Fastpass + or Genie +

[jeforman]

Trying to understand the new system and want people's opinions or which is better.

 

[Skippyboo]

Tried Genie + today for first time. The interface is very clunky. Booked ToT, Star Tours and Splash have a evening TSMM and bought ROTR. Big problem it is stuff not available. By 12 pm most of the genie + available spots at HS were gone. It’s also annoying there’s no modifying or selecting time slots .

 

[Disneylover99]

Fp was better for me.
It was free.
I could make 3 fp’s ahead of time for the rides I wanted at the times I wanted. Then get more if I wanted.

 

[CynBeth]

I prefer FP+.

 

[jeforman]

Interesting that nobody prefers the new system. I'm debating on going to WDW next year or a Caribbean cruise. I love WDW and was going every 1-2 years but I'm not sure now.

 

[ajfd]

I voted for FP+ and would still be FP+ even it were a $15/day/pp upgrade.

Forcing me to my phone at 7a every day on my vacation isn't a vacation.

 

[Ariel620]

I voted for FP+ and would still be FP+ even it were a $15/day/pp upgrade.

Forcing me to my phone at 7a every day on my vacation isn't a vacation.

Same for me. I would still vote for the old FP+ system, even if it cost the $15 per day pp. Much, much prefer the old system (being able to pre-book, not stress at 7am every day of vacation, and importantly modify after it was booked without completely cancelling).

 

[Delirium]

I see Bob Chapek voted.

 

[Jrb1979]

I like Genie+ better. Just think it needs some tweaks to make it better. For one they need to cap the amount of Genie+ available to buy. They also need to increase the price to limit access even more. There isn't enough attractions for it to work properly.

 

[HopperFan]

Not even considering the cost factor … and even removing the three in advance FP+.

FP+ technically functioned better, was flexible and didn’t run out of times quickly even with the 3 pre-booked ones pulled out of inventory.

This is a step backwards.

 

[DavidNYC]

I like Genie+ better. Just think it needs some tweaks to make it better. For one they need to cap the amount of Genie+ available to buy. They also need to increase the price to limit access even more. There isn't enough attractions for it to work properly.

Wow - they need to increase the price and make it available to a small number of people - real glowing endorsement there. . . LOL

 

[katyringo]

Genie+ Needs some refinement but I like it better.

 

[cjlong88]

Genie+ is better for us (although I’d much rather not pay for it). I agree that the app is clunky, but being locked into 3 FP’s 60 days in advance left little room for adjusting the schedule upon arrival to Disney. G+ allows us to change our plans on a dime and be a bit more spontaneous day-of, which is wonderful.

This is coming from a FP super-user…

 

[Jrb1979]

Wow - they need to increase the price and make it available to a small number of people - real glowing endorsement there. . . LOL

Guests at Disney have been spoiled with FP being available to everyone. No other park does that for a reason. There isn't enough attractions at any park for everyone to have it and get short waits. There is no reason that for $15 on busy days I'm lucky to ride 1-2 rides with Genie+. I would gladly pay #50-$75 for Genie+ if it meant I could get 6-8 LL each day.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Genie+ is better for us (although I’d much rather not pay for it). I agree that the app is clunky, but being locked into 3 FP’s 60 days in advance left little room for adjusting the schedule upon arrival to Disney. G+ allows us to change our plans on a dime and be a bit more spontaneous day-of, which is wonderful.

This is coming from a FP super-user…

Curious as to when you used G+.

I haven’t used it yet. However, watching the first month of G+ in action I was starting to become optimistic that G+ might actually prove useful. Of course the nagging concern was how G+ would actually perform during peak crowd periods. Sadly, it seems like Thanksgiving weekend has crushed much of the optimism I had developed. All G+ returns taken by early afternoon, making it difficult to get more than two LL reservations for your $15.98 pp.

I wonder if any of the people who indicated they prefer G+ used it over Thanksgiving.

 

[cjlong88]

Curious as to when you used G+.

I haven’t used it yet. However, watching the first month of G+ in action I was starting to become optimistic that G+ might actually prove useful. Of course the nagging concern was how G+ would actually perform during peak crowd periods. Sadly, it seems like Thanksgiving weekend has crushed much of the optimism I had developed. All G+ returns taken by early afternoon, making it difficult to get more than two LL reservations for your $15.98 pp.

I wonder if any of the people who indicated they prefer G+ used it over Thanksgiving.

Mid-November. Not a crazy busy time, but the parks were definitely not empty either. We refreshed and were able to snag LL's that showed no availability. I was able to refresh and find Test Track for 9-10pm around 7:30pm.

There are thousands of people at a given park, someone is bound to cancel their plans. If anyone is willing to put a little time into refreshing the tip board, they are more likely to find something worthwhile. That was our experience with FP+ and that has been our experience thus far with G+. We will be doing an exact replica of our strategy during our December 17th - 19th trip as an experiment to see if there is truly no more availability during busier times or if some patience and a little refreshing is needed before committing to what is initially "offered" to guests.

Most people won't spend time refreshing because they see it as a waste of time. I spent maybe 20 minutes refreshing for TSM and found one for an almost immediate return time, which allowed me to skip a 60 minute wait. I see that as a win. We were just relaxing on a bench people watching, so for me it was convenient. Same with Test Track. Maybe after about 20ish minutes refreshing on the walking path between HS and EPCOT one evening I found a last-minute cancellation and had the fastest fingers and was able to grab that LL. That attraction was a 75-minute wait at the end of the night and we were glad to be able to skip the line. It also meant we got more time to walk around World Showcase.

I'm curious as to how many Thanksgiving week guests who used G+ and were frustrated used the refresh method. Did they experience similar successes?

 

[KristaZ]

I prefer fastpass+, if G+ functioned the same way, I'd be a happy camper and wouldn't mind paying the $15 (or even more) upcharge. I have no problem playing the refresh game - and did it often with f+, to the point that we rarely waited in a standby queue. G+ just isn't as user friendly, and not being able to modify is a huge issue for me (especially when the app decides it won't let you cancel any reservations - which happened the last time we tried to use it as HS - we lost out on a lot because of that). I also hate just getting the next available time - which is sometimes significantly different from the time you clicked on to book, and you don't know that until your booking goes all the way through.

 

[roctavia]

From the reports of how Genie+ is working, especially on busier days, it seems that FP+ was a better system for a lot of guests, especially now that we are seeing the exact same problem with the standby line as we were having with FP+.

There is also just the fact that G+ runs out, even if you've paid for it. It was one thing if there were no fast passes left on a given day later in the day, you weren't out anything... you didn't pay for it. It was much easer to just say "oh well" and go about your day. Paying for G+ for your whole family and then having 1LL available the whole day is frustrating and a huge rip off.

I know people are saying it just needs to cost a lot more so less people use it, but then we get into an even worse class system in the parks- you have money, you get to ride rides... you've already budgeted and saved for a once in a life time trip and can't afford another add on... well stand in line all day and watch others get a better experience that slows down your line and wastes even more of your time! The uber expensive VIP tours are limited enough that they shouldn't be causing much issue with the lines and are an option for people who really have money to blow. Disney is just too big with too many guests that trying to limit who can have it by pricing people out isn't going to help much unless it gets really expensive... we've seen that with ticket prices... people are still going and filling up the parks.

FP+ was a nice free thing that everyone had the opportunity to use, which I think made it more helpful and in a sense more fair.... sure some people were able to utilize it better than others, but being sure you were getting on 3 rides without much wait was a really nice way to start a trip.

 

[DisneyKidds]

From the reports of how Genie+ is working, especially on busier days, it seems that FP+ was a better system for a lot of guests, especially now that we are seeing the exact same problem with the standby line as we were having with FP+.

Interestingly….isn’t FP+ vs. G+ sort of a zero sum game? If G+ is worse for some guests (for instance, the DIS planning types), doesn’t it have to be better for others (perhaps the non-obsessive day guests)? I mean, the rides with G+ are pretty similar to those that had FP+, no? I’d imagine the capacity dedicated to G+ is similar to what it was for FP+ (at 80% res/20% standby). Notwithstanding some shows or other things that may have had FP+ maybe not currently available, the number of available ride reservation spots has to be similar under G+ as to what it was under FP+. So, if the uber-planning DIS set isn’t getting as many ride reservations as they used to…..it means someone else is getting them, no?

One narrative is that G+ may be a better system for the casual one time day guest, more so than the repeat super user set who took advantage of advance planning. It’s those more casual one time guests who are probably more willing to pay for G+ and be happy with what they get, because they don’t have anything to compare it to. That fits with the speculation that Disney no longer cares as much for the long time, loyal, repeat guests….not if they can fill the parks with never ever beens who spend more per capita……

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I think I'll hold off opinion until I actually get the chance to try Genie+ myself. I get concerned that many people trash it without even trying it. Early on with FP+, we were not very fond of it, but eventually got used to the quirks and the fact we needed to be online at the crack of dawn 60 days out to get the passes we wanted. We were fans of MaxPass the couple times we've visited DL, and G+ seems to be similar - not the same, but closer to MaxPass than FP+ or the original FP. So I'll vote next month after I get to see how it works for us and our park patterns.