Genie+ is NOT as wonderful as everyone is saying

[sethschroeder]

At Animal Kingdom you have 6 rides. One is seasonal.

Epcot has 8 or 9 debatable rides.

There aren't enough rides to pull off all virtual queues unless you chop attendance in half.

I love how you skip all the other entertainment which is part of a park day.

How many rides are in a park is fairly meaningless since you are skipping ride lengths and entertainment. I guess by your measure your local zoo has nothing to do.

 

[BeachClub2014]

No I am saying you shouldn't need to wait 1hr in line to enter an attraction. The virtual line is meant to leave the bulk of a wait virtual and the last 5-20 mins in a physical queue line.

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting concept. How would it actually work?

 

[sethschroeder]

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting concept. How would it actually work?

It could work 1 of 2 ways:

• Only rides with over 20 min wait are virtual
• All rides are virtual

You would get your virtual self to wait in 1 line at a time and would need to return within 1 hour.

Additional expansion to the system:

• Guests can be "tracked" via mobile app or scanning magic band/phone at show or restaurant entry to delay expiration of virtual line return (example sit down for dinner at Crystal Palace adds 1.5hrs or sitting down for Country Bear adds 10mins)
• Limit 1 virtual line entry per ride or experience per day (certain rides would allow a stand by line but move much slower since capacity is mostly in the virtual line)
• You need to be in park to enter virtual line
• App notifications for ride entry times (if you want to set a specific time for a ride you set a notification, say 2pm for BTMR and when the virtual line hits that time it would notify you to go back in and now enter the virtual line)

Biggest issue is that parks are designed to have people wasting time in a line. They are not built to have guests walking freely around the parks.

 

[Meglen]

It could work 1 of 2 ways:

• Only rides with over 20 min wait are virtual
• All rides are virtual

You would get your virtual self to wait in 1 line at a time and would need to return within 1 hour.

Additional expansion to the system:

• Guests can be "tracked" via mobile app or scanning magic band/phone at show or restaurant entry to delay expiration of virtual line return (example sit down for dinner at Crystal Palace adds 1.5hrs or sitting down for Country Bear adds 10mins)
• Limit 1 virtual line entry per ride or experience per day (certain rides would allow a stand by line but move much slower since capacity is mostly in the virtual line)
• You need to be in park to enter virtual line
• App notifications for ride entry times (if you want to set a specific time for a ride you set a notification, say 2pm for BTMR and when the virtual line hits that time it would notify you to go back in and now enter the virtual line)

Biggest issue is that parks are designed to have people wasting time in a line. They are not built to have guests walking freely around the parks.

wouldn't this flood the parks with people? and cause all food places to be super busy? I love the idea but I dont think the parks can hold all the people if everyone is now not in a line.

 

[Princesca]

Exactly, I remember a couple years ago, a friend of mine, his wife, and grandson went to Disney. My friend has severe arthritis and is limited on how much time he can comfortably stay in the parks on any given day. On our last full park day, he and his wife stayed in the room. I took his grandson, and we did EVERY ride in magic kingdom that was open, except 7 Dwarves and Dumbo, and met up with the rest of the party at Disney Springs for dinner about 6 o'clock. On our last trip (granted it was over Thanksgiving) we were lucky to do 2 rides per day, and Genie+ does NOT take into consideration any existing dining reservations you may have, and keeps trying to book you during you ADR...without the ability to check other times.

This is my main issue with Genie+. It is not very disability-friendly. I would love to take our son to Disney with his grandparents, but the way Genie+ works, in order to make use of the value, you have to criss-cross all over the parks. I liked the way FP+ allowed you to choose FP+s in a way that integrated into your touring plan, so you could benefit from them without having to run back and forth. Even with our balanced walking/waiting plan, I end every day bone tired on a level that I only feel at Disney. Like collapse on the bed and don't even get up for the bathroom until the last inevitable second kind of tired because my feet and legs are so spent. I sure don't want to have to be increasing the amount of walking we do.

 

[sethschroeder]

wouldn't this flood the parks with people? and cause all food places to be super busy? I love the idea but I dont think the parks can hold all the people if everyone is now not in a line.

You need to reduce capacity of the park and increase shows that can take large numbers of guests. Additionally add extra pop-up entertainment around the park that will draw people in.

People will still be in shorter lines you are just eliminating the longer lines.

This means you are increasing park tickets even further but the tradeoff is a better experience. They could even require a majority of ticket holders to stay on site as well. Giving onsite guests possibly a head start on booking park reservations or not even selling tickets expect to those on site.

 

[Sandisw]

wouldn't this flood the parks with people? and cause all food places to be super busy? I love the idea but I dont think the parks can hold all the people if everyone is now not in a line.

It might. I think a great option would be a combination of FP and GP.. 60 days out, you can book those attractions that are not the headliners. Those that are, get bundled into the GP+ for day of reservations, but you get to pick the time, so it can coordinate with what you have already booked before getting there.

This way, it benefits both planners and day of guests. Standby is always an option...or, they initiate a virtual cue option that you activate when you get to the line, and its kept in real time.

Definitely think they can improve the system by doing a little bit of old and new.

 

[BeachClub2014]

You need to reduce capacity of the park and increase shows that can take large numbers of guests. Additionally add extra pop-up entertainment around the park that will draw people in.

I definitely agree with adding more stuff to do. If people aren't waiting in a queue somewhere for an attraction, then they need to be doing something other than wandering aimlessly waiting for their virtual place in line to get near the front.

Waiting in a queue can also be a blessing if it is indoors and out of the rain or blazing sun. It's also a great time to slow down a bit and interact with your group and others. Some lines aren't all horrible.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I love how you skip all the other entertainment which is part of a park day.

How many rides are in a park is fairly meaningless since you are skipping ride lengths and entertainment. I guess by your measure your local zoo has nothing to do.

to be fair you were talking about queues and waiting in them so a person comparing what attractions there would be is a fair enough comparison. Not everyone actually wants to watch parades or random entertainment. To some they would be just twiddling their thumbs and clogging up the pathways and seating (you'd probably see more QS seating used up by people just waiting it out).

Virtual queue for everything is probably not the best path. Even Universal isn't down for that lol.

 

[Chuck S]

It might. I think a great option would be a combination of FP and GP.. 60 days out, you can book those attractions that are not the headliners. Those that are, get bundled into the GP+ for day of reservations, but you get to pick the time, so it can coordinate with what you have already booked before getting there.

This way, it benefits both planners and day of guests. Standby is always an option...or, they initiate a virtual cue option that you activate when you get to the line, and its kept in real time.

Definitely think they can improve the system by doing a little bit of old and new.

And by booking the non-E ticket rides at 60 days out, you can coordinate the ride location and times to accommodate your Dining Reservations, and not criss-cross the park. Remember, in a LOT of families, the trips are paid for the Grandparents, who may not be technically savvy, or want to be tied to a cell phone all day. Why should they pay for a family trip if they can't enjoy it, too?

 

[McCrae]

We were there in Dec. for 10 days & hated it - so much so that we had a discussion about not returning to WDW until it was gone & renting out our DVC points..
Up early, tech whiz son tries to grab 1st ride (same son who always successfully got us low boarding groups on ROTR) & promised time would change by several hours when you actually tried to book it. Then nothing worthwhile available as the day progressed. Worthless system IMO.
The only positive was that I could pay extra to book a few headliners - not that I’m a fan of pay per ride, but can easily afford to do so, thus we at least had a couple of favorites booked at times we preferred.
Bring back ticket books
Or give everyone access to at least one guaranteed tier 1, 2 & 3 ride, so they know their $15 per day isn‘t wasted money, & maybe they could be booked ahead of time, so folks can schedule - like, um, FP+.
I wasn’t a fan of paper FPs - get up early for the running of the bulls to grab that piece of paper before they ran out only to be stuck behind someone grabbing a gazillion at the machines.

Hope you let DVC know your thoughts on the system. It will only change if enough people complain.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Hope you let DVC know your thoughts on the system. It will only change if enough people complain.

DVC isn't in control of Genie+, it's implementation or structure.

 

[thebigman65]

This is an excerpt of a 4 + page letter I sent to MS and Disney. IMO, Genie+ and ILL are not the panacea Disney thought they would be. Having to get up at 7am to book rides on your vacation is ridiculous! Keep Genie + and ILL, I personally don't care if its a paid service, but make it available to book 60 days out for on site and 30 days out for offsite, which is what it used to be. I don't get the take that it is to benefit all because some guests aren't "planners". You spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, and you don't plan ahead?


Genie + and Individual Lighting Lane:
Now please keep in mind, I had done a lot of research on how this whole new process worked. Checked the boards, joined a FB group, etc. I was set, ready to roll! As you all know the really terrible part of this whole new process (at least for us) is the fact you have to get up prior to 7am, on your vacation to book anything! This by far is the stupidest idea Disney has ever come up with. Sure, you don’t have to log on at 7am, but then you won’t be getting any popular rides.
So, up I get at 6:45 am and first go to add my wife and I to Genie +. Another stupid issue, that AP holders cannot add Genie + for Length of Stay and have to buy it every day. You should be able to at least add it for length of stay when staying on property! Anyway, I go to add the Genie + and I get “oops, there was a problem”. I try it again, same thing. Restart the app, restart my phone, log out and log back in, nothing works. By this time its 7am, and I figure, I better at least get the ILL for Remy and the Pass for Frozen, or my granddaughter will be out of luck. Frozen and Winnie the Pooh are all that we really wanted her to experience. Both are her absolute favourite things. We could not get the app to work and could not book a single thing for our group due to technical issues related to the previous day’s band issues. Again, I head down to the front desk, frustrated and disappointed. There was definitely no chance of providing our 2-year-old granddaughter with a dream experience. This time, the manager on duty was a CM by the name of Casey. Casey was very helpful, and once he saw all the notes on my file, he quickly apologized and was able to get us “experience passes” for both Frozen and Remy. For those who don’t know, this is the same as what happens if the ride breaks down at your allotted time. This means we could now ride those 2 rides at any time during the day. A reasonable resolution, but still huge issues with Genie + in general.

In our opinion, we have no issues in paying for Genie + or Individual Lighting Lane. But Disney needs to do the following:
- Provide Annual Passholders, the ability to add Genie + to their reservation for length of stay per person when staying on property.
- Let resort guests make Genie + or Individual Lighting Lane reservations 60 days out like it use to be.
- Let Non-Resort guests make Genie + or Individual Lighting Lane reservations 30 days out like it use to be.
- Do a better job when people book resorts, by telling them, emailing them, or otherwise promoting the planning items that are needed as well as the use of MDE, Genie +, ILL, Mobile food orders, etc.

One of the reasons I heard for Disney implementing Genie + as it stands now, is that everyone, regardless of having planned in advance, now has the same access. This is asinine, and those of us who take planning any type of family vacation seriously, should not be penalised due to a minority of people who fail to research and fail to plan. If you were going to a cabin for a week, would you not research what you need to bring, the activities or site seeing in the area? It is a ridiculous argument. This is not the way to “make things fair for all”
On another note, it appears that Disney is trying to penalise AP holders as a way of getting rid of them for some reason. I.E., no new AP’s being issued, renewals only and the lack of ability to add Genie + for length of stay. On top of the passive comments to this effect made by Bob Chapek. If this is true, it is a very bad policy!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Genie + is a ticket upgrade, not a resort upgrade. APs would have to add it for the whole year.

 

[sethschroeder]

Genie + is a ticket upgrade, not a resort upgrade. APs would have to add it for the whole year.

Not actually.

Disney can design it however they want. So they could do a variety of options:

• Unlimited days
• Limited days for the year (10/15/20 days used anytime during the year)
• Limited days for the month (every month get 1/3/5 days of access)
• Limited rides for the year (get 100 ride redemptions for the year)
• Limited rides for the month (get 10/15 ride redemptions for the month)
• Limited access after X time (get normal access after 4PM)
• Limited access while on site (only get access when staying on site)

There is a million options and variations you could do. Zero requirement to have AP add-ons be unlimited and annual thats just how Disney has done it in the past since it made sense when you were selling an "unlimited" product like park entry but makes less sense when selling a more limited product like Genie+.

As an example Disney could come out with a on site stay AP + Genie+ combo.

 

[Chuck S]

Genie + is a ticket upgrade, not a resort upgrade. APs would have to add it for the whole year.

If the price was right, it could be like adding the PhotoPass. The difference is, it would need to be added to every AP in your party, or some would need to do daily purchases anyway. Whereas one photopass covers everybody in your traveling party.

 

[zavandor]

G+ is already overbought,that's why one can only get a few rides, competition. Adding an option for AP, like Maxpass had at DL, would mean the collapse of the system.
Expect an increase in price soon to reduce adoption but get the same revenue.

 

[Stargazer65]

Used Genie+ at EPCOT yesterday. Used it to get Test Track in the morning, Soarin, and then an evening Tower of Terror at DHS.

OTOH, without Genie+ help we got 3 rides on Remy's Ratatouille Adventure. One at rope drop (from the front gate FYI), and two in a row as the last rides of the day during extended evening hours. Also an additional ride on Soarin and a ride on Frozen. Overall, a pretty good day for rides, mostly due to our own persistence and strategy.

 

[Stargazer65]

Genie+ was like a supplement to a good day, not the key to it. So in the end, I classify Genie+ as "better than nothing". It gets you a few extra rides. (My son probably wouldn't have gotten a ride on HTOT without it). You have to just decide if that is worth the extra cost for yourself.

I would say that Disney underswung on Genie+ and needs something better. (Flame suit on - Gene+ fan hordes do your worst!)

 

[MakiraMarlena]

not so long as the ticket and resort systems are separate, which they are except in the case of room/ticket packages. the IT issues are ridiculous