My last trip was in September 2019 and to be honest, I was ready to have a break from WDW for a couple of years. Having done Disneyland and hopped immediately over to WDW I saw differences in my experiences that completely favoured DL over WDW, many of the rides are better, I much prefer POTC, SpaM and HM (Although I did go when it was themed Nightmare Before Christmas) in DL to WDW, the only ride I prefer at WDW is Splash Mountain because I don't like the boats in DL.
However, what makes DL a better experience is the guests. It feels like a locals park and not a destination for vloggers and social media junkies. In general they are less entitled, none of 'it's for kids' attitude you get a lot of at WDW, there were lots of solo adults and chatting to people in line a lot where AP holders who come for the day for fun, which is what Disney should be about. I was quite jealous of the guy who told me he liked to come on his day off work to decompress from the stress. And best of all, no buses!
However, having now been away for two years and booked for WDW in March I'm looking forward to getting back to WDW, having $504 in dining credits and a $200 gift card makes it more appealing, especially with the price rises, but, I'm dreading being reminded about why people go there nowadays and I'm planning to make a T-shirt that will politely show that life shouldn't be lived through a screen.
So, I don't think the pandemic actually affected my enthusiasm, but, while I'm disappointed about the introduction of Genie+ I may go for it because I did the MaxPass at DL in 2019 and loved it, but, I want to see if the Lightening Lane is as good as the MaxPass because I got to go on Guardians of The Galaxy way too many times than is healthy, I would book a new slot as soon as I scanned my pass and with the attraction photos it did work out good for me. However, as we get the Memory Maker free with UK bookings I'm wondering what extra perks the Genie+ will give us and if I can book a pass for the same ride as soon as I've swiped in the existing pass.