Disney Genie announcement

[LSUfan4444]

I'm with you, confused. Part of the problem is a lot of people on this Thread are not at WDW, and therefor are speculating, best guessing, on how this system works.

I just want to hear from those who are using it this week, and I know many on here are, it's just difficult to glean through some of the "noise" to find that information. What do I want to know?

Thats not true at all but good luck.

 

[LSUfan4444]

So basically, if your next reservation is almost but not quite 2 hours in the future, it's very useful to wait a little longer, let the 2 hours elapse, get another reservation, then immediately use your reservation, and get another.

Think about that though...if you're going to wait to use your first and just ride standby why make the first G+ in the first place? You could accomplish the same thing by just booking your first with a return window of say, 11:15 am and booking your second one at 11.

The result is still the same isn't it? At 11:30 you have two G+ and have ridden standby all morning.

 

[wisblue]

I'm not saying that hoppers can't book early. All I'm saying is they shouldn't have different availability then people who are already in the park. What I am saying is there shouldn't be 2 buckets of availability. It all should be 1. Hoppers should only be allowed to start booking their 2nd park once return times past 2pm become available.

I understand that’s what you’re saying, but if someone is going to be out of a park for some period of time while hopping, they aren’t using LL or anything else during that time. That makes Genie+ less valuable to that user. Giving them an early shot at a later LL levels out that disadvantage for guests who are paying more per day for their park tickets.

This is probably one of those things where people who benefit think it’s fair and those who don’t benefit think it’s unfair. Not unlike offsite guests who think it’s unfair for resort guests to get earlier access to some things.

BTW, that unpredictability of when people with FP or LL reservations will return is one factor that makes it impossible for Disney to provide precise standby wait times.

 

[Jrb1979]

I understand that’s what you’re saying, but if someone is going to be out of a park for some period of time while hopping, they aren’t using LL or anything else during that time. That makes Genie+ less valuable to that user. Giving them an early shot at a later LL levels out that disadvantage for guests who are paying more per day for their park tickets.

This is probably one of those things where people who benefit think it’s fair and those who don’t think it’s unfair. Not unlike offsite guests who think it’s unfair for resort guests to get earlier access to some things.

You don't have to be in the park to use Genie+.

 

[DavidNYC]

I don’t understand the point of this 120 minute rule. Why is Disney punishing you for making your first LL selection for a later time after opening? If you made your first selection at noon or later, why shouldn’t you be able to make a LL selection for another ride that may have an earlier window?

You're misunderstanding what the 120 minutes means . . . . is has nothing to do whatsoever with what return windows you're allowed to book. Even calling it a 120 minute rule is misleading. The rule is that you can make another LL selection after you've tapped in to your prior one. However - to protect people who might select a ride with a return time much later in the day, you are allowed to make a new selection 120 minutes following your prior selection (or 120 minutes after park opening for selections you made prior to opening) even if you have not ridden your prior ride. It is not a limitation or punishment on anyone. It's a benefit to ensure you can make a new selection no longer than every two hours regardless of your return times.

 

[LSUfan4444]

It all should be 1. Hoppers should only be allowed to start booking their 2nd park once return times past 2pm become available.

But it's not. If you're not hopping, keep that in mind when you plan and if you are, keep that in mind when you plan.

 

[Missmaureen78]

So...according to the park reservation calendar, this Saturday is sold out at MK. That means we'll get to see how this all works on a day with capacity crowds?

 

[DavidNYC]

I understand, but if I am paying for a feature that allows me to bypass the standby line on a ride I want to ride and there is no times available and I go ahead and use that standby line to ride the ride .It's very frustrating to see NO ONE using the lightning lane during the entire time I am in it because Genie+ says there isn't an availability until 2 hours later. This is what should be fixed. I know this is still new and I hope they plan on making adjustments. With that being said, the individual paid lines are completely full. Seems like Disney is prioritizing those rides over the regular genie+ experience. I will be in the park in 35 days and I will be spending 10 days in the parks of my 11 day trip with 12 other folks. Genie is meant for people who do not go to Disney World very often and he do not enjoy planning. However, Genie+ should be the bridge to those of us who know what we want to ride and do not need our hands held to do it. Paying a extra $15 per person per day should allow you to a bit more control over your trip in my opinion.

You're using faulty logic that because you didn't see anyone going through the line that no one had reservations for it. Reservations are windows - not specific times. There are set number that are distributed but Disney has no control over whether people use them at the beginning, middle or end of their window. FP lines always ebbed and flowed as well. There's nothing that can be done to fix that other than shorten a window which would be ridiculous. There were a bunch of people that held LL passes for the time you were observing the line - they just didn't arrive when you were there.

 

[Jrb1979]

You're using faulty logic that because you didn't see anyone going through the line that no one had reservations for it. Reservations are windows - not specific times. There are set number that are distributed but Disney has no control over whether people use them at the beginning, middle or end of their window. FP lines always ebbed and flowed as well. There's nothing that can be done to fix that other than shorten a window which would be ridiculous. There were a bunch of people that held LL passes for the time you were observing the line - they just didn't arrive when you were there.

They are probably still working on how much LL they give out at a time. It's going to take awhile before they figure out the optimal ratio.

 

[Spankymclovin]

You're using faulty logic that because you didn't see anyone going through the line that no one had reservations for it. Reservations are windows - not specific times. There are set number that are distributed but Disney has no control over whether people use them at the beginning, middle or end of their window. FP lines always ebbed and flowed as well. There's nothing that can be done to fix that other than shorten a window which would be ridiculous. There were a bunch of people that held LL passes for the time you were observing the line - they just didn't arrive when you were there.

No, my logic isn't flawed. If you are in a stand by line for 30 minutes and NO ONE comes through the lightning lane during that 30 minute time but Genie+ says there are no availability to skip the line, something is wrong. I have no problem paying for a product if you get your money from the product. When one person buys the genie+ and can't ride as many rides in 3 hours as someone who uses the standby lines and rides more rides then why should I purchase Genie+. It serves no purpose. There are multiple videos now on youtube expressing this exact issue. What I am saying is Disney needs to increase the number of Genie+ lightning lane passes per hour. They have no problem giving out as many individual paid passes for rides such at Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railroad and such because those lines are packed.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Yeah, agreed. Animal kingdom has become our least favorite park by quite a margin. There just is not a lot of repeat factor there for us anymore. As much as we love the shows they just don’t mean as much to us anymore. Still love FOP and EE, and Dinosaur to a lesser extent but that’s about it. The layout of the park is just so discombobulated as well. We did love doing the animation class again in Rafiki‘s planet watch. That was a really nice addition this year. In our 10 days at WDW this summer, we only spent approximately half a day at animal Kingdom. G+ has the least amount of value at this park in my opinion

Dan

Its always interesting to me how different we all are. AK is still far and away our favorite park by an incredibly large margin, and where we spent a large majority of our time earlier this month (almost every day). I don't disagree with the G+ value though, our favorite things don't require G+, or lines at all really.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Here's another situation:

1. Before opening, you book a 10:05 G+ reservation, good from 10:05 to 11:05
2. You deliberately wait until 11:00, at which point you've waited 2 hours, so you book another
3. At 11:01 you use your earlier reservation, and immediately book another

Totally works. I just verified it (well, I cancelled at 11:01, because I'm not actually in the park). Note that if you try to book at any time before 11, Genie will say that you are eligible to book at 11, even though it knows you're holding a 10:05-11:05 reservation.

So basically, if your next reservation is almost but not quite 2 hours in the future, it's very useful to wait a little longer, let the 2 hours elapse, get another reservation, then immediately use your reservation, and get another.

Here's another possible spin on that strategy that doesn't make you awit to scan in (but requires strategically waiting until the available time is slightly more than 120 minutes away):

At 7 am, you book LL for 9:05 am.
At 9:05 am, you use that LL and book another for 11:06 am (which is more than 120 minutes in the future, but barely).
At 11:05 am, you book another LL (you can book another before scanning in because of the 120 minute rule).
Scan in for your 11:06 am LL and then book another (I haven't verified this, but I understood from an earlier post, that this "loophole" existed where you could book another LL after 120 minutes and then another after scanning in).

I'm interested to see if people's experience indicates that it's better to schedule next LL 2 hours out in the morning and ride SB (short waits early in the day?) or if people prefer to schedule a lot of them in quick succession if the next available is always only a few minutes in the future.

 

[MomEadon]

Maybe It’s planned in a way that it has down times to move the standby lines along?

 

[LSUfan4444]

At 7 am, you book LL for 9:05 am.
At 9:05 am, you use that LL and book another for 11:06 am (which is more than 120 minutes in the future, but barely).
At 11:05 am, you book another LL (you can book another before scanning in because of the 120 minute rule).
Scan in for your 11:06 am LL and then book another (I haven't verified this, but I understood from an earlier post, that this "loophole" existed where you could book another LL after 120 minutes and then another after scanning in).

Not playing semantics but you have these time windows way too close to be reality.

You won't really find return windows two hours in the future at 9:06 am so in reality, you'd end up waiting longer to book that second one which means your 120 minute clock is getting pushed down the road as you refresh and wait for something to come up with a 11:10 return window.

 

[wisblue]

You don't have to be in the park to use Genie+.

Not to make reservations but if you’re not in a park for a few hours you aren’t going on rides using the Lightning Lanes.

 

[dmunsil]

Think about that though...if you're going to wait to use your first and just ride standby why make the first G+ in the first place? You could accomplish the same thing by just booking your first with a return window of say, 11:15 am and booking your second one at 11.

The result is still the same isn't it? At 11:30 you have two G+ and have ridden standby all morning.

You’re right, it’s almost the same situation. The value of booking before 11 and waiting is to get your double stack generated as fast as possible. With the 11:15 scenario, you don’t get to use your first G+ reservation until 11:15 vs having your first LL usage at 11:01, plus you can use any first reservation with a return time from 10:05 to 11:00, vs having to find something just after 11:00. Not a huge win, but it seems like something worth noting.

 

[wisblue]

Its always interesting to me how different we all are. AK is still far and away our favorite park by an incredibly large margin, and where we spent a large majority of our time earlier this month (almost every day). I don't disagree with the G+ value though, our favorite things don't require G+, or lines at all really.

One of the things that I and some (but not all) members of our family like about DAK is that there are things we enjoy (like strolling through the trails) that you can do in between rides.

 

[Jrb1979]

Not to make reservations but if you’re not in a park for a few hours you aren’t going on rides using the Lightning Lanes.

No you won't be. I'm sure most people will look for return times for when they go back outside of the park. IMO it's going to be a small minority who will try to stack late afternoon LL in the same fashion as FP+.

 

[AZMermaid]

No, my logic isn't flawed. If you are in a stand by line for 30 minutes and NO ONE comes through the lightning lane during that 30 minute time but Genie+ says there are no availability to skip the line, something is wrong. I have no problem paying for a product if you get your money from the product. When one person buys the genie+ and can't ride as many rides in 3 hours as someone who uses the standby lines and rides more rides then why should I purchase Genie+. It serves no purpose. There are multiple videos now on youtube expressing this exact issue. What I am saying is Disney needs to increase the number of Genie+ lightning lane passes per hour. They have no problem giving out as many individual paid passes for rides such at Mickey and Minnies Runaway Railroad and such because those lines are packed.

InSeptember I bought $129 universal express passes for my son and I . The park was dead. I probably saved 20-30 minutes of waiting all day. Argh! I see G+ as similar. Sometimes it’s Probably great, other times- not needed. But Universal does limit the number of passes per day. Since G+ does not, I do fear availability issues when
i go Xmas week. But Universal is 10-15x the cost too.

 

[wisblue]

You're using faulty logic that because you didn't see anyone going through the line that no one had reservations for it. Reservations are windows - not specific times. There are set number that are distributed but Disney has no control over whether people use them at the beginning, middle or end of their window. FP lines always ebbed and flowed as well. There's nothing that can be done to fix that other than shorten a window which would be ridiculous. There were a bunch of people that held LL passes for the time you were observing the line - they just didn't arrive when you were there.

Also, return times are issued in 5 minute blocks (9:05-10:05, 9:10-10:10, etc. If the number of spaces allotted for the first block are not all claimed, the return time moves ahead regardless. All of the slots for the next hour might be claimed but all of the ones for the previous hour were not.

All that would do is have fewer people who could enter the LL at a given time, which shouldn’t upset people in the standby line.