Has anyone been to the parks recently and NOT used Genie+?

[loves to dive]

Haven't been since Genie + (Have been twice this year though) but will be there just about the same time frame as you, Dec. 12-17. I don't plan on buying it but I go often and I don't mind waiting in line and I'm not really ride centric.

I think it might depend on what your goals are, your tolerance for waiting in line and how often you go. I've done RoTR 3 times already, not a fan of FOP and if I don't ride Remy this trip it's not the end of the world. I have an AP so will be hopping, plan on going around the resorts and looking at the decorations and enjoying the decorations in the park and eating at the booths at Epcot. I'll ride some rides and since it will be cooler and as long as it's not raining (I don't like cold and rain) I'll just stand in line.

 

[goofy4prez]

What a really important point. That is one thing I'm really starting to hate about the whole thing. The phone.... and as the Mom and planner of the whole group, I'm the only one glued to my phone and the one most desperately in need of the vacation....hmmm...that makes me think I may have to delegate this to one of the kids that won't mind as much and just sit back and enjoy the day. Thank you for the thought!

I'm right there with you. We have an upcoming trip to WDW in February for 8 nights and I am seriously thinking of canceling this trip. I really want to escape when I'm on vacation and having to almost do everything about WDW from my smartphone is really becoming a big-time turn off for me. Maybe it's an age thing (57), but Disney is really starting to lose its appeal with me.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

I'm right there with you. We have an upcoming trip to WDW in February for 8 nights and I am seriously thinking of canceling this trip. I really want to escape when I'm on vacation and having to almost do everything about WDW from my smartphone is really becoming a big-time turn off for me. Maybe it's an age thing (57), but Disney is really starting to lose its appeal with me.

I'm about your age and WDW still appeals to me but in different ways than before. The rides are less important than before but I am finding the experiences and details more important to my now. I've looked at ride through videos of Remy and RotR and though they look interesting it wouldn't affect my enjoyment of my vacation if I don't ride them.

In some ways going slower is better. On the last trip I did the standby line at Big Thunder. By the time I got to the loading area I actually wished it had taken longer - there was a fantastic amount of fun detail in the ride queue and I wish I had stopped and explored it more. We often forget that Disney parks are Theme parks and this is where they truly excel at and you will be rewarded if you take the time do explore the details.

 

[Experiment262]

Just got back and we took advantage of ILL for RotR and FOP with no complaints. G+, on the other hand, was a mixed bag. We're not the early entry type, so it was nice to snag ride times before entering the park, but definitely get G+ at 7am rather than waiting so the 2 hr window can work to your advantage. I'd say it's mostly worth it for MK and Studios, mixed for AK and not worth bothering for Epcot.

 

[JenM]

Just got back and we took advantage of ILL for RotR and FOP with no complaints. G+, on the other hand, was a mixed bag. We're not the early entry type, so it was nice to snag ride times before entering the park, but definitely get G+ at 7am rather than waiting so the 2 hr window can work to your advantage. I'd say it's mostly worth it for MK and Studios, mixed for AK and not worth bothering for Epcot.

Agreed. I set the alarm for 6:45, was done with the Genie selections no later than 7:10, then went back to sleep for a bit before getting ready for the parks. No early risers in our group (and early entry was only a half-hour anyway), so it worked out fine.

 

[JenM]

I'm right there with you. We have an upcoming trip to WDW in February for 8 nights and I am seriously thinking of canceling this trip. I really want to escape when I'm on vacation and having to almost do everything about WDW from my smartphone is really becoming a big-time turn off for me. Maybe it's an age thing (57), but Disney is really starting to lose its appeal with me.

I didn’t mind having everything on my phone (and my battery held out better than I thought it would), but my biggest complaint was that the app is annoying to navigate. If I have to use my phone to get around the park, I want to be able to get to what I need quickly, and the app just doesn’t do that. Your existing reservations are practically buried in the “My day” tab, so they’re a pain to access, and the instructions weren’t particularly clear when one of the rides we reserved through Genie broke down.

I can’t imagine what this is like for guests who don’t use smartphones a lot either. The app is just too complicated to navigate.

 

[mouschievous]

This video from All Ears is really helpful, I think.
Video: Genie+ vs no Genie+

 

[DWillowBay]

I just returned yesterday from a two-week stay. Early in the trip, we bought Genie+ every day thinking it would help in accomplishing a better 'efficiency' in the parks. From our experience (family of 3, who ride just about everything), I would say that Genie+ is best used during moderate - high crowd times, depending on individual goals for that day. For us, the most benefit we got from Genie+ was at MK. We were able to ride the rides we wanted within a reasonable period of time and then repeat some using the standby lanes (or used standby first and then used Genie+, depending on the specific wait times). HS was also a positive experience for Genie+ and here's where I noticed it most. For those staying on property, who were not using Genie+, often used their 1/2 hour early entry standing in a LONG line for something like Slinky Dog. For me, that's not a good use of time. We rode other rides and then utilized Genie+ for use after the 1/2 hour early entry time. Everyone will have their preferences, but we liked this method. By the 2nd week, we only purchased Genie+ for MK. Everything else was fairly manageable and we certainly don't need to avoid lines at all cost (literally). I like the system. It has great benefits to our family. Just not every park, every time. It takes a bit of homework and planning, but didn't it always??? (at least in recent history).

 

[jvalic33]

I'm right there with you. We have an upcoming trip to WDW in February for 8 nights and I am seriously thinking of canceling this trip. I really want to escape when I'm on vacation and having to almost do everything about WDW from my smartphone is really becoming a big-time turn off for me. Maybe it's an age thing (57), but Disney is really starting to lose its appeal with me.

I'm definitely not a smartphone fan and while a bit younger than you, what bothers me is that when I'm on my phone I see work notifications as well. That more than the ride reminders is annoying. I'm not so sure Genie+ is that user friendly either. It seems a bit cumbersome to navigate. I don't know how to tell it what we like because that's what makes me the Genie...keeping 8 people happy on all our trips. To ask me to pick just one or two priorities is insane. I have kids who like characters, kids who like shows, grandparents who like shopping, a husband who likes to eat....so as I was looking at this thing I was thinking...how in the heck am I going to teach it to tailor certain interests to me.

The one thing I do like about the busy Disney vacation is that I am too busy planning and keeping everyone happy, that I escape from the rest of life. I don't really mind "working" at Disney, but I wish it didn't have to be on a phone!

 

[Anna131517]

What a really important point. That is one thing I'm really starting to hate about the whole thing. The phone.... and as the Mom and planner of the whole group, I'm the only one glued to my phone and the one most desperately in need of the vacation....hmmm...that makes me think I may have to delegate this to one of the kids that won't mind as much and just sit back and enjoy the day. Thank you for the thought!

This is my biggest concern. I hate being glued to my phone. I don’t want to be trying to do something on my phone while trying to watch three young kids in the parks. They’re not exactly known for their patience. We’re currently deciding whether to go without Genie+ or just cancel our trip and go some other time. I’m interested to see how successful this will be.

 

[JFDIS]

I knew my family of four wouldn’t use G+ but we did offer to get it this weekend since my in laws are with us. No one was interested and we talked about what a waste it would have been FOR US yesterday at MK.

People mover posted 25m actual 10m
Race cars posted 25m actual 6m
Princess fairytale hall both p 20m a 9m/15m
BTMRR posted 45m actual 14m
POTC posted 40m actual walk on
HM posted 75m actual 11m
Barnstormer posted 30m actual 25m

My husband timed them all because he immediately saw by the length of the cues that ride times were heavily inflated. I will still suggest it to friends I have coming from the west coast next month but I don’t know if that level of planning is for everyone. I think it strips a lot of flexibility from your day. Even more than usual everyone at MK was staring at their phones.

 

[katyjeka]

We are going for two weeks early December and will not be getting it. For a family of six the cost really adds up. We could easily have another park day for the money. I might have considered it if this was a once in a lifetime trip but we go quite often and what we miss in December we will catch another time. I'm attached to my phone more than I should be during a regular day and have absolutely no intention of turning on my phone on vacation. Park of the magic of Disney is the details they put into everything. A lot of this can be missed if your buried in a phone.

 

[RamieGee]

We bought it for 2 of 3 MK days, 2 of 2 HS days, and did NOT buy for Epcot or AK.

For me this felt correct. I would make the same choice again (although we had to skip Na’vi River Journey because no one felt like waiting in that line). HS 2nd day was not worth it because it was a torrential rain day so we had to leave after a few hours. However, it would have been worth it if weather was better.

The only ILL$ we purchased was RISE. We did not feel compelled to buy others. The worse line was 7DMT but we just sucked it up and waited.

We did not have it on our departure day at MK (a Saturday, so it was busy), our 3rd day there, and no one was interested in waiting on lines because we had done everything with Genie+ the two other days - instead we just went on Space Mountain, Teacups, Astro Orbiter, Tom Sawyer Island, Swiss Family Robinson tree house, pictures with Mickey at Town Square, shopping, and just wandered around eating under no pressure to be anywhere and that was nice, too, after the other two Genie+ days.

I still have mixed feelings about Genie+, but it is what it is for now, so we made it work.

 

[Sjm9911]

I bought it for all park days and so far it hasn't really paid off if you get there early. I would get it for MK and HS only to skip a few lines. Or just spend the money for the LL+ . At RD if you dont go to mine train you can knock off half the park by 11 am.

 

[igrsod]

We are going in December, and have no intention of paying for G+ or ILL$. With a good plan, a good attitude and hakuna matata, you can have a great day at the parks. We will ride what we can and not worry about what we miss out. I don't want to give Disney the idea that nickel and diming me for what used to be included in a great vacation is ok. I hope they reserve course.... I know not likely.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

What a really important point. That is one thing I'm really starting to hate about the whole thing. The phone.... and as the Mom and planner of the whole group, I'm the only one glued to my phone and the one most desperately in need of the vacation....hmmm...that makes me think I may have to delegate this to one of the kids that won't mind as much and just sit back and enjoy the day. Thank you for the thought!

YES. I can deal with paying for a new, better service. But I am the planner. For a large group with small kids, which is tricky. I'm going to be the one stuck figuring all this out while I'm supposed to be on vacation. I wish I could still do it all ahead of time so I could be present and relaxed on vacation.

 

[igrsod]

YES. I can deal with paying for a new, better service. But I am the planner. For a large group with small kids, which is tricky. I'm going to be the one stuck figuring all this out while I'm supposed to be on vacation. I wish I could still do it all ahead of time so I could be present and relaxed on vacation.

I agree with this 100%. I love having a good, flexible plan that has us enjoying a relaxing day at the parks. I don't want to arrive and have to sort out our day on the fly. That is not relaxing at all... too stressful.
And because of that, we will just arrive and wait in stand by and go with the flow.

 

[MrBellatrixLestrange]

We just got back from a trip and opted not to get the Genie+ or do any of the IA$, crowds seemed moderate and we were able to pretty much do everything we wanted to. The only real issue was we had a large party and most wanted to call it a day early in the afternoon while I would have preferred to continue on. Fortunately I am the most Disney-experienced in the group so the only things I missed are things I've already done but I would still have preferred to utilize more of each day.

 

[chickenlittle81]

I'm about your age and WDW still appeals to me but in different ways than before. The rides are less important than before but I am finding the experiences and details more important to my now. I've looked at ride through videos of Remy and RotR and though they look interesting it wouldn't affect my enjoyment of my vacation if I don't ride them.

In some ways going slower is better. On the last trip I did the standby line at Big Thunder. By the time I got to the loading area I actually wished it had taken longer - there was a fantastic amount of fun detail in the ride queue and I wish I had stopped and explored it more. We often forget that Disney parks are Theme parks and this is where they truly excel at and you will be rewarded if you take the time do explore the details.

I love this! I don’t want to rush on vacation, or in general at all! I’ve really
”slowed down” my and hubby daily life. Like you, I don’t mind waiting in line and enjoy chatting with hubby or taking in all the details. I have a couple ADR’s but not much. We don’t plan on using Genie. We are staying from 14-19 th and did a 3 day pass plus Very Merry at MK on that Tuesday. Most of the trip we will go with flow, it makes me a little sad to see so many people ”rushing” or stressed because they feel the need to do and see it all! Enjoy the little things too

 

[lats118]

We were at WDW the third week in October and didn't see the need for Genie+ or LL$. We visited all the parks and did most of the major attractions with little or no wait. Since we stayed on site, we went to DHS for early entry. Even though early entry is supposed to be 1/2 hour ahead of regular opening hours, they let us in shortly after 8, almost an hour ahead. We did RotR first with NO wait, went on the Falcon next then tried to do Slinky dog, but it was down so we did Midway Mania. Then we went to Runaway Railway and had the longest wait, maybe 20 minutes. On the days we were at Epcot, most of the attractions were 'walk-ons' with the exception of TT, ToT, and Frozen. Even though they weren't walk-ons, we only waited about 20 minutes for each one (yes, even Frozen!). We went on Remy 3 times by just getting up at 7 to get a spot in the virtual queue, but our wait each time was about 30 minutes.

We also went to AK about an hour after it opened and the only attraction with a large wait was FoP, but it was only 45 minutes. All other major attractions had maybe 20 minute waits. Since we stayed in a DVC resort, we went to the MK for the fireworks and stayed for the extra hour for resort guests. Almost every attraction was a walk-on, the only attraction with a long wait was 7DMT, which we skipped so we could do as many rides as possible in the extra hour.

So in my experience, Genie+ and LL$ aren't necessary. If this is a 'once in a lifetime' trip, then yes, maybe Genie+ and/or LL$ is worthwhile, but if you travel to WDW often, and do a little planning, then it's not necessary in my opinion.