Genie+ has GOT TO GO!

[Aurora0427]

This would be heaven to me! The current form of Genie+ ends up with me trying to do all kinds of mental calisthenics trying to get the best results and not screw up the day. But worst of all it ends up with our family going back and forth and back and forth across the park constantly trying to not miss a LL time. How fantastic would it be to just get a set number of fastpasses (4, 6, 8?) that are good any time all day? Then we could leisurely stroll and do all the rides we want in a land (or not) and then mosey on to the next.

Yessssss! This is what’s so great about Universal. We methodically move through the park because we get express lane after 3 with our passes…. Not having to run from one end of the park to the other is so nice, and we can eat when we want and not plan around a return time. Before Genie + we would do the same thing at Disneyland, but even with planning I feel like we end up walking all over.

 

[Aurora0427]

Hmmmm, been watching this thread wondering how to respond. I actually am grateful for Genie+. Do I like it better than MaxPass? No way. Do I like that it now is almost double what we used to pay for a better product (or even its first version)? No way. Did I just purchase it for my solo day visit with my DS6 in November? Yup, yup I did.

I think a lot of the dissatisfaction (aside from crowd levels and how that affects G+) is due to unrealistic expectations. I treat Genie+ like the old FP system at WDW. It‘s a 3 ride FP. It’s not an “unlimited ride everything as much as you like straight to the front of the line” pass. Granted for $30 that *is* pricey at $10pp a ride (easier to justify at $5/ride), but to make the most out of a visit and have those top 3 rides have a shorter line and I am there.

As an example, for my upcoming DL day my plan is to do Pirates and FL rides in the AM while lines are short, and stack my G+ LL in the afternoon/evening for: Haunted Mansion Holiday, Big Thunder, Space Mountain as these are my son‘s top 3. Anything else I manage to grab will be frosting on the cake.

My only real frustration is I wish it allowed re-rides. That would up guest satisfaction and make it “worth it” for those who don’t want to tour commando style/or have littles that wouldn’t use all the E-ticket rides. It almost forces you to try and “do it all” to get your $ worth vs “do what you enjoy.” That’s been the biggest difference I have witnessed at DL and at WDW (more so at world, which I am just back from) - there seemed to be a desperation or fever pitch to try and get your $ worth. Value is, as always, in the eye of the beholder.

The issue is what genie + does to the standby lines…. Which was also an issue at WDW when fast pass plus debuted. All of a sudden, you had lines at rides like Figment and Spaceship Earth. So I disagree that most dissatisfaction stems from unrealistic expectations.

 

[chezcurrie]

The issue is what genie + does to the standby lines…. Which was also an issue at WDW when fast pass plus debuted. All of a sudden, you had lines at rides like Figment and Spaceship Earth. So I disagree that most dissatisfaction stems from unrealistic expectations.

Fair enough, I was coming at it from the perspective of someone who is using Genie+. Totally get the flip side and wish it wasn't so.

 

[Aurora0427]

Fair enough, I was coming at it from the perspective of someone who is using Genie+. Totally get the flip side and wish it wasn't so.

Totally! Well, and the LL return times can get pretty gnarly as well…. I really think they have to get the rides working better…. All of the breakdowns make the LL lines bad, and the standby lanes horrendous…. I truly think that if they could keep the rides working, it would improve the entire system.

 

[pyratgrrl]

I'm going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. We are not planning to buy Genie+. I wish they would bring back MaxPass. I'm not smart enough to figure out why MaxPass worked so well and Genie+ not as much. Our plan is to rope drop and do the rides we really want in the morning and after lunch just shop and enjoy the atmosphere. We're going knowing it's going to be crowded and we may not get to do as much as on past trips, but this may be the last trip for a long while. I shake my head in disbelief when I think about the difference in the guest experience from just 10 years ago, and it's definitely getting worse. Paying more and getting less is not worth the investment of my time and money. So I'll go and enjoy Main Street and all of the Christmas decorations and music, but with a tinge of sadness for what used to be.

 

[lcp9]

Just got back from our first trip using G+, after many years of paper fastpass, maxpass, and nothing (last year). I wrote a separate post with a trip review which discussed G+ but basically it was worse than I expected and I had super low expectations.

My number 1 problem is the parkhopping. I pay extra for parkhoppers. I paid $20 for G+. Since I can't hop/reserve until 1pm, G+ becomes useless because at 1pm, some rides are booking Genie+ at 7-9pm. Uh, no thanks.

LL were in some cases equal wait to standby (GOTG.) In some cases they were much shorter than standby but still 30 minute waits.

Still super annoyed you get one ride. Even more annoyed they were asking $25 for ILL on ROTR. Gross. I'm not paying $150 (2 parents, 4 kids.)

All of it is annoying and leaves a terrible taste in my mouth for the Disney brand. For this and a few other reasons I talked about in my review, it's our last trip for a while/ever after having been yearly+ visitors.

 

[chezcurrie]

Not discounting your experience, but you are able to book LL in a second park as long as the return times are after 1pm. You don’t have to wait until 1pm to book them. In mid October I could book Guaradians at 10am in DL, but for a 3pm return time. Works great for stacking passes in the evening.

Sorry your experience wasn’t great, regardless of the circumstances.

 

[lcp9]

Not discounting your experience, but you are able to book LL in a second park as long as the return times are after 1pm. You don’t have to wait until 1pm to book them. In mid October I could book Guaradians at 10am in DL, but for a 3pm return time. Works great for stacking passes in the evening.

Sorry your experience wasn’t great, regardless of the circumstances.

Interesting - something weird was happening then, because I specifically got messages saying "This guest must be scanned into this park to make this selection". You also definitely cannot schedule DAS at the other park while you're waiting to hop, which was obnoxious too.

 

[chezcurrie]

Interesting - something weird was happening then, because I specifically got messages saying "This guest must be scanned into this park to make this selection". You also definitely cannot schedule DAS at the other park while you're waiting to hop, which was obnoxious too.

I can only imagine the juggling of G+ and DAS. Hats off to you! Again, sorry the experience wasn’t great. It is absolutely getting to be a jungle out there, to say the least.

 

[Bruno33]

Not discounting your experience, but you are able to book LL in a second park as long as the return times are after 1pm. You don’t have to wait until 1pm to book them. In mid October I could book Guaradians at 10am in DL, but for a 3pm return time. Works great for stacking passes in the evening.

Sorry your experience wasn’t great, regardless of the circumstances.

They’ve been messing with this. It’s been inconsistent since they changed the way it was before, where you could book anytime and it would automatically be 1 or later.

 

[chezcurrie]

They’ve been messing with this. It’s been inconsistent since they changed the way it was before, where you could book anytime and it would automatically be 1 or later.

Good to know. Am back next Saturday so will see what happens if I try to book in
DCA (we aren’t planning to park hop, but catch the later parade.) I’ll test it!

 

[FireflyTrance]

I’ve now used G+ at DL and WDW and for reasons I can’t fully figure out I find it much more frustrating at DL. At DL it feels unbearable to wait in some of the standby lines because they move so so slow. Even paying for G+ it seems like we go on far less rides than we used to. I would prefer a system like Universal Express. Yes it’s super expensive, but if I buy it I know we can go on every ride in whatever order is convenient. When you buy G+ you have no idea how many rides you might be able to successfully use it on.

 

[wendlle]

I’ve now used G+ at DL and WDW and for reasons I can’t fully figure out I find it much more frustrating at DL. At DL it feels unbearable to wait in some of the standby lines because they move so so slow. Even paying for G+ it seems like we go on far less rides than we used to. I would prefer a system like Universal Express. Yes it’s super expensive, but if I buy it I know we can go on every ride in whatever order is convenient. When you buy G+ you have no idea how many rides you might be able to successfully use it on.

totally agree, I purchase the EP at Universal or get it included with our hotel stays in Orlando when we stay there. It is so much better.
I will actually happily pay more money to get something that I can actually use when I want to.
I don't want to pay extra for something that doesn't 100% give me access to rides, to me it's a complete waste of money and I refuse to purchase it. I also don't want to be on my phone, I can do that at home! I like to experience the park, not use my phone.
It's infuriating.

 

[GatorChris]

 

[J0HN]

I think that some view FastPass/MaxPass and Genie+ similarly, but believe they are operating at different capacities based on different goals. FastPass/MaxPass had a cap for each hour and would roll into the next timeframe when reached. Goal was to “enhance” guest experience by getting people out of line to spend money. Think Genie+ (and ILL) likely have higher capacities compared to FastPass/MaxPass, because the shift is to monetize the rides more and keep bigger spenders available to spend more.

”Express line“ is likely more crowded with Genie+ vs. FastPass/MaxPass because there is more incentive to increase those numbers/capacity - as the result is increased sales of Genie+. Add in more ride breakdowns and a few other factors - lines become even longer.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Yes, I’m fully aware that just like everything else in this thread it’s something Disney “will never” do. But getting rid of annual passes would be the best and quickest way to improve the guest experience without a hit on profits.

If APs didn’t make Disney money, they wouldn’t have exist. Disney has proven time and time again that they will cut back whatever doesn’t make them money. The APs are here to stay because it WILL affect revenue if they lose them.

Disney needs to raise the price of Genie+ and lose the return windows. This will allow crowds naturally regulate themselves by not entering LL if they look too long. Instead, people who would normally choose a different attraction are gettin in the LL because if they don’t use it, they will lose it (and the average Genie+ user doesn’t know you can cancel a LL selection and choose a different one). This would also take some of the pressure off of the standby lines.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Interesting - something weird was happening then, because I specifically got messages saying "This guest must be scanned into this park to make this selection". You also definitely cannot schedule DAS at the other park while you're waiting to hop, which was obnoxious too.

You can still make a DAS selection for the other park by visiting Guest Services.

 

[DisneylandFan22]

I am guessing the hiring freeze and job cuts are not going to help the issues at the parks.

 

[serendipityaey]

All the maintenance jobs are still listed as open and hiring. The article mentioned Disney+. It may just be salaried and office jobs that are frozen. His quote said it was not a 100% hiring freeze.

 

[Aurora0427]

I am guessing the hiring freeze and job cuts are not going to help the issues at the parks.

It sounds like the parks had a record year in profits…. So I’m hoping they won’t freeze hiring and cut jobs at the parks.

They were fully staffed yesterday…. We were there and saw more staff than I’ve seen since Covid. Tons of managers in plainclothes, more staff than I’ve seen in a long time. Wish they could be that staffed up everyday.