CaptainAmerica
Well-Known Member
If you're only getting 2-3 rides, you're doing something wrong.
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Is genie + worth it
- Thread starter Cmccoombs1
- Start date
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
SEE Genie+ is perfect! It's all the guest's fault!
Thank you @CaptainAmerica for as always coming to the aid and defending TWDC - well done Sir.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I didn't read it that way, and I agree with the sentiment.
G+ works, but only if one stays on top of all the details. If you oversleep until 9:05am, for example, at that point it isn't worth buying for HS; you probably would miss out on several of the top attractions in HS.
Likewise, if you don't keep track of all the booking times, or forget one of your passes, you would also lose value.
I would only buy it for Epcot if I was going to park hop. It is now 12:40 and available Epcot passes are really only: Living w/Land (20min, but only because it is lunchtime), and Soarin' (45min.) All the other available options are under 20min standby (15-), or they are gone for the day (TT, Rat, FEA).
CaptainAmerica
Well-Known Member
Isn't that true of any system though? If you missed your 60 day window for FastPass+, you weren't getting Flight of Passage. If you overslept until 9:05am with normal FastPass, you weren't getting Toy Story Mania. If you didn't arrive at the park until 10:30 and everything was standby-only, you'd be waiting 90 minutes for Space Mountain.
I get that people don't like that it costs extra. Fine, yes, it's a price increase, nobody is disputing that. But in terms of coming out ahead or behind from using it, Genie+ is good for people who are good at Genie+, just like FastPass+ was good for people who were good at FastPass+ and FastPass was good for people who were good at FastPass.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
It boils down to this: G+ creates patricians and plebes. Which do you want to be?
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
To some extent, yes. I was going to say some of that in my earlier post, but then it seemed to ramble too much, so I left if off.
In FP+ era, Universal often got my $$ instead of WDW because the best FP+ WDW dining options were already unavailable when I made the decision to travel.
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Now that we can modify G+ times, G+ is much better than it originally was. G+ also favors hopping, as you pointed out earlier.
More than once, I jumped through ALL of WDW's dumb hoops and still MDE glitched on me at 7am, and that 5 second delay = getting shut out. That is lousy.
I have long noted...when it comes to WDW, I'm not sure how to say, paying more isn't fun, but paying a little more= pluses that aren't always obvious, because at WDW time=$, and $=time. Paying for transportation often saves a great deal of time, for example, and = more park time in the early AM. There have been a number of times where we waited 60+ for a bus to arrive.
nickys
Premium Member
An average of 2-3 suggests that some will only get 1 …..
Even over Christmas we were getting 5-6 and we weren’t in the parks all day - although it did include LLs for later at night when we were going back for fireworks or late evenings. I’m not sure if we rode anything without an LL (where it was offered). Even Living with the Land where we grabbed one as we got off Soarin and walked straight on. We modified quite a lot, to earlier and later times depending on our plans.
It works well in DHS where the park is small so you’re not walking a lot between rides.
In Epcot we found it was quite easy, using the modify option, but we did Remy and Test Track on different days. And then we hopped elsewhere later in the day so had LLs stacked there.
nickys
Premium Member
“Doing something wrong” implies fault.
Now that modify is an option, it’s made it easier to get more. And park hopping also makes it easier.
But if a guest is in a park at rope drop and uses G+ to book the very popular rides, I can see how they might end up with three and then find they can’t get anything else. That was my concern too. Luckily for me, I had read about the changes and how to use them to my advantage.
Although you can modify, that isn’t an intuitive process. Although the app tells you when you can next book, that time will change depending on when you tap in. So unless people are aware of these things I can understand why they might not manage to make better use of G+
Just telling them “you’re doing it wrong” doesn’t help them. Of course, it might make it easier for those who do know.
CaptainAmerica
Well-Known Member
The time will change but it can only get earlier, not later.
At WORST (assuming a 9am open), you should be able to book one before the park opens, one at 11, one at 1, one at 3, and one at 5. That's 5 in a day without making any attempt whatsoever to optimize.
nickys
Premium Member
The point about the app showing you when you can book is that I found it typically assumed you would tap in about 20-30 minutes after the return time. If you tap in during the 10 minutes early grace period, you can book immediately. Unless you’re on top of that you could miss out.
As for the timings, you are correct. But again, a lot of people don’t realise you can do that. So if they’ve booked Slinky and have a 3pm return time, they won’t try booking another. That does come under “user error” but I just don’t find it helpful to state it as such.
Plus it is also true that by 3pm the options can be slim. If someone only has one day they might not care about riding Star Tours, Alien Saucers or seeing the Muppets. There may be some options but nothing they consider desirable. Or it might be they see a wait time of only 20 minutes and therefore see an LL as not worthwhile. Or there might be return times for late in the evening but they have other plans. That is not “wrong”, just a different viewpoint. And whilst it might not technically be true that there is nothing left at 3pm, especially at DHS, I can understand the sentiment.
Rush
Well-Known Member
Not sure what your point is? If a considerable amount of guests only got to go in 1 ride, the vast majority would've got to ride 3+ rides. I think it's fair to say that the average WDW guest is not exactly well versed in all the tricks and strategies that give you the best use of Genie+ so I will take Disney's word in that most guests can get on 2 to 3 rides using it, and I concur this becomes more true outside of MK.
nickys
Premium Member
My guess is that the vast majority of those who only get 1 ride is doing so by choice.
For example, they might have bought G+ for length of stay and therefore not felt they needed to use it intensively. I suspect the data will be different for this year.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I assume it is more what we call a CYA buffer on the part of WDW. If they set expectations low, then people are happy to get more. If they set expectations too high, people will be unhappy. If nothing else, unhappy people post online about how unhappy they are, and that's bad publicity.
It is similar to WDW posting inflated wait times. People are always happy to wait less than the posted wait time, and universally unhappy to wait longer than they expected.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
We loved the freedom of the FastPass+ and the paper FastPass.
With FastPass+, miss a return time, no problem, it didn't cost anything, and everyone's wait time goes down.
With the paper fastpass it was even better! We decide to skip a ride we would go to the end of the standby queue and make some magic for some folks and give them FastPasses.
The good old days are indeed over.
CaptainAmerica
Well-Known Member
Lmao when FastPass+ was around every post was people crying and complaining that Disney was "forcing them to plan every second of their vacations 60 days in advance." It was the opposite of freedom.
Disstevefan1
Well-Known Member
It's true! You really don't appreciate what you got until its gone.
I never got a fast pass 60 days out. It was max 2 or three days out and many day of.
Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
I don't know if Genie+ is "worth it" from a financial standpoint, but I don't feel like it would be "worth it" to me from a moral one. I have a huge problem with Disney charging exorbitant prices for a day ticket, and then trying to force me to pay an extra 30% or more on top of that (G+, plus an ILL) just for my family to have the "privilege" of reasonable access to a park's attractions -- or at least, a level of access comparable to what we've enjoyed from 1982 (my first visit) through 2021 (our last visit). But of course, the more people who buy into Genie+/ILL, the worse it makes the Disney touring experience for everyone else, and the greater the challenge it becomes to squeeze as much out of a Disney day as we did before.
It's a fool's game, and I'm determined to avoid playing it. I have to put my foot down somewhere. We've already canceled, rescheduled, and then pushed back our upcoming trip to try and work around recent changes that made touring more difficult (e.g., fewer park hours, parkhopping restrictions, elimination of EMH). If we get to a point where smart date-choosing and well-informed touring plans are no longer sufficient to help us avoid unreasonable waits by themselves (something that gets harder every time, and which we admittedly haven't had the chance to try since G+/ILL were introduced), we're done. Not that Disney will miss our business, because I recognize that we're not the kind of splurgy once-in-a-lifetime people they're after.
It's a fool's game, and I'm determined to avoid playing it. I have to put my foot down somewhere. We've already canceled, rescheduled, and then pushed back our upcoming trip to try and work around recent changes that made touring more difficult (e.g., fewer park hours, parkhopping restrictions, elimination of EMH). If we get to a point where smart date-choosing and well-informed touring plans are no longer sufficient to help us avoid unreasonable waits by themselves (something that gets harder every time, and which we admittedly haven't had the chance to try since G+/ILL were introduced), we're done. Not that Disney will miss our business, because I recognize that we're not the kind of splurgy once-in-a-lifetime people they're after.
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Henry Mystic
Author of "A Manor of Fact"
100% without a doubt it’s worth it.
I’d use it at least once per park.
So for a five day vacation that visits Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT once, and Magic Kingdom twice, you could get it for four days and skip it on the repeat Magic Kingdom day.
That’s a more cost-effective approach. Personally, I’d prioritize Genie+ to a fancy hotel, flying first-class/Delta instead of Spirit/Frontier, or other aspects that quickly run-up tabs. Cost-benefit analysis is key.
Personally, Disney’s hotel prices are scams costing hundreds more a night than they should across the board. Charging for a service that massively improves your experience? While it’s not ideal, it’s not exactly a disaster.
This will be controversial but I actually think charging for Fastpass makes sense from a guest experience stand point as locals would represent an outsized portion of Fastpass, increasing queue times for inexperienced once-in-a-lifetime vacationers. I almost feel it is a necessary evil to make it unreasonable for frequent visitors to be able to skip lines (as they are not going to spend money every visit on a paid Fastpass service).
Genie+ is a better system than the former Fastpass+ was for users, allowing the potential for significantly more rides per day. Its problem is it isn’t as intuitive as it should be.
That being said, the primary motive for charging for a previously free feature was plain and simple: profit margins. If it encourages Disney to fund new attractions (like Bob Iger is seemingly implying) then I’m not exactly frustrated.
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We have discussed this a bit in our household. We are going for a longer period of time (not a one day affair) to DisneyWorld. I reckon that on the first week (of 3) that we are there that we will not use Genie+ we will just soak up the parks and queue for those rides that have an average wait line.
As we get towards the end of our visit - week 2 or week 3 and visiting the parks that is where we may utilise Genie+ as we will have had an idea of what rides we want to go on and as such we can go down the route of 'Planning' and 'crafting' more. The latter parts of August should also be cheaper and less busy which means we should in theory get more out of the parks and Genie +.
As we get towards the end of our visit - week 2 or week 3 and visiting the parks that is where we may utilise Genie+ as we will have had an idea of what rides we want to go on and as such we can go down the route of 'Planning' and 'crafting' more. The latter parts of August should also be cheaper and less busy which means we should in theory get more out of the parks and Genie +.
Da Bird is Da Word
Active Member
My day trip to Magic Kingdom a few months ago was my first time at Disney since they started Genie+, and I’d say it’s not only worth it, but necessary. If you want what used to be Free at WDW, you now have to pay $ for it. Pretty much everyone else is using Genie+, so if you’re not, then you’re going to be waiting in lines more than most. Genie+ allows you to wait in two lines at once, the physical line you’re in plus the virtual queue for the Fast Pass you signed up for.
Although I will say Genie+ is probably a lot more necessary for MK, than say, Epcot.
Although I will say Genie+ is probably a lot more necessary for MK, than say, Epcot.