Genie+ - Why is it so limited

[Garyjames220]

I can’t work out why this genie+ goes so fast a lot of the time and on some days your left with hardly anything to pick from (from what I have herd anyway)

With the old fast pass system it was free for everyone and a lot of those people booked there 3 selections before there trip etc and then after that you could pick quite a few More on the day

however with this new system there saying roughly only 1/3 of people are buying it and your only allowed to do one ride once a day

On the old system I have been on popular rides a few times and there was a better choice to pick from until a lot later in the day and sooo many more people using it

So why is it so limited, only allowed one ride a day on each given attraction and thousands of people a day less using it but yet some days there is so little to pick from or rides gone for the whole day very quickly in the morning

 

[Pyxie]

I think they are severely limiting availability in order to create a "premium" experience for those paying, but in turn, it is actually creating the opposite experience.

 

[kverdon]

Because it is the most moronic system Disney has ever come up with. If my systems were designed and executed this poorly, people would die.

They try and market it as such an amazing guest experience.It would have been better for guests if they just charged for FP+. The optics on that were bad so they hatched this buggy, poorly designed system so they could put a charge on it.

 

[Garyjames220]

I think they are severely limiting availability in order to create a "premium" experience for those paying, but in turn, it is actually creating the opposite experience.

The only premium I can see to the experience is the fastpass/Genie+ queue going a lot faster now than to what it was. is that the case, Im not sure

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

I think they’ve designed this to help a different problem than FP/MP. The previous options were great for all the people here, who had lots of info, and could work the system. G+ appears to be targeting the casual visitor, who just wants to be able to ride the rides. By limiting it to one use per ride, it limits its use, but also makes it more likely you’ll have to wait less for the more popular rides. And every user can choose which rides are most important to them, so they always can hit their “must do” rides, and feel like they had a successful (and worthwhile) day at the parks.

Lots of grumbling from people who used to be able to use their strategies to hit all their rides, but I’m wondering how the casual user feels?

 

[Kingoglow]

Disney has learned that they can limit availability of a product to give perceived demand, and charge a premium price. They did this with AP's by halting sales, they do it with Hotels by limiting how many rooms are available to buy, they are doing it with park tickets via the reservation system, and now they are doing it with Genie+.

 

[meremac]

Limiting the number of Genie+ reservations makes the Lightning Lane move SUPER fast (sometimes the FastPass+ lines were LONG), and it also allows the standby lines to move faster than they did with FastPass+.

 

[meremac]

Lots of grumbling from people who used to be able to use their strategies to hit all their rides, but I’m wondering how the casual user feels?

I am a TA. Most of my clients are first-timers or second/third trippers. I can tell you anecdotally that the feedback I've gotten from them about Genie+ has been consistently positive. I'm just one person, but this has been my experience across the board.

 

[kverdon]

I

I am a TA. Most of my clients are first-timers or second/third trippers. I can tell you anecdotally that the feedback I've gotten from them about Genie+ has been consistently positive. I'm just one person, but this has been my experience across the board.

If they are guests that did not experience WDW before Covid than that might make sense. They don’t know what they are missing.

 

[gottalovepluto]

The ride inventory for G+ is smaller than FP+ due to the removal of rides for the ILL program. FP+ would have been a capacity mess too without any of the ILL rides.

 

[DisneyFive]

I am a TA. Most of my clients are first-timers or second/third trippers. I can tell you anecdotally that the feedback I've gotten from them about Genie+ has been consistently positive. I'm just one person, but this has been my experience across the board.

This makes sense for first timers. G+ is an upgrade versus standing in lines all day with standby only. That was just brutal this past summer 2021. We would not do that again

However for most of us on this site who knew Walt Disney World with FP+, G+ just doesn’t compare. I agree with the previous poster who said that they should’ve just charged for FP+. FP+ was leaps and bounds better than Genie plus.

 

[meremac]

I

If they are guests that did not experience WDW before Covid than that might make sense. They don’t know what they are missing.

That's clearly true for some people, and I respect that. But I've been going to Disney for 25 years and I don't mind Genie+ at all. In fact, there's parts of it that I like even better than FastPass/FastPass+, and I know there are other Disney vets who feel the same way too. Everyone's going to have a different opinion though, and that's ok.

To Add: The person I quoted was specifically asking about casual users (not vets), so that was primarily what my response was speaking to.

 

[meremac]

However for most of us on this site who knew Walt Disney World with FP+, G+ just doesn’t compare.

That is definitely true for some people, I'll give you that!

 

[sponica]

That's clearly true for some people, and I respect that. But I've been going to Disney for 25 years and I don't mind Genie+ at all. In fact, there's parts of it that I like even better than FastPass/FastPass+, and I know there are other Disney vets who feel the same way too. Everyone's going to have a different opinion though, and that's ok.

I don't like the early call time...but seeing as my rugrats were up at 330 and 5 AM this morning, I don't see that being a problem in April.

I did more trips with old school paper FP, so to me, it feels like a digital version of old school paper with an electronic running of the bulls.

But I'm more of a "casual" visitor...while the goal is every other year, sometimes it turns into every 4 years.

 

[jo-jo]

With the old fast pass system it was free for everyone and a lot of those people booked there 3 selections before there trip etc and then after that you could pick quite a few More on the day

however with this new system there saying roughly only 1/3 of people are buying it and your only allowed to do one ride once a day

I loved the old FP system , we are not rope drop to closing people anymore. So even if we didn't get to the parks until late morning, we still had rides lined up.

As far as one time per ride.....At this point, there are rides we can no longer ride, no matter how much we liked them 10 years ago. But still would enjoy doing buzz three times in one day.

 

[jcourtney]

I think they’ve designed this to help a different problem than FP/MP. The previous options were great for all the people here, who had lots of info, and could work the system. G+ appears to be targeting the casual visitor, who just wants to be able to ride the rides. By limiting it to one use per ride, it limits its use, but also makes it more likely you’ll have to wait less for the more popular rides. And every user can choose which rides are most important to them, so they always can hit their “must do” rides, and feel like they had a successful (and worthwhile) day at the parks.

Lots of grumbling from people who used to be able to use their strategies to hit all their rides, but I’m wondering how the casual user feels?

100% this! I haven't been to try out the new G+ system (I'm from Canada) but the FP+ system only really helped the super planners (like us) who knew what they wanted 60 days out and left the dregs for everyone else. FP+ just inflated wait times and forced people to book fast passes for things like meet and greets and fast loaders like haunted mansion that never needed them before. G+ evens the playing field which means that people like us are going to wait longer than we used to. Also this is the 50th anniversary year and most people are holding on to 2 years worth of pent up vacation time/money/needs. It was going to rough year no matter what. I'm willing to give this a fair chance and wait for things to shake out over the next couple of years before I decide if I like it or not. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of the ILL but we'll see what happens with those.

 

[lockets]

We were able to use it to get on four rides at MK. I made a mistake at 7 AM (left a person off the G+ reservation by accident) and when I caught it later in the morning to correct it - it counted as "the" selection for that next time frame so I missed being able to make the next selection for all. So maybe we could have gotten 5 rides on it if I didn't botch that window? I was half asleep at 7 AM after all...

Peoples' mileage varies, and it also must depend on how packed the parks are. It was a VERY busy day when we went, but not packed like a summer day could be. So we did get more than just one ride.

That being said - there's nothing that felt "casual" about it. It all felt very intense. As the planner I really didn't have a good time. I mean... I literally set an alarm for every two hours. We had to stop everything we were doing and strategize several times a day on what to select. By afternoon it was slim pickings. The Tip Board doesn't let you sort. Super tedious to continue scrolling through a bunch of ride suggestions that you can't even select for G+ at all - weed them out mentally and remember which ones are even available for selection that you had scrolled past - then realize it's all stuff that's "bottom of the barrel" anyway. There's nothing casual about waking up at 7 AM and letting your phone dictate your day. However the alternative is waiting in long standby lines which can be a bummer in its own right.

I think the bottom line, however, is whether people get one ride or five rides with it, or whether they "love it", "like it" or tolerate it, or whether it logistically helps them or hurts them - I wouldn't say its a fun addition to the theme park experience. To me theme parks are supposed to be fun. Not work. I certainly didn't leave feeling "Genie+ is so FUN to use!" If it's not going to be fun then I agree with others above - best to go back to a fastpass/ADR-like system where people can plan things in advance so they are set up for fun when they arrive, not more work.

I think once on vacation, much of the right-brained work should stop.

I also think that the most casual park goer, and even people who never went to WDW, were aware of the FastPass system just from word-of-mouth and years of it being in effect. I think we can conjecture all day about how Disney launched it to improve the user (or some users') experience, but to me it's just a flat out money grab and data collection scheme that I tolerate because as of now it's priced out to be a better alternative than waiting standby half the day.

 

[SLThomas318]

We were able to use it to get on four rides at MK. I made a mistake at 7 AM (left a person off the G+ reservation by accident) and when I caught it later in the morning to correct it - it counted as "the" selection for that next time frame so I missed being able to make the next selection for all. So maybe we could have gotten 5 rides on it if I didn't botch that window? I was half asleep at 7 AM after all...

Peoples' mileage varies, and it also must depend on how packed the parks are. It was a VERY busy day when we went, but not packed like a summer day could be. So we did get more than just one ride.

That being said - there's nothing that felt "casual" about it. It all felt very intense. As the planner I really didn't have a good time. I mean... I literally set an alarm for every two hours. We had to stop everything we were doing and strategize several times a day on what to select. By afternoon it was slim pickings. The Tip Board doesn't let you sort. Super tedious to continue scrolling through a bunch of ride suggestions that you can't even select for G+ at all - weed them out mentally and remember which ones are even available for selection that you had scrolled past - then realize it's all stuff that's "bottom of the barrel" anyway. There's nothing casual about waking up at 7 AM and letting your phone dictate your day. However the alternative is waiting in long standby lines which can be a bummer in its own right.

I think the bottom line, however, is whether people get one ride or five rides with it, or whether they "love it", "like it" or tolerate it, or whether it logistically helps them or hurts them - I wouldn't say its a fun addition to the theme park experience. To me theme parks are supposed to be fun. Not work. I certainly didn't leave feeling "Genie+ is so FUN to use!" If it's not going to be fun then I agree with others above - best to go back to a fastpass/ADR-like system where people can plan things in advance so they are set up for fun when they arrive, not more work.

I think once on vacation, much of the right-brained work should stop.

I also think that the most casual park goer, and even people who never went to WDW, were aware of the FastPass system just from word-of-mouth and years of it being in effect. I think we can conjecture all day about how Disney launched it to improve the user (or some users') experience, but to me it's just a flat out money grab and data collection scheme that I tolerate because as of now it's priced out to be a better alternative than waiting standby half the day.

This is a good summary of exactly how we felt about Genie+ as well. I too am the planner and felt tied to my phone. Not only did it feel like a lot of work, but also like gambling (which I hate). I also don't get how this new system is going to help the casual park guest. You still need to know about Genie+ prior to your trip to join the 7am rat race.

Oh and if you forget to add someone, just talk to the cast members at the ride. They had us book the forgotten member of our party at any available time and then they "fixed" it and allowed the forgotten member to ride with us. The booking window issue then corrected itself and I could book everyone together again. The cast member admitted that the system is a mess. I'm sure there are some rides they wouldn't be able to do this for... ours was for Na'vi.

 

[lockets]

This is a good summary of exactly how we felt about Genie+ as well. I too am the planner and felt tied to my phone. Not only did it feel like a lot of work, but also like gambling (which I hate). I also don't get how this new system is going to help the casual park guest. You still need to know about Genie+ prior to your trip to join the 7am rat race.

From my mouth to your ears haha! I literally said same thing in another post: https://www.disboards.com/threads/last-time…for-a-while.3868853/post-63713892

 

[lockets]

Oh and if you forget to add someone, just talk to the cast members at the ride. They had us book the forgotten member of our party at any available time and then they "fixed" it and allowed the forgotten member to ride with us. The booking window issue then corrected itself and I could book everyone together again. The cast member admitted that the system is a mess. I'm sure there are some rides they wouldn't be able to do this for... ours was for Na'vi.

Darn it. I wish I thought of that! Good to know for next time although not sure when we will go again.