Reviews of Disney Genie+ — WDW
Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/17/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Stayed at WDW for 7 days in early February - a generally quiet period of time in past visits. This time around, the park was incredibly busy, which probably impacted my impression of the new park system. In order to ride some of the most popular attractions, we had to wake up at 7 am every morning in order to book our lightning lane slots - considering this is also our vacation time, it's not ideal. I found that my party was more stressed and tired during this visit than our numerous ones before this with the fastpass+ system.
We wanted to wait until we got into the parks to book the genie+ passes to see if we'd need them. After breakfast, we'd get into the parks by around 8:30am-9am and any genie+ lanes that were worth even considering purchasing the pass for were already fully booked until 6pm that day. I was pregnant this visit, so that doesn't even include rides like Space Mountain or Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I'm talking about the previously B-tiered rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion!
I'm a planner, and loved the previous Fastpass+ system - it worked well for me, but I'm also not opposed to spending some money to skip the queues. I'd even be happy to pay more to purchase something like the VIP access pass at Universal where you pay to cut every line upon arrival. I'm just not willing to waste my money on a system that will only allow me to ride one, maybe two attractions in addition to all the other lines I've already been waiting in that day. I'd say this is definitely not an all-access system. I had better luck riding everything available at the parks with Fastpass+ than I do with Genie+.
Pros:
Found restaurant reservations to be more flexible, which was great because you don't know what you might want to eat from day to day.Cons:
Hardly got to do anything... mainly watched shows, and if we were lucky, we got to ride 2 attractions a day. Lots of last-minute planning, which is stressful, and lots more early days where you have to immediately rush into the parks instead of enjoying a nice breakfast at the hotels (not to mention if you chose to spend \"$$$$\" on a lengthy character breakfast - you're blowing your chances of riding anything by doing that).Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/16/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Just got back from 8 days at the park. Genie+ was really the only option to get on any rides without a ridiculous wait. The Genie assumes you’ll be at the park for the whole day which is really not the case for most guests staying onsite. We hated having to pay more for certain rides and even our kids picked up on the frustration of the new system. Wifi at a few of the parks is shoddy and the My Disney Experience app wouldn’t work. The magic of Disney is gone. It’s now nothing more then a money making machine. I’d liken the new system to a “pay to win” online video-game. Quite disgusted honestly.
Pros:
Only way to get on any rides without waiting ridiculously long times.Cons:
Still have to pay to go on major attractions. Genie assumes you’ll be at the park for the whole day, from open to close.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 02/14/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
I paid $25 total for Disney Genie for my 7 night/8 day stay at Disney World. I liked that we were able to schedule Lightning Lanes as early as 7am for the activities for the day. However, too many cons. My sister and I traveled together. We are both 48+. She wasn't able to connect our reservation to her Disney account to use any of the functionality of Disney Genie. We also felt that it was ridiculous that we had to pay to get a Lightning Lane for any of the rides. If it isn't available it isn't available. But if it is why do I have to pay $8-$22 *per person* to ride a ride A) I've already paid admission to the park for and B) I've already paid to use Genie for? In addition I was only able to have one Lightning Lane at a time. Why wouldn't I be able to have more? It used to be that when you did a fast pass you could get one for multiple rides at a time and schedule your day that way.
Pros:
Able to schedule one ride in advance for walk onCons:
Not able to schedule more than one ride at a time, Might have to pay for lightning lane for some rides. If you schedule something in the morning and it's not available till later in the afternoon you are stuck with it till you either cancel or use the lightning lane.Reviewed by GeniePlusIsHorrible Review Date: 02/14/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
What a ripoff! Boo to Disney! Bring back FastPass!!!
Pros:
Compared to Fastpass, noneCons:
Everything - it’s a horrible money grab from newbiesReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/30/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Absolutely the worst thing Disney has ever done
Pros:
None- you are paying for what was free and even then not for everything and even then lots of things aren’t available as others have said. Maybe worth it for small groups or those coming once in a lifetimeCons:
As above - but to add: think about annual pass Dvc members. We shell out $1200 per person per year for tickets plus your Dvc fees. Then you want to spend another $15 pp per day? Seriously? We are a family of 5. That means $6000 in annual passes plus $80 / day? If I had known this was coming would not have gone the Dvc route. Now have to figure out how to divest myself of everything Disney.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/27/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
I have never seen a fast pass with so many restrictions. I tried using it at the first ride I came across. No you need an appointment. I schedule an appointment fir late afternoon. Now I have 2 hours before I can schedule another. So here I am 70min wait time for a minor attraction on a Thursday. I did everything I could to avoid long lines.
Pros:
NoneCons:
Now I spend more time on my phone when my goal is not using itReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/27/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
When I originally purchased this, I thought it would be worth the money. I was wrong. We would wake up at 6:50 every morning to be prepared to make a selection at 7:00 AM. By 7:01 most rides weren't available until late afternoon. And even if we wanted to pay extra for the popular rides, those lightning lanes would be gone! We didn't get to ride most popular rides unless we were willing to wait 2 plus hours. You also couldn't really pick rides that were close to each other. So we were zig zagging across the parks all day.
I also don't know how people would get any lightning lanes unless they staid in a Disney hotel. Most lightning lanes where gone by 7:05. And if you aren't staying on Disney property, you can't select any rides until you get into the park.
Because of the long wait times and lack of lightning lanes we were able to ride an average of 3-4 rides per day. It was extremely disappointing.
The park was extremely busy also so that may have factored in it. We have gone the same week in January multiple times over the past few years and havent have too much of an issue with crowds, but this year we were shoulder to shoulder with other guests in all the parks besides Animal Kingdom and most days waits for basic rides weren't under an hour. We will likely look for other vacations to do until some changes are made, especially since this is such a pricy vacation.
Pros:
You are shown more places to eat and shows that's are available. Some places I never knew about.Cons:
Lightning lanes sell out at 7:00 am each morning Having to zig zag across the parks to get to the available rides The cost It took us about three days at Disney before we really understood how to use genie plus Most rides aren't available until early or late afternoon (likely due to how busy the parks are) EXTREMELY busy parks so wait times without Disney Genie aren't usually under an hourReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/26/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
The concept alone is absurd (not a “fast” pass if you must wake up at 7 AM to make reservations before even arriving). I’d call it a slow pass that’s absurdly expensive, as it doesn’t even include all rides and excludes some of the most popular.
Pros:
FewCons:
ManyReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/19/2022
Rating: (2) Not Recommended
Horrible. Especially as you pay extra.
Pros:
None. Go back to FastpassCons:
Everything. Confusing, expensiveReviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 01/10/2022
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Honestly the worst interface experience I have ever had with an app. It try’s to do to many things and therefore does nothing well! We went in December and won’t be going back until some of this nonsense is gone.
