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

[Disturbia]

Well, I think this will be us. We went in June 2021 as a rescheduled April 2020 trip but I really wanted to go during the 50th. So now we're going in April of this year, throwing money at the problem and will get G+. I fully expect to get maybe 3 rides/day, if we're lucky as we are going during a peak week. As a DVC member, at least I'm not paying out-of-pocket for our hotel. But otherwise, this is not a cheap trip for our family of five. The nickel-and-diming is just out of control.

I started reading up on G+ once we made the decision to go during Spring Break. It takes a lot to prepare for this and we shall see how much value we get out of it for $75/day.

We are also a family of 5. I think Genie+ worked better at MK when we booked one pass in the morning (JC at 10 am?) and then booked as we rode until lunch time (LLIA$ was at 6 pm). We slept in (until 6:30) and went to the park at a leisurely pace (9:30 am). Took a resort break and came back at 5pm. Towards the end of the night the wait times went down so you can ride 2-3 rides standby after the fireworks as well. If you’re comparing to June 2021, I think you will lbe surprised that you actually prefer this system.

With FP+ we rarely stood in long standby lines (you could have all your favorites booked for the evening). This system more or less forces us to do a couple of long standby lines while waiting for the pass as it’s harder to plan around. For larger parties (families of 4+), FP+ rarely had day of passes for tier1 ride.

I wish they would open up Fantasmic so it would help with evening crowds.

 

[DisneyGras CM]

I thought it was well worth it at MK, but I would never buy it for HS again. Total waste.

Agreed. Its good for a park with quite a few rides and extended hours like Magic Kingdom, but the other parks I felt it was useless. You still have to buy the premium up-charge in order to avoid a 4 hour wait on attractions.

 

[Orsino]

Sounds good in theory but it’s more like 6:30 am wake up as all 3 alarms start beeping.

Eh. It's really not that hard or stressful. Did you actually do this or are you making up a story to support your point of view? In Early February I set my alarm for 6:55AM, and I regretted setting it up that early as that left me with several minutes of waiting around resisting falling back to sleep. 6:58AM would have been plenty of time. And I only cared about 7AM on Studios days where SDD goes so fast. MK I would just wake up naturally and book when I woke up (I wake up before 9AM without an alarm).
(I would love it if Disney implemented a Night Mode option for the app. The screen is too bright at that hour.)

 

[Miffy]

Bluntly, it doesn't matter whether you are sympathetic or not. The point is, Disney does care. The pre-booking craziness was bad show for Disney and for a company that wants new guests to come and spread the word, FP+ and the pre-booking craziness that went with it were not a good solution... for Disney.
Maybe have a little sympathy for the CMs at Guest Relations that had to explain to family after family how their 'trip of a lifetime' is utterly broken and would require a time machine to fix. Who would you rather be: a CM explaining FP+ to a family and telling them they needed to book SDD 60 days ago, or a CM explaining G+ and telling them they can try again tomorrow?

If only G+ were as easy and intuitive as many posters on this thread seem to be saying it is. I ran into just as many clueless-about-G+/ILL$ guests at WDW in December as I used to run into clueless-about-FP+ guests in ye olden times. Not to mention that it seems to be a necessity to spend hours on this very board discussing, analyzing, and asking numerous questions about G+ and ILL$ in order to use them well.

BTW, I regularly was able to book FP+s on the day of. Like ADRs, people would cancel and new FP+s would appear.

How is that FP+ was a bad look for WDW when ETPE for resort guests only isn't? And late hours for only deluxe guests isn't? And having to pay for something that used to be free isn't?

Also, now you have CMs explaining to guests that they have to have a park reservation and/or that they can't park hop until they go to the reserved park? Or that sorry, you bought G+ at 2 pm and you got exactly zero rides you wanted out of it? And that you're off-site and so you can't even hope to buy an ILL$ for RotR? How are these "good looks" for Disney?

I still love going to WDW and I'm still going, but I'm not a Disney apologist.

 

[ckelly14]

What happened with Genie+ isn't surprising. The cost is so low that way too many guests are willing to purchase it. But truthfully nothing is going to fix this system unless Disney increases ride and show capacity. FP+ would be just as bad, everything sold out weeks in advance. And paper fastpasses would be gone before noon with most guests being able to get one. Disney is more crowded than every and there literally isn't enough space on rides for every guest to reserve 3 experiences.

This! All of these systems are designed to spread guests out to rides/attractions that are second tier because there is not enough ride capacity. That they are making money now on it is just a bonus...

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

I disagree with some of the points you raised. I'm a relatively infrequent WDW visitor (1993, 2006, 2019, 2021) and our 2019 experience with FP+ was not good. We decided 3 days in advance to go to AK during an August trip. I read up on FP+ on disboards, but found it was too late to book any FP's except for Dinosaur. I came away from that with the perception that FP+ was for folks who booked their trips 30-60+ days in advance, and for headliners, you needed to stay on Disney property to have a chance.

One point that was raised in the Youtube video Disney's Fastpass: A Complicated History that I think is valid, is that when casual visitors came to WDW and learned about FP+ for the first time, it was too late for them. Conversely, with G+ they may still come unaware, but can take advantage same as anyone else the next day. Similar logic applies for last-minute visitors.

And not only can they use G+ like anyone else who knew about it from researching well in advance, Disney has attempted to make sure it’s useful by limiting the number of LL on each ride to 1.

obviously a lot of people don’t find G+ to be great, but come on y’all - it’s not some conspiracy to make G+ awful, just an attempt to solve an unsolvable problem. When your park is too popular, you have to find some way to deal with the crowds. Any approach you take is bound to upset someone.

It’s funny that Universal has a similar offering (pay extra, get to front of each line once), and I don’t recall any uproar over that. Maybe us Disney fans are much more passionate or rootbound!

Maybe Disney should or will also copy Universal and offer a G+ Unlimited (G++?)…. LL on all rides as often as you like. Of course it’ll have to be $100/day, and then they’ll still have too many people opting in for that, and then the LL lines will be too long, and everyone will hate G+ and G++ too!

 

[DisneyFive]

Bluntly, it doesn't matter whether you are sympathetic or not. The point is, Disney does care. The pre-booking craziness was bad show for Disney and for a company that wants new guests to come and spread the word, FP+ and the pre-booking craziness that went with it were not a good solution... for Disney.
Maybe have a little sympathy for the CMs at Guest Relations that had to explain to family after family how their 'trip of a lifetime' is utterly broken and would require a time machine to fix. Who would you rather be: a CM explaining FP+ to a family and telling them they needed to book SDD 60 days ago, or a CM explaining G+ and telling them they can try again tomorrow?

I would be curious to see the number of families that had their trips "ruined" with FP+ versus those that greatly benefitted from the FP+ system. My guess is that it would be GREATLY skewed towards those that benefited and had a more magical experience because of it.

I'm sure there were families that had a hard time with FP+ due to lack or planning or knowledge, but also don't make it seem like FP+ wasn't useful even if you didn't book at 30 or 60 days out. FP+ was very workable day of, just not as well as those that booked farther in advance. Just ask all the AP holders out there. It was. These types of families that you mention will always exist, whether it's G+, FP+, paper FP, standby only, etc.... No planning = high chance of bad trip.

Dan

 

[Mango7100]

We got premium FP every trip day of by refreshing. 10+ FP in a day was routine.

Same. Only one we never got was SDD. At MK we would routinely use 12-14 FP and our last trip in summer 2019 we had 2 7DMT same day by refreshing.

 

[Disturbia]

Bluntly, it doesn't matter whether you are sympathetic or not. The point is, Disney does care. The pre-booking craziness was bad show for Disney and for a company that wants new guests to come and spread the word, FP+ and the pre-booking craziness that went with it were not a good solution... for Disney.
Maybe have a little sympathy for the CMs at Guest Relations that had to explain to family after family how their 'trip of a lifetime' is utterly broken and would require a time machine to fix. Who would you rather be: a CM explaining FP+ to a family and telling them they needed to book SDD 60 days ago, or a CM explaining G+ and telling them they can try again tomorrow?

Happened to extended family from California and they were told to rope drop FOP the next day. The CM neglected to mention that meant an hour or so before park opening. They showed up around 8:45 am and the line was over 2 hours as they let people in at 8:30 am. They said Disney was anything but magical. They went to Universal and loved it.

Eh. It's really not that hard or stressful. Did you actually do this or are you making up a story to support your point of view? In Early February I set my alarm for 6:55AM, and I regretted setting it up that early as that left me with several minutes of waiting around resisting falling back to sleep. 6:58AM would have been plenty of time. And I only cared about 7AM on Studios days where SDD goes so fast. MK I would just wake up naturally and book when I woke up (I wake up before 9AM without an alarm).
(I would love it if Disney implemented a Night Mode option for the app. The screen is too bright at that hour.)

I did actually do this because MDE doesn’t save my credit card and the system keeps logging me out. We knew about the issue because of ROTR VQ issues on my phone and I could never place a mobile order at the milk stand (only place I tried).

We travel from a different time zone as well, but the trip overall was better vs June 2021.

 

[Orsino]

If only G+ were as easy and intuitive as many posters on this thread seem to be saying it is. I ran into just as many clueless-about-G+/ILL$ guests at WDW in December as I used to run into clueless-about-FP+ guests in ye olden times.

The point isn't that G+ is "easier" but that G+ doesn't require actions 60 days ago. G+ offers the opportunity to learn the system for day 2. Still complicated, but possible. FP+ would require learning the system and implementing what you learned in the past. Still complicated, and impossible.

 

[itf]

I would be curious to see the number of families that had their trips "ruined" with FP+ versus those that greatly benefitted from the FP+ system. My guess is that it would be GREATLY skewed towards those that benefited and had a more magical experience because of it.

We were very much in the 'ruined' camp when we visited in early 2020. We got an unusually busy day weren't aware of FP+ didn't have the MDE app and had paid basically 'gate price' for four people, so had a very expensive wasted day where we really only got a couple of rides. We tried the kiosks on the day but it was basically futile. I'm sure this was 'my fault' but it would have been nice if when I'd bought the tickets direct from them, Disney had given me any indication of FP+ existing and how I might pre-reserve anything! As it was, I got a receipt email, strangely partially in Spanish although I'm in the UK and that was it.

This time I've done my research, we've got G+ on our whole two week ticket and feel as prepared as we can be, but still resigned as an off-site guest to not being able to get paid LL for ROTR and maybe Remy's.

 

[Disturbia]

And not only can they use G+ like anyone else who knew about it from researching well in advance, Disney has attempted to make sure it’s useful by limiting the number of LL on each ride to 1.

obviously a lot of people don’t find G+ to be great, but come on y’all - it’s not some conspiracy to make G+ awful, just an attempt to solve an unsolvable problem. When your park is too popular, you have to find some way to deal with the crowds. Any approach you take is bound to upset someone.

It’s funny that Universal has a similar offering (pay extra, get to front of each line once), and I don’t recall any uproar over that. Maybe us Disney fans are much more passionate or rootbound!

Maybe Disney should or will also copy Universal and offer a G+ Unlimited (G++?)…. LL on all rides as often as you like. Of course it’ll have to be $100/day, and then they’ll still have too many people opting in for that, and then the LL lines will be too long, and everyone will hate G+ and G++ too!

I would pay for After Hours for HS and AK

 

[Miffy]

The point isn't that G+ is "easier" but that G+ doesn't require actions 60 days ago. G+ offers the opportunity to learn the system for day 2. Still complicated, but possible. FP+ would require learning the system and implementing what you learned in the past. Still complicated, and impossible.

I get what you're saying, but that doesn't negate the fact that many of us were able to successfully use FP+ the day of. So, not impossible. It is, however, impossible or nearly so to book an ILL$ for RotR if you're staying off-site. Or to book a G+ for both HM and PPF in the morning. If you can do the second, then you're at MK on a day when G+ is unnecessary.

 

[Orsino]

resigned as an off-site guest to not being able to get paid LL for ROTR and maybe Remy's.

ILL will very much depend on how busy it is when you were there. I happened to be looking at my phone at 8:55AM while at Disney and I was surprised to see plenty of Rise ILL available. Out of curiosity I watched it until 9AM and, poof! All gone. So you gotta be quick, but those were non-disney guests getting Rise ILL.

I'll also point out that we were at a Disney resort and rode Rise once with ILL and once without (different days). If you can't get ILL, consider riding in the evening. We got in line about 10-15 minutes before close and waited 25-30min to ride. The extra bonus is at close the LL lane closes too, so the line moves faster.

 

[DisneyFive]

We were very much in the 'ruined' camp when we visited in early 2020. We got an unusually busy day weren't aware of FP+ didn't have the MDE app and had paid basically 'gate price' for four people, so had a very expensive wasted day where we really only got a couple of rides. We tried the kiosks on the day but it was basically futile. I'm sure this was 'my fault' but it would have been nice if when I'd bought the tickets direct from them, Disney had given me any indication of FP+ existing and how I might pre-reserve anything! As it was, I got a receipt email, strangely partially in Spanish although I'm in the UK and that was it.

This time I've done my research, we've got G+ on our whole two week ticket and feel as prepared as we can be, but still resigned as an off-site guest to not being able to get paid LL for ROTR and maybe Remy's.

Sorry to hear that you had a crummy day. Here’s a question…. Do you think you would have been better off with G+ in that same scenario? (Walking into to the park without knowledge of G+, not having the MDE app)

Dan

 

[itf]

Sorry to hear that you had a crummy day. Here’s a question…. Do you think you would have been better off with G+ in that same scenario? (Walking into to the park without knowledge of G+, not having the MDE app)

Dan

I think so - because we got there at park open, so I could have installed the MDE app - we did have international data, then paid for G+ (which would be peanuts compared to the huge ticket cost for the single day we were there) and gone for coffee or something while we waited for our first one to be called. As it was we were wandering round the park, seeing 2 hour lines everywhere (think 7DMT may even have been a posted 3) and it just being hopeless.

No idea why that day was so bad, we'd done Seaworld in a similarly disorganised manner the day before, and seen shows, got on rides etc no problem.

 

[gregskellington]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...hich-is-helpful-while-at-wdw.2463742/page-108
Not true. First timers absolutely could just use FP+ and get on the bigger rides. I met up with friends in July 2019 who were staying off property and did not know about prebooking. We met up in Animal Kingdom at 10.30, linked their tickets to our MDE and then rode EE, KS, FoP, NRJ all booked on the day by refreshing the app. We were out of the park by 4.30 having also eaten lunch and been through Gorilla Falls and the Jungle Trek

I hope you realize how poor of an example this is. They got those rides, from your own admission, via the refresh trick. Many users on this board did not know about or did not utilize that trick. Casual guests had no idea they could do that or that it could be successful.

The reason you got those FP+ that day is because the FP+ system was flawed. Period. That's it. The buy in rate for G+ is higher. People get it, they know about it. Casual visitors did not understand or properly utilize FP+. The people that did could take advantage of that.

 

[itf]

ILL will very much depend on how busy it is when you were there. I happened to be looking at my phone at 8:55AM while at Disney and I was surprised to see plenty of Rise ILL available. Out of curiosity I watched it until 9AM and, poof! All gone. So you gotta be quick, but those were non-disney guests getting Rise ILL.

I'll also point out that we were at a Disney resort and rode Rise once with ILL and once without (different days). If you can't get ILL, consider riding in the evening. We got in line about 10-15 minutes before close and waited 25-30min to ride. The extra bonus is at close the LL lane closes too, so the line moves faster.

My problem is really that my daughter won't wait in the line for Rise - and fair enough - she's not interested in Star Wars and she's young. So what I might end up doing is park hopping to DHS while wife and daughter eat or go back to the hotel and I'll just stick it out in the queue, but I really do want to do it.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

For science- and if I refer to this thread in the future- It is 12:26 and all of the rides listed in my OP have no availability.

sooo if I want to ride all of them with G+, it needs to be over 2 days, unless by some miracle I can rock through all of them in the morning but I don’t think that’s really possible.

 

[snikki]

What happened with Genie+ isn't surprising. The cost is so low that way too many guests are willing to purchase it. But truthfully nothing is going to fix this system unless Disney increases ride and show capacity. FP+ would be just as bad, everything sold out weeks in advance. And paper fastpasses would be gone before noon with most guests being able to get one. Disney is more crowded than every and there literally isn't enough space on rides for every guest to reserve 3 experiences.

I don't think Disney will ever be able to create a system that works flawlessly with the crowds they have at the parks. Like you said, there just isn't enough space on rides.

I feel that G+ is the virtual OG FP.