Best Strategy for a trip in 2022? Lower Your Expectations

[jknc]

The thought of planning another WDW trip after our recent trip gives me massive anxiety.

I love planning our WDW trips but have zero desire to do WDW in next couple years.

 

[jujubiee4]

The thought of planning another WDW trip after our recent trip gives me massive anxiety.

I love planning our WDW trips but have zero desire to do WDW in next couple years.

I remember the times I couldn't wait to get the family on the plane and relax because we were going to Disney World and everything was already picked out and planned.

The optimist in me thinks hopefully they will tweak the system as time goes on. Otherwise
welcome to the new normal.

 

[pixiedust2u]

In the 4th quarter call, Chapek did say it was about a third, but added that Genie+ usage during the holidays were "above 50%". He didn't say how far above, so my 60% may be a bit over. I am also assuming that current figures are at the same rate as during the holidays - because it feels that way.

So take what I said with a grain.

“While we anticipated these products would be popular, we have been blown away by the reception in the quarter, when more than a third of domestic park guests purchased either Genie+, Lightning Lane, or both,” Chapek said, adding that during the busier holiday season, Genie+ usage rose above 50 percent.

I think this a testament to how out of touch he and other execs are with the typical guest experience and expectations.

 

[OThopeful35]

This thread gives me major anxiety I remember when planning a WDW trip used to be fun. Now it seems like a chore. My spirit tells me our upcoming trip is going to be us spending lots of time at our resort. This may be our last WDW trip for awhile. We are DLR APs so we will get our Disney fix there.

 

[jknc]

I remember the times I couldn't wait to get the family on the plane and relax because we were going to Disney World and everything was already picked out and planned.

The optimist in me thinks hopefully they will tweak the system as time goes on. Otherwise
welcome to the new normal.

The general enjoyment and fun just wasn’t there on our trip. For what we all pay at the very least we deserve fun for our money. It was genuinely far too stressful, for me at least, to have fun.

On way home, lady in front of me on plane was thumbing through pics she took with kids @ Universal, I actually felt jealous.

We have a lifetime of memories with our kids at Disney, but after this last trip it’s time to move on.

 

[itf]

Also splitting HS into 2 days seems to make sense.

We're visiting at the same time and I think I've come to the same conclusion (we're doing 2 weeks) we're going to have 3 HS days, and just do half days there and have pool mornings because across the three days we can probably G+ all the big rides (it's already on our ticket) and then do RoTR at the end of the day (we're offsite).

 

[TiggerBouncy]

LOL - I never understood this complaint about planning 60/30 days in advance. How hard is it to pick three attractions you'll want to do. And you could change them.

Regarding FP+, one of the big issues with prebooking 3 rides was that the parks struggled to handle that capacity. There weren't enough attractions and time slots to support that, so that's why they made some fairly meaningless FP's like for shows and stuff.

Anyway, I think they could still handle prebooking but limit it to two prebooked, then you would choose one at a time, day-of, after those were used. That's a 33% reduction in the load on the system right off the bat.

I think people tend to gloss over the "good old days" of FP+. Go back and look at the threads. You will see HUNDREDS of threads about "NO SDD at 60+3 days" or "I can't get FOP" - one of the reasons why we can't prebook Genie+ selections is because one of the biggest complaints on these and other social media's was that at <whatever days before visit> you couldn't get your SDD or TSMM or FOP or whatever it was you wanted.

The problem with the old FP+ system is that you could book x days + days of your trip. So people who stayed 10 days had an advantage over those staying 3 days and people who stayed 3 days pretty much never got any tier 1 rides. People staying offsite were just up the creek. Every day on here I would see dozens of threads about how Disney was only for the rich who could stay 5+ days onsite and the average person couldn't get their rides because they can't afford a week or couldn't afford the exorbitant prices of staying onsite. Basic going reference was at any time SDD was at 60+3 days and FOP at 60+4.

So now Disney has given you what you asked for. No pro-booking. Fair for all.

It's time to remind people the old adage about "the only thing worse then not getting what you ask for, is getting it".


Some reminders for those who have 'forgotten' the past.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointing-fast-pass-morning-today.3784264
https://www.disboards.com/threads/lack-of-fp-options.3798831
https://www.disboards.com/threads/sdd-at-60-2.3772800
https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpasses-hard-to-get.3785333
https://www.disboards.com/threads/chances-of-slinky-or-fopassage-fp-at-60-2.3768814
+ thousands more...

 

[Jennasis]

I think people tend to gloss over the "good old days" of FP+. Go back and look at the threads. You will see HUNDREDS of threads about "NO SDD at 3 days" or "I can't get FOP" - one of the reasons why we can't prebook Genie+ selections is because one of the biggest complaints on these and other social media's was that at <whatever days before visit> you couldn't get your SDD or TSMM or FOP or whatever it was you wanted.

The problem with the old FP+ system is that you could book x days + days of your trip. So people who stayed 10 days had an advantage over those staying 3 days and people who stayed 3 days pretty much never got any tier 1 rides. Every day on here I would see dozens of threads about how Disney was only for the rich who could stay 5+ days and the average person couldn't get their rides because they can't afford a week. Basic going reference was at any time SDD was at 60+3 days and FOP at 60+4.

So now Disney has given you what you asked for. No pro-booking. Fair for all.

It's time to remind people the old adage about "the only thing worse then not getting what you ask for, is getting it".


Some reminders for those who have 'forgotten' the past.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointing-fast-pass-morning-today.3784264
https://www.disboards.com/threads/lack-of-fp-options.3798831
https://www.disboards.com/threads/sdd-at-60-2.3772800
https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpasses-hard-to-get.3785333
https://www.disboards.com/threads/chances-of-slinky-or-fopassage-fp-at-60-2.3768814
+ thousands more...

They never fix anything. They just keep moving the goal post. Original FP was you had to be IN the park AT the ride. FP+ was 60 days. G+ is 7am.

Same problem (not enough capacity). No real solution.

 

[pixiedust2u]

I think people tend to gloss over the "good old days" of FP+. Go back and look at the threads. You will see HUNDREDS of threads about "NO SDD at 3 days" or "I can't get FOP" - one of the reasons why we can't prebook Genie+ selections is because one of the biggest complaints on these and other social media's was that at <whatever days before visit> you couldn't get your SDD or TSMM or FOP or whatever it was you wanted.

The problem with the old FP+ system is that you could book x days + days of your trip. So people who stayed 10 days had an advantage over those staying 3 days and people who stayed 3 days pretty much never got any tier 1 rides. Every day on here I would see dozens of threads about how Disney was only for the rich who could stay 5+ days and the average person couldn't get their rides because they can't afford a week. Basic going reference was at any time SDD was at 60+3 days and FOP at 60+4.

So now Disney has given you what you asked for. No pro-booking. Fair for all.

It's time to remind people the old adage about "the only thing worse then not getting what you ask for, is getting it".


Some reminders for those who have 'forgotten' the past.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointing-fast-pass-morning-today.3784264
https://www.disboards.com/threads/lack-of-fp-options.3798831
https://www.disboards.com/threads/sdd-at-60-2.3772800
https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpasses-hard-to-get.3785333
https://www.disboards.com/threads/chances-of-slinky-or-fopassage-fp-at-60-2.3768814
+ thousands more...

I hear what you are saying and get where you are coming from. But with that being said, FP+ was included in cost. Genie+ is an extra fee. So they negate the fairness by A. charging for it so if you don't have the extra funds or aren't willing to pay you have 0 chance of a LL and B. not everyone who opts into and pays for genie+ gets the same experience . So though Genie+ may have created a more "fair" playing field in some ways, it really doesn't in others. It's all a facade, there is nothing "fair" about genie+.

 

[DisneyFive]

I think people tend to gloss over the "good old days" of FP+. Go back and look at the threads. You will see HUNDREDS of threads about "NO SDD at 3 days" or "I can't get FOP" - one of the reasons why we can't prebook Genie+ selections is because one of the biggest complaints on these and other social media's was that at <whatever days before visit> you couldn't get your SDD or TSMM or FOP or whatever it was you wanted.

The problem with the old FP+ system is that you could book x days + days of your trip. So people who stayed 10 days had an advantage over those staying 3 days and people who stayed 3 days pretty much never got any tier 1 rides. Every day on here I would see dozens of threads about how Disney was only for the rich who could stay 5+ days and the average person couldn't get their rides because they can't afford a week. Basic going reference was at any time SDD was at 60+3 days and FOP at 60+4.

So now Disney has given you what you asked for. No pro-booking. Fair for all.

It's time to remind people the old adage about "the only thing worse then not getting what you ask for, is getting it".


Some reminders for those who have 'forgotten' the past.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointing-fast-pass-morning-today.3784264
https://www.disboards.com/threads/lack-of-fp-options.3798831
https://www.disboards.com/threads/sdd-at-60-2.3772800
https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpasses-hard-to-get.3785333
https://www.disboards.com/threads/chances-of-slinky-or-fopassage-fp-at-60-2.3768814
+ thousands more...

Sure there were those folks, no doubt. I wish we knew what percentage of guests experienced this though. This also doesn't cover the fact that you could snag FOP, SDD, 7DMT day-of if you were willing to put in some time on your phone. (we did it regularly).

You can find many threads about any topic or complaint at WDW.

I will also counter that there are those same type of guests now complaining because they didn't plan or research G+. They are the ones only getting one, maybe two headliners out of it and then complaining about it.

There will always be non planners, and those that just feel like they can arrive at WDW and have pixie dust thrown at them. G+ doesn't fix that, and in fact, makes it worse for the whole now. IMO

Dan

 

[MainMom]

I think people tend to gloss over the "good old days" of FP+. Go back and look at the threads. You will see HUNDREDS of threads about "NO SDD at 60+3 days" or "I can't get FOP" - one of the reasons why we can't prebook Genie+ selections is because one of the biggest complaints on these and other social media's was that at <whatever days before visit> you couldn't get your SDD or TSMM or FOP or whatever it was you wanted.

The problem with the old FP+ system is that you could book x days + days of your trip. So people who stayed 10 days had an advantage over those staying 3 days and people who stayed 3 days pretty much never got any tier 1 rides. People staying offsite were just up the creek. Every day on here I would see dozens of threads about how Disney was only for the rich who could stay 5+ days onsite and the average person couldn't get their rides because they can't afford a week or couldn't afford the exorbitant prices of staying onsite. Basic going reference was at any time SDD was at 60+3 days and FOP at 60+4.

So now Disney has given you what you asked for. No pro-booking. Fair for all.

It's time to remind people the old adage about "the only thing worse then not getting what you ask for, is getting it".


Some reminders for those who have 'forgotten' the past.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/disappointing-fast-pass-morning-today.3784264
https://www.disboards.com/threads/lack-of-fp-options.3798831
https://www.disboards.com/threads/sdd-at-60-2.3772800
https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpasses-hard-to-get.3785333
https://www.disboards.com/threads/chances-of-slinky-or-fopassage-fp-at-60-2.3768814
+ thousands more...

If we are talking onsite booking at 60 days I never once didn’t get what I wanted at a time I wanted booking for 10-13 people. I would even go back and tweak the times after I got all of my days booked. And I booked the headliners within the parameters of tiering. Of course there are exceptions like last minute trips or switching park days or staying offsite, but in the 60+ day booking scenario it was never a problem for me.

 

[pixiedust2u]

Genie+ has successfully accomplished 3 things. 1. It has made Disney more money, specifically Disney execs. 2. It has pissed off a lot of guests 3. it has created a lot more stress and work for cast members who are dealing with unhappy, dissatisfied guests on a daily basis

In my opinion a significant portion of the profits from genie+ should be going right into the pockets of the CMs who are left to deal with the fall out from all of this on a daily basis. Oh and maybe also put some into the pockets of mousekeeping so ya know, guests paying 700$ night can get more than a fresh towel and their trash removed every couple a days

 

[TiggerBouncy]

They never fix anything. They just keep moving the goal post. Original FP was you had to be IN the park AT the ride. FP+ was 60 days. G+ is 7am.

So though Genie+ may have created a more "fair" playing field in some ways, it really doesn't in others. It's all a facade, there is nothing "fair" about genie+.

I will also counter that there are those same type of guests now complaining because they didn't plan or research G+. They are the ones only getting one, maybe two headliners out of it and then complaining about it.

There will always be non planners, and those that just feel like they can arrive at WDW and have pixie dust thrown at them. G+ doesn't fix that, and in fact, makes it worse for the whole now. IMO

So I am not saying G+ is the perfect solution or even a solution. I am just pointing out that one of the complaints about FP+ was that it was not fair because you COULD prebook. It was one of the most common complaints about FP+ in fact. People offered all kinds of solutions - usually aimed around paying extra to book earlier in advance then everyone else (which would make it even less fair).

But no matter how you swing the sword, the fact is people complained about FP+ a lot to Disney and it was usually focused on the inability to book your ride of choice because someone else who was staying longer then you or had some other prebooking advantage was able to get it first.

The most logical 'fix' to that complaint is to remove pre-booking. Which is what they did.

You can argue that all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that Disney TRIED to address a common complaint. Sure their solution carries it's own issues and problems. That doesn't change the fact that people complained and therefore the complaints were taken into account in the next iteration.

 

[gregskellington]

I hear what you are saying and get where you are coming from. But with that being said, FP+ was included in cost. Genie+ is an extra fee. So they negate the fairness by A. charging for it so if you don't have the extra funds or aren't willing to pay you have 0 chance of a LL and B. not everyone who opts into and pays for genie+ gets the same experience . So though Genie+ may have created a more "fair" playing field in some ways, it really doesn't in others. It's all a facade, there is nothing "fair" about genie+.

FP+ also rewarded longer length of stays and punished those staying off site. Frankly, FP+ was the worse offender in the pay to play school of thought.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

If we are talking onsite booking at 60 days I never once didn’t get what I wanted at a time I wanted booking for 10-13 people. I would even go back and tweak the times after I got all of my days booked. And I booked the headliners within the parameters of tiering. Of course there are exceptions like last minute trips or switching park days or staying offsite, but in the 60+ day booking scenario it was never a problem for me.

You then are a very, very lucky person. I don't go to Disney every week - I travel traditionally in Oct/Nov and Jan/Feb (two traditionally light months). For my party of 2 from about.... 2018 forward, I was never able to snag 7DMT, FOP or SDD at 60 days. The best I ever did was 60+2 and I was up right at 6am - I went to work early so I had a super fast connection and usually used 2-3 computers. It generally was not a huge issue for me since I always stay a week - but I would have to plan a resort day on day 1 and EPCOT on day 2 so that I could get the T1 rides starting day 3+.

Was I unique? Based on the daily threads on these boards (of which I linked a few) - not even close. My experience fell well within 'average'.

 

[pixiedust2u]

FP+ also rewarded longer length of stays and punished those staying off site. Frankly, FP+ was the worse offender in the pay to play school of thought.

but you weren't PAYING (extra) for FP+! For me anyway that's a BIG difference. They are charging for something, and it offers 0 guarantee for anyone. It's like having a group of people sitting a slot machine and each putting 150$ into a slot and 1/3 of them winning. If I want to gamble I go to a Vegas, not WDW.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

In my opinion a significant portion of the profits from genie+ should be going right into the pockets of the CMs who are left to deal with the fall out from all of this on a daily basis. Oh and maybe also put some into the pockets of mousekeeping so ya know, guests paying 700$ night can get more than a fresh towel and their trash removed every couple a days

So I do not say Genie+ is the perfect solution, or even a great solution.

But one thing you will never hear me argue against is paying CM's. I have zero objection to all the money gained from Genie+ and ILL$ going right into CM raises as long as they are targeted to the park front line CM's.

Although TBH I think the biggest problem right now is getting MORE CM's so the ones there are not as overworked. From what I hear, that's been a problem though and not purely a financial one (although arguably enough money can solve any issue).

 

[gregskellington]

but you weren't PAYING (extra) for FP+! For me anyway that's a BIG difference. They are charging for something, and it offers 0 guarantee for anyone. It's like having a group of people sitting a slot machine and each putting 150$ into a slot and 1/3 of them winning. If I want to gamble I go to a Vegas, not WDW.

You're entitled to your opinion, I just struggle to see how $15 is as outrageous (for me and my party) as off site guests being left with literal scraps for FP selections and those with shorter length of stays not having a chance at top tier rides.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

but you weren't PAYING (extra) for FP+! For me anyway that's a BIG difference. They are charging for something, and it offers 0 guarantee for anyone. It's like having a group of people sitting a slot machine and each putting 150$ into a slot and 1/3 of them winning. If I want to gamble I go to a Vegas, not WDW.

But you WERE paying for another day at the parks. Any way you slice it, FP+ gave an advantage to someone staying onsite over offsite (costs WAY more) and gave an advantage to staying 5 days over 4 days (which cost you an extra $500+ AT LEAST).

You didn't pay for FP+ DIRECTLY, but what you paid INDIRECTLY was SIGNIFICANTLY more for that 1 day advantage.

 

[MainMom]

You then are a very, very lucky person. I don't go to Disney every week - I travel traditionally in Oct/Nov and Jan/Feb (two traditionally light months). For my party of 2 from about.... 2018 forward, I was never able to snag 7DMT, FOP or SDD at 60 days. The best I ever did was 60+2 and I was up right at 6am - I went to work early so I had a super fast connection and usually used 2-3 computers. It generally was not a huge issue for me since I always stay a week - but I would have to plan a resort day on day 1 and EPCOT on day 2 so that I could get the T1 rides starting day 3+.

Was I unique? Based on the daily threads on these boards (of which I linked a few) - not even close. My experience fell well within 'average'.

We traveled in the summer, typically the beginning of June, usually 6ish day trips. We always do Magic Kingdom our first full day so day 2. My FP were usually PP, HM & 7DMT. We would RD BTMRR & Splash. I would also get 7DMT towards the end of the trip. I did not have problems With FOP or SDD. I did book slinky for the evening as we wanted to ride at night. Idk why I could book headliners for 10+ and others had trouble.