No the Magic isn’t gone but it’s at 25%

[leiaorgana]

They have taken notice. It's why next week they are limiting sales. IMO should have been that way from day 1. Glitches aside, Genie+ and all skip the line systems don't work when this many people have it.

I don’t agree that they have taken notice in the slightest tbh They’re only trying to cover themselves with this change because they know they don’t have enough capacity at the decent rides and clearly don’t care about guest experience anymore. I would imagine they’re only going to get even more complaints next week when people want to buy it and can’t if the speculation that it will start to sell out is true.

 

[holden]

I’m not a fan of Genie+, but we were able to ride everything we wanted using it. We did one day of stacking in the afternoon and another of taking the first available attraction and then booking again when we tapped in. Both systems allowed us to get in many attractions.

 

[Kingoglow]

I’m not a fan of Genie+, but we were able to ride everything we wanted using it. We did one day of stacking in the afternoon and another of taking the first available attraction and then booking again when we tapped in. Both systems allowed us to get in many attractions.

This was my experience too.
Stacked at HS and tap and rebook at MK. No need for G+ at AK or Ep.

Disney robbed too many people pre-selling G+ for everyday of their stay. It is going to be interesting to see how the program swings after 6/8. I would imagine that G+ for HS will sell out real quick, but I guess it really depends on the limit that they want to put on sales.

 

[SteveH]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts @2goofykiddos you confirm what I've felt for a while, and happy that we decided to press the pause button on any future Disney trips. I hope things get better for you.

 

[gharter]

I wish they would go to the Express pass. Much simpler.

I don't think you'd want to see what they would charge for that. Universal is $100-$300+ per person per day. Disney would be much higher.

 

[Jrb1979]

I don't think you'd want to see what they would charge for that. Universal is $100-$300+ per person per day. Disney would be much higher.

That's fine. Less people that have it the better it works. There is a reason Disney is capping Genie+ sales. It's not working due to the amount of people that have it.

 

[k5xs]

It's a real shame that guests have to "strategize," find "workarounds," and dismiss as "just another IT glitch" things that should be facilitating a relaxing vacation.

It's past time for D'Amaro to demand that G+ be fixed or abandoned and to publish publicly a mea culpa "We hear you, and we promise to do better" to their guests.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I don't think you'd want to see what they would charge for that. Universal is $100-$300+ per person per day. Disney would be much higher.

I agree.

That's fine. Less people that have it the better it works. There is a reason Disney is capping Genie+ sales. It's not working due to the amount of people that have it.

I don't normally play the 'Walt' card but honestly, I don't believe his intent would ever have been that those with a lot of money be able to do more than the average person. I think of him sitting on that bench watching his girls on the merry-go-round and dreaming of being able to do those things with his girls, not watching them.

I truly believe (and this is just my opinion) is that Walt's dream was for all to be able to visit his parks on equal footing, not those with a lot of money be able to spend hundreds more a day than most guests can afford, to be given a better guest experience. Disney offers this quietly in the way of VIP tours but those are not in-your-face. Seeing lines where people are paying hundreds of dollars a day to access those lines, just is not my idea of Disney.

Again, just my opinion. Not asking anyone else to feel the same way.

 

[Jrb1979]

I agree.

I don't normally play the 'Walt' card but honestly, I don't believe his intent would ever have been that those with a lot of money be able to do more than the average person. I think of him sitting on that bench watching his girls on the merry-go-round and dreaming of being able to do those things with his girls, not watching them.

I truly believe (and this is just my opinion) is that Walt's dream was for all to be able to visit his parks on equal footing, not those with a lot of money be able to spend hundreds more a day than most guests can afford, to be given a better guest experience. Disney offers this quietly in the way of VIP tours but those are not in-your-face. Seeing lines where people are paying hundreds of dollars a day to access those lines, just is not my idea of Disney.

Again, just my opinion. Not asking anyone else to feel the same way.

I agree with what you said. I think the company has changed a lot since then.

 

[robinb]

We are ending our trip today as well, but totally loved the Genie plus system, but you have to park hop to get the most out of it. We averaged 13 rides a day, and rode everything we wanted multiple times with a combination of rope dropping, mid day resort breaks, and stacking early evening LL’s for after our break at parks with lots of rides. Worked great for us.

IMHO Disney needs more Gondola routes, and less buses. Disney Springs and Animal Kingdom additions to the Gondola system would be awesome , but I don’t know if it would be possible.

How did you do that? Did you stack your G+ in the evening and then ride everything else at rope drop in the morning? We used G+ for MK and DHS and tried to use it to park hop but there was nothing but A/B-ticket type attractions left at noonish which would have no wait anyway.

 

[NavyDad]

The magic is slowly disappearing.. seems more and more everyday, more complaints.

After all the complaints on here I didn't expect much from our recent trip in April. We basically just went down to watch our daughter march in the parade at MK.

Turns out it was the best trip we had in year. It was very relaxing, we got to ride everything we wanted to ride in every park without me having to drag my poor wife out of bed at 0600 every morning. We found Genie Plus to work incredibly well and to be an improvement over Fast Pass Plus. My main issue with it was that it gave us incredible value at HS and MK but not too much at Epcot or AK so I will be happy to skip Genie plus on those days going forward.

We found the parks to be impeccably clean and cast-members fantastic to deal with. Maybe it was a combination of being away for 3 years and just the fact that we went in with low expectations but this was one of our most magical trips we have ever had.

 

[meremac]

How did you do that? Did you stack your G+ in the evening and then ride everything else at rope drop in the morning? We used G+ for MK and DHS and tried to use it to park hop but there was nothing but A/B-ticket type attractions left at noonish which would have no wait anyway.

Not the PP, but we do something similar. For us, it depends on how long we're staying and where we're hopping. For example, if we have more than one day at EP, we'll RD one morning there, do as much as we can standby, and stack Genie+ for HS. If we're hopping to MK one day, we'll usually do 1-2 Genie+ at whatever park we started at, then start stacking for MK. MK is a good park to hop to because it usually has a lot of Genie+ availability.

 

[NavyDad]

I don't think you'd want to see what they would charge for that. Universal is $100-$300+ per person per day. Disney would be much higher.

For that level of money, a family of 5 would be better off doing a VIP tour.

 

[robinb]

If we're hopping to MK one day, we'll usually do 1-2 Genie+ at whatever park we started at, then start stacking for MK.

Yeah, I tried that. We rope dropped DHS and was lucky to get Slinky and Rise in the AM. I tried to stack at around noon at the MK and there wasn't a lot left. I ended up fiddle-faddling and got more rides at DHS so it wasn't a complete bust.

 

[Smugpugmug]

For that level of money, a family of 5 would be better off doing a VIP tour.

I think a lot of people are doing just that. I noticed WAY more VIP tours on my February and May trips than ever before.

 

[wabbott]

I agree.

I don't normally play the 'Walt' card but honestly, I don't believe his intent would ever have been that those with a lot of money be able to do more than the average person. I think of him sitting on that bench watching his girls on the merry-go-round and dreaming of being able to do those things with his girls, not watching them.

I truly believe (and this is just my opinion) is that Walt's dream was for all to be able to visit his parks on equal footing, not those with a lot of money be able to spend hundreds more a day than most guests can afford, to be given a better guest experience. Disney offers this quietly in the way of VIP tours but those are not in-your-face. Seeing lines where people are paying hundreds of dollars a day to access those lines, just is not my idea of Disney.

Again, just my opinion. Not asking anyone else to feel the same way.

One of the major bio's of Walt Disney told of a discussion about entry fees for Disneyland. IIRC (and now I'll have to go dig it up), Walt wanted the entry fee to be just enough to allow the middle class family to afford it, but was leery of it being so cheap that "riff-raff" might invade the park. Or words to that effect. I'll go through my books and see if I can find it.

 

[meremac]

Yeah, I tried that. We rope dropped DHS and was lucky to get Slinky and Rise in the AM. I tried to stack at around noon at the MK and there wasn't a lot left. I ended up fiddle-faddling and got more rides at DHS so it wasn't a complete bust.

That's so weird! I monitor pretty much every day, and there's usually a TON left at MK at noon. Even right now at almost 2pm, everything's still available except for 7DMT. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you .

 

[NavyDad]

How did you do that? Did you stack your G+ in the evening and then ride everything else at rope drop in the morning? We used G+ for MK and DHS and tried to use it to park hop but there was nothing but A/B-ticket type attractions left at noonish which would have no wait anyway.

We did this twice with Epcot-DHS and Epcot-MK.

The Epcot-DHS day I booked booked ILL's at 7 AM for Remy and RotR. I waited until 7:15 and booked a Genie Plus LL for Slinky for 12:30 to 1:30. We rope dropped Epcot and I kept setting a timer for every 2 hours and kept stacking rides at DHS. We knew we were coming back to Epcot another day so we focused on half the park. We walked on Soarin, Land and Nemo then headed to France. We ate some pastries and then hit Remy. We then spent a couple of hours visiting the festival carts around world showcase. We hopped over to DHS at 2 PM and by that time we had ride after ride after ride queued up. The only thing that had me sweating was Smugglers run as I had picked ToT over that one and then it was listed as "not available" for most of the day. Some time late afternoon or early evening availability popped up for Smugglers run and we grabbed it. IIRC we ended up doing single rider line for RnRC.

Epcot-MK day I booked SDMT and Remy (again) at 7 AM. At 7:15 I booked a G+ LL for Jungle Cruise around 2:30. I was able to stack PP and all three mountains before we got to the park. We hopped over right at 2 PM, used our Jungle Cruise LL, watched HoP and then the parade. At some point after we got to MK I was able to book HM and PotC. Basically from about 3 PM on we had rides stacked back to back to back. I think we may have even cancelled 1 or 2 and re-booked for later because we had too many rides.

We definitely found that the best strategy for stacking and hopping to MK or DHS was to book an ILL and whatever the most coveted Genie Plus ride first thing in the morning for the evening park and then just keep going. We mostly used Molly's youtube videos for tips on which rides to prioritize. Worked great for those two parks.

(absolutely a waste for AK and Epcot in our experience this trip)

 

[Bellhop97]

After all the complaints on here I didn't expect much from our recent trip in April. We basically just went down to watch our daughter march in the parade at MK.

Turns out it was the best trip we had in year. It was very relaxing, we got to ride everything we wanted to ride in every park without me having to drag my poor wife out of bed at 0600 every morning. We found Genie Plus to work incredibly well and to be an improvement over Fast Pass Plus. My main issue with it was that it gave us incredible value at HS and MK but not too much at Epcot or AK so I will be happy to skip Genie plus on those days going forward.

We found the parks to be impeccably clean and cast-members fantastic to deal with. Maybe it was a combination of being away for 3 years and just the fact that we went in with low expectations but this was one of our most magical trips we have ever had.

Happy to hear that you had a great vacation

 

[Jennasis]

Genie+ is an abomination. We had much more fun, less stress, and a more successful trip going without it.

It's funny, the worthless Enchantment show has the whole "you are the magic" theme...it's true. YOU are the magic. Not Disney, despite 50 years of them promoting their magic. Now, YOU have BYOM.