And this is why Diaper Genie is a big problem.,,

[RoseGold]

I agree 100% but imagine the chaos that would cause on this board.....

I'm an AP holder and I used G+ the week it launched and it was heaven. I'll never be able to replicate it, unless they make it $40. There are people who will pay it, including us legacy fans who would plan accordingly.

 

[elgerber]

I'm an AP holder and I used G+ the week it launched and it was heaven. I'll never be able to replicate it, unless they make it $40. There are people who will pay it, including us legacy fans who would plan accordingly.

Agreed, we were there launch day too, and the next several days. It was great then!

 

[lowlight]

Sure, fool them once. I've booked plenty of high spenders since Covid who won't be back.

I actually think financially it makes sense to up the price and make the product better for the big spenders.

This has been the overreaching problem with how Disney has handled everything lately. If the product Disney offered (overall, not limited to just Genie+) went up in quality, people could begrudgingly accept the price increase. Conversely, Disney is actually charging more for less now, and not a single person in the entire world should be okay with that, although the list of apologists is endless. Disney was the Apple of the entertainment world, charging Apple prices. Now they are the Android of the entertainment world, charging Apple Pro prices. I've seen enough debate threads on Genie+ to realize they could likely never price it high enough and couple it with enough value to make it worth it, even to big spenders. If everyone uses, nobody is using it, but we're all paying for it.

 

[raidermatt]

If I don't care to look at those "other things" then the phone is not a distraction the "other things" are the distraction.

True. Certainly I spend time on my phone like most of us. But while in Disney/Universal parks on vacation with my family/friends, I personally rarely find the "other things" to be an unwanted distraction keeping me from what I really want to do, repeatedly refreshing an app on my phone. If I found that to be the case, I would have to seriously question why I was on said vacation with my family and friends in the first place.

But yes, that is an opinion based on my personal circumstances. Ymmv.

 

[raidermatt]

No, that is what I was saying. Even with FP+ during the day, refreshing was required. There was often no other window available. But if you refreshed, sometimes a closer window would open up.

Yes, true, if an attraction is completely sold out of FP+/LL, you will have to refresh if you want that attraction at all.

 

[raidermatt]

Not as long as the parks are still selling out and G+ is being purchased by 3/4's of all guests. No financial incentive.

One clarification, the parks are not truly selling out. Disney places artificial caps on the more desirable parks each day so they can better manage their staffing. When MK is blocked, its not because it is anywhere near capacity, its only that Disney wants more people to choose another park.

But yes, as long as short term financial performance is strong, there is no short term financial incentive to make changes.

Long term considerations are another question, and certainly open for debate. After all, Disney parks ran quite successfully for over 60 years focusing more on long term considerations than they do now. But maybe they were just dumb?

 

[reddog21]

True. Certainly I spend time on my phone like most of us. But while in Disney/Universal parks on vacation with my family/friends, I personally rarely find the "other things" to be an unwanted distraction keeping me from what I really want to do, repeatedly refreshing an app on my phone. If I found that to be the case, I would have to seriously question why I was on said vacation with my family and friends in the first place.

But yes, that is an opinion based on my personal circumstances. Ymmv.

Theme parks are only going to be using more phone related technology so I guess you’ll just have to find different places to vacation or use your phone time more efficiently.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Uggg… this makes me nervous for Thanksgiving break.

We're going at Christmas break, so I will be following all you Thanksgiving breakers to see how you make out!

 

[scrappinginontario]

We're going at Christmas break, so I will be following all you Thanksgiving breakers to see how you make out!

You may wish to also follow the, ‘Here Now and Just Back’ thread as it’s where many share their current and recent park experiences.

 

[cakebaker]

I hope you didn't say this as a joke because I was at disney when everyone waited in line. The lines moved all the time; no standing for long times. We actually visited with others while in line. No one cut the lines and there was no anger. If you felt the line was too long a wait, then you just went to another attraction. Now it's so complicated.

We were going to WDW back in the days of no system too and your memory is definitely not mine. Lines for popular rides were long and miserable to deal with. The only good thing was the extra hours for resort guests that we could purchase. I believe it was 2hours and the parks were near empty during that time. That's when we would get the headliners in and then ride less popular rides during regular hours. I have an old photo somewhere of my sister standing by a wait time sign at Space Mountain with the time being well over an hour...outdoors, in the heat of summer. Our first trip back post Covid there was no line system and it was so bad we decided to not return until they brought some kind of system back. I wish we had FP+ back just because we didn't have to be on our phones quite so much and we could pre-plan more, but I'll happily take it over having nothing at all.

 

[Stephanie Isaacson]

It’s not even noon and Test Track, Remi, and Frozen are sold out on Genie +.

EPCOT Genie + is not worth it unless you are happy paying for 2 rides with Frozen and Remy being mutually exclusive. You will get one or the other.

Buying a LL and getting a boarding group is a two person job for Guardians. Solo travelers are out of luck booking both.

Did I mention how much I love getting up at 6:45 AM after a late night at a Halloween party?

This was my experience as well. I did get the first boarding group for GOTG and then did Ratatouille, but by then earliest FP was noon. By the time I could make a new one, everything worth while wad gone until 7-8 pm. Paid $15/person to ride one ride. Total waste for us.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I omitted from my OP that I did go to Guest Services and explained that I now had a conflict and that I could not use the later LL and did not chose that LL time, it was resolved, though she did make sure to make it well known by repeating "It was my slow internet" several times that it was my fault. It was 12:27 and I was watching my watch for my 12:30 Gennie + LL pick. Otherwise I would have explained I was on WDW internet and I know better than to be on WDW internet when a Gennie + time is up 2 hours after park opening . You should switch it off. It is amazing how 2 and 4 hours after park opening all of a sudden everyone is looking down and the internet DOES slow down briefly.

So there is a tip I know, but forgot. At the 2 and 4 hour mark turn off the WDW internet, it slows down giving you later times. However, it should give you the time you pick or at least close, not two hours later. I don't like that feature at all.

 

[DebbieB]

There are 8 deluxe resorts at Disney compared to only 3 at Universal, so it wouldn't necessarily work to give a FP system for free to everyone staying in those resorts. It would overload the lines and would also be less of a money maker for Disney with fewer guests having to pay for the system.

I'm personally fine with Genie+ as it is. There are things I'd improve about it, and we'd also prefer it be free (who wouldn't?). But it has worked well for me so I don't really have any huge complaints.

Plus 12 DVC.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that shortly before Genie was announced, they announced the after hours for Deluxe. When that was announced, my first thought was there goes any chance of free Genie. Now I suspect that may be going away with paid After Hours.

 

[BamaGuy44]

True. Certainly I spend time on my phone like most of us. But while in Disney/Universal parks on vacation with my family/friends, I personally rarely find the "other things" to be an unwanted distraction keeping me from what I really want to do, repeatedly refreshing an app on my phone. If I found that to be the case, I would have to seriously question why I was on said vacation with my family and friends in the first place.

But yes, that is an opinion based on my personal circumstances. Ymmv.

It's as distracting as you make it. If you're the kind of person who has to obsessively refresh non stop until whatever you're looking for pops up regardless of whatever else is going on, yeah it will be distracting. If not, there are plenty of times when swiping on the app for a few minutes wouldn't take away from the park experience or keep you from enjoying whoever you're with.

Sometimes I'm just sitting waiting for my party to be done using the restroom. Sometimes I'm in a queue for 45 minutes. Sometimes I'm taking a break in the shade or waiting in line to pick up food. During those times I don't feel the need to be "living in the moment" so much I can't glance down at my phone here and there. And there are only a few windows during a day when swiping the app would even be needed.

So yeah put me in the camp that thinks this "have to stare at your phone all day" narrative is GREATLY exaggerated.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I'm an AP holder and I used G+ the week it launched and it was heaven. I'll never be able to replicate it, unless they make it $40. There are people who will pay it, including us legacy fans who would plan accordingly.

I'd pay $40 for a G+ that worked like those first few days without blinking. I'd pay more than that. Express Pass at Universal essentially doubles the cost of a ticket, and it's considered a pretty good deal.

Then again their Express Pass is superior to G+ in pretty much every possible way, so it's worth more. I would love Disney to do something similar, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[lowlight]

I'd pay $40 for a G+ that worked like those first few days without blinking. I'd pay more than that. Express Pass at Universal essentially doubles the cost of a ticket, and it's considered a pretty good deal.

Then again their Express Pass is superior to G+ in pretty much every possible way, so it's worth more. I would love Disney to do something similar, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'd pay way more than that, too. Someone with more money than me would probably pay double what I would be willing to pay. See where this goes? You can't price enough people out when people are so willing to dump that kind of money to get ahead of others. It's why VIP tours has a waiting list most of the year despite costing an astronomical sum. So basically we all end up paying more and getting the exact same thing we had before. If half of the people have Genie+, it usefulness is greatly diminished.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'd pay way more than that, too. Someone with more money than me would probably pay double what I would be willing to pay. See where this goes? You can't price enough people out when people are so willing to dump that kind of money to get ahead of others. It's why VIP tours has a waiting list most of the year despite costing an astronomical sum. So basically we all end up paying more and getting the exact same thing we had before. If half of the people have Genie+, it usefulness is greatly diminished.

I mean, that's the scenario we have right now. The latest report is that 70% of guests plan on buying Genie+ for their trips. I do agree that when it comes to Disney parks, people will pay for it no matter how insane the cost is.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I'd pay way more than that, too. Someone with more money than me would probably pay double what I would be willing to pay. See where this goes? You can't price enough people out when people are so willing to dump that kind of money to get ahead of others. It's why VIP tours has a waiting list most of the year despite costing an astronomical sum. So basically we all end up paying more and getting the exact same thing we had before. If half of the people have Genie+, it usefulness is greatly diminished.

Universal seems to have found a point where they price enough people out that the system works extremely well. So I don't accept that it can't be done. Maybe not a popular opinion to hold, but the main problem with G+ is that it's just too cheap.

To me the ultimate was at Universal about 20 years ago, when they weren't selling Express Pass, so the only people that had it were guests at their 2 (at the time) premiere on-site resorts. That was basically not having a line at all for any ride. The Express Pass lines were all basically walk on. Even at the time I knew it was too good to be true and couldn't possibly last LOL. Even now the system is amazing though.

 

[lowlight]

I mean, that's the scenario we have right now. The latest report is that 70% of guests plan on buying Genie+ for their trips. I do agree that when it comes to Disney parks, people will pay for it no matter how insane the cost is.

Oh totally, that's what I meant to say- it's the issue we're having now. I just don't see a way to fix Genie+ when you can't price people out of it, but I'm not smart so I admit there is probably a way I haven't thought of.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Oh totally, that's what I meant to say- it's the issue we're having now. I just don't see a way to fix Genie+ when you can't price people out of it, but I'm not smart so I admit there is probably a way I haven't thought of.

Gotcha. Yeah, I'm not sure I would want to pay $50 or even $100 for the same glitchy Genie+. If it was improved or replaced with a better system, then I would be more on board.