Disney, if you are reading this, get Genie+ out now! Seriously, you can't have the parks this crowded without something!

[Drewski77]

Could not agree more. If this was our first trip I can say with 100% certainty we would not be repeat out of state visitors since 2011. And that’s been multiple trips a year to DLR for 10 years.

Thought DH was going to blow a gasket today. It’s just not the fun experience we’ve been used to. We’ve had to separate so much to “try” and accomplish anything. such as DH waiting 2+ hours for Webslingers while we rode Monsters and had lunch at Pyms…Why are we here stressing and pounding the payment back and forth to find something to do that we’ll be able to enjoy in a reasonable amount of time and all together!

Again, I’m in the waiting 45 minutes+ is not my idea of a pleasant vacay camp. Hard to adjust when that wasn’t my reality for the last 10 years. I understand not everyone will agree. I’m expressing my family’s feelings.

RSR came back for maybe 2 hours today, then down again…back up for maybe 2 hours this evening, then down again. After being shutdown completely for almost two days?!! Ridiculous. Hence DH and the almost blown gasket. Hard to swallow the price tag for this.

I’ll give a more thorough review when I get back. We have two more days on our tickets. Hoping for some Disney fairy dust for RSR…it’s the first trip DD has wanted to try!!!

I can totally understand your frustration, especially when Disney has prices higher than when there was Maxpass. Not too mention Fantasmic and World of Color.

It’s a strange thing for a company to have so many willing to give them even more $$$ and they can’t deliver.

 

[PirateBrigade]

I can totally understand your frustration, especially when Disney has prices higher than when there was Maxpass. Not too mention Fantasmic and World of Color.

It’s a strange thing for a company to have so many willing to give them even more $$$ and they can’t deliver.

That speaks to the uniqueness of the property and the power of nostalgia and memory, that delivering only a 50% quality experience still commands a premium vs. 100% of Knott’s, Universal, etc…

They can only dig up the Main Street Electrical Parade so many times to placate the throngs of angry park visitors!

The next closest DLR experience is a 9hr flight to Tokyo (TDR/TDS)

 

[Drewski77]

That speaks to the uniqueness of the property and the power of nostalgia and memory, that delivering only a 50% quality experience still commands a premium vs. 100% of Knott’s, Universal, etc…

They can only dig up the Main Street Electrical Parade so many times to placate the throngs of angry park visitors!

The next closest DLR experience is a 9hr flight to Tokyo (TDR/TDS)

I’m sure the pent up demand plays a big part right now. Longterm we will see if Disney can keep delivering less and charging more.

Historically it hasn’t been a good business model.

 

[fly girl]

Could not agree more. If this was our first trip I can say with 100% certainty we would not be repeat out of state visitors since 2011. And that’s been multiple trips a year to DLR for 10 years.

Thought DH was going to blow a gasket today. It’s just not the fun experience we’ve been used to. We’ve had to separate so much to “try” and accomplish anything. such as DH waiting 2+ hours for Webslingers while we rode Monsters and had lunch at Pyms…Why are we here stressing and pounding the payment back and forth to find something to do that we’ll be able to enjoy in a reasonable amount of time and all together!

Again, I’m in the waiting 45 minutes+ is not my idea of a pleasant vacay camp. Hard to adjust when that wasn’t my reality for the last 10 years. I understand not everyone will agree. I’m expressing my family’s feelings.

RSR came back for maybe 2 hours today, then down again…back up for maybe 2 hours this evening, then down again. After being shutdown completely for almost two days?!! Ridiculous. Hence DH and the almost blown gasket. Hard to swallow the price tag for this.

I’ll give a more thorough review when I get back. We have two more days on our tickets. Hoping for some Disney fairy dust for RSR…it’s the first trip DD has wanted to try!!!

Oh, @poptart90, I feel your pain. 100% I do! Sending you all the luck and good vibes I can!!!!

We did do some of the list you had going a few weeks back on here with what to do. Animation Academy, Sorcerer's Workshop, Bakery Tour, canoe ride (not nearly as funny as this summers ride), train around DL, etc. All of that was ok but not the fun we have of getting the 6 different songs to GOTG. We didn't even get to ride TSMM - the time we said ok lets tackle this line you guessed it 10 minutes into the line it broke down. Soarin' once. BTMRR once. Over 3 days that is not a win in my book. Those should be at least once a day.

At least with Virtual Queue you had a chance to ride ROTR or Webslingers. I would have never thought I would have longed for VQ.

I am hoping tomorrow will be a down day as a lot of people are traveling home. I really hope I hear a redemption story for today.

 

[Dead2009]

I’m beginning to wonder if our trip over Christmas will be worth it if Genie+ isn’t released…the lines might be historically bad.

The lines will be "historically bad" even if were out now.

 

[Drewski77]

The lines will be "historically bad" even if were out now.

And yet with Genie+ we could pay to avoid the historically long lines, which is the reason many are frustrated it hasn’t launched.

 

[Dory92130]

The thing is both Universal and Knott's aren't delivering either so there's only so much limited entertainment is available for this type of family activity. Disney is limited on what they can hire too; but they've definitely taken advantage of not bringing back everything/everywhere.

The shows really would suck up hundreds of folk but from what I've heard, postings for these positions aren't being done unfortunately and that's a loss on many fronts IMHO.

As for G+, lots of folk don't mind standby only with no VG either. Everyone has equal chance for every ride. KIS - one variable only with single queue. I'm a total MaxPass lover and still mourn its death while awaiting the reincarnation to G+.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thought DH was going to blow a gasket today. It’s just not the fun experience we’ve been used to. We’ve had to separate so much to “try” and accomplish anything. such as DH waiting 2+ hours for Webslingers while we rode Monsters and had lunch at Pyms…Why are we here stressing and pounding the payment back and forth to find something to do that we’ll be able to enjoy in a reasonable amount of time and all together!

It is really obscene that Disney switched RotR and WS to standby without releasing Genie+ (and I am NOT a fan of the concept of Genie+). Why are they making guests wait 2+ hours to experience rides when the VQ worked? Sure, it was frustrating to try to get boarding passes but I would rather that 1,000 times over versus waiting 2+ hours. Honestly, as much as I like WS, it’s not even close to worth a two-hour wait.

I feel like Disney did this on purpose to rile everyone up so they will pony up the money for pay-per-ride. It’s disgusting and I am the biggest Disney fan you’ll meet. Disney is breaking my heart these days.

 

[twodogs]

We go to both WDW and DLR, always during school breaks, so high crowds. We came to DLR in October over Columbus Day, and the lines were just not fun for us. We were expert MP and FP+ users. Everything being over an hour at 9am is just not an experience I want to fly across the country for…. We said we would not return without G+, so we have booked a weekend before Christmas week at WDW. I have been following the boards over there about G+, and it was horrible this week of Thanksgiving. Literally not one LL left to book at multiple parks by 1pm or 2pm each day. And they were still selling G+ to guests those days when all LLs were out. ROTR ILL$ sells out in 1-2 minutes, so off site guests don’t even have a chance for that. SDD at DHS is out of LLs for the day in 1-2 minutes every single day of the holiday week. Even “expert” users were getting 2-3 LLs total per day (not counting ILL$ because those are a separate system). So it does function almost exactly like MP used to (other than no re-rides with G+), but they run out so fast for every single ride on busy days, very early.

I really want something at DLR to make the 60+ minute lines go away, but Disney may be delaying it at DLR to try to figure out how to manage it better after seeing what happened the last few weeks at WDW. Apparently there have been hoards of unhappy guests at GS, complaining about G+ (and rightfully so, IMO).

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We go to both WDW and DLR, always during school breaks, so high crowds. We came to DLR in October over Columbus Day, and the lines were just not fun for us. We were expert MP and FP+ users. Everything being over an hour at 9am is just not an experience I want to fly across the country for…. We said we would not return without G+, so we have booked a weekend before Christmas week at WDW. I have been following the boards over there about G+, and it was horrible this week of Thanksgiving. Literally not one LL left to book at multiple parks by 1pm or 2pm each day. And they were still selling G+ to guests those days when all LLs were out. ROTR ILL$ sells out in 1-2 minutes, so off site guests don’t even have a chance for that. SDD at DHS is out of LLs for the day in 1-2 minutes every single day of the holiday week. Even “expert” users were getting 2-3 LLs total per day (not counting ILL$ because those are a separate system). So it does function almost exactly like MP used to (other than no re-rides with G+), but they run out so fast for every single ride on busy days, very early.

I really want something at DLR to make the 60+ minute lines go away, but Disney may be delaying it at DLR to try to figure out how to manage it better after seeing what happened the last few weeks at WDW. Apparently there have been hoards of unhappy guests at GS, complaining about G+ (and rightfully so, IMO).

Yikes, that is truly horrible. So basically, if RotR is selling out in 1-2 minutes, it’s NOT an improvement over VQ because 1) you have to try in the same frenzied manner as the VQ but if you “win” you also have to fork over money whereas VQ is free, and 2) if you’re not staying on site you’re not even able to try to win. Hmmmmmm…. So how is this better than VQ I wonder? (This is a rhetorical question and not directed at you OP!)

I can’t imagine paying $20/day for Genie+ and only getting 2-3 rides. What a ripoff! I wouldn’t buy it anyway due to no rerides and not having RotR, WS and RSR included in Genie+. Having a kid who doesn’t want to ride all the thrill rides available to us makes it pretty worthless in its current form.

How oh how can Disney possibly be getting this all so very wrong? Why didn’t they just bring back Maxpass? People would pay for that. It was fantastic.

 

[Drewski77]

Yikes, that is truly horrible. So basically, if RotR is selling out in 1-2 minutes, it’s NOT an improvement over VQ because 1) you have to try in the same frenzied manner as the VQ but if you “win” you also have to fork over money whereas VQ is free, and 2) if you’re not staying on site you’re not even able to try to win. Hmmmmmm…. So how is this better than VQ I wonder? (This is a rhetorical question and not directed at you OP!)

I can’t imagine paying $20/day for Genie+ and only getting 2-3 rides. What a ripoff! I wouldn’t buy it anyway due to no rerides and not having RotR, WS and RSR included in Genie+. Having a kid who doesn’t want to ride all the thrill rides available to us makes it pretty worthless in its current form.

How oh how can Disney possibly be getting this all so very wrong? Why didn’t they just bring back Maxpass? People would pay for that. It was fantastic.

Could have just rolled out Maxpass at $30:

Disney makes more than before and we get a superior experience.

Sometimes companies try to outsmart themselves.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Could have just rolled out Maxpass at $30:

Disney makes more than before and we get a superior experience.

Sometimes companies try to outsmart themselves.

Yup. That would have been the easiest way to do things since inflation in the US is already out of control so people expect higher prices anyway.

If they were going to take away free Fastpass anyway, why didn't they just go all the way and sell everything individually. It's so much simpler. No messing around with this convoluted app and worrying about return times like they do in other Disney parks. Or imagine if they did this like Fastrak lanes on the freeways. If you walk up to a ride and the line looks horrible, just scan in to the Fastrak lane and your credit card will be billed.

The more complicated they make the systems, the more people will be disappointed. People who don't understand the system will be disappointed. When the complicated system changes, people who could do certain things before but not anymore will complain. The people who like complicated systems are those who can take the time to understand them and take advantage of the rules. But this isn't a Magic Key add on and everybody who is paying attention can see that it's worse than the system offered in the past.

The same thing applies to virtual queues. Instead of doing a virtual queue, they could have just scanned each person's ticket or annual pass for popular rides to enforce once-per-day rides. That would have prevented people who really wanted to ride from being unable to while still preventing people from looping a ride and adding to the queue. It saves a lot of stress and frustration because many people woke up at 7AM just to learn they can't ride. At the same time, Web Slingers was sending out mostly empty vehicles early in the day because virtual queue holders were not rope dropping the ride, leading to wasted capacity. It also prevents people from feeling as constrained by their virtual queue return time and stops annual passholders from taking virtual queue slots in the off chance they get a decent time, unsure if they'll even ride.

 

[DizMe]

Wow. I'm getting a sinking feeling about our upcoming trip (Dec 13-16) after reading all of these reports. We (daughter, grandson, and I) went Nov 13-16 and had a wonderful time. We got on every ride we wanted, most of them multiple times, and the longest wait was about 50-60 min for Cars. Most rides had relatively short wait times even when the lines looked long, and they still had VQ so we did that twice for ROTR. Didn't do WS because none of us cared about that one. I was hoping that's how it would be for our Dec trip but sounds like it's a lot busier now, like the October reports?

My biggest bit of grief was the dining situation, which I find appalling, but otherwise it felt so great to be back after so long. I sure hope our upcoming trip isn't a bust because it's a lot of money and energy spent to come away unhappy.

I got a Knott's annual pass during the pandemic when it was too cheap to pass up. I went once with my friends (I don't live close) and that was enough for me. There is a HUGE, HUGE difference in quality between Knott's and DLR. If you crave roller coaster riding, Knott's is great--lots of cheap thrills without the wonderful, immersive trappings. If you're looking for that magical transformation into another world, you won't find it there. It's much more carnival than fantasy theme park. I haven't been to Universal in a while but I also never found anything there that would compare to what DLR feels like to me. It all makes me very sad and I hope that the suits look at the turmoil resulting from their recent decisions and opt to invest in quality again, because that's what made Disney the giant money-maker in the first place and it's what people expect for what they pay. We don't need another carnival park IMO.

 

[DisSurfer878]

It is really obscene that Disney switched RSR and WS to standby without releasing Genie+ (and I am NOT a fan of the concept of Genie+).

Just so you know, to avoid confusion, RSR stands for Radiator Springs Racers, the Cars ride in DCA. ROTR is Rise of the Resistance, which I think is what you mean because the Cars ride never have a VQ, unless you're saying it should have one because of its regular 2 hour waits

 

[MonocularVision]

Why would one think that Genie+ at Disneyland will have LL reservations running out super early in the day like WDW but MaxPass would be fine? If anything MaxPass would be way worse with its 90 minute cool-off period.

If anything I think Genie+, with the 2-hour cool-off, no free option and inability to re-ride will result in a better situation around return times compared to MaxPass.

 

[Drewski77]

Why would one think that Genie+ at Disneyland will have LL reservations running out super early in the day like WDW but MaxPass would be fine? If anything MaxPass would be way worse with its 90 minute cool-off period.

If anything I think Genie+, with the 2-hour cool-off, no free option and inability to re-ride will result in a better situation around return times compared to MaxPass.

Might be because MaxPass has been done successfully at Disneyland before?

Disneyland should have brought Maxpass back until its replacement was completely ready to go, definitely hasn’t worked out for Disney or its guests.

 

[Drewski77]

Yup. That would have been the easiest way to do things since inflation in the US is already out of control so people expect higher prices anyway.

If they were going to take away free Fastpass anyway, why didn't they just go all the way and sell everything individually. It's so much simpler. No messing around with this convoluted app and worrying about return times like they do in other Disney parks. Or imagine if they did this like Fastrak lanes on the freeways. If you walk up to a ride and the line looks horrible, just scan in to the Fastrak lane and your credit card will be billed.

The more complicated they make the systems, the more people will be disappointed. People who don't understand the system will be disappointed. When the complicated system changes, people who could do certain things before but not anymore will complain. The people who like complicated systems are those who can take the time to understand them and take advantage of the rules. But this isn't a Magic Key add on and everybody who is paying attention can see that it's worse than the system offered in the past.

The same thing applies to virtual queues. Instead of doing a virtual queue, they could have just scanned each person's ticket or annual pass for popular rides to enforce once-per-day rides. That would have prevented people who really wanted to ride from being unable to while still preventing people from looping a ride and adding to the queue. It saves a lot of stress and frustration because many people woke up at 7AM just to learn they can't ride. At the same time, Web Slingers was sending out mostly empty vehicles early in the day because virtual queue holders were not rope dropping the ride, leading to wasted capacity. It also prevents people from feeling as constrained by their virtual queue return time and stops annual passholders from taking virtual queue slots in the off chance they get a decent time, unsure if they'll even ride.

I think you are spot on with the benefits of simplicity versus the risks of complexity.

Just look at some of the most valuable companies in the world that win on simplicity:

Apple, Amazon, and Netflix are three that come to mind right away.

If Disney can’t even implement Genie+ successfully at Disneyland, then what is that going to look like for the end user…apparently at WDW not good so far.

 

[MonocularVision]

Might be because MaxPass has been done successfully at Disneyland before?

Disneyland should have brought Maxpass back until its replacement was completely ready to go, definitely hasn’t worked out for Disney or its guests.

Park capacity and visitation patterns are different than they were before. Demand for travel and entertainment is way up. They are still hiring to fill positions and get all the entertainment back up and running. The idea they could just slap MaxPass back in and it have a similar result as before seems far fetched. There is no reason to assume that MP would have better results than Genie+ and as I explained above, the differences between then would probably result in MaxPass/FastPass return times being gone for most rides faster than they will with Genie+.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Just so you know, to avoid confusion, RSR stands for Radiator Springs Racers, the Cars ride in DCA. ROTR is Rise of the Resistance, which I think is what you mean because the Cars ride never have a VQ, unless you're saying it should have one because of its regular 2 hour waits

Oops, typo!

 

[Bossy22]

Just have people pay 10 bucks to use old fastpass and 30 bucks to use maxpass. They're profits are way better and people are comfortable with how things work!!!