GhostHost1000
Premium Member
That usually depends on who’s working and if you even know to try that
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Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
they took away the FP+ preplanning and added the preplanning park reservation requirement which no one likes
Brilliant
Chi84
Premium Member
It’s useless if it’s not stated anywhere and you can’t depend on it.
I can tell he/she is an insider with good info, but I don’t believe for a second that the “average guest” didn’t like FP+. That sounds like some upper management manipulation (or, at least, exaggeration) of the survey data. Obviously I’m sure some people didn’t like it, because no system is perfect. But I would imagine a majority at least LIKED it. I mean….it was free. You picked your times, compared to the old system where you couldn’t. You were reminded many times when to book your FPs, so it’s not like people were clueless about it. You were guaranteed 3 every day. You could plan your day to avoid having to crisscross the parks. You could plan around dining reservations. Again, sure, not a flawless system, but the average guest didn’t like it? I’d bet good money on that being a lie*.
Now, the “average guest” doesn’t like genie+ and ILLs? Oh yeah. I wholeheartedly believe that!
*not a lie coming from disneyglimpses, but a lie coming from his/her source
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
What I said has nothing to do with FP+ being free. What I said was your average guest didn't like the pre-planning aspect of it. Everyone loved that it was free. Me personally I think both systems are garbage. A lot of that has to do with that I like Express Pass systems better.
I suppose, but you can still like a system overall while disliking an aspect of the same system.
I can just imagine the surveys of guests saying, “FP+ is mostly great, but I don’t like having to preplan so far out.” And then Disney execs twist that info to say, “Well, guests don’t like FP+ because of the preplanning. We need a completely new system.”
crazy4disney
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Exactly. Anyone who used it or knew about it imo how could you not like it as a resort guest. If you didnt want to “plan ahead” simply dont use it. Anyone with a brain could simple pick 3 attractions at basically any time during the day and you literally walked onto those rides for free w NO wait. Not sure how anyone can say they dont like that. Yea maybethe booking 60 days out kinda stunk but as a family or even as a couple you had to book dining 180 days out if you wanted to eat anywhere so you pretty much knew where you were gonna be already and if you didnt it made getting a reservation hard granted some do open up day before if you constantly refresh. I dont see anyone calling for Disney to get rid of that and granted its 60 days now but same theory. They are asking you to book 2months ahead. Now Disney is far from the only vacation you need to do this for. So i simply just dont buy most people didnt like FP+. Its like you said. They took maybe the 1 “improvement” people may have suggested and ran with it and claimed people didnt like the system. Yea bc people staying up til midnight and waking at 630am after a 12-14 hour day in the Florida heat is what guests were begging for…. Sureeeee. If you believe that i have a bridge for sale in NY for you.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
I agree they went too far the other way. I do think there is a middle ground they could have went with. Give resort guests 1 LL a day they can pre-book and every else is day of.
mysto
Well-Known Member
I think this example highlights how over-reliance on data by corporations can cause mankind a lot of trouble.
When a survey respondent says they don't like the planning aspect of FP+, what they REALLY mean is that they want to walk on to anything they want any time they want. They were almost certainly not asking to schedule whatever leftovers pop up day of, but the data says, gotta obey the data.
Let's be truthful here - The ONLY reason Disney changed to Genie was to make money..NOTHING to do with guest experience.
And the ONLY way they could easily justif a huge price hike is by a pathetic attempt to roll out some (self proclaimed) amazing 'new' product which will revolutionise how people use the park. Instead what they created was a horrific system that is not only a million times worse than the previous, but is grossly inept and costs a family a packet every day.
Disney should be ashamed of themselves - They have simply shown everyone that they have become more interested in ripping off its guests at every corner than providing any sort of improvement to guests experience. Infact the more you pay them now, the worse the experience gets (G+).
Disney have been lucky they pulled this faceless scam during a tike after the world shut down and so, demand is high, no matter what is charged.
I just hope the world recession that's just about to start, with the cost of living skyrocketing, will hit Disney hard in the pocket and then maybe some of the dimwit on the board will get fired and replaced with people who have actually used their parks.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
... and hopefully, whoever is left doesn't think the solution to their financials is yet more price increases and up-charges.*
Honestly, it feels like that's about where the constructive creativity in current management ends these days.
*I may be about done with Disney until a change that may never come happens but I don't need any of the competition in central Florida following their coattails when it comes to price increases.
crazy4disney
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Altho i agree with you but lets face it this company has cared less about bad PR for quite some time excluding their kneejerk reaction to retheme Splash but thats a separate thread. They have eliminated so many things already that yes we were paying for whether we used them or not. So to me if they added a fee for FP+ its an actual service that many used and loved and if you didnt use it/love it. Noone should be disappointed losing it. Those who used it would still pay for it and embrace it and comparing the price vs other places to me its still a cheap option yes i know it was “free” but to me this was something well worth paying for. I see people drooling over an extra 2 hours in MK or Epcot because they are staying Deluxe so lets pay an extra i dk 4-600 a night vs a moderate hotel depending in which Deluxe extra for 2 nights and 4 hours worth of minimal crowds?!? Basically average 3k for 6 night stay for that access but are going to complain about say $60 a day for 6-7 days worth of paid FP? I didnt see it happening & anyone in management who did are just out of touch thinking this was gonna fool the masses. And again. If they needed to generate money from FP all they had to do was again raise prices of rooms again and allocate a portion to what would have been $ generated from free FP which im sure was somehow being done anyway over in accounting. They charge for parking now i rent a car. Lots are still full so that didnt deter anyone and rental prices are thru the roof.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
I agree. They have always wanted to charge for FP. Thats not the reason why they changed it. From reading between the lines from the insiders the reason for the change is they figured more people would be upset if they just added a pricetag to FP+. Disney also didn't think this many people would buy Genie+ each day. At Disneyland MaxPass worked cause many weren't buying it.
I'm not defending Genie+ at all. I think it's a garbage system. At least now Disney is realizing that. Come the new year as @disneyglimpses has said they are going majorly revamp it.
Here is what I would like to see.
Resort guests get to book 1 LL ahead of time for each day they are staying. That way resort guests get a bone thrown at them for staying on-site. The rest is available at park open. No more 7am.
The second thing I would do is charge $50 a day for Genie+ and cap sales.
mikejs78
Premium Member
I do think sometimes guests complain about something but when presented with the alternative they may have second thoughts.
I do know one individual for example, always complained about having to plan their trip 60 days in advance - who just came back from Disney a few months ago and told me that he would go back to fast pass Plus in a heartbeat after what he experienced with Genie.
For example, if you worded a survey question like this:
Would you rather pre-select a few attractions for each day 60 days before your trip, or wake up every morning on your vacation at 7:00 a.m. to select your first attraction?
Giving those two binary choices, I have a feeling that many of the people complaining about pre-planning might think differently.
I do know one individual for example, always complained about having to plan their trip 60 days in advance - who just came back from Disney a few months ago and told me that he would go back to fast pass Plus in a heartbeat after what he experienced with Genie.
For example, if you worded a survey question like this:
Would you rather pre-select a few attractions for each day 60 days before your trip, or wake up every morning on your vacation at 7:00 a.m. to select your first attraction?
Giving those two binary choices, I have a feeling that many of the people complaining about pre-planning might think differently.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
Agreed but at the same time it feels like many here say it's either bring back FP+ or else. Why can't there be a compromise. Let resort guests pre-book one attraction a day 7 days before their trip. That way resort guests are happy they are guaranteed 1 attraction and it also leaves availability for those who stay off site.
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
More than 7 days before. Some take longer than 7 day vacations here
mikejs78
Premium Member
How about this?
Resort guests get to book their first attraction and any ILLs 21 days before for length of stay.
Non resort guests get to book 14 days before but one day at a time.
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
IMO you're going back too much in the opposite direction. I do like your first point about 21 days before for length of stay.
If you let non resort guests book ahead of time too that will take away a lot of inventory day of. Doing that you're pretty much back to FP+ days outside of it only allowing 1 attraction instead of 3
UNCgolf
Well-Known Member
I didn't love having to book FastPasses 60 days out, but it was certainly preferable to the Genie+ system, which is basically the worst of both worlds.
And making dining reservations 6 months out was always a much bigger issue than FP+ anyways -- if you were planning to eat on property you already had a general idea of which parks you were going to be in on at least a couple of days well before FP+ booking window.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I think it’s important to note that FP+ gave you the option to prebook 30/60 days in advance; it wasn’t compulsory, and you could still do very well out of the system by using it more spontaneously on the day itself.