Yup. Because even in sleep in days and not being able to go back to sleep from the stress of all that. I really love Universals the best though because I just relax and I’m not on my phone. I ride what I want when I want. Anything on a time schedule creates immense stress for me. I’m always late to something somewhere
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I definitely would not want FPP back, but would like Genie+ that opens when the park does. Like MaxPass used to be.
And free. Or at least static pricing.
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Who in this thread was a frequent visitor prior to 2014?
I’m surprised by all the love for FPP. I strongly prefer G+ to FPP except the pricing. I hated being locked in. I liked legacy FP and MaxPass.
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I went a few times before the switch or several if you count DLR. That was before MaxPass I’m pretty sure at DLR because I did MaxPass for the first time in 2019. I was the runner; why would you want to go back to that. It was awful. One time I ran like 2 miles there and back to get TT because it was broken before lunch in France and opened during lunch. Awful.m
Im still bitter LOL. They got to enjoy dessert while I ran two miles. Ha ha. Prolly better for me.
I was a frequent visitor prior to 2014. The paper FP chasing was always fun. And before that, 100% standby had its own tradeoffs.
The reasons I like FP+ better than G+ (aside from the cost) is (a) the 7:00 am thing and (b) booking 3 upfront instead of 1 at a time.
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MaxPass on the phone was delightful.
And I’d rather run than book months ahead. I like to make day of decisions.
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I will say I loved MaxPass and the current version of G+ is very similar to it. There is so much availability all day too. It’s really not changed much. And you can’t book anything until you get to the park so waking up at 7am is unnecessary. And you can still purchase it in advance. west coast beats east coast for G+. I mean it also comes with all your photos for the day. It’s a really good deal on the west coast.
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I get that with day of decisions. That’s why I prefer staying premier at Universal with express the best!
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Way too expensive so not a fan of that unless they include with onsite (all levels).
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Wish lists tend to consist of what a person thinks will benefit them most so I’ll refrain from that. I don’t think any changes that come are going to be anywhere near as significant as is being speculated.
No one who wants FPP back has mentioned how the windows couldn’t overlap. That’s one huge pro for G+ in my eyes. Maybe the only one, but still.
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This is so true!
My family fits the pre-2014 category annual trips pretty much since 2001
And very much miss the days before Fast pass I was that parent counting heads at dumbo so my kid could ride twice. I do believe that fast pass did ruin standby for many rides but both paper FP & FP+ were better than Genie+ for us…we eventually got really really good with working FP+ to our advantage getting our 3 in advance and often 3 or 4 more day of but rides we wanted to do.
I say that because I have not yet been able to successfully plan for us- it’s to dam random…Don’t know if anyone else feels this way but genie makes me feel like I am crisis crossing and wandering the park unnecessarily and pretty aimlessly. Especially without the ADR - in the past we booked our dining at 180 days. We based our fast passes (paper & plus) around TS dining…the combo of 60 days maybe for ADRs and genie+ isn’t working for me but I probably need adjustment time. It’s hard 20 years of doing things one way makes it difficult to switch.
As much as people hate the genie+ and static pricing I do wish they would go to a system more in line with other parks and charge more making demand lower but giving better access. Would we purchase it every day of every trip NO… just like we don’t at UO or DW but absolutely take advantage of it when crowds are nuts.
It’s a theme park and I expect lines and long waits and do my best to plan accordingly…Genie, ADR changes and lack of distraction entertainment ( you know like the acrobats in Epcot or the muppets in MK ) has been a hard adjustment…
Currently we are at Pompano beach and we decided to add a few nights in Orlando last minute on our way over to Tampa as in last night around dinner time. Let me just say Universal is the big winner- the hoops I have to jump through for Disney was really frustrating….no park reservations, no dining reservations, our passes have express after 4 and early opening even though we are staying off site, essentially we skip the static pricing-
I can just head over and enjoy myself…
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You could almost always modify though to move your next one closer once you’d tapped in. And modifying was so easy!
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I’ll chime in as someone who actually likes G+. Now, I did my homework and planned a strategy, but I also didn’t stress out over having a perfect plan every day. With early entry, we were up and going by 7am anyway, so that really wasn’t a huge pain. On the days we didn’t want to get up early we just accepted that we weren’t going to do those rides.
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How much advance notice did we get of the original Genie+ rollout?
I’m planning a June trip and was planning to buy tickets in January (since it seems like price increases usually come in February), but worried there will be major changes that might impact tickets. Like originally when you could buy tickets with G+ included.
In general we’ve gotten little or no notice of changes made to G+ since launch, so I wouldn’t count on knowing exactly how G+ will work in June, in Jan.
I like to buy tickets from UT since they’re refundable (less a 5% penalty).
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This just simply wouldn’t work at WDW…Biggest difference is WDW has almost 40k hotel rooms…If people go and pay all that money and then cannot get on the rides without a 2 hour wait because their 7 year old slept in that morning it was destroy already abmissamal guest satisfaction numbers
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This is why it doesn’t work for us…We usually don’t go to the parks until 3pm, stay until close and sleep in…If you do that, you are at a MAJOR disadvantage
And we go for a week so not getting on those rides is not an option…Thats the reason we fly 1500 miles and pay thru the nose, to get on those rides
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I think that’s why you won’t see it at Disney - DIS already offers that via VIP tours and super expensive Club 33 memberships. Step up if you want that. But they’re not going to undercut that revenue stream with an affordable option. If you can pull a group of 10 together the VIP tour option on less high demand days should get close to that $300 bogey - lot of ifs there, but that is basically Disney’s unlimited option available to the general public…
G+ actually works pretty well if you want to come late. Just stack LL’s for later in the day.
You don’t need to get up at 7AM to book when stacking. Just book by park open, go back to sleep, and set your alarm for park open + 2 hours to book your next LL.
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