All in all, I didn’t mind Genie+. My BIGGEST issue and an incredibly infuriating one is, there is no way to MODIFY an existing Lightning Lane reservation. If you see a reservation time open that works better for your party, you have to cancel your current reservation before being able to book the open one. But since it’s a live system, by the time you get in to confirm the new time, it can be gone. Along with the reservation you initially had. With both lost, you’re up a creek without a paddle. Similarly, because of the two hour booking window, if I want to cancel a reservation for a certain attraction and rebook for a different time, but I’ve already made a reservation for a different attraction within that same time frame, it won’t let me rebook the attraction I’ve just canceled. So I give it up for nothing in return. This leaves zero incentive for me to cancel a reservation I may not be able to make and open it for someone else since I’m locked out until my next booking window. This is a MAJOR flaw within the app. Disney needs to put in a modify feature!!
I had this same complaint two weeks ago when we were there. If you cancel a reservation you should be able to rebook something in its place no matter if you are within that two hour window. Otherwise you’re essentially losing out on those two hours you used earlier in the day.
I purchased Genie+ when I was at Disney a month ago and my biggest frustration with the service was that I booked a reservation for a time and when it was time to go check in, Genie+ had bumped my time for 30 minutes further for no reason. So from then on, I had to take screen shots of every booking I made for proof.
Just used this for the first time! Hated it! I do not want to be staring at my phone the entire day. It isn’t user friendly at all. I think you should be able to book a minimum of 3 ride reservations and add more as the day goes on. It felt like a rip off! I was talking with a family at fireworks. She said she had purchased genie+ but never used it because she didn’t know how. I’m not a fan. It needs much more tweaking in my opinion!
I agree Mary. My family and I (6 of us) used it at Hollywood Studios. I logged in right at 7 and the very first reservation I could get for Slinky Dog Dash was 6:30. This was the third week of January, not even a busy day really. Then every two hours, a swarm of people are on their phones making the next reservation. Essentially are reservations all stacked between 4-8 pm. The only good thing is we only paid for genie plus for one day. Had we stayed on property we would have had to pay for each day, so on property resort guests who use it are at a disadvantage there. Universal does it right, pay for a more expensive ticket and get quick access for most rides. Sometimes they build it into the package. I don’t know what Disney is thinking to be honest…
That’s not correct. You don’t need to buy it for each day if you stay on-site. You just have to purchase it on the days that you plan to use it, at or before 7am
I much rather just pay 15 dollars to interact with thtis system than pay almost twice for my ticket for a fastpass. This os much more accessible to consider when planning a vacation than what universal does since most people don’t have that money to just thrown around.
If u go during the winter or early fall universal express pass is not the bad. Or we preferred to get the premier hotel that Included the passes during Nov. . It was about 315 a night. Still cheaper then DW.
Absolutely agree. Should be able to book three rides throughout the day and then use the system as is additionally. I also think that paid rides should only be allowed for those with Genie+. There needs to be some benefit
This was my complaint as well. My first time ever at Disney, waited over 30 years to go, and my face was buried in this app trying to make it work for our family of 5. I almost was concerned Ed I was going to have to reserve the bathrooms to be honest.
I’m in the middle of a 9 day trip to DW and we HATE Genie+. It’s really frustrating and not at all user friendly.
End of January and I’ve waited in lines longer then I ever did with the old system.
If this is Disney post pandemic??? Count me out!!
We are done with WDW for the foreseeable future. We enjoyed playing it all by ear in the past. But now you are almost required to use your phone all day and schedule every moment. I’m sure it will get to the point where we have to schedule restroom breaks, too. On to Universal.
That’s why we prefer universal. not always on ur phone! A nice benefit of staying at the more expensive hotels at universal (still much cheaper then Disneys) is express passes are included in the hotel price. It’s so much easier and relaxing!
I hate it!!!!!!!! It is horrible. The whole idea is to be with family and the only thing your doing is looking up times and have your face planted In a phone screen Horrible horrible horrible. The entire mobile electronic virtual craziness can take a flying leap
It is insulting to all the returning guests, Annual pass holders and DVC members and rally any admission paying guests, that Chapek and co. double and triple dip into our pockets by giving us no choice but to basically augment our admission cost with this three tier genie concierge system, or suffer the loss of value of your trip to the outrageous line times . It’s sad to see the Disney name being used to pressure families to spend even more of their hard earned dollars on what is already an expensive and debt building trip for most. Chapek and Genie+ need to go.
I just tried to use Genie+ and it’s worthless- go back to fast pass – at least there’s more equality in that. I’m glad my kids are grown and I don’t have to pay extra for every ride I really want to ride- terrible system and I agree with the above- Disney- please think about what the cost is already for most families! Is this really the Disney spirit? Not sure when I’ll be returning!
I don’t get all the upset with Genie+?! We used it last week 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! The 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!
My spouse has been named to the Top 100 Cyber Intelligence Experts GLOBALLY every year since 2015. I can email, text, & that’s about it😂 Point is he kinda knows a bit & understands a lot. So Sam may want to stop insulting others & pseudo victim blaming for the fustercluck that’s been created in LBV. Oh- his Bachelor’s degree also happens to be in Finance, so there’s that too… Prior to Covid, we stayed on property every 6-8wks. Post the onset of Covid in 2020 we were there 3x, 2021 also 3x. We were engaged, honeymooned, & renewed our vows at Disney. To say we had a mouse problem was an understatement. Now, we only get sad when someone mentions Disney😔
We popped for the $15 ea for 1 day to give it a test drive. Honestly, we don’t care about riding & usually only do when ‘touring’. BUT we did enjoy fast passes. Heck… getting them from the kiosks back in the day was half the fun! Especially for our then-young kids. As an on property guest this time we managed to get on ONE ride w Genie+. One. But the process is flawed beyond that. THEY literally control/dictate your day. Not you. Genie decides. Absurd! Genie has become Zoltar😂😡
Dana, you are correct!! This is absolutely 💯 an unmitigated disaster & major FAIL on so many levels it’s hard to imagine they won’t reverse it at some point. But who knows- the (real) world has gone mad, so why not Walt’s world too🤦♀️ I’ve seen plenty of change since first walking thru those MK gates 16 weeks after they opened. And my spouse is pretty savvy with pretty much any system. Again- major FAIL. No mas. With the exception, of course, of Disney’s cha-ching. This in no way is the guests’ fault, failure, or ignorance as Sam implies. This is a blatant money grab that is destroying the Parks. Period.
Stay tuned for the B.C. episode of American Greed…🙄🙄
So your husband is a techie wizard, and you only got one ride? That’s definitely not Disney’s fault. We used it 5/6 days in December – got every ride in HS on both days in that park, and everything we wanted to hit in MK over a two day span. Plus, knocked out 5 rides in AK in 3.5 hours starting at 1, hopped to Epcot, and got 4 more rides.
We tour privately w the same Host we’ve had for 5yrs now.. We were testing the system against vs early complaints bc shocking as it may seem, not everyone is seeing the parks that way. The system sux almost as bad as your attitude.
We knock out all four parks some days, sometimes 2, never wait in a line, are driven not only from park to park but ride to ride if so desired. Private time w characters, front row at any shows, special viewing for fireworks & parades.
See how petty that sounded? No imagine la la la dee dah you’re all such dummies cuz I rode some rides🙄🤦♀️ Your mother must be so proud.
You can have our place! Watching a dad explain to his crying son they couldn’t afford the fast line was too much/the final star. So all yours, King Rider! Just gotta cough up $500-$850/hr for a min 7 continuous hrs. Oh- and except on our anniversary, we always take 6 disadvantaged w us. Not sure if that last one might be a deal breaker for you.
Yeah. Skip it. You’d just taunt them.
Spot on. I’ve been going to WDW since it OPENED. Genie+ is, by far, the worst guest experience misfire. It takes control of your time and sets you up for disappointment. Was a major fail at Epcot. By 7 a.m., as a resort guest (with early access), all Test Track passes were gone. Coupled with the ride going down while waiting on standby, Ratatouille was down during early park hours plus several times during the day (as we waited online) and Spaceship Earth was offline 70% of the day, there wasn’t much left to do by dinner time. I went to guest services to complain and AT LEAST got ONE comp pass – but my kids were turned away from Test Track 2 minutes into the extra magic hours for premium resorts. Because Paying $250 a night for Port Orleans isn’t premium enough, anymore.
Hey Sam, glad it worked for you, 1 out of how many commenting on here. Guess the rest of us are just ignorant fools. A bit presumptuous on your part. Enjoy wasting your money at Disney Parks!
The Genie + has caused the standby lanes to become way to long and barely move. I think they sell way to many time slots for Genie.
Since it’s just a money grab from Disney – my suggestion is to double the price and cut the number of times slots in half. That way the lines would move and all guests will be happier.
Well that is not going to happen as long as BOTS like Sam write reviews they love it. Disney is artificially extending waits for stand by to make this more lucrative.
On another note certain casts members hate this also and have started helping standby guest by holding up the LL and letting the standbys go in first. This happens more in the evening when there are less managers.
Thank you cast members for leveling the field and fighting this classist system.
Interesting comment in the article about “inflated wait times” for Stand By lanes. We were in the parks last week (1/23 to 1/28), and I used the stopwatch app on my phone to time our actual standby wait times. Actual waits on attractions with posted Standby times over 50 minutes or so were consistently 20 to 30 minutes SHORTER than what was posted.
Okay Mr. Allen, an antidotal survey on your part does not really translate into proof. Several questions I would pose about your methods including did you do this all day and how many days were you taking data? I am pretty sure you wanted to be on vacation and not conducting a study.
I actually spoke to several cast members in a qualitative manner and found them to be quite open about Disneys manipulating wait times. This has been public before the pandemic where Disney would try to redirect traffic I. The park in a more controllable in this fashion.
I would also note that Disney does not hand out those red badges anymore to make the pretense that they are taking readings. Disney takes readings at all times from magic bands in WDW. They even know how many times you go to the bathroom.
You might ask how I know this? I worked on the HP project to come up with magic band integration.
I have proof. I was just at WDW. My son is obsessive about timing the lines. D Allen is CORRECT. 98% of the time, the wait times were 20 – 30 minutes SHORTER than what was posted. Manipulative or not, the algorithms are flawed.
Hey Disney, how about you bring back the max pass! If it’s not broke don’t fix it!!!! It was so user friendly and we got to do everything we wanted. The Genie+ with its over inflated prices (lightning lane, a la cart) and the fact that there are always issues with the app, plainly it sucks and I’m pretty sure just about everyone hates it!
I love how they “fix” a so called glitch yet they refuse to fix the real issues 🙄
Disney just doesn’t get it….parks guest don’t want Genie, and any extra planning when on vacation. May be the locals like it, may be not. If Disney is after more money for its park rides, than they need to implement Universal’s express pass, vacationers will be happy but locals may not!
Everyone is literally walking around staring at their phones! I honestly believe the stress brought on by Zoltar- is a huge factor in the uptick in assaults.
Oh like this is going to help. Easier for all the Fastpasses to be snatched up even faster because one person can grab them for a whole group. Parties of 2? Parties of 1? Too bad.
Was at WDW in Dec. After paying for the stupid “Genie” service I was able to use it **1** time!! It’s the biggest ripoff Disney has come up with lately. I have NO INTEREST in returning to a Disney Park anytime soon. It’s all about the almighty $$$. SO DONE!
Not only that with the DAS and CMs they question you how bad it is. Really? I guess the CMs are at a point of deciding what accommodations you need at the ride. Some CMs were great, some were horrible. Then you had those that discreetly tried not to accommodate you.
Its scummy business practice. Below Disney standards. They purposely inflate the wait times to get you to pay for a lightning lane when it’s not necessary. Bob Cheapskate is to blame. I have been going to Disney for decades and I may never go again.
I go to Disney to SHUT OFF my phone not be buried in it all day long. I’d like to order with a human, not an ‘app’ which will schedule when I am allowed to dine. Being sporadic is half the fun. That’s largely gone at Disney now. It’s becoming all screen-based attractions and phone apps. I don’t care about the rising costs. I care about the loss of experience and ambiance.
AYP & Florida resident here. Genie + is horrible. So horrible that I, and others I know, are considering not renewing after having been AYPs for a while.
I went last Wednesday. It was my first time experiencing the nightmare that is Genie +. Lines and wait times were ridiculous. We paid for GEnie plus and only got one ride b/c of the times listed for the other rides–and not many options were even available.
I miss the Fast Pass system. I don’t mind the system they have in place now for paying for Premium rides, but Genie and Genie + = nightmare.
The app is hard to navigate. Easy features from the old app, like the map that shows where you are and wait times, are difficult to find (or even changed for the worse). And it’s just so clunky and cluttered.
I’ve been to Disney quite a bit, and my visit last week was the first time I’ve ever had a bad day there–and that was thanks to Genie +.
We were there last week (DW) and…wait for it!…DIDN’T USE Genie+ AT ALL! We rode everything we wanted to, made food reservations, and had a blast! If it wouldn’t have been freezing cold, it would have been as perfect a trip as it could have been!
I like Genie+, is not that useful on every park but on Hollywood studios (which is where I used it) is very good to avoid lines. The best thing about it is that is only 15 dollars, before people could just throw money at Disney to avoid lines. Now people like me (that do not have enough money to just throw around) can also avoid lines and even though Genie+ definitely needs improvements I’m glad I don’t have to spend almost twice the price of a ticket or stay at a Disney resort to be able to skip lines like all those people I see complaining that they can’t use all their money to avoid lines anymore like they used to do
Now regular Genie is great to check on shows and character locations, which their times, we did encounter some mistakes with shows that got canceled due to rain but still showed as happening on the app but besides that it helped us see a lot of shows and parades that we would’ve missed just standing on some line somewhere.
We have been APH for 6 years now, but thanks to Disney’s greed and love for the almighty dollar, we will not be renewing this year. Fastpass worked, was included in the price of the ticket and included PhotoPass. Now they have raised the price and taken those extras away and are making us pay extra for them! Disney can go suck Daisy’s eggs! We’ll use that cash to explore some of the many other options in central Florida.
I HATE IT! I’m already paying so much as a pass member I dint want to get charged extra for the other rides I HATE IT is highway robbery. Again for a family that doesn’t make much is not fair for them so the inequities continue, it really sucks! No real indentured for annual pass holders like it used to
But each individual person has to spend $15/$20 in order to link it. Every family with children I have talked to at Disneyland says they can’t afford that for their whole family. If they’re going to insist on this, make it $50 for a large group link so families can still afford to go to the park and ride as much as they can. Most families only go once a year, and this robs them of fun.
I’m an old timer. Remember when they opened Disneyland and disneyworld. Walt Disney intended that the park be accessible and affordable for ALL children. Such is not the case anymore.
This has been taken over by money hungry management. Walt is rolling around in his grave with what is going on. It’s such a shame.
We were the week of January 13th, 2022 surprised with the crowd so we looked into the lighting lanes and was given one choice for a ride 4 hours later, so by the time you get your next choice it was either booked or at the end of the night. It’s not even worth it save your money. Disney will never find a solution, its population is just to large even with the so called reservations system. I applaud them for trying though. Being a lover of Disney I will always bring patience with me when I visit the happiest place 😊
Just go back to the fast pass plus and booking dining online. The only thing I would add is to be able to book fast pass rides across the different parks when you purchase a park hopper FP plus worked and you don’t have guests walking around looking at their App trying to book the next ride and crashing into each other. It’s horrible. The magic is lost. It’s
supposed to be a vacation not a stressful tech nightmare.
I used to have an annual pass and received 3 fast passes/day. Now I have to pay an additional $15/day. Parks are too crowded, lines are too long, cost is too expensive. My Disney days are over.
Why change the old system except to raise havoc and make people pay more money? It seems Disney does not want the people the ordinary folks who’ve saved for a few years to take their kids. Shame on them!! And get rid of Magic Express?? Come on man! My Grandkids have the best life ever just seeing that bus!!! Your taking the Magic out of Disney…seriously
We were just at Disneyland on Friday, and the calculations for lines is ridiculous. We were in line for Cars, the wait time said 60 minutes. When we got to the front, we’d been waiting closer to 80 minutes and we found out why. We watched as they stopped us in the stand-by line, and let in at least 20 people from the lightning lane line. Then only 6-8 people from the standby line. The lightning lane was pretty backed up, which is probably why they were letting so many through so as to not get complaints from people purchasing the genie+ and having to wait so long. Plus I know that Cars is an extra payment to get into the lightning lane. They need to only allow a certain number of people to reserve a ride per hour, and make the ratio of guest going through the line on either side fair as they used to do with fastpasses. Otherwise the wait times are going to continue to get out of hand and they’ll have more and more complaints with the genie+ not promising what they paid for.
Comments for Disney Makes Major Update to Controversial Genie+, Lightning Lane Service
X10
All in all, I didn’t mind Genie+. My BIGGEST issue and an incredibly infuriating one is, there is no way to MODIFY an existing Lightning Lane reservation. If you see a reservation time open that works better for your party, you have to cancel your current reservation before being able to book the open one. But since it’s a live system, by the time you get in to confirm the new time, it can be gone. Along with the reservation you initially had. With both lost, you’re up a creek without a paddle. Similarly, because of the two hour booking window, if I want to cancel a reservation for a certain attraction and rebook for a different time, but I’ve already made a reservation for a different attraction within that same time frame, it won’t let me rebook the attraction I’ve just canceled. So I give it up for nothing in return. This leaves zero incentive for me to cancel a reservation I may not be able to make and open it for someone else since I’m locked out until my next booking window. This is a MAJOR flaw within the app. Disney needs to put in a modify feature!!
A90
I had this same complaint two weeks ago when we were there. If you cancel a reservation you should be able to rebook something in its place no matter if you are within that two hour window. Otherwise you’re essentially losing out on those two hours you used earlier in the day.
Suzi
I purchased Genie+ when I was at Disney a month ago and my biggest frustration with the service was that I booked a reservation for a time and when it was time to go check in, Genie+ had bumped my time for 30 minutes further for no reason. So from then on, I had to take screen shots of every booking I made for proof.
Lacey Faulkner
Yes, all of this! It’s annoying that the free FastPass system worked SO much better than the paid for GP and LL currently in place.
Mary
Just used this for the first time! Hated it! I do not want to be staring at my phone the entire day. It isn’t user friendly at all. I think you should be able to book a minimum of 3 ride reservations and add more as the day goes on. It felt like a rip off! I was talking with a family at fireworks. She said she had purchased genie+ but never used it because she didn’t know how. I’m not a fan. It needs much more tweaking in my opinion!
J’Bo
I agree Mary. My family and I (6 of us) used it at Hollywood Studios. I logged in right at 7 and the very first reservation I could get for Slinky Dog Dash was 6:30. This was the third week of January, not even a busy day really. Then every two hours, a swarm of people are on their phones making the next reservation. Essentially are reservations all stacked between 4-8 pm. The only good thing is we only paid for genie plus for one day. Had we stayed on property we would have had to pay for each day, so on property resort guests who use it are at a disadvantage there. Universal does it right, pay for a more expensive ticket and get quick access for most rides. Sometimes they build it into the package. I don’t know what Disney is thinking to be honest…
Correction
That’s not correct. You don’t need to buy it for each day if you stay on-site. You just have to purchase it on the days that you plan to use it, at or before 7am
YoMaMa
⬆️Tarantula Butt⬆️
Eric George
I much rather just pay 15 dollars to interact with thtis system than pay almost twice for my ticket for a fastpass. This os much more accessible to consider when planning a vacation than what universal does since most people don’t have that money to just thrown around.
Judy
If u go during the winter or early fall universal express pass is not the bad. Or we preferred to get the premier hotel that Included the passes during Nov. . It was about 315 a night. Still cheaper then DW.
Patrick
Absolutely agree. Should be able to book three rides throughout the day and then use the system as is additionally. I also think that paid rides should only be allowed for those with Genie+. There needs to be some benefit
Benefit
There is a benefit… not waiting in the standby queue.
Melody
This was my complaint as well. My first time ever at Disney, waited over 30 years to go, and my face was buried in this app trying to make it work for our family of 5. I almost was concerned Ed I was going to have to reserve the bathrooms to be honest.
Christopher Thornton
The system isn’t good, it forces you to be there 12 hours of you were to follow it based on what you want to ride and see.
Charles
The Genie+ experience is awful. It was so bad during our trip in December that I ended up going to Guest Relations and getting a refund.
John
Genie+ is a major reason I have no interest in visiting the parks any time soon. I want to look at my phone less when I’m at the parks, not more.
Rebecca
I’m in the middle of a 9 day trip to DW and we HATE Genie+. It’s really frustrating and not at all user friendly.
End of January and I’ve waited in lines longer then I ever did with the old system.
If this is Disney post pandemic??? Count me out!!
JerryM
We are done with WDW for the foreseeable future. We enjoyed playing it all by ear in the past. But now you are almost required to use your phone all day and schedule every moment. I’m sure it will get to the point where we have to schedule restroom breaks, too. On to Universal.
Judy
That’s why we prefer universal. not always on ur phone! A nice benefit of staying at the more expensive hotels at universal (still much cheaper then Disneys) is express passes are included in the hotel price. It’s so much easier and relaxing!
Bea russo
I hate it!!!!!!!! It is horrible. The whole idea is to be with family and the only thing your doing is looking up times and have your face planted In a phone screen Horrible horrible horrible. The entire mobile electronic virtual craziness can take a flying leap
Peter
It is insulting to all the returning guests, Annual pass holders and DVC members and rally any admission paying guests, that Chapek and co. double and triple dip into our pockets by giving us no choice but to basically augment our admission cost with this three tier genie concierge system, or suffer the loss of value of your trip to the outrageous line times . It’s sad to see the Disney name being used to pressure families to spend even more of their hard earned dollars on what is already an expensive and debt building trip for most. Chapek and Genie+ need to go.
HL
I just tried to use Genie+ and it’s worthless- go back to fast pass – at least there’s more equality in that. I’m glad my kids are grown and I don’t have to pay extra for every ride I really want to ride- terrible system and I agree with the above- Disney- please think about what the cost is already for most families! Is this really the Disney spirit? Not sure when I’ll be returning!
Sam
I don’t get all the upset with Genie+?! We used it last week 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! The 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!
Dana
Spoken like a true sheep.
It’s only bad for consumers.
It increases the wait times across the parks.
It adds an extra cost and provides very little.
The app is indeed buggy, when you click a button and the app says ” oopse we’re sorry something went wrong” that is not user error
Do some research and you’ll see how it’s only a detriment.
SeauxRue’d
My spouse has been named to the Top 100 Cyber Intelligence Experts GLOBALLY every year since 2015. I can email, text, & that’s about it😂 Point is he kinda knows a bit & understands a lot. So Sam may want to stop insulting others & pseudo victim blaming for the fustercluck that’s been created in LBV. Oh- his Bachelor’s degree also happens to be in Finance, so there’s that too… Prior to Covid, we stayed on property every 6-8wks. Post the onset of Covid in 2020 we were there 3x, 2021 also 3x. We were engaged, honeymooned, & renewed our vows at Disney. To say we had a mouse problem was an understatement. Now, we only get sad when someone mentions Disney😔
We popped for the $15 ea for 1 day to give it a test drive. Honestly, we don’t care about riding & usually only do when ‘touring’. BUT we did enjoy fast passes. Heck… getting them from the kiosks back in the day was half the fun! Especially for our then-young kids. As an on property guest this time we managed to get on ONE ride w Genie+. One. But the process is flawed beyond that. THEY literally control/dictate your day. Not you. Genie decides. Absurd! Genie has become Zoltar😂😡
Dana, you are correct!! This is absolutely 💯 an unmitigated disaster & major FAIL on so many levels it’s hard to imagine they won’t reverse it at some point. But who knows- the (real) world has gone mad, so why not Walt’s world too🤦♀️ I’ve seen plenty of change since first walking thru those MK gates 16 weeks after they opened. And my spouse is pretty savvy with pretty much any system. Again- major FAIL. No mas. With the exception, of course, of Disney’s cha-ching. This in no way is the guests’ fault, failure, or ignorance as Sam implies. This is a blatant money grab that is destroying the Parks. Period.
Stay tuned for the B.C. episode of American Greed…🙄🙄
User Error
So your husband is a techie wizard, and you only got one ride? That’s definitely not Disney’s fault. We used it 5/6 days in December – got every ride in HS on both days in that park, and everything we wanted to hit in MK over a two day span. Plus, knocked out 5 rides in AK in 3.5 hours starting at 1, hopped to Epcot, and got 4 more rides.
SeauxRue’d
We tour privately w the same Host we’ve had for 5yrs now.. We were testing the system against vs early complaints bc shocking as it may seem, not everyone is seeing the parks that way. The system sux almost as bad as your attitude.
We knock out all four parks some days, sometimes 2, never wait in a line, are driven not only from park to park but ride to ride if so desired. Private time w characters, front row at any shows, special viewing for fireworks & parades.
See how petty that sounded? No imagine la la la dee dah you’re all such dummies cuz I rode some rides🙄🤦♀️ Your mother must be so proud.
You can have our place! Watching a dad explain to his crying son they couldn’t afford the fast line was too much/the final star. So all yours, King Rider! Just gotta cough up $500-$850/hr for a min 7 continuous hrs. Oh- and except on our anniversary, we always take 6 disadvantaged w us. Not sure if that last one might be a deal breaker for you.
Yeah. Skip it. You’d just taunt them.
Wrong
Except I wasn’t talking about a VIP tour. That was with Genie+. We liked it, we had a good experience, and we’ll continue using it. 🤷♀️
F2Write
Spot on. I’ve been going to WDW since it OPENED. Genie+ is, by far, the worst guest experience misfire. It takes control of your time and sets you up for disappointment. Was a major fail at Epcot. By 7 a.m., as a resort guest (with early access), all Test Track passes were gone. Coupled with the ride going down while waiting on standby, Ratatouille was down during early park hours plus several times during the day (as we waited online) and Spaceship Earth was offline 70% of the day, there wasn’t much left to do by dinner time. I went to guest services to complain and AT LEAST got ONE comp pass – but my kids were turned away from Test Track 2 minutes into the extra magic hours for premium resorts. Because Paying $250 a night for Port Orleans isn’t premium enough, anymore.
Natasha
I see… so it worked for you so the rest of us must be wrong or incompetent. 🤦♀️
SeauxRue’d
Exactly🙄
When going right is the exception… it’s called a FAIL!!!
Larry
Hey Sam, glad it worked for you, 1 out of how many commenting on here. Guess the rest of us are just ignorant fools. A bit presumptuous on your part. Enjoy wasting your money at Disney Parks!
SeauxRue’d
Sam needs help😂
Maryl
The Genie + has caused the standby lanes to become way to long and barely move. I think they sell way to many time slots for Genie.
Since it’s just a money grab from Disney – my suggestion is to double the price and cut the number of times slots in half. That way the lines would move and all guests will be happier.
Manny
Well that is not going to happen as long as BOTS like Sam write reviews they love it. Disney is artificially extending waits for stand by to make this more lucrative.
On another note certain casts members hate this also and have started helping standby guest by holding up the LL and letting the standbys go in first. This happens more in the evening when there are less managers.
Thank you cast members for leveling the field and fighting this classist system.
Not New
Wait times were inflated pre-covid, too, usually by 20-30 minutes. That’s not new.
D Allen
Interesting comment in the article about “inflated wait times” for Stand By lanes. We were in the parks last week (1/23 to 1/28), and I used the stopwatch app on my phone to time our actual standby wait times. Actual waits on attractions with posted Standby times over 50 minutes or so were consistently 20 to 30 minutes SHORTER than what was posted.
SeauxRue’d
Yours is not the first report I’ve heard of this. It’s a disaster…
Manny
Okay Mr. Allen, an antidotal survey on your part does not really translate into proof. Several questions I would pose about your methods including did you do this all day and how many days were you taking data? I am pretty sure you wanted to be on vacation and not conducting a study.
I actually spoke to several cast members in a qualitative manner and found them to be quite open about Disneys manipulating wait times. This has been public before the pandemic where Disney would try to redirect traffic I. The park in a more controllable in this fashion.
I would also note that Disney does not hand out those red badges anymore to make the pretense that they are taking readings. Disney takes readings at all times from magic bands in WDW. They even know how many times you go to the bathroom.
You might ask how I know this? I worked on the HP project to come up with magic band integration.
SeauxRue’d
Multiple local outlets have reported drastically overinflated standby times being posted… simply by using the standby lane🤷🏼♀️
ben
“antidotal?”
Well, no matter. Since you spoke to them “in a qualitative manner,” I guess we have no choice but to accept your word as gospel.
F2Write
I have proof. I was just at WDW. My son is obsessive about timing the lines. D Allen is CORRECT. 98% of the time, the wait times were 20 – 30 minutes SHORTER than what was posted. Manipulative or not, the algorithms are flawed.
CR
Good bye Disney. It was fun while it lasted but the prices and add-ons and shortened parks hours and so on are getting out of hand. Not Walt’s vision.
Rosenberry Rich
Agreed!
Candy
Hey Disney, how about you bring back the max pass! If it’s not broke don’t fix it!!!! It was so user friendly and we got to do everything we wanted. The Genie+ with its over inflated prices (lightning lane, a la cart) and the fact that there are always issues with the app, plainly it sucks and I’m pretty sure just about everyone hates it!
I love how they “fix” a so called glitch yet they refuse to fix the real issues 🙄
John DeJones
Nicely said!
SeauxRue’d
Truth. They seem not to care about insuring that there system is broke, only that their guests are…
John DeJones
Disney just doesn’t get it….parks guest don’t want Genie, and any extra planning when on vacation. May be the locals like it, may be not. If Disney is after more money for its park rides, than they need to implement Universal’s express pass, vacationers will be happy but locals may not!
SeauxRue’d
Everyone is literally walking around staring at their phones! I honestly believe the stress brought on by Zoltar- is a huge factor in the uptick in assaults.
SeauxRue’d
It’s a major prize🙄
Frah-GEE-lay…
Must be Italian.
Rosenberry Rich
SYSTEM SUCKS AND IS CHAPEK ROBBERY! FIRE CHAPEK NOW!
SeauxRue’d
And Chapek just gave himself a raise. Nice🙄🐽
Phoebe L Ho
Oh like this is going to help. Easier for all the Fastpasses to be snatched up even faster because one person can grab them for a whole group. Parties of 2? Parties of 1? Too bad.
Larry
Was at WDW in Dec. After paying for the stupid “Genie” service I was able to use it **1** time!! It’s the biggest ripoff Disney has come up with lately. I have NO INTEREST in returning to a Disney Park anytime soon. It’s all about the almighty $$$. SO DONE!
L, HARMAN
I have needed DAS since 2016 and now they push so hard to deny and make me pay for Genie. It’s another money grab.
Lisa
How about getting rid of the 2 hour window and just let you book once you scan into one.
Deb
Not only that with the DAS and CMs they question you how bad it is. Really? I guess the CMs are at a point of deciding what accommodations you need at the ride. Some CMs were great, some were horrible. Then you had those that discreetly tried not to accommodate you.
Bob Boogie
Its scummy business practice. Below Disney standards. They purposely inflate the wait times to get you to pay for a lightning lane when it’s not necessary. Bob Cheapskate is to blame. I have been going to Disney for decades and I may never go again.
ChadMC
I go to Disney to SHUT OFF my phone not be buried in it all day long. I’d like to order with a human, not an ‘app’ which will schedule when I am allowed to dine. Being sporadic is half the fun. That’s largely gone at Disney now. It’s becoming all screen-based attractions and phone apps. I don’t care about the rising costs. I care about the loss of experience and ambiance.
SeauxRue’d
💯 SPOT ON!!!!!
Tim
What is fun about being occasional?
THX1138
Stand in line, wait you’re turn!
SG
Disney is still not hearing us. We don’t want this. We don’t want to pay for attractions. Fast Pass worked. Bring it back!
SeauxRue’d
🌹🌹🌹👏👏👏
Delmar Shortt
Wow. So Disney made a sucky. app 5% less sucky. Are you sure they didn’t add a 20% surcharge for the privilege?
mandy
AYP & Florida resident here. Genie + is horrible. So horrible that I, and others I know, are considering not renewing after having been AYPs for a while.
I went last Wednesday. It was my first time experiencing the nightmare that is Genie +. Lines and wait times were ridiculous. We paid for GEnie plus and only got one ride b/c of the times listed for the other rides–and not many options were even available.
I miss the Fast Pass system. I don’t mind the system they have in place now for paying for Premium rides, but Genie and Genie + = nightmare.
The app is hard to navigate. Easy features from the old app, like the map that shows where you are and wait times, are difficult to find (or even changed for the worse). And it’s just so clunky and cluttered.
I’ve been to Disney quite a bit, and my visit last week was the first time I’ve ever had a bad day there–and that was thanks to Genie +.
MamaD
We were there last week (DW) and…wait for it!…DIDN’T USE Genie+ AT ALL! We rode everything we wanted to, made food reservations, and had a blast! If it wouldn’t have been freezing cold, it would have been as perfect a trip as it could have been!
Stephanie
I don’t like that you can’t use your genie+ to ride the rides more then once.
Eric George
I like Genie+, is not that useful on every park but on Hollywood studios (which is where I used it) is very good to avoid lines. The best thing about it is that is only 15 dollars, before people could just throw money at Disney to avoid lines. Now people like me (that do not have enough money to just throw around) can also avoid lines and even though Genie+ definitely needs improvements I’m glad I don’t have to spend almost twice the price of a ticket or stay at a Disney resort to be able to skip lines like all those people I see complaining that they can’t use all their money to avoid lines anymore like they used to do
Now regular Genie is great to check on shows and character locations, which their times, we did encounter some mistakes with shows that got canceled due to rain but still showed as happening on the app but besides that it helped us see a lot of shows and parades that we would’ve missed just standing on some line somewhere.
Judy
But u were able to do that in the old system, my Disney experience. All u had to do was search for show times, characters or parades. It was simple.
SteveO
We have been APH for 6 years now, but thanks to Disney’s greed and love for the almighty dollar, we will not be renewing this year. Fastpass worked, was included in the price of the ticket and included PhotoPass. Now they have raised the price and taken those extras away and are making us pay extra for them! Disney can go suck Daisy’s eggs! We’ll use that cash to explore some of the many other options in central Florida.
Wendy
I HATE IT! I’m already paying so much as a pass member I dint want to get charged extra for the other rides I HATE IT is highway robbery. Again for a family that doesn’t make much is not fair for them so the inequities continue, it really sucks! No real indentured for annual pass holders like it used to
LRP
But each individual person has to spend $15/$20 in order to link it. Every family with children I have talked to at Disneyland says they can’t afford that for their whole family. If they’re going to insist on this, make it $50 for a large group link so families can still afford to go to the park and ride as much as they can. Most families only go once a year, and this robs them of fun.
Steph
I’m an old timer. Remember when they opened Disneyland and disneyworld. Walt Disney intended that the park be accessible and affordable for ALL children. Such is not the case anymore.
This has been taken over by money hungry management. Walt is rolling around in his grave with what is going on. It’s such a shame.
Yvonne
We were the week of January 13th, 2022 surprised with the crowd so we looked into the lighting lanes and was given one choice for a ride 4 hours later, so by the time you get your next choice it was either booked or at the end of the night. It’s not even worth it save your money. Disney will never find a solution, its population is just to large even with the so called reservations system. I applaud them for trying though. Being a lover of Disney I will always bring patience with me when I visit the happiest place 😊
J Martin
Just go back to the fast pass plus and booking dining online. The only thing I would add is to be able to book fast pass rides across the different parks when you purchase a park hopper FP plus worked and you don’t have guests walking around looking at their App trying to book the next ride and crashing into each other. It’s horrible. The magic is lost. It’s
supposed to be a vacation not a stressful tech nightmare.
Mad Mike
I live in Orlando and we avoid Disney like a plaque. All the tourists create traffic nightmares in Orlando. People please stop coming here.
Tim
You avoid Disney like a memorial sign? How odd!
LouLou
I used to have an annual pass and received 3 fast passes/day. Now I have to pay an additional $15/day. Parks are too crowded, lines are too long, cost is too expensive. My Disney days are over.
Melissa
Why change the old system except to raise havoc and make people pay more money? It seems Disney does not want the people the ordinary folks who’ve saved for a few years to take their kids. Shame on them!! And get rid of Magic Express?? Come on man! My Grandkids have the best life ever just seeing that bus!!! Your taking the Magic out of Disney…seriously
Abcde
We were just at Disneyland on Friday, and the calculations for lines is ridiculous. We were in line for Cars, the wait time said 60 minutes. When we got to the front, we’d been waiting closer to 80 minutes and we found out why. We watched as they stopped us in the stand-by line, and let in at least 20 people from the lightning lane line. Then only 6-8 people from the standby line. The lightning lane was pretty backed up, which is probably why they were letting so many through so as to not get complaints from people purchasing the genie+ and having to wait so long. Plus I know that Cars is an extra payment to get into the lightning lane. They need to only allow a certain number of people to reserve a ride per hour, and make the ratio of guest going through the line on either side fair as they used to do with fastpasses. Otherwise the wait times are going to continue to get out of hand and they’ll have more and more complaints with the genie+ not promising what they paid for.
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