I get comments and questions. Sometimes good ones, like some of the feedback and responses I had to my Genie+ review video. And then there are the trolls and not so nice comments. This is responses to both of those- the legitimate, and the not so much.
A behind the scenes look at what a former worker at Disney World, Silver Dollar City, and Busch Gardens Florida experienced in his time working at the parks. From driving large safari trucks around live wild animals while cracking one silly joke after another, to spending 5 years as a #PhotoPass photographer at #WaltDisneyWorld and seeing and experiencing all sorts of things, to being a conductor and #trainrobber on the famous Frisco Silver Dollar Line at #SilverDollarCity. With 10 years of working in the parks, there’s lots of stories to tell. Here is some of them…
Not only did I work in theme parks for 10 years, I’ve visited a whole lot of them as well. Here’s some stories of great visits, not so great visits, favorites, reviews, and much more.
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I can understand the shorter lines without the Fast pass but it helped me skip a three hour line at Flight of passage so I gonna give it credits for that.
I can understand raising costs if have inlimited demands thou but sometimes I wish those cost raisings could come with a good sence of what people value instead.
Like if you could skip ALL lines in the parks for a 200 dollar or more fee instead off one for ten. That would brnefit those that like to pay a lot for skipping lines the whole day.
Or if you could get a AC lounge in the parks where you can sit down, charge youre phone and get a bartender or something to help you with guidence to were stuff is. I rather pay a hundred extra per day for that service.
Or even get a few theatres showing Broadway shows for hard tickets. Then they could reduce crowds in the parks by the thousends and earn a hundred dollar or more per seat.
Good setvice pays. Johan.
Have a good Easter week
now that I think about it I guess every uploader has a troll I just hope you have more fans then trolls
I don't know too much about Genie+, but I doubt I would ever use it.
That said, I never really used Fastpass either. Those lines always seemed to be longer than the standby lines. I DID get fast pass but it was more for a souvenir of my favorite rides.
Besides using fast pass usually skipped the 'story'part of the lines. I'm here for the experience.
I dont know what people are taking about – Disney parks were ALWAYS expensive.
I'm a huge Disney (and parks) nerd, and even still I've only been to WDW once…..
DL a few times, but that's only because it was closer (and we were already heading in that direction for my dad)
Maybe this is what happens when, as a child, you're brought to Disney every year or ever other year. It is a culture thing too, everyone HAS to go at least once, please don't go if 10 minutes turns you into a whiny child about the line being too long.
I Liked genie+ at Disneyland, thought it wasn't worth it for California Adventure. My biggest gripe is not being able to get in multiple lines. It happened a few times that I had a 2hr wait for one ride and couldn't queue up for a ride that had a shorter line in the meantime. However for people with smaller kids that can't sit still for very long it's a Genie+ is a life saver.
Me: Cool Video Plus I didn't know you Worked as a Counductor in a Theme Park
Sir Willow: DID YOU NOT WATCH MY MANY VIDEOS ON BUSCH GARDENS
JK I Watch Almost All your Videos 😄👍
Hey sir willow my name is matt and I remember meeting you at DAK lodge on that meetup several years back. One thing I love about you and your channel is you always care to make sure we feel valued as fans. Thank you for that and for being so kind and just willing to interact with us! You are loved by your community ❤
I can't wait to see your videos from WDW in June. I'm wondering if they fixed the problem of holding up the standby lines for the FP people with Genie Plus. I really didn't like FP very much because when I went to the parks before FP the standby lines weren't bad at all. over 100 minutes for Peter Pan is ridiculous. If I can get on first thing in the morning with a 30 minute wait I will ride it, otherwise it's a skip for me. I waited 2 1/2 hours for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train (The sign said 90 minutes) and it's a once and done for me. When you go through the cave portion of the line it got so hot that I couldn't breathe and came very close to passing out. I also feel like the interactive queues slow the lines down and cause way too much cutting in line by people with kids who send the kids ahead to play and then the rest of the gang cuts to catch up to them. I really would like to know your feelings on this. I find the Magic Kingdom so frustrating now that it is no longer magic for me. I stick to the other parks.
People couldn´t come into the Parks cuz they were closed some times especially in CALI so it is obvious they want their dose of the Parks. The big problem is so many wanting it the same time that makes the long lines. So Disney had to do something even when we don´t like kinda what the did but who wants extreme crowded Parks there has to be some limitations for safety issues alone.
But yeah price increases aren´t funny or nice but this Confict of Urkraine Russia brings issues worldwide as well. Food regulations exported by them makes price increases for food that even Disney possible couldn´t completely ignored even when many things thankfully coming from the States but somethings maybe not.
And we even have to scare if the government messes really around with Disney on being selfrunned community can bring a even nastier situation to all of us and them.
not everyone can be a Willow like the sweet Alyson Hannigan in Buffy there are some sweets like Warwick Davis or our beloved Sir ;=)
I'm really wanting to go to Disney sometime during the 50th Anniversary celebration. But, with the Post-Pandemic Crowds,Genie,etc. I'm not 100% sure on that yet.
Glad to hear that you have a opportunity to go to Disney World this summer. I can't wait to hear your Review & input on The Genie,etc.
The Holy Spirit has confirmed in my heart that you are a Pastor !!!!!!!!!! Great job on this Preacher!!!!! Brother Heath 1st Corinthians 13
Yep, Disney has always been expensive… seems like its more recently I admit, I blame it to paying for what we used to get baked in(Fastpass, free hotel parking, magic bands, Magical Express)..though the later i think is REAL stupid on Disney's point, It keeps people locked in the Disney ecosystem, that is worth a ton, not letting them escape to local and much cheaper eating/lodging/ect(even the good neighbor hotels are around 1/2 the price often let alone ones properly off property…) The whole nickle and dimming aspect rubs people the wrong way
The last time I checked you've never been rude, and as far as I know you've always told the truth as you saw it.
Thx for the chuckles, and the truth and honesty on Genie+. Love it or leave it, it's not something Disney just threw together at the last minute like a cake mix to get your money and waste your time, Ppl need to understand it's pros and cons, and if it's right for them. Disney is trying to make it easier on you as well as on them for a given park day. I get the idea many ppl have never played games like 'Roller Coaster Tycoon' and had to budget things like crowds food, concessions, labor, etc. Genie+ is just a tool to help them DO that.
Sorry about all the snide hateful comments you got, some ppl need to hear themselves talk, and feel important behind a keyboard for all of 30 seconds. If they took half that energy and did some good in the world we'd all be in a much brighter place.
Some people are silly or irritating. Pointing that out doesn't mean you don't love people, it just means you see the humorous foibles we all exhibit from time to time. I like what you said about filters doing their job. I think they are a safeguard against people who don't always use there internal filters. Thanks
June at Disney World? Will be there June 14 – 22. Hoping things can line up.
Amazing video and very informative video from a former Disney world cast member
Some of those comments were so weird, they were kinda funny! But they’re annoying at the same time.
Hmmm I would have died laughing if you would have screamed NO GINGER DONT LIFT YOUR LEG ON THE TABLE LEG LOL
So I am going to have to go ahead and disagree with you here on at least one point. I rarely post comments, but this is one item that has really been bothering me more than anything else when it comes to Disney:
No, Disney has not always been so prohibitively expensive like it is now. While it's true that you could always pay more for better accommodations and those deluxe extras, it used to be possible to take a very budget-friendly trip to the Land or the World. As an example: a 5 night 4 day stay at All Star Movies with park hopper tickets and Mears shuttle round-trip included cost me $800 for 2 people! This even included a character breakfast and a free gift per person! Even when adjusting that for inflation, you can't even get park tickets for that price these days, let alone a stay at a Disney hotel. The prices have risen astronomically over the years, and particularly recently. All you have to do is look at the crazy prices Disney was charging for a room at the All Stars this last holiday season to see what I am saying here.
It's becoming more and more clear to me that these days Disney is less interested in attracting the average American family and far more focused on the rich "Disney Adults" who likely don't even have kids. Just look at the Galactic Starcruiser, for example.
The thing is, one can't really blame Disney too much, since us weirdo Disney adults have proved to Disney over and over again that we're willing to pay whatever Disney is asking. It's not Disney's fault…. it's ours for continuing to feed the beast. Nothing will change in this regard until folks start voting with their wallet. At the end of the day Disney is a business and it is their job to maximize profit for their shareholders as much as possible, so of course, they are going to put their efforts where the real money is.
I'm looking at booking a week at Disney for next year for myself and 3 guests, and while they haven't opened up vacation packages yet I'm looking at at least a $25k price tag – likely more (and that's not even including airfare). Ok, so I'm used to my suite at AKL, so maybe I have to put myself in that "weird Disney adult" bucket here, given that I'm obviously going to pay that ridiculous amount. Honestly, though, if it weren't for the fact that I've been promising someone a Walt Disney World vacation for a very long time, I'd hit up Universal instead, and save a boatload of money.
Which brings me to another point: It's absolutely not fair to compare the pricing of Genie+ to the Universal Express Lane pass. They are just not equivalent. With the Universal offering there is none of this ridiculous scheduling and lottery-playing on ones phone just hoping that you'll be able to get a pass for the ride you want. The Universal pass just gives you access to all the rides… boom – done- end of story. That's the way it should be.
That being said I fully expect Disney to eventually offer something similar to Universal's pass. They'll keep the Genie plus for the "poor folk" (or, to use a quote from Disney: "Those who have more time than money.") and then will offer a rich-person-pass that will let you skip all the lines with no reservations needed and will charge something crazy like $500 per person or something ridiculous like that… because they know they will sell at least a few.
One thing to mention on the Lightning Lane situation is that this isn't the first time Disney charged for skip-the-line-passes. Yes there have always been those super expensive VIP tours, but I'm referring to what they used to call "Magical Extras" which was essentially 3 extra fastpasses per person per day added to your existing 3 for Fastpass Plus. Again, these were available to rich folks only, as you had to be staying at a Deluxe resort in a club level room to be eligible to purchase those. In 2017 for a party of 3 I paid an extra $900 for those extra 3 fastpasses per day – and you couldn't even book them via the app, which is why I elected not to do that again on subsequent trips… very expensive and very inconvenient at the same time.
I really hope we'll see some more-affordable offerings at Disney in the future, but I'm not sure that's really going to happen in any meaningful way when they can keep raking in the bucks from the rich folks.
On the other hand, we all need to tighten our waistlines, according to Disney, so there's that.
Forever your friend (no matter how much our Disney opinions differ),
Alex
Well, all I have to say is I think it is ridiculous I need to pay another $630 on top of the $4000 I spent on tickets for 6 people and 7 days. And better still, if I want to ride Rise I need to cough up another $90. So, for the six of us I need to shell out almost $5000 just to go into the parks and ride the rides? I remember when my ticket covered all the rides I could handle and we had a length of stay pass. Snow White has a 30 minute wait – FORGET THAT! I'm not waiting a half hour for a ride! And I waited 3 hours for a 2 minute roller coaster. But the worst part for me is, that place no longer gives me goosebumps. I enjoyed the escape, the atmosphere, I would get excited when we would drive through the WDW sign on the way to the resort. Not any more. I can sell my DVC membership for 2.5 times what I paid for it. Let somebody else pay to wait in line.