Other advantage of Universals fast pass is it is free if you stay at one of the 3 premium hotels. Unlike Disney, Universal still gives you perks for stay at one of the premium hotels. Whenever we stay at universal we take advantage of this and it is way worth plus no headache like Genie seems to be.
Also people, you can pick one LL at 7, then a 2nd one 2 hrs after park opens. So pick one at 7, then if park opens at 9, pick another at 11. Then everytime you scan in do another. Idk who is only getting 2 rides a day but you don’tuse it right. We rode 90% of MK rides on busiest day in last 2 years and 70% of that was walking straight on with LL. Anything we didn’t ride was just because we didn’t get in to park until 11am. And we did character visits and one counter service meal.
I thought the Universal Express Pass sounded like a good idea until I checked the prices! $109 plus tax for a one park, one day ticket. Then add up to $200 for the Express Pass? You might get to ride the rides, but these prices are insane unless you stay at one of their deluxe resorts! Universal is no better than Disney when it comes to the big con job. They both suck your money, but in different ways.
Sorry but the Universal price can change given the day and time of the year. Someone may expect to pay the $89.00 fee and end up paying $200.00. Universal is just as shady with this particular “perk”.
Disney seems to have their heads up it a lot lately. I’ve never had an issue with the Universal parks. We might return to Disney one day when they figure out what they’re doing.
Genie+, hate it. Worse idea Disney has ever came up with. I bought it for our trip in April and really regret wasting my money. It’s so confusing to use. Don’t want to get up at 7am to reserve one ride, really? I hope they fire the yahoo who thought that was a good idea. Next vaca? Definitely NOT Disney.
The genie plus was a nightmare. By the time we would try to reserve a ride it was often sold out for the individual reservation rides or unavailable until so late in the day we couldn’t do it. It was also incredibly confusing and stressful to try and remember to check the time constantly to see if it was time to make the next reservation yet. This was my 4th time at Disney and the worst experience so far. We did universal for two days after we went to Disney and used their express pass or whatever it’s called. It was an infinitely better experience. I’m bummed because my kids ranging in age from 5-17 all agree they never want to go back to Disney again and prefer Universal hands down. Hopefully something is fixed with Disney’s very broken system soon.
Universal’s express pass is worth every penny. We only had one day at Universal Hollywood, and the pass allowed us to ride every ride not to mention reserved from row seats at the shows which saves a ton of waiting time there too.
I do love the idea of universal’s pass, but the cost during summer is absolutely enormous. You end up paying more for the past than you do the actual admission ticket. Doing that for a group of 4 nearly broke me.
The fact that a lot of Disney fans prefer a system used in their biggest rival park should be a huge red flag, right? I concur. If I wanted to pay for Fastpasses I would prefer paying for unlimited access, without having to go completely out of my head to book ride times in advance. This whole system is ridiculous. Disney minus eats it and I want the whole debacle to go.
Go back to the fast pass and have a optional add on genie pay day pass. Seems ridiculous to have people standing in line for over 3 hours when they could be spending money on food and beverage. We have been pass holders for years and used to boom 3 fast passes and have dinner and drinks 2 – 3 times a week no more. Not going to go to the parks and spend my time in line. Last year for a pass and we are not alone. Cheap Pak has no idea on what patrons like it’s all about revenue while increasing revenue to please the board padding there pockets. Walt is rolling in his grave – what was once an affordable family experience is no longer.
Thank you Cheap Pak!!
I’m a Universal Orlando Premier Pass holder. One the perks is Express After 4. You get to use it once per ride after 4 pm every day. And the pass also includes valet parking and is cheaper than annual passes at Disney. I’ll never go back to Disney the way it is now.
Thanks for the tips! We usually do both Disney and Universal when we travel. This year we focused only on Disney and the Genie + system was horrible. We splurged on this trip with a really nice Disney resort that gave us extended hours in the evening and that’s what made our trip acceptable.
But we’ve decided that was our last one. Maybe we should consider doing only Universal and getting passes.
I hate to say it but Disney’s paid rides should only be allowed for Genie+ customers. The fact that we have already bought into Genie+ should have a perk. The time wasting scheduling and availability of lightning passes are a joke if it is over 30% capacity. The fact the $15 buy in at WDW guarantees you nothing is a joke. Should be 3bschedulednrides like back in the day and the rest you are in your own. Not great but better than it is right now.
People complain “Disney is turning into a place for people who have money” but support allowing a smaller group to pay more to cut the line any time they like? All this will do is shorted the lightning lane line not make the standby move any faster.
I think Disney should make all the rides a la carte, that way people can pick and choose what line to cut and when the line doesn’t need it people just won’t pay. Genie+ forces long lines to rides that wouldn’t have it.
Just depends on the time of year you go. We just went the second week of December last year and did everything we wanted to do, with no Genie+ and minimal wait times. It can be done!
I stayed at the Royal pacific, because it offered the express pass, that alone is worth the price. Now if your single and can afford to stay at the high class hotel, then I recommend it
U can stay at royal Pacific or the other premier hotels for just 1 night and get unlimited express passes for your party for 2 full days. Then u can stay at a cheaper hotel. That’s a great way to do it!
I hate the Genie+ I was on my phone the whole day trying to plan and get LL and whatever else is now only on that app. It was a waste of time and just added to my frustration. When it rolled out, it sounded terrible in theory and it’s even worse in practice. I would for sure prefer a flat rate for an express pass and leave it at that. Disney is alienating their long time fan base, and is deterring people with all of their new policies, price hikes and overall tone dead approach to EVERYTHING.
Compromise – They should at least let you book 3 rides then one more like the old Fastpass. I really don’t like the one-at-a-time system. If you pick something popular you end up with one LL so late in the day that it’s too late to pick another, and you’re on standby lanes all day anyway. You end up paying the $15 for just the one ride.
Genie+ forget it, what a joke. Talk about ripping off your customer base. Double charging you for something you paid for on the gate, not to mention as guest staying on property you got 3 fast passes included within your very expensive hotel costs. Not to mention they put the prices up and took so many things away.
I’ve stayed on property for 20 years and for my loyalty Disney CR@PS on its customers. Zero point staying on Disney Property anymore, I’ve moved over to Universal the hotels are cleaner and much better than Disneys, with so much more value for your money. I do not have to have my nose stuck in a phone to walk in the park, I do not have to make reservations and I do not have to mobile order, I’m on holiday I should be able to do what I want without all the cr@p Disney want you to do. Crazy, I love Disney but not this Board of Directors and what they have done and doing its not a funny joke.
One Huge Benefit of Universal Express passes is that there are no return times. No scheduling anything, just go on the ride when you get to it. Leave your phone in your backpack, you don’t need it. Universal Express is simple and uncomplicated, and really enhances your day in the park.
I recently read that Disney issued Fast Passes equal to 80%+ of an attractions total capacity. That is pretty close to being a standby line with a fancy name. It explains why you wind up standing in a long line with a fastpass, and standing motionless for hours in the standby line. I imagine Disney is doing the same thing with Genie+ / Lightning Lane.
Universal appears to limit the number of Express Passes it sells so the standby line isn’t severely affected. The price helps to limit demand, but there is also a cutoff point where Universal stops selling Express. That is why standby lines move at Universal despite the Express Passes, and Express lines are very short to nonexistent.
While Universal Express seems expensive, you get a lot of value for your money. On a busy day you will save a lot of time, as much as 4 – 6 hours or more. Those are hours that you are not standing in line. For me, however, the biggest advantage of having Universal Express is that you can relax and enjoy your day. No need to pay attention to line lengths and strategize what attraction to go to next. There is actually no reason to pay any attention to wait times at all. You just go on each attraction as you come to them. No stress, no planning, no phone apps, no strategizing, no reservations, and no return times.
Universal Express = stress free, uncomplicated.
Disney Genie+ / Lightning Lanes = Stressful, frustrating, way over complicated.
Disney should fire the executive(s) that championed the genie project! And start hiring people that understand how to make money and also make it easy for guest to enjoy the parks.
While they are at it, ban all voggers from the parks, these people are not influencers as Disney believes. People watch the vloggers but don’t go to the parks, Disney looses money from vloggers over time.
To all of you stating you will not go back to Disney, thank you!
Have you been to WDW lately? The parks have been pretty crowded.
I was there from 01/02/2022 to 01/11/2022. If more of you had stayed home I would not have had to wait in line as long as I did for some rides. I understand dislike of Disney Genie, but not enough to let it ruin my vacation. I also looked at it another way. During my before this trip I was not able to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The waits were over an hour and a half. I rode twice this last trip using Genie Plus. Yes, it cost me a little extra but it gave me a chance to ride the I wanted to ride without spending hours in line.
This is absolutely true. I hate Genie + …I would rather pay more money to not have to keep using my phone. I want to enjoy the theme park and not worry about the rides I can’t get on because there is no more time slots.
Can’t stand Genie or paying for the “Lightening Lane”! I wouldn’t pay for Express at Universal, either! When I’m paying 10K for a family vacation, and staying in property, I’m not happy about losing my 90 day fast pass or having to pay for the rides I ALREADY paid for! Come on, Disney! Quit screwing your best fans!
I don’t get all thr upset with Genie+?! We used it last work for Epcot, MK and HS and it was a blessing for a family with 2 small kids! We were able to grab lightning lane for just about anything we wanted even with record crowds at MK on 1/24. It kept us from running around back and forth to check times or scan in for a fast pass like we did years ago. We never had any glitches at all. Starting to wonder if a lot of user reviews are in fact user error? Yes stinks to pay extra for that and then more for things like Rise. But we found it to be super helpful. Even reminding us to order food, which when you’re having fun sometimes time gets away from you and you forget to eat! Yhe only gripe I have is the 7am thing, but even that is not terrible if you have kids waking you up by 730 or 8 anyway. Sounds like a lot of people who just don’t like change or don’t understand how it all works. We think it’s a keeper!
HATE the Genie+! They need to bring back the max pass! Why changes something if it works. They need to learn if it’s not broke don’t fix it!
They also need to include it back in the annual pass!
All is see this change is for greed! There was no reason for an overhaul besides making more money!
Does anyone remember that Disneyland charged for MaxPass? I’m surprised it took them this long to start charging for Fast Pass/Lightning Lane at WDW. Also, remember the original FastPass tickets? The ones you had to run to the attraction at rope drop to try to get Toy Story Mania? And you never knew what time you might get? Could be 7p and you couldn’t get any others now cause you just “booked” one. Look, Neither Disney or Universal is perfect. Disney is confusing. Universal is bloody expensive. Either way, take a deep breath, relax and try to enjoy that trip you saved so long for. If you’re looking for problems, you’ll find them. Everything is expensive now, no doubt. But only you can decide what your trip will be like. Oh, and be kind to the Cast Members. They only want you to enjoy yourself and are there to help with any questions you might have.
Comments for Guests “Hate” Disney Genie, Prefer Universal’s Costly Express Pass
Jay
Other advantage of Universals fast pass is it is free if you stay at one of the 3 premium hotels. Unlike Disney, Universal still gives you perks for stay at one of the premium hotels. Whenever we stay at universal we take advantage of this and it is way worth plus no headache like Genie seems to be.
T Mac
And you can walk to the park in like 10 minutes! Love it.
Sam
Also people, you can pick one LL at 7, then a 2nd one 2 hrs after park opens. So pick one at 7, then if park opens at 9, pick another at 11. Then everytime you scan in do another. Idk who is only getting 2 rides a day but you don’tuse it right. We rode 90% of MK rides on busiest day in last 2 years and 70% of that was walking straight on with LL. Anything we didn’t ride was just because we didn’t get in to park until 11am. And we did character visits and one counter service meal.
TotalDramaDisney
Ah! But that’s the golden rule: “It’s only a bad thing when Disney does it!”
Michelle
It’s a bad thing when it’s done badly.
Jim M
I thought the Universal Express Pass sounded like a good idea until I checked the prices! $109 plus tax for a one park, one day ticket. Then add up to $200 for the Express Pass? You might get to ride the rides, but these prices are insane unless you stay at one of their deluxe resorts! Universal is no better than Disney when it comes to the big con job. They both suck your money, but in different ways.
Steve Eldredge
No con job, universal is upfront about the price, and there are no additional charges.
Edward Jackson
Sorry but the Universal price can change given the day and time of the year. Someone may expect to pay the $89.00 fee and end up paying $200.00. Universal is just as shady with this particular “perk”.
Nick
So what? Disney is up front about the pricing as well. People don’t read and they like to complain but the cost shouldn’t be any surprise.
D
But with Disney, you might actually get what you paid for because of how poorly planned that system is ..
Chris
Disney seems to have their heads up it a lot lately. I’ve never had an issue with the Universal parks. We might return to Disney one day when they figure out what they’re doing.
Darlene Powell
Genie+, hate it. Worse idea Disney has ever came up with. I bought it for our trip in April and really regret wasting my money. It’s so confusing to use. Don’t want to get up at 7am to reserve one ride, really? I hope they fire the yahoo who thought that was a good idea. Next vaca? Definitely NOT Disney.
julianvp
I went to Disney last week and I personally loved how Genie works. You just need to schedule your rides each 2 hours and you are done.
Felecia S
The genie plus was a nightmare. By the time we would try to reserve a ride it was often sold out for the individual reservation rides or unavailable until so late in the day we couldn’t do it. It was also incredibly confusing and stressful to try and remember to check the time constantly to see if it was time to make the next reservation yet. This was my 4th time at Disney and the worst experience so far. We did universal for two days after we went to Disney and used their express pass or whatever it’s called. It was an infinitely better experience. I’m bummed because my kids ranging in age from 5-17 all agree they never want to go back to Disney again and prefer Universal hands down. Hopefully something is fixed with Disney’s very broken system soon.
D
It’s probably confusing on purpose… It’s free money, but it’s the customer’s fault for not understanding it properly
Michael
Universal’s express pass is worth every penny. We only had one day at Universal Hollywood, and the pass allowed us to ride every ride not to mention reserved from row seats at the shows which saves a ton of waiting time there too.
Michelle
I do love the idea of universal’s pass, but the cost during summer is absolutely enormous. You end up paying more for the past than you do the actual admission ticket. Doing that for a group of 4 nearly broke me.
Phoebe L Ho
The fact that a lot of Disney fans prefer a system used in their biggest rival park should be a huge red flag, right? I concur. If I wanted to pay for Fastpasses I would prefer paying for unlimited access, without having to go completely out of my head to book ride times in advance. This whole system is ridiculous. Disney minus eats it and I want the whole debacle to go.
Gary
Go back to the fast pass and have a optional add on genie pay day pass. Seems ridiculous to have people standing in line for over 3 hours when they could be spending money on food and beverage. We have been pass holders for years and used to boom 3 fast passes and have dinner and drinks 2 – 3 times a week no more. Not going to go to the parks and spend my time in line. Last year for a pass and we are not alone. Cheap Pak has no idea on what patrons like it’s all about revenue while increasing revenue to please the board padding there pockets. Walt is rolling in his grave – what was once an affordable family experience is no longer.
Thank you Cheap Pak!!
Ed
Another shout out for Rotisserie Walt. 🤣🤣
Adam M.
I’m a Universal Orlando Premier Pass holder. One the perks is Express After 4. You get to use it once per ride after 4 pm every day. And the pass also includes valet parking and is cheaper than annual passes at Disney. I’ll never go back to Disney the way it is now.
Adam M.
Oh, and the Universal Premier Pass gets you a free ticket to Halloween Horror Nights!
Kate
Thanks for the tips! We usually do both Disney and Universal when we travel. This year we focused only on Disney and the Genie + system was horrible. We splurged on this trip with a really nice Disney resort that gave us extended hours in the evening and that’s what made our trip acceptable.
But we’ve decided that was our last one. Maybe we should consider doing only Universal and getting passes.
Patrick
I hate to say it but Disney’s paid rides should only be allowed for Genie+ customers. The fact that we have already bought into Genie+ should have a perk. The time wasting scheduling and availability of lightning passes are a joke if it is over 30% capacity. The fact the $15 buy in at WDW guarantees you nothing is a joke. Should be 3bschedulednrides like back in the day and the rest you are in your own. Not great but better than it is right now.
jennifer
People complain “Disney is turning into a place for people who have money” but support allowing a smaller group to pay more to cut the line any time they like? All this will do is shorted the lightning lane line not make the standby move any faster.
I think Disney should make all the rides a la carte, that way people can pick and choose what line to cut and when the line doesn’t need it people just won’t pay. Genie+ forces long lines to rides that wouldn’t have it.
Chris Kinney
Just depends on the time of year you go. We just went the second week of December last year and did everything we wanted to do, with no Genie+ and minimal wait times. It can be done!
Chris
I stayed at the Royal pacific, because it offered the express pass, that alone is worth the price. Now if your single and can afford to stay at the high class hotel, then I recommend it
Judy
U can stay at royal Pacific or the other premier hotels for just 1 night and get unlimited express passes for your party for 2 full days. Then u can stay at a cheaper hotel. That’s a great way to do it!
Natali Webman
I hate the Genie+ I was on my phone the whole day trying to plan and get LL and whatever else is now only on that app. It was a waste of time and just added to my frustration. When it rolled out, it sounded terrible in theory and it’s even worse in practice. I would for sure prefer a flat rate for an express pass and leave it at that. Disney is alienating their long time fan base, and is deterring people with all of their new policies, price hikes and overall tone dead approach to EVERYTHING.
Rox
Compromise – They should at least let you book 3 rides then one more like the old Fastpass. I really don’t like the one-at-a-time system. If you pick something popular you end up with one LL so late in the day that it’s too late to pick another, and you’re on standby lanes all day anyway. You end up paying the $15 for just the one ride.
Kate
But maybe that’s their plan?
Julian H
Genie+ forget it, what a joke. Talk about ripping off your customer base. Double charging you for something you paid for on the gate, not to mention as guest staying on property you got 3 fast passes included within your very expensive hotel costs. Not to mention they put the prices up and took so many things away.
I’ve stayed on property for 20 years and for my loyalty Disney CR@PS on its customers. Zero point staying on Disney Property anymore, I’ve moved over to Universal the hotels are cleaner and much better than Disneys, with so much more value for your money. I do not have to have my nose stuck in a phone to walk in the park, I do not have to make reservations and I do not have to mobile order, I’m on holiday I should be able to do what I want without all the cr@p Disney want you to do. Crazy, I love Disney but not this Board of Directors and what they have done and doing its not a funny joke.
Universal all the way from now on.
Steve Eldredge
One Huge Benefit of Universal Express passes is that there are no return times. No scheduling anything, just go on the ride when you get to it. Leave your phone in your backpack, you don’t need it. Universal Express is simple and uncomplicated, and really enhances your day in the park.
I recently read that Disney issued Fast Passes equal to 80%+ of an attractions total capacity. That is pretty close to being a standby line with a fancy name. It explains why you wind up standing in a long line with a fastpass, and standing motionless for hours in the standby line. I imagine Disney is doing the same thing with Genie+ / Lightning Lane.
Universal appears to limit the number of Express Passes it sells so the standby line isn’t severely affected. The price helps to limit demand, but there is also a cutoff point where Universal stops selling Express. That is why standby lines move at Universal despite the Express Passes, and Express lines are very short to nonexistent.
While Universal Express seems expensive, you get a lot of value for your money. On a busy day you will save a lot of time, as much as 4 – 6 hours or more. Those are hours that you are not standing in line. For me, however, the biggest advantage of having Universal Express is that you can relax and enjoy your day. No need to pay attention to line lengths and strategize what attraction to go to next. There is actually no reason to pay any attention to wait times at all. You just go on each attraction as you come to them. No stress, no planning, no phone apps, no strategizing, no reservations, and no return times.
Universal Express = stress free, uncomplicated.
Disney Genie+ / Lightning Lanes = Stressful, frustrating, way over complicated.
John DeJones
Disney should fire the executive(s) that championed the genie project! And start hiring people that understand how to make money and also make it easy for guest to enjoy the parks.
While they are at it, ban all voggers from the parks, these people are not influencers as Disney believes. People watch the vloggers but don’t go to the parks, Disney looses money from vloggers over time.
Edward Jackson
To all of you stating you will not go back to Disney, thank you!
Have you been to WDW lately? The parks have been pretty crowded.
I was there from 01/02/2022 to 01/11/2022. If more of you had stayed home I would not have had to wait in line as long as I did for some rides. I understand dislike of Disney Genie, but not enough to let it ruin my vacation. I also looked at it another way. During my before this trip I was not able to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The waits were over an hour and a half. I rode twice this last trip using Genie Plus. Yes, it cost me a little extra but it gave me a chance to ride the I wanted to ride without spending hours in line.
Julian H
Someone was spoilt it would seem Eddie
Sabin
This is absolutely true. I hate Genie + …I would rather pay more money to not have to keep using my phone. I want to enjoy the theme park and not worry about the rides I can’t get on because there is no more time slots.
Jennie Duncan
Can’t stand Genie or paying for the “Lightening Lane”! I wouldn’t pay for Express at Universal, either! When I’m paying 10K for a family vacation, and staying in property, I’m not happy about losing my 90 day fast pass or having to pay for the rides I ALREADY paid for! Come on, Disney! Quit screwing your best fans!
Sam
I don’t get all thr upset with Genie+?! We used it last work for Epcot, MK and HS and it was a blessing for a family with 2 small kids! We were able to grab lightning lane for just about anything we wanted even with record crowds at MK on 1/24. It kept us from running around back and forth to check times or scan in for a fast pass like we did years ago. We never had any glitches at all. Starting to wonder if a lot of user reviews are in fact user error? Yes stinks to pay extra for that and then more for things like Rise. But we found it to be super helpful. Even reminding us to order food, which when you’re having fun sometimes time gets away from you and you forget to eat! Yhe only gripe I have is the 7am thing, but even that is not terrible if you have kids waking you up by 730 or 8 anyway. Sounds like a lot of people who just don’t like change or don’t understand how it all works. We think it’s a keeper!
candy
HATE the Genie+! They need to bring back the max pass! Why changes something if it works. They need to learn if it’s not broke don’t fix it!
They also need to include it back in the annual pass!
All is see this change is for greed! There was no reason for an overhaul besides making more money!
SG
Disney get rid of Genie! We hate it! BRING BACK FAST PASS! The equipment is still there, just do it.
I wonder when the 50th hub bub is done and gone and attendance drops if Disney will bring it back to get more people in the parks?
Kathy
Does anyone remember that Disneyland charged for MaxPass? I’m surprised it took them this long to start charging for Fast Pass/Lightning Lane at WDW. Also, remember the original FastPass tickets? The ones you had to run to the attraction at rope drop to try to get Toy Story Mania? And you never knew what time you might get? Could be 7p and you couldn’t get any others now cause you just “booked” one. Look, Neither Disney or Universal is perfect. Disney is confusing. Universal is bloody expensive. Either way, take a deep breath, relax and try to enjoy that trip you saved so long for. If you’re looking for problems, you’ll find them. Everything is expensive now, no doubt. But only you can decide what your trip will be like. Oh, and be kind to the Cast Members. They only want you to enjoy yourself and are there to help with any questions you might have.
D
I prefer the previous Fast Pass.. just go to Tokyo Disneyland before the remove it
Pessi Mistic
Just wait until there’s a charge to go to Disney Springs. I’m almost sure it’s coming
Pessi Mistic
And somehow, there will still be people that defend it
Comments are closed.