We were only able to schedule/use the Genie+ on 2 rides at the Magic Kingdom all day. We were only able to use the Genie+ on one ride at Disney Movie park all day long! Not very efficient; unable to save any time on any other rides.
Ok because this is the same thing you can go around the whole park and take up time slots its this ulimate thing causeing this whole war if it was ulimated then it has to much power
Diseny park is sow big that this is there only chance to win at long lines virtual queue fails there is no hope and normall and fast past is the way and people need to suffer oh well the park became to poular and to big for anything to work that is there only hope to do sow but to put it up for the whole park were you tap your phone and the entrance and get a time to come back for your turn in line 5 people can go on a time the ride is 5 min long 1 min board and 1 min off board 7mins you need to come up 1min and 30sec early sow you there time is ready you hop on elimated all quese in the park select 5 at a time only. Cap of how many people get a line at once 1hour max time litim system say past 1 hour then it close the queing
Bring lightening lanes & paying for rides has made it worse, there wasn’t anything wrong with fasspasses, everyone got fasspasses, it ran smoothly, you didn’t get long queues as there is in parks now, I’ve never seen so many queues in standard lines, when fasspasses was free, this is one of disney biggest mistakes they done, there was never a problem with fasspasses, the queues wasn’t as bad as it is now, just Disney & Chapek just wanted to fill their pockets, GOT GREEDY
Bring back fasspasses if it wasn’t broken don’t fix it
Disney has become a park of nightmares now who wants to go on holiday & be on a mobile phone the full of there holiday , disney isn’t for every family, its a park for rich & elite now , walt disney be turning in his grave the way these people have ruined Disney GREED, GREED, GREED, as a family it cost us double to travel to Disney from UK now, its unaffordable for families now
I use it every time I go. I really don’t think it’s worth it sometimes. Only being able to start booking at the same time as everyone else is crazy. Popular rides gone by early afternoon, crazy. I don’t think its working or worth it. It definitely needs to go back to the fastpass plus. I was able to go on more rides. It gets expensive even with just 2 people. I don’t like the ILL. Crazy. Disney definitely needs to do something and fix it. So many negative about it, so they should listen to their paying guests.
I was able to use it for at least 5 included rides (possibly more I can’t remember) in 2 different parks in the same day. Plus I was able to pay for 4 rides at the additional per ride cost. It gave us a lot of time to enjoy the little things and even things we had not done before. However I went in January, so that’s a factor to consider.
Can we demand a refund? It’s obviously not working. Return free fastpass. It was enjoyable and worth going. Plus the fastpass was accurately omitting time slots or number of people correctly so the capacity of the people entering fastpass got to move fast and you got to go on rides within 5 to 15 minutes. This lightning lane is just up for grabs. Ridiculous to waste all this money when you already paid for the park. Fire Bob Chapek ! PLEASE
Agree!!! I live in Celebration (right next to WDW) and have an annual pass but have stopped going entirely. The new system is terrible. We now go to Universal. Such a better experience. Didn’t used to be but Disney is going down hill FAST!!!!
There is NOTHING good about this genie crap!! It’s not helping, it’s just muddling things up!! And your constant reporting on how wonderful it is, is really annoying!! Just once tell it like it is!! It sucks!!
Nope! We just returned from Disneyland last week. We used Genie plus one day (there were seven of us, for two days) so not worth it! And then we had to pay an extra $18 each to ride Radiator Springs Racers !
I would not mind paying the up charge if I could select multiple attractions at the beginning of the day. Universal has been upcharging for years but it covers all their rides or at least it used to. With this current system I’ve ended up spending lightning Lane money and only being able to use it on one ride because you can’t make your next selection until you’ve read in the first one. I will not be do that again.
We had Genie+ at Hollywood Studios and only got one ride before nothing else was available. It’s a rip off. Poorly set up and managed. We saw more by using the extra magic 30 minutes in the morning – and that was free!
Early magic use to be one hour. Just like everything else Chapek touches that got cut also. Last year after thanksgiving used extra magic half hour at EPCOT and was able to only get one ride in.
The system is a complete joke! Just Disney looking for another way yo exploit $$ out of guests/passholders. Get a frigging grip Disney! You charge enough for everything else, sometimes giving just a little can mean the difference in gaining even more $$ from people.
Stop supporting Disney and democrats. Stop buying into their lies and madness.
Men are men and women are women. Men can’t be women and women can’t be men.
Adults shouldn’t talking to other people’s children about anything of a sexual nature.
Who do you think is filing up the parks? People love what Disney is doing you idiot. Democrats and Democrat states make more money, have more education, and are showing up in droves to support Disney. You can’t even get a reservation right now. Did you know that in average the wealthiest families are those with two dads? Did you know that statistically two men are the least likely demographic to get a divorce in America? Talk about respect for the institution of marriage. My husband and I are top end upper middle class. We support Disney. I work in trauma-informed practices with children who are really going through actual abuse. This mockery is disgusting. You all are the cheapskates wanting everything free at the park. We’re the ones that really live capitalism and support Disney’s rights as an American company. You’re too uneducated to see. Go open a religious theme park. Disney is for us now. ✨️ 🧑🤝🧑🤷🏻♂️🏳️🌈😂💁🏻♂️🏳️⚧️
Ok I’m reading these comments and these people struggle to even type coherent English. Disney is clearly interested in shifting to new patrons that visit less often so they aren’t as budget conscious. I’ve previously written about how other signs point to this new fan base being more educated, diverse, and targeting middle upper class. I have also forgotten that a level of tech sophistication and troubleshooting. I’m sorry but if your complaint reads like a first grade paper, the issue was probably user error. It’s possible to take pictures of long lightning lane areas next to “Empy” areas of the general entry. But, why is no one heading over there? Because the lightning lane is still faster. Use critical thinking! Stop complaining because your freebies went away. Disney isn’t doing a Universal fast pass system. This is the system they want to make the profits they want. So respect their decision or go to Universal. That’s how capitalism works. Work harder to make more money or budget your trip money differently. I can’t believe a gay Democrat has to explain capitalism to you conservatives, but here we are. 🤷🏻♂️🧑🤝🧑 yeah tell the governor I said gay 🏳️🌈 and Disney happily supports it!
Zach, the simple fact that you add “PHD” after your name immediately tells me a couple of things about you. 1) You you have an inferiority complex and are attempting to command respect by using an acronym that cannot be proven in this forum. 2) You most likely do not have a PHD at all.
I would love to see the data sources from which you have cited all of your “facts.” If you really do hold a PHD, you will have them readily available to share, but, for some reason, Google comes to mind in your case.
It’s not really capitalism. There’s not a free market. Disney is a multinational corporation and they are basically acquiring a monopoly on entertainment. When it becomes so blatantly about extracting every last penny they can in the name of insatiable greed, it really does take some of the magic away. It becomes soulless. I don’t believe it’s what Walt would have wanted. imo. It wasn’t just all about money. He really wanted for every child to be able to have that magical experience. I do not think he would be at all pleased with what his dream and everything he built has become. It’s sad really.
I am at Disneyland often (only an hour away, so it’s a quick getaway), the other day the lightning lane was a 2 hour wait (due to breaking down and everyone returning as soon as they had it running) but the stand-by was a 70 minute wait. It’s not that the lightning lane is quicker, there are people using both, the backups are causing all sorts of issues with the wait times. Then “Genie” suggests to everyone that _____ ride has a 20 minute wait, so everyone rushes over to the same ride and that line goes to an insane wait time. If people would just stop using the app the rides would run smoother.
Just curious what does your sex life have to do with any of this? Why do you feel it is important that we all know what you do in the privacy of your bedroom?
Genie+, and the new reservations system, both suck. One is a money grab with little true benefit to the consumer. And, the other sucks out any spontaneous adventures at the parks.
Tried Genie+ when at Disney in October 2021. Granted it was right after its launch, but I wasn’t a big fan. Perhaps I need another go of it. Always been a big fan of “fast pass” though.
I had an identical experience last October. There’s so much that I didn’t get to do, and I could only ride my favorite rides once, unlike my past trips! 🙁
We used Genie+ at DL and had a wonderful easy time. We rode everything in the park (that was open) and some even twice on a day that California Adventure closed early so all the park hoppers came over at 5pm. Its what you make of it and we made the most of our time with it. I would definitely pay again for ease of use and access.
It’s pretty rotten and over the top greedy. The cost for admission is high enough and the original fast pass program was wonderful. We have been annual passholders for almost 20 years and paid throughout the pandemic and when we do have a park reservation to go, we normally cancel. So heartbroken by this… Hope the “higher-ups” catch on and realize something has to give… This is not working
I was in that line on Sunday. The ride was down for 5 mins, right when one of the genie times popped. Causing a big backup of the genie line. Once the ride was up that line cleared in less than 10 mins. Waiting 15 minutes for a ride you would normally wait 50-60 for is a great deal.
Was just at Disneyland in early April. Used Genie+. Got in multiple rides with 45-70 minute waits for Stand By without trouble. Was in and out of most within 20 minutes, including the ride itself. The Reservation system keeps the crowds lower. No complaints.
Why would I pay even more money when I sleeps if $1500 for tickets to get into the parks??? In addition to paying a premium for staying at a Deluxe Villa (AKL)…no benefits to stay on property anymore. We are highly re-evaluating our investment in DVC to reconsider selling it.
Get a Premier Pass at Universal. Way cheaper than a Disney pass. Includes Express after 4, free valet parking, free ticket to Halloween Horror Nights, 15% discount on food and merchandise and more. With Express after 4, we are able to ride virtually everything in one park and then half of the rides at other park in one evening. I really don’t understand Disney fans that put up with all the BS and refuse to try Universal. Universal is such a better experience even without Express. The top level hotels are also way cheaper than Disney’s and includes unlimited Express passes for everyone staying in the room. Almost all the hotels are close enough to walk to the parks but Universal provides transportation to City walk for free anyway. Also, it’s festivals are now better than Disney’s and all but Halloween Horror Nights are free, too. Mardi Gras and Grinchmas are so good. I have totally given up in Disney. It’s just not fun anymore and costs too much.
I guess it would depend on the park. Universal Hollywood is boring and takes about 5 hours to do everything (including the tour). My son and I went to Universal and as soon as we hit the last ride we headed over to Disneyland, then Knott’s for Knott’s Scary Farm that night. But to go to Universal, that means driving into L.A….. which that alone is a PITA.
A Disney vacation is now a grueling exercise in project management. You can’t visit the complex without timetables, spreadsheets and digital devices. And you still don’t get the experience you expected.
So ill say it genie plus is a waste do u think people are paying to get on the ride faster its there trying to do more at the park meaning I’ll pay it just to pay it just like disney parking I see no one says no to it they just pay it and go and also it fills Das lines where people with disabilities do less
When is Disney going to wake up? Plus Bob Paycheck needs to go. He said in the past few months that Genie Plus is working well? Really it has gotten so bad that now Genie had to updated the site to where it now says you may get 2 or 3 rides for the day. This whole thing is a total joke. Why spend that much money for 2 or 3 rides? Plus they inflate the wait times at the rides to sucker people into buying this junk service. Old Fast pass system you were guaranteed 3 to reserve and usually had time to do 1 or 2 more. Plus it was free. Disney neeeds to go back to the old way.
By reducing the daily park capacity, Disney is deliberately creating these long lines and crowd bottlenecks. Then to solve those problems, the guests have to pay extra for Genie+ and pay for use of the Lightning Lanes. Disney is running a financial shell game on their guests. Protest by cancelling planned trips to Disney or don’t go at all. Once the attendance numbers drop dramatically, then Disney will finally get the message from the public about their new systems. The parks won’t be so crowded, and Genie+ and the Lightning Lanes will be gone, along with all those extra charges. It’s called “sticking it to the man.”
Chapek simply wants everyone paying into a system that does not work for the promise of things it will not deliver. As long as people continue to attempt to use a obviously failed system and Chapek can show profits it really matters little about wait times or lines to Disney
System worked great in Disneyland. The issue is that everyone is using it and everyone is trying to go to the same ride at the same time and some people don’t have it and still enter because thet are idiots. Genie Plus lets you get into one ride at a time and lets you know the current wait time for rides. This is pretty fast and easy system. People are just idiots and abuse the system.
Ha! I used to hate watching people just buzz right by me in line. Now so many people have “special access” its not special anymore. I quit going to Disney a long time ago. Way too crowded and expensive.
Disney is the only winner here, Genie + is a rip off, you pay on the gate that should be enough. The only free Fast pass option for guests staying on property worked well in my own experience, this Genie + crap is just a money grab from greedy Disney Board lead by Greedy Chapek, they all need to go and bring back the workable Fastpass.
I recently used genie plus at disneyworld for Magic Kingdom, Disney Studios, and Epcot. Had I not all been staying at a Disney resort with early access, I dont think it would have been worth it for studios or epcot and even with early access wasn’t worth it for epcot.
First off for studios basically the rides you want go rather quickly at early access for the entire day. I noticed when I grabbed rise of the resistance at exactly 7am that others right after me already showed them as out for the day and thats at a $15/ticket extra cost on top of the genie plus cost. So if you won’t have early access you won’t get that one. While I did snag Smuggler’s Run it was already for 4pm at the 7am time of snagging it. Even with early access these were the only 2 I was able to get at Disney studios for the day and thats because Rise had an additional charge that I was able to also get Smuggler’s run. I did see Tower or Terror and Rock Rollercoaster had end of night times available but where gone by around 3pm.
For Epcot, let just say first there isn’t a lot of rides to begin with and with early access test track was still a 4pm time frame. That was pretty much all I could grab unless I wanted to pay $9/ticket extra for the Remi’s Ratouille ride which by park open was also sold out for the day.
Magic Kingdom i was able to snag 3 passes, 1 for Pirates, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. Of course by the time my pass was ready for Haunted Mansion the ride was down, but was able to use it for “select” other rides which did not include most of the “better” rides. Thankfully not long later Haunted was working again and a shorter line was available as people didn’t realize it was back up.
I used it last time I went, it did help out with several rides, but compared to even the Max Pass (which I recommended to everyone), Genie+ sucks. I hate how it’s used in the app, the app itself sucks now, and it seems like a huge gap between being able to pick another ride, so if you pick something 4-5 hours out, it makes the rest of the pass pretty worthless. I would LIKELY get it again, begrudgingly, but I’m not a fan of it.
Spent 3 days in Disneyland. The first day I didn’t bother with the Genie+. I waited, like everyone else, and found the times indicated on the app were pretty accurate. Then I spent almost 2 hours in line for Space Mountain, where it shutdown as I was nearing the front. This added another 30 minutes. Next day I tried the Genie+ – and the experience was totally different. While I took out a Lightening Lane pass, I got on average wait lines. The LL got me on each ride within 10 minutes or so, allowing me to ride the big features at least twice. Most of my day was spent enjoying the park instead of grinding through an hour or two of waiting. I go to Disneyland at least once a year and the reservation system noticeably decreases the crowd. I had a LL reservation for the Matterhorn where the ride went down – got a multi-use LL pass as compensation for a couple hours.
I have used both and experienced the same with lighting lane. I know this will never happen but limiting the number of daily guests to help shorten wait times vs charging guests more for what is becoming a long wait anyway, could improve the visitor experience.
Forcing guests to compete for daily ride slots so you can increase demand for pay per ride lightning lane is NOT MAGICAL.
Bring back Fastpass+, allow guests to book 3 passes weeks/months ahead and we will PAY for it…. do you hear Disney? we will pay $$ for the old fastpass+ since it was able to smooth out the demand throughout the day and make our experience so much better….. Stop the madness. !!
Comments for Guests Face Massive Line After Paying Disney Nearly $20 For Special Access
rhoehn
We were only able to schedule/use the Genie+ on 2 rides at the Magic Kingdom all day. We were only able to use the Genie+ on one ride at Disney Movie park all day long! Not very efficient; unable to save any time on any other rides.
Peter fus
Ok because this is the same thing you can go around the whole park and take up time slots its this ulimate thing causeing this whole war if it was ulimated then it has to much power
Thor
Problem is. It will turn into a virtual queue if enough people start using it and the only winner is Disney by making more
And normal long wait times in fast lane instead of thr normal lane
Sora
Exactly. If everybody’s doing it it makes it redundant.
Peter fus
Diseny park is sow big that this is there only chance to win at long lines virtual queue fails there is no hope and normall and fast past is the way and people need to suffer oh well the park became to poular and to big for anything to work that is there only hope to do sow but to put it up for the whole park were you tap your phone and the entrance and get a time to come back for your turn in line 5 people can go on a time the ride is 5 min long 1 min board and 1 min off board 7mins you need to come up 1min and 30sec early sow you there time is ready you hop on elimated all quese in the park select 5 at a time only. Cap of how many people get a line at once 1hour max time litim system say past 1 hour then it close the queing
KTS
Bring lightening lanes & paying for rides has made it worse, there wasn’t anything wrong with fasspasses, everyone got fasspasses, it ran smoothly, you didn’t get long queues as there is in parks now, I’ve never seen so many queues in standard lines, when fasspasses was free, this is one of disney biggest mistakes they done, there was never a problem with fasspasses, the queues wasn’t as bad as it is now, just Disney & Chapek just wanted to fill their pockets, GOT GREEDY
Bring back fasspasses if it wasn’t broken don’t fix it
Disney has become a park of nightmares now who wants to go on holiday & be on a mobile phone the full of there holiday , disney isn’t for every family, its a park for rich & elite now , walt disney be turning in his grave the way these people have ruined Disney GREED, GREED, GREED, as a family it cost us double to travel to Disney from UK now, its unaffordable for families now
Andrew
Bring back fastpass+ and I WILL PAY FOR IT !!!
Phoebe L Ho
So yeah. This is Genie-plus. It sucks.
It sucks.
It sucks.
Kristen Robinson
I use it every time I go. I really don’t think it’s worth it sometimes. Only being able to start booking at the same time as everyone else is crazy. Popular rides gone by early afternoon, crazy. I don’t think its working or worth it. It definitely needs to go back to the fastpass plus. I was able to go on more rides. It gets expensive even with just 2 people. I don’t like the ILL. Crazy. Disney definitely needs to do something and fix it. So many negative about it, so they should listen to their paying guests.
Charlie
Absolutely agree! Bring back fastpass+!!
Andrew
I will pay for Fastpass+ !!!
Peter fus
Fast past and normall past is the way oh well and people will need to suffer in 1 hour or 2 hour lines
Phil
$20 per hour seems like a really bad typo….
Kristy
I was able to use it for at least 5 included rides (possibly more I can’t remember) in 2 different parks in the same day. Plus I was able to pay for 4 rides at the additional per ride cost. It gave us a lot of time to enjoy the little things and even things we had not done before. However I went in January, so that’s a factor to consider.
lona
make sure you demand a refund and property credit when you experience wait times.
Anna
Can we demand a refund? It’s obviously not working. Return free fastpass. It was enjoyable and worth going. Plus the fastpass was accurately omitting time slots or number of people correctly so the capacity of the people entering fastpass got to move fast and you got to go on rides within 5 to 15 minutes. This lightning lane is just up for grabs. Ridiculous to waste all this money when you already paid for the park. Fire Bob Chapek ! PLEASE
Ryan
Of course you can’t.
Blackstar
Bring back the fast pass & the magical express
Janine
Agree!!! I live in Celebration (right next to WDW) and have an annual pass but have stopped going entirely. The new system is terrible. We now go to Universal. Such a better experience. Didn’t used to be but Disney is going down hill FAST!!!!
Nancy Thorsby
There is NOTHING good about this genie crap!! It’s not helping, it’s just muddling things up!! And your constant reporting on how wonderful it is, is really annoying!! Just once tell it like it is!! It sucks!!
Linda
Nope! We just returned from Disneyland last week. We used Genie plus one day (there were seven of us, for two days) so not worth it! And then we had to pay an extra $18 each to ride Radiator Springs Racers !
Joshua Walker
We were only able to use it for 1 ride at hiklywood studios and could get nothing else all day was so disappointed and ripped off.
Rox
I would not mind paying the up charge if I could select multiple attractions at the beginning of the day. Universal has been upcharging for years but it covers all their rides or at least it used to. With this current system I’ve ended up spending lightning Lane money and only being able to use it on one ride because you can’t make your next selection until you’ve read in the first one. I will not be do that again.
Zara
I agree, they should allow you to select 3 like the old fastpass system and then when they are used select an additional 1 then
Dawn
We had Genie+ at Hollywood Studios and only got one ride before nothing else was available. It’s a rip off. Poorly set up and managed. We saw more by using the extra magic 30 minutes in the morning – and that was free!
AH
Early magic use to be one hour. Just like everything else Chapek touches that got cut also. Last year after thanksgiving used extra magic half hour at EPCOT and was able to only get one ride in.
Frustrated Passholder
The system is a complete joke! Just Disney looking for another way yo exploit $$ out of guests/passholders. Get a frigging grip Disney! You charge enough for everything else, sometimes giving just a little can mean the difference in gaining even more $$ from people.
Christopher
Stop supporting Disney and democrats. Stop buying into their lies and madness.
Men are men and women are women. Men can’t be women and women can’t be men.
Adults shouldn’t talking to other people’s children about anything of a sexual nature.
Zach, PHD
Who do you think is filing up the parks? People love what Disney is doing you idiot. Democrats and Democrat states make more money, have more education, and are showing up in droves to support Disney. You can’t even get a reservation right now. Did you know that in average the wealthiest families are those with two dads? Did you know that statistically two men are the least likely demographic to get a divorce in America? Talk about respect for the institution of marriage. My husband and I are top end upper middle class. We support Disney. I work in trauma-informed practices with children who are really going through actual abuse. This mockery is disgusting. You all are the cheapskates wanting everything free at the park. We’re the ones that really live capitalism and support Disney’s rights as an American company. You’re too uneducated to see. Go open a religious theme park. Disney is for us now. ✨️ 🧑🤝🧑🤷🏻♂️🏳️🌈😂💁🏻♂️🏳️⚧️
AH
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.
FJB
The top 20 cities in the US with the greatest poverty are run by domocrat mayor’s.
Jill E. Bean
Spot on!! Let those morons boycott Disney..shorter lines for us!
Zach, PHD
Ok I’m reading these comments and these people struggle to even type coherent English. Disney is clearly interested in shifting to new patrons that visit less often so they aren’t as budget conscious. I’ve previously written about how other signs point to this new fan base being more educated, diverse, and targeting middle upper class. I have also forgotten that a level of tech sophistication and troubleshooting. I’m sorry but if your complaint reads like a first grade paper, the issue was probably user error. It’s possible to take pictures of long lightning lane areas next to “Empy” areas of the general entry. But, why is no one heading over there? Because the lightning lane is still faster. Use critical thinking! Stop complaining because your freebies went away. Disney isn’t doing a Universal fast pass system. This is the system they want to make the profits they want. So respect their decision or go to Universal. That’s how capitalism works. Work harder to make more money or budget your trip money differently. I can’t believe a gay Democrat has to explain capitalism to you conservatives, but here we are. 🤷🏻♂️🧑🤝🧑 yeah tell the governor I said gay 🏳️🌈 and Disney happily supports it!
AH
You obviously did not read the bill before it became law. When one knows what is in it, the vast majority of people support it.
Craig
Zach, the simple fact that you add “PHD” after your name immediately tells me a couple of things about you. 1) You you have an inferiority complex and are attempting to command respect by using an acronym that cannot be proven in this forum. 2) You most likely do not have a PHD at all.
I would love to see the data sources from which you have cited all of your “facts.” If you really do hold a PHD, you will have them readily available to share, but, for some reason, Google comes to mind in your case.
Jay
Well color me surprised….A gay democrat shouting down to everyone who disagrees with him/her/it/xi/xe.
John C. Lester
…. still mad your orange fuhrer was not reinstated?
Brittany
It’s not really capitalism. There’s not a free market. Disney is a multinational corporation and they are basically acquiring a monopoly on entertainment. When it becomes so blatantly about extracting every last penny they can in the name of insatiable greed, it really does take some of the magic away. It becomes soulless. I don’t believe it’s what Walt would have wanted. imo. It wasn’t just all about money. He really wanted for every child to be able to have that magical experience. I do not think he would be at all pleased with what his dream and everything he built has become. It’s sad really.
Dawn
I am at Disneyland often (only an hour away, so it’s a quick getaway), the other day the lightning lane was a 2 hour wait (due to breaking down and everyone returning as soon as they had it running) but the stand-by was a 70 minute wait. It’s not that the lightning lane is quicker, there are people using both, the backups are causing all sorts of issues with the wait times. Then “Genie” suggests to everyone that _____ ride has a 20 minute wait, so everyone rushes over to the same ride and that line goes to an insane wait time. If people would just stop using the app the rides would run smoother.
Harvey Householder
Just curious what does your sex life have to do with any of this? Why do you feel it is important that we all know what you do in the privacy of your bedroom?
Kurt
Genie+, and the new reservations system, both suck. One is a money grab with little true benefit to the consumer. And, the other sucks out any spontaneous adventures at the parks.
Michelle
Tried Genie+ when at Disney in October 2021. Granted it was right after its launch, but I wasn’t a big fan. Perhaps I need another go of it. Always been a big fan of “fast pass” though.
freedomrocksusa
I had an identical experience last October. There’s so much that I didn’t get to do, and I could only ride my favorite rides once, unlike my past trips! 🙁
Molly
We used Genie+ at DL and had a wonderful easy time. We rode everything in the park (that was open) and some even twice on a day that California Adventure closed early so all the park hoppers came over at 5pm. Its what you make of it and we made the most of our time with it. I would definitely pay again for ease of use and access.
Kerry
It’s pretty rotten and over the top greedy. The cost for admission is high enough and the original fast pass program was wonderful. We have been annual passholders for almost 20 years and paid throughout the pandemic and when we do have a park reservation to go, we normally cancel. So heartbroken by this… Hope the “higher-ups” catch on and realize something has to give… This is not working
Amber
I was in that line on Sunday. The ride was down for 5 mins, right when one of the genie times popped. Causing a big backup of the genie line. Once the ride was up that line cleared in less than 10 mins. Waiting 15 minutes for a ride you would normally wait 50-60 for is a great deal.
Aaron
Why do all over there articles have 3-4 paragraohs if irrelevant information before the story…
Karl
Was just at Disneyland in early April. Used Genie+. Got in multiple rides with 45-70 minute waits for Stand By without trouble. Was in and out of most within 20 minutes, including the ride itself. The Reservation system keeps the crowds lower. No complaints.
Heather
Why would I pay even more money when I sleeps if $1500 for tickets to get into the parks??? In addition to paying a premium for staying at a Deluxe Villa (AKL)…no benefits to stay on property anymore. We are highly re-evaluating our investment in DVC to reconsider selling it.
Heather
Stupid phone! Why would I pay even more money when I already spend $1500 for tickets to get into the parks???
Adam M.
Get a Premier Pass at Universal. Way cheaper than a Disney pass. Includes Express after 4, free valet parking, free ticket to Halloween Horror Nights, 15% discount on food and merchandise and more. With Express after 4, we are able to ride virtually everything in one park and then half of the rides at other park in one evening. I really don’t understand Disney fans that put up with all the BS and refuse to try Universal. Universal is such a better experience even without Express. The top level hotels are also way cheaper than Disney’s and includes unlimited Express passes for everyone staying in the room. Almost all the hotels are close enough to walk to the parks but Universal provides transportation to City walk for free anyway. Also, it’s festivals are now better than Disney’s and all but Halloween Horror Nights are free, too. Mardi Gras and Grinchmas are so good. I have totally given up in Disney. It’s just not fun anymore and costs too much.
Dawn
I guess it would depend on the park. Universal Hollywood is boring and takes about 5 hours to do everything (including the tour). My son and I went to Universal and as soon as we hit the last ride we headed over to Disneyland, then Knott’s for Knott’s Scary Farm that night. But to go to Universal, that means driving into L.A….. which that alone is a PITA.
Atlantic Dan
A Disney vacation is now a grueling exercise in project management. You can’t visit the complex without timetables, spreadsheets and digital devices. And you still don’t get the experience you expected.
Jason
So ill say it genie plus is a waste do u think people are paying to get on the ride faster its there trying to do more at the park meaning I’ll pay it just to pay it just like disney parking I see no one says no to it they just pay it and go and also it fills Das lines where people with disabilities do less
Kevin Brubaker
When is Disney going to wake up? Plus Bob Paycheck needs to go. He said in the past few months that Genie Plus is working well? Really it has gotten so bad that now Genie had to updated the site to where it now says you may get 2 or 3 rides for the day. This whole thing is a total joke. Why spend that much money for 2 or 3 rides? Plus they inflate the wait times at the rides to sucker people into buying this junk service. Old Fast pass system you were guaranteed 3 to reserve and usually had time to do 1 or 2 more. Plus it was free. Disney neeeds to go back to the old way.
Karen
By reducing the daily park capacity, Disney is deliberately creating these long lines and crowd bottlenecks. Then to solve those problems, the guests have to pay extra for Genie+ and pay for use of the Lightning Lanes. Disney is running a financial shell game on their guests. Protest by cancelling planned trips to Disney or don’t go at all. Once the attendance numbers drop dramatically, then Disney will finally get the message from the public about their new systems. The parks won’t be so crowded, and Genie+ and the Lightning Lanes will be gone, along with all those extra charges. It’s called “sticking it to the man.”
Andrew
My family goes to Disney world every few years and spend $15-$20K each time. This year we have had enough, and are taking our business elsewhere.
EGG
Never a shortage of ways to part a fool with their money. Suckers.
Ripper
Chapek simply wants everyone paying into a system that does not work for the promise of things it will not deliver. As long as people continue to attempt to use a obviously failed system and Chapek can show profits it really matters little about wait times or lines to Disney
Kevin
As long as people keep falling for the WDW magic show, then this whole insanity will continue.
Some Guy
System worked great in Disneyland. The issue is that everyone is using it and everyone is trying to go to the same ride at the same time and some people don’t have it and still enter because thet are idiots. Genie Plus lets you get into one ride at a time and lets you know the current wait time for rides. This is pretty fast and easy system. People are just idiots and abuse the system.
Ashley
Ha! I used to hate watching people just buzz right by me in line. Now so many people have “special access” its not special anymore. I quit going to Disney a long time ago. Way too crowded and expensive.
Julian H
Disney is the only winner here, Genie + is a rip off, you pay on the gate that should be enough. The only free Fast pass option for guests staying on property worked well in my own experience, this Genie + crap is just a money grab from greedy Disney Board lead by Greedy Chapek, they all need to go and bring back the workable Fastpass.
Stop ripping off your customers Disney.
MustangNights
I recently used genie plus at disneyworld for Magic Kingdom, Disney Studios, and Epcot. Had I not all been staying at a Disney resort with early access, I dont think it would have been worth it for studios or epcot and even with early access wasn’t worth it for epcot.
First off for studios basically the rides you want go rather quickly at early access for the entire day. I noticed when I grabbed rise of the resistance at exactly 7am that others right after me already showed them as out for the day and thats at a $15/ticket extra cost on top of the genie plus cost. So if you won’t have early access you won’t get that one. While I did snag Smuggler’s Run it was already for 4pm at the 7am time of snagging it. Even with early access these were the only 2 I was able to get at Disney studios for the day and thats because Rise had an additional charge that I was able to also get Smuggler’s run. I did see Tower or Terror and Rock Rollercoaster had end of night times available but where gone by around 3pm.
For Epcot, let just say first there isn’t a lot of rides to begin with and with early access test track was still a 4pm time frame. That was pretty much all I could grab unless I wanted to pay $9/ticket extra for the Remi’s Ratouille ride which by park open was also sold out for the day.
Magic Kingdom i was able to snag 3 passes, 1 for Pirates, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. Of course by the time my pass was ready for Haunted Mansion the ride was down, but was able to use it for “select” other rides which did not include most of the “better” rides. Thankfully not long later Haunted was working again and a shorter line was available as people didn’t realize it was back up.
MustangNights
As far as the lines with genie plus, some were still long as some were short like they should have been. I think longest wait with was still 30min
Patrick
I used it last time I went, it did help out with several rides, but compared to even the Max Pass (which I recommended to everyone), Genie+ sucks. I hate how it’s used in the app, the app itself sucks now, and it seems like a huge gap between being able to pick another ride, so if you pick something 4-5 hours out, it makes the rest of the pass pretty worthless. I would LIKELY get it again, begrudgingly, but I’m not a fan of it.
Alfred N.
Spent 3 days in Disneyland. The first day I didn’t bother with the Genie+. I waited, like everyone else, and found the times indicated on the app were pretty accurate. Then I spent almost 2 hours in line for Space Mountain, where it shutdown as I was nearing the front. This added another 30 minutes. Next day I tried the Genie+ – and the experience was totally different. While I took out a Lightening Lane pass, I got on average wait lines. The LL got me on each ride within 10 minutes or so, allowing me to ride the big features at least twice. Most of my day was spent enjoying the park instead of grinding through an hour or two of waiting. I go to Disneyland at least once a year and the reservation system noticeably decreases the crowd. I had a LL reservation for the Matterhorn where the ride went down – got a multi-use LL pass as compensation for a couple hours.
Luther
Anyone going to the park deserves it….
Quit your whining…..
OR
STAY HOME NEXT TIME…
Raj
I have used both and experienced the same with lighting lane. I know this will never happen but limiting the number of daily guests to help shorten wait times vs charging guests more for what is becoming a long wait anyway, could improve the visitor experience.
Andrew
Forcing guests to compete for daily ride slots so you can increase demand for pay per ride lightning lane is NOT MAGICAL.
Bring back Fastpass+, allow guests to book 3 passes weeks/months ahead and we will PAY for it…. do you hear Disney? we will pay $$ for the old fastpass+ since it was able to smooth out the demand throughout the day and make our experience so much better….. Stop the madness. !!
Andrew
My family goes to Disney world every few years and spend $15-$18K each time. This year we have had enough, and are taking our business elsewhere.
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