The big G+ rides at HS gone by 1:07!

[pixiedust2u]

I am absolutely sure this is what they'll do. I think prices will raise enormously and slots will drop. Has to be $100-$150 a day per person maybe more. I just don't see how this system works any other way - you just can't get good value at a low or medium price range. I mean $60 for a family of 4 - say for two rides and saving 45 minutes or an hour. Actually, for an economist that's not too bad - each person basically values their time at about $15 an hour. Living wage in the UK and below the median wage. But it just feels poor value. Probably because Fastpass used to be free. Maybe they'll stick with it and wait until we all forget. But I went to Disneyworld last in 2004 and I still remember!!!

On top of ticket prices?!!! No way…. It would then make more sense to just book a VIP tour!

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

G+ is ok for childless guests who have total flexibility.
It’s horrible for families with young children who still nap. Also horrible for large inter-generational groups.

 

[Jennasis]

G+ is ok for childless guests who have total flexibility.
It’s horrible for families with young children who still nap. Also horrible for large inter-generational groups.

We are a childless couple who had total flexibility and we hated it.

 

[MarkNC2Disney]

We are a childless couple who had total flexibility and we hated it.

Dang!! My friends w/o kids were the only ones who had anything good to say about it

 

[SMF_mom23]

Again Alien SS and TSMm
View attachment 649673

Ok so now signing off…

THanks for all the updates!

 

[lowlight]

OMG. I just saw them. I need to get out of this trip. Must find a worthy alternative that the family will be excited in order to cancel. I’m going to feel like an idiot if I ignore all this forewarning and still make the trip. The 6-year old is the tricky part with other theme parks. Scramble mode has begun.

I’ll be honest, I absolutely hated Disney this last trip. I’m the planner for Disney and it stressed me the entire trip. Even before the trip, with the ADR issues I had. It was so bad, I contemplated selling my two DVC contracts when I returned. However, my wife and kids had a great time and my wife actually wants to buy another contract. What I’m trying to say is that Disney can still be great for everyone who isn’t either planning or paying for it. Most of us here are the planners, it’s a lonely sad world for us at Dis now.

 

[SMF_mom23]

The trip advisor reviews submitted today and yesterday-

I sure hope someone from Disney keeps an eye on those and will consider some foresight (do they want people to come back?) and make some
Positive changes.

Yeah, I browsed a bit yesterday and the reviews are BRUTAL. Can you filter reviews for the last 90 days, 3 months, 6 months, etc like you can for ebay sellers? I'll try to remember to check later.

 

[Disturbia]

The trip advisor reviews submitted today and yesterday-

I sure hope someone from Disney keeps an eye on those and will consider some foresight (do they want people to come back?) and make some
Positive changes.

But I think they don’t want us repeat old timers to come back. The thing is we are too stubborn, so I tripled our trips.

 

[Disturbia]

It is wrong to color this as 'stealing'. People stacking evening LL's:
1) paid for the service
2) are not using their LL bookings during the morning time slots. They are booking their paid for slots for a later time.

That was my mistake for using that word. I actually meant blocking. And we both agreed that the stackers (I stacked during lunch at MK) paid for it so they are entitled to delaying their passes.

 

[Disturbia]

I’ll be honest, I absolutely hated Disney this last trip. I’m the planner for Disney and it stressed me the entire trip. Even before the trip, with the ADR issues I had. It was so bad, I contemplated selling my two DVC contracts when I returned. However, my wife and kids had a great time and my wife actually wants to buy another contract. What I’m trying to say is that Disney can still be great for everyone who isn’t either planning or paying for it. Most of us here are the planners, it’s a lonely sad world for us at Dis now.

Fortunately COVID cancellations saved us from becoming DVC members. We went so often so we were going to purchase Riviera or AKL.

 

[Disturbia]

OMG. I just saw them. I need to get out of this trip. Must find a worthy alternative that the family will be excited in order to cancel. I’m going to feel like an idiot if I ignore all this forewarning and still make the trip. The 6-year old is the tricky part with other theme parks. Scramble mode has begun.

I wouldn’t cancel just based on HS alone. With the tips on this board you’re already in the know vs majority of park goers. For many years we skipped this park, but kids love MMRR and slinky dog now (our 5 year old). We used to book AK 3 of our 7 days (FOP is our favorite ride and EE is our teen’s favorite). Genie+ still works great at MK. The Epcot festivals are still great. The ADRs were a nice break from all the craziness.

The way we see it is if we wanted multiple thrill rides we can always go to Six Flags. But if you’re trying to maximize rides, then that’s hard to accomplish with the current park attendance (its above pre pandemic levels).

 

[SkyGuy]

At 3:11 pm
View attachment 649659
so, keep refreshing!! Hopefully one of the headliners pops up

3:13 I see Indiana Jones 4 pm show
3:14 I see Star Tours going back to 4:55

Just because they’re popping up when you’re refreshing doesn’t mean they’re actually available. When we were there in both November (when it was slow) and February (busier but not like now), I would refresh for several minutes and when something popped up, I’d say 9 times out of 10 it wasn’t there when I clicked on it to book it. I’d back out, the time would still be there, click again, and it still wouldn’t be bookable. It was highly annoying. I’d be curious how many times people were actually successful procuring those later-in-the-day pop-up times. The ones in the mornings - those theorized not to have been a completed purchase and put back into the pool - were easy to get.

 

[SMF_mom23]

I still do not understand two things:
1. Why they don't fix it so the app holds your selected slot so you can get through the Genie+ selection/reservation process for an attraction. IDK how long is the minimum it takes to go through that, but surely it is fast enough that they could give you 30 seconds to click your way through.
2. How there is no ability to modify a selection. FP+ had this in the app and it made the process easy-peasy. The whole idea of dropping one selection so I MAYBE, possibly, poTENtially get the one I just saw IF I'm VERY lucky is stressful in itself. Actually going though that process would probably give me hives.

The FOMO part of me says I need to add G+ to my June trip NOW because "what if they raise the price a ton and less people buy it so it will be more worth it but I'll have to pay more???" At the same time, I know I'm not the only one feeling that and it leads me to believe that more people are going to go ahead and buy ahead of time such that more people will have it when we go than otherwise would. Reasonable? Maybe not.

Honestly, if I thought I could convince my family to flip this trip to a cruise or a beach vaca, I totally would at this point. Maybe it is time to write an email to TWDC.....

 

[itf]

The FOMO part of me says I need to add G+ to my June trip NOW because "what if they raise the price a ton and less people buy it so it will be more worth it but I'll have to pay more???" At the same time, I know I'm not the only one feeling that and it leads me to believe that more people are going to go ahead and buy ahead of time such that more people will have it when we go than otherwise would. Reasonable? Maybe not.

Honestly, if I thought I could convince my family to flip this trip to a cruise or a beach vaca, I totally would at this point. Maybe it is time to write an email to TWDC.....

This is what I was saying earlier in the thread about it being a prisoner's dilemma. If everyone has it, it's useful to nobody.

As to your second point, we've booked a cruise for 2023 and are viewing this as one-and-done for Disney. We went briefly in early 2020 and are coming this year (overseas visitor) but that'll be it.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I agree that some type of Fastpass system needs to be in place. The first system worked really well and had positive effects on the standby line too.

FP in no way had a positive effect on the standby line. It 100% made standby slower, as does G+.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I still do not understand two things:
1. Why they don't fix it so the app holds your selected slot so you can get through the Genie+ selection/reservation process for an attraction. IDK how long is the minimum it takes to go through that, but surely it is fast enough that they could give you 30 seconds to click your way through.
2. How there is no ability to modify a selection. FP+ had this in the app and it made the process easy-peasy. The whole idea of dropping one selection so I MAYBE, possibly, poTENtially get the one I just saw IF I'm VERY lucky is stressful in itself. Actually going though that process would probably give me hives.

The FOMO part of me says I need to add G+ to my June trip NOW because "what if they raise the price a ton and less people buy it so it will be more worth it but I'll have to pay more???" At the same time, I know I'm not the only one feeling that and it leads me to believe that more people are going to go ahead and buy ahead of time such that more people will have it when we go than otherwise would. Reasonable? Maybe not.

Honestly, if I thought I could convince my family to flip this trip to a cruise or a beach vaca, I totally would at this point. Maybe it is time to write an email to TWDC.....

1. My guess is Disney has created this problem as the way they've set up the system, the vast majority of people are grabbing for LL at the exact same moment (7AM, 2 hours after park opening, 2 hours after that, etc.) The challenge with this is it is impossible for them to honour all of the LL return times people grab at those times as thousands of people are seeing the same time and clicking it at the exact same moment.

2. I have zero understanding why a return time cannot be modified. This one thing is creating such disappointment with guests and makes no sense to me at all.

 

[Orsino]

1. I agree that posted LL times on the tip board can’t be ‘sticky’ in the sense that allocating all of them to users would be insane and would not work.
But once someone clicks on a LL, I think the system should allocate a time and put it on hold. This is one time. In the FP+ era I think they allocated three for you to choose from. Futhermore, the uptake on this click has got to be very high. There isn’t much benefit to clicking beyond the tip board information, so those that click are likely to book the LL anyway.
I’m also wondering what the deal is with 7:10am which reportedly sees availability return. The conventional wisdom is that these are allocated LL that did not complete the booking process, but if LL doesn’t stick until payment, that doesn’t fit.
i think point 1 will be fixed at some time. It shouldn’t be that hard.

2. my wild, unsubstantiated guess is that Disney doesn’t want thousands of people refreshing. Their IT is a delicate flower as we are all painfully aware.

also, I’ll note that FP+ went through a lot of changes over its years of existence. Remember having to go to kiosks after your first three? so I think changes to G+ will be inevitable.

 

[snikki]

1. My guess is Disney has created this problem as the way they've set up the system, the vast majority of people are grabbing for LL at the exact same moment (7AM, 2 hours after park opening, 2 hours after that, etc.) The challenge with this is it is impossible for them to honour all of the LL return times people grab at those times as thousands of people are seeing the same time and clicking it at the exact same moment.

2. I have zero understanding why a return time cannot be modified. This one thing is creating such disappointment with guests and makes no sense to me at all.

You would think they see the issue and let people prebook like they did with FP+. What is their beef with prebooking? I don’t even want to make ADRs because of G+ not guaranteeing times.

Not being able to modify sucks too.

 

[Westerner]

.

 

[ScarletFire]

1) Who wants to be anxious and stressed on vacation?? Genie+ is a mental health disaster for the vacation planner!

2) I'm going next week with no plans right now to use Genie+. I may change my mind. With my kids grown, attractions are not a priority. I can't help but feel bad for the newbies.

3) Families are dropping $5K to $10K on a vacation without the ability to plan ahead. Getting a park reservation is not planning. What if RotR overlaps your dinner ADR and then you get charged because you missed your dinner? Swim time? Naps?

4) I planned the day around FP+ and had a good plan when pulling FPs from the machine.

5) If we didn't use a paper FP, we surprised a family. Sometimes we'd pull a FP for that reason. Remember that??

6) I'd be fine with a wait time of <30 minutes. I'm hearing that LLs are almost walk-on? More LLs please.

7) I don't get the "level playing field" argument. When I drop money on vacation I do the research.

8) I'm ranting and sorry about that. This thread makes me anxious.

9) Genie+ is not forever. Nothing with Disney ever is.