Disney Genie announcement

[itf]

Maybe they are working on your case right now...hopefully. After they said it was resolved for me, they closed the case in live chat. Did they close your live chat case yet?

No just a an auto-reply message at 11:54 US time yesterday AM then nothing.

 

[Juventus]

The bar graphs for ride wait time estimates....are there numerical (time) values we can see? I don't know what a bar half way up means...30 minute wait?

I sure touring plans are still the way to go for accurate times from what I've seen here?

 

[zebrastreyepz]

This is a pet peeve of mine too. It’s not a regional variation, it’s a misspelling!


Lightening = make or become lighter in weight, pressure, or severity.

Lightning = the occurrence of a natural electrical discharge of very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically also thunder.

So, we're here to help with Disney and Grammar/Spelling?

Sheesh. Can't you people UNDERSTAND that some folks are DIFFERENTLY ABLED in this arena?

 

[CWTC]

Personally I love the it. I hated all the planning and booking involved. My family is a go with the flow type.

And my family loved being able to book midday 60+10 midday fast passes so there was no reason to hurry to get up and leave. No program they roll out is perfect for every user but G+ feels a bit like a hamster wheel - we had a perfectly nice day using it yesterday but on the bus back to BCV from Boo Bash I added it to our APs for today. I just woke up and can’t go back to sleep because I don’t want to miss 7am. FP+ isn't coming back and we'll have to adapt because we'd prefer to not stand in line. I miss sleeping in.

 

[PaladinButters]

Well - then they got you and they were hoping some people would have short memories. But I think the vast majority of here are perfectly capable of comparing this to the old system.

I mean..... I'm fully aware that FP+ scheduling was better (for us, personally) but there were plenty of people on the boards here asking for a Maxpass/ no pre-schedule type thing (here it is, almost what you asked for) or no FP return of any kind at all (I'll never understand those people). I didn't forget that. But since FP+ is not an option, I have to judge what's in front of me when deciding if I'm going to give the mouse any more money at all. Right now this doesn't sound like a deal breaker. But, I haven't used it myself (or chose not to buy it but experienced the parks with others that do buy) so come see me in 95 more days and maybe I'll feel different.

But I will do anything to avoid standby, so I can see value. May not be everything I wanted, but I will take it over what I dealt with during spring break standby lines and having no options.

I found my people! I also pay for Express Pass at Universal parks, Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Fair parks, and Flash Pass at Six Flags parks, and formerly MaxPass at Disneyland. It's built into the ticket pricing already in my head.

 

[KNovacovschi]

6 days x $15 day + tax = $187?

What am I missing?

It’s the price for PH and Genie+

 

[Jonfw2]

In banking, we do what’s called “stress testing” where we simulate how banks would operate under the worst possible scenarios- massive recession, market crash, etc.

The stress test for Genie+ is coming at Christmas.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

It’s been interesting following this thread today. Unfortunately it is just deepening my disappointment in what Disney has become.

No doubt (in my mind at least) Disney has been going in a negative direction for some time now, but this new pay for play, stop trying to beat them and join them (OR is Disney ACTUALLY going to BEAT the other guys at separating you from your money?), nickel and dime commoditization of the parks has taken Disney over the edge.

Is there really any arguing that G+ is less flexible than any previous iteration of FP, and that G+ and ILL$ together cost quite a bit more $ to get what used to be included in the price of your already pricey admission ticket?

I didn’t think so.

However, it’s not the $$$ that disappoints me the most. I mean, people will be clamoring for the whole Genie/LL thing. With so much invested in an expensive trip already what’s a few more five hundy or a thousand bucks across the fam? We are all pot committed, and Disney knows it. Like many we could afford it….and I’ll probably disappoint myself and use it all sparingly despite despising the direction….even though my gut says to not pay out of protest.

No, more so than the $$ it’s the lack of flexibility, the lack of any real sense of community and family that Disney has been showing, and seems to be reinforcing with Genie’s help, that disappoints me most. It wasn’t all that long ago that Disney touted Grand Gatherings and the coming together of generations of families in a Magical place. Now the only magic going on is **POOF** Genie disappearing money from your wallet.

Seriously, one can only make LL reservations for 12 people? We’ve got a trip of 19 people coming up next year. Same 19 people we went with three or four years ago. Then, with FP+, while we had multiple people making FP reservations, at least we could coordinate and have everyone get FP+ reservations around the same time. We succeeded in getting FP rides together, the whole group of 19. There’s not a snowballs chance in hades that happens with G+ next year, as who know what return times might be offered when we have multiple people, at different times, try to make LL reservations, assuming that every family in our group of 19 will even go for adding upwards of $40 a day pp to the cost of the vacation.

People have been opining for a while that Disney no longer cares about loyal, long term guests. They obviously don’t care about large groups, either. This whole thing just reinforces, for me at least, that all Disney really cares about any more is separating as much money from a family as quickly as possible, then moving on to the next, and the next. Disney has always been expensive, but it never felt like they were fleecing you. It’s a shame that has changed as much as it has.

perfectly said.

 

[mshanson3121]

IMO from reading the comments, I think the issue people have with Genie+ is not necessarily the cost but that they took away the spreadsheet planning that most loved. I would bet even if Genie+ was free most would hate it.


Personally I love the it. I hated all the planning and booking involved. My family is a go with the flow type.

Honestly, I hate everything about it. I hate the cost, I hate that it doesn't include rides that used to be included, so now we have to pay even more for those, I hate that we can't choose times. As a family that has to take a 3-4 hour break in the afternoon for health reasons - this is an especially huge drawback, since it now means even after paying almost $100 CDN extra per day, we'll be lucky if we can get times that work for us on rides that we want.

We are pretty go with the flow people. We don't walk into the park with a spreadsheet. We stop and smell the roses. But FP+ gave us that luxury by allowing us to book those 3 main rides we wanted to do, at a time that worked for us without having to stand in line for 1-2 hours - for each ride. So then, we could just wing it for the rest of our day.

 

[jimim]

Ok I’m trying to understand this all. Not like it matters for me cause I won’t step foot in the parks again till maybe end of next year but.

the extra 2 paid rides. U guys call them ill$? Not LL right?

you can book them back to back at 7 am if on property right? U don’t have to use the 1 and then book second right?

if so I can go on at 7 and grab say rise and Mickey Minnie train for at night in Hollywood studios right?

But they have to be 2 hours apart thought right? Which I think is pathetic if I’m paying extra for a ride. Complete waste of time. Or maybe it will be nice at night. Go on one ride. Grab a snack walk a little chill out. We like to crush it at night when we don’t watch a parade or show. We used to love doing that in magic kingdom when lines allowed it. Or refreshing like a mad man from ride to ride later at night.

ahhhh the good ol’ days. “Kids when I was your age. . .”

 

[Boardwalk III]

The bar graphs for ride wait time estimates....are there numerical (time) values we can see? I don't know what a bar half way up means...30 minute wait?

I sure touring plans are still the way to go for accurate times from what I've seen here?

This! So crazy

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

Here we go again...

 

[catnik]

Yep, slinky was filled for the day by noon. But it's the only one (outside of the ILL category)

Ok

I mean..... I'm fully aware that FP+ scheduling was better (for us, personally) but there were plenty of people on the boards here asking for a Maxpass/ no pre-schedule type thing (here it is, almost what you asked for) or no FP return of any kind at all (I'll never understand those people). I didn't forget that. But since FP+ is not an option, I have to judge what's in front of me when deciding if I'm going to give the mouse any more money at all. Right now this doesn't sound like a deal breaker. But, I haven't used it myself (or chose not to buy it but experienced the parks with others that do buy) so come see me in 95 more days and maybe I'll feel different.



I found my people! I also pay for Express Pass at Universal parks, Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Fair parks, and Flash Pass at Six Flags parks, and formerly MaxPass at Disneyland. It's built into the ticket pricing already in my head.

Totally agree with you. While I preferred FP+ as I had learned how to use it most effectively, IT IS NOT COMING BACK. Others can continue to grieve what was taken away, but I am focused on figuring out how to make this system work most efficiently for my family. Do I want to spend the extra $? Not really. But that is now how the Disney game is played and my budgeting for future trips will include one less high end ADR to zero out the cost of Genie+ and ILL$.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Post has been cleaned up.

Please stop the discussion of MaxPass was $x.xx and Genie+ is $x.xx and therefore **** is the better option. It's not helping anyone. Let each person choose which option they like best. Each person is allowed to have an opinion on this and they are not wrong for having that opinion.

Posts that continue to point this out will be removed.

Posts and posters are expected to comply with these guidelines at all times.

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[MJJME]

Ok

⬆⬆ Totally agree with you. While I preferred FP+ as I had learned how to use it most effectively, IT IS NOT COMING BACK. Others can continue to grieve what was taken away, but I am focused on figuring out how to make this system work most efficiently for my family. Do I want to spend the extra $? Not really. But that is now how the Disney game is played and my budgeting for future trips will include one less high end ADR to zero out the cost of Genie+ and ILL$.

One less? Genie+ and IAS for my family of 5 for 7 days costs $1,295. That’s not skipping a high end restaurant, that’s not eating on the trip.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

Post has been cleaned up.

Please stop the discussion of MaxPass was $x.xx and Genie+ is $x.xx and there fore **** is the better option. It's not helping anyone. Let each person choose which option they like best. Each person is allowed to have an opinion on this and they are not wrong for having that opinion.

Posts that continue to point this out will be removed.

Posts and posters are expected to comply with these guidelines at all times.

You may disagree with a poster’s viewpoint, and discuss the issue, but no name calling, being sarcastic or personal attacks.

It is often good advice if you see a thread or post which your are unhappy with to walk away and give yourself a time out. Alternatively use the report post button which will alert all the moderators and the webmasters to any post, where appropriate action if necessary will be taken. If you add a comment yourself you may also face infractions as per the guidelines.

Everyone is allowed their opinion as long as they agree with me. If they disagree they're a cotton-headed ninimuggins and need to be informed of it.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I'm further convinced that I do not need to use Genie+ ever for Epcot or Animal Kingdom. It is most effective at DHS (more long lines to skip) but the best value is at MK (more attractions). since I'm not paying for a family (Yes, I understand that most Disney visitors have to pay for a family), I might try it for a day at MK on my next trip just to jump on as many rides as possible, including the ones I always skip over. Just for fun. I'll be out $16 which is the cost of a cocktail.

 

[Bibbobboo2u]

We used G+ at HWS yesterday, so here are a few thoughts about it. (1)We didn’t like the inflexibility of it. While you can see next available time for every LL ride in your park, you can’t modify your choice after selecting. You have to cancel and then choose what is currently offered. (2)We were on our phones much more than usual and had to start recharging early afternoon. We set alarms as reminders for when we could pull next LL, and while I think app showed a time for when you could make next selection, we didn’t want to miss it. For those who disliked being on phones to get additional FPs after first 3, you are really not going to like G+ because you now have to do this for every ride. (3) Just like FP, LL rides can run out, so you have to decide if you would rather book favorite first or risk pulling later so you can get closer to desired time if you have one. Ex - pull SDD first (which we did) or wait to try to get evening return time that we preferred. We didn’t want to take that chance. (4) We were unable to pull our second LL ride after tapping into SDD, as we were supposed to be able to do. It took about 35 minutes and 4 cast members to get this resolved, which was happening during our lunch pick up time. I stayed to resolve while DH got food. They tried several different things but finally had to take my magic band to the second SDD tap point and rescan it to clear the ride off my G+. The reason this was a G+ issue is that while this was happening, our next return window for our next ride jumped back by over an hour, which then pushed our whole day back if that makes sense. Guest services was great and gave us a recovery LL pass for the next ride we had wanted that we could use at any time and also gave us another LL pass to a different ride but for the next available slot she could find. It was just a lot to deal with. (My scan at second SDD had turned blue rather than green, while DH was green. I said to CM “shouldn’t that be green”, and she replied “It’s fine - come in through.” It wasn’t fine!) And (5) We were able to pull 4 LL rides, not counting the “pixie dust” extra ride we were given. So in conclusion, we didn’t like G+.

 

[hdrolfe]

Based on yesterday, it seems I may want to pay for a couple of the individual rides, and maybe at Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios when we go next week. I'll keep watching though and see how it plays out over the week. And since we have two days at both MK & HS, we may do the first one without it and see if we do need it on the second day we go. I don't see a need at AK or Epcot though, we have no desire to ride Remy and Test Track has a single ride line (right? that's still there I hope!), everything else looked pretty good for wait times. Epcot we don't arrive until later any way, after we get in, and we'll be on a flight at 7AM, or possible in the airport security line at that point, no way to get it for the park any way.

 

[MJJME]

Just bought our tickets for my family of 8's upcoming December trip and it now prompts you to add Genie+ to your tickets and already have it included every day of your trip.

I opted in for it but I'm an AP so it looks like I'll only have to buy it for myself that morning.

I wouldnt buy it for your entire trip.......Let it play out here since its likely you are not going to need it for most days..