Disney Genie announcement

[Disturbia]

Whoa! I would not count on this being your personal experience for anyone. Even at 7 a.m., if you choose to go for Jungle Cruise, the chances of getting it early in the morning are slim to none. If you get it at 7 a.m. and its time slot isn't until 1:30 or so, then you can not make a second pass until 11 a.m. so from 9-11 a.m. (at the minimum) you will be waiting in lines.

G+ helps with the ones you are able to get but it does not eliminate all of your lines, especially if you ride the bigger rides.

I’ve always booked JC first and have gotten it between 9 am-11 am. If you can’t get that, book Splash or something else and ride JC standby. Booking the second Genie+ ride (even POC) was tricky and I had to cancel one that booked at 3 pm when I clicked 12, but by refreshing I was able to get it at 12:50 pm.

Our second Mk day, booked JC first (around 10 am) and then I booked splash (11:30 am) for our second ride and then rode POC standby. The ride posted time was 45, it certainly didn’t look like that since queue was indoor only. Actual wait was 25 mins. Then booked Big Thunder for after lunch.

 

[Jrb1979]

Here is a quote from Josh D'Amaro about Genie+

The adoption has been far greater than we initially expected,” D’Amaro said. “That’s a good sign. People want the product. We’re able to see that guests who are purchasing Genie+ are getting on more of their preferred attractions. We know they’re moving around the parks in ways that are productive for them and, quite frankly, productive for the park. We can make sure that everybody is enjoying a great experience, and where there are pinch points we can redirect people. The early results are strong for us, but are we done? Not even close.”

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Here is a quote from Josh D'Amaro about Genie+

The adoption has been far greater than we initially expected,” D’Amaro said. “That’s a good sign. People want the product. We’re able to see that guests who are purchasing Genie+ are getting on more of their preferred attractions. We know they’re moving around the parks in ways that are productive for them and, quite frankly, productive for the park. We can make sure that everybody is enjoying a great experience, and where there are pinch points we can redirect people. The early results are strong for us, but are we done? Not even close.”

…..that’s not encouraging. At all.

 

[Jennasis]

Disney and Genie+ can kiss my grits. We just finished a great stay without using Genie+ at all. We rode everything.

Rope drop is key. Early Entry is super important.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Here is a quote from Josh D'Amaro about Genie+

The adoption has been far greater than we initially expected,” D’Amaro said. “That’s a good sign. People want the product. We’re able to see that guests who are purchasing Genie+ are getting on more of their preferred attractions. We know they’re moving around the parks in ways that are productive for them and, quite frankly, productive for the park. We can make sure that everybody is enjoying a great experience, and where there are pinch points we can redirect people. The early results are strong for us, but are we done? Not even close.”

To me, this means that Disney is attempting to fine tune Genie, they seem to be in a data collecting time period right now. I am interested to see what this evolves into

 

[itf]

To me, this means that Disney is attempting to fine tune Genie, they seem to be in a data collecting time period right now. I am interested to see what this evolves into

Got to say as someone going at the end of August I've been very nervous about the beginning of August date for the end of the paid LL in each park being part of G+. I'm hoping they won't make radical changes then giving me no time to learn how they work. Or indeed another bait and switch given I booked this trip before G+ even existed.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

Got to say as someone going at the end of August I've been very nervous about the beginning of August date for the end of the paid LL in each park being part of G+. I'm hoping they won't make radical changes then giving me no time to learn how they work. Or indeed another bait and switch given I booked this trip before G+ even existed.

this is just a guess, but i think they will make small changes, see how they work, and then remove them or build on depending. Major changes to me would just be too much of a risk

 

[planplanplan]

We used Genie+ for a three day trip last week and it worked really well. In three park days with two little kids we managed to ride almost everything. I loved being able to stack evening LL so we did pool time or shows and low wait things in the afternoon and had super fun evenings from 4-8 PM.

We also used it use-as-you-go at MK and were able to walk onto ride after ride with almost no wait. (E.g., tap in at Speedway, book LL for Space, ride Speedway, stop at bathrooms, tap in at Space, book LL for Buzz, ride Space, get snack, tap into Buzz, get LL for teacups, ride Buzz, etc.)

It also helped us rope drop AK, so we could do FOP, Navi, and EE, before walking onto KS with a LL at 8:45 AM, followed by a 9 AM LL at Lion King. Then we stacked for an evening at MK. It worked great.

We had an absolutely terrible experience with FP+ on our 2019 trip. Ride outages and pre-booked FP meant we couldn't adjust to things we missed because of thunderstorms. I also couldn't adjust to the things my kids wanted to ride and things they didn't (once I knew what they deemed as "too scary"), as everything was booked up. We had a short trip so I wasn't able to get FP for headliners (looking at you FOP and 7DMT) and the times for our other FP were inconvenient. Thunderstorms also meant everyone in the parks had gobs of anytime FP so every FP line was loooong. It was a mess. And I'm not evening mentioning the tech issues. We had to go to guest services between every single ride, if not between every rider switch. Blech. Good riddance.

I budgeted Genie+ into the cost of our short trip and stopped thinking about the extra charge. Having access to the short waits was worth it. I might feel differently during a busy time when there aren't enough LL available, but it worked great for us.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Disney and Genie+ can kiss my grits. We just finished a great stay without using Genie+ at all. We rode everything.

Rope drop is key. Early Entry is super important.

Huh.

When we went, we thought RD was now pretty much useless. On our MK day, for example, we started towards Space Mtn, only to learn it was down. By then, people were streaming into Buzz and the cars. 7D was already a joke. We did Pooh, but it was probably 10 by then. After Pooh, Fantasyland was a mob scene, and it wasn't even official Rope Drop.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Disney and Genie+ can kiss my grits. We just finished a great stay without using Genie+ at all. We rode everything.

Rope drop is key. Early Entry is super important.

This is the energy I’m here for

 

[Jennasis]

Huh.

When we went, we thought RD was now pretty much useless. On our MK day, for example, we started towards Space Mtn, only to learn it was down. By then, people were streaming into Buzz and the cars. 7D was already a joke. We did Pooh, but it was probably 10 by then. After Pooh, Fantasyland was a mob scene, and it wasn't even official Rope Drop.

Plans dont/won't always work sadly...On our MK day we hit Space Buzz and HM during early entry, then we did Splash and BTMRR with small waits. Then we snacked on egg rolls and citrus swirls before hitting Tiki Room, Small World, country bears and Philharmagic. Took a midday break for lunch at Steakhouse 71 and went back to resort to swim/nap. we came back to the park at 6:30, rode 7DMT with an iLL$, the carousel, peoplemover, got ice cream and snagged spot in the hub for Enchantment (which I would have skipped except my parents really wanted to see it) and then hit Pirates after. Longest wait of the day was for BtMRR at 25 min.

Our best day was our DHS day. Got there just before 8am and was maybe 10th in line at the tapstiles. They let us in at 8:30 and we walked straight to ToT (knowing they are only running one side and that lines get huge here it's a smart rope drop move)...we walked on ToT and RnRC, then went over to SDD where it was a 10 min wait and still pre-park opening. After SDD we went to TSMM and had a 10 minute wait, then to MMRR with a 20 min wait. Then we mobile ordered breakfast from Ronto's Roasters, ate a leisurely breakfast, used our 10:20am iLL$ for Rise (HUGE hit with the fam) and then finished with a 45 minute wait for Smuggler's Run. On the way out we walked on Star Tours. All of this done by 12:30. After that we all left for a midday break to swim and relax and then met at Disney Springs for a dinner at Homecomin' which we didn't have an ADR for, just walked up and got in.

 

[Jrb1979]

To me, this means that Disney is attempting to fine tune Genie, they seem to be in a data collecting time period right now. I am interested to see what this evolves into

To me the key phrase is "redirecting people". While they may fine tune it, it don't see it being in the guests favor. I see it going up in price and hopefully cut the amount of people that can buy it. Less people that have it the better it would work.

 

[BridgetR3]

I’ve always booked JC first and have gotten it between 9 am-11 am. If you can’t get that, book Splash or something else and ride JC standby. Booking the second Genie+ ride (even POC) was tricky and I had to cancel one that booked at 3 pm when I clicked 12, but by refreshing I was able to get it at 12:50 pm.

Our second Mk day, booked JC first (around 10 am) and then I booked splash (11:30 am) for our second ride and then rode POC standby. The ride posted time was 45, it certainly didn’t look like that since queue was indoor only. Actual wait was 25 mins. Then booked Big Thunder for after lunch.

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I'm definitely not arguing that it can happen....just that it doesn't happen for everyone and definitely not often. We are about to be at Disney for the third time in the last 8 months. Sometimes I get really lucky and sometimes I choose a ride at 9:45 a.m. and by the time it refreshes, it bumps it WAY out. Heck, last trip I bought a Remy for 10:15 a.m. and by the time I paid it had jumped from 10:15 to 2:30 to finally showing it confirmed at 7:40 - 8:40.

Also, those of us who are in the parks often and practice with G+ or virtual queues often are going to have a better chance than the run of the mill family on their once in a lifetime trip. I help people plan Disney vacations for a fun side job and my clients almost NEVER get the rides they want at the times they want. This is so so frustrating to them because not only do they have to wake up at 6:50 a.m. to try and get the ride they want but then they can click on it and it looks like they have it only to not be fast enough in the end.

I'm just saying that the average person is not going to be able to get all of those rides done as quickly as that blog post/chart claimed you could.

 

[kc51570]

Plans dont/won't always work sadly...On our MK day we hit Space Buzz and HM during early entry, then we did Splash and BTMRR with small waits. Then we snacked on egg rolls and citrus swirls before hitting Tiki Room, Small World, country bears and Philharmagic. Took a midday break for lunch at Steakhouse 71 and went back to resort to swim/nap. we came back to the park at 6:30, rode 7DMT with an iLL$, the carousel, peoplemover, got ice cream and snagged spot in the hub for Enchantment (which I would have skipped except my parents really wanted to see it) and then hit Pirates after. Longest wait of the day was for BtMRR at 25 min.

Our best day was our DHS day. Got there just before 8am and was maybe 10th in line at the tapstiles. They let us in at 8:30 and we walked straight to ToT (knowing they are only running one side and that lines get huge here it's a smart rope drop move)...we walked on ToT and RnRC, then went over to SDD where it was a 10 min wait and still pre-park opening. After SDD we went to TSMM and had a 10 minute wait, then to MMRR with a 20 min wait. Then we mobile ordered breakfast from Ronto's Roasters, ate a leisurely breakfast, used our 10:20am iLL$ for Rise (HUGE hit with the fam) and then finished with a 45 minute wait for Smuggler's Run. All of this done by 12:30. After that we all left for a midday break to swim and relax and then met at Disney Springs for a dinner at Homecomin' which we didn't have an ADR for, just walked up and got in.

Plans definitely don’t always work out. On one of our HS days, RnR, ToT, and Rise were all down at open. We paid for genie and focused on MFSR because we had done SDD earlier in the week. Our 2nd pick we got TSMM (that was the best ride available) and the only ride left for our third pick was Star Tours. We called it a day at noon and went back to the pool. RnR was down most of the week we were there. My family never got to ride it. It was also down when we were there in July. So a bad open with multiple headliners down pretty much destroys any touring plan and eliminates any future genie availability for the day.
Some people have good luck. Others don’t-luckily we had 3 different times during the week we went to HS-but still missed out on ToT and RnR. I feel bad for people who only had that one disastrous day at HS.

 

[Kbrb]

Here is a quote from Josh D'Amaro about Genie+

The adoption has been far greater than we initially expected,” D’Amaro said. “That’s a good sign. People want the product. We’re able to see that guests who are purchasing Genie+ are getting on more of their preferred attractions. We know they’re moving around the parks in ways that are productive for them and, quite frankly, productive for the park. We can make sure that everybody is enjoying a great experience, and where there are pinch points we can redirect people. The early results are strong for us, but are we done? Not even close.”

Truth.
LMAO we scared everyone into buying this crap by inflating the wait times on the boards. We never expected them to fall for it but they did. We are now tracking them and in order to make more money If we notice a crowd we will send them to a shop.....Financially early reports are we are swimming in easy cash, will we charge more for less............YOU BET YOUR ***!"

Meanwhile their trip adviser score gets closer to 4* all the time.

D'amro is the Darth vader to chepeks Emperor

 

[Disturbia]

I'm definitely not arguing that it can happen....just that it doesn't happen for everyone and definitely not often. We are about to be at Disney for the third time in the last 8 months. Sometimes I get really lucky and sometimes I choose a ride at 9:45 a.m. and by the time it refreshes, it bumps it WAY out. Heck, last trip I bought a Remy for 10:15 a.m. and by the time I paid it had jumped from 10:15 to 2:30 to finally showing it confirmed at 7:40 - 8:40.

Also, those of us who are in the parks often and practice with G+ or virtual queues often are going to have a better chance than the run of the mill family on their once in a lifetime trip. I help people plan Disney vacations for a fun side job and my clients almost NEVER get the rides they want at the times they want. This is so so frustrating to them because not only do they have to wake up at 6:50 a.m. to try and get the ride they want but then they can click on it and it looks like they have it only to not be fast enough in the end.

I'm just saying that the average person is not going to be able to get all of those rides done as quickly as that blog post/chart claimed you could.

That’s been true of FP+ as well. You had to book them on the dot and longer trips to get the most coveted passes.

We fly in from out of state and stay 5-6 nights. We adapt to whatever is thrown at us. I’ve had SDMT (LLIA$) change from 9:30 am to something like 6 pm (conflicted with Dinner ADRs). In that case, go to the front desk immediately and they can help fix it (before off site guests).

In the video below same thing happened to Molly (7 min 28 sec) but given that there were only 2 time slots I don’t think she was booking SDMT at 7 am.

Personally, I would rather have after hours for HS and MK than deal with Genie+

 

[Disturbia]

Not a fan of G+ here but in forced to use it this coming week. The one time I tried it failed miserably for me so I could use some help. What are your favorite YouTubers that have how to videos on GP? When I Google my favs (the dis, allears) their videos are super old and not up to date since they made adjustments right around thanksgiving. Thank you friends! I leave tomorrow and am excited - but NOT excited about GP

I like Allears and their videos are very detailed. I also just type in Disneyworld and sort by date. Paging Mr Morrow and Kyle Pallo are good for in park experience videos.

I also subscribe to Touringplans (I paid for annual membership and they provide the quickest park hour change update so I can adjust dining), DFB (good tips) and WDW news today (ok).

 

[Disturbia]

Truth.
LMAO we scared everyone into buying this crap by inflating the wait times on the boards. We never expected them to fall for it but they did. We are now tracking them and in order to make more money If we notice a crowd we will send them to a shop.....Financially early reports are we are swimming in easy cash, will we charge more for less............YOU BET YOUR ***!"

Meanwhile their trip adviser score gets closer to 4* all the time.

D'amro is the Darth vader to chepeks Emperor

Come on Vadar was once a Jedi in training

I’m thinking Bib Fortuna to Jabba the Hut.

 

[Leight19]

I havent used genie plus but wanted to add some personal experience from our recent trip using lightening lane through das.

1) The app was not the easiest to navigate for making selections and didn’t work at all on my older iPhone. This may not be the case for genie plus but given it’s in same system I imagine I’d have similar issue.

2) The comparison of saved time waiting seems to be inflated since almost every lightening lane we did with das had waits beyond walk on. Most weren’t too bad but some were long enough they became an issue for our das family member so we couldn’t ride. Bottom line I feel they were putting way to many people through the lightening lane.

3) The app seems to be very glitched or difficult to use as almost every time we used lightening lane at least one cast member was held up with a party having issues with the process. We never had issues on our das selection so may be better then we observed but many were upset with how it performed (our only issue was when son couldn’t tolerate the wait and had to leave mid queue it caused issue canceling current selection to make new one).

 

[Disturbia]

Got to say as someone going at the end of August I've been very nervous about the beginning of August date for the end of the paid LL in each park being part of G+. I'm hoping they won't make radical changes then giving me no time to learn how they work. Or indeed another bait and switch given I booked this trip before G+ even existed.

I think they’ll drop the Paris Premier Pass on us. I believe that’s the reason why we don’t have any after hours events back (similar pricing and use those hours to issue passes).