I'll try to make this short and maybe it will help someone else on their trip. We were at Disney last week when Genie went live, but we opted not to pay the extra $15 per person to get what used to be free prior or covid. Our last day was scheduled for Epcot. I got up early to so I could join the virtual Q for Ratatouille at 7am sharp. Had my finger poised over the button and the split second my phone hit 7am, I slammed the button down! Fortunately, a rare thing happened. My Disney Experience was actually working and we were rewarded with boarding group 68. Estimated time was 360 mins. Not sure when this time started, but hey, we were in line!
All day long, we kept a close eye on the estimated time, which fluctuated up and down using My Genie Day, so magical. Our return time looked to be somewhere between 2:30 and 3pm so after riding Soarin, with a posted standby of 45 mins, were on this ride in 11 mins. Next, it was The Land. Posted standby was 35mins. Actual time was on 8 mins. Don't think Disney isn't exaggerating wait times to get you buy Genie+ ? Anyway, 2:15 we worked our way over the France. Walked back to the new Ratatouille area to check things our and wait for our group to be called.
Pulled up the pixie dust filled My Disney Experience, clicked on My Genie Day, and what did we find.......NOTHING, NADA, ZERO. Went to the start of the line and asked a cast member for help. They scanned our magic bands and found nothing. "Sorry, nothing we can do. You don't have a reservation." Their only suggestion was to go to guest services.
Pretty frustrated by now. That is putting it mildly. So, we left the area and found a blue umbrella that said, "Guest Experiences" with 2 cast members working under it. A very nice young man listened as I told him we had a group 68 boarding and it had all disappeared. After working on his computer for about 15mins, he finally said, got it! It was now past our time but he put us in a new group, 71 which was currently being let in. Checked MDE and, here is the lesson.....I took a screen shot of the reservation. This was the only reservation for the week we had been there that I trusted the system.
So, a thousand thanks to the diligent cast member who helped us and the lesson is, since with Disney going this route, once you get any plans made, screen shot them and/or make hardcopies if possible. Do not trust the system or you may be very disappointed.
All day long, we kept a close eye on the estimated time, which fluctuated up and down using My Genie Day, so magical. Our return time looked to be somewhere between 2:30 and 3pm so after riding Soarin, with a posted standby of 45 mins, were on this ride in 11 mins. Next, it was The Land. Posted standby was 35mins. Actual time was on 8 mins. Don't think Disney isn't exaggerating wait times to get you buy Genie+ ? Anyway, 2:15 we worked our way over the France. Walked back to the new Ratatouille area to check things our and wait for our group to be called.
Pulled up the pixie dust filled My Disney Experience, clicked on My Genie Day, and what did we find.......NOTHING, NADA, ZERO. Went to the start of the line and asked a cast member for help. They scanned our magic bands and found nothing. "Sorry, nothing we can do. You don't have a reservation." Their only suggestion was to go to guest services.
Pretty frustrated by now. That is putting it mildly. So, we left the area and found a blue umbrella that said, "Guest Experiences" with 2 cast members working under it. A very nice young man listened as I told him we had a group 68 boarding and it had all disappeared. After working on his computer for about 15mins, he finally said, got it! It was now past our time but he put us in a new group, 71 which was currently being let in. Checked MDE and, here is the lesson.....I took a screen shot of the reservation. This was the only reservation for the week we had been there that I trusted the system.
So, a thousand thanks to the diligent cast member who helped us and the lesson is, since with Disney going this route, once you get any plans made, screen shot them and/or make hardcopies if possible. Do not trust the system or you may be very disappointed.
