Fastpass + or Genie +

[DavidNYC]

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.

There were never this many complaints about FP+. It was working fine. The two things you saw if there were complaints were (1) you had to book 30 or 60 days in advance which was just soooooooo stressful. Well - based on this new system the stress level has increased exponentially and you get to have it everyday of your vacation starting at 7am. (2) it was hard to get a FP in advance for the best rides. Well - again, no improvement here unless you're getting up at 7am and have very fast fingers and even if you do get that 1 - good luck on getting a 2nd.

Overall - FP+ was working fine and allowed people some semblance of the ability to plan a day based on their schedule. It was a tremendous benefit to nearly everyone who went to Disney because you had many options. This system benefits nearly no one compared to the prior system and in fact basically dictates how you have to tour the park. Would love to see Disney's pitch for how a family with kids who wants to get to the parks at 10am and take a mid-day break and head back in the later afternoon would tour the park without having a nightmare of planning (or just giving up on Genie+ at all and doing standby all day with little kids. This was a system that was designed to make a tremendous amount of money for Disney with absolutely zero concern about what it does to the customer experience. This goes 100% in the opposite direction from everything Disney ever stood for. Yes - they always wanted to make money but they used to work on things that improved your time at the parks. Disney is unfortunately at another low point in their history similar to when Disney animation was devastated by executives who only looked at $$$ and completely ignored the artists.

And turn the parks into something where only the really rich can enjoy it is not an answer. Yes - I can afford it as well but what a sad state of the country that people come up with the answer that Disney should ensure their enjoyment by taking availability away from other people not as well off as them and give more to them. That is what this country has turned into and it's very sad. In better times Disney management would have looked at this and said that they stand for something different. But not anymore. Frankly - we'd be better off with no system at all rather than this one.

 

[Jrb1979]

There were never this many complaints about FP+. It was working fine. The two things you saw if there were complaints were (1) you had to book 30 or 60 days in advance which was just soooooooo stressful. Well - based on this new system the stress level has increased exponentially and you get to have it everyday of your vacation starting at 7am. (2) it was hard to get a FP in advance for the best rides. Well - again, no improvement here unless you're getting up at 7am and have very fast fingers and even if you do get that 1 - good luck on getting a 2nd.

Overall - FP+ was working fine and allowed people some semblance of the ability to plan a day based on their schedule. It was a tremendous benefit to nearly everyone who went to Disney because you had many options. This system benefits nearly no one compared to the prior system and in fact basically dictates how you have to tour the park. Would love to see Disney's pitch for how a family with kids who wants to get to the parks at 10am and take a mid-day break and head back in the later afternoon would tour the park without having a nightmare of planning (or just giving up on Genie+ at all and doing standby all day with little kids. This was a system that was designed to make a tremendous amount of money for Disney with absolutely zero concern about what it does to the customer experience. This goes 100% in the opposite direction from everything Disney ever stood for. Yes - they always wanted to make money but they used to work on things that improved your time at the parks. Disney is unfortunately at another low point in their history similar to when Disney animation was devastated by executives who only looked at $$$ and completely ignored the artists.

And turn the parks into something where only the really rich can enjoy it is not an answer. Yes - I can afford it as well but what a sad state of the country that people come up with the answer that Disney should ensure their enjoyment by taking availability away from other people not as well off as them and give more to them. That is what this country has turned into and it's very sad. In better times Disney management would have looked at this and said that they stand for something different. But not anymore. Frankly - we'd be better off with no system at all rather than this one.

I agree with a lot of you said. My argument has always been that Disney is just like every other park out there. While they theme things well and have the nostalgia factor, in the end they aren't any different then the rest of the parks.

Like I said in another thread, the only way to add more capacity is to add a bunch of generic rides to each park. The problem is that many here would hate that. They want every ride to have a great story and theming. That costs a lot of money.

 

[ChanaC]

I liked the Disneyland FP system. Everyone could still get free FP, and if you paid more you had the option to get the FP directly on your phone so you didn’t need to run from one side of the park to the other all day. If there is one part of Genie I like it’s that you don’t need to get the FP/LL way in advance. I always felt bad for people who showed up on their park day just to find out that SDMT was “sold out” 60 days before they arrived.

 

[Ariel620]

Most people won't spend time refreshing because they see it as a waste of time.

Did you find a good way to do this? This is one of my big problems with Genie plus. With FP, I could book something and then refresh to find a better time. But with Genie plus, it doesn't seem possible? You have to cancel your plans to book a better option. So the fastest fingers approach only applies if you have nothing booked. I would like to be able to book what I find (ie. at noon I find a 9pm Test Track), but I wasn't planning to stay in the park after dinner, so I would like to refresh to find an earlier test track. Sometimes it IS available, but I can't book it because by the time I cancel the 9pm, the early one is booked by someone else.

FP had a modify feature. Genie Plus doesn't. Please share if you have a way to do it. Or do you just bypass the 9pm Test Track when you find it because you are pretty sure an earlier one will turn up? But then what if it doesn't and you are stuck with no Test Track...

 

[cjlong88]

Did you find a good way to do this? This is one of my big problems with Genie plus. With FP, I could book something and then refresh to find a better time. But with Genie plus, it doesn't seem possible? You have to cancel your plans to book a better option. So the fastest fingers approach only applies if you have nothing booked. I would like to be able to book what I find (ie. at noon I find a 9pm Test Track), but I wasn't planning to stay in the park after dinner, so I would like to refresh to find an earlier test track. Sometimes it IS available, but I can't book it because by the time I cancel the 9pm, the early one is booked by someone else.

FP had a modify feature. Genie Plus doesn't. Please share if you have a way to do it. Or do you just bypass the 9pm Test Track when you find it because you are pretty sure an earlier one will turn up? But then what if it doesn't and you are stuck with no Test Track...

Agreed. The modifying feature is something I sorely missed. When I was ready to book something, I would grab the best option immediately. Then I would go into “My Selections” of Genie and make sure that the ride I really wanted to get would be the only one checked. This made it appear at the very top of my tip board. Then I would start refreshing. If I saw times come and go twice, I would cancel the LL I had and then start refreshing. Chances are if you are seeing the ride come and go, it will most likely come back again. Also, since you have your ride of choice at the very top of the tip board, you don’t have to scroll down and you can refresh faster.

Both times I did this it was beyond 5:30 pm so a lot was marked as “no availability”. Had this been in the AM, I wouldn’t have booked anything initially and had just been a bit more patient.

Not ideal, but it worked twice for me on our last trip. Looking forward to see if I can do that again during our December visit.

 

[Jennasis]

They should have left FP+ the way it was but just required you to wait until park opening (whether in the park or not) to book a ride. Just like the old school version of pulling tickets at the FP machines, but on your phone instead. Go ahead and charge for it. Whatever.

They overegged the pudding as they always do. Their abysmal IT can't handle this new system and they have needlessly complicated it for guests.