Yes, if I could go back and rebuy my tickets I would get G+ and no park hoppers. That was one of the very most common DLR chat questions - MP or PH?
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Anyone else a Deluxe Dining Plan family? We are because TS is safer for our food allergies and because we like to have some rest time throughout the day. I feel like since ADRs are still something we have to do in advance, we still have to plan our day in advance, which puts us at a major disadvantage when Genie+ wonât allow that. When everything in your schedule is flexible (food/ride/walking ability), then you can enjoy the âspontaneityâ of Genie+, but the minute one of those attributes becomes a hard parameter, you are highly limited. I hope at minimum Genie+ doesnât force us to crisscross the parks all day - I love the âMinimize Walkingâ feature of TP
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If it is truly like MaxPass, you will see a list of rides and times you can grab your next FastPass (err Lightning Lane) for and then figure Iâm at Space now so I should grab a Buzz now and wait on Splash since it is on the other side of the park. When we used MaxPass at DL (granted very early in MP introduction) we were able to check into a ride & book another nearby where we could get off and just walk on another headliner. So you should be able to intelligently grab LLs based on where you are and where you need to be for your ADR. Granted that will work better in MK which has a bunch of options than Epcot where there are very limited ridesâŚ
That plan does presume a decent amount of availability for LLs which will have to be a wait and see depending on if things sell out fast or notâŚ
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⌠but you also had to balance that with the more popular choices that might run out of FastPasses before the end of the day.
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True - most days we rope dropped Cars and grabbed a FP for Guardians and then worked our way around DCA before hopping over. IIRC the only ones that were moving super fast that we had to grab way ahead were Indy & the Matterhorn. So weâd try to grab one of those when we wanted a break to eat which worked fairly well. Some days our biggest problem was needing to stop snagging FP to break and eat.
Now this was in the first month that MaxPass came out so I donât think many people were using it yet. Not sure if in subsequent years the experience changed radically. DL also benefits greatly from having all those rides in an easily hoppable area which WDW definitely doesnât. Switching parks is a much bigger time sink than at DL.
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It might prove difficult to schedule around meal times given that Genie+ will offer you the next available LL time for each attraction.
So, for instance, if you were at LTT for 1 PM you will not be able to select HM as close to 2 PM as possible. You would be able to scan all of the attractions to figure out which has a 2 PM as its first available and factor in walking distance, and the Genie app apparently makes recommendations that consider your proximity.
But that assumes you canât pick something out further, right?
I mean, if I want to ride X, and it shows the next available time as 2:00 pm and I have an ADR then, I could choose 3:30 if it is available, canât I?
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I donât think so.
The messaging has consistently referred to the app offering the next available time and in the videos they show each attraction that offers LL with the next available time listed and a link to accept it (or a link to purchase LL$ for those attractions). They do not display multiple times.
ETA: bear in mind that the times are 1 hour windows so there is some built-in flex
However this is just going with what theyâve put out so far. There might be additional features or changes or they may have wanted to simplify their messaging.
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I wonder if it will work around the ADRs you have in MDE?
I would think so
The Genie app also allows you to make dining reservations or join walk-up lists as well.
I agree that with what little we can see in a clip itâs difficult to discern how G+ will operate. However, I donât think itâs too far off base to believe the framework of the code is MaxPass and FPP. The whole mantra of there talking points was âflexibilityâ. I donât think they want to âlockâ guests into anything with no options.
While the options might only present the âillusionâ of a choice with times that are a bit far off or rides that are the âbottomâ of your favorites list, Iâd wager youâll have some kind of options.
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For what itâs worth, from the Disney Parks Blog announcement:
Disney Genie+ service (available for purchase) : For the price of $15 per ticket per day at Walt Disney World Resort and $20 per ticket per day at Disneyland Resort, choose the next available time to arrive at a variety of attractions and experiences using the Lightning Lane entrance.
[emphasis added]
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And thatâs how paper FPs worked as well. I donât think youâll be able to choose your time.
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This could be true.
But I think their version of flexibility isnât âyouâll have multiple optionsâ as much as it will be âyou will have very few set commitmentsâ.
In other words, you will have the flexibility of being spontaneous. (Whether you like it or not)
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Wait confused again I thought booking at 7 am was a onsite perk
Deluxe dining plan family here - same sort of reasoning- let me sit in ac relax and eat a good meal,and âminimize walkingâ is way more important for us gheezers than crisscrossing to minimize wait
At first they said everyone would book at 7, then offsite would have to be in the park (or maybe just had to book at park opening) but I think now theyâre saying 7 for everyone again. Itâs hard to know whatâs going on till itâs official.
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I thought Genie+ was everyone at 7am, but the pay per ride Lightning Lane for the top 2 attractions in each park was 7am onsite, in park for offsite. I truly think Disney teased this info to get a feel for the reaction before posting any official rules.
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Maybe? I canât keep it straight in my head.
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Watching the video with Gary Danielâs Q&A thing, at around 11:50 he says all guests can book your Genie+ selection at 7 AM, and then says all guests can pay for LL$ at park opening.
Approximately 50 seconds later, he says that onsite guests will be able to pay for LL$ at 7 AM ahead of offsite guests. Tellingly, the âpanelâ nods smiling from ear-to-ear and nobody follows up on that.
It is any wonder weâre confused.
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I do think itâs really crappy if they donât allow onsite people to get some kind of jump on both. Even if G+ is 7am for onsite and park open for offsite it really only allows for maybe 2 passes at most before offsite guests assuming parks donât open until 9 and there is only a 90 minute wait period between getting passes. I donât think thatâs an unreasonable ask of onsite guests.
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