8
Credit: DisneyWalt Disney World Resort guests who purchased Disney Genie+ on Wednesday found it impossible to make Lightning Lane reservations. The pricey service replaced the free FastPass+ in 2021, forcing guests to pay to skip attraction lines.
Disney Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane Service
Almost every attraction in Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom is accessible via Disney Genie+. Reservations are made through the My Disney Experience app, and Disney Genie+ is purchasable starting at midnight on the day of your Disney Parks visit. It costs between $14.99 and $34.99 per guest per day.
Individual Lightning Lanes are required for the most popular rides, including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Avatar Flight of Passage, TRON Lightcycle / Run, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. They’ll run you between $10 and $25 per guest per attraction.
Disney Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane service prices are based on crowd levels at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday’s Meltdown
On Wednesday, dozens of guests experienced day-ruining issues with the My Disney Experience app at Walt Disney World Resort. They reported being unable to make Lightning Lane selections, making it impossible to skip attraction lines.
Reddit user u/christof21 shared a screenshot from the Disney Genie+ section of the app, taken around 7:00 a.m.
“Your selections aren’t loading at this time,” the message read. “Please refresh your screen or go back to the previous screen to try again.”
“Day 2 and the Genie+ experience is horrible,” the guest wrote. “… It’s really souring the experience at the moment. Especially when you’ve paid $45 for a couple of genie+ passes.”
Multiple commenters shared similar experiences trying to utilize their Disney Genie+ purchase on Wednesday morning.
“Is everyone having this problem?” u/karmiccloud asked. “I can’t book a lightning lane this morning because the app won’t load it on multiple different phones right now.”
“I could book an [Individual Lightning Lane] but none of the regular [Lightning Lanes],” u/nolana12 replied.
“It’s really bad this morning,” u/zeevenkman agreed. “Yesterday was fine and the day before maybe 10 mins of issues.”
A user who claimed insider knowledge shared that Walt Disney World Resort technology cast members were frantically working on a fix for known Disney Genie+ issues.
“I can confirm, straight from the mouth of a friend who works with the guest experience team, that Genie+ was down this morning and they have hundreds of people calling about this,” u/LordTetravus wrote. “Their morning has been extremely hectic. Yes, it’s frustrating, but it’s just a system issue that should be resolved sooner than later.”
Eventually, some guests successfully booked Lightning Lane selections.
“I was able to book,” said u/emjaybee915. “Good grief, what an hour that was!”
Have you experienced issues making Lightning Lane selections at Walt Disney World Resort or Disneyland Resort? Share your story with Inside the Magic in the comments.
Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on personal Disney Parks Guest experiences. No two Guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.