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

[randumb0]

I still miss the paper fast passes and I also miss the ability to hand someone my fast pass if I am unable to ride

 

[megs1313]

we just got back and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I felt about it.

The only real positive I have to say is that the CMs seemed back to their magical selves.

I don't think we'll go back until they've figured out this genie+ thing. it was a disaster for us.

 

[DCLMP]

Hated FP + for the reasons already stated in the thread ...

I'm with you. I actually had more success with genie plus. One time I stayed Club level and was able to purchase more fast passes which was great. Maybe a combination of three free fast passes and then the option to purchase more would satisfy everyone.

 

[HopperFan]

Those wait times don’t look any different than what we experienced last summer with “standby only”.

I’m really going to be interested how we can try and work the G+ system to make it most effective. Like you, we were FP+ pros and could pull so many in one day that we hardly ever rode standby lines.

Things just feel a little broken right now and not sure I can put a finger on precisely what’s going on

Dan

We went last year July 4th week and didn't see lines this long. Now we skipped Studios because the family voted they were not going to waste a reservation if the odds of getting a virtual time for Rise were low. We did 4 days, MK twice and two days at Universal and a pool day.

We were pleasantly surprised at the low times, and I haven't seen times like that since. But there has been G+ each time since. Who knows, I feel like every day is a gamble now.

I hear you, we keep saying the same thing this week ... what have they done for it to change so much this trip compared to my last two with Genie+? I feel like its a combination of a whole lot of things, cost cutting, staff cutting, pushing people to parks and move about in a way that is exhausting. And lots of unhappy guests translates to complaints and unhappy CMs. Sad.

 

[DCLMP]

Did any of you get e-mailed a survey? This is the first time I haven't got a survey and the first time I actually wanted one.

 

[gharter]

Yeah, on our trip last year, the line for Haunted Mansion extended all the way back to Country Bears, but we were only in line for 20 minutes.

Our most amazing one was Frozen. The extended and looped several times into China. Our wait was 25 minutes. Looking at the line I expected at least an hour to 90 minutes. Similar with 7DMT. We were looped around to Little Mermaid and it was 25-30 minutes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Did any of you get e-mailed a survey? This is the first time I haven't got a survey and the first time I actually wanted one.

I got one when I was down there. It was asking about my experiences from MK on May 9th (I was there in the morning and then park hopped over to Epcot to do Guardians preview). Was actually quite long asked a lot of questions, from hand sanitizers, to how I felt about genie+ and ILL, to bathrooms, to CMs, etc.

 

[john7994]

Did any of you get e-mailed a survey? This is the first time I haven't got a survey and the first time I actually wanted one.

Had a split stay in May - Received a survey from the first resort stay (VGF), but did not get one for BLT the second part of our stay.

 

[mom2rtk]

Had a split stay in May - Received a survey from the first resort stay (VGF), but did not get one for BLT the second part of our stay.

Not nearly enough capacity for that Honestly all of these programs are there to disguise the lack of capacity.

 

[jsmla]

Did any of you get e-mailed a survey? This is the first time I haven't got a survey and the first time I actually wanted one.

I got one regarding my AP. It mainly focused on WDW, SeaWorld and Universal APs and how valued I felt as an AP holder at each. I was pretty brutal.

 

[freshmanjs]

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

$300x5 would only cover 2 hours of a vip tour on a busy day.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Also, the fact that Genie+ keeps confirming you for a different time than you selected!

3 different times across different trips we've gone up and been told we're early with a totally dead-faced, canned response they probably have to deliver a bunch of times a day advising guests not to go by the time on the Tip Board when booking but the one on their Genie Day. OH OKAY.

 

[bakerworld]

Having just returned from our Memorial weekend holiday at WDW where every day we slept in, visited the pool, moseyed into the park for a couple of rides and spent the evening kibitzing at the hotel lounge. It was a nice relaxing holiday. The park ride wait did convince me not to stay long in the park but I also never gave waking up at 7a to purchase G+ or VQ a ride a thought.

 

[Marionnette]

Having just returned from our Memorial weekend holiday at WDW where every day we slept in, visited the pool, moseyed into the park for a couple of rides and spent the evening kibitzing at the hotel lounge. It was a nice relaxing holiday. The park ride wait did convince me not to stay long in the park but I also never gave waking up at 7a to purchase G+ or VQ a ride a thought.

Do you have an AP? When we have APs, we think nothing of doing a leisurely visit to the parks. But if I'm paying $100+ per day on a multi-day ticket to just enter a park, getting on a couple of rides would make my price-conscious head explode!

 

[bakerworld]

Do you have an AP? When we have APs, we think nothing of doing a leisurely visit to the parks. But if I'm paying $100+ per day on a multi-day ticket to just enter a park, getting on a couple of rides would make my price-conscious head explode!

LOL - yes, we've APs.

We've only been 'commando' in our initial family trip back in '92. Sitting at the airport with an exhausted family I vowed never again to let the ticket cost govern my vacation. I view WDW ticket pricing like taxes and insurance. In 2011 our children were teens and I told my husband that I was not going to be pushing them out of bed to drag them to parks. So the younger two slept in every day with the only caveat being they had to be out of the room by noon for housekeeping. They maybe visited the parks for a few hours each day. Yeah, their tickets were underused but I enjoyed my vacation.

 

[Figvention]

I agree.

I’ve had more “fun” at Carrowinds than our last few trips to WDW as a family. Zero fights, no 45 bumps into my ankles by aggressive stroller drivers, and the rides are diverse and top notch.

I will admit mom/dad trips to Epcot is always a treat, the rest of WDW is not really on our list until crowd levels drop. It’s just too much to be relaxing and “fun”, too old to work on holiday.

 

[DCLMP]

I kind of like the WDW rat race. If I want relaxing vacation I go on a cruise. I cruise more than I visit theme parks, but I don’t mind getting up at 7 am and walking 10 miles a day to get on rides. I Just love vacations of any kind.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Also, the fact that Genie+ keeps confirming you for a different time than you selected!

3 different times across different trips we've gone up and been told we're early with a totally dead-faced, canned response they probably have to deliver a bunch of times a day advising guests not to go by the time on the Tip Board when booking but the one on their Genie Day. OH OKAY.

I agree. This really is the worst part of Genie+/ILLs in my opinion. If Ticketmaster and other sites can hold your time/order then I have no idea why Disney can't build that into their IT. But honestly that's giving Disney IT a little too much credit.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I kind of like the WDW rat race. If I want relaxing vacation I go on a cruise. I cruise more than I visit theme parks, but I don’t mind getting up at 7 am and walking 10 miles a day to get on rides. I Just love vacations of any kind.

Just about everyone loves vacations but not all vacations feel the same. I too don't mind walking a lot of miles. Over our 12 days between USO and WDW and arrival and departure days I walked over 100 miles (over 237K steps) and that was less than it would have been had my feet not gotten blisters so early which caused a lower pace. However, there is a point where I think people feel like there is just too much all at once.

Why did I feel so relaxed and at ease walking thousands and thousands of steps and racking up the miles over at Universal and I felt way different over at WDW despite also doing the same? The answer isn't about walking and a go go go park touring habit that's for sure.

 

[mmackeymouse]

i just wish they'd bring back fastpass+ and charge us $50 for it. i'd gladly pay more for the old system.

I don't care what system they want to go with- I myself prefer FP+- but what I do wish is that they go back to giving resort guests an appropriate advantage.

Maybe that means free Genie+ included with the reservation.

Maybe that means the ability to make advance LL (similar to the old FP+)

Maybe that means the ability to choose times versus the "next available" model.

Well said. The problem I think we all get frustrated with is crowd levels. I don't have a good solution for that. The only one is to have more parks, but that costs lots of money, and they are a business. Disney is just too popular.

I have a solution but....it's not going to be very popular (or realistic)

In my heart of hearts, I believe that the crowd issues stems from locals attending the parks in significantly higher volumes than ever before. Remember, the common wisdom has always been.....Disneyland is for locals, Disney World is for tourists.

Disney doubled down on this philosophy with the expansion of DVC and the expansion of accommodations on property in general. They doubled down further with Magical Express.

But, along the way, day guest/local (non AP) attendance skyrocketed. And, rather than stem the tide, Disney decided to just let WDW be for locals AND for tourists. This is evident with nearly all resort perks being stripped away, and day guests being given equal footing with Genie+. And now we are seeing the crowds following suit.

Disneyland would never let this happen. They just wouldn't. They value their regulars (which in this case is the locals) too much. If out-of-staters started coming to Disneyland in droves...in massive volumes, I don't see Disneyland being like, "bring it on. We want EVERYONE to be able to come to the parks." They would come up with something to regulate attendance.

My solution would be to significantly deplete the availability of day-of guest tickets. Either you are a resort guest. Or if you want to come as a local, invest in an AP. Or, you can purchase a multi-day ticket. I would say to get rid of Florida discounts for day-of tickets. If you purchase a single day ticket ahead of time, sure let them have a discount. I'm not saying get rid of day-of tickets completely. But, greatly reducing it I think would fix a lot of the crowd issues.

Which would in turn fix a lot of the Genie+ issues. It's all connected. If you fix the crowds, you fix Genie+. It's as simple as that.

I agree we were at WDW in August of 2021 and the standby lines were brutal! We have been going since 2008 and I had WDW down to a science and we always did whatever ride we wanted and went back to the resort and came back in the evenings. Last year we stood in line a lot.

I was there in September 2021. I thought standby lines were fine. Not walkon by any means. I think I waited 40 minutes for SDMT. I waited 8 minutes for Big Thunder.

The lines were fine. But the crowds were stifling. It felt so so SO crowded. Stressfully crowded. So, while I was perfectly fine with the standby lines for the most part, walking from land to land....trying to enjoy Main Street USA....it felt downright miserable.

Yes the lines last year moved faster but they were also so much longer. The thing is, we hardly ever stood in standby lines prior to last year so we have no good standby comparison. The only time we jumped in the standby lines was if the marquee said 20 minutes or less. From 2010 through 2020 I would say our average wait was 10 minutes because we used fast pass so well, and that includes doing ALL of the headliners.

This is exactly true. It's very difficult to compare when you are so used to using FP+ to its full potential. We were big FP+ fans. Then, we were there in Fall 2020, where it was all standby, but with it still being in the re-opening phases...many things were walkon, and standby waits were minimal. Then, by September 2021, standby lines had increased. As I said before, I waited 40 minutes for SDMT....which I am well aware that by any other measurement, 40 minutes is still pretty dang good for that ride.

But, it's all about perception. So, when you are used to FP-ing or walkon standby lines.....yes, 40 minutes seems like....a big number. It's very difficult to be objective. All you know is all you know.

Now with Genie Plus, many of the strategies to maximize are actually very similar to previous systems but with some changes in the nuance.

For the last 15 years Disney vacations have been a story about hyper planners who could make the most of their vacation versus people who just showed up at Noon and complained about how long the standby lines were. This is not something new with Genie Plus.

It's not about "gaming" the system. It's about using whichever program is available at the time to its fullest potential. And the fact is that the ceiling for Genie+, the fullest potential for Genie+ is much, much lower than previous iterations. So, even if people are able to strategize Genie+, it's still ultimately going to be a lesser experience. They might be using Genie+ to its fullest potential, to make it worth the money...but the fullest potential of Genie+ is still a lesser product.

Also the previous versions of FP was about making the park experience easier for guests, for those hyperplanners that you reference. Yes, it was also about regulating wait times as well. But the product itself made it easier for families to plan a park day. And, if you used FP+ to its fullest potential (or gamed the system as you call it), everything else was just icing on top.

The Genie+ product is not about making park days easier for families. It's about directing them to lesser attended attractions. But, even if you maximized Genie+, it does not help the planning process, it does not make the park days easier for families. You cannot "plan" with Genie+. The best you can do is say, "We'll try to get this LL, and then we'll see what's available and when it's available." There's no planning to it. You are at Genie+'s mercy. So, if you are not wanting to criss-cross the park? Too bad. You can't hyper plan. The best you can do is plan to be hoofing it all day.

I’m here right now (since 5/31). My biggest issue with G+ so far is that I cannot get rides in one area or close by each other and I hate it. I have 3 young kids with me and my parents who are in their 60’s and still in great shape, but none of us likes trekking all over the park. My second thing is standing there scrolling trying to find something nearby that isn’t like carpets of Aladdin.
Third thing is that I want to book TSMM for this evening but times were not late enough. So I was just refreshing. Just let me choose 7pm so I can move on! It’s one thing if it’s sold out and your refreshing for someone’s cancel. It’s another if no one is using it. (The line was still 60 minutes.)

Now saying this we HAVE ridden what we’ve wanted, but it’s so much more work for me. I’m over it.

100% agreed that this is a major flaw in Genie+. Well, it's not a flaw. It's intentional, on Disney's part.

The thing about FP+ is you could say, "I have a FP for Haunted Mansion at x time, so we can probably do these other a,b, c attractions in the general vicinity before we move on to Tomorrowland, because we have a FP for Space Mountain at y time." You could make a general gameplan that makes things easier for you.

You could also stagger your FPs so that you could work a mid-day break into the equation. With Genie+, whether you want a mid-day break or you want to go straight through and leave the park early, the LL return times may not work out for you.

I use to go to Disney to get away from the real world and be in the magic. Now the real world is so far into Disney in general, that feeling is lost to me lately. Maybe some sterile white bed sheets will help create it

That's just me though

I think of this often. "Here you leave today..." Here you leave today.

There is no "leaving today" with this current setup. You have to be glued to your phone.

Or if you opt not to be glued to your phone and take your chances with the standby lines, then you are faced with the rudeness and stress that is so prevalent with today's society....people yelling and fighting.