Completed first week-long trip with G+/ILL

[frabjous]

… and it really is as terrible as everyone was saying, yet you kind of have to use it, at least in some parks. I am not referring to cost but user experience. We loved FP+ and miss it greatly. With FP, we could have everything well planned and make sense (which you already have to do with Dinning, DVC booking, etc.), and when the trip came, we could relax, become immersed in the parks, and have a blast.

Not so with G+; instead, stress and chaos are the game. Every day begins with at least a 6:50 am to login and purchase G+ arrange your selections, so you are primed to race and then start the mad scramble to pick only one ride (2 if you also do ILL). Unlike ILL, you can’t choose a time range; you try for whatever they have and watch time slots disappear or suddenly change to something random on the confirmation screen. Then it’s a gamble. Do you back off and retry (since they reset/release times in batches - the first list of times at 7 am, new slots open starting at 7:16 am, etc.) or take what you can get and recalculate the plan for your whole day in your head while booking the IlL. If the app crashes, well, too bad there goes your plans for the morning. If you are doing ILL and G+ simultaneously, it’s a good idea to have your partner join you in the fun! (you have already woken them up with your early alarm anyway). Your communication opportunity is so tight that it’s a good idea to do a dry run so you can be on the same page and not freak each other out when things go south and end up in an argument.

Assuming you survived that experience, you are still only partway through what was possible with FP+. You now need to set an alarm for 2 hours after park open (be prepared to keep doing that) and repeat the process while in the park or even mid-ride (I was literally scrambling to make Haunted Mansion work in the middle of Philharmagic)
Not only does this kill the vacation vibe, it breaks the theming, the illusion, the magic. Effectively, I am not in the park; my mind is tied to complexity mitigation and the darn glitchy app. Even when I do break away and try to take it all in, I have to zig-zag everywhere, which again breaks the immersive experience.

The good news is that exploiting early entry and the unofficial 15 min early open works well (hey, you have to be up early anyway, right?). We were able to do ROTR and Smugglers Run twice and then hang out a bit before jumping on ILL and G+ options later (including a second ROTR when the rest of the party showed up). Late hour trips and Moonlight Magic also worked well (as always).

So long story short is, we had a much better time treating it as more of a bonus/fallback, relying on other means to optimize our trip, viewing it more as a later day solution, and not caring if it worked out or not. That’s, of course, still a disappointment since even adapting and incorporating alternatives, the experience is still a step back from what we had in the past. I can only hope the negative feedback and long lines at Disney experience tents get through to them and they improve.

Unfortunately, no G+ surveys yet, but I am looking forward to them

 

[CraigInPA]

I recently experienced the same frustration with G+/iLL. Disney is forcing you to get up at the crack of dawn, on your vacation, in order to get high demand rides, and is charging you for that privilege. My wife and I aren't "morning people". With Fastpass+, we'd schedule everything for the afternoon and have a leisurely breakfast after we woke up at a normal hour. Using Fastpass+, we designed a VACATION. With G+ and iLL's, it's more like completing a QUEST.

If you want to maximize the use of G+, you need to be a park commando, arriving long before park opening, walking around glued to your phone hunting the next "experience", frustrated that your fat finger typing at 7am cost you an iLL on ROTR (they were literally available for 1 minute when I was there during Spring Break), and trying to avoid all the other "phone zombies" doing the same for their group.

The only positive I can say is that the extra 2 hours for deluxe resort guests worked pretty well for us. But, at the same time, it made getting up to buy iLL's and G+ at 7am really hard.

If G+ and iLL's continue in their present form, my wife and I are going to cut back on park days significantly for future trips.

 

[cvjw]

We had the opposite experience. Yes, getting up at 7 wasn’t ideal, but the rest of LL and genie + worked really well for us. You do not have to be a park commando or arrive long before park opening to use LL and genie +. Two mornings we purchased at 7:00, but didn’t arrive at the parks until after lunch. We had nice, leisurely mornings doing other things, all while stacking our genie + reservations. When we did arrive at the parks, we had multiple attractions booked for us with zero wait. It was glorious when all attractions had super long wait times when we were there. And, we never waited in line when we used the LL entrance. We were put directly onto the attraction.

We loved LL and genie + and will use it on all future trips. Not waiting in line is priceless for us - very much worth the upfront cost.

We had zero issues looking at our phones every 2 hours to book another attraction. It took no time whatsoever once you got the hang of using your tip board.

 

[mab2012]

I agree, we also experienced our first G+ trip a couple of weeks ago. I was resolved to giving it a fair chance, but I can now say with certainty that for us, it was inferior to FP+ in basically every way. There is no question that we had a less enjoyable time than we've had during similarly busy times in the past. This was our first trip in 4 years, and I really doubt we will be back anytime soon.

I do think that if they would just allow for modifications, that would go a long way to improving the system. It would avoid the whole guessing game over "should I take this time or keep trying", and allowing people to change their plans without the risk of ending up with nothing at all would open opportunities through the day for others. As it is, I think people rarely cancel, even if they would rather do something else, because the return times are so long, finding anything earlier is rare (even with persistent refreshing), and rebooking resets your 2h timer.

Rebooking immediately after tapping in - which is really the intended use of the system - is just not a thing at all on a busy day, because by 9am, almost all return times are 2+ hours away, and they just get worse through the day.

I could go on - the buggy app, the need to drop whatever you're doing when the next booking slot opens, the frustration of being forced to adjust and readjust and have backup plans for your backup plans depending on how your G+ selections work out, etc. But it's all been said before.

The biggest takeaway for us was that, given a choice between late nights and early mornings, the late night strategy is the clear winner now. Rope dropping early entry, we might get one headliner with a short wait, and then maybe a second high-demand ride with a moderate wait. By then the posted wait times would mostly be over an hour, and G+ return times would be early afternoon or later. It's so much easier to get G+ selections for late afternoon / evening, and even if posted wait times are still long, they are usually overinflated in the hour or two before park close. And evenings are even better if you can do extended hours.

It's not that we didn't get any value from G+. We made it work, mostly. But I would take paid FP+ over this system any day.

 

[Skicks35]

People will gladly pay a price for convenience and/or a better product/experience. If they simply took FP+ and charged $15 for it (maybe adding a 4th for deluxe guests or something), there would be a lot less animosity (myself included). However, what seems to be happening here is the product is worse while costing more - which is usually not a great business model.

The real problem is that people feel like they “need” to buy genie+ in order to keep up with the herd, which obviously makes the numbers look better in Disney’s eyes, so why should they change anything?

I’ve yet to experience it yet (will in May and July), but I’m not exactly looking forward to it, but we’ll see.