Disney Genie service deeply unpopular among fans before it has launched

wahoo skipper said:

Standing in place really takes a toll on my body as I get older. At least some of the other long lines we stood in throughout the weekend moved. This one is just awful...even though they do have a lot of seating areas built into the line. (Great ride...of course...which has been reviewed by others).

Even without Lightning Lane it moved frustratingly slow.

The Chapek haters have got some ammunition however. I was really shocked to see how many maintenance issues I ran across.

I think it probably is related to staffing to a degree. A backlog combined with needing those people for something else are probably contributing factors. Universal has been experiencing the same although I did see a lot of improvement over the holidays when compared to the summer.

Backlash! Too Expensive! Headlines!

wahoo skipper said:

About an hour for Frozen but that was in the heart of the day so that wasn't a surprise. The food kiosk lines were long...though it appeared that was mostly due to staffing issues.

That seems like a pretty typical line for Frozen on any given day. I've never waited longer than an hour and it's constantly moving.

On the upside, the mobile food ordering is really a game changer.

I completely agree with this, especially on the idea that it helps manage the seating. The Mexican food counter service at Epcot does not have mobile ordering and the seating area is complete chaos.

As a former Cast Member and industry professional I tend to have a critical eye...but even my wife was noticing things that were not typical for WDW.

My wife, who also spent some time in the industry, gives me a hard time for noticing things that other people ignore. I agree that a lot of the maintenance issues are due to staffing. When I was there in May, I didn't notice animatronic issues, but there were definitely a handful of aesthetic wear and tear and cleanliness problems that caught my eye.

BrettV said:

Backlash! Too Expensive! Headlines!

This is dumbassery that is hard to duplicate. The last 2 sentences of the article:

A few months ago, a petition was even created to remove Bob Chapek as became one of the most signed on the entire website. Lots of Guests are calling Disney’s upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser too expensive as well, with the future of the Resort being questionable at best.

If I really think about it, it's really my own nostalgia I'm satisfying with these trips anyway. The kids would have just as much fun at a local water park and save me the price of a European vacation.

Some real self realization here, not sure why it needed a post like this. It's sort of like the "I am quitting Facebook posts."

Young kids have just as much fun at the pool and teenagers just want to be left alone at {insert local park here} with their friends to have fun. Her family is out of the sweet spot where the kids loved being with their parents.

hambone said:
The dollar store in my neighborhood, 99-Cent Dreams, had a sign that said "Everything 99 Cents or More" which struck me as a completely unimpressive claim.

(Also, "99-Cent Dreams" ought to be the title of a movie, a series, something.)

We have a pie shop in town called Just Pies. The sign says:
Just Pies
and desserts.

When I went in for my little individual strawberry pie (the pies really are good) the conversation went like this.
“So you have other desserts besides pies?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So just to be clear, you aren’t really “Just Pies”
“No,… we’re Just Pies.”
“Oof.”

The "fan" sites were always ridiculous, but they're going to entirely new levels of entitlement and stupidity. They don't hate the parks enough to stop collecting ad revenue from those ****ty video ads they all run.

I have never seen a fan community that hates everything about their fandom more than Disney Parks fans.

Have you met any Jets fans?

RCMAC said:

We have a pie shop in town called Just Pies. The sign says:
Just Pies
and desserts.

Reminds me of this great bit.

This just in: the reservation system is a "horror." 😆 In the last year, there was one time I couldn't spontaneously go to the park I wanted. It was about as much a horror as the time Publix was out of cream cheese.

I draw the line at cream cheese.

After my Epcot visit a couple of weeks ago I have to really wonder if they are even using the reservation to cap attendance. I mean, I know they are still using the system. I just had no sense the the attendance was capped. It seemed like a very large crowd to me.

I wonder if it is now being used to be more strategic with their staffing levels.

I would bet the latter rather than the former. Unlike a year ago or 18 months ago, there’s very little financial advantage to limiting capacity for a mostly outdoor activity when omicron is rampant anyway.

I was daring enough to read the comments and ran across this gem in a letter that he's suggesting everyone send to Disney:

"If I may ask a small question, is there any way UK customers can *directly* contact your CEO, Bob Chapek? I feel that we should be able to contact him on the most serious and/or personal matters regarding the company."

The entitlement runs deep.

Egad, can you imagine how much worse income inequality would be if CEOs had to deal with direct calls from Disney nuts?

"When meta verse Disney comes out maybe the masses will dissipate."

In metaverse Disney, do you suppose everyone will get their own Magic Kingdom just for themselves, empty except for Mickey Mouse waiting to greet you and cheerful cast members eager to sell you NFTs? Or will there be one Meta Magic Kingdom that everyone will crowd into so there will be even more lines than IRL, and it will take two hours to get a virtual Dole Whip? Or maybe there will be a Meta Reservation system so that people can log onto Inside the Meta Magic to write comments about how terrible it is.

(If they were to build a second, identical Magic Kingdom next door to the original Magic Kingdom, would the crowds be even, or would people insist on the original?)

At least you won't have to wait in line six hours to buy a Figment NFT.

I don't have to do that now. Or ever.