Disney Genie and Genie+ at Walt Disney World

[Jeff4272]

That’s funny. I’m also here and did not bother with G+ for AK. I’m not sure if it would have saved me any time outside of maybe 10 minutes for the safari

I actually think the weird pro and con of Genie+ is because it’s so highly variable one can actually pick and choose rather than always get it.

Versus somewhere like Disneyland I think it would always make sense to have outside of very slow periods.

exact opposite.....when its busy, its not worth it because you cant get more than one and when its slower, like now, you dont need it

ETA: Sorry i misread your post, ignore mine!

 

[Jeff4272]

The CM was mistaken, or your math is wrong. There are 4 theaters. Each theater has 3 levels,16 people per level or a total of 48 people per theater. 192 people if all 4 theaters are operating, and all banshees are working, which often they are not. I'm not even sure the last time I was in a cabin with 8 working banshees. If the theater can do 7 cycles per hour that's 1344 people. If it can do 8 cycles its 1536.

7 cycles means guests are being loaded, watched a 5 minute movie, unloaded about every 8 and a half minutes. 8 cycles means it's 7 and a half minutes. You can quibble if it's between 1344 or 1536 but what it definitely is not is 2400pph, because the math is impossible.

Your number of 2400 divided by 192 means they have to be running 12.5 cycles per hour. 12 cycles per hour means each cycle lasts 5 minutes. The movie is 5 minutes, meaning there would be no time to load and unload. How long have you been sitting on your banshee waiting for people to get locked in?

Makes sense...maybe it was just hyperbole, but thats exactly what they told us

 

[Jeff4272]

Yeah, I must add that day we did 2 parks, AK then MK at about 2pm...we rope dropped AVATAR.. (45 mins) LL for

To be honest...in the 10 times we came before the pandemic, the FP+ system made the day worthwhile..made it enjoyable and was a fair system.

Genie is not only more expensive, its inferior in so many ways.

And let's be honest, nobody likes paying MORE to get LESS.

It is what it is though...it has driven us away but I doubt Disney care as they have hundreds of thousands willing to put up with their system day in day out

The fact of the matter is, you pay more, get less, have to wake up early every day and are on your phone all day........It defaets the purpose of us taking a vacation......we like to sleep in and not have to worry whether or not we are going to get on a ride on a day to day basis......

 

[DisneyDodo]

3) trying to get into the park through security and scan your band in, at the EXACT time individual lighting lanes come available at park open.

I think I'll actually have it worse lol - I'm staying at a DS hotel, so I get EE, but also can't book ILLs until official park opening. This means I will be able to book ILLs 30 minutes after I've been let into the park. Who knows where the hell I'll be then? I definitely don't want to be pulling out my phone halfway through a ride.

 

[BrianLo]

Losing money is now not a mistake for a business? Talk about reaching.

I lost the train of conversation. What is losing money?

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Do you extend the same benefit of the doubt to politicians? Journalists? Everyone?

And FP+ was absolutely a mistake. It broke the parks in ways that have only grown worse. FP original is more grey.

Fast pass was introduced in 1999. Since that time by any measurable metric, attendance, revenue, the parks have done nothing buy have massive growth and success. You have an awfully weird, and unsupportable way of defining breaking things.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

And for us, we love being able to get what we pay for, upgrade where we want, and get advantages over lazy people who don't want to put in the effort and would rather sleep in. So you keep sleeping in late, and we will keep riding more rides.

That's part of why the system is broken...it really only works if people follow a very specific touring style, and not everyone wants to do that while on vacation.

 

[Jrb1979]

That's part of why the system is broken...it really only works if people follow a very specific touring style, and not everyone wants to do that while on vacation.

While that's true, I still stand by the fact too many people have it.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

While that's true, I still stand by the fact too many people have it.

That's likely a huge factor, too.

 

[Thepuma]

And for us, we love being able to get what we pay for, upgrade where we want, and get advantages over lazy people who don't want to put in the effort and would rather sleep in. So you keep sleeping in late, and we will keep riding more rides.

Unfortunately you don't get what you pay for really with Genie and LL+......you are in effect paying a LOT more to get an inferior experience.

Ie...ypu can try to pay more for ROTR but still not get on it...You can pay $15 each and still not get a fastpass till the evening.....its a terrible system and its making people pay WAY more to have a MUCH inferior experience to what they had a few years ago before the pandemic.

 

[Thepuma]

It has nothing to do with sleeping in or being lazy. We sometimes choose to go to a water park or swim at the resort pool (or do something else that's fun for us), then go to a theme park in the afternoon. It was nice when we could schedule FP+ rides later in the day. A few each day were okay for us - we don't need to "keep riding more rides," but we did like being guaranteed that we could ride the ones we wanted when we wanted. Genie+ is a big step down for us.

I'm with you on that one - The only way you can make LL Genie and LL+ worthwhile is if you stay in the park from opening till close.

Having said that, like for like you'll still be paying a lot more for a lot less experience compared to previous.

I dont understand why Disney has make it all so complex...its mind blowing really. I'm an avid regular park guest and it's had me scratching my head and uttering expletives under my breath using it...so heaven knows what the average Disney going day trip family think.

If Disney were so desperate for money and so desperate to ruin their name and goodwill, they could have kept the perfectly fine FP+ system and instead charged double to get into the parks...it will have ed off the same amount of people yeah , but would have ticked a box of reducing numbers in the parks.

 

[Thepuma]

That's part of why the system is broken...it really only works if people follow a very specific touring style, and not everyone wants to do that while on vacation.

Even worse ..even once inside the park you have to Bury your head in your phone all day and walk around like zombies trying desperately to find a LL.

Shame on Disney I say...short sighted and utterly nieve on their part to not realise this will upset thousands of people each and every day at their parks.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

It has nothing to do with sleeping in or being lazy. We sometimes choose to go to a water park or swim at the resort pool (or do something else that's fun for us), then go to a theme park in the afternoon. It was nice when we could schedule FP+ rides later in the day. A few each day were okay for us - we don't need to "keep riding more rides," but we did like being guaranteed that we could ride the ones we wanted when we wanted. Genie+ is a big step down for us.

I enjoy non-park days as much (if not more) than my park days.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Fast pass was introduced in 1999. Since that time by any measurable metric, attendance, revenue, the parks have done nothing buy have massive growth and success. You have an awfully weird, and unsupportable way of defining breaking things.

I know this is a really difficult concept for people, but popularity does not equal quality. It's a childish argument.

The parks were designed to facilitate a certain kind of guest behavior. Every public area, from queues to restaurants to walkways to shops, were built to enable the parks to operate in a particular way. Line-skipping is directly counter to that particular way. For line-skipping to work, you would have to redesign the parks from the ground up, and completely alter how guests think and behave. To their credit, Universal realized this VERY QUICKLY and scrapped the half-baked virtual line system put in place for Fallon, Fast, and VB. Disney won't give up. When you use something in a manner for which it was not designed and in the process cause it to operate inefficiently or not at all, yes, you broke it.

If you can look at the parks right now and think things are hunky-dory, I seriously question your judgement.

 

[Thepuma]

Can someone run by me how the FP+ system wasn't working but apparently the Genie one is?

I absolutely loved the FP+ system but when I say that people saw it was a disaster and wasn't working?

Yet some how,.if you charge for it, it magically works.

 

[disneygeek90]

And for us, we love being able to get what we pay for, upgrade where we want, and get advantages over lazy people who don't want to put in the effort and would rather sleep in. So you keep sleeping in late, and we will keep riding more rides.

I mean, it's all relative. Before WDW started forcing everyone to be up at 7am to book reservations and boarding groups, some would rather sleep in and then stay out all night. After all, nights are superior in Florida especially when trying to beat the summer heat. I'm sure there's not many that can stay open to close every day regardless.

I'm a night owl myself. I like evenings in the parks after people start to head out the most.

 

[flynnibus]

Genie+ is flawed in that it is still giving out all capacity as quickly as people will take it. That is why the thing breaks down.

The whole advantage of removing the scheduled portion of FP+ was to enable an adhoc experience where guests could be steered based on what is happening 'now'. It removed the burdens of advanced plans and their constraints while making it so everyone (not just those who book the furthest in advance) would have opportunity at passes.

If you don't ensure there is adhoc opportunities - you basically just stripped the system down and took away what some liked about FP+ without giving them anything in return.

I would like to see them simply not give out Genie+ reservations for anything more than 2hrs away. That way you can setup a place where people use standby first, except for things you're willing to invest in, and you commit to that reservation when it comes free. By limiting how much you give out in advance, you undo this 'must stay all day' thing, you give people lots more opportunities, and most importantly you drive an adhoc experience.

 

[wutisgood]

I know this is a really difficult concept for people, but popularity does not equal quality. It's a childish argument.

The parks were designed to facilitate a certain kind of guest behavior. Every public area, from queues to restaurants to walkways to shops, were built to enable the parks to operate in a particular way. Line-skipping is directly counter to that particular way. For line-skipping to work, you would have to redesign the parks from the ground up, and completely alter how guests think and behave. To their credit, Universal realized this VERY QUICKLY and scrapped the half-baked virtual line system put in place for Fallon, Fast, and VB. Disney won't give up. When you use something in a manner for which it was not designed and in the process cause it to operate inefficiently or not at all, yes, you broke it.

If you can look at the parks right now and think things are hunky-dory, I seriously question your judgement.

The fact that mediocre rides like seven dwarfs or slinky dog are driving revenue on intentionally limited capacity is insane. Cedar point wouldn't dare put in a hugely popular ride that could only move under 1k per hour guests. The popularity of these rides at disney is that guests are starved for literally anything at all to do. I think some good flat rides would actually eat into the slinky dog capacity.

There is no park more than disney where mediocre rides can last forever just because of capacity issues. Would small world be a ride even at a cheap park if it was cheap to run? not a chance.

 

[Touchdown]

The fact that mediocre rides like seven dwarfs or slinky dog are driving revenue on intentionally limited capacity is insane. Cedar point wouldn't dare put in a hugely popular ride that could only move under 1k per hour guests. The popularity of these rides at disney is that guests are starved for literally anything at all to do. I think some good flat rides would actually eat into the slinky dog capacity.

There is no park more than disney where mediocre rides can last forever just because of capacity issues. Would small world be a ride even at a cheap park if it was cheap to run? not a chance.

Umm, what exactly do you think TTD averages? Also I know it’s now gone but Wicked Twister never won capacity awards either.

 

[wutisgood]

Umm, what exactly do you think TTD averages? Also I know it’s now gone but Wicked Twister never won capacity awards either.

1000 per hour but Cedar point will let a four hour line ride after park close on TTD because they care about their guests. Wicked twister was a small footprint and nice to have availible.