I don't mind being on the phone, but I would definitely appreciate the ability to purchase Genie+ and pre-book 2 or 3 LL per day of stay, well in advance of my trip. And I would support giving those staying on-site the benefit of being able to book a little in advance of those who are off-site.
Last month Universal removed all physical park maps so if you don't know where stuff is and need to find it on a map, you need to use a phone. I don't think Busch Gardens had physical maps either when I visited last year. At least at Disney you can still get a physical map.
Do I check FB on my phone in the daytime? Sure, but am I constantly on my phone while I'm on vacation in general? No. I just got back from Utah a week ago and when I was in our cabin in the mountains I had no cell service and no wifi (wifi signal was only in the main lodge lobby).
Glad I took home maps in the past. I love physical ones.
I think it's interesting that they had pre-purchase with MP and then carried that over to Genie+ then nixed that. I have to assume there was a reason why with Genie+ specifically they removed that advanced purchase after a time even though they kept that with MP.
And interesting that Disneyland still allows you to pre-purchase Genie+
Agreed but Universal is also going all in with emphasizing mobile order. I couldn't even enter places like Thunder Falls and Richter's unless I had a mobile order placed. Then again, Universal as a whole is inconsistent with their park ops so maybe others have had a different experience. I did see reports that the Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous (yes I did want to type that out because the name is funny) is mobile order only after it recently reopened.
The majority of Disneyland guests are annual passholders who do not typically buy Genie+ every time they visit.
So is it that they believe too many people will buy it if they allow pre-purchase at WDW?
Yes. That's also why at Disneyland you cannot book your first LL until you have physically scanned into the park. Most guests are not staying on site and/or vacationers.
Oh yeah mobile order is more prevalent now at Universal. We were heavily suggested to use it at Thunder Falls but no they didn't prohibit us from entering, that was early May 2022. There were multiple people in front of us for the physical register and multiple people behind us so they def. let people enter without mobile ordering. We only used mobile ordering once at Universal on our last trip.
That I do agree with. Just noticed on recent visits how much they're pushing mobile order.
Well, you could choose to call for ADRs. You could also walk up to the podium day of to see if they have availability. I think each park also has a board that shows wait times for a lot of attractions along with them showing at the entrance to each ride. I would think using an app on your phone is much easier than walking around to each ride to see the wait time or waiting on a phone line to book ADRs.
While you're at Disney in the theme park you're going to call the 1-800 number to make an ADR?
Yes and no. I mean physically yes you can do this but Disney added the Wait List feature to their app. Really they want you to just join via that.
Is easy the point of the complaints from people who are discussing phone usage? No. When people are talking about "I just don't know what these people are talking about saying they are on their phones all the time" the counterpoint is all the aspects to your trip that are contained within the MDE app. I don't think people are walking around to each and every ride.
I really truly understand why people keep saying this but understand that when you're talking about booking your ILL/Genie+ majority are not talking about the "it doesn't take much time"..that's not the point.
You were complaining about everything being tied to your phone. I was just pointing out there are other options. To me and I am sure many others, it is much more convenient to have all these options available on your phone rather than walking around the park to find a FP kiosk or look for wait times or call for an ADR.
I wasn't complaining as in me having this issue, largely I'm okay with it, I was advocating on behalf of those that do have an issue with it. It's in response to less than nice attributes thrown towards those people who do. We may not agree with their viewpoint but at least for me I can understand it. It's the way Disney wants you to tour their parks to use their app and to use it for just about all facets of your trip including opening your door...well when that feature works lol.
In addition to the above-mentioned AP vs day guest split, the two parks at Disneyland each have significantly more LL capacity than any WDW park not named Magic Kingdom. That makes it easier for more people to use them.
I think this is a fair conclusion. In most other respects, Disney tends to encourage us to pre-book things that cost money; I recall some long-ago investor presentation in which Disney execs claimed that plans tend to be dropped rather than added in the moment, so pre-planning was an important part of their revenue strategy.
And I was pointing out there are options for most of the things you quoted other than booking a ride. I choose not to open my door with my phone and I also don’t use it to get into the park. I use my magic band. And when we had friends stay with us without magic bands, we had their online tickets linked to room card keys in the lobby which both opened the door and got them in the park.
This is exactly what I was trying to convey. Groceries? There's an app. Bills? App. Banking? App. Show? App. Farmacy? App.
That part is not complicated or difficult. When have to also use an app to book rides, know when you can and how often makes it complicated. Most other parks you just get into their version of LL whenever you want.
