Just back with thoughts (mostly on G+)

[hultrain]

I’m just back too. I agree with most of your points. To add a few:
1. The Genie+ system and high crowds make it imperative that you rope drop. We were staying at the Poly. Other than our first day, which was EPCOT, we got on monorail/bus at about 7:15 (bus) or 7:30 (monorail) and to park before 8:00. We were close enough to the front of the line by then in order to rope drop at least one headliner, and in some cases a headliner and one more ride. For example, on our HS day, we did SDD and TSM before park open. That relieved a lot of pressure on getting LLs for the rest of the day. Plus, by rope dropping and selecting a first LL for as quickly as possible we were able to book other high demand LLs before they started to run out in the afternoon.
2. We are lucky enough to have the means to pay for ILL$ and so between that and the strategy above, plus having 2 days at MK, we rode everything we wanted to ride (sometimes twice) with the longest posted wait being 45 minutes for (ironically) Small World. In that way, I guess Genie + “worked” but it sucks for those who cannot afford all that on top of an already expensive vacation. Supposedly this system is supposed to reduce standby times but with the crowds being so high, I don’t think the effect is noticeable. If crowds remain as high, I don’t see how this is sustainable
3. I hate the changing times for LLs and ILL$ lots of other people have commented about this so I don’t belabor the point but
4. In conjunction with 3, I’m not sure why Disney made it so hard to figure out if an LL conflicts with other plans. There is a button you can tap during the booking process to see your other plans, but why can’t they just warn you up front that the LL return time offered conflicts with other plans or better yet, let you choose whether they show you conflicting LL’s?
5. I found that refreshing the tip boards sometimes gave you completely varying times for LLs. Like one second it would be a 5:00 return time or even “unavailable” and the next a 2:00. So definitely if something shows up with a bad time, try again.
6. I was definitely crossing the parks way more than I would do under the old FP system where you could group FP’s and ADRs etc all in similar areas of the park. Be prepared to do a lot of walking!

 

[JJsmama]

Thanks! A bad day at Disney beats a good day anywhere else!

Don't agree with this at all. It's a fun little saying, but the changes and problems at WDW recently are enough to make this statement untrue for me. Staying home and NOT feeling ripped off and stressed out definitely beats the trip you described. So does snorkeling off a beach or walking through an historic town and getting ice cream, ziplining through the trees. and many other things.
This is not an attack on the person who said this, but pretending that extremely expensive, extremely disappointing vacations are better than any other option is just going to encourage Disney execs to keep pushing the profit above all guest experience.
Pretty sure I am going to Universal instead, even though I have many saved Disney Rewards points I could use. AND I am switching to another card whose points I can use other places.

 

[lockets]

Neither G+ nor $ILL "locks" a time during the booking process from what I can tell. That is a significant complaint.

Girl Scouts honor one of them kept holding my choice for 10 min. Darn it - I just can’t remember which one. My trip was January 14-21. Maybe I was lucky and they were piloting the feature temporarily?

 

[Westerner]

Girl Scouts honor one of them kept holding my choice for 10 min. Darn it - I just can’t remember which one. My trip was January 14-21. Maybe I was lucky and they were piloting the feature temporarily?

Do you remember if it was peak booking time (eg 7AM) and/or a high-demand ride (eg MFSR)?

 

[gregskellington]

Don't agree with this at all. It's a fun little saying, but the changes and problems at WDW recently are enough to make this statement untrue for me. Staying home and NOT feeling ripped off and stressed out definitely beats the trip you described. So does snorkeling off a beach or walking through an historic town and getting ice cream, ziplining through the trees. and many other things.
This is not an attack on the person who said this, but pretending that extremely expensive, extremely disappointing vacations are better than any other option is just going to encourage Disney execs to keep pushing the profit above all guest experience.
Pretty sure I am going to Universal instead, even though I have many saved Disney Rewards points I could use. AND I am switching to another card whose points I can use other places.

But if it's true for the person who said it the ...it's true? Who cares. You can go to Universal, I won't because I don't think it's a vacation that's fun for me. People like different stuff and have different ideas of what they like and what's "worth it" for them.

 

[lockets]

Do you remember if it was peak booking time (eg 7AM) and/or a high-demand ride (eg MFSR)?

At 7 AM I booked all ILL available at MK, AK, and Epcot. (Three seperate days)

Didn’t go to HS.

Then used G+ throughout the MK day only.

Edited to add by “available” I mean I got all the rides that classify as ILL (not just “leftover” ones)

 

[ThatCrazyDisneyLady_Tasha]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

 

[jo-jo]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

Sign me up! Actually I have plans for my DD to do the same thing to a lesser degree. With a flock of kids in four different schools and bunches of sports AND working a few part time jobs, she may miss a ride or two. She did this for us with FP. At least with us only going to the parks for 4-6 hours a day, she won't be glued aaaaaaaaaalllllll day to her phone.

 

[lockets]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

On a different board I asked a travel agent who posted on an anti-G+ thread that "her clients love G+" whether she does something like what you describe above. i.e. does she make the G+ arrangements for them throughout the day? No response.

But, yeah, I mean - I honestly do think that someone can start a side hustle doing this.

On a related note I also did everything that you described! On site! In the moment! All day! It was a lot.

 

[Westerner]

On a different board I asked a travel agent who posted on an anti-G+ thread that "her clients love G+" whether she does something like what you describe above. i.e. does she make the G+ arrangements for them throughout the day? No response.

But, yeah, I mean - I honestly do think that someone can start a side hustle doing this.

Agreed. The complexity of a WDW vacation is increasing to the point where there may be an opportunity for travel agents (or some 3rd party) to buffer their customers from it.

 

[Duck143]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

Is there a way to do this with logging into the MDE web page or is it solely on the app? When we used FP+, sometimes things would load more quickly when logging onto the webpage.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

FP+ would hold the seat for you for at least a minute or two as you confirmed it.

G+ and ILL do what some here have called "bait and switch" and although not Disney's intention, that is what is happening.

They did not code the software to put a seat in suspense for any period of time like they did with FP+.

They need to correct that immediately.

They should have fixed it back in October when this thing started.

G+ is such a mess that we will not be eagerly returning to the parks anytime soon.

The 7am overload on the system is also a problem......there is no excuse for certain pages to take 1.5- 7.0 seconds to load as it adds "magical touches"..........or whatever the screen says....and then offer me 5pm seats for ToT (specific example) a little after their system has caught up.

We went to Guest Relations every single day to get Guest Services to help clean up the mess and salvage our day.

Almost all the GR CM's were sympathetic and offered some sort of alternative that was suitable.

(edit- we had 4 park days- Thurs to Sun- Feb 17-20)

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

It sounds like YOU were the Genie in this instance. Kind of like Disney implied G+ would be... all your wishes magically granted to make your visit great!

Now if only the actual $15 Genie lived up to granting wishes like that!

 

[Sabine W.]

We just returned from a 4 night quick trip. We went early January which in previous years had been a low crowd time. That was not the case for us. But with Genie+ & buying the ILL's we did it all and never rope dropped. My brother went to Disney for his 1st time ever with his family last week and it may sound crazy but I was actually logged into his MDE App from back home....up at 645AM every day if their trip and booking their passes. I stayed on their app all day & refreshed and booked etc I had them join my family Life360 acct so I could see where they were without bothering them. I texted them what time their next pass was and made maps with routes to where to head to next. I sent them screenshots for the festival food Booth items at each country as they entered each country at Epcot. I did some of their mobile food ordering and made all their food reservations and snagged some great ones because from home my ability to refresh refresh refresh was much easier than it was for them as 1st timers and being THERE. They literally rode everything! And had great meals and smooth sailing and never rope dropped. It was amazing. I really should start a business providing this service

You are an amazing sister!!

 

[RMO87]

I am considering Genie+ for our trip (wife and I) on May 31. I am lost on a couple acronyms--what are LL and $ILL?

We are doing one day at MK and one at Epcot. We are staying off site. Do you recommend we get the Genie+ feature? Or are there just too many bugs to work out? Fast Pass seemed to work fine...

Ryan

 

[ElsasFan]

I’m just back too. I agree with most of your points. To add a few:
1. The Genie+ system and high crowds make it imperative that you rope drop. We were staying at the Poly. Other than our first day, which was EPCOT, we got on monorail/bus at about 7:15 (bus) or 7:30 (monorail) and to park before 8:00. We were close enough to the front of the line by then in order to rope drop at least one headliner, and in some cases a headliner and one more ride. For example, on our HS day, we did SDD and TSM before park open. That relieved a lot of pressure on getting LLs for the rest of the day. Plus, by rope dropping and selecting a first LL for as quickly as possible we were able to book other high demand LLs before they started to run out in the afternoon.
2. We are lucky enough to have the means to pay for ILL$ and so between that and the strategy above, plus having 2 days at MK, we rode everything we wanted to ride (sometimes twice) with the longest posted wait being 45 minutes for (ironically) Small World. In that way, I guess Genie + “worked” but it sucks for those who cannot afford all that on top of an already expensive vacation. Supposedly this system is supposed to reduce standby times but with the crowds being so high, I don’t think the effect is noticeable. If crowds remain as high, I don’t see how this is sustainable
3. I hate the changing times for LLs and ILL$ lots of other people have commented about this so I don’t belabor the point but
4. In conjunction with 3, I’m not sure why Disney made it so hard to figure out if an LL conflicts with other plans. There is a button you can tap during the booking process to see your other plans, but why can’t they just warn you up front that the LL return time offered conflicts with other plans or better yet, let you choose whether they show you conflicting LL’s?
5. I found that refreshing the tip boards sometimes gave you completely varying times for LLs. Like one second it would be a 5:00 return time or even “unavailable” and the next a 2:00. So definitely if something shows up with a bad time, try again.
6. I was definitely crossing the parks way more than I would do under the old FP system where you could group FP’s and ADRs etc all in similar areas of the park. Be prepared to do a lot of walking!

How long did it take you to get through the gate for the early entry? Did you have the full 30 minutes inside the park?

 

[romanr27]

I am considering Genie+ for our trip (wife and I) on May 31. I am lost on a couple acronyms--what are LL and $ILL?

We are doing one day at MK and one at Epcot. We are staying off site. Do you recommend we get the Genie+ feature? Or are there just too many bugs to work out? Fast Pass seemed to work fine...

Ryan

Genie+ has a few features, but the main feature is Lightning Lane (LL) which is essentially the paid FP feature. It also includes AR lenses for your smartphone camera and some audio guides, but often people will use Genie+ and LL interchangeably since LL is the reason people are buying G+. $ILL is Individual Lightning Lane, which is completely separate from Genie+/Lightning Lane. Each park has two headliner attractions that aren't part of G+/LL and you can buy "a la carte" - these are the $ILL attractions. Functionally LL and $ILL work the same as old FP/FP+, you book a time and get to skip the line. Except LL is part of G+ and includes multiple attractions for the $15/person/day, whereas each $ILL is a separate cost (between $7-$15 per attraction) and you can buy up to two per day. Again, $ILL attractions are separate from G+/LL attractions and buying G+ does not get you access to $ILL attractions.

As for recommendations, I will let others with experience chime in but the general consensus is that it is worth it for MK and not worth it for EP. At MK, Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Space Mountain are $ILL, and at Epcot it is Remy and Frozen. On the off chance that by your visit Guardians of the Galaxy is open at Epcot, it will likely take the place of either Remy or Frozen as an $ILL, sliding the other one to G+, and may use the boarding group system in place of stand-by.

 

[lockets]

It sounds like YOU were the Genie in this instance. Kind of like Disney implied G+ would be... all your wishes magically granted to make your visit great!

Now if only the actual $15 Genie lived up to granting wishes like that!

When Disney announced G+ I had this idea that one of the main advantages would be no longer criss crossing the park so they could have more crowd control while also making suggestions you’d be interested in. ie - you’re in future world and it offers you a G+ on buzz lightyear (or something in next land nearby) that you marked as a must do in your G+ settings. No idea what I read that gave me that idea. But it was the wrong idea lol

 

[hultrain]

How long did it take you to get through the gate for the early entry? Did you have the full 30 minutes inside the park?

Not long at all. Bag check at the monorail station helped, there were a lot fewer bags being checked. Not sure exactly when we got to the parks but it was well before the early entry started so we had the full 30 minutes. I’d guess by around 7:45 or 8:00 so we were already inside the park at the holding areas. For DHS they let us in before 8:30 to queue for SDD and we were actually walking on to the ride before 8:30. We were also let into MK before 8:30 and held in the waiting area between Fantasyland and Tomorrow land until 8:30.

 

[hultrain]

I am considering Genie+ for our trip (wife and I) on May 31. I am lost on a couple acronyms--what are LL and $ILL?

We are doing one day at MK and one at Epcot. We are staying off site. Do you recommend we get the Genie+ feature? Or are there just too many bugs to work out? Fast Pass seemed to work fine...

Ryan

probably not worth it for EPCOT. Pay for the ILL$ ( this is the separate individual lightning lane that is not included in Genie+) for Remy and Frozen if you must ride either or both. If you get to the park early you should be able to do Test Track and Soarin, which are the only two LL (included with Genie +) that are somewhat difficult to get. Depending on how early you get there, the wait could be king but bearable. The other rides should not have that long of a wait. The only caveat to this is if you know you will be at EPCOT on a super crowded day.

I would recommend Genie + for MK