Park report - 12-12-21 (and why I hate G+)

[WonkaKid]

Although crowds at the rope were deep, they felt fine the rest of the day, at least in the places I was. I tend to avoid GE so I can’t comment on that.

Not A fan of the new G+. I hate the idea of paying a premium for “unlimited access to the park” only to then be asked to pay again for, you know: premium access. The idea offends me that we’re now required to pay twice if we want to experience the coolest rides. Sure, guests can do standby, but come on: two hours in line is silly especially when we know that there wouldn’t be such a line if FPs still existed. It seems like Disney has created a problem and then sells us a solution. Nice business model. I wonder how long it will be until we’re asked to pay for bathroom “privileges.”

Otherwise, it was a great day. As often happens, I met a number of nice people and had several great experiences. I spoke with a CM who works Small World and she told me some nice stories about favorite guests and helping people with challenges be able to enjoy the ride.

Yesterday was my last day in the park until after the holidays :-(. But at least I’ll be able to see the Christmas once more after I return.

Some pics:

 

[WonkaKid]

Plus a few more.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Were you previously a user of MaxPass at DL? Just wondering how G+ might differ from the former MaxPass experiences.

 

[Pluto468]

Wonderful pictures, as always! I'm glad you had such a nice day. We'll be catching the tail end of the holidays, too! Can't wait.

 

[Epicnemesis]

Not A fan of the new G+. I hate the idea of paying a premium for “unlimited access to the park” only to then be asked to pay again for, you know: premium access. The idea offends me that we’re now required to pay twice if we want to experience the coolest rides. Sure, guests can do standby, but come on: two hours in line is silly especially when we know that there wouldn’t be such a line if FPs still existed. It seems like Disney has created a problem and then sells us a solution. Nice business model. I wonder how long it will be until we’re asked to pay for bathroom “privileges.”

Exactly. I really hate this system. As of November e ticket rides were running at 30-40 minute waits. Now all the wait times have ballooned because the standby throughput has been halved at best. We went on Friday of last week. Didn’t do much because we had a 2 month old with us, but thunder and rise lines both moved noticeably slower. The hopes that they would somehow limit the genie+ reservations to make standby marginally longer was just fantasy.

 

[Dory92130]

Imagine if G+ wasn't ride once limited a la MP. Two sides of the coin on this pay-for-play system.

I miss MP, but with limited times believe this is a good compromise of what people wanting to maximize time vs not. Sucks for Rope Drop people. End of night -- still will be great since most G+ will be exhausted by then.

 

[BecAus]

Thank you for the photos, they're great as always.
Safe travels home to Chicago and Happy Holidays with your family!

 

[WonkaKid]

Were you previously a user of MaxPass at DL? Just wondering how G+ might differ from the former MaxPass experiences.

I was. The primary difference, as I understand it, is that you have to pay $20 per use for certain rides. ROTR, for example.

 

[WonkaKid]

Imagine if G+ wasn't ride once limited a la MP. Two sides of the coin on this pay-for-play system.

I miss MP, but with limited times believe this is a good compromise of what people wanting to maximize time vs not. Sucks for Rope Drop people. End of night -- still will be great since most G+ will be exhausted by then.

I don't like the idea of a family of five having the pay an additional $100 simply to experience ROTR. Indeed, I despise it.

 

[WonkaKid]

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments and good wishes.

 

[Version 6]

I don't like the idea of a family of five having the pay an additional $100 simply to experience ROTR. Indeed, I despise it.

Counterpoint: That family of five doesn't have to pay $100 to experience ROTR. The standby line is still available.

I'm from Sydney, so I only get to the parks every few years or so. As an overseas visitor, ILL guarantees that my family will get to ride ILL during our stay without a significant wait. Totally worth it for us.

 

[jknc]

I don't like the idea of a family of five having the pay an additional $100 simply to experience ROTR. Indeed, I despise it.

hello, family of 5 here. I do despise it.
We decided to skip lunch and dinner one day to pay for it.

Really sticking it to the man, right?

 

[WonkaKid]

Counterpoint: That family of five doesn't have to pay $100 to experience ROTR. The standby line is still available.

I'm from Sydney, so I only get to the parks every few years or so. As an overseas visitor, ILL guarantees that my family will get to ride ILL during our stay without a significant wait. Totally worth it for us.

A $150 park entrance fee should guarantee it.

 

[jknc]

FWIW, saw the Provost vid today bouncing from attractions to attraction on G+.

What a fantasy that was.

Of course, it’s easy when you’re single rider

 

[mdmost]

A $150 park entrance fee should guarantee it.

But they are guaranteed to ride it with the entrance fee assuming they're okay with waiting standby and the ride not breaking down. The virtual queue system was an inherently unfair system that gave you maybe 20 second chance to get a "guaranteed" return time assuming you had fast enough wifi or data and didn't run into an error.

I don't like the ILL either but Disney was always going to monetize Galaxy's Edge to the fullest potential. After having ridden Rise at Hollywood Studios, we're not really keen on paying $80 for our family of 4 to ride it again. It was fun but not $80 fun. Nor do I think I'd want to wait longer than 45 minutes to ride it again. I'm a big Star Wars guy and enjoyed the ride but I'd rather spend that wait time in another part of DLR.

 

[WonkaKid]

P.S. I meant to mention that I met up with @cinder-ellah and her family at the park yesterday. They were all very sweet and it's always a pleasure to meet fellow Dissers .

 

[gelatoni fan]

Eeyore has a Christmas hat?! Do you know if Pooh and the other Hundred Acre Woods friends have Christmas outfits as well?

Due to the massive increase in Magic Access (APs) in Hong Kong Disneyland because people can't go on vacation, the wait times have gotten long with every single ride going to over 30 minutes on weekdays when formerly, most rides would be 5-15 minutes max. I didn't actually mind that much when they got rid of free FP for Premier Access only but now it's irritating. My first visit post-Genie+ to Disneyland will be at the beginning of January and I don't see myself going on many rides at all.

 

[mommabo]

A $150 park entrance fee should guarantee it.

But that park entrance didn’t guarantee it. Instead that family of 5 (if they were planners and users of these boards) were following a plan of attack like they were invading the beaches of Normandy, up to and including synchronizing their watches with an atomic clock. Even with all that, there were many people reporting back here that they still got skunked. Others like myself, were blessed with a fast-fingered millennial who nabbed us passes each time we tried. This way the family of 5 have a choice of at least guaranteeing it. Now if ILL become wildly popular or bookable at 7am by guests staying at a Disney resort and they sell out before available to others, then definitely less of a guarantee.

 

[starlite_]

Counterpoint: That family of five doesn't have to pay $100 to experience ROTR. The standby line is still available.

I'm from Sydney, so I only get to the parks every few years or so. As an overseas visitor, ILL guarantees that my family will get to ride ILL during our stay without a significant wait. Totally worth it for us.

Precisely, what's another $100 when you are spending $1000 already just on plane tickets if you are lucky.? The reality is that ILL is not for casual guests or MK'ers. It's for A) ppl who really hate lines and are willing to pay to skip and b) international visitors.

 

[WonkaKid]

Precisely, what's another $100 when you are spending $1000 already…

It’s called a contrast effect and it’s thinking like this that will allow it to continue.