Genie+ Collapsing in Crowds at Disney World
As previously covered, it’s the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World (so far). While we expected heavy crowds, the high attendance has come as a slight surprise even to us. Nevertheless, we’ve been in the parks a lot this week, working on strategy and touring tips.
Most of this has focused on Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. The first article resulting from our experiences is Speed Strategy for Genie+ Selections, advanced-level advice that would normally be “next level” and optional for getting more bang for your buck with the paid FastPass replacement. This week, it’s pretty much mandatory.
We’ve been enjoying low crowds at Walt Disney World over the last several months, so part of the goal in spending even more time in the parks during a busy week was to “stress test” our strategies. In particular, I wanted to put Genie+ through its paces with the goal of showing just how much time you could save on busy days. That largely has not happened. Instead, it has been one frustration after another.
There are several problems with Genie+ right now, but let’s start at the beginning–what we and other guests are encountering right at 7 am. As noted in the ‘speed strategy’ post, Slinky Dog Dash is booking up for the entire day before 7:01 am.
The same is also happening for the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Individual Lightning Lanes. While we don’t purchase ILLs, we’ve heard from several readers sharing the problems they’ve had. Basically, it has been impossible to book both Slinky Dog Dash and purchase access to the Galaxy’s Edge headliner. Even on busy days, I never thought this would be an issue–clearly, I was wrong.
However, it’s not just Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance that are going fast. Headliners in every park are going quickly during these sold out days during Thanksgiving week.
Here are some screenshots from this morning showing return times within the first 5 minutes that Lightning Lane reservations were available:
At this rate, many popular attractions will be gone not long after park opening. The last several days, there have been virtually no (worthwhile) options by afternoon, meaning that even savvy users of Genie+ are likely only getting 3-4 “good” selections per day. Novices or those visiting parks other than Magic Kingdom could be doing worse.
Keep in mind that Genie+ is still new, and many guests don’t even learn about it until arriving at the park. In previous weeks, we saw many people purchasing it while in the standby line for an attraction, realizing they could save time. Anyone who did that today wouldn’t have a shot at anything on the above list.
In fairness, some attractions do have drop times throughout the day when their Lightning Lane allotments are refilled. It can be better to wait for an earlier time to appear rather than pouncing on a later one–unfortunately, there’s no “modify” feature, making canceling and rebooking fraught with risk of getting shut out completely, or stuck with an even later time.
To assist with this, I’ve been tracking when these refills occur and for which attractions. I put a decent amount of effort into this, and had a post planned, but this week has thrown a monkey wrench into that. Drop times have become more random, and some attractions don’t seem to be receiving refills at all. It’s understandable that Disney would switch things up and make this less predictable so it’s not as easy to ‘hack.’ Totally get that.
Speaking of hacks, remember our Tips for “Stacking” Genie+ Ride Reservations? That explained how to leverage the 120 minute rule in tandem with “last actions.” The normal 120 minute rule still works, as it’s an intentional feature of Genie+ that is there by design.
However, now stacking can only be done in the intuitive, one-at-a-time sense. It’s no longer possible to leverage the last actions in such a way that you can turn a single selection into multiple branches, and grow those exponentially. Again, the normal 120 minute rule still works and regular stacking is possible, just not the advanced hacks. This makes complete sense and we can’t fault Disney for closing what was possibly an unintentional loophole. Definitely a bummer for those who like to hack, but that’s how it goes.
On a related note, if you read the comments to our speed strategy post, you might’ve seen me tease an upcoming post with even more next-level, advanced hacking technique. There was a way to turn an expired Lightning Lane selection into 3 new ones, but that’s also gone.
I’ve been working on testing and researching that for a few weeks, and know I’m not the only one (I received multiple emails about it). I almost posted my strategy guide on Monday, but decided to compile a list of attractions with two tapstiles first. While I’m disappointed that I researched and wrote so much for nothing, I’m also relieved. I would’ve been “blamed” if I shared that on Monday and the loophole closed on Tuesday. (Travel hackers in general are very protective of ‘secret’ strategies and don’t believe they should be shared widely since that often leads to their demise. That’s an unrealistic expectation, but I digress.)
Disneyland fans might be surprised by all of these issues. I don’t recall there ever being any such problems with MaxPass, which is the basis for Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. One of the reasons those loopholes are closing and Genie+ is unraveling under the weight of crowds even without them is because of the eligible attraction roster and capacity.
That’s the biggest difference between MaxPass and Genie+. It bears reiterating that Disneyland has many more attractions than even Magic Kingdom, and despite its reputation, DCA is a solid second gate. The two are also about a football field apart, meaning that Park Hopping is commonplace.
Combined, Disneyland’s two parks have close to the ride roster of 4 parks at Walt Disney World. On top of that, Disney has removed two popular attractions per park for Individual Lightning Lanes and there are no nighttime spectacular or parade viewing areas as possible selections, meaning Walt Disney World’s already thin roster for Genie+ was made even thinner.
Another thing we question is what the Lightning Lane-to-standby ratio is right now. There has been a lot of speculation about this, and the ‘phases’ for determining capacity allocation. Up until now, much of that has been theoretical–and it might still be, depending upon actual distribution levels.
As a reminder, the ballpark FastPass-to-standby ratio was 80:20. This meant that for every 10 parties boarding an attraction, 8 were pulled from the FastPass queue and 2 were pulled from standby. That’s why standby lines moved at a snail’s pace with FastPass, and constantly without it. That 80:20 ratio also meant that a lot of guests were taking advantage of FastPass, which should be no surprise given that it was free.
Anecdotally, I’ve yet to experience anything even remotely like this 80:20 ratio with Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Everything seems to skew much more strongly in favor of standby. I’ve noted that the attraction with the highest capacity allocation appears to be–to me, at least–Toy Story Mania, which tracks with it having more Lightning Lane availability than most other attractions.
At Slinky Dog Dash, the attraction that has consistently booked up the fastest, I’d be shocked if even 50% of capacity is being allocated to the Lightning Lane. This appears to be a matter of distribution and not policy; Cast Members can only pull Genie+ guests to the extent that they are there. Based upon my firsthand experiences and observations, there’s seldom more than a slow trickle of guests into the Lightning Lane. That frees up more capacity to be allocated to the standby line.
One notable exception to this is when an attraction returns from a breakdown. Then, the priority is to process the backlog of guests with Lightning Lane ride reservations, which often amounts to a far greater allocation of guests coming from the Lightning Lane. This is nothing new to the Genie+ system; FastPass did the same thing.
The part that’s new is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance being less reliable and more popular than a normal attraction, meaning that it’s possible to get really unlucky with the posted v. actual standby wait if your timing is off. (Conversely, you can get really lucky–it’s far and away the least accurate posted wait time, in both directions, at Walt Disney World.)
The thing about anecdotal observations is that they’re inherently limited and may not reflect broader trends or experiences. When it comes to Walt Disney World, I tend to not take them too seriously–even when they’re my own–because someone an hour later or earlier might encounter something dramatically different. That’s true here, too. The problem is that there’s no good data about Lightning Lane v. standby allocations as the system is still new and this week has been its first true stress test.
One thing I will note is that most of my Genie+ testing this week has been at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Today was going to be Magic Kingdom day before I abandoned that plans out of futility and frustration. I’ve heard stories of things being different there, with slower standby queues for Peter Pan’s Flight and other rides. Since our experiences are limited and there’s no good data, we’d love to hear from other people who have been in the parks this week–you should have ample time to comment while standing in those long lines! 😉
Whether the current allocation is a problem or not is in the eye of the beholder. If you’re purchasing Genie+, you want as much capacity reserved for Lightning Lanes as possible. Otherwise, the service you paid for is less useful and you’re inclined to have buyer’s remorse, not purchase again, or even request a refund.
If you’re not using the pay-to-play line skipping service, you’re probably pleased to see Walt Disney World not reserve 80% of capacity for paid FastPass. Well, that might be a stretch–I doubt anyone is “pleased” with lines right now. Due to it being the busiest week of the year, standby wait times are also really high. The point is that a normal FastPass 80:20 allocation would make those posted waits so much worse.
It should go without saying, but allocation is subject to change–that all of the complaints thus far can be “fixed” pretty easily. Walt Disney World will almost certainly adjust that upwards to favor Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, because why wouldn’t they? More Lightning Lane capacity means higher satisfaction from guests paying more–and more sales of the paid FastPass service. There’s every reason to believe the allocation scales will tilt towards Genie+ more over time, and every reason not to believe the reverse will be true.
However, it’s not just return times, availability, and capacity that are causing complaints. The Genie system itself has been rife with glitches, errors, and problems…
Some of this is nothing new, and should come as no surprise to anyone who has experience with Disney IT. My Disney Experience is not exactly the gold standard; it’s been buggy for years. Upon launch, we used the free Genie itinerary builder and found it comically bad and totally worthless.
This week, the problems have gotten even worse and more frequent. We’re talking about the My Disney Experience app crashing, Genie system being slow or unresponsive, and sending a seemingly endless number of access codes via email. This last one is especially frustrating, as it always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, right as you’re trying to make a new Genie+ selection.
We’ve had this problem with codes since the beginning, and it’s further exacerbated by the propensity for Disney emails to be flagged as spam (in a way it makes sense–they’re spamming us with these codes). In some cases, we’ve received over a dozen of these codes in a day. One reader reported receiving 56 in one day. That’s the kind of claim you might assume is hyperbole unless you’ve actually used the system yourself. In which case, you believe it without any hesitation.
I’m likely missing some of the tech problems, but only because I’ve probably blocked them out for the sake of my own sanity or haven’t experienced them (yet). All of this is to say nothing about Genie’s absolutely abysmal UI and organization. This is nothing new, but almost nothing makes sense about the way it’s laid out or functions. It very much feels like Genie launched months–or perhaps years–before it was ready. That was more forgivable when it was working reasonably well to help save time. Now Genie+ is just a headache.
Ultimately, it’s very difficult for me to recommend Genie+ right now for any of the parks, even Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. We expected that to go in the other direction, with recommendations for Epcot and Animal Kingdom only ‘kicking in’ once at a certain crowd level.
That threshold has been reached, but Genie+ has become so frustrating that the case could be made that you’re better off without it. While you will certainly wait longer in standby lines, most of them have been at least reasonably efficient, and don’t mean starting your day out with headaches at 7 am and spending the day glued to your phone dealing with bugs and other problems.
Personally, if visiting for “holistic enjoyment” and not just wait time minimization, I’d opt for a normal rope drop, midday break, late night strategy–pretending Genie+ doesn’t even exist. Again, this comes with the caveat that it’s the busiest week of the year at Walt Disney World. During times like these, there’s no ‘magic bullet’ approach that’ll totally beat the crowds (even some of the Genie+ woes are forgivable in light of attendance and strain on the system), but that should minimize headaches to the greatest extent possible during one of the worst weeks to visit.
From the beginning, we’ve sought to bring you the good, bad, and ugly with Genie, rather than sticking with preconceived notions or the popular sentiment. We were cautiously optimistic when it was mostly outrage, and now we’re in the other camp. We reserve the right to continue changing our minds as circumstances evolve–you know, how opinions should work. My guess is that Genie+ will continue to be tweaked throughout the holiday season, perhaps even this week. Walt Disney World has got to realize that this is unsatisfactory. For those who have used Genie+ this week, consider yourself an honorary Detroit Lions fan, because now you know how it feels! We’ll be in the parks this weekend and next week doing more Genie+ testing, if you want to be notified when we post more updates on Genie, crowds, news, and more–subscribe to our FREE email newsletter for instant alerts!
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
If you’re at Walt Disney World for Thanksgiving week, what has been your experience with Genie+ or standby lines? Any success or failures making morning Lightning Lane selections? Have you had success in getting Slinky Dog Dash and/or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance? What about headliners in other parks? Notice the closure of the stacking strategy or other hacks? Other problems or thoughts to share? 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!
Speaking of buyers remorse, after spending a fortune on tickets, Genie+, and buying the individual LLs, we barely got to ride half the rides we wanted at HS. We spent almost 3 hours in Line for RoR only for it to breakdown.
The few LLs I was lucky enough to snag were all for the last hour in the day when the lines are much shorter anyway. By noon no LLs were left at except for an occasional Star Tours that would randomly appear.
What a disappointment for my family that drove 12 hours from North Carolina for a Disney vacation and only had one day to spend in Hollywood Studios. Genie + turned out to be a complete waste of money.
I have visited Disney multiple times this year but I was there Nov 11-14th for the first time since the LL had debuted. I decided to stand in regular lines to see what it was like. I had horrible experiences with Frozen and Pandora River. Most of the other lines seemed to be roughly on point with the posted wait times (so long the days of the inflated wait times). At Frozen, the posted wait time was 90 minutes but the line was at the entrance to the building and not outside. 90 minutes later, I still had not made it through even half of the line. When I was finally to a point to where I could see the LL, I watched to see how many people they were letting through. They let every single LL group through that walked up. I watched for over 20 minutes without the regular line moving once. The LL line finally had so many people walking through it that that line backed up for awhile. After waiting 120 minutes, I finally got out of line in order to make a dining reservation. At the Pandora River, the wait was again 90 minutes posted. I watched as they let every single LL person through. Only when there was a break in the LL would the regular line move. I watched again and again as different amounts of people would go through the LL and each time, they were all let right through. There did not seem to be any rhyme or reason or cut off number. After getting off the ride, I was curious and decided to ask about the LL. I asked a cast member how the LL worked. I specifically asked how many people they let through the LL before they let the normal line go. The cast member stated they were still in training and they get a different answer every day. They stated it really just depends on who is working that day and then stated that they have seen issues with Disney releasing more LL throughout the day which allows more people than the original allotment.
Most of the rides did seem to have slower lines than the past few months in my opinion. Kind of like the old days of Fast Pass, but those two rides really didn’t seem to have a good system in place. At least on the days I was there. I am really hoping that my experience was just a fluke and this will not be how it is going forward.
I should also state that I did break down and bought the LL for Ratatouille. It took me longer to walk through the queue than it did to get on the ride so that was nice! It looked like they have the loading area split into a LL area and the regular line area so hopefully this ride won’t be as bad as the others once it comes off the virtual queue.
We were in the parks from 11/15-19. I, like others, set an alarm for 6:55. When I went to book things at 7am I would get kicked out of the app and they would send me a one time pass code to log in, over and over and over again. This started on day 2 for me. Day 1 was amazing. We did Everything we wanted to with the app’s assistance. Day 2, however, It took 20 minutes, deleting the app, downloading it again, etc to be able to get into it. It was the EXTREMELY frustrating. I saved all 50+ emails I got with passcodes during this 20 minute debacle. I told someone at the Guest Experiences tent and they were going to send the report to IT to figure out what was going on with my account (and I reset my disney+ and Disney experience passwords as they suggested) but it happened for the rest of our stay. Subsequent days the issue didn’t go for the full 20 minutes but did occur anywhere from 4 to 11 minutes. You can imagine that what was available wasn’t ideal but we did get the help we needed in the parks (it was just frustrating to have to require help 4 out of our 5 days in the park and to get locked out when trying to plan the day of “magic” for my family.
Tom,
We just from 10 days trying to use Genie +. What a nightmare! We encountered the following “glitches”. Authentication hades, until it locks you out of your account, vanishing paid LL reservations, cancel button vanishing from the app, and times changing drastically from what is offered to when your time is confirmed. We spent more time at the blue tents than ever before, with little resolution other than… “yeah it’s glitchy…. sorry.. (insert smile)”. We were so frustrated our HS day, we asked for a refund and left the park. NOT MAGICAL at all. Between genie+, Mobile ordering and scanning QR code’s for menus, we spent more time on our phones than in the magic. I would be happy to pay more for the old FP system than the current monstrosity that is Genie +. After all, who wants to be forced to be up and dressed, in your previously stalked out fast internet/cell signal area, at 6:58 am EVERYDAY while on VACATION? Not me.
Laura
Hi Tom,
Wondering if you have any insight on whether the overload on Genie+ is affecting the entire MDE app and website? After reading this post I’m questioning whether the issues we’ve had booking dining reservations the last few days are part of the system being bogged down with all of the Genie+ overload. We’re headed to Disney World January 20-29th 2022 and have been trying to secure dining reservations since the 60 day booking window opened. Managed to book a decent amount last Sunday (signed in at 5:45 am on my 60 days prior to trip) but the system kept glitching and freezing throughout the whole process and it took me hours of switching between the app and website to finally get 10 bookings locked in. I needed to add more but after trying nonstop for all of yesterday and today both the app and website let me sign in, view ADR availability, choose our time slots but then when I click book the blue dial goes around and around then boots me out to the beginning of the dining page again- so frustrating! I tried calling Disney dining hotline and after waiting 3 hours on hold with no answer I finally hung up. I messaged an agent through the in app chat to see if they could assist only to get an auto response that due to so much guest “excitement” over Genie+ (way to make a sucky experience sound cute and magical Disney ) that they’re experiencing longer than usual wait times in responding. So after almost 3.5 hours I got a chat message back that I would need to call Disney dining if the app and website aren’t working for booking- tried the hotline again and it was so busy it disconnected me….ahhhh! Disney is our happy place and I’m SO excited for the trip but so far this experience is feeling less than magical lol! If you have any updates or suggestions we’d appreciate any advice, thanks in advance and keep up the awesome work Tom& Sarah! Reading your blog always adds a little extra happy to my day and always makes us excited for whenever we can get to Disney next Take care!
If I buy only one genie+ pass it will be allowed to schedule the ride for me and my family? Or I’ll have to buy one genie+ for each member of my group?
We visited 11/14-11/19. We purchased Genie + for 3 of the days and liked it. I did end up purchasing LL for ROR and it was well worth it. By Friday afternoon MK was packed and we left early. We would purchase it again. We were visiting without children and I couldn’t image not having it with kids in tow now that the crowds are increasing. The one thing I did notice was that we couldn’t book another pass after entering the LL until the second check in. We waited about 15-20 minutes in a few LL before the second check in on the more popular attractions. I am sure this has been mentioned somewhere and I just missed it.
My thought on this (not that it will help much during super crowds) is that insisting on having 2 ILLs at each park was a mistake and has the knock on effect of reducing Genie+ inventory. They should just stick to the most popular ride…maybe having 2 ILLs for a brief period when a new ride comes online in a park.
Thank you for this information and I look forward to future posts. We are planning a short trip mid January and honestly I’m concerned that if the crowds remain at these levels it will just be too much work and too frustrating to enjoy ourselves. Plus we will only have one day at each park with park hopper. I have 2 weeks to cancel and unfortunately am considering it.
Used Genie+ twice over Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend. It worked OK, and I used your tips and tricks. We did get on a few extra attractions that we would have waited longer for. But…when the day was over, and I spent $30 + tax, for attractions I have done multiple times, I was disappointed…not to mention who wants to have to jump on their phone at 7 a.m. each day of vacation (after having to be up at 3 a.m. for races on two days)? And, yes, the constant two-factor verification emails – easily received 8-10 each day. Our best day was the last two hours at HS, when it got cold, people were leaving and we were able to ride Slinky Dog, Rock n’ Roller Coaster, Runaway Railway, Alien Saucers and Smuggler’s Run with about 5 minute wait each and closing the park. Disappointed I paid for Genie+ is an understatement. Needless to say, I’m not visiting for quite awhile as there are kinks to work out with this, the Epcot mess, etc…maybe next Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend this will be better…maybe?
So if the loophole is now closed, I assume the best strategy for a 10-11 Genie+ window would now be to tap in as early as possible (9:55) and get another selection as early as possible without waiting the 120 minutes. If that is true, then moving forward during the day (on a normal crowd day), would the best strategy be selecting the best available G+ (like headliners) or the next available to maximize G+ selections. Basically quantity or quality?
At WDW this week. Took the opportunity to play with Genie on two separate days. Both days started with tears, swearing and a blood pressure spike that wasn’t healthy. Both days I successfully purchased Genie, but then went into access code hell-over 15 access codes sent both days-and on the second day I managed to get locked out of my MDE account entirely for nearly an hour. Not successful at getting Slinky or ROTR – but by the end of the day we had managed five LL’s each day. Not great-but not horrible. And with wait times over an hour (sometimes two) we appreciated the quick lines in the LL’s. The access code MUST be fixed!! And I learned the hard way to NOT use Genie at AK-not worth it-but I stacked LL’s for MK for that night and it worked out.
We used Genie + on three days during our trip Nov 11-19. We used it for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. I found it frustratingly complicated and difficult to use, but my wife was able to figure it out. I never really knew if we were utilizing it as best as we could, I had a hard timing knowing when we could choose the next ride. I would try for one and it would say not eligible until some odd future time. We also got logged out of the app a lot and needed a code to log back in. Days that we did not use it were much less stressful. Our best days were doing the 30 minute early entry rope drop.
We are headed home today. We stayed a full week, and allotted ourselves 6 days in the parks and splurged to buy Genie + each day. I set an alarm at 6:58 each morning and tried to buy the first “extra “ lightning lane rides for whichever park we were headed to, then added on the first choice for whatever lightning lane I needed next. We were able to ride everything at least once, but you definitely need at least 2 days for each park, except AK. I think it’s still a half day park. We also park hopped, so that was interesting with the Genie. Overall, I was happy with the Genie. I appreciated that Remy had a virtual queue, we did it twice (on different days). I liked not paying extra for it. We left before the fireworks at MK last night because the ride choices were slim because of the huge crowd and it was sooo cold! Overall, I think we did well and made the most of it all. If you only go every couple of years, it was worth it. I didn’t want to take the chance of missing anything and I feel like we would have wasted a chunk of the day waiting in line for the major rides if we didn’t have a pass lined up for them. The crowds were mild last Thursday and Fri but got worse as the week went on. I follow your blog all the time and I told my husband at least twice during the week, well.. Tom was right! Tom was right!’ Lol
Thanks for the honest review. I was just there in October, prior to G+, and reading everything about the various experiences has me worried. For me, I’ll be fine either way. I go to WDW enough that if I miss a ride or two “this trip” so be it. Ill catch them next time. However, I feel really bad for the people going on vacation who are not crazy Disney nuts like many of us who read about this every day. If we are having a hard time keeping up with all the “rules” and seeing the value in G+ then imagine how that family feels that was going on a vacation and didn’t spend hours researching beforehand. Vacations shouldn’t be this much work, nor should people be “forced” to wake up before 7am to get a chance to reasonably take advantage of G+. IMO Disney (it seems) has really dropped the ball on this one.
I am beginning to believe are upcoming Trip (DEC 4-12) will be nothing but a nightmare as to being able to enjoy any rides. I will nor be using Genius+ or LL as I just cannot afford anymore expense seeing this trip is costing me 8,000. I think it is totally unfair to Disney guestS who are on a fixed budget to expect them to pay a additional fee to ride the attractions when the tickets already cost a arm and a leg to get in to the parks. I am sad to say that I have come to the conclusion that this will be are last trip as I will not continue to fee Disney’s greedy pockets and have them offer me less and less. Doisney should be ashamed of themselves for turning a visit in to a “NOT SO HAPPY PLACE ANYMORE’.
We went Nov 14-19 and used Genie+ And ILL and thought it was amazing, granted this was before they closed the loophole. I loved that as soon as I checked in to one LL I was immediately able to request another. I would hardly say I was on my phone all day, it only took 10 seconds while I was walking in line. I hate that it isn’t working well for anyone this week. We were able to do ROR, smugglers run lunch and tower of terror all within about 2 hours. I’ve never been to the parks during a major holiday week and can’t say that I’ll look forward to doing so after reading this article. The standby times alone for rides this week is enough to turn me off.
Tom, all of this.
Crashing app. Dismal selections. No hacking = not worth it. We have pivoted to early entry and using your one day plans with slight adjustments.
Thanks for your great reporting!
Dianna
Imagine what would happen if people do not purchase Genie plus, the standby queues would block the parks. Also on a different note where do pe1ople with DAS go? Surely the idea of DAS i1s 1n1ot to be queuing for lo1ng periods¹? Also I mentioned on another post thst the virtual queue, for DAS, is not open to international visitors. It seems that international people, with disabilities, are being treated differently and not able to prebook their DAS rides
I had high hopes for Genie + in large part because it was suppose to be based upon the Disneyland MaxPass system. The Maxpass program at Disneyland was absolutely fantastic. It was essentially the old paper fastpass system, but with the convenience of your phone.
Unfortunately Genie+ is nothing like the Maxpass. I have found this week that Genie+ is good for getting you one ride that would typically have a long line, and you have to get it to start the day. You can get probably two or three additional ride experiences with genie+, but they are all attractions that don’t have long lines anyway.
As it stands, genie plus is a waste of money, and you would be advised to not consider it at this time.