Genie+ is NOT as wonderful as everyone is saying

[CraigInPA]

I concur with @Jonfw2 ! Having been there during the start of "Spring Break", the parks went from moderate to super crowded over the course of a week. On the moderate days, Genie+ got me on 5 rides I wanted to ride at MK. When the crowds appeared later in the week, Genie+ was a complete bust. I got on TOT at DHS (and nothing else, because all the passes for RR, SDD, and other rides I wanted were already gone by 11am), and a second trip to MK succeeded in only getting 2 rides (POTC, and HM) with many other rides having completely exhausted the number of passes by noon.

If they are determined to keep it, they need to limit the number of Genie+ users in a given day. As I stated when they started it, they need to prevent the system from becoming a $15 lightning lane to one ride picked at 7am. They could do that by putting a strict limit on the number of Genie+ sold (which makes the 7am craziness even worse), or raise the price on busy days so fewer people buy it.

 

[Jonfw2]

I concur with @Jonfw2 ! Having been there during the start of "Spring Break", the parks went from moderate to super crowded over the course of a week. On the moderate days, Genie+ got me on 5 rides I wanted to ride at MK. When the crowds appeared later in the week, Genie+ was a complete bust. I got on TOT at DHS (and nothing else, because all the passes for RR, SDD, and other rides I wanted were already gone by 11am), and a second trip to MK succeeded in only getting 2 rides (POTC, and HM) with many other rides having completely exhausted the number of passes by noon.

If they are determined to keep it, they need to limit the number of Genie+ users in a given day. As I stated when they started it, they need to prevent the system from becoming a $15 lightning lane to one ride picked at 7am. They could do that by putting a strict limit on the number of Genie+ sold (which makes the 7am craziness even worse), or raise the price on busy days so fewer people buy it.

Wow- I can't believe how quickly my theory was validated! Haha. Thanks!

And I totally agree- I think what's coming is flex pricing based on crowd levels. They know to a man how many people will be in each park per day. So, just have 4 tiers of G+ pricing levels to reflect that. If you cut the total number of G+ allotments in half, but double the price on "tier 4" days, you make just as much money. And allow DVC's and AP's the ability to buy PER DAY when they book.

 

[BeachClub2014]

Get rid of all of these contrivances and just go back to regular queuing lines. Everyone has the same opportunity to ride, no stress with planning, no conflicts with other plans, you don't have to have your face buried in your phone, and you avoid the IT glitches and workarounds.

What was wrong with just waiting in a line?

ETA: But, if you don't do that, then bring back the original Fast Pass. It was great!

 

[Mommamakingmagic]

Not loving the idea of getting up at 7 am every park day or the fact that I have to make a strategic decision throughout the day while at the parks on which passes to pick because they run out on certain rides. I want to enjoy the day without stress but also without the long lines

 

[New Mouse]

It makes no sense how they basically killed the efficiency of the free system. You would have to think more people were using fastpass than they are genie... so why are we seeing genie options run out so quickly and just the same, standby hasn't improved?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Yes, they should be able to get that no problem. After they book it, if the time is too early they can continue to cancel and rebook it until the times are later and they get an acceptable time slot.

Thank you! I read her what you said, and she will definitely be reading about how to change a time.

 

[Stargazer65]

Today's Genie+ venture went a little better. We rope dropped AK, and I stacked afternoon rides at DHS. Then we came back to AK to finish out the day. I got 6 LL rides so far, (we may hop to MK for the last hour after we get off FOP here).
Of course, to get that much, I had to strategically "work the system" (we shouldn't have to do that when we're paying like this).

 

[Murron]

I just love how some say, wow you got three rides with Genie+ well done! What? Are you kidding me? Genie+ destroyed our way of navigating the parks. We'd have our three pre reserved fast passes, go at rope drop and seriously conquer several rides, including those fast passes, before noon and go back the the resort pool for the afternoon. Maybe Epcot in the evening. Can still do evening Epcot, but no way can we accomplish all the morning rides we've previously been able to do.

 

[Chuck S]

I just love how some say, wow you got three rides with Genie+ well done! What? Are you kidding me? Genie+ destroyed our way of navigating the parks. We'd have our three pre reserved fast passes, go at rope drop and seriously conquer several rides, including those fast passes, before noon and go back the the resort pool for the afternoon. Maybe Epcot in the evening. Can still do evening Epcot, but no way can we accomplish all the morning rides we've previously been able to do.

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.

 

[Marionnette]

I just love how some say, wow you got three rides with Genie+ well done! What? Are you kidding me? Genie+ destroyed our way of navigating the parks. We'd have our three pre reserved fast passes, go at rope drop and seriously conquer several rides, including those fast passes, before noon and go back the the resort pool for the afternoon. Maybe Epcot in the evening. Can still do evening Epcot, but no way can we accomplish all the morning rides we've previously been able to do.

I agree. And I think that the Genie system, with its criss-crossing the park recommendations, Genie+ with its only one choice of return time and ILL$ with its random return time change at time of purchase is contributing to the crowded feeling of the parks.

It's not just that people are queuing up in long standby lines, they're walking back and forth in the park to get from one "recommended" attraction to another as Genie attempts to direct guests to less-crowded areas, or they are standing around waiting for their next G+ return time because the standby queues are too long to get another attraction in.

At least with FP+, we could pre-book our 3 attractions for the same area and choose return times that were close together. Then we could go back to the room and feel like we had actually gotten our money's worth for the time we spent in the park.

 

[sethschroeder]

Get rid of all of these contrivances and just go back to regular queuing lines. Everyone has the same opportunity to ride, no stress with planning, no conflicts with other plans, you don't have to have your face buried in your phone, and you avoid the IT glitches and workarounds.

What was wrong with just waiting in a line?

ETA: But, if you don't do that, then bring back the original Fast Pass. It was great!

Everything should be virtual lines.

There is no reason to have people sit in a 1hr line except for the parks being over crowded.

 

[New Mouse]

Everything should be virtual lines.

There is no reason to have people sit in a 1hr line except for the parks being over crowded.

There's not enough stuff to do for all virtual lines. See volcano bay for this failure.

 

[SnowWitch]

We will not be paying extra for this. We will ride what we ride and be sone with Disney after the final trip in October.

 

[BeachClub2014]

Everything should be virtual lines.

It would seem that WDW is trending that way with Genie+ and LL, and it isn't going well for many folks, hence this thread. It's hard to argue that having actual queues at an attraction is a bad thing. It's easy to plan for, doesn't mess up your day, doesn't require you to randomly criss-cross parks, and is less stressful.

There is no reason to have people sit in a 1hr line except for the parks being over crowded.

Not sure that this is a new development. Many attractions have always had an hour-plus wait for them on most days. Crowded parks certainly exacerbate the long queue lines.

 

[dwg]

Get rid of all of these contrivances and just go back to regular queuing lines. Everyone has the same opportunity to ride, no stress with planning, no conflicts with other plans, you don't have to have your face buried in your phone, and you avoid the IT glitches and workarounds.

What was wrong with just waiting in a line?

ETA: But, if you don't do that, then bring back the original Fast Pass. It was great!

I agree 100%. I have not gone to the parks since Genie+ but I dread the prospect of using it just to get on the latest rides. I have a DVC member friend who hated the new system so much that they won't go back and gave their DVC membership to their children. I often wonder how quickly the regular questions lines would move if there was no fast pass/Genie+. Instead of having two lines where the fastness/Genie + lines moves much quicker at the expense of the wait lines, the wait lines should move much quicker if that was the only line. I am willing to wait in a regular line if you know that the wait will not be hours because there is also a fast pass/genie+ line that causes the regular wait line to move so slowly.

 

[sethschroeder]

Not sure that this is a new development. Many attractions have always had an hour-plus wait for them on most days. Crowded parks certainly exacerbate the long queue lines.

And?

There should be no wait that is that long where people just need to stand in line. I never said it wasn't the case in the past I am saying how it should be.

There's not enough stuff to do for all virtual lines. See volcano bay for this failure.

Actually there is enough to do at Disney parks they are just over crowded to my point. If someone were to go on the rides, see the shows, walk through all the shops, that would be a nice full day.

Also a Universal water park where they had to limit rides to smaller people because of safety is not exactly the metric I would go by. I would however go by what parks are like during "slower" times and during the height of COVID when parks were very reduced (without much of the entertainment even then.

 

[BeachClub2014]

There should be no wait that is that long where people just need to stand in line. I never said it wasn't the case in the past I am saying how it should be.

So you're suggesting that people should never have to stand in a line to enter and board an attraction? Just trying to understand if that is really what you are suggesting.

 

[Chuck S]

Remember that the parks are still not operating at full capacity. While rides may have reopened they may be operating at a slower capacity speed due to lack of Cast Members. There was an available labor shortage in Orlando before COVID, and many of the existing cast members moved on to other jobs while the parks were closed. Some may even have just moved on to setting their own hours and Vlogging. When some people can make six figures posting YouTube videos, it is going to affect all aspects of the labor market. Never mind the influencers that for some reason have fans hanging on their every word.

Not all live entertainment and shows have returned, they could easily hold some large crowds, too. Look at the size of Theater in the Wild, and the popular Meet & Greets, that also accommodated a lot of people, are just now returning to actual interactions.

 

[New Mouse]

And?

There should be no wait that is that long where people just need to stand in line. I never said it wasn't the case in the past I am saying how it should be.



Actually there is enough to do at Disney parks they are just over crowded to my point. If someone were to go on the rides, see the shows, walk through all the shops, that would be a nice full day.

Also a Universal water park where they had to limit rides to smaller people because of safety is not exactly the metric I would go by. I would however go by what parks are like during "slower" times and during the height of COVID when parks were very reduced (without much of the entertainment even then.

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.

 

[sethschroeder]

So you're suggesting that people should never have to stand in a line to enter and board an attraction? Just trying to understand if that is really what you are suggesting.

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.