Genie + Why all the hate?

[sagosto]

Pros:
3. Based on our style (arrive early afternoon), we had 4/5 rides lined up vs 3 with FP+

Cons:
1. The time change after you pay is ludicrous! Full-stop. I felt sorry for the CMs. They gladly fixed it but honestly?
2. Waking up and doing the “fast finger race” at 7am on vacation is stressful (but I haven’t figured out a better way for day of flexibility). Thankfully I had been paying attention here and knew there was another “drop” of times when Disney IT “glitched”

The same:
1. Disney IT glitches: I had lots with FP+ and I had lots with Genie+/$ILL
4. If you refresh you often are rewarded. I did it during downtime (transportation, in line, while kids were eating a snack)

Sorry for the novel. I just wanted to give some perspective to people (like me) who are apprehensive about their first trip back after the change. While my negative list is longer, the few pros I listed actually made it work well for us.

This is an excellent post -- Thank you. If you don't mind, a few questions:

1) Unless I am missing something, how are you stacking 4/5 rides by afternoon given the 120 minute rule?
2) What do you mean by "time change?"
3) Disney IT has a TON of glitches. What are you referring to specifically here?
4) How does refresh help given you can't 'cancel' a FP to find a better time?

 

[DisneySyd]

This is an excellent post -- Thank you. If you don't mind, a few questions:

1) Unless I am missing something, how are you stacking 4/5 rides by afternoon given the 120 minute rule?
2) What do you mean by "time change?"
3) Disney IT has a TON of glitches. What are you referring to specifically here?
4) How does refresh help given you can't 'cancel' a FP to find a better time?

1) By using a combo of $ILL and Genie+. Here is an example that I gave in another post. We had 5 rides lined up at 2:35pm walking into HS on March 8th.

Afternoon stacking was our preferred way of doing the parks. I was up early anyway so booked the rides. My girls slept in, then we relaxed at the resort or hit the pool (we were at YC). By the time we went to the parks we had 4/5 rides lined up. Here’s an example at HS (8:30am opening):
7am - booked SDD for 2:40pm
7:17am - booked RoTR for 2:55pm
(I originally planned to book at 7, after SDD, but my screen spun and by the time I logged back in all the times were gone. Thankfully I had been following things here so knew there would likely be another drop)
10:30am - booked TSM for 4:20pm (wanted MFSM or MMRR but nothing available)
12:30pm - booked Alien for 4:30pm
2:32pm - booked MMRR for 5:15pm (had to refresh a lot but had time on the boat to HS
This is what we had walking into HS at 2:35pm
View attachment 662748

View attachment 662749

2) As you click through the screens to book the time you initially pick changes, sometimes significantly. I had a 2:30pm RoTR change to 5:25pm after I clicked purchase. I had started with 2pm (we were hopping) and it moved to 2:30pm by the time I got to the payment screen (which I was fine with). I clicked purchase and the confirmation came back with 5:30pm
3) Lol. On this trip: spinning/frozen screen (multiple times at 7am - likely huge traffic), buttons disappearing/not active (so you couldn’t proceed), bookings not showing up (despite refreshing-had to reboot phone), having to re-enter log in details multiple times, system kicking you back to home page in the middle of booking, tip board changing to a different park, Wi-Fi dropping, and, my personal favourite - system thinking I’m in Canada and not on-site so I couldn’t do anything (yes, access location was turned on)
4) For Genie+, refreshing works to find a time (not change it). This could be at your next booking window (more times tend to show up 2mins after…like my 2:32 example above) or I also got lucky waiting in line at Epcot (IG) one day around 3ish. Refreshed Remy and got a 3:25pm time.

 

[sagosto]

1) By using a combo of $ILL and Genie+. Here is an example that I gave in another post. We had 5 rides lined up at 2:35pm walking into HS on March 8th.

2) As you click through the screens to book the time you initially pick changes, sometimes significantly. I had a 2:30pm RoTR change to 5:25pm after I clicked purchase. I had started with 2pm (we were hopping) and it moved to 2:30pm by the time I got to the payment screen (which I was fine with). I clicked purchase and the confirmation came back with 5:30pm
3) Lol. On this trip: spinning/frozen screen (multiple times at 7am - likely huge traffic), buttons disappearing/not active (so you couldn’t proceed), bookings not showing up (despite refreshing-had to reboot phone), having to re-enter log in details multiple times, system kicking you back to home page in the middle of booking, tip board changing to a different park, Wi-Fi dropping, and, my personal favourite - system thinking I’m in Canada and not on-site so I couldn’t do anything (yes, access location was turned on)
4) For Genie+, refreshing works to find a time (not change it). This could be at your next booking window (more times tend to show up 2mins after…like my 2:32 example above) or I also got lucky waiting in line at Epcot (IG) one day around 3ish. Refreshed Remy and got a 3:25pm time.

Disney IT is terrible. All the resources in the world too. Maybe they made the rule of 'take whatever time we give you and you can't make changes' because of their IT I am going back-n-forth on the book as early as possible to maximize FP+ bookings instead of waiting 2 hours and booking on the back end. The most important is getting on your favorite ride (or waiting inline as least as possible) so maybe it makes sense to just go over your favorite and deal with 2+ hour wait if you have to.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

I think the hate is based on many factors to varying degrees. But if I were trying to summarize it, I think most of the hate fall into one of two ctageories: its not FP (AKA, its change which people usually do not like) and it costs more now for, at best, the same product as FP or, at worst, a lesser product (most people think lesser)

This is my biggest gripe - not necessarily that it's paid, but that it's paid for a service that appears (I say appears bc I haven't personally tried it yet) inferior to what we had before. With fastpass+ I was able to plan ahead, meaning the planning was done BEFORE my vacation and my vacation could just be.... vacation. I could plan so that we weren't running back and forth across the park 6 trillion times a day. I could plan so that my kids could be exposed to dark rides in an order that wouldn't freak them out (ie Small World before Haunted Mansion). Fastpass+ made my vacation more relaxed, easier to manage, tailored to my needs....no waking up before 7am ON VACATION.

I have little kids who rarely sleep past 6am. The only time ever my daughter truly slept in was IN DISNEY bc there ain't no tired like Disney tired! It kills me that ON VACATION, even if we are graced with the miracle of kids who sleep past 7am, I'll need to set an alarm and get up anyway to set up Genie+. I'm really hoping that Genie+ is a pleasant surprise, but from what I'm seeing it looks like I'm going to be paying for a massive headache.

 

[PolyRob]

Disney IT is terrible. All the resources in the world too. Maybe they made the rule of 'take whatever time we give you and you can't make changes' because of their IT I am going back-n-forth on the book as early as possible to maximize FP+ bookings instead of waiting 2 hours and booking on the back end. The most important is getting on your favorite ride (or waiting inline as least as possible) so maybe it makes sense to just go over your favorite and deal with 2+ hour wait if you have to.

If you do book as you go, you may want to look at the distribution trends and ensure you book things like JC and PP in MK, SDD and MFSR in DHS, TT and FEA (through 8/7) in Epcot, and NRJ and KS in AK early. Booking favorites could essentially lock you out from ever booking a LL for previously mentioned attractions depending on when other rides sell out based on capacity and demand.

 

[sagosto]

If you do book as you go, you may want to look at the distribution trends and ensure you book things like JC and PP in MK, SDD and MFSR in DHS, TT and FEA (through 8/7) in Epcot, and NRJ and KS in AK early. Booking favorites could essentially lock you out from ever booking a LL for previously mentioned attractions depending on when other rides sell out based on capacity and demand.

^^^
this.

1) Do you book ASAP and MAXIMIZE any FP you can get on the rides you want?
2) Do you book your favorite/LONG wait rides whenever you get a slot and then deal with 120 minute windows?

I go back-n-forth and think I am leaning towards #2 as 3 FP with 200 MINUTE wait line savings is BETTER than 6 with 120 MINUTE wait line savings (hypothetical). It just goes away from my thinking.

But, didn't Disney say the new Genie+ makes it easier? It has made everything SOO much harder.

 

[DisneySyd]

^^^
this.

1) Do you book ASAP and MAXIMIZE any FP you can get on the rides you want?
2) Do you book your favorite/LONG wait rides whenever you get a slot and then deal with 120 minute windows?

I go back-n-forth and think I am leaning towards #2 as 3 FP with 200 MINUTE wait line savings is BETTER than 6 with 120 MINUTE wait line savings (hypothetical). It just goes away from my thinking.

But, didn't Disney say the new Genie+ makes it easier? It has made everything SOO much harder.

I suggest starting here to help you decide (if you haven’t already)

GENIE+ STRATEGIES

- Genie+ is most useful for Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It will save you less time waiting in Standby Lines at Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

- For high-demand attractions, book your first LL promptly at 7:00 am. (Pay for Genie+ prior to 7:00 am, so you are ready to go at 7.)

- Two or more of your group can be logged into the MyDisneyExperience (MDE) app at the same time (either in the same account or separate accounts), and one can book Genie+ for SDD, while the other books and pays for ILL$ for RotR.

- The only attraction that will currently “sell out” rapidly is Slinky Dog Dash (SDD) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS). LLs are typically gone before 7:10 am. However, some availability may re-appear in the 7:10 to 7:15 am time range, so you can keep checking.

- Test Track may sell out before park opening at Epcot. Nothing is likely to sell out at Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom prior to park opening.

- At Magic Kingdom, Jungle Cruise will have the latest return times, followed by Peter Pan. At DHS, Millennium Falcon will have the latest return times after Slinky Dog Dash.

- A common strategy is to book high-demand attractions for later in the day so that you have 2 or more attractions stacked for late afternoon/evening. This can be particularly useful for your second park if you are park-hopping.

- You can book an LL at a park for which you don’t have a reservation if you have a Park Hopper ticket. In this situation, Genie+ will only offer you the first available time after 2:00 pm (the time when park hopping is allowed).

- Here is an example of how LL stacking can be done (real example from November 6, 2021, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios)
7:05 am: Book Slinky Dog Dash for 5:25-6:25
11:00 am: Book Millennium Falcon for 4:20-5:20
1:00 pm: Book Tower of Terror for 7:30-8:30
3:00 pm: Book Rock n Roller Coaster for 6:55-7:55
5:00 pm: Could have booked Toy Story Mania for 6:30-7:30

- Here is an example of selecting LLs as soon as possible to maximize number of LL attractions (hypothetical example from Magic Kingdom)
7:00 am: Book Peter Pan for 9:30-10:30
9:10 am: Ride Winnie the Pooh
9:30 am: Tap in Peter Pan, Book Big Thunder Mountain for 10:00-10:30
9:45 am: Ride Splash Mountain
10:15 am: Tap in Big Thunder, Book Haunted Mansion for 11:30-12:30
10:45 am: Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
11:30 am: Tap in Haunted Mansion, Book Small World for 12:45-1:45
12:00 pm: Time for Lunch (Genie+ has gotten you 4 LLs so far, and in the afternoon, you can probably get LL for Buzz Lightyear, Under the Sea, Barnstomer, Dumbo and/or others. Fill in the time between LLs with Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and/or Carousel of Progress. Also you may have booked ILL$ for Seven Dwarfs and Space Mountain in the afternoon.)

- Guests are reporting that their experience is that stacking LL's works best at DHS while selecting LLs as soon as possible is a good strategy for MK.

- You can pin one or more attractions to the top of the Tip Board by selecting it as your only Top Pick in the free Genie part of the app. Or you can also select Top Picks through the Edit Selections link at the top of the Tip Board. This is very useful when you are in a hurry to book a particular attraction. Pin it to the top of the Tip Board. Then after booking, replace it with the next one that you will be going for. This saves time not having to scroll down through alphabetical list of attractions.

- Most LL will sell out at some point during the day, so keep an eye on the available times.
View attachment 641058

- You will be allowed to purchase Genie+ at any point during the day

- Play around with the Tip Board prior to your trip to get a handle on how it works.