (including our trip from Christmas-New Years 1999), and they've never seen it like that.

EPCOT today - get a 2:45 Soarin' at 7:00, when I was able to get another one at noon, the best I could do was a 2:15 Spaceship Earth. When that was tapped in, the selections were abysmal. Glad we had already decided to head home and make it a short day after that 2:45 Soarin.

Yesterday was our travel day, and the inability to schedule your FP was a complete PITA. I was refreshing constantly trying to find a time that would work. Then, when you have one that you want to change, the app interface requires you to go to My Day to do the cancellation then back to the Tip Board to book something else, and heaven only knows if the times you saw that you want to change to are still going to be there when you do that. At least once it wasn't for me.

So, my totals for 1 MK and 1 EPCOT -

25 attractions
4 Paid ILL
4 G+
1 VQ
16 Standby

That sucks.

And the Show is bad. Our second Rat ride (the paid one), we had it stop 5 times, missed the middle special effect, had the last special effect way off-time. Spaceship Earth stopped several times, and some scenes have no audio. Living with the Land - some areas with no audio.

All that said, being here with my daughter and my parents is still special, especially as it's likely their last trip. But it can and should be and do better. Because if it was like this when I was 8, I guaran-damn-tee you that we would not have come back 2 years later, then 3 years later, then 5 years later, and I would not be on my 11th trip right now.

HoustonHorn:I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience at disney with G+ and LL.
What a complete mess, plus you have to be on your phone all the time.
Could they have made it any more difficult to navigate?
The Holiday's are going to be the big test for this. We'll see how it works in really huge crowds.
I wish you had a better experience, but sadly it seems there are alot of bad experiences being had with G+ and LL. You would think disney could do better. Even the fast passes were much better and not complicated.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

HoustonHorn:I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience at disney with G+ and LL.
What a complete mess, plus you have to be on your phone all the time.
Could they have made it any more difficult to navigate?
The Holiday's are going to be the big test for this. We'll see how it works in really huge crowds.
I wish you had a better experience, but sadly it seems there are alot of bad experiences being had with G+ and LL. You would think disney could do better. Even the fast passes were much better and not complicated.

They've spent $2 billion to avoid doing better. They aren't going to back down now, they'll only dig their heels in deeper.

 

[Jrb1979]

I am surprised anybody would expect more than they got with FP+ for $15. A hot dog and fries costs $15 at WDW

I am expecting more due to Disney being the so called leader. I have been to many parks across the US, and for the most part, buying a skip the line pass enables you to ride more and wait less. For some reason Disney thinks it should be ride less and pay more.

 

[Waters Back Side]

I'm wondering right 7am my wife and I are both logged into the app ready to go on two separate devices and she books SDD with her phone and I buy Rise on mine at the same time if it would work.

I am not happy that we have to ressort to doing this at all, I'm just wondering if it improves our chances of getting both. Right now the parks are SO busy that even a simple 20 second transaction of Rise or booking of SDD with Genie+ means you are not getting the other. Christmas/NYE will be more crowded then the parks are now.

 

[HauntedPirate]

From first-hand experience: Genie is junk. Why ask for things you want to do if it is going to give you suggestions for things you didn’t want?

It looks and feels like a PR stunt designed to make what has become a nightmare - simple park planning - and making it easy and MAGICAL!!! if you just use Genie. Maybe… just maybe… don’t make everything so complicated and control-freakish in the first place?

 

[Disney Dad 3000]

I'm wondering right 7am my wife and I are both logged into the app ready to go on two separate devices and she books SDD with her phone and I buy Rise on mine at the same time if it would work.

I am not happy that we have to ressort to doing this at all, I'm just wondering if it improves our chances of getting both. Right now the parks are SO busy that even a simple 20 second transaction of Rise or booking of SDD with Genie+ means you are not getting the other. Christmas/NYE will be more crowded then the parks are now.

I don't have firsthand experience with it, but since you are performing two different types of transactions (Genie+ and I.L.L.) vs both of you trying to book Genie+, I'd think it should work especially since I can't imagine you'll both book at the exact same second. I imagine you won't be the only family taking this route.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

This nightmare will never end - until we boycott it.
DW & I are freshly back (NOV 17). We refused to to do anything but standby. No standby? The ride does not exist.

While painful? Use those standby lines, until they are stretched out all over the parks. CLOG that toilet - and perhaps management will understand that a corporate plumber is required...

I applaud this analogy. However, they've had a brown stream flowing through Liberty Square since the park was built and nobody seems to care. My guess is it's from all the people who drink the swamp water out of the water fountains.