The big G+ rides at HS gone by 1:07!

[itf]

just to note you can't book again at 9am. has to be 2 hours from park open so first one is 11am. that is what jams things up....that wait until 11.

Thanks - I did know that but thanks for reminding me!

 

[MainMom]

Question:
Would you rather have paid fast pass or G+?

Fast pass+
*I haven’t used G+ yet, but I’m an experienced WDW planner and I’m not expecting a lot from it with a party of 7.

 

[lowlight]

Most people on Disboards are frequent park goers, or plan to be. Some people do Disney as a once in a lifetime trip. I wonder what the sentiment is from them.

 

[MMSM]

Today a change was made to Genie+ such that one day park ticket holders can’t buy it in advance; maybe this is a prelude to limiting sales and increasing prices?

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022...st-changed-its-genie-rules-for-1-day-tickets/

Today a change was made to Genie+ such that one day park ticket holders can’t buy it in advance; maybe this is a prelude to limiting sales and increasing prices?

https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2022...st-changed-its-genie-rules-for-1-day-tickets/

This changed happened this past week. I know because I tried.

 

[Westerner]

I wonder if anyone was able to book a ride at park opening and get 2-3 Genie+ rides in.

Yes, this was our G+ approach. Book at 7AM and get an early return window for a sub-headliner, tap in, and now you get your 2nd LL pick before everyone else. Repeat. Like surfing a wave.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Yes, this was our G+ approach. Book at 7AM and get an early return window for a sub-headliner, tap in, and now you get your 2nd LL pick before everyone else. Repeat. Like surfing a wave.

Hmm that’s an interesting approach. Would you mind sharing what you managed doing via G+ that day (or as much as you can remember)?

 

[sandam1]

The bottom line is that ride capacity has not kept up with attendance through the years and Disney seems uninterested in fixing that.

THIS!!! This is one of the fundamental differences between Disney and Universal. Universal builds new rides quicker AND tries to take capacity into consideration with their new rides.

For example:
- The Velocicoaster can launch a train every 37 seconds.
- Hagrid's has up to 12 trains running at one time and is almost continuously loading.
- Jimmy Fallon, King Kong and Fast and Furious are people-eaters.
- The Bourne Stunt Spectacular is a large-scale auditorium

Of all of their new rides, only Hagrid's continues to be a choke-point for guests, regularly going over 60 minute wait.

Disney just doesn't want to spend the money to add the park capacity/infrastructure and keeps trying to band-aid solutions (FP+ and now Genie).

 

[lowlight]

THIS!!! This is one of the fundamental differences between Disney and Universal. Universal builds new rides quicker AND tries to take capacity into consideration with their new rides.

For example:
- The Velocicoaster can launch a train every 37 seconds.
- Hagrid's has up to 12 trains running at one time and is almost continuously loading.
- Jimmy Fallon, King Kong and Fast and Furious are people-eaters.
- The Bourne Stunt Spectacular is a large-scale auditorium

Of all of their new rides, only Hagrid's continues to be a choke-point for guests, regularly going over 60 minute wait.

Disney just doesn't want to spend the money to add the park capacity/infrastructure and keeps trying to band-aid solutions (FP+ and now Genie).

With how crowded I've seen it, they really just need to bite the bullet and build a 5th park.

 

[sandam1]

With how crowded I've seen it, they really just need to bite the bullet and build a 5th park.

They actually needed to have started a fifth park years ago. I remember a time before Galaxy's Edge was announced when people thought Star Wars was going to be the fifth gate. THAT would have been a home run! But by adding it to Hollywood Studios, they wasted way too much time and now they are behind. The crowds are here and Disney doesn't have any answers to relieve the fundamental pressures on the four parks. And frankly, it's probably going to get worse.

And wait until Epic Universe opens! Universal has an outlet on the horizon (2025) for the increasing crowds.

 

[Disturbia]

Yes, this was our G+ approach. Book at 7AM and get an early return window for a sub-headliner, tap in, and now you get your 2nd LL pick before everyone else. Repeat. Like surfing a wave.

Can you outline what you did - which ride at what time.

 

[Westerner]

Hmm that’s an interesting approach. Would you mind sharing what you managed doing via G+ that day (or as much as you can remember)?

Don't remember the exact sequence but the 1st 2 picks were something like:

• MK (1st day): PotC/MCoA
• MK (2nd day): PPF/VotLM
• HS: MFSR/TSM
• AK: NRJ/KS

1st ride of each pair had a 10-ish or earlier return time so I could tap in and select another ride quickly.

Then I picked whatever was still open from there.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

at MK today. Because it was so busy, I broke down and bought 2 LL. Space & Mine train. It was $7 for space and $10 for mine train and we were done by noon. Didn't get any rides for the extra 1/2 hour (too crowded)... Had to take a taxi from BCV due to long line for bus, I've actually never seen lines that long for bus. With Genie +. you have to wait until you ride to pick another. Unless you plan on staying in the park all day to wait for an evening ride it doesn't work. We have dinner reservations in Epcot and bought park hoppers.. I'm not entirely sure what their strategy is for Genie + .. doesn't work for me

 

[Juventus]

Don't remember the exact sequence but the 1st 2 picks were something like:

• MK (1st day): PotC/MCoA
• MK (2nd day): PPF/VotLM
• HS: MFSR/TSM
• AK: NRJ/KS

1st ride of each pair had a 10-ish or earlier return time so I could tap in and select another ride quickly.

Then I picked whatever was still open from there.

But with that strategy you are force to omit the most popular ride. At HS, you probably not get SDD if you don't get it first.

 

[Westerner]

But with that strategy you are force to omit the most popular ride. At HS, you probably not get SDD if you don't get it first.

That is correct. It's difficult to get LL's for both MFSR and SDD on the same day.

 

[Disturbia]

That is correct. It's difficult to get LL's for both MFSR and SDD on the same day.

MFSR has a single rider line, if your kids are old enough.

 

[SLThomas318]

Anyone who went over Xmas break feel like it was a better experience? It sounds like the parks are just as crowded, but they didn't extend early entry to 1 hr or remove 1 of the paid options to give more availability to genie+. Maybe I wasn't paying as much attention to the boards, but it seemed like the Xmas crowd had a better experience? Frustrating that Disney won't make the adjustments to help with the heavy crowds... oh wait, that would cost them $$$

 

[momof2pirates]

I wrote to guest services and received a call from WDW executive leadership. It was a very long conversation. I did not hold back.

Did they seem like they cared or was it more sorry not sorry?

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

Did they seem like they cared or was it more sorry not sorry?

The person I spoke to seemed like he cared and said my input would go to the higher ups. He even said he at times felt the same way, going there frequently as a guest himself. Sure it could have been lip service, and sure I’m not sure that feedback will go anywhere higher or to anyone who cares or would want to make a change, but I do love Disney and I think they need to know how the magic is dwindling, and how that affects their repeat guests. Maybe if they hear enough of it something will change. I don’t want to stop going. But they’re making it hard to want to return.

Interestingly enough, I just googled “wdw reviews” and hold cow are they being absolutely flamed on Trip Advisor.

I hope they have peeps monitoring that- because wow.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

THIS!!! This is one of the fundamental differences between Disney and Universal. Universal builds new rides quicker AND tries to take capacity into consideration with their new rides.

For example:
- The Velocicoaster can launch a train every 37 seconds.
- Hagrid's has up to 12 trains running at one time and is almost continuously loading.
- Jimmy Fallon, King Kong and Fast and Furious are people-eaters.
- The Bourne Stunt Spectacular is a large-scale auditorium

Of all of their new rides, only Hagrid's continues to be a choke-point for guests, regularly going over 60 minute wait.

Disney just doesn't want to spend the money to add the park capacity/infrastructure and keeps trying to band-aid solutions (FP+ and now Genie).

We have reservations at Universal Hard Rock at the end of the week...Really expecting more from that than my 6 days in Disney.

 

[Westerner]

Anyone who went over Xmas break feel like it was a better experience? It sounds like the parks are just as crowded, but they didn't extend early entry to 1 hr or remove 1 of the paid options to give more availability to genie+. Maybe I wasn't paying as much attention to the boards, but it seemed like the Xmas crowd had a better experience? Frustrating that Disney won't make the adjustments to help with the heavy crowds... oh wait, that would cost them $$$

Yes. Over Xmas/New Years I expected huge crowds but wait times were moderate. Perhaps mitigated by longer hours and the fact that G+ was temporarily extended to include 1 of the ILL's (SM, EE, MMRR, Frozen). Also my sense is that Disney is trying to equalize crowds throughout the year with variable pricing and their park reservation system. Result is that Jan/Feb is maybe not as good a time to go as it used to be but Xmas is not as bad, from a crowd/wait standpoint.