Disney Genie/Genie+ On Their Way to Anaheim

truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
Dear Prudence said:
I am still stuck on paying extra to get into a park that basically costs a kidney in entrance fees to ride dilapidated rides. :x
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Yes. The park was in rough shape in my August and November visits. Many animatronics not working and Soarin' broke down while I was riding it. A loud noise followed by a movement to a static position for most of the film. It took them 10 minutes to get the ride to descend after it was done. Free pass for another ride? Not even a apology, just exit that way.
 
Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
truecoat said:
Yes. The park was in rough shape in my August and November visits. Many animatronics not working and Soarin' broke down while I was riding it. A loud noise followed by a movement to a static position for most of the film. It took them 10 minutes to get the ride to descend after it was done. Free pass for another ride? Not even a apology, just exit that way.
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The Kings of Customer Service
 
milordsloth

milordsloth

Well-Known Member
I was at the parks Friday and Saturday last weekend and actually had a really good experience with Genie+. Return times for everything were pretty much immediate all day, so we waited to use the lightning lanes in the afternoon/evenings. We purchased ILL for Rise on Friday and walked straight into the pre-show room, easily worth the $20 to save the time and get to ride once on the trip. Overall I got to ride everything I wanted when I wanted, so I would definitely get Genie+ on my next trip.

I did see many people using their lightning lanes first thing in the morning when lines were short and say something like "we need to come back and skip the line again later in the day!", so Disney definitely needs to make it more clear that this can only be used once per ride per day.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
truecoat said:
Yes. The park was in rough shape in my August and November visits. Many animatronics not working and Soarin' broke down while I was riding it. A loud noise followed by a movement to a static position for most of the film. It took them 10 minutes to get the ride to descend after it was done. Free pass for another ride? Not even a apology, just exit that way.
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World-Class Guest Service! You are immersed in magic!
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
milordsloth said:
I did see many people using their lightning lanes first thing in the morning when lines were short and say something like "we need to come back and skip the line again later in the day!", so Disney definitely needs to make it more clear that this can only be used once per ride per day.
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Sadly, Disney won't be doing that.

If history is the guide, this is the most communicative and proactive Disney will be on explaining to customers what Genie+ is. Disney will back away from communications on Genie+ within a year from now, and the clueless execs in TDA who don't know their customers well at all will assume that the whole world knows how Genie+ works. It's all downhill from 2022 for Genie+ communication.

That's exactly what happened with Fastpass twenty years ago. And by 2019 you still had thousands of people per day who had no idea what Fastpass was, or how it worked, or how much it cost (it was free!).

I brought up this concept in the Galactic Starcruiser thread, that there will be plenty of people who check into the hotel and don't get it. Then want to leave to go to Disney Springs for dinner, or go to Epcot for the laser show, or want Uber Eats to deliver Cheesecake Factory to their Galactic Starcruiser cabin.

Many folks in that thread immediately discounted that idea, and they assured me that every customer checking in to the Galactic Starcruiser will have done hours of online research before their visit and know exactly what they are getting themselves into. That's not how humans work, especially humans on vacation.

And especially-especially humans who can afford expensive products and often have their secretary or personal assistant make the reservations for them, leaving the actual customer to not do any research at all. (This is a thing. Trust me. I know a few.)

Five years from now, there will still be upper-middle class families from Arizona standing in front of Millenium Falcon demanding to know why they can't use Genie+ again so that Susie can fly the ship this time because her brother got to fly it last time. And buried on the App will be a fine print disclaimer about one time use only. ;)
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
milordsloth said:
I was at the parks Friday and Saturday last weekend and actually had a really good experience with Genie+. Return times for everything were pretty much immediate all day, so we waited to use the lightning lanes in the afternoon/evenings. We purchased ILL for Rise on Friday and walked straight into the pre-show room, easily worth the $20 to save the time and get to ride once on the trip. Overall I got to ride everything I wanted when I wanted, so I would definitely get Genie+ on my next trip.

I did see many people using their lightning lanes first thing in the morning when lines were short and say something like "we need to come back and skip the line again later in the day!", so Disney definitely needs to make it more clear that this can only be used once per ride per day.
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I didn't know you can only use lightning lane once per ride per day... That's a huge change from Maxpass
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
chadwpalm said:
Lightning Lane and Genie+ are the same things. I think you are mistaking Lightning Lane for "Individual Lightning Lane" which is the à la carte purchases.
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I thought Lightning Lane was the individual a la carte attractions and Genie+ was everything else. Granted, I haven't actually been to the parks since they debuted.

Isn't it an indictment of the failure of this system (or at least its lack of transparency) if even people who have followed the park for years are confused as to how the system works or what it's called?
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
Sadly, Disney won't be doing that.

If history is the guide, this is the most communicative and proactive Disney will be on explaining to customers what Genie+ is. Disney will back away from communications on Genie+ within a year from now, and the clueless execs in TDA who don't know their customers well at all will assume that the whole world knows how Genie+ works. It's all downhill from 2022 for Genie+ communication.

That's exactly what happened with Fastpass twenty years ago. And by 2019 you still had thousands of people per day who had no idea what Fastpass was, or how it worked, or how much it cost (it was free!).

I brought up this concept in the Galactic Starcruiser thread, that there will be plenty of people who check into the hotel and don't get it. Then want to leave to go to Disney Springs for dinner, or go to Epcot for the laser show, or want Uber Eats to deliver Cheesecake Factory to their Galactic Starcruiser cabin.

Many folks in that thread immediately discounted that idea, and they assured me that every customer checking in to the Galactic Starcruiser will have done hours of online research before their visit and know exactly what they are getting themselves into. That's not how humans work, especially humans on vacation.

And especially-especially humans who can afford expensive products and often have their secretary or personal assistant make the reservations for them, leaving the actual customer to not do any research at all. (This is a thing. Trust me. I know a few.)

Five years from now, there will still be upper-middle class families from Arizona standing in front of Millenium Falcon demanding to know why they can't use Genie+ again so that Susie can fly the ship this time because her brother got to fly it last time. And buried on the App will be a fine print disclaimer about one time use only. ;)
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Someone on the WDW side once wrote about the guy crying in the Contemporary. He had paid major, major dollars to go to Disney World so his kids could go to Harry Potter.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
I thought Lightning Lane was the individual a la carte attractions and Genie+ was everything else. Granted, I haven't actually been to the parks since they debuted.

Isn't it an indictment of the failure of this system (or at least its lack of transparency) if even people who have followed the park for years are confused as to how the system works or what it's called?
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No kidding.

I had Lightning Lane, Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane A La Carte (four seperate things to get you on a ride) explained to me here by friendly folks who after multiple park trips had figured out how it all works. I was still confused. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm not stupid. And I know Disneyland.

I can't imagine the poor CM's trying to explain this multi-level marketing system in two minutes or less to a frazzled tourist family from Seattle or Sydney in front of a packed-like-sardines Indiana Jones ride. Can you?

LLIndy.jpg
 
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Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
So many people who went the first days of the Genie Plus nonsense said that they had tried to pad the wait times on attractions to get people to pay for Lightening Lane, is this still the case? Are they still doing this?
 
Emmanuel

Emmanuel

Well-Known Member
TP2000 said:
No kidding.

I had Lightning Lane, Genie, Genie+, and Lightning Lane A La Carte (four seperate things to get you on a ride) explained to me here by friendly folks who after multiple park trips had figured out how it all works. I was still confused. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm not stupid. And I know Disneyland.

I can't imagine the poor CM's trying to explain this multi-level marketing system in two minutes or less to a frazzled tourist family from Seattle or Sydney in front of a packed-like-sardines Indiana Jones ride. Can you?

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I only used it twice and the only way I can describe it as a way to "shorten" the wait on some of the popular rides using something that used to be free.

Maxpass was just a way to get fast passes without using the FP machines which made it completely optional if you wanted to get a fastpass. I liked the Maxpass mainly because I had the AP that had Maxpass included

But with Genie Plus and with how its making everyone use the app and have it behind a paywall, you're only option is either pay the $20 or wait in the normal line that may have an over exaggerated wait time listed. And if you do the "A la carte" LLs, you're easily paying nearly $40-$50 bucks total for both the Genie Plus and whatever Individual LL you buy.
 
DrAlice

DrAlice

Well-Known Member
Emmanuel said:
But with Genie Plus and with how its making everyone use the app and have it behind a paywall, you're only option is either pay the $20 or wait in the normal line that may have an over exaggerated wait time listed. And if you do the "A la carte" LLs, you're easily paying nearly $40-$50 bucks total for both the Genie Plus and whatever Individual LL you buy.
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Wait.... Do you have to buy genie+ to get an individual, a la carte pass? If I went to DL and just wanted to ride RISE without waiting, I can't just pay for that ride alone?
 
erstwo

erstwo

Well-Known Member
milordsloth said:
I was at the parks Friday and Saturday last weekend and actually had a really good experience with Genie+. Return times for everything were pretty much immediate all day, so we waited to use the lightning lanes in the afternoon/evenings. We purchased ILL for Rise on Friday and walked straight into the pre-show room, easily worth the $20 to save the time and get to ride once on the trip. Overall I got to ride everything I wanted when I wanted, so I would definitely get Genie+ on my next trip.

I did see many people using their lightning lanes first thing in the morning when lines were short and say something like "we need to come back and skip the line again later in the day!", so Disney definitely needs to make it more clear that this can only be used once per ride per day.
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Thanks for saying this! DL will be my first Disney trip since Genie was put into place and I don't know if I would have known this. Any advice for riding Radiator Springs Racers as many times as possible in one day? We will be in DCA about mid day on a Friday and then all day on Sunday.
 
S

Sailor310

Well-Known Member
erstwo said:
Thanks for saying this! DL will be my first Disney trip since Genie was put into place and I don't know if I would have known this. Any advice for riding Radiator Springs Racers as many times as possible in one day? We will be in DCA about mid day on a Friday and then all day on Sunday.
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Single rider.

Edit: This might now be bad advice.

In the site that shall not be mentioned: SkunkID said in another thread: Blogs and social media are reporting that Space Mountain, Indy, Radiation Sting, etc, have all lost ended single rider lines and signage for such (obviously some having tempt signage to begin with) with the roll out of genie+.
Edit #2: Somebody said they were just on RSR and there was a single rider.
 
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