Genie+ Really is Paid FastPass+ at Disney World
We’ve been referring to Genie+ as “paid FastPass” since before its debut at Walt Disney World, and now the company is offering a tacit confirmation of this via a new caveat aimed at lowering expectations. In this post, we’ll take a look at the language change, why it was likely added, and more.
This new warning (of sorts) comes after Walt Disney World moved Individual Lightning Lane attractions to Genie+ through August 7, 2022. That should improve the quality of the Genie+ experience, adding availability, and (theoretically) how many standard Lightning Lane selections you can score in a day when attendance is higher.
That move mimics one made for the Christmas season last year, and was one of many problems with Lightning Lanes and the paid FastPass service. Those range from increased technical difficulties to limited ride reservation inventory with the whole system and infrastructure placed under greater usage. In any case, here’s the “expectation lowering” official verbiage from DisneyWorld.com’s Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance page:
When you take your day to the next level by purchasing Disney Genie+ service, you may choose the next available arrival window for Lightning Lane entrances at select attractions and entertainment. This unique service lets you use our new Lightning Lane entrance at select attractions and experiences at the Walt Disney World theme parks. On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.
You can enjoy a Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane entrance once per day. If you’d like to re-ride an attraction or see a certain show again within the same day, you are welcome to use our regular standby line.
The pertinent new text is this: “On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.” (H/t to Scott Gustin for spotting this change.)
This sentence has been added in a variety of locations around DisneyWorld.com and in My Disney Experience, including on the various in-app pop-ups that appear prior to purchasing the Genie+ service. From that, it’s very clear that Walt Disney World wants guests to see this message, and is attempting to manage (read: lower) expectations about how much they can accomplish via the Lightning Lane line-skipping service.
The reason this is a tacit admission by Walt Disney World that Genie+ is really paid FastPass+ is likely obvious to longtime fans. In case not, 3 is the number of attractions that could be reserved in advance under the free FastPass+ service. This means Genie+ is essentially a $16 daily ticket price increase by a different name.
Actually, it’s not just a $16 daily ticket price increase. As Disney notes, this is the number that can be accomplished if the first selection is made earlier in the day. In other words, you’ll need to wake up at or around 7 am each day of your vacation. Oh, and you’ll also need to overcome the MDX app’s error of the day. (Will it be a deluge of email confirmation codes, random crashes, linking errors, or something else? Who knows! And isn’t that the thrill of it?!?)
In other words, Genie+ has higher costs than free FastPass+, both monetarily and in vacation time and frustrations. (Some of these same faults existed with FastPass+, but at least they were shifted a month or two ahead of your trip and thus couldn’t ruin your day while actually on vacation.)
This change also comes as the Genie+ system comes under greater stress due to elevated attendance at Walt Disney World. We’ve gone over this in a number of recent reports, but winter was (nearly) a return to pre-closure highs, and February was the busiest month in the last two years at Walt Disney World.
Spoiler alert: March 2022 is going to “dethrone” last month for that dubious distinction, with an average wait time across all Walt Disney World attractions of 47 minutes. That’s 2 minutes higher than last month, which may not seem like much, but definitely adds up in aggregate. If Disney Park Pass reservations are any indication (they very much are), April is going to be on par with–or maybe even worse than–March and February.
As a result of our experiences with in in the last couple of months, we’ve been warning that Genie+ is becoming less useful and is not the end-all, be-all of park touring strategy. To that end, we published Genie+ v. Savvy Standby Strategy at Walt Disney World, which is the result of extensive ‘testing’ to determine the best and worst ways to beat the crowds right now. (We put a lot of work into that, and it should be incredibly useful for planning, while not being too overwhelming.)
The only park where Genie+ was the clear-cut winner was Magic Kingdom. Everywhere else, there were superior strategies for saving time waiting in line. That’s true even with Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where we had previously strongly recommended buying the Genie+ service. For DHS, we called Genie+ the “option of last resort” because it’s headache-inducing, but not any more so than standby lines, which are just brutal at DHS.
We’ve also shared recent full day experiences with Genie+ at both Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (see My Day Using Genie+ Lightning Lanes in Peak Crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and My Day Using Genie+ for Spring Break 2022 at Magic Kingdom).
If you read those, you’ll notice I accomplished significantly more than Walt Disney World’s caveat suggests. Keep in mind that the company’s statement is prefaced with “on average.” I’m anything but average when it comes to using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. That might sound like a humblebrag, and I guess sort of is, but it would be a pretty lame point of pride. I doubt my parents are bragging to their friends that their son has mastered an unnecessarily complex queueing system.
More than anything, this is an acknowledgement of the complexity of Genie+ and the differential between its power users and first-timers. There’s a reason we have a ~4,500 word Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ along with another dozen-plus posts for those who want to thoroughly master the new paid FastPass system. It isn’t easy, but knowledge can help significantly in achieving better results.
With that said, I do think Walt Disney World’s stated 2-3 average is way low for Magic Kingdom. Even with only a cursory understanding of the system on high crowd days, guests should easily be able to accomplish double that number of attractions via the Lightning Lanes. That’s the benefit of a more ride-dense park. The other 3 parks are probably in the 2-3 range if you only care about headliners.
(Now this has me curious. If you’ve used Genie+ in the last two months or during the holiday season, how many Lightning Lanes were you able to book? Please share numbers–even if just ballpark estimates–in the comments.)
Even while it has worked for us, we’ve been incredibly disappointed by Genie+ and Lightning Lanes as a whole. Prior to launch, our original perspective was that paid FastPass was an inevitability, and that “it could’ve been worse.” My biggest frustration at that time was messaging; Walt Disney World failed to communicate just how the system would work and the different Lightning Lanes would work. (Something that still hasn’t been sufficiently remedied, in my view.)
I’ll admit to being more bullish back then about Genie+ than the average Walt Disney World fan. I was wrong and feel like I owe you an apology–I expected better of Walt Disney World with the Genie system. This optimism was based on our experiences with MaxPass at Disneyland, which were largely positive.
For a blog known for overthinking literally everything, I should’ve given that analysis more thought. Disneyland is a terrible comparison to 3 of the 4 parks at Walt Disney World because it actually has a healthy number of rides. (Like its predecessor, Genie+ works great at Disneyland…minus some new tech issues and rule quirks.)
I also didn’t foresee some of technical difficulties, frustrating user interface, and lack of obvious features. Call that one a “failure of imagination,” as I should absolutely know better when it comes to all things related to Disney IT. (In my defense, MaxPass was right there as a template and didn’t have this level of problems. Leave it to Disney to reinvent the wheel and make it square.) I also dramatically underestimated the number of guests who would purchase Genie+ at Walt Disney World; as more people purchase Genie+, Lightning Lane availability decreases and competition grows.
Ultimately, that’s the tough and sad thing about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. “Success” with the system comes at the expense of tech novices or less knowledgeable guests, many of whom will drop $16 per person for next to no advantage. This isn’t just theoretical–we’ve received feedback from literally hundreds of guests at this point who have reported exactly that.
If a third party blog is receiving this type of negative reviews for Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, there’s absolutely no way the company isn’t hearing the same from guests. We’ve noticed longer lines at Guest Relations and have heard of refunds issued for Genie+ becoming commonce. They’re undoubtedly receiving negative feedback online via social media and surveying.
Speaking of which, company executives have praised Disney Genie for improving per guest spending and its high popularity during recent earnings calls and at various conferences. One rather conspicuous omission from this commentary has been guest satisfaction scores. The first few quarters after Walt Disney World reopened, the resilience of these numbers was regularly touted. They’ve been silent on that topic in the quarters since Genie debuted. Any guesses why?!
Ultimately, whenever language like this ‘2-3 attractions’ warning is added to lower expectations, there’s a reason for it. Disney has a sophisticated survey and research apparatus, and my strong suspicion is that the “results” there from guests who have bought Genie+ in the last few months are anything but positive. Of course, that’s just a guess–maybe guests lowkey love Genie+, and the backlash here and on other corners of the internet is incorrect. (That’ll likely go down as the best unintentional joke this blog has ever told.)
In fairness to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, there is no perfect solution. FastPass+ likewise had a steep learning curve, and it was counterintuitive to most guests to plan out rides 30 or 60 days in advance of their vacation. Paper FastPass was physically-demanding, requiring people to criss-cross the parks (remember runners?!). Neither of those were this stressful and confusing, and at least those were not directly monetized (a lot can be forgiven when it’s free!). I certainly hope Walt Disney World is paying attention to guest satisfaction and feedback. Even though Genie+ works well for me (and can for you), it shouldn’t require being a power user who has taken a crash course in the system’s strategy to have a good day in the parks.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on my Walt Disney World’s warning that guests can only experience 2-3 attractions via Lightning Lanes on average? Thinking we’re making too much of this language tweak, or is it a fair to point to this as the paid FastPass system not being able to handle guest demand and meet expectations? If you’ve purchased Genie+ in the last ~2 months (or over the holiday season), how many Lightning Lanes were you able to reserve? Are you planning on buying Genie+ or sticking to free standby lines at WDW? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!
March 29th bought Genie+ for a party of 9 staying off property. Was only able to hold 1 reservation at a time and wasn’t able to pay extra for any of the big LL rides, though we tried for multiple all day. Being able to plan out your day 60 days in advance was wonderful. This trip I was staring at my phone trying to grab another Genie+ even while driving Tomorrowland Speedway. Hate the additional cost and I wasn’t able to be present and enjoy the trip.
Is still amazes me how many people are willing to drop thousands of dollars on a WDW trip without doing any sort of planning whatsoever! They just think they can show up, walk in, look at the map, and decide what to do in a quick manner. All of us who look ahead months, and plan to the nth degree, also know that all our planning WILL NOT work out 100% exactly how we planned, but we’re prepared for that. Why would we think then, that families don’t plan ahead for their trip would have any idea how to work Genie+ to their benefit? In a way, I’m ok with those families b/c it likely makes my job, as our family of 9 May ’22 trip planner, easier. While I’m going to be taking advantage of the 120 minute rule starting early, these non-planning families are going to be getting frustrated with long wait times for rides and then likely purchasing Genie+ later in the day when it’s too late to really work for them. Anyway, Tom, we really love all your content and appreciate all the work you and Sarah put in. If we happen to see you in a park next month, lunch or dinner is on us!
We’ve stayed away from Disney for the last two years, in part because we have a kiddo who can’t be vaccinated yet, but also because of the “pay more for less” reality of the parks these days.
I’m increasingly wondering if going to Disneyland makes better sense at this point. Assuming travel costs are roughly equal, which would you prefer? Or recommend? (Bonus of CA being it’s easier to get to NPs and not feel like you’re missing out on Disney if you fold in a few park days whereas 10 days at WDW and we still miss stuff!).
We actually have a full post that delves into this very question! 🙂 https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disneyland-versus-disney-world-comparison-2022/
Holidays should not be stressful. I shouldn’t have to cram like I’m taking an exam for a day in a theme park.
Hi Tom. I do an average of 4 Disney trips per year and consider myself pretty savvy whdn it comes to most things Disney. I tried Genie+ LL in December and hated it. However, I was there March 23rd – March 27th with my 8 year old and was very concerned about crowd levels so I gave it another go. It actually worked out pretty well for us this trip but I think there were a couple contributing factors. First, I was on top of the 2 hour mark exactly. Second, we were park hopping, always ending at MK so that might have given us more options then we would have had otherwise. Each day I grabbed a headliner at 7am, we had 1 lengthly wait each day but were able to stack a few rides up for the afternoon/evening. I would say we did 3 to 4 (decent) LL each day plus the additional paid individual LL’s. The park where I found it the least useful was Hollywood because we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do there. Anyway, I appreciate all your posts and insight!
Thanks so much for all of the great information that you give your readers!
We were a group of 10 that went to WDW for 12 days in December 2021 including Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year’s Eve and New Years. We used the Genie+ and loved it. On average we were able to use it for 6 or 7 rides each day! We are diehards and go from park opening to park closing. The system never crashed or had any problems at all!
Our day in HS on March 28, 2022.
My son (9 yrs old) and I went on a mini vacation to visit my dad who lives in FL. All 3 of us went to HS. My dad is active and in good health, but at 74 years old, standing all day in huge lines would’ve been hard on his legs and feet. Genie+ and ILL for RotR made sense for us.
Note: My husband, son, and I visited HS before Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge opened and my son enjoyed Jedi training and the Indiana Jones Spectacular. He isn’t really into Disney Jr. or Frozen anymore, so shows weren’t a priority for us.
Thanks Tom for the planning tips! We had a great trip. We used 3 genie+ passes (we had a 4th, but I canceled it to do standby instead at an earlier time). We could’ve gotten a 5th Genie+ for Toy Story Mania for later in the day, but my son wasn’t interested in staying later to do it. We’re from PA and he was ready to enjoy sun and swimming at the hotel 🙂
6:00am – purchased Genie+
6:45am – in line for Skyliner at Pop Century
7:00am – grabbed Genie+ SDD 10:30-11:30
7:30 – finally got an ILL for RotR 10:15-11:15 after constantly refreshing the app for 30 minutes
7:45am – park opened
8:00am – rope dropped ToT and then Aerosmith
8:30am – MMRW standby with 40 minute wait
Headed to Muppets 3D with no wait
10:25 – checked in for SDD (standby=130 minutes!)/grabbed a Genie+ Millenium Falcon 10:30-11:30
10:45ish – checked in for Millenium Falcon(standby=100+ minutes!)/grabbed a Genie+ for Aerosmith 4:14-5:15 because my son wanted to ride it a second time
11:15 – placed food order for Docking Bay 7 to be ready 11:20-11:50
11:20 – checked in for ILL RotR(standby= 150 minutes!)
11:50ish – picked up food at Docking Bay 7 (We had our meal within minutes and really enjoyed the food! I have no idea why so many people were waiting in a long food line instead of ordering on the app.)
12:30-1:30 explored Galaxy’s Edge (grabbed a Genie+ for Star Tours 4:30-5:30)
1:30 – Droid Depot reservation (My son loved it!)
2:20 – Decided to cancel Genie+ for Star Tours and wait in the 30 minute standby line
3:10 – ADR at 50’s PrimeTime Cafe
4:15 – Clocked in for Genie+ Aerosmith(standby=85 minutes)
Ended the day with Ice cream at scoops, browsed some shops, back to the hotel for swimming.
Is there a separate window to go to for pickup? Wew were there three years ago n MK and ordered online but there was no special line to go to. We still had to wait in line for our food and by the time we got it, it was cold. Hopeing to hear that has changed
Jodi. – were you off property?
thats an amazing day! We had no intention of doing the Droid Depot. But then it was there and awesome, and the teenager said he would pay for his own droid. And it was only a 5 minute standby wait! so we went for it for everyone. Such a fun experience!
FYI…We stayed onsite at Pop Century and as of March 28th they had no buses running to HS or Epcot. The Skyliner was the only option.
After ordering food in the app, we arrived at the Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo during towards the end or our ordering timeframe. I notified them I was there via the app and they sent me a message when the food was ready. We bypassed the line of people that didn’t order online and got our food. Very easy system.
We used genie+ on March 28th and got 3 attractions. We could have gotten more but we had a 5:30 dinner reservation at Kona cafe and decided we would rather experience trader Sam’s and head back to our hotel on the earlier side than return to the crowds of the park.
One of my complaints about the system is the inability to cancel or modify individual lightning lanes. At 7am I got a 4:50 return time which was way later than we wanted. An hour or so later they were selling 9am slots which we would have loved.
We went in Feb. We go once a year and I always prep by reading your articles so thank you! We have 3 little ones under 4 and we spent two days in Magic Kingdom this time. We bought Genie + for one of the days and I will say I do feel like it was an absolute waste of money and actually contributed to the parks feeling more crowded. I felt like we had few selections with Genie + and it made our day way less flexible. Rather than scheduling times I thought would work for our temperamental kids, I was trying to just pick anything that was the soonest next available ride- usually this was 1- 2 hours out and only got worse as the day progressed. So then you either get in line for something else and wait anyway or go shopping or eat or whatever. This creates your 2 person scenario where every single person in the park is actually acting as 2 people. One of you is in “line” for a ride and therefore clogging that ride line up and one of you is in the shops making them impossible to push a stroller through without hitting someone. So I think the crowd levels feel worse because of this app.
Like others have said, it’s tough to stay in a park all day with little ones, especially if you’re going multiple days. Genie + is best if you plan on being there ALL day and you are so flexible that you can run (ahem Tom) to any ride at any time. When you have little kids, this just isn’t going to work. Rope drop tactics are the best way to get rides in for little kids. The. You can dip in the afternoon when crowds become unbearable and get the little ones a much needed nap.
To be fair, I did start to stack rides for an evening return and this did work out but I felt like it was just by chance. Times for rides quickly start moving toward the evening so if you want to do this, you can start it fairly early; however, not all rides are selectable at the times you wish they were. So for us I stacked pirates of the Caribbean and Aladdin for our evening return. (Pirates was just a bit too scary for them but I didn’t really have any other ride options that would have worked)
Overall I felt like my selection for rides and times was limited, I didn’t really get more from it (despite paying more for it) and it contributed greatly to the congestion of the parks. What it does do is accomplish all the goals of new Disney: get people to spend more money on a ticket and give them free time to shop instead of wait in line so they can spend more money. (Insert evil villain laugh)
Yes! I had not considered this is why the parks felt so congested, but you are so right!
I agree. This is just Disneys way of making more money. Not that they pay their help extra with all these extra funds. It is not what Walt Disney would have done. No one wants to spend their vacation looking at a phone while walking with hundreds of people. Let people make reservations a week before they arrive so that we can enjoy the day without a phone attached to our fingers.
Went with party of 16 the last week of February. It was a nightmare. We couldn’t book all together (genie+ limits groups to 12) so had to try to match up times which was impossible on the big rides. In AK we got 3 rides, but only after going to guest services because app glitch (app would say I was ineligible to book until 12:00, at 12:01-1:15) . In HS only got (2) slinky and RR. Could have booked a show for the evening, so I guess we could have had 3 if I wanted muppets at 7:00. In MK, we booked 4 with the help of guest services (due to multiple app glitches.) Will never do it again. Even thinking about it makes me angry.
The steady return to normal puts me in mind of the parallel universe that exists today at WDW: where free FP+ is still the system in use*, Spaceship Earth has reopened reimagined, and Lakeside Lodge has just opened to rapturous acclaim.
*(I know many think paid FP was inevitable due to the previous rumours of Genie+, but Disney simply wouldn’t have been able to pull free FP+ without negative international media coverage; the transition would also have realistically needed 60 days’ notice due to held reservations).
I have not gone since the shut down and am dreading the stress of having to use this “new FP system”. Having been reading the blogs and tips and looking on the app at different times and dates, and all of the negative comments is exactly what I have been experiencing. Have a trip scheduled later in the year, hopefully Disney will get their head pulled out of their ___ and make some positive and “magical” changes, not all this verbage to lower expectations.
STILL considering canceling Disney and doing UNIVERSAL instead, every time I see or hear excuses from Disney trying to justify their “poor” decisions just pushes me closer to Universal!
My stay in April was split with Universal. The guest experience at Universal is So. Much. Better. Our next time in central FL will be Universal only!
Not April, February
I could say I told ya so, however I would not get any real satisfaction out of it. To be honest I am not against a “paid fast pass ” system, however I am and was against this. I felt then as I do now that you are pretty much getting a lesser version of fast pass, than it was when it was free. That is simply because when it was free, you could potentially get to ride say Rockin roller coaster as a fast pass more than once a day, now you have to pay, only ride one ride once a day, and still have to keep refreshing to maybe get one, on a busy day. The question really is, how much would one be willing to pay, to leisurely walk around all of the four parks and walk on whatever ride you would want without waiting? Something like the Univeral paid fast pass, which I believe can and does encounter some issues from time to time, our last visit to their, we did pay Universal, and we really liked it, so how much would ya pay Disney?
Lol Tom “Leave it to Disney to reinvent the wheel and make it square.“ 100%. We went in January and averaged 4 rides not including individual lighting lanes. Being the first time using it, it was extremely frustrating to have to stress out at 7 AM every morning and then be on your phone every two hours. I also emailed Disney per your suggestion back then.
Was just at the park last week and I had a pretty good experience with genie+ and ILL. I’d never used it before but had read a ton of blogs so was probably better prepared then the normal user. My goal was basically to get at least three and anything over that was a win. At HS we used it for Slinky Dog Dash, star tours, midway mania and alien saucers. With a good rope drop strategy and some luck (tower broke down and we were in the right place at the right time when it reopened to walk on) the longest line we waited in all day was 25min for Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway. Note we did ILL for rise and skipped rockin roller coaster as we were with young kids that didn’t want to do a roller coaster that went upside down but basically did all other rides, muppets and the frozen sing along show. We had lunch reservations at sci Fi and drink reservations at oga and were out of the park by 7. We also used genie+ at MK and managed to use it for 6 rides. We probably could have gotten more but went back to the hotel mid day for about 4 hours to swim and nap. At MK we skipped the line at Space Mountain, Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Dumbo and Barnstormer (which was clearly the throw away one at the end of the night that wasn’t really needed as the ride was walk on anyway). Still prefer Fast Pass Plus as I liked the ability to select the times in advance. There was definitely stress about working around reservations and times when I was eligible to book but had to hold off for a while so things we wanted would get to evening times since we were planning to go back to the resort in the afternoon.
You asked for experiences: we were there over New Years. We did 4 days with park hoppers and G+ each day. We were able to get at least 3, and sometimes 4 decent selections. But I did have a practice run in early November so I could try it. So I had already suffered some learning pains. We were early rope droppers and we were done early, no breaks. Your trick to get slinky dog worked like a charm. Also, the hour+ (almost 2 hours in some cases) before the park opened was spectacular.
I think the criticism that you need to be a power user of a poorly done app is spot on.
We went December 12-18. We bought Genie+ at DHS for the thrill seekers only, and they got on 4 rides. We got very lucky, though, with some guest relations magic or we would have missed Slinky Dog Dash due to technical issues. At Magic Kingdom, we got on 5-6 rides (can’t remember exactly). Overall, I found it stressful and not fun, and felt like it massively increased standby lines. Every time I was annoyed waiting in line, I emailed Disney. 🙂
Father of three visiting from England. First visit since 2019. We lived 2019 and ore booking 3 rides and then generally getting more on the day. 2022 has been diabolical and the new system is a total disgrace. Disney talks of providing magic, setting an alarm on holiday every day for before 7, stressing over an app and its idiosyncrasies, getting to the park and finding genie plus options going into the evening when our three young children have lost all stamina means they are worthless meaning you get 2 maybe 3 genie plus if you’re lucky – this Is completely stressful, completely unmagical. We go to universal next where our hotel gives us express pass all day long – I think I know where we will be spending our money should we return in 2-3 years time.
Title should read Disney admits G+ is worse than FP+, not the same. With FP+, you could always get more rides throughout the day after your first three by checking the app, so a 2-3 average AFTER checking the app all day is objectively worse than FP+ from the start. We have a 7-night trip and a family of 5. With tax, it’s an add on of $560. That’s a LOT for something that used to be better and free.
My husband just asked me the other day, so will we do our usual approach of leaving the parks early afternoon each day? That’s how we like to di disney—rope drop mornings and stay until around 2pm, then afternoons at our resort relaxing by the pool and a nice dinner at a signature restaurant at a hotel. Nice and easy pace, nobody gets burned out, you know, like a vacation. It doesn’t seem possible now with Genie+ popping up afternoon/evening times after you try to book a morning slot. What a piece of useless expensive garbage this Genie+ is—we haven’t even gone yet and I am already dreading how much it will ruin our trip.
Well said MomOTwins. We also, like many families, like to go early but bail out sometime in the afternoon for pool, (drinks) and dinner. It seems like the Genie plus only rewards commando touring style that go from sun up to closing. Our family does not have the stamina (or even desire) to do that. Also it seems to be good for park hoppers. We just can’t do more than 8 hours typically in a park with heat and congestion, etc. Fast plus was great. I preferred it over paper fastpass and certainly over Genie minus.
Agreed MomOTwins. FP+ = 3 advance reservations and an extra 1 on the day once you had used your 3 – subject to availability. And the 4th could be a ride you had already done that day using FP+. A possible 4 compared with a possible 2-3 with Genie+ and no repeat rides is objectively worse.
We just got back from a 6 day trip and honestly didn’t wait in a line. Granted, we have 4 year old twins so we just did genie for Peter Pan, scanned in and then did it for small world. Went to lunch then did it for little mermaid. Dumbo weirdly had no wait so it wasn’t an issue. If we had done the big ticket items it might be different but (I hate to say this bc I loved FP) it actually worked for a trip with littles. Used for Pooh too which had a huge wait. All this being said, I still hate change in general so genie plus is awful haha.