"Disney trips are so complicated now that you need a class to plan one"

[WinterSolider]

I don't compare a Disney vacation to a cruise vacation or an Hawaiian vacation. They are not the same.

A more apples to apples comparison is a Universal vacation. There is not much planning required. You book your hotel and decide if you want express pass or not.

As far as planning, maybe it's just my family but we rarely plan much of an itinerary. Mainly cause we do that in our everyday life. Our vacation is basically we book our flight and hotel. Look into what we would like to do in the area. The rest we go with the flow and decide what we want to do when we get there.

Yes, Express Pass is simpler than Genie+.

It's also 4 times as expensive, minimum.

 

[irlandaise]

I reject this idea that somehow vacation planning is unique to Walt Disney World.

No one is saying that. It's the level of planning needed that's mushroomed in recent years at WDW and DL. Plus having to use a smartphone a lot while in the parks.

 

[WinterSolider]

No one is saying that. It's the level of planning needed that's mushroomed in recent years at WDW and DL.

Genie+ is no more complicated than FastPass+ was. The only difference is that now it costs money, which isn't a planning issue, it's a price increase. Maybe people want to complain about price increases, and that's fine, but it's a separate thing.

Plus having to use a smartphone a lot while in the parks.

See to me this is just detached from reality. People have their faces in their smartphones all day EVERYWHERE. Go to Hawaii and stand on the top of Diamond Head and everyone is going to be on their smartphones. People got obsessed with and addicted to their phones LONG before Disney had any influence.

And Genie+ isn't a time commitment, it just isn't. It takes 5 seconds to book a Lightning Lane, you can literally do it with one hand while you pee.

 

[Jrb1979]

Genie+ is no more complicated than FastPass+ was. The only difference is that now it costs money, which isn't a planning issue, it's a price increase. Maybe people want to complain about price increases, and that's fine, but it's a separate thing.


See to me this is just detached from reality. People have their faces in their smartphones all day EVERYWHERE. Go to Hawaii and stand on the top of Diamond Head and everyone is going to be on their smartphones. People got obsessed with and addicted to their phones LONG before Disney had any influence.

And Genie+ isn't a time commitment, it just isn't. It takes 5 seconds to book a Lightning Lane, you can literally do it with one hand while you pee.

I hated FP+ just as much as Genie+. It's not that it's complicated but I hate having to be told when I can ride something.

 

[New Mouse]

Yes, Express Pass is simpler than Genie+.

It's also 4 times as expensive, minimum.

And 4x more useful

 

[Minnie1222]

No one is disputing the usefulness of the Express Pass. I just don't think Disney guests are ready to pay those prices, given how angry some of them are with the current G+ price. Maybe they can sell an unlimited pass while still keeping G+. The people who choose Standby due to moral issues are going to have a riot though.

 

[Jrb1979]

No one is disputing the usefulness of the Express Pass. I just don't think Disney guests are ready to pay those prices, given how angry some of them are with the current G+ price. Maybe they can sell an unlimited pass while still keeping G+. The people who choose Standby due to moral issues are going to have a riot though.

That's the difference between Genie+ and Express pass. Express pass is priced high so that a limited number of people buy it and use it. That's the biggest issue. Disney guests mindset is that every one should have access to skip the line. At Universal and every other park it's made to be limited.

 

[elaine amj]

I've working on the development of similar large-scale systems for most of my adult life. They usually are received two ways.

1. A helpful assistant that users wanted to use
2. A necessary evil that users were forced to use

As a disclaimer, I haven't used Genie+ myself, so I can't give a first-hand account. But every single person that I know personally hated Genie+. Now I'm not saying my observations are scientific in any way, but from what I've heard from actual people I know and seen from these boards, there have been way too many people that put Genie+ in the #2 category. Not sure what type of user acceptance testing they are performing, but even a fraction of the negative responses I've seen would be a complete failure for any project I haven't ever been involved with. There is a massive disconnect somewhere.

Disney ppl also hate change. I remember the massive uproar when FP+ came out and how horrified ppl were at booking rides 60 days out.

Now Genie+ is almost exactly the same as legacy Fastpass that people “loved”. You get one pass at a time, have to wait 2 hrs before you get the next one and can hold multiple fastpasses at a time.

The main differences are using an app instead of running across the park to the FP machines (that was pretty exhausting to go back and forth and sometimes the return time would be awful and you wasted time and energy crossing the park). And of course, Genie+ costs $$ instead of being free,

It’s rather amusing reading old threads complaining about FP+ and then read current threads complaining about Genie+.

WDW is an expensive, complicated vacation. And people who don’t know are completely surprised just how complicated it can be. They’d expect that from certain vacations, but not a theme park trip.

My advice to them is get a knowledgeable travel agent who can give competent advice AND do all your Genie+ and dining reservations. There are some who offer it as a free service to their clients.

My travel agent is so sweet that even though my DD and her friend only booked a room at Pop with her (and not their tickets too), she said she’d do their 7am reservations for them and they can take over after that. Normally she only does it for clients who book packages with her.

Most don’t do Genie+ as it is more complicated. But some do so they are worth seeking out.

 

[LordVader]

My family and I went to Disney World for the first time last November. We ended up watching a few YouTube videos on genie+ and figured it out fairly easily. I was the one in charge of picking the lightning lanes while at the parks and I was hardly ever on my phone. It was only when checking in to our ride to book a new lightning lane and to refresh once for Jingle Cruise (saved 3hrs!) and that was it. I would hardly say I was staring at my phone.

I'm also a heavy planner, I watch video, read books/blogs, etc when planning a major vacation and figured it's just what you should do? I don't like going into things blind lol.

 

[imbelle]

See to me this is just detached from reality. People have their faces in their smartphones all day EVERYWHERE. Go to Hawaii and stand on the top of Diamond Head and everyone is going to be on their smartphones. People got obsessed with and addicted to their phones LONG before Disney had any influence.

Being "detached from reality" is precisely the point of a Disney vacation n'est-ce pas?

 

[irlandaise]

People have their faces in their smartphones all day EVERYWHERE.

We don't, and I've seen plenty of postings from other people in these forums who don't like having to use their phones a lot at the Disney parks.

People got obsessed with and addicted to their phones LONG before Disney had any influence.

Huh??? I haven't seen anyone claim that Disney influenced people to get obsessed with or addicted to smartphones. You must be thinking of Facebook/Twitter/TikTok/Instagram.

 

[New Mouse]

No one is disputing the usefulness of the Express Pass. I just don't think Disney guests are ready to pay those prices, given how angry some of them are with the current G+ price. Maybe they can sell an unlimited pass while still keeping G+. The people who choose Standby due to moral issues are going to have a riot though.

I think guests would be ready to pay those prices if it had the same functionality.

 

[LordVader]

I think guests would be ready to pay those prices if it had the same functionality.

I'd absolutely pay tbh. I know not everyone can or would want to but if it meant being able to go on our favorite rides multiple times? I'd absolutely do it. My daughter LOVED Big Thunder Mountain and if it was possible to let her ride it a few times (without 45-60+ min waits) than it'd be worth it for sure.

 

[dioxide45]

If you pay for a class at WDW then it's all about lazyiness. There is a wealth of information out there at your finger tips all you have to do is read. It's really not that complicated.

For some people it is about saving time. Sure you could go out and research it and spend 10 hours. Many people here probably spend much more on a single trip or someone creates a class to teach you many of the tips in tricks and consolidates them all into a single course and it saves you 75% of the time. Time is money that some people are willing to pay for.

As an example. I took a course to learn about rules and regulations to pass the FAA Part 107 exam to be able to fly a drone commercially. I could have done it myself for free by watching some YouTube videos and also pouting through material provided by the FAA. Instead I paid some online pilot company about 150 bucks to take their course. Passed with a 97%. It was worth the money for the amount of time I save and the knowledge that I knew what I needed to know.

 

[LordVader]

For some people it is about saving time. Sure you could go out and research it and spend 10 hours. Many people here probably spend much more on a single trip or someone creates a class to teach you many of the tips in tricks and consolidates them all into a single course and it saves you 75% of the time. Time is money that some people are willing to pay for.

10hrs to research how to do Disney World? I found a YouTube video that was 20-30 minutes and it was free. All the power to people who are willing to spend money...but the resources are out there that are completely free and hardly take any time.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I would not want Express Pass at WDW, it would have to cost way too much and we wouldn't be able to afford it. We like to get G+ for a couple of days of a week-long trip and so far it's not too expensive for us to be able to do that.

As the person in my family who used to have to run across the park to get the next Fast Pass, I appreciate the ability to book the next one in the app from wherever we happen to be. Really, the only annoying thing is the 7 AM booking. There have been times when we decide we'll sleep in and just not do Slinky, but we're still able to get everything else we'd want in the day.

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I don't compare a Disney vacation to a cruise vacation or an Hawaiian vacation. They are not the same.

A more apples to apples comparison is a Universal vacation. There is not much planning required. You book your hotel and decide if you want express pass or not.

As far as planning, maybe it's just my family but we rarely plan much of an itinerary. Mainly cause we do that in our everyday life. Our vacation is basically we book our flight and hotel. Look into what we would like to do in the area. The rest we go with the flow and decide what we want to do when we get there.

Samesies.

 

[Minnie1222]

I think Genie+ is mistakenly blamed for causing people to bury their face in the phone. That's not true at all. It only takes a few minutes in the morning to purchase G+ and select the first ride. Then maybe another minute here and there throughout the day to select the subsequent rides.

Admittedly, there were setbacks in the beginning. But that was October 2021, when we were all staring at a brand new app with weird buttons. There's no reason why current guests should experience the same confusion, especially with all the tutorials on social media.

 

[irlandaise]

I think Genie+ is mistakenly blamed for causing people to bury their face in the phone. That's not true at all. It only takes a few minutes in the morning to purchase G+ and select the first ride. Then maybe another minute here and there throughout the day to select the subsequent rides.

Yeah, it doesn't necessarily take a lot of time to set up rides first thing. But if you want to modify your ride times you have to keep checking for the times you want. Then there's mobile food ordering. And probably other uses I'm not remembering.

I agree that Genie+ offers advantages over running hither and yon collecting FastPasses. But I'm one of those people who'd rather not have to be using my phone a lot when I'm on vacation, except for occasional photos.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Honestly, you can't please everybody. There are issues for at least a subset of guests with every system Disney has implemented. I just adapt to each as long as we keep wanting to visit the parks. Now I have to learn how the Japanese parks work because we're going there in November.