Disney Genie+ Is Up and Running. Here's What Guests Think.

Back in August, Disney announced that it would soon be launching a brand-new free planning service that would help Guests maximize the time they spent in the theme parks at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. The service would be called Disney Genie and would help Guests plan their days in the Parks by providing them with wait times, entertainment show times, and dining suggestions.

Along with Disney Genie, there would also be a paid service called Disney Genie+ and it would operate similarly to the way MaxPass did at Disneyland Resort before the service was ended when the Parks shut down. For a flat daily rate, Guests would be able to access the Lightning Lane — the new FastPass queue — for rides that they did not want to wait in line for.

While Disneyland Guests weren’t as surprised to see the new Disney Genie+ service would be completely paid for since they had been using the MaxPass system for nearly 3 years, Walt Disney World Guests were not thrilled to see that the once free service would now be a paid-for system. Many felt that Disney was taking away too many free things and starting to nickel and dime them.

Disney Genie and Genie+ have now officially launched at Walt Disney World — a launch date has not yet been announced for Disneyland Resort — and Guests visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth were quick to share their opinions on social media.

TikToker Shannon Kittner shared that she had purchased Disney Genie+ — which costs $15 per day at Walt Disney World — and she absolutely thought it was worth it.

$15 was worth it today to skip the long wait times at Hollywood Studios 😍 #genieplus #disneytips #hollywoodstudios #disneytravelagent

@shannonkittner

$15 was worth it today to skip the long wait times at Hollywood Studios 😍#genieplus #disneytips #hollywoodstudios #disneytravelagent

♬ Mud Flow “the Sense of me” ( Soundtrack Life is Strange) – DOLKINS

As you can see in the video, Shannon definitely thought that spending the $15 on Disney Genie+ was worth it, since she was able to do a number of attractions in a short amount of time because she was able to bypass the standby queue.

TheUnofficialGuides (@TheUGSeries) even felt that paying extra for individual attraction selections was worth it — a feature that has also received some backlash — since they were able to skip a nearly two-hour wait for the popular attraction Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

Total wait time for Rise of the Resistance (including all preshows) was 16min using individual Lightning Lane. Worth $15 in my book, especially if you aren’t a local! #dhs #wdw #disneygenie

Total wait time for Rise of the Resistance (including all preshows) was 16min using individual Lightning Lane. Worth $15 in my book, especially if you aren’t a local! #dhs #wdw #disneygenie

Total wait time for Rise of the Resistance (including all preshows) was 16min using individual Lightning Lane. Worth $15 in my book, especially if you aren’t a local! #dhs #wdw #disneygenie pic.twitter.com/TF0tvfFv2O

— TheUnofficialGuides (@TheUGseries) October 19, 2021

Sarah Gilliland also loved how organized the new planning tool is and how easily she was able to see the dining availability during her time in the Parks.

Look I know not everyone is thrilled with the option to purchase line skipping, but I am a big fan of the organization of dining availability on #DisneyGenie. That is a service that I can get behind! #DisneyWorld50

Look I know not everyone is thrilled with the option to purchase line skipping, but I am a big fan of the organization of dining availability on #DisneyGenie. That is a service that I can get behind! #DisneyWorld50

— Sarah Gilliland (@SarahGilliland) October 19, 2021

Unfortunately, not all Guests were thrilled with the new Disney Genie+ service, especially when the app launched and was seemingly experiencing numerous errors. Annual Passholder Victtoria Tavares (@VicttoriaTCosta) could not even access the service on My Disney Experience.

Any #annualpassholder on here! I need help! I’m not getting it through the app, I’m AP and I wanted to know if I continued to have access to the photopass in the parks and how to buy the genius service, because it keeps giving an error #waltdisneyworld50 #DisneyGenie

Any #annualpassholder on here! I need help! I'm not getting it through the app, I'm AP and I wanted to know if I continued to have access to the photopass in the parks and how to buy the genius service, because it keeps giving an error 🥴 #waltdisneyworld50 #DisneyGenie

— Victtória Tavares (@VicttoriaTCosta) October 19, 2021

Joeycon (@seasalt_bae) also had issues with the app, saying that he had an older phone and Disney Genie did not seem to be compatible with older phone models.

cant even begin to impart my anger + disappointment at @WaltDisneyWorldexcluding compatibility 4 #DisneyGenie from older phones. it really shows its guests who is the priority with this update. i’m just gonna not engage with this app the way it was intended for a long while huh

cant even begin to impart my anger + disappointment at @WaltDisneyWorld excluding compatibility 4 #DisneyGenie from older phones. it really shows its guests who is the priority with this update. i'm just gonna not engage with this app the way it was intended for a long while huh

— 🕹️joeycon🎮 (@seasalt_bae) October 19, 2021

While many Guests who were used to visiting Walt Disney World were not thrilled to see that they would now have to pay for Disney Genie+, it seems that many people found it worth it since they were able to ride so many more attractions than they would have if they did not purchase the service. Only time will tell if Disney Genie+ is truly a success or if changes need to be made.

It should be remembered that Disney is constantly looking at how their services are operating within the Parks. and they always reserve the right to make changes to Disney Genie+ in the future — including potentially making it an add-on to Disney World Annual Passes and Disneyland Magic Keys.

Were you at Walt Disney World today? Did you use Disney Genie or Disney Genie+? What did you think? Let us know in the comments!

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