Genie+ change!

[Jwaire]

Apparently DISNEY IT has never heard of backing up each sub program so it could be reactivated at a later date if needed.

Yeah, I find that hard to believe. #1 it was a third-party company that created FastPass+ anyway. You know the new Disney, they don't develop anything.

HCL, maybe? It's been a few years.

 

[Chuck S]

If I remember correctly, Disney holds the patent on FP+ App and it's programming, so it isn't like they were paying an ongoing licensing fee for it.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I'm very interested in this. I was always a planner, so even the 60 day FP+ timeframe didn't bother me and anything that gets me off my phone a little more will be nice.

I wonder how many people who are currently choosing to skip Genie+ will be convinced to buy it now?

 

[DougEMG]

Honestly, I never understood why people liked to book Fastpasses a full 2 months before their trip. I never sleep late at Disney anyway, so being awake in time to do all the things right at 7am isn't an issue. If I wanted a relaxing vacation I would either change my touring plan to not include G+ and/or ILL or I would go somewhere other than Disney XD

I loved booking FP+ in advance. Then I knew that I had 3 rides locked in and the time. Coming from the west coast and having a 3 hour time difference, we're not getting up in the morning, we're lucky to get out of the room by 11am.

 

[DougEMG]

Honestly, they should've just started charging for FastPass+ rather than introducing Genie+ at all. The infrastructure to do so was already in place, and would have saved the company a lot of $$$ in app development. I only used Genie+ once, and it was an abysmal experience.

I would have paid for the FP+ service as it worked will for us. Have never bought Genie+ or LL, I just don't see them working well for us were we only go into the parks in the afternoon and don't stay that long.

 

[SheSingsAlong]

I loved booking FP+ in advance. Then I knew that I had 3 rides locked in and the time. Coming from the west coast and having a 3 hour time difference, we're not getting up in the morning, we're lucky to get out of the room by 11am.

But didn't the Fast pass window open at like 7am EST? So you still were inconvenienced by waking up crazy early, just not during your vacation. And does the window have to be so far in advance? What if it was 7 days out instead of 60? I'm just trying to understand.

 

[Chuck S]

But didn't the Fast pass window open at like 7am EST? So you still were inconvenienced by waking up crazy early, just not during your vacation. And does the window have to be so far in advance? What if it was 7 days out instead of 60? I'm just trying to understand.

60 days was convenient for me, 7 days seems rather last minute, and there's always stuff going on in real life as you get closer to a Disney trip, it seems.

 

[tjkraz]

Apparently DISNEY IT has never heard of backing up each sub program so it could be reactivated at a later date if needed.

I'm sure portions of the code were re-used. But if the original database tables and front end interface were migrated to manage millions of Park Pass reservations, it's not a simple as "turning FP+ back on" or restoring a backup.

To draw an analogy, if you convert your garage to a man cave, it's not necessarily easy to go back to a garage. Doing so likely involves unsealing the garage door, finding a new place to store your sofa, entertainment system and pool table and un-doing other modifications. Meanwhile you can take portions of the former garage and reuse them elsewhere--like a work bench and shelving--but you still have to build a new garage.

But didn't the Fast pass window open at like 7am EST? So you still were inconvenienced by waking up crazy early, just not during your vacation. And does the window have to be so far in advance? What if it was 7 days out instead of 60? I'm just trying to understand.

Waking up early one day when NOT on vacation is a lot more manageable than waking up early every day. Especially for those who are changing time zones or who like to take advantage of late night activities.

 

[CarolynFH]

I would have paid for the FP+ service as it worked will for us. Have never bought Genie+ or LL, I just don't see them working well for us were we only go into the parks in the afternoon and don't stay that long.

We only go in the afternoon or early evening, too, but I’ve had great success starting in the morning to book and modify Genie+LL so that we have several stacked by the time we get there. Being able to modify the LL times as well as to overlap them (e.g., window for BTMRR starting 15-20 minutes after the window for Pirates) makes Genie+ much more flexible than FP+ was for us. In January we rode 5 MK rides between around 4:00 and 7:00 PM.

We only buy Genie+ for MK and DHS, though, so I’ll be interested to see what the parameters for advance purchase are.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I think it will be a nice addition to G+, hopefully. But it drives me CRAZY the way they do these announcements now. We first heard about this moths ago, then nothing. Now we get basically the same vague non-announcement, and it will be months again until we really know anything. They said dining plan was coming back literally 2 YEARS before it actually happened.

It's always "Hey guys, we're gonna do a Really Cool Thing™! Maybe. At some unspecified time in the distant future. Here is a vague hint at what it might be, but no details at all. enjoy!"

 

[GroguAndStitch]

I think one pre booked attraction should be the max for genie+ and stand by the rest unless you have DAS or book a true VIP day. This extreme pay to play business just leaves everyone frustrated. you make the standby by lanes impossibly slow with too many LLs

 

[DougEMG]

But didn't the Fast pass window open at like 7am EST? So you still were inconvenienced by waking up crazy early, just not during your vacation. And does the window have to be so far in advance? What if it was 7 days out instead of 60? I'm just trying to understand.

I never got up early to book FP+.

I am at WDW right now. It is 12:05 and the family is just getting up now to start the day. Under the old FP+ system I would of had 3 FP+ booked for in the afternoon back to back. So I could head to a park and know I would be able to get on my 3 favorite rides. I can't do that with Genie+, so it doesn't work for us.

 

[DougEMG]

Waking up early one day when NOT on vacation is a lot more manageable than waking up early every day. Especially for those who are changing time zones or who like to take advantage of late night activities.

Exactly.

 

[DougEMG]

Anyone have any idea how well Genie+ would work say at MK if you didn't start trying to book anything till noon?

 

[ShablamE]

I'd venture to guess it would be rather pointless, you'd probably be able to grab some low desired LLs but aside from that you'd be stuck in the 120m wait with things just pushing further and further back into the day.

 

[tjkraz]

Anyone have any idea how well Genie+ would work say at MK if you didn't start trying to book anything till noon?

At MK, you'd still be able to do almost everything with short waits. The rides that use up Genie+ fastest are Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan. Right now, at 2:10pm, can still get BTMR for 3:20, Space for 3:30, Pirates is a G+ walk-on with 2:15 return.

Could also do well at Animal Kingdom where Navi River is usually the one attraction prone to fill up. Safari, Kali River, Everest, Dinosaur are still doable in afternoon. At EPCOT, you'd be lucky to get one of Remy, TT and Frozen by noon. Others fine. DHS Slinky will definitely be gone. Others tend to vary among Runaway Railway and Millennium Falcon, sometimes RnR and ToT.

Attraction breakdowns often play a major role in how each day plays out. If RNR goes down for 2 hours, fewer passes to distribute and heavier demand on other rides.

I'd venture to guess it would be rather pointless, you'd probably be able to grab some low desired LLs but aside from that you'd be stuck in the 120m wait with things just pushing further and further back into the day.

Not true at all. It's easy enough to open the app from home on a couple afternoons and see how things are looking.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm old school and actually liked Fastpass 1.0 when you actually had to be in the park to get one. Ah, the good old days.....

What I liked about the original FP was that you could get a FP for the same attraction many times. But more important, I loved the ability to give your FP away, or get a FP given to you. I remember right after Expedition Everest opened, I raced over to ride it one morning. After pulling a FP ticket, I saw that there was only a 15 minute wait. "Boy, I'm gonna get two rides on this" since my FP window opened in just 45 minutes. But after one ride, my stomach threatened to rebel if I went backwards again. As I staggered off the ride, a man and his wife were arguing-he REALLY wanted to go on EE, but she didn't. I went over and handed him my FP-for some reason, she looked more grateful.
And I got a FP when I went to TSMM and found that all the Fps were given out for the day. Someone saw my discouragement, I guess, and was nice enough to give me one. I loved the gifting aspect.

 

[grahf1234]

If we're only thinking about those who take once in a lifetime trip to disney, wouldn't you agree they can get much more achieved with a G+ and ILL than they would have with the older fast pass systems?
It really sucks to have to pay for G+ now, but I know that we're able to get much out of this new system than we ever could with the older one if the comparison is purely on how many lines can one skip per day.

 

[CarolynFH]

I loved the ability to give your FP away, or get a FP given to you.

I liked that, too. Sometimes we’d be just too tired to stay late enough to use ours, and give them all to a family who had just arrived, knowing they were sold out for the day.

But I’m still happy not to need a designated FP runner!

 

[nw6675]

We only go in the afternoon or early evening, too, but I’ve had great success starting in the morning to book and modify Genie+LL so that we have several stacked by the time we get there. Being able to modify the LL times as well as to overlap them (e.g., window for BTMRR starting 15-20 minutes after the window for Pirates) makes Genie+ much more flexible than FP+ was for us. In January we rode 5 MK rides between around 4:00 and 7:00 PM.

We only buy Genie+ for MK and DHS, though, so I’ll be interested to see what the parameters for advance purchase are.