Genie + Why all the hate?

[StageTek]

I've done some research into this now and at least on paper it looks like a great plan... so why all the hate?

I hate it for two reasons;
What was once free is now an up-charge and I hate that.
It takes a lot of work and isn't intuitive. Limited availability and in order to make it useful you really need to be on the app a LOT.

Oh yea, getting up before 7AM on my vacation hoping to snag a good spot isn't relaxing. And when you pay for it and all the spots are filled...

 

[DisneyOma]

I loved it but it is a ton of work. I truly feel like I was able to game the system all but one day…but I learned from it.

Shameless plug, my trip report is up. Never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride.

How much did you spend on Genie+ and ILL, and what time did you have to get up to get anything worthwhile?

 

[sagosto]

Why? Because what you had for free is now being used as a revenue generator. It eliminates a perk for those paying a premium (DVC, onsite, etc.). It doesn't include all rides. It forces you to buy EVERY day or wake up/pay at 7AM. It removes the ability to plan. It's buggy like most Disney IT stuff.

 

[Jacq7414]

I didn’t like it this morning how I booked a time for Flight of Passage but then after my credit card was charged I got a much later time. Then the time that I wanted was available in a later drop and I couldn’t change my time. It’s annoying when I paid over $42 for 3 people to ride a ride to not have the time I originally paid for. It was like I scheduled it for 910 and then it set me at 420. It’s not even close

 

[toontoy]

its a terrible system and program plus 7am in florida is 5am at home. I dont like to wake up at 4:30 at home and want to stay the entire day awake. We keep our kids on MST and arrive at the parks around 10ish or so but they stay until park closing. FP+ worked better since we could plan or late arrivals. Actually our trip last year with no FP was one of the best, should have let that one stand out. our trip last week was a blunder we dont be making again. I am a huge disney fan but sadly we wont be returning.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

How much did you spend on Genie+ and ILL, and what time did you have to get up to get anything worthwhile?

Family of 4. $300 for G+ and $150 for $ILL’s. Always grabbed at 7 am and stacking is the way to go for sure. I broke down the return on investment on each day with my final trip report entry.

 

[dk413]

I did not like it because I was the one getting up every morning at 6:50 trying to get the darn passes and then having to set my alarm every two hours after park opening to get another because no one else in my family knew how to use the app. The every two hour thing was really annoying though because my family and kids would try to converse with me and I’d be like, “DONT TALK TO ME!!!!!! IM TRYING TO GET TEST TRACK!!!!” Then they’d be all “Geez mom. What’s wrong with you?”

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

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)

Genie+ would be fine if they didn’t also do ILL$. With ILL$ there’s not enough capacity in the Genie+ system.

Edit: Also the having to wake up every morning of your trip at 6:50 am to play fastest fingers to have even a shot at getting a headliner is absolute horse****

 

[igrsod]

I hate that you can't plan your route... you get what you get, when you get it, no choice. Inevitably you will be criss crossing the parks in an effort to get your money's worth. You can't pick your time, this alone would improve it so much. The time you choose changes by the time your transaction is completed with no way to edit. If you have dining reservations, good luck to you. Most days, the attractions left by the afternoon are usually ones you don't need a LL for (shows, less popular rides etc.)
I used to be able to have a great plan going into each day where our FPs were planned out in a way that was efficient and all dining reservations worked in as well.... doing all this prior to our trip, so that we could sleep in on vacation and enjoy our time.
I also don't want to be tied to my phone constantly. I don't want to be tired and stressed. This system is horrible.
I only used it when it was gifted to us. I will never purchase and use it again unless major changes happen to improve it.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I didn’t like it this morning how I booked a time for Flight of Passage but then after my credit card was charged I got a much later time. Then the time that I wanted was available in a later drop and I couldn’t change my time. It’s annoying when I paid over $42 for 3 people to ride a ride to not have the time I originally paid for. It was like I scheduled it for 910 and then it set me at 420. It’s not even close

Agreed, this is the worst part of the whole Genie+/ILL system. When I used it on my MK day I tried booking a time for Mine Train at 9:30, then it swapped to 12:00 and then by the time my credit card processed it was 4:50 pm. Then if you have an ADR that you woke up at 6 am EST 2 months ago to grab you have to get the Guest Relations CMs to help you and even then that's not guaranteed. If they could fix this issue specifically Genie+/ILL would be less of a bitter pill to swallow overall.

 

[Jacq7414]

Agreed, this is the worst part of the whole Genie+/ILL system. When I used it on my MK day I tried booking a time for Mine Train at 9:30, then it swapped to 12:00 and then by the time my credit card processed it was 4:50 pm. Then if you have an ADR that you woke up at 6 am EST 2 months ago to grab you have to get the Guest Relations CMs to help you and even then that's not guaranteed. If they could fix this issue specifically Genie+/ILL would be less of a bitter pill to swallow overall.

Yup. So frustrating! We had 2 pm reservations at Sanaa so I had just planned to go back to our hotel after. Instead we headed back to Animal Kingdom to ride FOP before going back. I actually was able to pick up Navi right before our FOP reservations so that made it better, but still super annoying.

 

[Jennasis]

We used it and hated it. I was gifted a day of it for free by guest services and I STILL hated it...maybe even more on the free day.

Every single selection we made, the time changed on us after we booked it.

There was precious little left to choose by 5pm each day. When you're grabbing a LL for Barnstormer because it's all that's left...well let's just say a little piece of me died inside that night.

Getting up at 6:55am on vacation every day? No thank you.

Refresh is worthless.

Criss crossing the park.

It's an abomination.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

Genie+ would be fine if they didn’t also do ILL$. With ILL$ there’s not enough capacity in the Genie+ system.

Edit: Also the having to wake up every morning of your trip at 6:50 am to play fastest fingers to have even a shot at getting a headliner is absolute horse****

I agree with your first sentiment. But more than any other change I would love to see with Genie+ is allowing re-rides. That was something I loved about FP. There were a couple trips where I could ride my favorite attractions almost continuously late in the evening using FP. But I do agree regarding capacity (or lack thereof) due to ILL$. Next month, my family has decided that we are going to get Genie+ on our AK day, even though I said it seems a total waste. Even with EE back as a standard Genie+ option, I will be stunned if we get to use it for lightening lanes more than three times on that day (mainly because we don;t care about the shows and there are only a few rides at AK that use Genie+). I hope I am wrong and maybe we squeeze five rides out of it (hoping for Safari, Navi River, Kali, EE, and Dinosaur), but I am skeptical

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

I did not like it because I was the one getting up every morning at 6:50 trying to get the darn passes and then having to set my alarm every two hours after park opening to get another because no one else in my family knew how to use the app. The every two hour thing was really annoying though because my family and kids would try to converse with me and I’d be like, “DONT TALK TO ME!!!!!! IM TRYING TO GET TEST TRACK!!!!” Then they’d be all “Geez mom. What’s wrong with you?”

This is legit. Our peeps don’t understand the depths of our planning and the anxiety it brings.

 

[HopperFan]

They had a working, flexible, easy to use system that was free.

They now have a clunky, rigid, time consuming system that they are charging for.

The system is poorly programed and full of roadblocks and "glitches" like choosing a time but when it finally books gives you another. Because there is no flexibility on what they offer you are running all over the park or risk never getting the ride you want. And you are literally paying for NOTHING because you don't know what you are buying or what you will get. You could walk away paying that for one ride, or nothing you even want.

What they should have done is keep FastPass+ as it worked "in the park", eliminated the 3 book in advance times and then charged $15-20 per person. That would have value. The ability to pick a time among several offerings for an attraction I want, then roll it during the day ... less time with my nose in the phone and I'd gladly pay the fee for that.

They will never convince me more people are paying for less, than the number who used the FP+ system. If you eliminate the 3 pre-booked and with the charge now .... there should be less using it and more availability. We shouldn't have to open the app in the morning to see our first option is in the afternoon. I believe it is deliberate to control guests every move, all day long.

Add that MANY are having difficulty getting more than a few times per day AND after two trips there with it - the obvious difference in guests now walking about buried in their phones, clogging walkways. A different atmosphere for sure. It is an inferior product, and when you've had a good product, it stinks.

 

[Jennasis]

There is no excuse at this point for why the system STILL changes your time. It feels like the worst bait & switch scam.

 

[Smugpugmug]

There is no excuse at this point for why the system STILL changes your time. It feels like the worst bait & switch scam.

Especially since it makes it so much harder to actually plan your day. I heard some people having success with having their ILLs changed to not conflict with their ADRs but that is entirely on a CM to CM basis. You aren't guaranteed a change when it was the system that messed up, not the guest. I straight up didn't book ADRs for my HS day because I didn't want to deal with that headache.

 

[HopperFan]

There is no excuse at this point for why the system STILL changes your time. It feels like the worst bait & switch scam.

Because it is on purpose.

 

[Jennasis]

Because it is on purpose.

As I like to say, Because "reasons".

 

[Miffy]

(1) After you've made your G+ selection you can't modify it. You can only cancel it and hope that you'll be able to get a better/later/different time, but maybe you won't be able to.

(2) G+ seems to work best for people who either stay from open to close or who hop and are able to make a stack for the attractions they want in the hopped-to park. If you're not that person, then G+ is not working all that well for you. G+ also works well if you don't care what attraction you get or where it is relative to where you are when you book it.

(3) There's weird downtime involved, where you're between your last G+ and your next one and you're too far away from an attraction you'd do standby for since then you'd have to walk an extra couple of miles.

(4) You cannot plan ahead. You can't even plan ahead at 7 a.m. since you might not get what you want at a time that would work out for your plan, whatever that plan is. You need to start the day with at least a plan A and a plan B. Even better if you also have a plan C.

(5) The park reservation system makes all this even harder, especially if you don't have a hopper or an AP. Now you can't even see if you could perhaps get a better selection of rides at a different park. You're stuck with the park you reserved.

(6) Being lied to. G+ was sold as something that would even the playing field, yet if you can't afford it, then your playing field has been crushed, not leveled. What's an extra $15? you might ask. Well, if you have a family of 4, you've just added $60 (actually, it's $63.92, with tax) to just one day of your trip. Sure, you could just do standby, but here we're in the FP+-was-free territory. It was free and it worked for everyone.

And, as for the lie, G+ is actually something that was created to make money for Disney. Period.

I think the FP+ preference ideas were already covered in this thread. For people who like to plan in advance--even a little in advance--FP+ worked much better. Yes, people who stayed off-site had a disadvantage with FP+--although I had many trips that I planned less than 30 days in advance and I was still able to make almost all my FP+ selections with some perseverance--but off-site guests have a huge disadvantage with ILL$, since RotR is nearly impossible to get for anyone not onsite, FoP is very difficult, and I gather that 7DMT is no treat, either. I realize ILL$ and G+ are separate things, but they serve a similar purpose.

For Disney parkgoers who have the money to spend, G+ and ILL$ aren't a financial burden. But for some of us, we've cut down on other things we used to spend money on at WDW--like TS meals and resort category. But I gather that Disney has decided it doesn't care about repeat visitors since onetime-only visitors, per their research, spend more money.

Wait until so-called revenge travel ends. You will start seeing real discounts across the board at WDW.