Best Strategy for a trip in 2022? Lower Your Expectations

[Grumpy by Birth]

I'm going to guess about a thousand times worse than with FP+ (where you had to do the same thing race but at least you could get *something* locked in to plan around).... and only about 100 times worse than doing the same race thing for dining (but at least you can try to modify for weeks to make it any better) ?

With FP+, you did have lots of people logging in each morning to secure their FPs, so that could still have affected the server capacity (However, I can't recall ever seeing widespread reports of server capacity issues when trying to secure FPs under the old system). One critical difference was that people were clicking on various different times throughout the day, instead of "next available" being the only option. So, if you were trying to get an early time slot, you weren't competing against EVERYone for that FP, because a lot of people wanted LATER times anyway (and vice versa).

Under the current system, some of the early slots are going to people who would actually prefer a later time, but they can't afford to delay and hope they get a late enough time before all the slots are gone, so they just click as fast as they can and settle for getting ANY time. Then some of the people who WANTED those earlier slots are pushed to the later slots just because they weren't quite as quick on the draw, or had a glitch, etc.

So theoretically, I have the late time slot you wanted and you have the early time slot I wanted. But we're just supposed to be thankful that the Genie saw fit to give us anything (kind of reminds me of how Genies are notorious for taking advantage of a wisher not phrasing their wish precisely enough and getting something they hadn't bargained for!).

And with no "modify" function, you have to risk being left empty-handed if you cancel what you did get to try for a more preferable time.

 

[Boardwalk III]

I am going to reply with some very specific details.

These behaviors are scattered in other's posts and it is hard to find it all in one place.

I am not trying to badmouth Disney....it is a really neat place, but Genie+ (even if free) is terrible.

1- Since they decided to have everyone on the platform at precisely 7am, the system becomes slow and unstable. A page that normally takes 1/2 to 1 second to load may take 5,6,7,8,9 seconds to load while the seats for rides are just flying off the shelf. This is not a "phone" problem...it is a problem with their capacity to handle the huge volume of activity. Since you have to navigate a couple of pages, those delays add up.

2- There are errors or "something went wrong" events that happen right when you are under the gun at 7am.

3- Unlike FP+, Genie+ DOES NOT hold the seat in suspense for you as you are going through the screens. With FP+, if it showed you a seat at 9:20 am, that is what you got........With Genie+, it will show you a seat at 9:20 am and then award you a 5:10pm seat........Infuriating!!

4- On a couple of occasions we were awarded a seat, but when we clicked on the "view my day" blue button on the last page, we might get an error or a glitch.......and then discover that the seat had not been "latched".....we then saw that we had nothing!!..........and had to start the process over and get an even later seat. This behavior would happen from time to time at all hours of the day.

Let me be clear.......we are experienced FP+ users and I have used Genie+ in Oct/Dec/Jan, and Feb.

During the months listed I had over 20 Genie+ days.......so my experience was not a one time "oops"

Getting a ride should not feel so much like gambling at a casino......there should not be so much left to chance.

I can not tell you how emotionally impactful it is to have everything riding on your 7am selection and get poor results through no fault of your own.

We learned to just temporarily accept the crappy hand we were dealt.......we then toured efficiently for our 30 minute early period.....and kept on touring for an extra hour or so while the lines were still somewhat short.....and THEN we would go to GR and give up more precious time to talk to a CM.

In 90 percent of our interactions, we received a fair and/or generous solution.

If we had NOT gone to GR, we would have had our worst experience ever at the parks.....I am not kidding or exaggerating.

Thanks for this. Went in November and agree with all of this and more. We are also very experienced Disney-goers, 20-year DVC owners and average about one trip per year. I’d also add to this that trying to go with a larger group and riding/seeing anything together is near impossible (other than paid ILL’s).

We’ve just canceled our trip for the first week of April. We have AP’s and had an amazing Boardwalk view Villa booked, but I just can’t do it again so soon. Had a great time with our family and friends, enjoyed great weather & some amazing meals, but the park experience was simply miserable. Sigh

 

[OhDannyBoy]

For some (not me) the heavy planning and intricate scheduling/deadlines etc were anything but “magical.” I had several friends who, when I told them about my planning process, were turned off from going to the parks at all.

Honestly, when I go back, and it's going to be a while, I'm not really going to plan anything. No planned meals, no fast pass, nothing. I'm just going to wing it.

 

[Jennasis]

I am going to reply with some very specific details.

These behaviors are scattered in other's posts and it is hard to find it all in one place.

I am not trying to badmouth Disney....it is a really neat place, but Genie+ (even if free) is terrible.

1- Since they decided to have everyone on the platform at precisely 7am, the system becomes slow and unstable. A page that normally takes 1/2 to 1 second to load may take 5,6,7,8,9 seconds to load while the seats for rides are just flying off the shelf. This is not a "phone" problem...it is a problem with their capacity to handle the huge volume of activity. Since you have to navigate a couple of pages, those delays add up.

2- There are errors or "something went wrong" events that happen right when you are under the gun at 7am.

3- Unlike FP+, Genie+ DOES NOT hold the seat in suspense for you as you are going through the screens. With FP+, if it showed you a seat at 9:20 am, that is what you got........With Genie+, it will show you a seat at 9:20 am and then award you a 5:10pm seat........Infuriating!!

4- On a couple of occasions we were awarded a seat, but when we clicked on the "view my day" blue button on the last page, we might get an error or a glitch.......and then discover that the seat had not been "latched".....we then saw that we had nothing!!..........and had to start the process over and get an even later seat. This behavior would happen from time to time at all hours of the day.

Let me be clear.......we are experienced FP+ users and I have used Genie+ in Oct/Dec/Jan, and Feb.

During the months listed I had over 20 Genie+ days.......so my experience was not a one time "oops"

Getting a ride should not feel so much like gambling at a casino......there should not be so much left to chance.

I can not tell you how emotionally impactful it is to have everything riding on your 7am selection and get poor results through no fault of your own.

We learned to just temporarily accept the crappy hand we were dealt.......we then toured efficiently for our 30 minute early period.....and kept on touring for an extra hour or so while the lines were still somewhat short.....and THEN we would go to GR and give up more precious time to talk to a CM.

In 90 percent of our interactions, we received a fair and/or generous solution.

If we had NOT gone to GR, we would have had our worst experience ever at the parks.....I am not kidding or exaggerating.

We're you on my trip with me in early December?? I could have written your post. I feel every word of your pain.

 

[SmallWorld71]

DD and I took a trip in February 2021 to celebrate her 18th birthday and it was one of the best, most relaxing Disney trips we have ever had. No rope drop (due to social distancing) and no FP really helped in making that trip such an enjoyable and relaxing one. Even with all the social distancing protocols/ reduced capacity in place, the lines went so much faster and we got so much done. So much was not open yet and we went in with low expectations and were pleasantly surprised with an amazing experience. I was really hoping that they didn't bring back any version of FP; sad that they brought back a much worse version.

 

[Scalemaster34]

DD and I took a trip in February 2021 to celebrate her 18th birthday and it was one of the best, most relaxing Disney trips we have ever had. No rope drop (due to social distancing) and no FP really helped in making that trip such an enjoyable and relaxing one. Even with all the social distancing protocols/ reduced capacity in place, the lines went so much faster and we got so much done. So much was not open yet and we went in with low expectations and were pleasantly surprised with an amazing experience. I was really hoping that they didn't bring back any version of FP; sad that they brought back a much worse version.

But the key to all that was crowd levels.. we did a trip last April and things were mostly a walk on, even if rides had a wait it was under 30 Min. Didn't miss FP at all....

Bottom line is these parks can't really handle the loads Disney now expects... no amount of fiddling with how people get in line is going to change that. You have an attractions that can only handle 10k - 20K guest in a day (if it can stay up all day) but 40K+ guest in the park (as I understand it MK is 90K at peak)... it's just not going to work. I agree the worst part is trying to book Genie+ at the last minute and not really knowing what you can do till the next window opens. Heck even if you stay for a whole week, you might not be able to "hit it right" to get every attraction you want... as I type this Hollywood Studios has four attraction with almost two hour waits and four others at one hour... Only real solution is fewer people in the parks - either reduce capacity or you expand your offerings - more attractions, or better more parks. Either option impact the bottom line...

My view... when resort reservation open at rack rates, so should dining and Genie+ reservations. 1st come - 1st served. Those that wait for later to book or especially those that book discounted rooms, shouldn't be on the same playing field as those that paid full price and planned ahead. That said I'm a FL Resident and I general wait for discounts, and do last minute trips.... but at this point I'm not winning either way.

In the end, as long as people will come and pay the prices... the course is set.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Option 3 is that they limit park entry to the point where waits are not consistently longer than, say 60 minutes. Would this essentially be the same as your option 2 because they’d just raise the prices to make up for smaller crowds? Maybe. Probably.
In addition, as an several-time parkgoer, but not expert like many here, the rants about the amount of planning required to get a reasonable experience really resonates. The expert parkgoers are accustomed to doing all the research, being available down to the minute for advance reservations and then at the parks, knowing how to manage all that on the app-
A previous poster is right on - it takes a ton of work to get a good amount of rides and experiences in for the money, and even with pre-planning, you’re on your phone after every ride and zigzagging across the park. It’s like the Amazing Race.

I vaguely consider myself to be reasonably well versed in park touring. Yet I have never subscribed to the idea of down to the last minute advance reservations. To me, that has always been a recipe for disaster at WDW. Just like, you know, every visit something unexpected happens that causes some sort of unexpected delay.

Nor did I ever stress out about booking FP+. For the most, I was able to get all the headliners. We also have never minded walking across the park. I'll take 10min of zigzagging over 60min of motionless queuing.

On the other hand, I did not like being locked into booking a FP+ so far in advance. I kinda like that aspect of Genie+, except for the fact that park reservations are now required. I also welcome the ap giving us same day dining options - about time!

One area where current WDW has been truly awful though is that you can no longer call them without waiting on hold for an hour. That's just plain terrible service. Before the pandemic, I had a visit booked, and trying to get it moved/rebooked was a nightmare.

Apples to apples, I can no longer book anything close to the package I had to cancel for the price that I was supposed to pay for it. That ship has completely sailed off into Neveragainland.

One big concern I have for Genie+ though is that you don't know what you are buying, and you can't change a pass after it is booked. So like, at 7am, you can be fairly certain you'll get one LL, but you don't have any assurance that you'll get at least 3 passes, or that the 'passes' offered will be of any value. If Dumbo has no standby wait, then a 'pass' for Dumbo isn't worth anything.

On top of that, there is no refund/extension option if I can't use the pass, or it otherwise ends up being useless to me. By and large, Disney didn't used to operate that way (expiring +nonrefundable.) They have slowly devolved their service level cut by cut.

 

[SmallWorld71]

But the key to all that was crowd levels.. we did a trip last April and things were mostly a walk on, even if rides had a wait it was under 30 Min. Didn't miss FP at all....

Bottom line is these parks can't really handle the loads Disney now expects... no amount of fiddling with how people get in line is going to change that. You have an attractions that can only handle 10k - 20K guest in a day (if it can stay up all day) but 40K+ guest in the park (as I understand it MK is 90K at peak)... it's just not going to work. I agree the worst part is trying to book Genie+ at the last minute and not really knowing what you can do till the next window opens. Heck even if you stay for a whole week, you might not be able to "hit it right" to get every attraction you want... as I type this Hollywood Studios has four attraction with almost two hour waits and four others at one hour... Only real solution is fewer people in the parks - either reduce capacity or you expand your offerings - more attractions, or better more parks. Either option impact the bottom line...

My view... when resort reservation open at rack rates, so should dining and Genie+ reservations. 1st come - 1st served. Those that wait for later to book or especially those that book discounted rooms, shouldn't be on the same playing field as those that paid full price and planned ahead. That said I'm a FL Resident and I general wait for discounts, and do last minute trips.... but at this point I'm not winning either way.

In the end, as long as people will come and pay the prices... the course is set.

Crowds definitely did factor in. Although, it was Mardi Gras and President’s week so it was one of their busiest weeks with all the restrictions.
That said I have been at much busier times, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s when the parks were at capacity, which meant wall to wall people in many cases. Even with massive Christmas crowds we were able to do a lot more than people are reporting now, however. I think a large factor in that was all the extended hours. MK was open at 7am and then closed at 1am, with some extra magic hours to 3am! From about 7am-9:30 we walked on ride after ride. It makes a huge difference in one’s appreciation of the parks and overall happiness if you are able to get your must do’s done early in the day. Everything after that feels like a bonus.

 

[kc51570]

Crowds definitely did factor in. Although, it was Mardi Gras and President’s week so it was one of their busiest weeks with all the restrictions.
That said I have been at much busier times, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s when the parks were at capacity, which meant wall to wall people in many cases. Even with massive Christmas crowds we were able to do a lot more than people are reporting now, however. I think a large factor in that was all the extended hours. MK was open at 7am and then closed at 1am, with some extra magic hours to 3am! From about 7am-9:30 we walked on ride after ride. It makes a huge difference in one’s appreciation of the parks and overall happiness if you are able to get your must do’s done early in the day. Everything after that feels like a bonus.

Last February they still had capacity restrictions in place, so crowds would have been lower than now or pre-pandemic for that same week even if it was President’s Day/Mardi Gras week. More extended hours both early and late as you mentioned would definitely be helpful now and in the future, not just around the holidays. Although so many are lining up earlier and earlier these days before rope drop that the advantage has greatly diminished.

 

[Kingoglow]

Bottom line is these parks can't really handle the loads Disney now expects... no amount of fiddling with how people get in line is going to change that. You have an attractions that can only handle 10k - 20K guest in a day (if it can stay up all day) but 40K+ guest in the park (as I understand it MK is 90K at peak)... it's just not going to work. [snip] Only real solution is fewer people in the parks - either reduce capacity or you expand your offerings - more attractions, or better more parks. Either option impact the bottom line...

Every time I hear Disney announcing a new resort or DVC property, I know things are going to get worse and worse. They obviously want to build and sell more rooms, when at the same time they wont restrict the number of off-site guest or adda fifth gate. They are doing this purposefully to continue to raise prices because the most common complaint is 'too crowded/' It is all by their own design.

My biggest complaint about Genie+ is not being able to select my time slot. It makes planning Table Service meals (or meal times in general) impossible. Truly, it is not worth spending $15 per person on any day that you want to have a sit down meal. You might have a bad pull on one or more LL passes that are available during your meal time. So it is a choice between Snack carts or Quick Service meals, or not buying Genie+. Honestly choosing both would save money.

 

[woodleygrrl]

We had booked the trip we took to WDW two weeks ago back in 2019. So unfortunately we booked park hopper tickets back then and because we booked a package we were kind locked into the type of package and tickets we booked. That was one of the things that really made me mad on this trip: the inability to park hop until 2pm. By the time we park hopped to the new park there were no rides left to ride. The lines were all hour+ waits and there were no ILL's left to purchase at the new park. That to me is an extreme rip off. They need to just get rid of the park hopper if you really can't use it.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Every time I hear Disney announcing a new resort or DVC property, I know things are going to get worse and worse. They obviously want to build and sell more rooms, when at the same time they wont restrict the number of off-site guest or adda fifth gate. They are doing this purposefully to continue to raise prices because the most common complaint is 'too crowded/' It is all by their own design.

My biggest complaint about Genie+ is not being able to select my time slot. It makes planning Table Service meals (or meal times in general) impossible. Truly, it is not worth spending $15 per person on any day that you want to have a sit down meal. You might have a bad pull on one or more LL passes that are available during your meal time. So it is a choice between Snack carts or Quick Service meals, or not buying Genie+. Honestly choosing both would save money.

Yeah Dining was a pain, as was having to criss-cross the parks more often due to inability to really plan, vs taking what there is. With FP+ the TIER ONE attraction might be get what you can, but from there you could plan out times for the other two FPs with you "touring plan" and with your dinning, and with your resort time. We normally do rope drop, then around noon head back to resort to rest a little and come back in the late afternoon or evening. We still did it a couple of time, but other there just wasn't a way to make it work with the times we could get attractions that we wanted. When the big attractions are gone within minutes of 7AM... you take what you can get and then adapt as best you can from that point onward.

I'm just happy I never did buy into DVC...

 

[Belle5]

I'm just happy I never did buy into DVC...

You and me, both, my friend!

 

[woodleygrrl]

You and me, both, my friend!

Nah man, I am still happy I bought into it. I paid cash for it and now I can use the points to hang in Vero Beach, Hawaii and Hilton Head. We go to Florida every Spring for Spring Training (when it actually happens.) Vero Beach is a great place to make a home base. I am still getting value from it.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Disney sent me a survey on one of our park days......DHS.

There was a specific section on G+ and based on all the variables they listed......and they said to check all that apply.....they know there are issues with performance and satisfaction.

There were also areas for me to type in up to 500 characters worth of comments.

I entered the same material that I have posted here.

I was sure to praise our PhotoPass experience, as that was the part of the trip that my daughter and I enjoyed most.

 

[hultrain]

I am going to reply with some very specific details.

These behaviors are scattered in other's posts and it is hard to find it all in one place.

I am not trying to badmouth Disney....it is a really neat place, but Genie+ (even if free) is terrible.

1- Since they decided to have everyone on the platform at precisely 7am, the system becomes slow and unstable. A page that normally takes 1/2 to 1 second to load may take 5,6,7,8,9 seconds to load while the seats for rides are just flying off the shelf. This is not a "phone" problem...it is a problem with their capacity to handle the huge volume of activity. Since you have to navigate a couple of pages, those delays add up.

2- There are errors or "something went wrong" events that happen right when you are under the gun at 7am.

3- Unlike FP+, Genie+ DOES NOT hold the seat in suspense for you as you are going through the screens. With FP+, if it showed you a seat at 9:20 am, that is what you got........With Genie+, it will show you a seat at 9:20 am and then award you a 5:10pm seat........Infuriating!!

4- On a couple of occasions we were awarded a seat, but when we clicked on the "view my day" blue button on the last page, we might get an error or a glitch.......and then discover that the seat had not been "latched".....we then saw that we had nothing!!..........and had to start the process over and get an even later seat. This behavior would happen from time to time at all hours of the day.

Let me be clear.......we are experienced FP+ users and I have used Genie+ in Oct/Dec/Jan, and Feb.

During the months listed I had over 20 Genie+ days.......so my experience was not a one time "oops"

Getting a ride should not feel so much like gambling at a casino......there should not be so much left to chance.

I can not tell you how emotionally impactful it is to have everything riding on your 7am selection and get poor results through no fault of your own.

We learned to just temporarily accept the crappy hand we were dealt.......we then toured efficiently for our 30 minute early period.....and kept on touring for an extra hour or so while the lines were still somewhat short.....and THEN we would go to GR and give up more precious time to talk to a CM.

In 90 percent of our interactions, we received a fair and/or generous solution.

If we had NOT gone to GR, we would have had our worst experience ever at the parks.....I am not kidding or exaggerating.

We did not have any app crashing or super slow down issues at 7:00 am last week. We also never had a reserved LL not show up on our My Day page. Sometimes had to refresh but it was there. We did have some issues with the app when on wifi in really crowded areas of the park but that’s not unusual. Used to happen before Genie+. Usually switching to cellular helped.

i agree fully with the issue of LL times not being held as you go through the process. That was the worst part of Genie+ for us. Other than that it worked like it was supposed to. That being said I still prefer the old FP system.

 

[Summer2018]

Yeah Dining was a pain, as was having to criss-cross the parks more often due to inability to really plan, vs taking what there is. With FP+ the TIER ONE attraction might be get what you can, but from there you could plan out times for the other two FPs with you "touring plan" and with your dinning, and with your resort time. We normally do rope drop, then around noon head back to resort to rest a little and come back in the late afternoon or evening. We still did it a couple of time, but other there just wasn't a way to make it work with the times we could get attractions that we wanted. When the big attractions are gone within minutes of 7AM... you take what you can get and then adapt as best you can from that point onward.

I'm just happy I never did buy into DVC...

Buying DVC would have been a colossal mistake for us…thank God we didn’t pull the trigger.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

With FP+, you did have lots of people logging in each morning to secure their FPs

You did, but at least it was somewhat divided up with on-site going 60 days out and off-site at 30. Having that distinction, I'm sure, alleviated some of the pressure on the system. Now literally everyone is on at 7am. And not for nothing, I thought when Genie+ was originally announced on-site guests were supposed to have the perk of 7am Genie+/ILL booking where off-site wouldn't get that same window.

 

[Summer2018]

Yeah Dining was a pain, as was having to criss-cross the parks more often due to inability to really plan, vs taking what there is. With FP+ the TIER ONE attraction might be get what you can, but from there you could plan out times for the other two FPs with you "touring plan" and with your dinning, and with your resort time. We normally do rope drop, then around noon head back to resort to rest a little and come back in the late afternoon or evening. We still did it a couple of time, but other there just wasn't a way to make it work with the times we could get attractions that we wanted. When the big attractions are gone within minutes of 7AM... you take what you can get and then adapt as best you can from that point onward.

I'm just happy I never did buy into DVC...

We like to go to MK for four days out of our trip, and we concentrate on one area of MK per day (morning). We go to Epcot for two days and do Future World one morning and World Showcase one afternoon/evening since it opens late. Crisscrossing across the parks would be too much walking on my arthritic knees. Focusing attention in one area, and riding all the rides there is more enjoyable for us. We leave the majority of the parks midday to relax at the pool at the Polynesian. We prefer table service most meals (loved the dining plan) rather than fast food on the run.

We park hopped and ran ourselves ragged when DD was a child, but thankfully those days are over. It is a vacation after all, and a very expensive one at that especially the way we like to go deluxe. Relaxation should be built into it. Genie+ will NOT be a part of any future plans. At this point, I guess we will continue to rope drop and hope that we can ride a couple of rides without standing in long lines. Rather than 6 or 7 park days, I think we will enjoy more resort days with only 4 park days. I also see us going to WDW much less often going forward. Disneyland was perfect for us. I see us switching it up and going there more often.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Buying DVC would have been a colossal mistake for us…thank God we didn’t pull the trigger.

I'm also so glad we haven't bought. We've tossed the idea around so many times over the years, usually with me trying persuade my husband but we always get hung up on a number of factors and we've never pulled the trigger. Right now I'm happy about that, with the current state of things.