Should I give genie + another try?

[JackieO]

Please understand that this is not to be controversial. I am genuinely looking for help. I hope no one will be offended and that people can actually listen and offer advice.

I am a pass holder and I do 3-4 WDW trips per year. I LOVE Disney World. My first and only experience with Genie+ was 2/23-3/4 this year. It was the most stressful and disappointed I have ever felt at Disney. I was in tears at one point. I spent so much time refreshing and was not able to get any rides that made the cost worth it. One day I managed to get Star Tours and Frozen sing a long. (I do not consider those worth paying for! And the hassle was UNBELIEVABLE)

I’m not saying this to bash Disney, just to tell you my experience. It was so upsetting that I am considering not renewing my AP next year and giving Universal a year. I recently went to Universal and really enjoyed it. I feel very sad to think of giving up my Disney trips.

I have two upcoming WDW trips planned. One in July for 5 days and one in September for 8 days. I know that the Genie system was pretty new when I used it in February. Is there anyone out there who used it early on (and understand the trouble it was) and have used it since? I’m wondering if I should give it another try during one of my upcoming trips. Or if it might be just as upsetting. I do not want to be disappointed in Disney. I want to love Disney and my time there.

I did a 1 day visit in May during a weekend trip for grad bash at universal with my son. I just waited in lines for rides that day. I didn’t love that either. But I do enjoy the relaxed strolling, shopping, and taking in the magic of it all. I’m thinking maybe it’s time for me to give up the rides. I don’t know.

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far thank you, and I would love to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to keep enjoying Disney!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Just curious, did you buy G+ before your trip or day of each day? What time did you get on the app to book your first ride? I'm not sure how you'd only get Star tours and Frozen only in one day, so knowing that info will help. Even on the busiest of days, you should be able to get either a high profile or medium profile ride at 7am. What rides did you try for that day the first time you were looking?

Not trying to sound mean, just trying to understand what went wrong to try to figure out how to help this not happen again. Would definitely like to help you save even some time in lines during a hot July trip.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I really think it’s personal choice. We bought it for 3 days of our Jan/Feb trip (MK x 2 and DHS x 1) and I was glad we did. I will say it wasn’t stressful at all because I chose for myself not to make it stressful.

Day 1 I started stacking for later in the day from our departing airport. The other 2 days I stacked for later in the day too.

I booked our first LL at 7AM each day the 2 hours after park opening.

For me what made it less stressful was I’d book something, start a 1:58 min timer then put my phone away. When the timer went off I looked at our options once I could book snd choose what was best for us from what was available. We didn’t have a list of ‘must do’s’ or, try to get different times once we had something. Each day we ended up with 4-6 LL reservations we were happy with.

I believe the longer trip helped too but, I also didn’t want to pressure myself with things we just had to get a LL for.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pinnochio]

Please understand that this is not to be controversial. I am genuinely looking for help. I hope no one will be offended and that people can actually listen and offer advice.

I am a pass holder and I do 3-4 WDW trips per year. I LOVE Disney World. My first and only experience with Genie+ was 2/23-3/4 this year. It was the most stressful and disappointed I have ever felt at Disney. I was in tears at one point. I spent so much time refreshing and was not able to get any rides that made the cost worth it. One day I managed to get Star Tours and Frozen sing a long. (I do not consider those worth paying for! And the hassle was UNBELIEVABLE)

I’m not saying this to bash Disney, just to tell you my experience. It was so upsetting that I am considering not renewing my AP next year and giving Universal a year. I recently went to Universal and really enjoyed it. I feel very sad to think of giving up my Disney trips.

I have two upcoming WDW trips planned. One in July for 5 days and one in September for 8 days. I know that the Genie system was pretty new when I used it in February. Is there anyone out there who used it early on (and understand the trouble it was) and have used it since? I’m wondering if I should give it another try during one of my upcoming trips. Or if it might be just as upsetting. I do not want to be disappointed in Disney. I want to love Disney and my time there.

I did a 1 day visit in May during a weekend trip for grad bash at universal with my son. I just waited in lines for rides that day. I didn’t love that either. But I do enjoy the relaxed strolling, shopping, and taking in the magic of it all. I’m thinking maybe it’s time for me to give up the rides. I don’t know.

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far thank you, and I would love to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to keep enjoying Disney!

it's still a piece of doo doo...

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Please understand that this is not to be controversial. I am genuinely looking for help. I hope no one will be offended and that people can actually listen and offer advice.

I am a pass holder and I do 3-4 WDW trips per year. I LOVE Disney World. My first and only experience with Genie+ was 2/23-3/4 this year. It was the most stressful and disappointed I have ever felt at Disney. I was in tears at one point. I spent so much time refreshing and was not able to get any rides that made the cost worth it. One day I managed to get Star Tours and Frozen sing a long. (I do not consider those worth paying for! And the hassle was UNBELIEVABLE)

I’m not saying this to bash Disney, just to tell you my experience. It was so upsetting that I am considering not renewing my AP next year and giving Universal a year. I recently went to Universal and really enjoyed it. I feel very sad to think of giving up my Disney trips.

I have two upcoming WDW trips planned. One in July for 5 days and one in September for 8 days. I know that the Genie system was pretty new when I used it in February. Is there anyone out there who used it early on (and understand the trouble it was) and have used it since? I’m wondering if I should give it another try during one of my upcoming trips. Or if it might be just as upsetting. I do not want to be disappointed in Disney. I want to love Disney and my time there.

I did a 1 day visit in May during a weekend trip for grad bash at universal with my son. I just waited in lines for rides that day. I didn’t love that either. But I do enjoy the relaxed strolling, shopping, and taking in the magic of it all. I’m thinking maybe it’s time for me to give up the rides. I don’t know.

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far thank you, and I would love to hear your thoughts and advice. I want to keep enjoying Disney!

I will say that the time you were there was extremely busy and I think Disney was caught off guard with how insane it was for that time of year. I've been to Disney around President's Day and this year's feb crowds were worse than the April spring break crowds, thus the additional iLL$ options added because people were peeved. None of it makes it ok but Feb/early March was a disaster for many using G+. I've most recently used in last April and think it's been a positive for us. I do have a "what will be, will be" type of attitude with it and if I get something great, if we don't, well then so be it and we move on. I think when you have set expectations of which rides you have to do and get G+, it's a recipe for disappointment.

I don't use G+ for AK or Epcot, only MK and DHS. Most MK trips we're able to secure 5-7 G+ rides, no iLL$ purchased at MK and at DHS usually 5-6 with a purchase of iLL$. I set my phone alarm for when to book rides and I don't stalk for openings often but I have and they do come up on occasion and it's just who's quickest on the trigger gets it. I do think for us it's a combo of us getting better at using the system and the system improving. I still don't love that you can't select your times and that it's glitchy and well, that we have to pay but overall, it's been pretty decent.

If you decide to go down the G+ road again, just keep in mind, you likely won't get everything in the exact order you'd like and you may not get some rides at all. If it's a ride you really want to do, it just may need to be standby.