Post your experiences without Genie+ at WDW

[Walt Disney1955]

Haven't been since 2018. Will likely go before the end of this calendar year. Although there isn't any "down" time like their used to be in the fall.

Anyway, the prices are atrocious, we know this, still some good bang for your buck, but it wasn't that long ago that buying my family a 4-day pass would have been the same as a 2-day pass today. I could get into how people should learn to NEVER accept shutdowns again, as I warned repeatedly in 2020 that things like this (inflation, companies jacking up prices to make up for lost time) was going to be a legitimate thing in the future that every company would do to make up their money they lost. But I am guessing (hoping?) people know this now, and the prices are unfortunately what they are.

But can someone tell me how things are without the Genie+ in there? I was at a Six Flags park earlier in the summer and couldn't believe just how slow the staff was when it came to loading things. Even the Scrambler or the Carousel it just seemed like the teenage kid was going as slow as molasses to do things. I know Disney has a higher standard with that sort of thing, but can someone tell me how things worked for them for those that didn't use the Genie +? Because I do not plan on shelling out MORE money for it, nor do I ever bother using my phone to navigate through a park.

Lastly, Darien Lake for whatever reason did not have park maps at the front. Paper park maps I mean. The employee told me you can navigate the map by downloading it on your phone. Well, not everyone wants to do that, or even brings/has a phone at the park. But does Disney still have the park maps at the front gates?

Thanks.

 

[danlb_2000]

Haven't been since 2018. Will likely go before the end of this calendar year. Although there isn't any "down" time like their used to be in the fall.

Anyway, the prices are atrocious, we know this, still some good bang for your buck, but it wasn't that long ago that buying my family a 4-day pass would have been the same as a 2-day pass today. I could get into how people should learn to NEVER accept shutdowns again, as I warned repeatedly in 2020 that things like this (inflation, companies jacking up prices to make up for lost time) was going to be a legitimate thing in the future that every company would do to make up their money they lost. But I am guessing (hoping?) people know this now, and the prices are unfortunately what they are.

But can someone tell me how things are without the Genie+ in there? I was at a Six Flags park earlier in the summer and couldn't believe just how slow the staff was when it came to loading things. Even the Scrambler or the Carousel it just seemed like the teenage kid was going as slow as molasses to do things. I know Disney has a higher standard with that sort of thing, but can someone tell me how things worked for them for those that didn't use the Genie +? Because I do not plan on shelling out MORE money for it, nor do I ever bother using my phone to navigate through a park.

Lastly, Darien Lake for whatever reason did not have park maps at the front. Paper park maps I mean. The employee told me you can navigate the map by downloading it on your phone. Well, not everyone wants to do that, or even brings/has a phone at the park. But does Disney still have the park maps at the front gates?

Thanks.

Went late April/early May 2022, and only got Genie+ for MK.

I probably could have ridden everything I wanted to ride without Genie+, but it did reduce the amount of time I had to stand in line. For the non-individual lightening lane rides in MK it probably saved me at least an hour total of waiting time, for the Rise of the Resistance, Ratatouille and Flight of passage it probably save me 1 1/2 to 2 hours of waiting time total. It's up to you if the time is worth the cost.

As for using a phone in general, I think it can definitely improve your day. It's good for checking wait times, and mobile order if definitely a time saver. I also like it for keeping an eye on the weather so I can plan my time around storms.

Yes, paper maps are still available.

 

[Nottamus]

2 trips in 2021
1 so far in 2022
1 in October 2022

No Genie + purchased yet
Did do a ILL at RoR near end of last trip

Timing is the key, and luck I guess.
We rode all we wanted last trip with minor to moderate wait times. We don’t ride EVERYTHING but we have our go to.

Near end of trip decided to pay for RoR and by the time our window came up, it was a 40 minute wait. Doable
One hour before closing it was 20 minute!

So, ILL well spent! (Sarcasm)

Honestly, it’s how you decide to vacation. We added Wild Africa Trek to our plans last trip, so we had extra things to do.

I still plan not to use G+. We will see how long that lasts ….

 

[Br0ckford]

We went in June , no G+, and rode everything we wanted except Dinosaur but it was down our only AK day. Wait times were typically ~15 minutes less then posted. The only real brutal waits were Splash, every bit of the 90 minute posted wait and then some. Safari was brutal as well. We did ILL on Rise, Flight of Passage and Guardians. We roped dropped Remy. We are going back in November. We didn't experience anything that made us think we should get it. I'm sure we had s9me waits that could have been shorter but we didn't mind. Other then the 2 I mentioned, I don't think we waited more than an hour for anything.

 

[Disstevefan1]

We went in June , no G+, and rode everything we wanted except Dinosaur but it was down our only AK day. Wait times were typically ~15 minutes less then posted. The only real brutal waits were Splash, every bit of the 90 minute posted wait and then some. Safari was brutal as well. We did ILL on Rise, Flight of Passage and Guardians. We roped dropped Remy. We are going back in November. We didn't experience anything that made us think we should get it. I'm sure we had s9me waits that could have been shorter but we didn't mind. Other then the 2 I mentioned, I don't think we waited more than an hour for anything.

Not a bad idea. The one ILL a day costs the same or less than Genie+ for the day but you are guaranteed to get on the ILL attraction. I don’t consider June to be off peak so it seems you did ok.

Our guest experience at WDW for anything ; eat/ride/shop is make or break depending on the crowds. I am looking forward to reading about your experience in November.

 

[micknminnie]

We were there the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2021 and Genie plus was fairly new. We only bought the ILL for Rise. We made it for early entry and in this order did this all by noon at HS: Mickeys Runaway, Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, Toy Story Mania, Muppets Show, Star Tours. By that time it was time to check in for lunch at 12 for 50's Prime Time Cafe. We also visited Epcot and definitely felt like we didn't need it there.

 

[Disneyfan_76]

We went in June. Only used it one of the days for EPCOT and it was terrible. We rope dropped and only ended up using it for Soarin and Test Track. Only ended up saving ourselves about 15min for each wait. All the times for most of the rides were booked up immediately and we ended up waiting in the standby lines anyway. Not worth it at all. It's complete junk compared to Universal's pass.

 

[Pepper's Ghost]

Haven't been since 2018. Will likely go before the end of this calendar year. Although there isn't any "down" time like their used to be in the fall.

Anyway, the prices are atrocious, we know this, still some good bang for your buck, but it wasn't that long ago that buying my family a 4-day pass would have been the same as a 2-day pass today. I could get into how people should learn to NEVER accept shutdowns again, as I warned repeatedly in 2020 that things like this (inflation, companies jacking up prices to make up for lost time) was going to be a legitimate thing in the future that every company would do to make up their money they lost. But I am guessing (hoping?) people know this now, and the prices are unfortunately what they are.

But can someone tell me how things are without the Genie+ in there? I was at a Six Flags park earlier in the summer and couldn't believe just how slow the staff was when it came to loading things. Even the Scrambler or the Carousel it just seemed like the teenage kid was going as slow as molasses to do things. I know Disney has a higher standard with that sort of thing, but can someone tell me how things worked for them for those that didn't use the Genie +? Because I do not plan on shelling out MORE money for it, nor do I ever bother using my phone to navigate through a park.

Lastly, Darien Lake for whatever reason did not have park maps at the front. Paper park maps I mean. The employee told me you can navigate the map by downloading it on your phone. Well, not everyone wants to do that, or even brings/has a phone at the park. But does Disney still have the park maps at the front gates?

Thanks.

Great idea for a thread. I'm curious about what people's experience without G+ is too.

Just a side note, shutting down the parks for COVID isn't what increased prices. I'm not saying they should or shouldn't have shut down. That's besides the point. I'm just saying that wasn't the cause/effect. Record breaking attendance year after year after year after year x20+ years is what has lead to a ridiculous increase in prices. If it were just making up for past COVID losses, they'd reduce prices again at some point. That won't happen until attendance starts to fall drastically which means it's a supply/demand cause. They might even use COVID as a straw man for the increases, but don't let them fool you. When demand is way more than they can handle, it's time to increase prices mostly to take advantage of the strong demand, but also to see if they can bring demand back into alignment. If demand doesn't budge, they just make a killing with their price increases. Business/economics 101.

 

[Chi84]

This thread is asking people to post their experiences “without Genie+.”

 

[reptar77]

We went without Genie + in May. It was just ok. Standby was just as long as when they had the normal FP system. We did do LL for the rides that required it. Honestly the LL booking was horrible. I would like to be able to sleep in on my vacation! I really do prefer the old FP system.

 

[Br0ckford]

We went without Genie + in May. It was just ok. Standby was just as long as when they had the normal FP system. We did do LL for the rides that required it. Honestly the LL booking was horrible. I would like to be able to sleep in on my vacation! I really do prefer the old FP system.

Buy if you sleep in, you can't get a full day in. Spending $ starts at 7am.

 

[Chi84]

We’ll. that would suck. Who wants to do that.

No one I know, but the person who started this thread says that’s what they’re planning to do and wants to know what it was like for others who decided not to buy Genie+. The title of this thread is "Post your experiences without Genie+ at WDW." Seems like a pretty specific topic and request.

There are other threads discussing the benefits of Genie+. It’s okay not to post in this particular thread if you don’t have anything to share as far as going to WDW and not using Genie+.

 

[danlb_2000]

We went without Genie + in May. It was just ok. Standby was just as long as when they had the normal FP system. We did do LL for the rides that required it. Honestly the LL booking was horrible. I would like to be able to sleep in on my vacation! I really do prefer the old FP system.

No rides "require" individual lightening lane reservations, you can still do standby but it may be a long wait.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

We’ll. that would suck. Who wants to do that.

Someone who has a family of 5 and prefers not to have to spend extra money on top of an already bloated price for a ticket. That's hard to imagine?

 

[Grumpy4196]

we are going as a party of 10 in October. I can't justify an extra $150 per day.

 

[crazy4disney]

we are going as a party of 10 in October. I can't justify an extra $150 per day.

Dont forget the tax

 

[Chi84]

Forum rules state that threads are supposed to stay on topic. Really, it’s not hard to comply. As far as the name-calling goes, that’s pretty rude and also against the rules here.

 

[marni1971]

We’ll. that would suck. Who wants to do that.

Those that don’t want to bend over for Bob anymore. Especially for something that used to be free.

 

[Ldno]

People have had mixed experiences when it comes to Genie +, but I can tell you that Disney Punishes you for not using it. I have been going to the parks all my life, key important trips was the week the park shutdown back in march of 2020, with the old school fast pass system in place and the slotted 3 fastpasses per day You could do everything and see everything.

I also went during key covid peak season and despite the long posted wait times, the lines were incredibly "long" but you breezed through the queues, 45 minute waits meant 15 minutes.

I went in high season back in June this year with Genie + before they let you buy them ahead of time.

Genie + works great when you can get stack them but of course popular rides sold out mid day AND given how I have trained my trips with touring plans in mind, my touring plan technique did not work.

Going back to how Disney punishes Stand by guests, I literally counted how many Genie+ people Cast Members let ahead per regular standby, the majority of the time the posted wait times were double the minutes posted and I usually moved 10 feet every 20 minutes.

It's doable to do without Genie + of course, but you will need to prioritize which rides are worth the wait since my last trip was one of the few times ever I could not had ridden everything despite being at rope drop and park close in all 4 parks.

They oversell this hardcore, It's RIDICULOUS that even though I bought Genie + for my trip the "My Disney Experience" app still tried to sell me Genie + like I didn't had it.

 

[marni1971]

They oversell this hardcore, It's RIDICULOUS that even though I bought Genie + for my trip the "My Disney Experience" app still tried to sell me Genie + like I didn't had it.

The app has become an embarrassing up sell tool. Somewhere in it theres’s some actual useful information.