Just back with thoughts (mostly on G+)

[hultrain]

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

That’s how it should work, and they implied that Genie would be “smart” about making recommendations but it is not. I didn’t once use any of the Genie’s recommendations

 

[tigger2002]

Let's face it; many of us think the new system is seriously flawed and a complete money grab.

Let's face it; many of us think know the new system is seriously flawed and a complete money grab.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

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?

You are asking the wrong question since all the parks let you in early.....HOWEVER......

They run the internal waiting differently from park to park.

DHS- you are standing just outside of your favorite ride and you are in the queue in no time!

AK- for FoP they eat up about 15-18 minutes walking you from the Pandora bridge to FoP and then you climb up the entire queue and then have 2 preshows......you get one ride done in your 30 minutes......FoP

MK- they line you up at a rope somewhat close to certain lands. You can can be on/off 7DMT within about 8-15 minutes

EP- I can only speak about the IG ........they let you in early and either you line up early for Remy with an on time or slightly early opening for that ride............or you are let in early and you are held at a rope for FEA until the start of the 30 minute early window.....it takes a few minutes to walk to FEA from Canada.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

That’s how it should work, and they implied that Genie would be “smart” about making recommendations but it is not. I didn’t once use any of the Genie’s recommendations

Free Genie is literally a waste of anybody's time.

Free Genie is a complete joke.....unless you want to rope drop the carousel and do Swiss Family Treehouse instead of the headliners.

For the most efficient way to ride the rides, pay the modest cost for a 1 year subscription to touringplans.com

 

[a1tinkfans]

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.

This refreshing looking down at a phone the whole day… it’s Vacation… that’s not what I want to do, so the tix are still unused. I don’t know when it will be less crowded but I just can’t do it Knowing in advance how much time will be spent
On Tech… it’s what I don’t want to be doing.. or I’d be making Money lol
Enjoy all… more space for you while I sit it out for now ..

 

[Turksmom]

Free Genie is literally a waste of anybody's time.

Free Genie is a complete joke.....unless you want to rope drop the carousel and do Swiss Family Treehouse instead of the headliners.

For the most efficient way to ride the rides, pay the modest cost for a 1 year subscription to touringplans.com

I couldn't even get those suggestions. It kept trying to send me to Pecos Bill's. Right before my lunch reservation, and right after. And every time I opened that stupid Genie day.

 

[Garyjames220]

Do you lose a lot of time paying for a ILL by Disney gift card compared to a saved credit card, just thinking if getting two ILLs would be easy enough with out taking to long

 

[HydroGuy]

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?

Read the sticky thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...lightning-lane-please-read-posts-1-7.3856734/

 

[Jonfw2]

I can understand in theory, but I don't want to choose what I think is 10 AM and have it be 5 PM, conflicting with an ADR in another park.

Exactly this. I had to eat the $22 for an ILL I thought I was booking for noon that changed to 5 after I paid for it. Plus, I lost an ILL I could’ve used elsewhere.

 

[Jonfw2]

Do you lose a lot of time paying for a ILL by Disney gift card compared to a saved credit card, just thinking if getting two ILLs would be easy enough with out taking to long

If the parks are busy, you may lose your ILL entirely while entering the info.

 

[Jonfw2]

Free Genie is literally a waste of anybody's time.

Free Genie is a complete joke.....unless you want to rope drop the carousel and do Swiss Family Treehouse instead of the headliners.

For the most efficient way to ride the rides, pay the modest cost for a 1 year subscription to touringplans.com

Agreed. And not only that, but Free Genie doesn’t even show all your reservations. If you have, say, two ILL’s and one LL booked at the same time, usually only two will show up.

 

[Jonfw2]

You are asking the wrong question since all the parks let you in early.....HOWEVER......

They run the internal waiting differently from park to park.

DHS- you are standing just outside of your favorite ride and you are in the queue in no time!

AK- for FoP they eat up about 15-18 minutes walking you from the Pandora bridge to FoP and then you climb up the entire queue and then have 2 preshows......you get one ride done in your 30 minutes......FoP

MK- they line you up at a rope somewhat close to certain lands. You can can be on/off 7DMT within about 8-15 minutes

EP- I can only speak about the IG ........they let you in early and either you line up early for Remy with an on time or slightly early opening for that ride............or you are let in early and you are held at a rope for FEA until the start of the 30 minute early window.....it takes a few minutes to walk to FEA from Canada.

Coming in at the IG, we were allowed to wait right in the Remy queue at 9:10am and we’re OFF the ride before 9:30.

 

[Jonfw2]

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.

Well, if it helps, I’ll be snorkeling on St. Lucia in a couple months.

Also, I assure you I’m not pretending- we had a magical time even with the massive crowds.

PS: we went to Universal. It was equally bad.

 

[Jonfw2]

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!

Agreed on all points. And I was at Poly too! If you were at the pool midday at any point, I have the giant tattoo of a guardian statue on my left arm.

 

[Jonfw2]

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)

To your point, there are literally ten times as many guest relations spots as I’ve ever seen before and all of them had lines at all times.

 

[JJsmama]

Well, if it helps, I’ll be snorkeling on St. Lucia in a couple months.

Also, I assure you I’m not pretending- we had a magical time even with the massive crowds.

That’s great news! I’m glad. I dearly want the Magic to still be there.

 

[ThatCrazyDisneyLady_Tasha]

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.

I'm at stay at home Mom with my last kiddo headed to kindergarten so I have the time for it right now It worked out so well!