Just paid $30 for Genie+

[DLgal]

I am not considering APs in my calculations. I'm only considering cheapest single day at each park. Why anyone would want to spend 2 days at Universal is even more beyond me tbh. From what I can see the Hilton is $1000, so you get to pay $250 per person to ride unlimited screen simulators!

$1000? I stayed at that Hilton last August for $190/ night.

You never need to buy Express Pass at Universal Hollywood anyway. It's never that busy that you can't just ride everything in standby during a typical park day.

No one is comparing G+ to Universal HOLLYWOOD Express Pass. The comparison makes more sense at Universal Orlando.

 

[starlite_]

$1000? I stayed at that Hilton last August for $190/ night.

You never need to buy Express Pass at Universal Hollywood anyway. It's never that busy that you can't just ride everything in standby during a typical park day.

No one is comparing G+ to Universal HOLLYWOOD Express Pass. The comparison makes more sense at Universal Orlando.

I don't know, that's what it told me when I checked 10 minutes ago. I'm sure you can find better prices.
And I ask then, how is it a fair comparison to do DLR and Universal Orlando? They aren't competitors. And I honestly don't have the time to do a good WDW vs UO comparison.
I agree that the Express Pass is not really needed at Universal Hollywood, since they have so few rides. But I am comparing the two programs that compete with each other.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's absolutely mindboggling to me how much ppl praise Universal's system when half their rides are screen simulators.

This point is the same regardless of Hollywood vs Orlando.

People praise it because they find more value out of a system more similar to Universal which is more similar to other parks. The headaches anyone gets is hmmm...more predictable?

Universal gets its fair share of warranted criticism towards motion simulators make no mistake about that. But people who purchase Express (or at Universal Orlando who purchase it or stay at one of the hotels that get it included) typically find it holds its value. And that is separate from the types of rides Universal has.

 

[DLgal]

I don't know, that's what it told me when I checked 10 minutes ago. I'm sure you can find better prices.
And I ask then, how is it a fair comparison to do DLR and Universal Orlando? They aren't competitors. And I honestly don't have the time to do a good WDW vs UO comparison.
I agree that the Express Pass is not really needed at Universal Hollywood, since they have so few rides. But I am comparing the two programs that compete with each other.

But they don't really compete with each other HERE. Look at Legoland or Knotts for their "skip the line" passes. That is more comparable to Disneyland. Those are also significantly more expensive than Disney, but they WORK. They are pretty much immediate boarding. None of these long lightning lanes.

The point is, Genie+ is too expensive for WHAT IT ACTUALLY PROVIDES. But, it's too cheap to be truly useful. This is the whole problem. At $30 per person per day, ALL it does is make your experience a little less annoying but still pretty annoying. The limitations on use along with the frequency of breakdowns makes it a poor value. It's not about the dollar amount per se, it's about the value for that money. The ILL just adds to the annoyance AND the cost. After purchasing 2 LLs along with G+, you're close to $70-80. And the experience is not anywhere as good as Universal Express, Knotts Fast Lane, or Legoland Reserve 'n' Ride.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I am not considering APs in my calculations. I'm only considering cheapest single day at each park. Why anyone would want to spend 2 days at Universal is even more beyond me tbh. From what I can see the Hilton is $1000, so you get to pay $250 per person to ride unlimited screen simulators!

I'm confused, where are you seeing $1,000?

If you're talking about Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City tonight you can stay for $252+taxes for 2 people for 2 double beds, $262+taxes for 2 queen beds, etc. It might be helpful if you're going to list numbers to give dates, room category, number of people, etc.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Despite being on opposite coasts, I can see why it makes sense to compare Disneyland with Universal Orlando as opposed to Universal Hollywood. If you remove Volcano Bay (because waterparks are a seperate thing), both Disneyland and Universal Orlando have two major gates. Both are themed to various pop culture IP type things. For people visiting from elsewhere else (not locals) both parks (Disneyland and Universal Orlando) are often multi-day vacations and the theme park is the major destination/reason for the trip.

 

[Aurora0427]

I am not considering APs in my calculations. I'm only considering cheapest single day at each park. Why anyone would want to spend 2 days at Universal is even more beyond me tbh. From what I can see the Hilton is $1000, so you get to pay $250 per person to ride unlimited screen simulators!

You can stay in a 1 bedroom suite at the Hilton for $1000…. Their regular rooms are typically under $350 per night.

Have you been to Universal Studios Hollywood? It’s a great park…. Yes, it’s very different from Disneyland. You also don’t need to buy their express pass. It’s a completely unnecessary expense. The entire park can be done easily in one day, especially if you arrive early. They have certain times of year that are crazy busy, but then they have times where it’s completely dead. You don’t need two days at Universal. Yes, it’s a park for older children who can meet the height requirements. We love Universal…. It’s easy. Stress free. Show up and ride rides. Enjoy the shows. I’m not on my phone all day. I don’t have to make a reservation, parking is super easy, and they have some really cool things to do there. Not to mention I can walk there from the Hilton and not walk by someone smoking meth on the street like I saw last week at Disneyland at the corner of Katella and Harbor.

Do I like universal more than Disneyland? No. They’re very different parks, and I love them both for different reasons. Even with everything that’s hurting the guest experience right now at Disneyland, we still love it, but I do feel like there are areas of improvement needed. It’ll be interesting to see if they make adjustments to Genie +.

Agree with everyone who says it’s better to compare Universal Orlando to Disneyland. That’s an excellent point.

 

[foolish_mortals]

Ironically the Knott’s FastLane is worth it because otherwise you’re not riding anything an hour after park opening, especially on a weekend.

You need FastLane since Ghostrider, Silverbullet, Xcelerator would regularly have 3hr waits. Why? Because FastLane get immediate boarding even when regular riders are already queued into boarding gates. I felt like such an a** using FastLane so haven’t been back in a few months.

All this to say, I think no matter the price point of G+ when the ratio is heavily skewed towards people paying extra you will have more people satisfied with paying more and the regular people will be more upset and pushed in to the upsell

 

[starlite_]

Yessh ok, so many things to respond to. I don't think comparing Disneyland to Knotts for example is fair either. They aren't the same type of parks to me. And yes, I know there are other ways to get a cheaper experience at the Universal parks, like the deluxe resorts everyone keeps bringing up. There are also ways to get unlimited LLs at Disneyland like the VIPs, but that would require a dif type of comparison that I don't have the time to do. I compared the cheapest possible day with the "skip the line" system that are the most similar. Unlimited Express pass would be better put against VIP tour at Disneyland for example, and maybe that is a better price per ride, I don't know. And despite what apparently everyone else believes, I still don't think comparing both coasts is a good comparison. From what I have heard Orlando Universal is much better, it has to be, their direct competition is WDW.

Yes, I do think the type of attractions it has matters. We can agree to disagree but I don't think Universal rides are very repeatable. As many have said, Universal is a much relaxed experience and that is fine, but that is not what I was talking about at all. I was doing a direct $ to ride/type of experience comparison about DLR and Universal Hollywood. There a re a million other things that we can use to say one is better than the other like the previous poster says, for them Universal is stress free and no need to use their phone. And I can agree with that if that's the point of their park days, I went to a local park with a similar mindset.

Also a reason I didn't want to bring hotels into it is because I knew how many nitpicking would go into that. I literally did a 5 min search on deluxe hotels and it was what it showed. As I said, I'm sure there are better offers but I truly don't care, because that was not my point on my 1 day ticket vs 1 day ticket original post. I honestly think so many of us here are used to planning big that some are having a hard time understanding my one day vs one day example. I know it's more cost effective to buy 2 days at DLR for example. Universal right now has a 2for1 sale too. But that isn't the point I am trying to make at all.

I also agree that Genie+ is not the best thing ever, it worked super well for us when we used it but I know it's not for everyone and that we didn't go in peak visit days. I have no solutions to that other than Disney is probably letting too many ppl buy it/ too many ppl into the Parks as a whole. But we all know that won't really change.

I agree with another poster that it's really funny how so many are complaining about being priced out and that it's not worth it and yet want the experience to be even more costly. Or maybe those that want it to be even more expensive to have a good Disney day have lots of spare cash, I don't know.

Personally I don't think Genie+ is the problem. It's the exact same thing as MP and fastpass were with 1 more rule. I think the problem is the amount of ppl at the parks.

Everyone is free to disagree with me or do a more in depth comparison of Parks. I would love to see a Universal Orlando vs DLR simply because while I don't think they are competition, I do agree that they are the most similar since they both have 2 gates.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Personally I don't think Genie+ is the problem. It's the exact same thing as MP and fastpass were with 1 more rule. I think the problem is the amount of ppl at the parks.

So I was a huge fan of MaxPass and Genie+ has several different rules that make it inferior in my opinion:

1. One ride per attraction per day (can’t repeat favorites, if your child is too small or scared to ride the bigger attractions is a much worse value)

2. You have to wait 2 hours to get a new LL (under MaxPass this was 90 minutes)

3. With MaxPass you could get your next pass once your next return window opened. You did not have to wait to scan into the ride like with Genie+

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

es, I do think the type of attractions it has matters. We can agree to disagree but I don't think Universal rides are very repeatable.

You're completely missing the point of my comment which seems odd like you aren't trying to get what people are saying. I very explicitly said that those who purchase it find value in it. Do you purchase it? Do you want to purchase it? Does the attractions suit your interest? If the answer to these questions is no then you're not going to purchase it.

I have motion sickness, I get the complaint on the types of attractions, I harped on it for years. But if we purchase it (or stay in a hotel that gets us it) it's because we find it has value. We stayed at RP to get EP and I don't even ride many of the attractions at USO because of either thrill level or motion and I still found value in it. I could ride Seuss high in the sky to my heart's content For those who do it in Hollywood they do it because they have found value in it. The reason I said it's separate from what type of rides is just because Universal has a decent amount of motion simulator rides does not inherently mean their get ahead of the line pass doesn't hold value which was your premise "It's absolutely mindboggling to me how much ppl praise Universal's system when half their rides are screen simulators" You may not purchase it, someone else may not purchase it but others may because they've found a reason to do so.

What people most complain it appears with Genie+ irrespective of DL or WDW is the value component is lacking with the product as is. Certainly some issues are higher for some people than others but there's a "something's missing" that you read all too often with Genie+.

 

[starlite_]

So I was a huge fan of MaxPass and Genie+ has several different rules that make it inferior in my opinion:

1. One ride per attraction per day (can’t repeat favorites, if your child is too small or scared to ride the bigger attractions is a much worse value)

2. You have to wait 2 hours to get a new LL (under MaxPass this was 90 minutes)

3. With MaxPass you could get your next pass once your next return window opened. You did not have to wait to scan into the ride like with Genie+

Ok, so 1 new rule and 2 rules got updated. Not sure it makes that much of a dif for the normal guests. I do agree about the rule that changed, it sucks and I have said it before. I think it would be better to have a limited amount of uses vs one per ride for that reason, to me a LL for Autopia is useless but families with little kids would probably love to have multiple of those.

But in my Universal vs Disneyland comparison. Which again, was what I was trying to compare both have the same one ride per day.

 

[starlite_]

You're completely missing the point of my comment which seems odd like you aren't trying to get what people are saying. I very explicitly said that those who purchase it find value in it. Do you purchase it? Do you want to purchase it? Does the attractions suit your interest? If the answer to these questions is no then you're not going to purchase it.

I have motion sickness, I get the complaint on the types of attractions, I harped on it for years. But if we purchase it (or stay in a hotel that gets us it) it's because we find it has value. We stayed at RP to get EP and I don't even ride many of the attractions at USO because of either thrill level or motion and I still found value in it. I could ride Seuss high in the sky to my heart's content For those who do it in Hollywood they do it because they have found value in it. The reason I said it's separate from what type of rides is just because Universal has a decent amount of motion simulator rides does not inherently mean their get ahead of the line pass doesn't hold value which was your premise "It's absolutely mindboggling to me how much ppl praise Universal's system when half their rides are screen simulators" You may not purchase it, someone else may not purchase it but others may because they've found a reason to do so.

What people most complain it appears with Genie+ irrespective of DL or WDW is the value component is lacking with the product as is. Certainly some issues are higher for some people than others but there's a "something's missing" that you read all too often with Genie+.

That's all fine but again, I care zero about anything regarding Universal Orlando that might be brought up, cause in my comparison, it's useless. If you re-read my comment, I was comparing amount of rides per money. I never once talked about VALUE. Because value is personal, someone might find a lot of value in the express pass and that is perfectly ok. Some ppl find value in lots of things I don't, like candles, figurines, cars, mickey pretzels. Which is why I never brought up value. Value is irrelevant to what I was saying.

 

[serendipityaey]

Yessh ok, so many things to respond to. I don't think comparing Disneyland to Knotts for example is fair either. They aren't the same type of parks to me. And yes, I know there are other ways to get a cheaper experience at the Universal parks, like the deluxe resorts everyone keeps bringing up. There are also ways to get unlimited LLs at Disneyland like the VIPs, but that would require a dif type of comparison that I don't have the time to do. I compared the cheapest possible day with the "skip the line" system that are the most similar. Unlimited Express pass would be better put against VIP tour at Disneyland for example, and maybe that is a better value, I don't know. And despite what apparently everyone else believes, I still don't think comparing both coasts is a good comparison. From what I have heard Orlando Universal is much better, it has to be, their direct competition is WDW.

Yes, I do think the type of attractions it has matters. We can agree to disagree but I don't think Universal rides are very repeatable. As many have said, Universal is a much relaxed experience and that is fine, but that is not what I was talking about at all. I was doing a direct $ to ride/type of experience comparison about DLR and Universal Hollywood. There a re a million other things that we can use to say one is better than the other like the previous poster says, for them Universal is stress free and no need to use their phone. And I can agree with that if that's the point of their park days, I went to a local park with a similar mindset.

Also a reason I didn't want to bring hotels into it is because I knew how many nitpicking would go into that. I literally did a 5 min search on deluxe hotels and it was what it showed. As I said, I'm sure there are better offers but I truly don't care, because that was not my point on my 1 day ticket vs 1 day ticket original post. I honestly think so many of us here are used to planning big that some are having a hard time understanding my one day vs one day example. I know it's more cost effective to buy 2 days at DLR for example. Universal right now has a 2for1 sale too. But that isn't the point I am trying to make at all.

I also agree that Genie+ is not the best thing ever, it worked super well for us when we used it but I know it's not for everyone and that we didn't go in peak visit days. I have no solutions to that other than Disney is probably letting too many ppl buy it/ too many ppl into the Parks as a whole. But we all know that won't really change.

I agree with another poster that it's really funny how so many are complaining about being priced out and that it's not worth it and yet want the experience to be even more costly. Or maybe those that want it to be even more expensive to have a good Disney day have lots of spare cash, I don't know.

Personally I don't think Genie+ is the problem. It's the exact same thing as MP and fastpass were with 1 more rule. I think the problem is the amount of ppl at the parks.

Everyone is free to disagree with me or do a more in depth comparison of Parks. I would love to see a Universal Orlando vs DLR simply because while I don't think they are competition, I do agree that they are the most similar since they both have 2 gates.

Personally I think you’ve made some great and valid points. But it seems no one is allowed to have a differing opinion from the frequent posters here.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That's all fine but again, I care zero about anything regarding Universal Orlando that might be brought up, cause in my comparison, it's useless. If you re-read my comment, I was comparing amount of rides per money. I never once talked about VALUE. Because value is personal, someone might find a lot of value in the express pass and that is perfectly ok. Some ppl find value in lots of things I don't, like candles, figurines, cars, mickey pretzels. Which is why I never brought up value. Value is irrelevant to what I was saying.

Again what I said though is YOUR complaint about motion simulators is the same regardless of Hollywood or Orlando because BOTH have them in abundance. I guess you missed that detail I'm sorry if you're choosing to ignore this fact or are simply unaware but that comparison is very much valid. Maybe take a moment to go look at Orlando's site I guess, because you're not going to give any credence to my words it appears.

If your problem is you don't know why anyone would pay the money for EP when Universal relies on simulators my point will still be the same, people find value in it, the functionality is more similar to other parks out there so there's more predictability and confidence in purchasing the product. You cannot separate value out of this because you brought value into it. You said the words not I. Again "It's absolutely mindboggling to me how much ppl praise Universal's system when half their rides are screen simulators" is a value statement and is your personal opinion. Please don't bring that into the discussion if you don't want it to be talked about

 

[TinkAgainU]

2pm arrival should have gotten you quite a bit of value, especially if you knew about the refresh trick.
Even the top tier LLs.

We did without G+ on rope drop DL since the few rides we were concerned about were reasonable waits. On days arriving late (2+pm?) the G+ seemed useless since by then all the arrival windows were super late, and if we were staying until close, I think the standby times would have dropped automatically. If they let us book one ride before coming thru the gate, I probably would have purchased it anyway (they could just cancel those for anyone not thru the gate in time to ride?) but every time we walked in after 2 - the Genie+ seemed to have times starting at 8 or 9pm - that's why we won't buy it in advance.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Ok, so 1 new rule and 2 rules got updated. Not sure it makes that much of a dif for the normal guests. I do agree about the rule that changed, it sucks and I have said it before. I think it would be better to have a limited amount of uses vs one per ride for that reason, to me a LL for Autopia is useless but families with little kids would probably love to have multiple of those.

But in my Universal vs Disneyland comparison. Which again, was what I was trying to compare both have the same one ride per day.

Yes, I agree. I would be more inclined to buy Genie+ if it was XX number of rides per day on whatever you wanted. Right now, my 3 year old can/will only ride four attractions at DL and four at DCA.

But being able to pick up your next pass when your window opens rather than when you scan in is hugely missed. That would be a matter of an hour saved if you have to wait until the end of your window to scan in and then get your next pass. Also, every 90 minutes instead of every 120 means you can just book more over the course of your day before they are gone or so late you can’t use them.

 

[Aurora0427]

Yessh ok, so many things to respond to. I don't think comparing Disneyland to Knotts for example is fair either. They aren't the same type of parks to me. And yes, I know there are other ways to get a cheaper experience at the Universal parks, like the deluxe resorts everyone keeps bringing up. There are also ways to get unlimited LLs at Disneyland like the VIPs, but that would require a dif type of comparison that I don't have the time to do. I compared the cheapest possible day with the "skip the line" system that are the most similar. Unlimited Express pass would be better put against VIP tour at Disneyland for example, and maybe that is a better price per ride, I don't know. And despite what apparently everyone else believes, I still don't think comparing both coasts is a good comparison. From what I have heard Orlando Universal is much better, it has to be, their direct competition is WDW.

Yes, I do think the type of attractions it has matters. We can agree to disagree but I don't think Universal rides are very repeatable. As many have said, Universal is a much relaxed experience and that is fine, but that is not what I was talking about at all. I was doing a direct $ to ride/type of experience comparison about DLR and Universal Hollywood. There a re a million other things that we can use to say one is better than the other like the previous poster says, for them Universal is stress free and no need to use their phone. And I can agree with that if that's the point of their park days, I went to a local park with a similar mindset.

Also a reason I didn't want to bring hotels into it is because I knew how many nitpicking would go into that. I literally did a 5 min search on deluxe hotels and it was what it showed. As I said, I'm sure there are better offers but I truly don't care, because that was not my point on my 1 day ticket vs 1 day ticket original post. I honestly think so many of us here are used to planning big that some are having a hard time understanding my one day vs one day example. I know it's more cost effective to buy 2 days at DLR for example. Universal right now has a 2for1 sale too. But that isn't the point I am trying to make at all.

I also agree that Genie+ is not the best thing ever, it worked super well for us when we used it but I know it's not for everyone and that we didn't go in peak visit days. I have no solutions to that other than Disney is probably letting too many ppl buy it/ too many ppl into the Parks as a whole. But we all know that won't really change.

I agree with another poster that it's really funny how so many are complaining about being priced out and that it's not worth it and yet want the experience to be even more costly. Or maybe those that want it to be even more expensive to have a good Disney day have lots of spare cash, I don't know.

Personally I don't think Genie+ is the problem. It's the exact same thing as MP and fastpass were with 1 more rule. I think the problem is the amount of ppl at the parks.

Everyone is free to disagree with me or do a more in depth comparison of Parks. I would love to see a Universal Orlando vs DLR simply because while I don't think they are competition, I do agree that they are the most similar since they both have 2 gates.

People are hoping that if they make it more expensive, less people will buy it, and that will help out the standby lines. I completely admit I have no idea if that would fix it….. I think the ride breakdowns and the way they allocate the MEP’s when the rides break down, and how you can get an MEP for a ride, then use that MEP on a different ride, and then get a LL for the ride that initially broke down again, are among the biggest problems right now. But, what do I know? I’m just speculating!!!!

I also agree with you about the crowds….. but Disneyland wants it crowded. It’s good for their bottom line, bad for guests.

 

[AC7179]

I feel like the issue is that Disney is making money by plussing the experience of some people, but they're plussing their experience at the expense of other people who are not seeing any compensation for it.

So, when all is equal, everyone is on the same page.

Now, those who pay more are lining Disney's pockets, and Disney isn't inconvenienced, it's all those who are still paying a premium for a service that is now less valuable to them.

 

[starlite_]

Yes, I agree. I would be more inclined to buy Genie+ if it was XX number of rides per day on whatever you wanted. Right now, my 3 year old can/will only ride four attractions at DL and four at DCA.

But being able to pick up your next pass when your window opens rather than when you scan in is hugely missed. That would be a matter of an hour saved if you have to wait until the end of your window to scan in and then get your next pass. Also, every 90 minutes instead of every 120 means you can just book more over the course of your day before they are gone or so late you can’t use them.

That might also help tbh, if I wanted to ride XY ride with a LL but saw that it was long then I would prefer to try it later. Which you can't really do with the current system because even if you cancel it to try again later, you already "wasted" the time you waited to book that LL.

Now that I'm thinking about it, having Genie+ be like a ticket pass would work really well. You could have, for example, 10 LLs to use per day (plus the LL$). These 10 LLs could be used for any ride with a LL at any time, so it would help spread crowds between those that park drop, those that brave the mid-morning crowds, etc. Which would help families with little kids who can't be there all day. And if the ride went down there would be no need for a MEP unless you were already in the line when it broke down, so really they would just give you back your allotted LL.

This would also help everyone that arrives late at the park because there would be no need or complains that they can't get any LLs after 2pm.

As much as I love MEPs, I would be willing to sacrifice them if it helped. On August we got like 5 MEPs in the morning thanks to Indy. Which I loved and used, made our day great, but still.