The absolute ease of use of Genie++ and what appears to be such a basic lack of knowledge or ability to use an app that my 10 year old can handle is mindboggling, but I hope continues as it makes our experience so much better.
This morning was our dining reservation day for our upcoming trip which includes 4th of July weekend. Using the new app and Genie++ interface, we set up our restaurant preferences on Sunday. Our trip includes 10 people spread across 3 households, and involved plans for sit down meals at each one of the parks across the length of the stay. We "cheated" slightly by calling ahead to Rain Forest Cafe for a reservation for 10 for lunch on our AK day, and they gave us the reservation more than 60 days out of our trip date.
The 10 year old was excited for today and woke up early before 6 to "help" dad with reservations. Its only an hour before he normally gets up for school so not a big deal in grand scheme of things. As the naval clock went to 6am we booted up our apps and I went right to MK for the 4th and managed to get not one, but two reservations for Cinderella's Royal table. Going back in time we hit up Epcott and got 2 reservations for San Angel Inn. We have always loved the Mexican Pavilion and 3Cab ride, so thought it would be a cool place to eat, get out of the mid July heat, and try some of the cool 50th anniversary deserts. Only disappointment (personal) was that we didn't' get reservation for 10 at Space 220, but as this is earlier in the trip, and we are going to want flexibility for LL for Rat and GotG, not a total loss.
Next we secured a reservation for 10 at Mama Melrose. This has become a family favorite at HS as it just has something for all our eaters, and doesn't take a long time to eat there. Again with indoor seating and AC, a benefit for a respite from the heat of the day. Now I had pre-loaded all these restaurants on my tip board that day prior so basically this entire process had taken maybe 5min. But my 10 year starts asking me if we can go to Olga's. Now I am a big fan of Olgas (the pettri dish gel shot drink with pop rocks is just insane.) But as it was not a first choice for our party of 10, I told him we would see after getting all of our main dinner/lunch reservations done. However as I was booking Mama Melrose, he looks at me and says "Dad we get to go to Olgas too." When I said I will check, he says, no I booked it already on Mom's phone. Sure enough he had logged into my wife's phone and booked the reservation for himself. DOUBLE win.
So, absent space, in 10mins time, without logging onto a computer or needing to get out of bed (although i did as to not wake up the afore mentioned wife) using the new Genie app we were able to book out a weeks worth of dining reservations for 10 people, including CRT on the 4th of July. Talk about a smooth and efficient system.
