Genie+ Debut Day Disaster at Disneyland
Genie+ and Lightning Lanes started on December 8, 2021 at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, with the rollout being plagued by system downtime. This post recaps how things went and offers commentary on yet another resounding success for Disney IT.
None of this should come as a colossal surprise to anyone who has paid attention to recent history or read our past warnings. Disney has a reputation for slow-motion train wrecks on drop days, making fans come to hate the beloved Big Thunder goat or the sight of Space Mountain. And of course, we’ve all had Stitch eat a page or two in our years of browsing Disney’s sites.
This is how it always goes on Disney drop days. Some people spend the better part of a day waiting only to come up empty handed. Anyone who has tried to book something on a Disney “drop day” probably has their own horror story. These woes are predictable and inevitable until Disney IT upgrades the ‘ole Gateway 2000 they use to run the Go.com servers…
When it comes to Disneyland releases in the last year, there have been issues with Taste of Disney, reopening reservations and park tickets, Oogie Boogie Bash event tickets, Magic Key passes, and Merriest Nites event tickets. To my knowledge, every single new release tied to tech has had problems.
Contrary to Disney’s claims after the fact, these all have not been about “high guest demand.” Every single one was plagued by errors, as well. On several occasions, the above-referenced virtual queues were paused. I ended up with about a dozen pending charges on my credit card for Oogie Boogie Bash due to processing errors. I can’t recall the specifics of other issues, probably because I’ve blocked them out for the sake of my own sanity.
Perhaps naively, I expected the launch of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes to go better. This was an in-park ‘product’ rather than the normal virtual queue. It also was basically MaxPass 2.0, and that system seldom had problems.
There’s also the reality that Genie+ launched a couple of months ago at Walt Disney World, and its debut day went pretty smoothly in Florida. Sure, the product itself was rushed to start generating revenue and feels like beta software that could have benefited from a few more months of polish, but like the beloved Cyberpunk 2077 before it, Genie+ worked for the most part when it rolled out in Florida.
Genie+ launch day at Disneyland started auspiciously enough. Playing along from home, I was able to browse the Disneyland app, checking out the Tip Board for Genie+ return times and Individual Lightning Lane prices ($7 for both DCA rides, $20 for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance).
Return times were slow to progress for both types of Lightning Lanes, and posted standby wait times didn’t seem too bad. After a couple hours of reviewing the app, I was satisfied that there were no glaring issues. MaxPass 2.0 would minimally impact the guest experience, with the biggest question marks whether ILLs would be viable among the disproportionately local audience, and when a Magic Key add-on for Genie+ would be released.
The only issue I personally experienced was on the regular Genie itinerary builder side of things, as I tried to obtain some ridiculous recommendations from that. Genie’s itinerary tool oscillated between not recognizing my park reservation and giving me an error message that “even Genie can’t escape technical difficulties.” (You heard it hear first: Genie’s inevitable live action origin story will be Genie and the Inescapable Technical Difficulties, coming to Disney+ Premier Access and a theater near you in 2024.)
Then we received a text from our homie Guy, who was on the ground and already having problems. Photos like that of long lines at Guest Relations and various recovery attempts would scatter social media throughout the rest of the day. There were also reports of misleading wait times and discrepancies between the Genie and regular tip boards. We hope those are errors, but regardless, not a good look.
Not long after that, the above error message greeted us when launching the Disneyland app, and would for most of the rest of the day. This warned that basically all aspects of the Genie system were unavailable…and remained unavailable for the full day.
In a statement to Scott Gustin, Disneyland indicated that they were still working to resolve technical difficulties plaguing the system, recovery options were being provided to impacted guests, and that sales of Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes would be paused for the rest of the day. No word on whether any of this has been resolved yet, so I guess we’ll find out today when Disneyland opens whether or not Genie+ is activated!
The regularity with which these kinds of problems occur is incredibly frustrating. As we wrote in our Merriest Nites Photo Report after an unpleasant experience, there’s a certain unstated arrogance in it being acceptable for day one to have so many problems time and time again. Little apparent effort is made to remedy this—the consumer is just expected to absorb it, despite the high price points.
Keep in mind that this company still sells a training “institute” to other businesses about ‘enhancing customer experiences.’ This is predicated not on present reality, but past reputation. In actuality, Disney offers poor customer service even relative to hospitality industry counterparts; it certainly is not the gold standard as compared to all companies. Anyone who thinks Disney’s customer service is “great” must usually do business with AT&T, Spirit Airlines, DirecTV, Equifax, Motel 6 and Monsanto.
Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, isn’t above constantly working to improve the customer experience, reducing friction and wait times both online and in real life. Amazon spends billions of dollars on this, recognizing that the smoother the flow, the more loyal customers who will continue to spend. Even as Amazon grows larger and more dominant, the company remains laser-focused on minimizing disruptions…and growing more!
Disney’s attitude is more “no one can touch us” and that consumers will put up with the problems. If there has been an effort to remedy the tech errors, it’s absolutely unapparent. This same type of issue has plagued Disney IT for years, and rather than minimizing friction or reliance on tech, Disney has deliberately weaved technology into more of the guest experience, striving to make everything more complicated. Rather than looking to Amazon as inspiration for innovating, Disney is seemingly embracing the business philosophy of Kruger Industrial Smoothing.
Nevertheless, we hope this might be a cautionary tale, and those who aren’t glutton for punishment will take heed next time. Unless you’re a blogger or vlogger doing it “for research,” don’t do or purchase anything from Disney on its debut day. (This goes for both coasts–Walt Disney World experiences the same woes as Disneyland.)
The likelihood of problems is high, and as their lengthy track record with the same type of perpetual problems bears out, they don’t care enough to fix the underlying issues.
Finally, another friendly reminder to be kind to Cast Members if you’re choosing to visit Disneyland and beta-test Genie+ this holiday season. It should go without saying and is always the case, but it’s especially true now. It has been a tough couple of years for them, and having to deal with the many woes of Genie+ will not be easy or pleasant, especially given how belligerent some guests can be about it.
Frontline Cast Members with whom you interact have literally zero say over the problematic policies and attitude identified above—and they certainly aren’t the ones coding the Disneyland app or IT infrastructure. You are not going to change or “fix” anything by being rude to them, only reveal the true content of your character. Hopefully we’re preaching to the choir, and everyone reading this already knows that. The real problems lie with the decision-makers who are insulated from the operational consequences of the products they release and actual on-the-ground experience–because it’s rare for them to visit the parks like actual paying guests.
Ultimately, this saga of Disneyland’s launch of Genie+ is still unfinished. For one, we don’t know whether anything was fixed–the day just ended–so it’s possible these problems still exist or that Genie+ and Lightning Lanes will be disabled today. For another thing, it wasn’t exactly a busy day at Disneyland. Walt Disney World didn’t have its worst woes with Genie+ until Thanksgiving week, when high demand overwhelmed the systems and resulted in even more glitches and errors than normal.
If you’re visiting Disneyland in the next several days, our advice would be to just stick to standby (anyone following that yesterday would’ve saved a tremendous amount of time not waiting in line at Guest Relations) until it’s clear the problems are resolved. That is, unless you savor the prospect of doing some unpaid (technically you pay them) QA work while on vacation.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Did you visit Disneyland or DCA on December 8, 2021? Were you able to use Genie+ or Lightning Lanes? What was your experience with the new system? How much of your day did you waste? Any horror stories of your own to share with Disney IT? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
My mom and I ate going for our first visit back to DLR since COVID (we typically go ~once a year) this weekend – Saturday at DL and Sunday at DCA. I am suuuuuuuuper nervous now that this has crashed so spectacularly. Especially because MaxPass worked so well. I was playing around on the app tonight in preparation and noticed a couple of things.
1. At some rides the LL time was significantly sooner than the stated standby time which makes me think either after yesterday’s disaster people aren’t buying Genie+ OR the system wasn’t accurate and eas still glitch.
2. At one point all information about DL (wait times and LL return times) just disappeared – both within the Genie subsection and in the wait time map. So clearly they are still having significant issues
Oh actually we used four lightning lanes at Disneyland last night from 7pm-9pm. Probably the only time the return times will be instant on that thing, but it was nice as the park was packed.
Eleanor – Defunctland just did a FANTASTIC video about this. It is 1 hrs 43 minutes but we’ll worth the time if you’re a Disney nerd, a stats nerd, or an industrial engineer. Since you’re here I assume you’re a Disney nerd 🙂
https://youtu.be/9yjZpBq1XBE
We happened to be there yesterday and I bought genie+ first thing. Could not use it in the Am but at one point I did manage to buy access to web slingers and use it. I spent probably a total of 10 min at guest services over two visits. First visit around noon they told me to wait. Went back at 4 and they gave me a refund in the form of gift cards. After that the Genie+ lanes came back and we used three of them successfully at Disneyland in the evening. Did I expect it to go smoothly? Not really. But my time getting it resolved with guest services wasn’t too bad plus I did actually get to use it. I Iiked maxpass and glad genie + at Disneyland includes photo pass!
Kathleen I had the same unexpected visitor while at DLR a couple of years ago and went to the first aid station where I was shocked to find out they weren’t free and was sent to the camera store on main Street where I had to buy a full 18 pack and then carry it around with me all day. I mean even at notoriously female unfriendly sports stadiums they will give you free sanitary products at the first aid station!
You are so correct when you say, “Disney’s attitude is more ‘no one can touch us’ and that consumers will put up with the problems.” The BS of Disney being so “guest friendly” is so infuriating and they do not have a clue how to make up for poor service. I’ve had a few experiences where they could have gone above and beyond to make my poor experience better and they totally dropped the ball by doing nothing and just saying “oh, sorry.”
It’s even true internationally…at least in Paris, probably not in Tokyo…my friend had her wallet stolen from her backpack at Disneyland Paris by some gypsy kids. A Cast Member found her wallet and contacted her and said that they could mail it back to her…if she paid for shipping! I’m sure Disney has some incredible rates on shipping and the fact that they couldn’t eat the 20 Euros or whatever it cost is sad. It ruined her trip and because of this she never wants to go to another Disney theme park anywhere in the world.
We were in the park yesterday, and the system did actually come back up around 7pm. At that point it was working as advertised — we were able to get a few Lightning Lane choices in quick succession. Had an issue whereby we wanted one for Haunted Mansion Holiday, but given we’d booked one earlier and then not been able to use it due to the system falling over, it said we weren’t allowed to book a second. Plot twist, however: there’s a ‘chat to a cast member’ feature on the Genie+ section of the app (this might have been there before, I’m not a frequent DLR visitor) and so I said what the problem was, and 5 minutes later was met with a polite response and a fresh LL pass for Haunted Mansion Holiday. So… obviously still a disaster, but not all bad?
Eleanor, I totally AGREE with you about FP+. We loved knowing that we had 3 rides locked in each park day, but WDW wasn’t making $ from them! I would have been much happier if they would have upgraded the FP+ tiers and charged $10 per person per day for the 3 passes and then any passes after those 3 that you get while in the parks would be free. They still would make a lot of money without busting the customers wallet and, I believe, a lot less backlash. JMO:)
We are headed there in a week, so I’ve been following the DL app occasionally, esp since Genie+ launched yesterday. Looks like standby wait times have actually been quite good. I haven’t seen RotR “rise” above about a two hour wait (and that was right after park opening). I am cautiously hopeful that we may just be able to stick to standby the 4 days we are there and not have to upgrade to Genie+ or ILL… but I think this weekend will be telling for sure.
I don’t understand why they left Fast Pass, I never realized there was a problem with it. Have been to Disney World at least 10 times (staying on property) and loved the convenience of and the pre-planning of Fast Pass. I also grew up in Southern California and went to Disneyland several times a year almost since it opened. Remember when each ride had a specific colored ticket. It would seem to me you are spending most of your time on your trip trying to figure out how to book rides. Please explain this whole thing ? The Genie + and the Lightning Lanes was to resolve what issue ? Also, what is Disney hoping to gain by using this new system ?
I have just been laughing at the pure idiocy of Disney over the last few years. I work in IT and whenever I need to do a major system/software upgrade, I “always” schedule it during a slow time. So that if issues do happen it effects the least amount of people. Plus I have a completely separate test system that I put it onto first, so we can give it a run through before rolling it out live. It amazes me how many times they have issues when they release a new software program.
Kathleen – had to laugh at your story and the preposterous situation you were in. Having just returned from Disney, I was surprised to notice that in the women’s restroom outside Topolino’s in the Riviera resort there were free hygiene supplies sitting on the counter. So maybe they should have advised you to go to a top-tier deluxe resort where women’s needs are better accommodated….or just given you the doggone item you needed. I’m sure there is concern that people would take advantage and immediately snag any supply that was freely available in the parks, but surely Disney could have something available at no cost upon urgent need by guests.
I see a distinction between what you experienced at Merriest Nites and Genie+, and then the other first day of sales examples. The latter is just stupid on Disney’s part, as some people likely gave up and, even if they ultimately sold out this time, it is becoming increasingly frustrating to book things at both US Disney parks, and eventually a critical mass of people will hopefully decide it’s not worth the trouble to book special events and potentially even Disney vacations. But while I’ve personally been insanely frustrated in those situations (and yelled out a hysterical “my vacation is ruined because I couldn’t get a reservation/tickets for [insert overpriced experience here]”, the silver lining was that at least Disney didn’t have my money yet. It’s ridiculous and shouldn’t happen, but Disney’s taking a risk there and we’ll see how that plays out long term.
With the Genie+ and Merriest Nites examples though, it is completely uncalled for once Disney has people’s money, and hopefully they don’t continue to get away with this meh attitude for much longer. Based on yesterday and the Thanksgiving problems at WDW, I completely buy the rumors that they launched before the tech was ready. That is unacceptable for a paid service. I do think the powers that be will at least hear about the DLR issues yesterday because they were issuing refunds at some point plus sales stopped, so at the least they’ll see the numbers, which might be all they care about. If I were going to DLR soon, I wouldn’t purchase Genie+, both because it sounds like a waste of money, and because I would want to send a message. The jury’s still out on my upcoming WDW trip during peak holiday season because while it might be necessary to beat the crowds, I’m not shelling out money for Thanksgiving 2.0.
That’s a fair distinction, and one with which I agree.
I think both stem from the same underlying mentality–and are symptoms of a larger problem. It’s definitely a long-term risk and also frustrating because it doesn’t have to be like this. Coasting on a longstanding reputation (or core product), making cuts, and squeezing the consumer aren’t the only way to improve the bottom line. It’s entirely possible to grow the business and increase profits while also making customers happier. This could and should be a win-win thing!
Heh. Your customer service comment is reminding me of the one truly awful moment I’ve ever had at Disney – I had a small child and, shall we say, a sudden unexpected “visitor” that required me to immediately purchase sanitary supplies. Except that I had been sold on the idea of leaving my wallet in my room and linking my card to my magicband, so I had NO cash on me. I explained the problem to a retail clerk at Epcot, who said the supplies I needed were sold only in the bathrooms, for a quarter. My magicband didn’t work on ATM machines of course, so there was no way I could procure a quarter. She suggested I go to the baby comfort area. So I hauled ass over there, with child and stroller, only to find a clerk who said they were totally out of that item in their comfort area – except for purchase in the bathroom. I explained again that I didn’t have a quarter. She suggested I go wait for a Disney bus, go back to my hotel, get cash, exchange it for a quarter and – my favorite part – since the items weren’t for sale at the retail store at my hotel, AKL, or in the AKL bathrooms, I should then fetch my cash back to Epcot where she’d change it for quarters and I could buy the damn supplies.
At this point a fellow customer handed me a quarter. Thank god. Never again have I ever gone anywhere without my wallet, no matter how damn magic those bands are.
Wow. Just wow.
This is a (very extreme example of) why I’m unimpressed by the service at Walt Disney World hotels. You go to any real world hotel charging Disney’s price points–even at the moderate resorts–and the employees are trained and empowered to minimize difficulties or make them disappear entirely.
At Walt Disney World, you’ll still find Cast Members who are able to deliver ‘magical moments’ here and there that leave lasting memories–but that is not the same thing as a high level of customer service. (It’s also not consistent.)
This seems like a surprising level of failure even for Disney IT. Without any architecture knowledge of Genie it seems like they could have just turned Maxpass back on to get the $$ they crave until Genie was ready to send everyone to Abe Lincoln at rope drop.
If Disney isn’t intentionally assuming lower guest demand than every other time they’ve rolled out IT, the most mediocre analyst would have thrown on a risk factor by now. This is an intentional cost cutting measure, not just cutting effort from IT development and testing, but also from system planning and scheduling of resources.
Only Kruger Industrial Smoothing is a deeper cut than Disney IT spending. Well done!
From what I’ve gathered over the years, there are two separate problems. One is that Disney IT fully grasps their own shortcomings and how badly these systems work for guests. Another is that they are tasked with delivering projects on timelines and budgets that are totally unrealistic given their scope and scale.
Genie falls almost entirely into the latter category.
Agree. Disney seems to have a “you’ll take it and like it” attitude about many things, whether you are talking price increases or tech failures. I have a feeling those chickens are going to start coming home to roost in the near future, as Universal is nipping on their heels and very well may start taking their market share.
“Finally, another friendly reminder to be kind to Cast Members…. they certainly aren’t the ones coding the Disneyland app or IT infrastructure. You are not going to change or “fix” anything by being rude to them”
Not only do I second this but I’ll go one more and say that even if they were the one’s responsible there’s no excuse to be rude…EVER!
A+ for the one liners on this one. Had me laughing multiple times. If only they had debuted on the 7th, they could have blamed everything on AWS, even if it was their fault.
Given the recency of the AWS outage, perhaps my holding up Amazon as a great example misses the mark here. Even with the occasional misstep, Amazon is still at a different level as compared to most major businesses–several steps ahead of everyone else, it seems.
(And it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney does try to blame this on AWS or some other externality–but the bottom line is that every single recent release at Disneyland has had issues of some sort. Disney is the common denominator, regardless of the involvement of contractors, third parties, whatever.)
disney should have google-level IT services being the company with the legacy they have. instead, they’ve chosen to have high school intern in the broom closet drowning in a sea of cables.