New Disney Genie+ makes disney worse

[Chris7cc]

So having been 2 years ago for Halloween and having disney Fast pass as it once was due to staying in AK and this year going over and not staying in a disney hotel but paying for Geine+, I thought I would share my feelings about it, I am aware that this will upset some of the Disney Mafia but I have been completely honest of my experience and unfortunately for Disney having done Universal this time seen how a fast pass product can and should work.

First of all I want to talk about the geine option to pay for Fancy rides, if you want guarantees of getting the chance to pay for the fancy rides and you are going at a peak time of year then unless you are staying at a disney hotel you are playing with lady luck whilst we were able to get fight of passage, Mickley and Minnie's train (at 5pm if we wanted it) we weren't able to pay for Rise or Seve dwarfs or Remi on the the days we wanted.

I would suggest staying at a disney property for 4 days purely with the intention of doing just the fancy rides and park hoping to make sure you get them all. On that note if you can afford the upto $15pp then IMO it is worth every penny we only waited 12 minutes for Flight of Passage.

And onto Geine+

I hate it and if you are going to Disney for the rides it will ruine your day, where you use to be able to book rides in advance and plan your day you are now going to have to run around from area to area just to fit rides that work with what you can get with Geine+.

As an example when we went to Hollywood Studios at 7am I had the option of Smugglers run at 12:05 or Slinky Dog at 14:00. We took Smugglers Run and did rope drop went straight to Toy Story and queued for Slinky and Toy Story Maina this took us until 2hrs 55mins from rope drop.

By the time we did Smugglers Run the only things we could get before 6pm were muppits 3d and the shows.

And unfortunately we had the same issues at MK and Epcot your day is all about bouncing around without ever being able to see a land and feel like you have done it before moving on to the next.

When you compare what Universal offer with their fast pass system, I think disney could learn a lot I think if you are staying at a disney hotel the old system made it worth while paying the disney premium but with the new system just simply doesn't work if you visiting at a peak time.

I would rather disney charge $150pp or even $200pp if you aren't staying at a disney resort or in a basic resort and say offer it cheaper for guest at a moderate resort and free to premium resort guests and offer the same style system as Universal as whilst it's an expense at least you know you can enjoy your time take everything in and do all the rides you want.

We stayed at Potofino Bay and whilst it was $1300 for 2 nights for 4 of us we got 3 and half days of FP and loved every second and felt like we did and saw everything we wanted.

We did 8 days at disney some with geine plus and and some with just paying for the fancy rides and a couple of days without paying for anything and the only days we truly enjoyed were the days when we had no intention of doing rides and Animal Kingdom where we paid for Flight of Passage, did rope drop and queued for everything else we wanted to do.

I really hope that this post helps people who maybe thinking of going back so they know what to expect compared to pre covid or even helps someone who is doing a once in a life time trip and stops them from coming back disappointed or even worse feeling ripped off.

[MarkUK]

It’s stuff like this that’ll keep us far away in the future - It’s all $, $ and more $. The greed is insane.

[loldis]

I agree that Genie+ isn't working because it's just too busy.

The problem with adopting a Universal style system is scale, especially if they put it as a deluxe perk. Universal only have 2k deluxe rooms, Disney have about 10k in deluxe and DVC. So imagine 5 times the people in the Express queue, especially in peak weeks where even Express can top an hour's wait for the headliners.

No matter what they do, until it's not as overcrowded as it currently is, it's always going to be a problem.

[Chris7cc]

Originally Posted by MarkUK

It’s stuff like this that’ll keep us far away in the future - It’s all $, $ and more $. The greed is insane.

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Yes I agree Disney are pushing and I belive will keep pushing the prices up and offering less for the money until the quarter where their pre covid profit is higher than the comparative post covid quarter.

[SallyK]

Totally agree, just got back and found more people stuck on their phones all day trying to sort out rides and the wait times on the App over inflated, perhaps to get you to purchase the Genie+ or LL!

[amy56]

Originally Posted by loldis

I agree that Genie+ isn't working because it's just too busy.

The problem with adopting a Universal style system is scale, especially if they put it as a deluxe perk. Universal only have 2k deluxe rooms, Disney have about 10k in deluxe and DVC. So imagine 5 times the people in the Express queue, especially in peak weeks where even Express can top an hour's wait for the headliners.

No matter what they do, until it's not as overcrowded as it currently is, it's always going to be a problem.

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This is exactly the problem - Disney is physically too big to carry off the Universal express pass system.

Sadly the only solution I think to make it an enjoyable experience at this point, is literally to price themselves so high that it goes back to being a ‘dream holiday’ that the average person can only afford with years of savings - reverting back to what it was years ago.

The difficulty with that is the number of us that will resent this and refuse to pay the increases - although I think Disney seem to be getting to the stage where they are intentionally charging more and more, hoping that this will result in the same revenue with less guests - thus making it a more enjoyable experience for those willing and able to fork out the extortionate prices! 😢

[YorkshireT]

It doesn’t work for anyone rope dropping and leaving at early afternoon. It’s a mess, and has ruined the park experience for us- others with different patterns may not notice as much. We are not going back. I keep meaning to do a full trip report with more detail, but I have the photos.

Not really to do with pricing. Bob C lead us to believe we would get a better experience for more. Instead he gave us a drastically diminished experience for more.

Bob Chapek and co (I don’t think it’s all him) are not in this families’ good books to say it lightly.

[bluemoon152]

Totally agree,unless you are staying on site for the extra early hour or going out of the busy holiday season forget it.If it was a first timer with a family ,like others have said you would spend loads of your day checking your phone,not to mention the cost .Hopefully they will sort it out and make it simpler as I know it may put people off .

[minniemouse]

I have to agree. When it's busy, LL availability is all gone, or there's just attractions like Muppets left by 1-2pm. Availability for the fancier of the fancy rides has also all gone by Park open, when off site guests are able to buy, as they've all been snapped up by onsite guests. Rope drop doesn't work if you're off site, as the lines are already full of on site guests. The last hour or so works best of all. Did Rise in 15 mins the other night, when stated time was 75 mins, but not everyone wants to just do rides in the last hour and have a late night every night and onsite rooms are not suitable for all family groups. We've stood in lines for longer this year, than we ever have in the past. I can't compare to Universal, as we didn't visit.
Have to agree about phones, you have to constantly refresh and get the 'cannot populate your tip board' message over and over again. Battery is dead by late pm, you need a power bank.

[Shades]

Originally Posted by minniemouse

Have to agree about phones, you have to constantly refresh and get the 'cannot populate your tip board' message over and over again. Battery is dead by late pm, you need a power bank.

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I didn’t realise that was widespread, I just thought my account was screwed up as it was mostly well behaved if Mrs. Shades logged in.

Got back to the hotel tonight with 7% battery but I had a powerbank just in case…

95% of the time the tipboard says “Something went wrong” on both my Android phone &/or my iPad.