Genie + Why all the hate?

[katmigordon]

I've done some research into this now and at least on paper it looks like a great plan... so why all the hate?

 

[mom2rtk]

Have you used it yet?

 

[g-dad66]

The cost of G+ and ILL means fewer and shorter visits for us.

 

[Spunky946]

Because it’s limited. You can’t choose your time, you can only book every two hours or after you scan in. Often by 11-12 they are all gone at Hollywood and you can’t reride rides with genie plus. I much preferred fast pass plus. It worked much better. Plus if you are offsite you lose out in lightening lane,

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

I think the hate is based on many factors to varying degrees. But if I were trying to summarize it, I think most of the hate fall into one of two ctageories: its not FP (AKA, its change which people usually do not like) and it costs more now for, at best, the same product as FP or, at worst, a lesser product (most people think lesser)

 

[ThornXBL]

I've done some research into this now and at least on paper it looks like a great plan... so why all the hate?

Honestly one of the best ways to understand why all the hate is to watch this (long but funny/thorough) documentary on the history of Fastpass and the many variations of it we've had so far. This gives you context for the ways the system has changed (and the failure/problem points they run into)

a few of the TL;DR reasons are:
Some people don't like G+ because they were good at navigating the prior FP+ system and don't like that it's been replaced by an upcharge service.
Some people don't like G+ because it still requires a lot of phone-checking and research like FP+ does, though forcing people to get passes day-of and not in advance alleviates this somewhat.
Some people don't like G+ because simpler systems like "paper" fastpass or no FP at all can be more appealing/fair.

 

[katmigordon]

It seems so weird because the last time I was around this part of the board Fast Pass + had just come out and everyone was upset because you had to select your time and it was too limited. And people have always been upset because onsite guests have always had a slight edge over offsite guests, but why not? They have to offer something to get folks to pay their premium.

Because it’s limited. You can’t choose your time, you can only book every two hours or after you scan in. Often by 11-12 they are all gone at Hollywood and you can’t reride rides with genie plus. I much preferred fast pass plus. It worked much better. Plus if you are offsite you lose out in lightening lane,

 

[reddog21]

The hate is strictly because there charging you for something that used to be free. Personally I don't really care they are charging for it, every park everywhere charges for there version
of fast pass. My real beef is that you can't make your fast pass selection ahead of time and your limited to 2 at a time.

 

[ars0525]

As an AP holder it's not included. So every time I go to any park I need to pay extra for Genie+ whereas the FP was free. No thanks. Guess I'll be standing in lines.

 

[Amunet]

If it was like how Disneyland FP+ was, where you paid for the product and it included Memory Maker ... I would do that. It was still the same system where we could choose ahead of time also.
Genie+ is an inferior product; less for a whole lot more, less flexibility, and requiring me to stay glued to a phone while trying to enjoy the park ... oh, and the HAVE to be up at 7am to reserve times. Far inferior to being able to pick 3 different rides for varying times at 60days ahead and knowing when to plan ADRs so we don't miss out on either (or dealing with the stress of picking between the two).

 

[Goofy4]

Not sure how the app scores a "3.7" when most (90%) of the reviews are 1 and 2 star.

I'm sure it looked good on paper to Disney as well, but it needs more work.

We didn't start off on a good foot when at 7 AM it told me I wasn't a resort guest. I then just started trying second and third choices and eventually got something to go through, but never did get to ride Rise of the Resistance. These type of technical glitches should not exist, especially when paying for the privilege.

When navigating, it just doesn't have the feel of something polished. Too many times navigations take you back to a starting point, and having to tell it what park you're visiting when it knows what park you are visiting is hard to figure.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Most of the hate is the fact that Disney is charging for a service that was previously free and the paid version is a worse overall service. I agree with reddog in that I don't mind if Disney has a paid Fastpass service, but Genie+ is very limiting and frustrating to use overall.

This is going to sound bad and I apologize but I actually think Genie+ is underpriced. I think it needs to cost more, kind of like Universal's Express pass. So it ends up being that less people buy it and it helps the flow of standby vs Fastpass.

 

[k5xs]

1. It's another Disney money grab.
2. It doesn't allow advance planning.
3. For its ILL to work for on-property guests requires getting up at 6:55am to bang against the system servers.
4. It stratifies WDW guests into haves and have-nots.
5. It all but demands that guests live with their noses in their phones if they want any priority line treatment at all.
6. It's intermittently buggy.
7. It's another Disney money grab.

 

[soniam]

It seems so weird because the last time I was around this part of the board Fast Pass + had just come out and everyone was upset because you had to select your time and it was too limited. And people have always been upset because onsite guests have always had a slight edge over offsite guests, but why not? They have to offer something to get folks to pay their premium.

You've hit the nail on the head. People who liked FP+ tend to not like Genie+/ILL. People who didn't like FP+ still don't like G+/ILL. We used it at Thanksgiving. The money factor wasn't an issue for us. We always get up early for rope drop anyway, and I like planning. We have also used Maxpass+ at Disneyland and had an idea what it might be like. We thought G+/ILL was fine. It's different from FP+. However, if money and waking up early/planning are not an issue for you, then it's probably not a huge deal. Other than those complaints, the other FP+ complaints, ie too much planning, it's too hard to get the good ones, still apply. It was kind of like putting lipstick on a pig and charging you a little to see it. You can see it's still a pig. I like pigs, so not a big deal for us

 

[Akck]

Our reason for not liking it is that in order to use it efficiently, you have to be willing to crisscross park all day to grab what’s available for the next earliest time. I prefer being able to do the rides we want in one land and then move on to the next.

 

[ajgardner]

I do not mind paying, I do not even mind not planning ahead. This is what I really, really disliked:

Animal Kingdom Day:
- Navi River
- Dinosaur
- Safari
- Flight of Passage
- Yak & Yeti

Hollywood Studios Day:
- Smugglers Run
- Rockin Rollercoaster
- Rise of the Resistance
- Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania

Magic Kingdom Day:
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Space Mountain
- Seven Dwarves
- Pirates

We did other things on those days but basically we running from one side of the park to another with no logic. It definitely took away from the ability to fully enjoy the park by being a little more leisurely and taking in the environment. I have tried to choose the rides so they’d be in a more logical order but when it’s time to choose your ride you get what you get.
I used Fast Pass and Fast Pass + and never recall having this issue. With Fastpass, as I remember, you weren’t limited to the 1 hour window and could build up the rides as you pleased. FastPass + allowed for preplanning and choosing your time.

 

[jjb1974]

Disney could've charged for the existing FastPass+ system, and it would've been what it was, as Len Testa pointed out on a recent podcast. At least you'd have a familiar system whose workflow, quirks, and outright shortcomings/failures were known as your base.

Instead, Disney tasked Disney Parks IT (which is not exactly out here winning awards) to design something new, AND charged for it, to replace a system that at least was structurally sound. And, quelle surprise, it is complicated, erratic, and is a whole new system people have to figure out when, again, the old system was working fine and literally all they had to do was put a toll booth in front of it. I treat Disney IT with thin contempt at the best of times, but even they could put a paywall in front of something without creating a power outage on the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

Disney made guinea pigs out of their customers: it's not like there was native knowledge on Day 1 to go look for additional drops at 7:07 or 7:17 or whenever that has now been figured out. No, it was "get it at 7am or else." There are now countless YouTube videos and websites that have sprung up to try to explain to people how to interface with this thing and figure out its...shall we be charitable and call them quirks?

 

[Spunky946]

It seems so weird because the last time I was around this part of the board Fast Pass + had just come out and everyone was upset because you had to select your time and it was too limited. And people have always been upset because onsite guests have always had a slight edge over offsite guests, but why not? They have to offer something to get folks to pay their premium.

I loved planning the three ahead of time. I liked being able to pick the first three in the same area of the park and stack them. then be able to hop on and grab another one. Usually goof find good ones most of the day. Plus if we wanted to get the same ride over and over again we could. This new system is just stupid, more limiting and terrible. I would have been happy to pay for it.

 

[loves to dive]

Others have pretty much explained it. I could care less one way or the other. We rarely used the old paper FP system and rarely used the newer on line FP system. For the newer one, we are not planners, heck half the time we didn't know we were going until 30 days or less out. We didn't like having to stick to a schedule. If we used it, it was usually booking one while standing in line and that would only be 30 min. out. I know people don't like having to pay for something that was free but it is what it is.

I think were I to use it, from what I've read and seen on Utube my biggest issue would be: it's complicated and it's glitchy. You can book something for soonish and then book another after you have tapped in for that OR you can book something that you really want for later in the day and then you can't book your next one until 2 hours after the park opens (doesn't matter if you booked that first one 2 hours before the park opened) and lets say you booked that next one for soonish, you still can't book another one for 2 hours after you booked that one because that later in the day one is going to be the one that counts toward your being able to book after you tap in. And then maybe you see one you want and the time says it's available for 10:30 and you go through the 2 or 3 screens it takes to book it and low and behold you get it for 2:30 instead of the 10:30 on your first screen, which means the above two hour rule kicked in. Or maybe you just held your mouth wrong and nothing works.

I probably wouldn't mind paying for it but I don't want to have a PHD to understand how to make it work and then if I have my PHD I don't want the darn thing to glitch out on me. There are ways to tweek it but I don't see the difference in standing in a line for a ride for 45 min. and standing there refreshing the screen on my phone for 45 min. I won't say I'll never buy it because, well I never say never, but there is a pretty good chance I won't.

 

[Haagen Dawgs]

I loved it but it is a ton of work. I truly feel like I was able to game the system all but one day…but I learned from it.

Shameless plug, my trip report is up. Never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride.