Genie+ Fiasco Ends With Mother in Tears, Separated From 3-Year-Old

A Walt Disney World vacation can be incredibly stressful despite being “the most magical place on earth.” Long days, confusing Genie+ rules, and large crowds can make or break a vacation.

When you factor in the highly controversial Genie+ system, it can take a vacation from stressful to downright upsetting. The Genie+ system was created in an effort to help guests keep their reservations and plans all in one place while allowing a streamlined option to make Lightning Lane reservations, which replaced the FastPass+.

However, the service has been criticized by guests for being an additional cost that continues to rise and for necessitating using a cell phone all day while trying to enjoy a vacation. In order for all guests in a party to book a virtual queue or Lightning Lane, all must be registered together. If not, it can really negatively impact the overall experience.

That’s exactly what happened with @raeganprice1 who shared her upsetting experience in a video recently posted to TikTok. Although the experience took place over a year ago, she says she still thinks about it, but is thankful she can look back at it and laugh.

“Me, a full grown adult crying my first time at Disney after attempting to use the genie+ on the first ride. I reserved it and everything just didn’t know how to scan in. And the girl was so rude, and my husband was so rude. So now I’m out here crying because I’m missing my almost three year old’s magical morning. I’m never coming back here lolol.”

@raeganprice1 DEADDDDD THIS IS A DRAFT FROM A YEAR AGO TODAY 💀 glad we can laugh now #disney ♬ original sound – Rae | FLORIDA PHOTOGRAPHER 🙂

In a follow up video, she explains what had happened. She states that they had managed to book Frozen Ever After as their first Genie+ reservation ride of the day. “I didn’t know what I was doing…we had no idea how to scan in,” she explains. “I go up and I’m trying to show the girl my phone to show her that I reserved the Genie+ for that time slot. She looked at me like I was dumb. I was like ‘okay, how do I scan in?’ And she was like ‘how did you get in the park?’ And she was being all, in my mind, rude. But looking back she was probably just genuinely asking because however you get into the park is how you get into the ride.”

Raegan continues to say she was a hospitality major and so had really high expectations for the customer service of Disney cast members, explaining it just caught her off guard and shocked her. She states no one would actually explain how to scan in and she genuinely had no idea. She ended up getting so flustered that she turned around and walked out of line, while a manager walked over and was able to assist her husband getting on the ride.

While it may seem like a minor inconvenience to some, Genie+ can be genuinely confusing if you’ve never used it. For cast members or guests who often visit the parks, it may seem simple, but even those guests still have complaints about the system. It’s unfortunate Raegan’s Disney trip started as rough as it did, but thankfully, as she said, she’s able to look back and laugh at how “cringe” she sees it now.

“I’m kind of glad to see all the comments of people who had the same experience,” she finishes. “It’s also really sad that they can’t think of a better system and that they can’t maintain a higher level of customer service.”

The comments under her original video are full of people commiserating with her unfortunate experience and agreeing with her opinions on Genie+. “So true though Disney has thirty thousand rules you’re just expected to know when for so many people it’s a ONCE IN A LIFETIME trip,” agreed one comment.

“Genie+ ruins the Disney experience,” said another, “I was either checking my phone all day or waking [sic] from one side of the park to the other to get our window.”  “Legit. Disney had me in tears almost the entire time because it’s so stressful! It seems so unnecessary that it’s so complicated. I hated that trip,” mourned another.

And Raegan apparently wasn’t the only one to have a negative experience at Frozen Ever After, specifically. One comment recalled, “the girls at the frozen ride were so mean to me bc I wasn’t a Disney expert and I didn’t know every single ll policy.”

Clearly, she isn’t alone in her stressful experience. Despite Genie+ supposedly being helpful for guests with a “streamlined” experience, the overall Disney trip is more stressful than ever. Guests often have to prepare months in advance when planning a trip, including research about how to navigate the parks with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. For so many people, Disney is meant to be a magical time but the reality seems to be getting further and further away from that.

Have you ever felt like your trip was impacted by Genie+? Let us know what happened in the comments below.