Genie+ with only a Park Planning Pass?

[scott615]

Question for experienced Disney fans that have stayed at Four Seasons or other Disney partner hotels:

I purchased a Disney vacation package that includes the Four Seasons Orlando & Park Tickets for the length of my stay.

Because this is not an "official" Disney hotel, I had to call to get Park Planning passes in order to reserve my parks (I am told I don't get the actual tickets until official check-in). My Disney account does not show any park tickets; it only shows Park Planning passes for the days of my stay).

I am planning to go to a park the evening of the first day that I arrive. I want to be able to purchase Genie+ (prior to 7am / prior to check-in) and of course make my first selection near 7am for the LLs that quickly move into the evenings (for example, Slinky Dog), with an attempt to stack for the evening as the day goes on.

But since I don't plan to check into the hotel until closer to noon of my first day, I am worried that not having park ticket might be a problem with purchasing Genie+. Disney Support told me that I don't need park tickets, that they know I will be there and the Park Planning passes should be enough to purchase Genie+.

I don't want to run into any surprises though. Does anyone have first-hand experience with this and can confirm that having Park Planning passes is enough to purchase Genie+ without any problems? Thank you in advance!

 

[lanejudy]

I'm guessing there may be something odd with your tickets/reservation. Most folks staying at offsite hotels don't need any special intervention (Park Planning Pass) to make their theme park reservations. I'm surprised the Four Seasons wasn't able to give you a ticket number to enter into MDE.

 

[scott615]

I don't think there is anything odd with my reservation. I booked it directly through the WDW website under "More Great Accommodations > Four Seasons" and it was a standard package that included the hotel & park tickets. It is the same process and checkout as if you were booking any actual Disney hotel.

Tickets never showed up under my Disney Experience, although the hotel was there right away. I called Disney support, spoke to multiple people and got the "of course, because this is the Four Seasons, you don't actually get tickets until you officially check-in". Four Seasons had also later confirmed this directly. I basically get handed the tickets at check-in, or something.

So, Disney issued me Park Planning passes (this is not automatic, it was a manual process). It sounds like this happens nearly every time and they wait for people to call in. The integration between the Four Seasons and Disney has been pretty much broken from the start. It seems nothing works the way it should. Had similar issues when I tried to go in early 2020, but the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. [edit: not with park reservations, but with early dining and fast pass reservations) Anyone I spoke to on the phone more or less confirmed they have been waiting for a fix for years.

Basically just looking to see if there are any first hand experiences; if anyone has tried to get Genie+ with only a park planning pass...

 

[lanejudy]

I don't think there is anything odd with my reservation.

Sorry, I didn't mean anything "wrong" necessarily, just "different." The vast majority of WDW visitors are able to link their tickets to MDE even if staying offsite and/or the tickets were not bought directly through WDW. But anyway...my point is that it's a rather unusual circumstance to have a "Park Planning Pass" instead of tickets so there may not be many folks who can answer your question.

 

[scott615]

Understood and thank you. I believe it only applies to the Four Seasons bought with a package through the Disney website (hotel + tickets together). If you booked Four Seasons and bought tickets independently in two different transactions, this scenario does not apply.

If purchased as a package though, it has been confirmed through multiple Disney phone calls and Four Seasons direct, that you don't get your tickets until check-in and need a planning pass.

 

[mindy lou]

I have a Dolphin package with tickets (including Genie +, was available to add on to tickets when we booked) booked through Disney and also required them to add "park planning passes" to make park reservations (everything else linked seamlessly and magically appeared in MDE. I don't have any insight into your Genie+ situation as I haven't gone yet, and we will not be visiting a park on arrival day.

Good luck!