Genie+ has GOT TO GO!

[GatorChris]

Me and my family of 5 just got back from a 5-day trip to Disneyland/Park Place Inn last week. Disney is always a good trip. Lots of fun rides, good food, too many treats, and a few character experiences. I bought my tickets earlier this year from GAT. Since I knew we'd come in either June or October, I opted to spend the extra $100/day ($500 for the week) for my family and get the G+. Let me say this: I'm glad I did. Because without it, Disneyland would've been crap. Once you get the hang of it, it's not a bad system to use to avoid some lines. We tried to maximize it since we shelled out the dough, though it did feel like we bypassed other good but "lesser" experiences because we felt we had to get a return on an investment.

There were a few times we tried to do a ride that had G+ but our window wasn't open. That's where it got ugly. At Monsters Inc, we got in a line that said 45 minutes (which is too long for that ride but we had time to kill). 60 minutes went by and we didn't even get out of the outside queue. They were letting in about 50 G+ folks for every 5 people in line. NO JOKE. And then right before we got to go to the inside queue, it broke down. That's when the world ended for a good dozen people in that line. It got ...rowdy. I wasn't super thrilled, that's for sure.

Then on rides with ILL, it was more of the same. Radiator Springs Racers would throw about 50 people through for every 2-4 in line. It made the line move painfully slow and just made everyone mad. I get it - they paid and Disney's obliged to let them through quickly. The worst was when we did Rise of the Resistance. We got in line when it said 50 minutes. It must've been that time of day when all the Vegas winners showed up with their winnings and bought a crap-load of ILL passes. We waited 90 minutes to get on that ride. 90!!! I was hot and ready to rip apart the guy who came up with this pay-to-play scheme. It definitely was a bad moment for me.

That got me to thinking though, how many people came for a day or two and didn't spend the extra for G+ and had to deal with that same garbage all day on every ride? That had to totally suck. I can imagine how livid I would be, seeing all these people walk past me all day. Disney has turned the great equalizer, FastPass, where everyone was on equal footing when you walked through the gate, into class warfare on a very visible battleground. And that's not a phrase I throw around lightly. But it's definitely happening.

What's worse is that even though Genie+ relieved some pain, it didn't always work. Multiple times we'd get in line and wait a really long time to get through. At Space Mt on Thursday night, we waited 30 minutes in the Lightening Lane. I guess all those "Multiple Experience" passes all came to Space. Buzz, Haunted Mansion, and Thunder did the same thing. I've got pictures below to back it up.

I guess my beef is this. There used to be a free system that worked well enough. Now we have a system that costs money and doesn't work well enough. Not for the people who buy G+ and not for the people left out who didn't/couldn't buy it. Without a doubt, it lessened my experience this last week. And if I hadn't bought it, I probably would've waved goodby forever. I can't imagine anyone wanting to go through that again.

The simple conclusion: Genie+ has got to go the way of the ticket books. Yesterday!

Buzz at 5:45


Big Thunder at 11:30am


Space Mountain at 8:11pm. The LL line was all the way down to the bottom where you scan in and then wrapped around up top.

 

[Kuilima]

Agree 100%. G+ only makes sense if ALL rides worked ALL the time. As it is now, it makes the parks miserable for everyone in terms of rides and lines. G+ creates division. G+ creates class warfare. G+ needs to go.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

Chris, we have 5 day tickets and are thinking of getting Genie + for one day of each park and focusing on other things the other three days. We have little ones.

With a 5 day ticket did you feel you needed it ALL 5?

Thanks for the trip report!

 

[bwvBound]

That got me to thinking though, how many people came for a day or two and didn't spend the extra for G+ and had to deal with that same garbage all day on every ride? That had to totally suck. I can imagine how livid I would be, seeing all these people walk past me all day. Disney has turned the great equalizer, FastPass, where everyone was on equal footing when you walked through the gate, into class warfare on a very visible battleground. And that's not a phrase I throw around lightly. But it's definitely happening.

Thank you for the detailed write-up!

We are semi-locals (2 hours drive each way) and generally stay overnight. We have yet to purchase Genie+ or ILL. We just "deal with the queues" and have noted numbers similar to your report: 50 LL guests to ~3 standby.

Once upon a time we fully expected to get 8-12 rides/attractions per day. Now we are super happy if we scored 4 rides and had a good meal. Strangely, we could feel the shift in lowering expectations years ago through WDW's online FastPass reservation system. After that rollout, one could only "expect" 3 rides per day at WDW; this had truly confused us for awhile. We better understand it now that the disaster has come upon DL.

Edited to add: Your tagline fits me, too! Not of this world!

 

[GatorChris]

Chris, we have 5 day tickets and are thinking of getting Genie + for one day of each park and focusing on other things the other three days. We have little ones.

With a 5 day ticket did you feel you needed it ALL 5?

Thanks for the trip report!

If you have little ones, you can probably get away with using G+ for each park for one day. But it'll make the other days rough. Also, if you're doing Fantasy Land rides with the younger ones, do them before evening sets in. The whole "Multiple Experience" pass (when a G+ ride breaks down and you get a free pass somewhere else) can be used on multiple FL rides that really have no ability to handle fastpass. And that makes a huge mess in the evening as all those passes fill up Alice, Toad, and other non-LL attractions. It's yet another stupid part of G+.

 

[Aurora0427]

I love this post. Straight talk…..

I think the biggest reason Genie + may be such a failure is the constant break down of the rides, and the MEP’s make it even worse. It all just builds on itself.

 

[Aurora0427]

Chris, we have 5 day tickets and are thinking of getting Genie + for one day of each park and focusing on other things the other three days. We have little ones.

With a 5 day ticket did you feel you needed it ALL 5?

Thanks for the trip report!

Rope drop is going to be your best friend. You’ll be able to do all of fantasyland and even some of the bigger rides before lunch. We have rope dropped, ridden what we’ve wanted by lunch, and then spent the afternoon seeing shows, meeting characters, parade if there is one etc….

 

[Geemo]

Sorry for all the misery/extra expense of a family trip, for you and others.

I have chose not to return until I hear conditions are closer to the Old'n Days.
Which really isn't that long ago.

Those of us that know how and what the parks use to be like, know the current system is unbearable. My last post-covid trip was in Feb. What I noticed is IT was NOT the Disney I knew.

Unfortunately, I don't see the Disney Boss making the necessary adjustments to have that happen.

Good luck to those making the trek to a Disney Park.

 

[kirstyfly]

I feel you on this and then add in the crap wifi and the fact that our roaming international data was hit and miss it made it really suck at times.

 

[Lillebelle]

We have our first Disneyland trip in about six months coming up...we used to go once every couple months (from Northern CA) but I just haven't been enjoying the experience as much post-pandemic (at least, not now that crowds are back). It's disappointing but also validating to read about your experience, and that it's not just me that feels like the new Genie+ system is far inferior to the old system. Guess we'll just keep spending our Disney vacation money on cruises instead...

 

[DodgerGirl]

Why I think Genie+ was mainly invented was because Disneyland has always been trying to experiment with ways for people to get on rides faster and simpler since the demise of Fastpass. But to me I think Disneyland is trying to make a new version of the E-Ticket system and Genie+ is what they came up with. But if you have a big family it's not worthy of the money and I think Genie+ works better for a small family. Why people have to pay huge money just to ride a certain ride without having to wait in a long line and then your turn is up only to find the ride out of order. I think Disneyland should retire Genie+ and revive Fastpass in a new version because I think Genie+ has caused Disneyland to lose visitors and aside from raising ticket prices this has caused Disneyland a lot of hurt. But I think once Disneyland sees that Genie+ isn't working out they will retire it and invent a new version of Fastpass. It is shocking that even though some rides that use Genie+ don't always work people still want to go on but basically all Disneyland wants to do is try to bring back the original ride system that they used to have from 1955-1982 where you were charged an entrance fee to go in to Disneyland and paid money to ride all the rides. But I agree with GatorChris that Genie+ should be retired and be replaced with something free to ride all the rides

 

[wendlle]

what I don't get is that Universal has had a paid system for years but doesn't have the line issues like disney does.
what is their secret formula?
I will be there in a few weeks and we can't afford G+ for our group for 5 days, I may purchase it on one day but it's unlikely.
I have resigned myself to the fact that very little actual attractions will get done on this trip - which is a very sad state of affairs.

 

[gelatoni fan]

what I don't get is that Universal has had a paid system for years but doesn't have the line issues like disney does.
what is their secret formula?
I will be there in a few weeks and we can't afford G+ for our group for 5 days, I may purchase it on one day but it's unlikely.
I have resigned myself to the fact that very little actual attractions will get done on this trip - which is a very sad state of affairs.

Universal's system is either once per ride or unlimited. This allows self-selection so that if the express pass line looks long, you just won't use it for that ride and do something else in the meantime. With Genie+, you have to deal with the return time windows and once-per day restriction so there's no option to come back to the ride later even if the Lightning Lane is long. Since it makes the most sense to save your Genie+ for when standby is at it's longest, lighting lanes will tend to be under-utilized in the morning when standby is short and over-utilized when wait times are at their longest leading to longer waits precisely when waits are at their longest.

At Disneyland, breakdowns lead to multiple experience passes and breakdowns are far too frequent. People with ME passes then converge on popular rides later on in the day leading to long Lightning Lane times. If people could have an unlimited version of Genie+, there would be much less of this because some people would pay for unlimited Genie+ and get their multiple rides done when the Lightning Lane is short and not when everybody else is going there.

Genie+ has also affected guest psychology. Some people really care about just one ride like Space Mountain and buy Genie+ for that. If they could have unlimited Fastpass, they may do Space Mountain a few times and be happy. But since they can only do it once, they now use Genie+ for rides they care less about like Monsters Inc which leads to longer wait times for that. So now lovers of Monsters Inc are worse off due to the added wait and the person who bought Genie+ is worse off because they did Monsters Inc instead of Space Mountain.

Then, there's the issue with Magic Key reservations. As an example, there could be a Magic Keyholder who wants to go into the park every Friday and Saturday evening, sometimes watching the night shows and other times going on rides when crowds are at the night shows. Since they can't get those reservations, they may instead do a couple of full days in the park each month, wait in the long lines in the afternoon and then see the night shows. I feel like this has made the wait times for Big Thunder Mountain to be shorter during Fantasmic and park closing but longer at peak times compared to pre-pandemic.

But if Disney could just decrease the breakdowns and add daytime shows back (parade in DL and something in Hyperion), things would get better.

 

[DontSpamMe]

Thanks for the report and well put. The theory of arriving for rope drop, taking a break in the afternoon, and staying late is being tested by Genie+. We no longer think about doing rides like Space at night. Due to so many ride breakdowns during the day, there is an abundance of MEPs that need to be burned at night. It just kills the standby line and turns the lightning lane into the regular queue.

Genie+ is a gigantic fail and I want these execs to take their family to DL to experience the unpleasantness it is creating.

I was hoping Disney would just go the route of Knotts and Universal and make people really pay for front-of-the-line privileges. The price tag is so affordable everyone gets it. It's no different than the resort fee at a hotel. You are paying it regardless.

 

[By-Tor and Snow Pup]

Personally, I think the main issue is that they are simply letting too many people into the gates right now. The last I went (10/8) the whole Disneyland Resort was packed like sardines. Every attraction had huge lines, the restaurants were packed, the walkways were packed, Downtown Disney was packed, there was nowhere to sit, nowhere to eat, there were way too many bodies in that space... and at night when the nighttime shows happened the crowds seemed to double!!!! At least on this day there were more people than Disney could accommodate. Sure, Disney, it's going to be crowded, but they were packing in more than even seemed safe.

 

[icc2515]

Let me say this: I'm glad I did. Because without it, Disneyland would've been crap.

So paid Genie+ made your trip, but it has to go.

what I don't get is that Universal has had a paid system for years but doesn't have the line issues like disney does.
what is their secret formula?

Universal's system is very expensive and is also very limited. There are many times you cannot buy it because they keep availability limited to keep the paid experience good to great. Prices at busy times can top $200 per person per day. Disney's system is too inexpensive to allow it to work like Universal's.

I was hoping Disney would just go the route of Knotts and Universal and make people really pay for front-of-the-line privileges. The price tag is so affordable everyone gets it. It's no different than the resort fee at a hotel. You are paying it regardless

I agree Disney need's to raise their price and limit the amount of paid Genie+. This would make it a better experience for the purchaser's.

Genie+ is a gigantic fail and I want these execs to take their family to DL to experience the unpleasantness it is creating.

Ummm, it is estimated that Paid Genie+ is bringing in $300 million to Disney for 2022. So this is not a gigantic failure for the company. Plus when the execs that make these decision take their families to the park they do not wait in line.

 

[silvaohana808]

I am so with you on all of this! I haven't experienced Genie+ just yet but absolutely loved the Fastpass system. If it was working then why change it?! It was a great system. Also, with the reservation system for entry, it seems they should get a better hold on the crowds. But it just sounds like it's gotten worse. I am so disappointed with all of these new changes. We are going next week without Genie+ (for the time being, we shall see how that works out LOL) and planning on just enjoying the moment. Thank you again for this!! I agree with you 100000%!!!

 

[crystal1313]

Agreed. Wish they would either go back to Maxpass (they could still call it genie+) or remove it altogether like when they first reopened after covid. At least if the lines were long, they moved fairly consistently without any kind of fastpass or LL.

Our last trip in August, I felt like the entire vibe of the park was different. Everyone seemed miserable. Guest and cast members alike. We go again next month and have already decided that if we feel the same way we did in August, it will be our last trip for awhile. Makes me really sad.

 

[DnA2010]

They were letting in about 50 G+ folks for every 5 people in line. NO JOKE.

When we were there in Sept, I asked the fellow manning the point at Autotopia where they let the G+ in and he told the ratio is 10/1, 10 G+ for every standby person, so you are correct in your figuring here.

 

[Aurora0427]

So paid Genie+ made your trip, but it has to go.


Universal's system is very expensive and is also very limited. There are many times you cannot buy it because they keep availability limited to keep the paid experience good to great. Prices at busy times can top $200 per person per day. Disney's system is too inexpensive to allow it to work like Universal's.


I agree Disney need's to raise their price and limit the amount of paid Genie+. This would make it a better experience for the purchaser's.


Ummm, it is estimated that Paid Genie+ is bringing in $300 million to Disney for 2022. So this is not a gigantic failure for the company. Plus when the execs that make these decision take their families to the park they do not wait in line.

I think the poster means Genie + is a fail for people who actually go to the parks, not for the company as a whole.