MAJOR changes to Genie+!

[k5xs]

The depth of this excellent discussion validates to me how overwhelmingly complex planning a Disney vacation has become.

What used to be for our family a fairly simple and joyful process has become an arduous and demanding Gordian Knot that begins with the planning and continues with every day of your visit.

 

[xdan0920]

The depth of this excellent discussion validates to me how overwhelmingly complex planning a Disney vacation has become.

What used to be for our family a fairly simple and joyful process has become an arduous and demanding Gordian Knot that begins with the planning and continues with every day of your visit.

Correct. I was there in Mid-April. My two boys, 4 and 8 had the time of their life. Me? I worked my *** off all day every day trying to get this exhausting system to work for us.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I don't use Genie Plus. I have not found any reason to yet. Yes, it means I don't skip the lines, and I only do rides that have standby ride lengths I can handle. I also think standby only is preferable to all this, with the exception of the fact that I can understand using virtual queue for new and ultra popular attractions to avoid having to deal with 5 hour lines, even if the guests want to wait in them.

UK visitors have weeks off at a time, and once they cross the pond the mouse wants them to spend at least two of those weeks forking him over some cheddar cheese, so they get special incentives like longer tickets. In the US, we are often lucky to have a week off, so almost everything is based on a week to ten day's stay for us.

 

[Jennasis]

My parents were with us on our trip 2 weeks ago. Both in their early 70's and have been WDW annual visitors since 1977. They haven't been in about 5 years since the grandkids arrived but we're thrilled to go back. They were shocked and dismayed at how complicated the trip was (and I did all the hard work). They complained constantly about it (and the crowds) and made it known that if I hadn't figured out everything there is no way they would have.

 

[robinb]

I tried to buy G+ on my first MK day last week. It was a mess. I waited until 6:55 to buy it and the app was so slammed I could not even purchase it. I tried for 15 minutes with no success. I can’t wait to see how it will be when everyone has to buy it on their park day.

BTW, it happened to me again yesterday. I tried and tried for 25 minutes and the button to purchase G+ was not working. I eventually tried to buy a LL time once the system went live and it allowed me to purchase G+ For Slinky through the time selection. But … I was not allocated a time! I noticed that when I reviewed my times. I ended up going back to the Tip Board (by that time Slinky was in the late afternoon) and grabbing a LL for 9:30 for Falcon and was allocated one for 11:50. When I talked to the a CM at guest services under the blue umbrella she told me it was a 2 step process even if you selected a time to purchase. You had to purchase the G+ and then go back to the tip board to get another time. I am very thechy and that was not clear at all. She advised me to purchase G+ in advance and when I told her I had tried for 25 minutes she told get up at 6:00 or 6:30 to do it!

This will not go well in the future just for The Mouse to monkey around with pricing and make a bigger profit.

 

[SeasonneRose]

My family has only stayed at Deluxe resorts. Last time was just before the pandemic. We’d planned to come back for my 50th which coincided with WDW 50th (same day) but then all these changes started happening…

Yeah, we have no plans to go back. Will probably go to Universal next time we are in Florida. I LOVE planning Disney trips. Seriously love it - I design shirts, I design a planner/scrapbook, the whole nine yards. I could do that with FP+ because I could PLAN. With Genie+ I could only partially plan - because I couldn’t pre-order ILL and that was already enough to make me not want to go - because who wants to be stressed out EVERY MORNING wondering if you’ll get the rides you want at the times you need to go with the meals you’ve already booked at all the most expensive restaurants? Not me! Now having to even purchase Genie+ itself at MIDNIGHT?! Yeah, forget that.

And blah, blah, blah, I’m sure there are ten people who will take my place. Good luck to them. They’re gonna need it.

And that’s your prerogative. No one’s experience at Disney is going to hinge on whether you are there or not.

I’m not sure why people come onto these boards proclaiming how “they’re done” with Disney. Ok great. I highly doubt it but good for you if that’s the choice that works for you.

 

[MainMom]

My parents were with us on our trip 2 weeks ago. Both in their early 70's and have been WDW annual visitors since 1977. They haven't been in about 5 years since the grandkids arrived but we're thrilled to go back. They were shocked and dismayed at how complicated the trip was (and I did all the hard work). They complained constantly about it (and the crowds) and made it known that if I hadn't figured out everything there is no way they would have.

We are traveling with my parents in 1.5 weeks. They are in their mid-60’s. There is no way they would figure this all out. My dad does ok with tech, but he’s not fast. My mom could check wait times & that’s about it. And actually, I’ve researched a lot about G+ here, but I decided to let my DD20 do most of the booking. She’s going to book at 7am with me and she gets to book the rides that disappear faster. She figured out the app with the tip board and pinning the ride you want the most so I didn’t bother. She can just teach me.

 

[Frozen2014]

People are speculating they will offer Genie+ if staying at a deluxe for free? Or only if returning customer? If they include it, then won't that dramatically reduce the availability to anyone else? I can see that really angering customers and not good for Disney.

We are staying at Contemporary in August. After seeing the change, am thinking of just purchasing it for our trip (6 park days, 4 of us) to avoid the stress of trying to get it and having to stay up until midnight. But if that's $360 USD we don't have to spend (we're Canadian so more for us, then that's big.

 

[robinb]

I wanted to add that I asked for and received refund. We rode Falcon single rider and waited less than 5 minutes.

 

[Nick6300]

I would love to know how it's oversold?? Fastpass+ was free for everyone and it was easier to get on most rides than Genie+

Don't think they actually believe that, it's just an easy excuse for them to convey to justify this move. This is just like them saying park reservations and limiting capacity helps them control crowds and improve guest experience.

 

[erinch]

We are traveling with my parents in 1.5 weeks. They are in their mid-60’s. There is no way they would figure this all out. My dad does ok with tech, but he’s not fast. My mom could check wait times & that’s about it. And actually, I’ve researched a lot about G+ here, but I decided to let my DD20 do most of the booking. She’s going to book at 7am with me and she gets to book the rides that disappear faster. She figured out the app with the tip board and pinning the ride you want the most so I didn’t bother. She can just teach me.

Just a shout-out for us oldsters! I’ll turn 64 in August. My first computers were DOS , the first website I built was HTML, I managed to force the ECC to work so there was audio on the Sierra Kings Quest games, and yesterday I ran 7 zooms while having Word, excel, PPT, Smartsheet and 8 browser windows open simultaneously. I’ll be there in 2 weeks, and have a nightmare with a newlywed daughter with a pilot husband whose dates keep changing. Yes, it’s complex, but some of us are pretty quick on the draw.

 

[Nick6300]

I haven't read through the pages here, but I'm sure many of us think it's possible for genie+ dynamic pricing. It seems to me that it would be easier for a price increase, and dynamic pricing would add another layer of complication to the trip planning experience. But Disney does seem to favor complicated over sensibility sometimes.

 

[Nick6300]

For Disney, this seems like a smart move to drive up demand for G+ and expectation for a price increase, further increasing short term demand.

I don't have any regrets for not pre-booking G+ for upcoming Sept. trip. We just came back from an 8 park day trip where we only bought it for 4 days and it worked well. It was definitely very useful for our MK days, but we also had 2 late in the trip MK days where we didn't want G+, to force us to slow down for meals/snacks and other attractions we didn't want to continue to skip (carousel of progress, peoplemover, Philhar, monsters, etc.). Our upcoming trip will also have 3 water park days.

 

[SeasonneRose]

People are speculating they will offer Genie+ if staying at a deluxe for free? Or only if returning customer? If they include it, then won't that dramatically reduce the availability to anyone else? I can see that really angering customers and not good for Disney.

We are staying at Contemporary in August. After seeing the change, am thinking of just purchasing it for our trip (6 park days, 4 of us) to avoid the stress of trying to get it and having to stay up until midnight. But if that's $360 USD we don't have to spend (we're Canadian so more for us, then that's big.

Or entice people to book deluxe. I don’t think they’ll offer it for free to deluxe but I would guess that they give deluxe resorts early ability to purchase and possibly at a reduced rate.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Or entice people to book deluxe. I don’t think they’ll offer it for free to deluxe but I would guess that they give deluxe resorts early ability to purchase and possibly at a reduced rate.

Maybe that would work on people looking at Deluxe but in reality majority of folks who didn't book Deluxe did it for a reason, usually price. You're going to be unlikely to find someone who is jumping from a Value to Deluxe or from a lower priced Mod to a Deluxe, the price difference would be quite a lot in that case especially if we're talking more than 1 night.

 

[SeasonneRose]

Maybe that would work on people looking at Deluxe but in reality majority of folks who didn't book Deluxe did it for a reason, usually price. You're going to be unlikely to find someone who is jumping from a Value to Deluxe or from a lower priced Mod to a Deluxe, the price difference would be quite a lot in that case especially if we're talking more than 1 night.

I agree. But at the end of the day if they offer the deluxe guests the ability to buy genie+ early at a “discounted” rate of $15 while everyone else has to pay dynamic pricing then there is no net loss to Disney and they get to pretend like they’re offering a benefit to Deluxe guests.

 

[MaC410]

What confuses me is why it seems like the Lightening Lane line takes longer than what the FastPass line used to take. How is a paid for system more clogged than a free system? Is it other issues like staffing or how often they are taking people from the Lightening Lane line?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree. But at the end of the day if they offer the deluxe guests the ability to buy genie+ early at a “discounted” rate of $15 while everyone else has to pay dynamic pricing then there is no net loss to Disney and they get to pretend like they’re offering a benefit to Deluxe guests.

Yeah I was just commenting on your "entice people to book deluxe" The times that people will truly be enticed won't be that much unless they were on the fence anyhow.

 

[Frozen2014]

Or entice people to book deluxe. I don’t think they’ll offer it for free to deluxe but I would guess that they give deluxe resorts early ability to purchase and possibly at a reduced rate.

Thanks for your thoughts.
To decide...just purchase it now, or don't bother and hope they add some kind of discount.
Am thinking we just bit the bullet and purchase it, and it's just part of our overall budget.

 

[Frozen2014]

One other question...I assume we can add Genie+ to a package we've already purchased? And then the actual payment is when we do our final payment?