Walt Disney World Tech News & Discussion- Magic Bands, Genie+, and more

[MrRoamer]

One thing I've been noticing and can't wrap my head around is why the wait times have been so absurdly high at every Disney park. Last Sunday was posted as a 3 at MK on Touring Plans. Sure enough the crowds looked and felt light outside and around the park, but every single ride had absurd wait times. Same thing the last few weeks 5-6 times we've been going to Epcot and HS. Meanwhile Universal has been posting pretty low waits across the board when I've compared.

I can't figure out if its LL, a majority lack of Meet&Greets, understaffing, or if Disney really is just that busy. I know one day we went on TT and we're stopped right before the sorting room. We watched them fill nearly the entire sorting room area with LL people, maybe like 8 of us were standby.

I really don't want to do Genie+ out of principle, but I've also heard horror stories about the main stuff we would want to use it for being gone in the first couple minutes for resort guests. We wouldn't even have a shot being locals right?

 

[DeadSexeh]

One thing I've been noticing and can't wrap my head around is why the wait times have been so absurdly high at every Disney park. Last Sunday was posted as a 3 at MK on Touring Plans. Sure enough the crowds looked and felt light outside and around the park, but every single ride had absurd wait times. Same thing the last few weeks 5-6 times we've been going to Epcot and HS. Meanwhile Universal has been posting pretty low waits across the board when I've compared.

I can't figure out if its LL, a majority lack of Meet&Greets, understaffing, or if Disney really is just that busy. I know one day we went on TT and we're stopped right before the sorting room. We watched them fill nearly the entire sorting room area with LL people, maybe like 8 of us were standby.

I really don't want to do Genie+ out of principle, but I've also heard horror stories about the main stuff we would want to use it for being gone in the first couple minutes for resort guests. We wouldn't even have a shot being locals right?

Lightning Lane Ratios Genie Usage
Based on the information in the provided links I would put the blame on Lightning Lane and other scenarios combining to cause big jump in wait times. With Lightning Lane usually booked pretty full the normal line would be moving at best 25% the rate it did this year prior to Genie. Then add in that ~1/3 of guests use it means that you still have 2/3 of people(yes I know that a chunk of that 2/3 will be people who don't ride at all or minimally) having to use the normal line that moves at a fraction of what it used to. Plus you also have holiday boom, and the newly available international travel. Genie is going to bump up wait times, but the holiday travel and opening up of international travel has caused the affects of the Genie to be exaggerated.

 

[GAcoaster]

Or they're inflating times to sell more LL.

 

[HandsomePete]

Or they're inflating times to sell more LL.

The primary method of G+ purchase is pre-bundled with a ticket, not pulling the trigger on an in-app purchase at 9am when arriving at a park. So it’s more of a wait time inflation to improve the perceived value for what people already bought and less inflating to specifically get people to buy.

 

[darkridelover]

The primary method of G+ purchase is pre-bundled with a ticket, not pulling the trigger on an in-app purchase at 9am when arriving at a park. So it’s more of a wait time inflation to improve the perceived value for what people already bought and less inflating to specifically get people to buy.

No, they're inflating the times to sell more LL.

 

[MrRoamer]

No, they're inflating the times to sell more LL.

Lightning Lane Ratios Genie Usage
Based on the information in the provided links I would put the blame on Lightning Lane and other scenarios combining to cause big jump in wait times. With Lightning Lane usually booked pretty full the normal line would be moving at best 25% the rate it did this year prior to Genie. Then add in that ~1/3 of guests use it means that you still have 2/3 of people(yes I know that a chunk of that 2/3 will be people who don't ride at all or minimally) having to use the normal line that moves at a fraction of what it used to. Plus you also have holiday boom, and the newly available international travel. Genie is going to bump up wait times, but the holiday travel and opening up of international travel has caused the affects of the Genie to be exaggerated.

I'm not comparing to earlier this year. I'm comparing to waits from pre-covid when we had FastPass and were at full capacity. And while holiday travel and opening up has caused increase, several of my trips were pre travel during "the quiet time". Also if it was international and holiday or even pent up demand or the 50th anniversary, Universal would certainly be reflecting some of it too. The people I know, even the die hard Disney folk have been making at least one day at Universal. Just looked right now

I get the idea of inflating the times to sell more, but seeing them or standing in them it seems like they are pretty accurate wait times. Last Sunday at Magic Kingdom definitely felt like a 3-4 out and about, but the lines all told a different story, either posted or actual. There is no reason the line for the Safari's should be going back stage, or the line for Everest to block the bar and go all the way to the bathrooms over there, or for Buzz to consistently be eating a decent chunk of his old meet and greet line.

I dunno it just feels weird.

Edit: I misread the links and that post, good information. Maybe they really are just overselling LL that much. I would have expected it to be somewhere in line with FastPass capacities, perhaps that is the part of the picture I didn't grasp.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Determining whether Disney is lying to you that day is just another part of the vacation planning process.

 

[HandsomePete]

No, they're inflating the times to sell more LL.

Let me repeat myself… the predominant method of purchase for G+ is pre-arrival/bundling with a park ticket. Not in-app/day of. That’s not me guessing btw.

Nobody knows what the wait times are when they’re bundling G+ with their ticket in advance.

Maybe they really are just overselling LL that much.

The big difference between G+ and paper Fastpass/MaxPass is that resort guests get a jump on taking reservations before park open so you’re pre-loading the demand on the system prior to 9am instead of requiring people to be in the park before they can start burdening the system.

 

[darkridelover]

Let me repeat myself… the predominant method of purchase for G+ is pre-arrival/bundling with a park ticket. Not in-app/day of. That’s not me guessing btw.

Nobody knows what the wait times are when they’re bundling G+ with their ticket in advance.


The big difference between G+ and paper Fastpass/MaxPass is that resort guests get a jump on taking reservations before park open so you’re pre-loading the demand on the system prior to 9am instead of requiring people to be in the park before they can start burdening the system.

What are your sources of this "predominant method". Because it sounds like you're just making stuff up.

Either way, Disney is inflating wait times to sell more LL. Not sure why you're so upset by that.

 

[HandsomePete]

What are your sources of this "predominant method". Because it sounds like you're just making stuff up.

Either way, Disney is inflating wait times to sell more LL. Not sure why you're so upset by that.

Honestly, I hedged by saying pre-arrival purchases are just the “predominant” method. It actually dwarfs in-app purchases. That’s the kicker: here you are trying to be right about people whipping out their phone to pay 15 bucks because you think posted wait times have been jacked up to get them to buy when the *actual* cynical bit of the whole program is that thousands of people in a park on any given day have had $15 per person per day quietly slipped into their $6,800 vacation package. Seriously, go price out a vacation on their website and you can see for yourself how easily it gets bundled pre-arrival right alongside park hopping. And you can bet your life that all the call center agents are thoroughly trained on pitching the G+ upsell and probably incentivized on it as well.

I’d encourage you to not flippantly accuse someone of making stuff up when it’s plainly obvious that you don’t understand all the channels via which G+ is sold or the massive scale of those channels compared to day-of.

Also, this rarely has to be mentioned here because I assumed that everyone understood this, but the “what are your sources” nonsense is completely out of bounds. You know darn well that nobody - literally ever, anywhere on the internet - has named an internal source for stuff like this. That’s what makes it such a pathetic retort. It’s even dumber when you pull it on someone who…

Mine Train and Space will be the two paid options at MK.

…was telling people accurate things about this subject before the announcement. Especially compared to...

It means, you won't be getting on those rides if you don't pay extra. That's what that means.

... this nonsense.

 

[Alicia]

WDW wait times are/were always inflated. Genie or not. I’ve always assumed they play the better be safe than sorry angle, and guests be pleased it was less than more.

 

[frank_1991_]

WDW wait times are/were always inflated. Genie or not. I’ve always assumed they play the better be safe than sorry angle, and guests be pleased it was less than more.

Disney inflating wait times is nothing new however when you are selling a product like G+ it would be fair to have as accurate wait times posted as possible. A guest who waited 15 mins with a posted 30 min wait will be happy but not so much a guest who paid for a LL only to realize the posted wait time was inflated. It comes off wrong and would make me question the value of what I purchased. Though I highly doubt lots of guest makes an excel spreadsheet to track wait times while on vacation.

 

[Mad Dog]

Touring Plans was doing extensive time studies on the inflated wait times for most of the year before genie plus. Generally, they were finding that 'real' wait times were in the range of 60 to 70% of the posted wait times for almost all the WDW attractions at the four parks. They published those breakdown results on a number of occasions in 2020 and 2021 blog articles.

 

[darkridelover]

Honestly, I hedged by saying pre-arrival purchases are just the “predominant” method. It actually dwarfs in-app purchases. That’s the kicker: here you are trying to be right about people whipping out their phone to pay 15 bucks because you think posted wait times have been jacked up to get them to buy when the *actual* cynical bit of the whole program is that thousands of people in a park on any given day have had $15 per person per day quietly slipped into their $6,800 vacation package. Seriously, go price out a vacation on their website and you can see for yourself how easily it gets bundled pre-arrival right alongside park hopping. And you can bet your life that all the call center agents are thoroughly trained on pitching the G+ upsell and probably incentivized on it as well.

I’d encourage you to not flippantly accuse someone of making stuff up when it’s plainly obvious that you don’t understand all the channels via which G+ is sold or the massive scale of those channels compared to day-of.

Also, this rarely has to be mentioned here because I assumed that everyone understood this, but the “what are your sources” nonsense is completely out of bounds. You know darn well that nobody - literally ever, anywhere on the internet - has named an internal source for stuff like this. That’s what makes it such a pathetic retort. It’s even dumber when you pull it on someone who…


…was telling people accurate things about this subject before the announcement. Especially compared to...


... this nonsense.

So you don't have any data to actually back up what you're saying. Got it.

 

[belloq87]

This is entirely anecdotal, but posted wait times when I was at WDW last month were, averaging everything out, fairly accurate. There were no "Gosh, it said 45 minutes but we only waited 25!" pleasant surprises for me.

 

[HandsomePete]

So you don't have any data to actually back up what you're saying. Got it.

This is frankly the dumbest post I’ve ever read on this forum.

Thank you mods for having the block function on here.

 

[UNIrd]

Does this sound like the right game plan to try for Genie+ at 7am if these are our priorities?

Epcot
7am - Remy Virtual Queue
Test Track
Frozen Ever After ($)

MK
Jungle Cruise
7DMT ($)

DHS
SDD
ROTR ($)

Or should any of these be flipped based on how fast they're going?

 

[Mad Dog]

Does this sound like the right game plan to try for Genie+ at 7am if these are our priorities?

Epcot
7am - Remy Virtual Queue
Test Track
Frozen Ever After ($)

MK
Jungle Cruise
7DMT ($)

DHS
SDD
ROTR ($)

Or should any of these be flipped based on how fast they're going?

During the past two days, Touring Plans Blog has had a complete statistical study of the Genie Plus scenarios at the WDW parks.
They've also adjusted their graphs for the various crowd levels at the four parks.

 

[UNIrd]

During the past two days, Touring Plans Blog has had a complete statistical study of the Genie Plus scenarios at the WDW parks.
They've also adjusted their graphs for the various crowd levels at the four parks.

That's pretty much what I needed! Great info there. Just doesn't answer how fast the ILL$ ones are going, but I can assume they should be a little slower to sell out than the ones included in Genie+ so I should prioritize those.

 

[shiekra38]

I received a text from my friend that went to Disney for the first time since 2019

"Disney is pretty awful now. Not gonna lie. Everything is unbelievably expensive, so many stupid rules, no one is helpful, it's f******g awful.
We were so excited for Disney passes this year. Never doing it again."

I told him if he gets a Uni AP I'll show him Velocicoaster

Sooo, Genie+ is really hitting with the people