Genie+ Review and conundrums

Walt Disney World Trip Reports
1

I didn’t realize just how finicky Genie+ would be. I’ve had 1 day at MK and 1 day at Epcot and haven’t had much success so far. Some examples:

DS is too short for many rides. If I add him to the group for the G+ reservation, it locks him into it and it doesn’t reset when we ride that ride. If I book everyone except DS. And wife decides to not ride. It doesn’t count that we used the reservation.

Haveing a mixed group makes single reservations nearly impossible to manage through the app.

Next issue. If booking 2 passes for me and DD. Then a separate 2 for DS and wife, I can’t see both reservations from one account. You can only see the reservations that the primary account is tied too. I finally switched logins and saw the rogue reservation.

Next issue. Got a pass for 10-11 for test track, test track was down from 9:30 and still said it was down on the app. So I finally gave up and cancelled after missing the first 1.5hrs to make another reservation, booked soaring instead. Walked past test track and was told if I hadn’t cancelled it they would have given me an anytime pass for test track. But since I had it was too late and there was nothing the guest experience CM could do.

I’m not sure what to do for the next couple days since I’ve already paid out for the rest of the week but I’ll try to update

14 Likes
2

Ugh, I’m sorry to hear all that. It does sound complicated. I hope you have better luck tomorrow.

3

Thanks tomorrow will be MK day 2. I can say the EE mornings are priceless and honestly prefer to do Pooh, tea cups, dumbo small world, the carousel and then Peter Pan then just buy the 7DMT later one.

Also to confirm if you buy 3 ILL$ and do rider switch. The child gets to ride twice (once with each adult)

So far MK and Epcot basically have a modified rope drop at exactly 30 minutes prior to open.

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4

Thanks for the update… I sincerely believe WDW is using guests right now to live beta test this in action. I would be very frustrated in your sitiuation. I paid for what was promoted as a finished product. In reality, Disney is making people pay actual money for this mess. If you want to beta test it live, offer it for free for a limited time. Heck, if it actually worked people would go home & rave about it. As it is… I’m sticking to the Lines App…

I’ve watched sooooo many vloggers and listened to too many podcasts about Genie+ and LL$.
It doesn’t do what Touring Plans does right now. I tell TP what I want and they make it happen. With Genie you tell it what you want and you might get to do it. Heck, some of the LL$ queues are no longer than standby…

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5

Thanks for the rider switch info! If the two big kids in our group end up liking the coasters, we were hoping to use it that way for them. Makes the price easier to swallow if the ones who truly matter get more out of it. :slight_smile:

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6

For someone that has gone through it, is there any benefit to EE even if you don’t get there super early? For example, arriving at 8:30 for a 9AM opening?

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7

There’s always a benefit if you’re staying onsite and can get ahead of the crowds into Fantasyland or Tomorrowland.

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8

This is great info! Thanks!

^^ @Jeff_AZ - not sure if you had this in your G+ info post, but if not I think it’s worth adding?

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9

Thanks. I have seen some talk about arriving an hour prior to EE but perhaps that was just for Rise.

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10

An hour is better but every minute counts, IMO.

11

Quick check in today was more successful but I believe only because we are actively breaking the rules. I’ve been using all 4 of our magic bands completely interchangable between people. I asked a CM and was told, “We don’t care who’s magic band you scan into lightning lane with as long as it turns green.”. Doing so we knocked out every single ride we wanted to plus lunch and a capture your moment session by 1pm. DS3 only wanted to do dumbo, carousel and meet Tiana and Mickey.

I can’t say enough how good the capture your moment CM was. Easily the highlight of the day.

Let me know if you have any questions I’ll check back in later.

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12

So far at MK and Epcot they were very controlled and only let in at 1/2 hour. Didn’t see much benefit arriving 30 minutes prior vs 10 minutes prior based on Sunday and today.

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13

You would on a high crowd day.

14

My main takeaway was it was more enjoyable to ride 2-4 less popular rides and still buy the ILL$ for 7DMT. The horde to space mountain and 7DMT was not enjoyable looking.

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15

Probably but Disney hasn’t yet been able to show they can actually support such crowds. It’s already very poorly managed right now with current crowds at the parks. EPCOT was a cluster yesterday and we bailed at 3pm. The Food and wine crowds were just too much while test track and spaceship earth were down

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16

I don’t think they have the staffing for full on crowds yet. It’s a problem.

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17

It’s showing in a lot of instances.

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18

Sorry for the issues you ran into! That’s rough! Hopefully you are having more success with a couple of days under your belt.

19

Yes, I was only able to tap in to MK the other day at 8:58 for EPH due to reservation issue, but was ahead of all the 9:00 entries and still got several rides as walk-ons. Even that couple of minutes got me ahead of hundreds of others.

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20

Has anyone tried to do rider switch with only 1 of the adults and child having ILL? For example, 4 in my group. 2 children and 2 adults. 1 child is to short. Has anyone tried doing it with only 1 adult and 1 child having ILL?