Disney Guests Find Major Discrepancies with New Genie+ Wait Times

in Disneyland Resort

Posted on by Luke Dammann 4 Comments
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Credit: Disney

Waiting in line is something every Disney Guest has to do. But is Disney actually increasing wait times on purpose?

With the additions of new rides, attractions, and experiences being announced at the Disney Parks, it is understandable that more and more Guests will visit, meaning longer and longer wait times. But with a rocky Genie+ service launch at Walt Disney World in Orlando and more recently at Disneyland in Anaheim, Guests are starting to suspect Disney may actually be lying about its wait times.

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Recently, we covered this concern, with one reporter at Inside the Magic visiting all four Parks at Walt Disney World. We took notes and cross-referenced the wait times on Genie+, the posted wait times, and the actual amount of time it took us to ride all of the attractions. We found that the average wait times on Disney Genie were 50% higher than what it actually took to ride the attractions. This may have been a fluke as Disney cannot always currently predict wait times, but having them higher could be a way to encourage Guests to purchase Disney Genie+ and all of the Lightning Lane add-ons.

Now, with the problematic launch of Genie+ at Disneyland, which you can read more about here, we see this problem repeating itself. Imagina1ion (@imaginat1on) on Twitter made a post that has been gaining traction with Guests and fans alike. They show screenshots of Genie+ advertising a 140 minute wait time for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which was over twice as long as the official Disneyland app showed:

Ok wow… the Disneyland app itself shows Rise of the Resistance right now at a 60 minute wait. But #DisneyGenie shows it at a whopping 140 MINUTES (!!) but with a $20 option to ride 3 mins from now. That’s… super shady?

Dateline Disney (@DatelineDisney), another disgruntled user on Twitter, also showed their Genie advertising higher wait times than the actual rides:

As Disneyland’s Genie Service debuts with crashes and outages, fans have noticed attraction wait times are being inflated in the Genie section of the app. Is Disney artificially inflating wait times in Genie to drive sales of the service?

While there is no concrete proof that this is what Disney is doing with its new Genie+ service, it’s seeming to be a widespread issue and is very concerning. With Guests preparing to spend $20 to skip the line for a single attraction, Guests should be sure to check both Disney Genie and the Disneyland App before making a purchase or deciding not to get in a line.

What do you think of Disney Genie? Let us know in the comments below!

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Luke Dammann

When at Disney world, Luke will probably be found eating with his favorite animatronic, Sonny Eclipse at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. When not at Disney World, Luke will probably be found defending Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe to people who claim "there are better restaurants"

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