Genie+ is NOT as wonderful as everyone is saying

[Stargazer65]

Not Genie+ related...but, our rope drop ride was a total bust. RoTR went down, and they kicked us out of the standby line. So after getting up at dawn, being first in line, waiting in line for a half hour, we got no ride. Now it's open and the wait is 2 hours.

 

[eleven24]

First day using it. It's not the fantastic panacea that everybody has been saying it is. I got Thunder Mountain at noon. Can't get anything else booked until 11. 7 dwarves mine train would have cost me another 12 dollars per person to book. I'll give an update later what I think. I'm just putting this out there as a contrary opinion about Genie+

YMMV

I thought it was a complete waste of money.

Below is our best case scenario in using Genie+ and for our $16 we only got 3 rides. Add in Rise for $15 and it was $31 each for 4 rides. If we didn't have 2 people at 7am it would've been a choice of either Rise or Slinky, because after booking one of them the other would be gone for the day. We also took advantage of the pre-11a surge by luckily getting Slinky before 11a and being able to look for our next LL after tapping entry to Slinky.

$16 for 3 rides? With no Genie+ we would've rope dropped Slinky and then monitored wait times for tower & R&R. Paying essentially $5 per ride is just not worth it

6:50am wakeup - divide & conquer
* My son got the Rise boarding pass. Ended up getting it for 10:35a.
* I snagged the Slinky Dog Genie+ at 10a

* 10a Slinky Dog (Standby time was 80min). Tap bands and IMMEDIATELY go to the tip board to look for another available Genie+ LL. With the 120 minute rule, all park guests will be able to start looking for their 2nd two hours after park open, which would be 11a. If you can get a first LL prior to this, and since you can look for another after "tapping into" the line, you can get ahead of the 11a surge for your 2nd. We ended up getting Tower of Terror at 3:25p

* 1035a Rise of the Resistance

* 12:15p Using the 120 min rule, we were able to search for another Genie+ 120-minutes after booking Tower of Terror as we were in line for Slinky Dog.
We were able to get R&R Coaster at 6:15p

* 1p Tower of Terror (waited in standby for 60 min)

* 2:20p 120-minute rule opening to book another LL. Nothing we wanted to ride was available for the rest of the day

* 3p Runaway Railway (waited in standby for 70 min)

* 430-600 Dining reservation at Sci Fi

* 6:15p R&R Coaster (standby was 45min)

 

[Jonfw2]

I thought it was a complete waste of money.

Below is our best case scenario in using Genie+ and for our $16 we only got 3 rides. Add in Rise for $15 and it was $31 each for 4 rides. If we didn't have 2 people at 7am it would've been a choice of either Rise or Slinky, because after booking one of them the other would be gone for the day. We also took advantage of the pre-11a surge by luckily getting Slinky before 11a and being able to look for our next LL after tapping entry to Slinky.

$16 for 3 rides? With no Genie+ we would've rope dropped Slinky and then monitored wait times for tower & R&R. Paying essentially $5 per ride is just not worth it

6:50am wakeup - divide & conquer
* My son got the Rise boarding pass. Ended up getting it for 10:35a.
* I snagged the Slinky Dog Genie+ at 10a

* 10a Slinky Dog (Standby time was 80min). Tap bands and IMMEDIATELY go to the tip board to look for another available Genie+ LL. With the 120 minute rule, all park guests will be able to start looking for their 2nd two hours after park open, which would be 11a. If you can get a first LL prior to this, and since you can look for another after "tapping into" the line, you can get ahead of the 11a surge for your 2nd. We ended up getting Tower of Terror at 3:25p

* 1035a Rise of the Resistance

* 12:15p Using the 120 min rule, we were able to search for another Genie+ 120-minutes after booking Tower of Terror as we were in line for Slinky Dog.
We were able to get R&R Coaster at 6:15p

* 1p Tower of Terror (waited in standby for 60 min)

* 2:20p 120-minute rule opening to book another LL. Nothing we wanted to ride was available for the rest of the day

* 3p Runaway Railway (waited in standby for 70 min)

* 430-600 Dining reservation at Sci Fi

* 6:15p R&R Coaster (standby was 45min)

I don't mean to argue, but you got LL for Rise AND Slinky Dog both in the morning. That's really impressive.

 

[lostprincess_danie]

Not Genie+ related...but, our rope drop ride was a total bust. RoTR went down, and they kicked us out of the standby line. So after getting up at dawn, being first in line, waiting in line for a half hour, we got no ride. Now it's open and the wait is 2 hours.

That's disappointing. You should have gotten a return pass. I'm surprised if you were first in line that CMs didn't offer them.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Not sure that saying Genie+ isn't that great is a controversial take at this point, it's a universally hated system. I understand why people didn't like Fastpass+ as it made you plan out your day months in advance but that's why I liked it. I liked having 3 guaranteed rides going into the park and I could plan around them. Back then it kind of felt like you needed a college degree in Disney planning but with Genie+ and all of the other changes it feels like you need a PhD. I'm not totally against Disney having a paid Fastpass system, but I wish you could spend $15 for Fastpass+ to prebook in advance (or more, personally I think Genie+ being underpriced is part of the issue as to why people are not getting a lot of use from it) or go with a Universal Express pass system.

I used it for one day in Magic Kingdom during President's day week and by the end of the day I had grabbed 6-7 LLs, but it took A LOT of refreshing and criss-crossing across the park multiple times to get it all done. I also used ILL for Mine Train and having the time change 3 times before my payment processed is annoying and absolutely the worst part of this system, even Ticketmaster is able to hold your time until you pay so I don't know why Disney can't.

 

[Stargazer65]

That's disappointing. You should have gotten a return pass. I'm surprised if you were first in line that CMs didn't offer them.

Too be fair, I wasn't literally the first person in line, but we we did get there at rope drop before the park opened.
I think they are so overwhelmed with riders that they don't have an option for return passes.

 

[Stargazer65]

Although Disney hasn't been able to get me on ROTR in two DHS rope drop park visits so far...at least they had no shortage of 12 dollar breakfast sandwiches for us to buy after shoving us out of line with empty stomachs (because we skipped breakfast to get there early).

 

[eleven24]

I don't mean to argue, but you got LL for Rise AND Slinky Dog both in the morning. That's really impressive.

Only because I did one and my son did the other since we knew getting one would sacrifice the other if just one of us did it. Most people, especially those who infrequently visit, are completely unaware of this. Of course, those are the people who also tacked on Genie+ at time of their resort booking and hit the parks having no real idea how it works.

 

[corpcomp]

Tried it once, only got on three rides, not using it again. And only using reward points to buy food or other stuff so no money changes hands.
Very disappointed in Disney.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I have seen maybe one person say it was wonderful.

I haven't gotten around to using it yet, but I bought enough ILL to get the extended family on Rise. Now that they've all been, I'm done until Guardians

 

[gatordoc]

Not Genie+ related...but, our rope drop ride was a total bust. RoTR went down, and they kicked us out of the standby line. So after getting up at dawn, being first in line, waiting in line for a half hour, we got no ride. Now it's open and the wait is 2 hours.

This happened to us as well after waiting for almost an hour. We were offered a lightning lane pass for any ride EXCEPT RotR and Runaway Railway. Which were the only two rides we wanted to do that day.

 

[Stargazer65]

So, we did get on ROTR yesterday, but only through persistence. We got in standby about an hour from park closing and got through in an hour and a half. That was totally worth that wait.

The only Genie+ thing we did was SDD. I only did that because we never have ridden it, that was a one off.

Also, after DHS we walked to MK and stayed until 1:00 AM. Thankfully today and tomorrow is a day of nothing to do except lounge at BLT. I'm totally beat.

 

[Stargazer65]

So far, I still think Genie+ is not what it's cracked up to be. I hardly reaped any benefit yesterday. I still have two TP days left to try it, AK and EPCOT. Unless things change I will say nasty things about it in my customer survey. (Even if I do get hated on for saying that by all the folks that love it).

 

[bobbiwoz]

My DSis is going to Studios on Monday, and the only must do is the RRC. They travel that day, and would be OK if that’s all they got from Genie +. Is there a way to guarantee a time of 6 or later for it?

Could they keep changing if they get an earlier time?

 

[Stargazer65]

My DSis is going to Studios on Monday, and the only must do is the RRC. They travel that day, and would be OK if that’s all they got from Genie +. Is there a way to guarantee a time of 6 or later for it?

Could they keep changing if they get an earlier time?

Yes, they should be able to get that no problem. After they book it, if the time is too early they can continue to cancel and rebook it until the times are later and they get an acceptable time slot.

 

[EmilyGahr]

Might be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Genie+ when we used it in January - we got at least 4-5+ rides every day while using it.

The only ride we were unable to get was Slinky - we chose to purchase ROTR on both of our Hollywood Studios days and by the time we were done, Slink was gone.

 

[Sandisw]

Might be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Genie+ when we used it in January - we got at least 4-5+ rides every day while using it.

The only ride we were unable to get was Slinky - we chose to purchase ROTR on both of our Hollywood Studios days and by the time we were done, Slink was gone.

My doctor was there last week and he and has family loved it. His wife had it down and they enjoyed all the rides using it.

So, it does seem to be dependent on how it goes. I think there could be improvements.

Maybe a mix of the old FP+ system the GP+ system with those less popular rides booked 60 days out and the headliners paid with day of reservations and include all them in one price.

 

[Stargazer65]

Might be in the minority here, but I enjoyed Genie+ when we used it in January - we got at least 4-5+ rides every day while using it.

The only ride we were unable to get was Slinky - we chose to purchase ROTR on both of our Hollywood Studios days and by the time we were done, Slink was gone.

You did well. We used it for Slinky, but that sabotaged our ability to use it for other rides.

 

[Jonfw2]

I'm starting to think there's a sweet spot where Genie+ will work extremely well.

On the VERY rare slower days, it's not needed because lines will be generally shorter and you can still pay for LL if you want the big stuff...

On the very common super crowded days, it's tough to get your money's worth because everything you actually want is gone before you can book it.

So I'd suspect it will work perfectly on days with moderate crowd levels- it would be worth it to knock down, say, 45 minute lines to near zero AND the demand won't be so high that you can't get anything you want.

 

[PJ271]

My biggest grief with Genie+ is that it ruins the park experience for people who DON"T buy it. They let an absurd number of LL guests through each line compared to the standby line. Seeing a queue that looks like it used to be a 30 minute wait is now at least double the wait. The queue simply doesn't move anymore as they have SO MANY LL's they let though.

Rope dropping still results in a 30+ minute wait for the first ride. Getting in line for a ride before closing used to get me on Slinky Dog in 20 minutes, now it is still posted at 80 minutes 5 minutes before closing.

I don't mind waiting in a reasonable line that moves. I got in what looked like a decent Jungle Cruise line in November. Posted 50 minute wait but the queue really did not look that long. It ended up being 70 minutes and how that queue is setup, you can see the lightning lane at all times basically. It was maddening watches how many people from the LL would fill a boat before they started to let any standby guests in.

For my next trip, I said screw it Disney won and bought Genie+. Like everyone else, I was upset to find I could only get 2-3 rides from the service, and what's worse, after my 10AM LL, I couldn't get another decent one until 4PM. So Now I have almost 6 hours to kill in the park to skip the line for Pirates. As a DVC/AP holder, I do not need to spend 12 hours in a park anymore. We enjoy doing half days and spending the rest of our time resort hopping or enjoy our DVC home resort. In order to get any value from Genie+, you need to spend 12 hours in the park.

So it has ruined the experience if you do not buy Genie+ and you get little value actually buying Genie+. I really wish they'd either bring back Fast Pass+, or get rid of Genie+ altogether. Prior to Genie+, the standby lines moved FAST and it was great.