Long post warning. TLDR:
Genie+ does not seem to be generally worse than any other system that Disney has come up with, but it might be worse for you.
Before Legacy Fastpass, we would tour the parks by rope dropping with a rigid touring plan that had military like precision. It required a lot more walking and very little flexibility, but we could ride everything we wanted to ride and never wait in a line longer than 20 minutes. People who showed up with no plan spent most of their day in line or just didn’t do as much.
Then came Legacy Fastpass, and with slightly less planning, we could accomplish the same thing by rope dropping and the strategic use of Fastpass. We were never in the “more is better” category of Fastpasses. To be honest, back then there was a sizable group of people that the game of getting as many Fastpasses as possible was a big part of their enjoyment independent of the effort and time it saved them. Not judging, it’s just not the way we did things. It was good, but not ideal for us as it still required getting up early to really get the benefit. People who showed up with no knowledge of the system could get some benefit, but not anywhere near the benefit of the power user.
Then came Fastpass+. I loved Fastpass+. Now there is a whole new level of Disney planning! We could sit around and talk about our top 3 must do attractions and figure out months ahead of time what we want to do. Signing in and grabbing the time slots was a fun game. I hated tiering but could largely get around that by spending multiple days in each park. This system came with the added benefit that it allowed us to be 11-2 and 6-close park people (sleeping in is the best!), STILL not wait in lines, and get to ride everything we really cared about with little to no waits. This was ideal for us, but there was a very vocal group that hated it. They complained about how it killed spontaneity. You had to know what you wanted to do and when months out! They complained about how long it made lines for non-Fastpass holders. People who showed up with no knowledge of the system often got little to no benefit from Fastpass+ as the headline attractions were gone months before they got there and now the standby lines moved slower. This was doubly true if it was a busy time of year.
Then for a while there was nothing. We really hated going back to nothing. We no longer really wanted to rope drop every park OR wait in lines longer than 20 minutes. This meant we enjoyed the parks but rode very few rides.
Now there is Genie+. Just for perspective, my initial reaction was not to be upset that there was a cost. I can see being disappointed, but literally every other park charges to skip lines and they charge a whole lot more than Disney. If people are demonstrably willing to pay for this service it is not surprising to me at all that Disney has moved to charge for it. Honestly, my initial response was that it was too cheap. From a customer perspective, the value of this service goes up the fewer people who do it. I still fear that when the dust settles $15 is not going to deter enough people to make this a great service when the parks are busy.
Initial indications are that this will be very much like Legacy Fastpass without physically running for the physical tickets. There are differences, but I don’t think they are huge. Yes, 1 LL pass per attraction is not ideal for the power user. It does however mean there is MORE availability for everyone else. The average person has a better chance of getting SDD because the power users who knows how to stack and maximize their bookings will not take 3 or 4 a day. I understand (and agree) that this is not good for power users, but it is good for everyone else. Your chances of getting a LL in the afternoon are MUCH better if people can only get 1 per day. You may not like it, but it is the best option for giving the largest group of people a satisfactory Genie+ experience. It will be back to early mornings on at least some days of our vacation. Not ideal, but I can handle it. There will be days that I don’t think it’s worth the price. I won’t buy on those days and the experience will get slightly better for someone else every time someone like me chooses not to purchase. My general reaction when anyone charges more than I think a product is worth is not to be angry. It’s just to not buy it. I don’t have a trip scheduled until May. I expect that by then there will be optimized strategies on how to utilize Genie+ to get the most benefit. Or it will be clear that it is not enough benefit to purchase it at all. I expect the former is true, but I know how to handle it if the latter turns out to be the case.
Different things are valuable to different people. I strongly expect that this might be the best thing so far for those who show up at Disney with no plan just expecting that they will have a good time.
️, G should give you a plan of attack and tips, including which LL to use if you chose to buy G+ and the cost of ILL$.
