Thanksgiving Week Genie+ Experience and required mobile ordering so far

[Disney_Fan_01]

We were there this week as well and just returned. Our experiences were similar to yours. Mobile ordering worked pretty well and was a good way to control times into dining rooms at all times. No issues ordering food and finding tables.
Genie + was frustrating with lack of availability past the first fast pass which one needs to book right at 7AM. Also, it is frustrating that the times change from what you select for the booking. Hard to plan your day if you have dining ADR or anything else planned. We used Genie+ for MK and HS days. We didn’t need it for Epcot as we had Evening Magic hours or AK, which does not need it. We bought ILL for all 5 days and we’re glad we did. We don’t like waiting 60+ minutes on any ride and will miss a ride if we don’t have fast pass. The wait times for the popular rides are accurate as opposed to what was posted by an earlier poster. Wait times for non popular rides may not be accurate.
with all the frustration with Genie+, I cannot imagine doing parks on busy times without it or ILL. Just prepare to add another $100 per day for a party of 4 to your ticket price to manage your day better. For priority, one needs to have a strategy on what to book first on HS day. Both me and my wife logged in at the same time at 7. Within milliseconds, all the slinky dog fp’s were gone and I got the last fast pass from 8-9. My wife bought rise of resistance for morning time we wanted. Once you enter the park, you can get another fast pass after 2 hours from park opening even if your first one is later in the day. At 11, I grabbed Rock and roller coaster for the available time at 6:30 PM. The wait time for those who rope dropped slinky was 60 minutes in a matter of minutes. The wait times for toy story mania and tower of terror were 10 minutes. We prioritized those from 8:30-9:00 which is a critical time before they let everyone in and wait times go up significantly and never go down again.

 

[AussieFan8]

I agree with some of the comments here. We got back on Thanksgiving day. My daughter said she has never seen me so stressed on a Disney vacation. I didn't realize how much I counted on having those three FP+ rides booked beforehand and knowing I'd get at least those three in. Now, you have no idea what you'll end up with on a day to day basis. We did two Merriest After Hours and the Epcot EMH, so we were getting back to the hotel very late. Having to then get up at 7am to book Genie+ and ILL was awful. I had hoped I could do that and then go back to sleep, but I then encountered issues buying Genie+, getting the passcode email, app freezing which required restarting my phone, etc. On our DHS day I wasn't able to get in until 7:02 am and by then SDD and ROTR were gone. The stress of it made me unable to go back to sleep. I kept refreshing later in the day and did see SDD come up, but that was the day they removed the ability to tap in to a ride and then add a LL if you already had one booked, so I couldn't get SDD. Worse, for the entire trip my app never showed my next eligible time to book LL, it just said "unknown conflict". So I was never sure when I could book, especially after they made the change to how it worked.

We also had a mobile order issue. I placed the order at Geyser Point. Twenty minutes later, I asked if it was ready. I was told they were working on it. Twenty minutes after that, I asked again, and they apparently had lost track of my order. Luckily, we then got it within five minutes, but we had to race through lunch and run to the bus and barely made our ToT LL reservation. The food at Geyser Point was great, though, and I'm sure isolated issues like this happen on occasion.

I didn't think the crowds/walkways were terrible, but we definitely encountered multiple lines for restrooms.

We did really enjoy the EMH and Merriest After Hours. We also had great luck with dining outdoors at various lounges with little wait.

I sent an email to guest services and really hope some of the issues are fixed before our next trip. We have been home three days and I am still exhausted from this one.

 

[Gentry2004]

I agree, more than likely too many people booking at 7am. I found it odd though that I purposefully waited for a 7 pm slot (after quickly refreshing 3times), only for it to then be a 2-3 pm booking once confirmed. Then it’s a gamble if you cancel. It would be better if you could modify an existing lightening lane (Genie +) pick. I do like how you can pick your time with ILL.

This has to be the most frustrating part - that along with limited Genie+ selection for 2nd rides and beyond.

 

[CKWDisney]

Hi all, we are here now (arrived 11/24/21 super early). This isn't about strategy, just more of our experience so far. I am a super planner and don't mind planning. How we like to do Disney is do morning or mid-day park time and then back to resort, dinner, Disney Springs in the evenings. That is not really possible with Genie+ if you are wanting to ride as many rides as possible.

Day 1 we went to Animal Kingdom, and we were still in-flight when Genie+ booking and Individual LL became available, so I logged onto SW Wi-fi and was able to get ILL for FoP at 4:05pm. At first, I pulled really early time, but we wouldn't have been at the park yet so I refreshed after a minute and it already to 4:05pm. I also bought ILL for Expedition Everest and we got 3:20pm. MK day was 11/25/21 and Genie+ was slightly more useful there. The problem is, by the time you are allowed to book your next attraction, everything worthwhile is into the evening times. Since there are more rides in MK though, the Genie+ feels at least slightly better because you can stand-by some things (Under the Sea Little Mermaid had 15 min wait at 10am). Yesterday, 11/26/21, we did DHS. I bought Genie+ again, tried to rope drop for ToT and then use our first LL for Rock N Rollercoaster. By the time we made it through the crowds, ToT was at 50 minutes, which went by in about 35 minutes. LL for RR was 10:25am, but the ride went down so we got a "use anywhere but the fancy rides" LL which we used for Toy Story Mania. The teens really wanted to ride RR so I booked another LL for 8:25pm and told them they can go back later after dinner which ended up being okay. They just went in, rode, and rode the bus back to AKL.

Genie+ does not allow for any planning IMO. For example, we have dining reservations today at 9:25am at Polynesian. If I risk it and pay $15 per day times 5 people (daughter has a friend with her), I may pull the first available time for Test Track at 11a and we won't make it over by then. If I wait, I probably won't get a LL at all. I did get a virtual queue for Remy and I am not planning to buy Genie+ today or any ILL. Basically, if you don't buy Genie+, you risk extremely long waits all day long. At least if you have it, you get on a 1-2 things you really want without a huge line.

Having to get up at 7am to book sucks. And I am a morning person and up at that time anyway usually. Yesterday, I really wished I could've slept in because we had been up at 2am the day before for our flight. That is not an option now if you want to book rides and actually get decent times. We haven't had issues with mobile ordering food. I have been ordering around 9am to be safe though and there are plenty of times available. It is extremely annoying though and also doesn't make any sense. At AKL, the Mara QS requires mobile ordering (food choices aren't great either, they don't even have all the food listed on the Disney website menu). Then, we drove over to Port Orleans yesterday to get beignets, and their QS is open, no mobile ordering required.

Do I still love Disney? Yes. Are we still having a great time? Yes. If you are the planner in the family, just prepare yourself to be attached to your phone at all times. Will I adapt to it? Most likely. I do not see myself doing twice a year trips anymore though. Once a year, I can deal with this and the costs because there is still always something to do, some good food remains, and we get to enjoy family time.

We got back yesterday from WDW and had similar experiences. Everyone in our group came to the same conclusion you did - we won't be going multiple times a year anymore. In fact, we came home and listed half our DVC points as we won't need them to go once every couple of years.

 

[WVU Disney Fan]

We are leaving today ending our 11night stay. We arrived on 11/17. We did most of park days before Thanksgiving week got in full swing. Definitely could tell a difference in first half of trip to 2nd. Also the “double stack” trick worked for first half of trip but not the 2nd. Genie+ is a must in DHS and MK IMO. We had pretty good experience with it all 4 parks (went to HS and MK twice). If you are willing to pay for some ILLs you can really get a huge stack of fast passes by afternoon and evening. Will definitely use genie+ and ILL in future. For us it’s worth the added cost when you consider how much you are already spending. Definitely recommend booking SDD first for HS if you want to do it.

Ill add that I’m now a mobile order convert. It made the quick service meals so much less stressful and less time consuming. I was always against it in the past and felt like it was more trouble than good but I’ve done a 180 on that after this trip.

 

[EPCOT-O.G.]

We got back yesterday from WDW and had similar experiences. Everyone in our group came to the same conclusion you did - we won't be going multiple times a year anymore. In fact, we came home and listed half our DVC points as we won't need them to go once every couple of years.

I keep hearing this repeated. In one sense, The Powers That Be have to be high-fiving over the brand new revenue stream they’re getting from G+/LL. The revenue per guest per day has to be up too. But, I feel like long term loyalty is diminishing, and the return guests won’t be coming back as much. That sort of stuff doesn’t manifest in quarterly reports now, but will perhaps in a few years. Though, Chapek is functionally a caretaker/intermediate CEO choice, so he probably doesn’t care about long term health of the company.

 

[CynBeth]

We just came home today and had an amazing trip. But, I agree with a lot that was said about Genie+. I would rather pay a set fee and be able to go in a special lane for all or most rides or allow us to select 3 at x days before the trip than have to be on our phones all of the time. We did like the mobile ordering for breakfasts and the few lunches or dinners when we did not eat at a TS.

 

[bethbuchall]

We were there for 10 days at the beginning of November. We bought Genie+ only one day. I think we managed to get 3 LL reservations (though I guess you could add that we were able to do ToT and RnR in the morning with lower waits because we knew we had LL for Midway Mania). $15/3 = $5 per ride! (Plus tax) We also paid for Rise of the Resistance that day. There were 5 of us, so that was an extra $160 that day. If we had done that every day, it would have cost us an extra $1600 for the trip!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

It’s not all bad, it’s just not great. Rope drop still works. DH and I rope dropped AK today and let the teens sleep, we rode the safari and EE by 9:30a. FoP was about 80 minute wait by then. I almost bought ILL again for it, but it was already at 1:45p and we planned to be back at the hotel by then. The crowds seemed significantly less today. We park hopped to MK and the standby times were not bad.

If you can travel during non-holiday weeks, you may have better success with the Genie+. That’s not an option for us for another 5 years, but I think it could work and have better standby times. I think it’s more the stress of it all and constant checking, waking up at 7am on my vacation, and paying so much more for absolutely no guarantees of good rides or good ride times. ILL is actually much better because I can pick my time before I pay. Genie+, I pay, and then get to wait and see what’s still there by the time I get through the prompts!

On a positive note, CM service has been really great and I feel for all of them trying to explain this system to people who don’t frequent the Disboards and watch Disney YouTube videos for fun LOL

 

[AussieFan8]

On a positive note, CM service has been really great and I feel for all of them trying to explain this system to people who don’t frequent the Disboards and watch Disney YouTube videos for fun LOL

I completely agree with this. Almost all of the cast members we encountered were upbeat, friendly, and very helpful.

 

[Donna M]

I do not see myself doing twice a year trips anymore though.

We have already scaled back on our Christmas vacation buy cutting down from 7 Disney park days to 3 and moving offsite until the 30th for NYE.

It was a very frustrating experience.... Otherwise, we will no longer be visiting twice a year.

Everyone in our group came to the same conclusion you did - we won't be going multiple times a year anymore. In fact, we came home and listed half our DVC points as we won't need them to go once every couple of years.

I think Disney is actually happy with this; they want to lessen the crowds. They will charge more to make up for the lost revenue.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I keep hearing this repeated. In one sense, The Powers That Be have to be high-fiving over the brand new revenue stream they’re getting from G+/LL. The revenue per guest per day has to be up too. But, I feel like long term loyalty is diminishing, and the return guests won’t be coming back as much. That sort of stuff doesn’t manifest in quarterly reports now, but will perhaps in a few years. Though, Chapek is functionally a caretaker/intermediate CEO choice, so he probably doesn’t care about long term health of the company.

I think Disney is actually happy with this; they want to lessen the crowds. They will charge more to make up for the lost revenue.

Donna, you may be right but I think Epcot-O.G. makes a good point. Over the long term, it won't be good. There is only a certain segment of the population that can continue to pay these rising costs and then there are others who can afford it, but will get tired of it for a lessened experience and higher price. I don't know how Disney continues to profit without repeat guests? It maxes out eventually. Just like Disney+ did. I only have my subscription right now because its 6.99 and my nephews watch their shows on it. If they raised it to $14.99? I would cancel. Not worth it because they don't even have a great selection of shows.

 

[mom2rtk]

I think Disney is actually happy with this; they want to lessen the crowds. They will charge more to make up for the lost revenue.

No they don't. They want to charge more AND maintain higher crowds. If they wanted lower crowds they would have them already. They are the ones setting the capacity limits each day. It's entirely within their control.

 

[mom2cinderella]

And they want people eating and shopping, not riding rides….

 

[BrotherCraig]

We were there in the parks the week before Thanksgiving and it was a lot more busy than Touring Plans predicted. Had a great time other than the rain and the messy Merriest after hours event. Mobile ordering worked great for us and loved Genie+. We were in Universal the week of Thanksgiving and that was very packed. Hardly any room to move in most places there. I imagine Disney World was the same.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

No they don't. They want to charge more AND maintain higher crowds. If they wanted lower crowds they would have them already. They are the ones setting the capacity limits each day. It's entirely within their control.

i heard something interesting this trip. I tried to park hop a little early because my daughter wanted to go to MK and DH and I had already done AK in the morning. I asked the CM if they would let me enter at 1:40p. He said they cannot override the system because the capacity limits are set by an agreement Disney has with the state. They let me in at 1:47p and other park hoppers. I found that hard to believe since DeSantis doesn’t really seem to care about that??? Maybe he was just telling me that, but I found it interesting.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

I was there Wednesday, Nov. 24-Saturday, Nov. 27. I purchased Genie+ for MK on Wednesday and DHS on Thursday. Wednesday, it was worth it. I think I used it for 4 or 5 attractions and managed to ride everything I wanted except Haunted Mansion that day. I also did the Early entry as an onsite person and got Space Mountain without having to pay extra extra. I really don't care for 7 dwarfs so no problem skipping that. On Thursday, I was only able to use Genie+ for ONE ride and that made me not a happy camper. I had purchased it before 7am and was on at 6:59am to try for Slinky. By the time I got through to the final booking page for Slinky - it had pushed out from 10am to 5pm!!??!! Are you kidding me? Nope. So I trashed that and went back and got Rockin for 11am. I also did early entry and got Rise and Falcon out of the way before 9am. (They opened Rise at 8am so extra early which helped.) At 11, I went in to book my next Genie+ and there was NOTHING left. So Disney got my $15.98 (with tax) and I got 1 measly ride from it. I chose to not use it for Animal Kingdom (really only went in for Safari and Everest and some shopping) or for Epcot (because Festival of the Holidays!). I'm not sure what my plan will be for my trip at the end of January. I don't love the system at all.

I also want to add that I paid close attention to the standby times and timed my wait when I was in the lines. The majority of the times were inflated...often by 15 minutes or more. I know they aren't totally accurate for a variety of reasons, but it felt like they were MORE inflated than usual to get people to buy Genie+

 

[mikebb]

We were also there last week (Mon-Sat.)

We did not utilize Genie+/ILL at all. Well, we did get 2x complementary LL passes for customer service issues, but other than that, we did standby for everything.

We were a large group of 7 and managed somewhat decently without it. Long lines, but we went in expecting as much, being a holiday week. We had very mixed results with Mobile ordering - some great (Ronto Roasters for breakfast), some mediocre (Fairfax Fare), some terrible (Aloha Isle 1 HOUR wait for a Dole Whip!)

I was never a huge fan of FP+ and over-planning, but feel like Genie+/Mobile Ordering takes things to a (bad) new level. It was one thing when my wife could plan weeks/months ahead, and we could show up and just execute the plan. Now, it seems like you need to take chunks out of your actual vacation time to be actively planning while (supposedly) trying to relax. Hence, why we didn't bother with Genie+

This combined with a generally underwhelming experience - the ordering issue above, holdups with security, not-so-nice CMs and fellow guests, an actual fight my niece witnessed in line for BTMR, and other little things have us thinking twice about going back anytime soon.

 

[pixiedust2u]

I really hope many of you here email a summary of your experience to Disney. If I could c&p this whole thread I would. I think many people are going to pay the one time 15$p/p and for one reason or another realize it’s not worth it and choose not to pay again. Sounds like during slower or even normal crowd times you don’t even need it, or it’s more of a hassle than helpful. And during busy crowd times it’s not even worth it.

I really can’t wrap my head around the stress of logging in at 7am, and only being able to reserve a LL for 5pm for a desired attraction. So your option is to try your luck with standby, revolve your whole day/evening plans around the only LL time given or skip the ride? How are any of those options acceptable? How are any of those options on line with Disney’s (former) commitment to guest satisfaction??

so you book an ADR 60 days out, then you have to choose the MORNING of, after you paid for Genie+, to skip your ADR (as unlikely to be able to move time), or not get the LL for the one ride your kids were most excited to ride? What if your family needs a break, or your kid naps at the ONE time you offered for LL. What if you had plans to hop? How is this is any way a good thing. I just don’t get it. This system sucks.

 

[BrotherCraig]

Main issue I have with Genie+, although I was successful using it, it that I have my head in my phone most of the time. I don't like that. I missed a lot of great stuff because I felt that I needed to be on top of things. I highly recommend NOT doing that. Use Genie+ to plan out your day but don't have the phone in your face the whole time. Universal was much worse for that because of trying to get a VQ for HAgrids the whole time. Kind of takes that magic away in that regard.