Reviews of Disney Genie+ — WDW
Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/23/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
It’s horrible! Don’t waste your money! Just spent 5 days there. Got up and was on my phone at 7:00 every morning to get rides, and the system would crash, or I would click on a time I wanted, only for it to reserve it for 4 hrs after that time! It’s a joke!!! I think I might have gotten a reservation for 1 ride a day!
Pros:
NoneCons:
Everything about it! Waste of money!Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/23/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Really awful experience. Makes for a stressful start to the day for the people managing the app for the group. The app gets overwhelmed and always defaults back to Magic Kingdom, causing you to lose precious time when making reservations. Honestly, we all felt Walt would be disgusted and sad to see this new feature. It strongly favors those who have studied the system, and even then, the app can't handle the volume at 7am for hotel guests. Really sucks the magic out of the day.
Pros:
NoneCons:
Cumbersome app Hard to link reservations without desk help Rides are gone too quickly, for the whole day The app crashes at critical times The app defaults to Magic Kingdom instead of your park you've reservedReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/23/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
I am accustomed to a magical vacation at Disney. Unfortunately the Disney Genie+ and the lightening lane structure has made this vacation far from magical. The Fast Pass structure that has been in place for years made sense. It allowed people to structure and plan their day well in advance so when they arrived they knew what they had for quick lines and the ones they would have to decide upon that day. I am so frustrated and unhappy with the genie service that it has soured the whole magical vacation experience. I now have to be on my phone constantly looking for the next window and fighting with the options. I have been unable to get lightening lanes for the most popular rides as they are “currently not available”. The few lightening lane experiences we have had we ended up waiting in huge lines, which never happened with the fast passes in my experience. I have seen way more people glued to their phones this vacation than ever before and all of them talking and or complaining about the genie/lightening lanes. On top of this, actually being able to chat with a cast member for assistance is a ridiculous wait time and they state on the automated message the genie service is at fault. A lot of things changed between our last trip and this one and we took them all in stride (magical express going away, no more free magic bags etc) but this Genie Service + has definitely made me question if Disney still has customer service as a number 1 priority and what they were thinking by implementing a system that has encouraged more phone usage than being engaged in the wonders of the park. If you want a system for the “wing it” people, that is fine, but make sure you have a system for the planners too
Pros:
NoneCons:
Cannot plan ahead, not user friendly, support is hard to get, requires more time on phone and in app while in parks.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/22/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
I found the Genie Plus was not worth the price. I used it for the first time at Animal Kingdom. For 30 dollars (2 people) I only managed to book 1 ride in the 30-35 minute range. Everything got on to bad start because I started the day with Avatar-Flight of Passage. A 120 minute line turned into a 3hr15 minute line after finding out that there were technical difficulties and running at limited capacity after spending 95 minutes on the line. All our plans had to be rescheduled and we only got to book one activity at the end of the day. So if something happens and you need to reschedule on a busy day, good luck.
Pros:
If you stay in a resort hotel, and start your day first thing in the AM, it may be worth it.Cons:
Can only book one ride at a time. So on busy days, your second ride may be late in the day and then you may run out of time to book a third one.Reviewed by kmark2 Review Date: 02/21/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
We bought this on our DHS day because we knew it was going to be a busy day. I was up at 6:30am because I stressed about it all night long. At exactly 7am I first got the Rise of the Resistance because we had never done that and wanted to see what is was about. Once I got that then I tried getting Slinky Dog and that was already sold out for the day. Then I tried getting Tower of Terror and that wasn't available until late afternoon. So I got Rock n Roller Coaster for 10:10am. By the time we were done with Rock n Roller Coaster everything else was already sold out for the day. So I paid $15 each person for Rise of the Resistance, $11 per person for Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, then $15 per person for Genie+ and I only got to use it for Rock n Roller Coaster. We have a family of 5 so I spent an extra $205 for the day just to get on 3 rides. Everything else we waited in line for. That was definitely not worth my money! I would have rather spent that on another sit-down meal. Genie+ was not worth it in my opinion!
Pros:
noneCons:
waste of money, too confusingReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/21/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Genie+ is the worst system Disney could have come up with. You pay more and get less. With the old fast pass system, you could gain access to the popular rides and have 3 passes per day. With the new system, you are lucky if you get one pass. Granted we are in Hollywood studios but regardless, with paying more, you should get more. Additionally, the app froze when booking rise of the resistance. Not only does the new system fail, the app is awful as well. Not sure who needs to hear this but I’m sure Disney doesn’t care anyway. They have to help their stock price somehow. I guess it is good if you want to look at your phone all day and not worry about spending time with your family. I am a DVC member and will seriously consider selling our interest as it’s not very helpful.
Pros:
Disney’s stock price goes up.Cons:
Cost Minimal rides Can’t pick a specific time App crashes Constantly looking at your phone You won’t get the time you want because it will be goneReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/21/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
The new Genie+ is horrible and not worth the money.
Pros:
ZeroCons:
Much prefer previous fast pass system. Could only book 1 ride at a time. Could not book for any of the popular rides. Parks were so over-crowded that most of the popular rides had a 2 hour way. And it was an additional $15/ticket.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/18/2022
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Such a terrible setup. Decided to add it to our tickets around 10 am when I realized it was going to be a busy day at magic kingdom. It wasn’t very helpful. The popular rides were constantly unavailable unless you wanted to wait for hours later to use. On top of the $30 I spent for me and my wife, I bought individual light lane tickets for maybe 10-12 dollars more. Just to secure tickets for space mountain. The whole system is highly reliant on your phone which the last thing anyone should when at such an amazing place . Definitely prefer the old reservation system better.
Pros:
Helped us skip the stand by line for two ridesCons:
Not able to reserve more than one ride at a time. Constantly using phone to setup Genie+ not easy to use at parksReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/17/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Our family consisted of grandma and grandpa,mom and Dad. And a 6 year old and a 2 year old
We stayed on a monorail resort. The genie plus was the only way to get a ride. We utilized the early in and after hours so we were able to get in more rides than other guests. Getting the favorite ride was the mission of the 7AM selection. Many times we got them booked but for hours after the park opened. Attempts to get on rides at rope drop ended unsuccessfully with waits at 120 min forcing the purchase of lightning lane passes for those who really wanted the ride. ie 7 dwarf ride purchase made before 8am for 6:40 pm. We are 4 technologically savvy adults who have been to Disney dozen of times and we were totally frustrated. We found ourselves zig zagging through the parks. Changing reservations and having to go to customer service so we wouldn't be charged for missing times at sit down restaurants because we were stuck in lines. We felt like we were being taken advantage of by Disney. Pay $$$$ to be able to go back to room and park hop just to have to decide if a ride on space mountain/Peter Pan/Slinky dog is worth you changing your entire day's schedule. Worst Disney change.
Pros:
Only way to get a ride in less than 45 minCons:
Terrible app. Lightning lanes are not as good as fastpass. The rides that fill up are only available for more $. If you try to edit on of your group it could change entire groups schedule. Learn it before you go, make sure your phone will work with out free wifi provided in parks as it is spotty. (Verizon worked) felt like a scam.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/17/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Awful. Zero redeeming qualities. As close to nothing for your money as possible.
For the 8 days i’ve been here this service has been nothing but a nightmare. The fast pass service was amazing. Even on bad days with fast pass you could still get passes. With Lightning Lane there is no refreshing, no modifying and 9 out of 10 times by the time you see one you want and click it the time has jumped to serval hours ahead. A place that requires you to make reservations in advance comes up with a service that only is workable on the day of. Makes sense. What they really designed this for is so that people wait around the park all day and give them more money. A shame really. THE family theme park isn’t designed for regular families anymore.
As someone who visited the park over a dozen weeks in the past 4 years Staying in everything from Value to club level this will more than likely be my last time.
