Wow how things have changed.

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Mom with little here!

nope, it doesn’t work…the stress of frantically logging on to reserve ride reservations is the last thing we need in the middle of trying to get a 4 & 6 year fed, dressed and ready in a small hotel room, while making sure you have everything ready for the day ahead.
Also, “families of littles” also more than likely benefit from flexibility in their day, like said if 3 year olds nap time is 2pm, but that’s the only time you got for SDD your out of luck. Or ya know if your 6 year old is exhausted and on the brink of a meltdown and could really use a resort break 20 minutes before your already paid for LL$ reservation that can’t be refunded or modified…..then what?
The 7am thing is crap. I can’t think of many people that this works for.

Yes, on our morning we had a problem booking $ ILL for my friend, and had to run down to Guest Services at 7am to get it sorted (which, luckily, one star CM at the front desk was able to do). I had laid out the kids' clothes the night before so they were dressed and ready to go, but breakfast went out the window (we ended up getting Starbucks and muffins an hour and a half later at the park). Hustling 3 young boys down the hall before we'd even had coffee was not my idea of a fun way to start our vacation. When my kids were really small, I always booked all of our FP+ before 2pm so we could go back to the room for a nap. That's impossible now.

I know a lot of folks think the grumbling about Genie + is over the top, but it was just so poorly considered and designed from any perspective other than that of Disney's shareholders. A freshman game design student could have come up with a better system, with better functioning UI that didn't require you to log back in (sometimes needing to fetch a code from your email!) repeatedly over the course of a single day. And it's not too late to fix it. They could easily say something like, "due to guest feedback, we're making some updates to Genie+. Resort guests will now be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction per day 30 days before check-in, and offsite or day guests will be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction (7 days before/when the park opens)." They'll probably even sell more Genie+ this way, since people will be motivated to not wait and see how crowds are before deciding whether to purchase Genie+. But at least you could theoretically just log in one time, either 30 days out or in the morning, make your choices, and then get to put your phone away for the rest of the day.

TLR - Hire me, Disney IT, I could design a better system than this in my sleep.

 

[CBMom01]

Yes, on our morning we had a problem booking $ ILL for my friend, and had to run down to Guest Services at 7am to get it sorted (which, luckily, one star CM at the front desk was able to do). I had laid out the kids' clothes the night before so they were dressed and ready to go, but breakfast went out the window (we ended up getting Starbucks and muffins an hour and a half later at the park). Hustling 3 young boys down the hall before we'd even had coffee was not my idea of a fun way to start our vacation. When my kids were really small, I always booked all of our FP+ before 2pm so we could go back to the room for a nap. That's impossible now.

I know a lot of folks think the grumbling about Genie + is over the top, but it was just so poorly considered and designed from any perspective other than that of Disney's shareholders. A freshman game design student could have come up with a better system, with better functioning UI that didn't require you to log back in (sometimes needing to fetch a code from your email!) repeatedly over the course of a single day. And it's not too late to fix it. They could easily say something like, "due to guest feedback, we're making some updates to Genie+. Resort guests will now be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction per day 30 days before check-in, and offsite or day guests will be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction (7 days before/when the park opens)." They'll probably even sell more Genie+ this way, since people will be motivated to not wait and see how crowds are before deciding whether to purchase Genie+. But at least you could theoretically just log in one time, either 30 days out or in the morning, make your choices, and then get to put your phone away for the rest of the day.

TLR - Hire me, Disney IT, I could design a better system than this in my sleep.

I think if they’d just wanted rename FP+ that’s what they would have done.

 

[Bullseye]

I hate to say that I agree with you, but I agree with you. Last year I sold my DVC at VGF for a very nice profit, and just yesterday I canceled my upcoming trip in February to WDW. There are just way too many cutbacks, limited experiences, elimination of benefits along with Genie+ and LL to name a few, I just am losing interest in longer stays to WDW. Never thought I'd get to this place, but that is where I am at right now. WDW used to be our go-to almost every year but now looks like it's going to be a once in a while thing for us in the near future.

I guess if I can find anything positive in your post it's that you got a decent return for your points. I'm not to the point you are yet but if things keep going in the same direction it won't take too long.

 

[popy]

Sure noticing , a lot heartless understanding of Disney exploited ways,
Looks like everyone is miserable at having A blast.
Go figure good times are over, more bad times are coming, and never will be better.
Don’t go and put a fire to your money, or give it to Disney, one way or the other you're going to be completely miserable.
It’s all for the money, forget the nostalgia. Throw a hand full of dollars and Hand full of nostalgia in the air and just wait to see what comes down. One way or the other you're going to be completely miserable.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, Many long years ago.

 

[architect1337]

Having just experienced Genie+, it actually worked quite well - but any more than a day and it would start to add up, especially if you had an Ultimate pass. I had four tickets on my phone and registering for the first Genie plus ride was easy, and while in the queue, could register for the next one. Once you've ridden, you can continue to add rides on, and once complete, register the next one. You can ride each attraction only once, using Genie plus though. The 'pay to ride' rides do feel like Disney is trying to rip you off though, but even early December, these sold out pretty quickly, leaving you with long standby queues - so factor in the Ultimate pass, plus Genie plus (for the days you want) plus Premium Rides. For a family of four, not much change from £2K for a 14 day holiday, just for tickets.

 

[going/again]

A few things wrong here. Dinosaur isn't a paid ride - included as one of the Genie+ options. And if it was truly walk-on there's no reason to "change" the reservation - just cancel it and make a new one which is basically the same thing. And also - unless they were planning on riding Dinosaur again later when they think there would be a long line (unlikely), there would have been no reason to change it in any event since as soon as they tapped in to the ride they'd be able to make a reservation for another ride right then anyway.

My mistake the way they were complaining I thought they'd paid for LL

 

[Samantha*belle]

We are skipping the parks in 2022. We are DVC members and normally go multiple times per year with tickets, character meals etc. We are using the points some for resort only stays and universal. I remember our firet disney trip in 2016 coming home and telling a friend how everything at Disney World makes it easy for families. Magical express with luggage delivered so you don’t have to push a stroller and haul a suitcase at the same time, three fast passes you could book ahead so on the day of you don’t have to worry about figuring out what to do, big buffets where even the pickiest eaters could eat well and the characters come right up to your table. I said all those things because that’s what made Disney stand out at a vacation destination. We’ve been several times in 2021 and each time it just felt like WORK. Such a shame. I think the people making decisions at Disney HQ are just totally out of touch with the guest experience. They need to spend a day in Hollywood studios as a regular guest with no VIP tour and see if that is an experience they would pay for.

Couldn’t agree with you more. They need to spend a few hours navigating the parks with genie+ as a regular customer on a random Saturday/Sunday to see what it’s like.

 

[k5xs]

 

[Samantha*belle]

Yes, on our morning we had a problem booking $ ILL for my friend, and had to run down to Guest Services at 7am to get it sorted (which, luckily, one star CM at the front desk was able to do). I had laid out the kids' clothes the night before so they were dressed and ready to go, but breakfast went out the window (we ended up getting Starbucks and muffins an hour and a half later at the park). Hustling 3 young boys down the hall before we'd even had coffee was not my idea of a fun way to start our vacation. When my kids were really small, I always booked all of our FP+ before 2pm so we could go back to the room for a nap. That's impossible now.

I know a lot of folks think the grumbling about Genie + is over the top, but it was just so poorly considered and designed from any perspective other than that of Disney's shareholders. A freshman game design student could have come up with a better system, with better functioning UI that didn't require you to log back in (sometimes needing to fetch a code from your email!) repeatedly over the course of a single day. And it's not too late to fix it. They could easily say something like, "due to guest feedback, we're making some updates to Genie+. Resort guests will now be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction per day 30 days before check-in, and offsite or day guests will be able to book 3 Lightning Lane attractions and one ILL attraction (7 days before/when the park opens)." They'll probably even sell more Genie+ this way, since people will be motivated to not wait and see how crowds are before deciding whether to purchase Genie+. But at least you could theoretically just log in one time, either 30 days out or in the morning, make your choices, and then get to put your phone away for the rest of the day.

TLR - Hire me, Disney IT, I could design a better system than this in my sleep.

Yes! Those would be HUGE improvements

 

[AprilsZoo]

Finally, after voicing my displeasure recently on one of these boards another member urged me to make my concerns known to WDW, and I did just that. I’d recommend you do the same and forward your comments to: wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com.

Who knows if it will make a difference, but it just seems the right thing to do!

And I would recommend sharing posts that you agree with on Twitter or Facebook (preferably both). Look at the top bar of any post and there’s an icon with 3 linked circles. Tap on that and you can share that post.
Add your own thoughts (or share your own posts) as well, and invite others to chime in too.

Complaining on the Dis is a great way to commiserate, and sending well-worded letters to GS could be useful (*if* they actually get read by anyone compiling the reasons for the complaints… and that’s a big “if”.) But any large corporation has employees whose sole job is scouring social media sites to find posts about the customer experience, good or bad… *but especially bad*.

If enough posts begin showing up on FB and Twitter… they will get noticed. And with Twitter, you can create a hashtag topic (share it here so we can all use it) and start a revolution— ok, not really, but if enough people attach the #, it will get more attention. An @ tag (such as @ Disney — but no space) will help too.

Even if this is all you ever use a FB & Twitter acct for, it’s worth signing up.

Just one of us won’t rise to the level of “influencer”… but if everyone of us takes the time to post/share on Twitter—with # and @ tags— we can be just as influential.

P.S.— I found this tag:@WDWGuestService … I’m still searching for one for Disneyland. I will add any other tags as I find them. I hope others will do the same.

 

[Kbrb]

I sent an email when this all started. I linked here, and the DIBB. I acutally got a phone call from disney where i laid all the issues on the table. Who knows if it got put in the bin or sent up the chain as promised. Cant hurt tho right?

At the very least they will be aware of the unhappyness of the fan base.

 

[AprilsZoo]

I sent an email when this all started. I linked here, and the DIBB. I acutally got a phone call from disney where i laid all the issues on the table. Who knows if it got put in the bin or sent up the chain as promised. Cant hurt tho right?

At the very least they will be aware of the unhappyness of the fan base.

Well, they’re aware of your displeasure… but everyone who’s unhappy needs to voice that opinion via *multiple outlets*.

That’s the only way the powers-that-be are going to sit up & take notice.

The suggestion was made earlier to a poster — whose story included not only the emotional part of the experience but also had concrete examples of what used to be right and worked for their family, and then what was not working for their family now — that they should tell it to Disney. I agree. That is exactly the format that our letters, emails, and posts need to follow.

Just moaning & complaining really won’t resonate with them. Think about the form of a “contrast & compare” style essay. By explaining what we used to like & describing why it worked for our family before moving on to whatever complaints we want to bring to their attention, the entire letter will be taken more seriously.

A complaint letter should never point out only what went wrong— there should always be something positive that is said as well. Even if it is as simple as pointing out the beautiful landscaping, the nostalgia of the music heard on Main Street, the friendly CM at the entry gate, or the one who waved as you exited the park…. something. It doesn’t have to be singing praises for lots of huge things. But it really does make a difference in how the message comes across.

The tone of the letter matters also. If it’s just all “Disney sucks… everything is terrible… Chapek is the devil… yadda yadda yadda…” the letter will get go right into the ‘circular file’.

A letter that paints a realistic picture will have positive and negative points. Tell your story. Good and bad. What works & what doesn’t. Describe what improvements would be helpful (other than everything should be free, lol ). Give specific examples of how your recent experience differed from previous experiences. Share your specific reasons why Disney no longer meets your vacation needs or wants. Describe specific ways they’d be able to win you back.

Don’t waste your words. Write a reasoned letter that is specific, realistic, and descriptive of the exact nature of the issues you experienced. Use social media to your advantage. That’s the way to get a message heard.

 

[kbelle8995]

Couldn’t agree with you more. They need to spend a few hours navigating the parks with genie+ as a regular customer on a random Saturday/Sunday to see what it’s like.

Agreed.

 

[V.B.]

Well, they’re aware of your displeasure… but everyone who’s unhappy needs to voice that opinion via *multiple outlets*.

That’s the only way the powers-that-be are going to sit up & take notice.

The suggestion was made earlier to a poster — whose story included not only the emotional part of the experience but also had concrete examples of what used to be right and worked for their family, and then what was not working for their family now — that they should tell it to Disney. I agree. That is exactly the format that our letters, emails, and posts need to follow.

Just moaning & complaining really won’t resonate with them. Think about the form of a “contrast & compare” style essay. By explaining what we used to like & describing why it worked for our family before moving on to whatever complaints we want to bring to their attention, the entire letter will be taken more seriously.

A complaint letter should never point out only what went wrong— there should always be something positive that is said as well. Even if it is as simple as pointing out the beautiful landscaping, the nostalgia of the music heard on Main Street, the friendly CM at the entry gate, or the one who waved as you exited the park…. something. It doesn’t have to be singing praises for lots of huge things. But it really does make a difference in how the message comes across.

The tone of the letter matters also. If it’s just all “Disney sucks… everything is terrible… Chapek is the devil… yadda yadda yadda…” the letter will get go right into the ‘circular file’.

A letter that paints a realistic picture will have positive and negative points. Tell your story. Good and bad. What works & what doesn’t. Describe what improvements would be helpful (other than everything should be free, lol ). Give specific examples of how your recent experience differed from previous experiences. Share your specific reasons why Disney no longer meets your vacation needs or wants. Describe specific ways they’d be able to win you back.

Don’t waste your words. Write a reasoned letter that is specific, realistic, and descriptive of the exact nature of the issues you experienced. Use social media to your advantage. That’s the way to get a message heard.

That's a great point. Explaining WHY it doesn't work (waking up at 7 am, end of Magical Express, not being able to change times of LL, spaces for fireworks being taken away at restaurants to make them paid spaces, the parks dirtier, etc) will get further (well, we can hope it would).

But, with Pete saying yesterday on the show that they've had a boom in requests for Universal vacations, if that keeps happening that's what Disney will notice.

Right now, as stated, crowds are huge, but they'll notice if more people are taking shorter time there. You can only anger your audience base for so long before it will catch up with them.

 

[gregskellington]

FP+ was an abomination and dining reservations 6 months in advance was dreadful. I don't see either of those changes as anything but positive (Disney needs to go way farther with Genie, imo), but people have different perspective.

Can I get 7 fastpasses for my party of 6 for Space Mountain in a single day with Genie+? No, but I also can't take 42 Space Mountain fastpasses from other guests in a single day anymore just because I know how the FP+ system works. Genie+ is certainly half baked but it's way more fair for guests in the long run.

 

[Duck143]

I filled out a survey addressing the amount of park visits during our last trip. I tried to be as specific as I could, but there wasn't any space for you to type in a message, just boxes to check if apply.

I would gladly wake up at any time in the morning from home in advance to book ADR's, rides/Genie/FP, any part of planning the trip rather than get up every morning before 7am on EVERY day of our vacation. When we went this past May, the only time I had to get up to book anything was ROTR. That was nerve-wracking enough. Now I have to go through that for every park every day?! Whose idea was this?!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

and don't make your complaint letter 5-10 pages long detailing every moment of everything that went wrong and the way you felt about it. Definitely be specific.

I remember when fastpass came out, there was complaining about the good stuff booking up ahead of time. Now there is complaining about having to get up too early to book it the same day. When they had paper FPs in the park, there was complaining about you had to be in the park when it opened, or you didn't get anything good. Nothing works for everybody.

Personally I think they should either just get rid of line skipping (but they won't because it is here to stay in the theme park world), or sell a limited number of express passes like Uni does. However WDW is so much bigger than Uni that they would need to take some action to limit how many would be in use in each park. If everyone gets to skip the line, then it just becomes another line.

 

[pixiedust2u]

I’m sure it’s more complex than I think. But why can’t they just allow 80% of LL book 30 days out, and reserve 20% for morning of? And why can’t they allow you to modify? Those are my two main issues with Genie. Making your guests wake up at 6:30AM ON “vacation” and not allowing any flexibility. Neither of these things are magical! It’s frustrating and unnecessary. They have so many resources, and ideas I just can’t wrap my head around why they thought the majority of guests would be content the stress of waking up early on vacation and not even be guaranteed what they wanted. Not that you are guaranteed booking in advance, but at least then you can plan your day accordingly. Ie. You couldn’t get a LL for SDD at 30 days, so you can plan to wake up at 7am to try for one morning of, or plan to rope drop it.

 

[pixiedust2u]

And just another thought… why not add some incentives to staying on site? Like deluxe can book 3 advance LL, mod 2 and Value 1 at 30 days? Offsite is 7am day of? I dunno, just thinking out loud. There just seems to be so many better and more thought out possibilities. I just can’t imagine someone presenting genie+ “ guests will be excited to wake up at 6:30 am each park day to make one LL selection” and no one thought to say “who wants to get up early and deal with stress of planning while ON vacation”

 

[gregskellington]

I’m sure it’s more complex than I think. But why can’t they just allow 80% of LL book 30 days out, and reserve 20% for morning of? And why can’t they allow you to modify? Those are my two main issues with Genie. Making your guests wake up at 6:30AM ON “vacation” and not allowing any flexibility. Neither of these things are magical! It’s frustrating and unnecessary. They have so many resources, and ideas I just can’t wrap my head around why they thought the majority of guests would be content the stress of waking up early on vacation and not even be guaranteed what they wanted. Not that you are guaranteed booking in advance, but at least then you can plan your day accordingly. Ie. You couldn’t get a LL for SDD at 30 days, so you can plan to wake up at 7am to try for one morning of, or plan to rope drop it.

A major issue with FP+ was there was no recourse for people who came on vacation and didn't know about it. Even if a cast member tells them on day 1, so what? They're getting a FP for Dumbo at that point, if they're lucky. All top tier rides are long gone. With the new system, at least they can use Genie+ to its full capabilities the rest of the days of their trip, if they choose.

The advanced planning is wrong, IMO. Disney should have never attempted to go down that path. While the 7am thing doesn't bother me, I can see how that would bother others. I do freely admit G+ is half baked, at best. I also freely admit that FP+ was worse.