Genie+ can be very frustrating. PLAN AHEAD

[Violet Parr]

But it is the only option for riding more popular rides with a shorter wait on busier days and if you want to ride them during the day, not just a couple of hours in the morning or very late at night.

No one needs ride options when the parks aren't crowded, but we never seem to be there for those times. Anytime we go, the parks are jam packed.

Yes, and I definitely won't speak to the experience of folks who are here when it is crowded. We never come during peak seasons and we hit each park on the days it is expected to be the least crowded. This app is going to be/has certainly been a very different experience for those who have been or will be here on crowd level days of 7-10.

 

[Violet Parr]

Okay, back to vacation! Going to go check out the bison burger at WL! I will absolutely flesh out the details of my experience more later!

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

We bought it twice on our trip this week. HS and EPCOT. I think paying up for HS is well worth it. We got there late, bot both ILL and had basically 5 stacked before we got there. Later in the day we were able to basically get LL for other rides for return times within 20 minutes.

Our Epcot day my partner bought before I woke up and ended up us not needing it...as no one was there. We still bought both ILL. Frozen I think is the best value based on wait time reduction in that park. I don't see us ever buying the Genie at Epcot again. But we will probably buy Test Track and Frozen.

We bought FOP but didn't buy anything else at AK. The crowds just didnt warrant it.

We have be a big fam trip in January and we're undecided on how we're going to proceed. We'll probably buy most of the ILL and Genie+ some days. I'm guessing it will be overkill....but waiting to see how the addition of our friends on the other side of the pond add to the crowds. We ended our Disney trip with a trip to Riviera Maya and every other person here is a Brit. I'm guessing the pent up Euro demand for WDW could affect things post Nov 8.

 

[Maleficent_Hades]

I'm guessing the pent up Euro demand for WDW could affect things post Nov 8.

this is another thing i'm a little curious about, i'm gonna keep an eye on wait times once that opens up. i was going to just watch the week before my trip, but thats thanksgiving week so might not be the most reliable week to look at.

 

[snikki]

I think the "glitchiness" may be done by Disney on purpose. It's their way of distributing crowds which seems to be one of the big reasons they created G+. It tells one group of people the wait is 35 minutes and they'll go ride it. The rest get the 55 minutes and they decide not to ride it. The line for splash is 60 minutes so they make the next LL time 3:05 pm. The line dies down and they start distributing more LL for 1 pm. I *think* this is how the app is meant to work.

We will continue to use the touring plans line app for wait times. I've never trusted Disney for that.

 

[mom2rtk]

Also, this is *NOT* the only option for avoiding long waits, at least with park crowd levels of 1-6. Opening and/or closing parks open up a lot of short-line opportunities.

I'm pretty sure anyone posting here already knows open and close are generally shorter lines. But when I pay top dollar for a full day's admission, I have expectations for what I can do all day long.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Plan very carefully if you plan to use it. Read everything you can. It sucked to pay to be a beta tester by visiting in the first week, but lesson learned. Listen to those who are willing to share their experiences in depth on here. They are doing a really wonderful service to the community.

ETA: I will write a longer, detailed post when I get home, but I will reiterate here to either plan to use it or plan to not use it. Don't buy it on a whim. Opening and/or closing a park plus Individual LL makes for a better value when crowd levels are 1-6s. More later!

Thanks for your intel. I really am getting the feeling that this is for people who aren't that familiar with Disney World. Most of what I can tell is that free Genie gives bad advice and paid Genie isn't that helpful, trying to sell you something you don't really need and LL, OMG, I've now talked to two people that paid $6 for Space Mountain when it was basically a walk on and posted wait time was 30 min. I can't tell if Disney is intentionally ripping people off or their IT is just that bad that they don't even know their wait times. I know they have their wait times estimated disclosure but that's pretty bad. I will stick with the TP Lines App. They still have better more accurate waits.

 

[shh]

(I edited my original post to be a bit more useful to users here and not just a big, angry vent.)

Eh - you're entitled to do that too. Disney is driving everyone nuts...venting on this forum is therapy.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I think that I will pull up the regular wait times list on DME instead of using Genie for standby lines. Probably still not fully accurate, but you don't have to wonder which time is the correct time.

 

[Lsyves]

Was very glitchy yesterday (Oct 27). We had a LL pass change times more than once. I had to log out and back in again to see the correct time.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have been here since Sunday and decided not to buy Genie+. I had virtual que for Remy and bought ILL$ for Rise and MMRR. We did everything we wanted at Hollywood Studios using early entry and leaving the park in the afternoon. We don't stay at the parks all day.

I think you need to buy Genie+ if you really want to ride the Jungle Cruise, because that has a long line all day, including rope drop because they don't open Adventureland until park opening, and it has a large crowd waiting at the rope.

 

[Violet Parr]

Update: I am not at the WL getting my bison burger because a massive storm/tornado warning hit. Heavy rains just stopped but I had a microwave popcorn and lost all motivation to leave the room.

Was very glitchy yesterday (Oct 27). We had a LL pass change times more than once. I had to log out and back in again to see the correct time.

This. This happened to us more than once as well. The system can be rather glitchy, and I think it's a widespread MDE issue as well. (Our lunch time pick up at Woody's lunchbox got randomly moved, then appeared at the right time, then got moved again. We were unable to get our food until an hour after our original order time.

 

[18sprint]

I was lucky enough to be there on the very first day Genie was introduced. Genie, the so-called free part of it is a complete waste of time. Just look at the tip board and decide how long you want to wait. Our experience was the posted wait times were exaggerated. Soarin showed 35min wait standby, we got in line and was buckling up in 11 mins. Living with the Land was posted at 30mins standby, but it was only 9 mins before we got on a boat. This was the norm for everything else we did that day. I truly believe they are posting longer wait times to entice you to "buy" the ride verses using standby. Money grab at it's best. The Magic Kingdom would be the only candidate for Genie+ providing you get there early and start using it immediately.

 

[01Sweetpea]

I’m thankful that we’re not going to Disney for another 5+ weeks and I can watch these boards and see what people’s experiences are. We’ll be at Disney on a Monday & Tuesday and are planning to park hop to get as much done as possible. At first I was 100% sure I was going to get Genie+ for both days and add $ILL, but now I’m reconsidering.

This is all so confusing.

 

[igrsod]

Update: I am not at the WL getting my bison burger because a massive storm/tornado warning hit. Heavy rains just stopped but I had a microwave popcorn and lost all motivation to leave the room.



This. This happened to us more than once as well. The system can be rather glitchy, and I think it's a widespread MDE issue as well. (Our lunch time pick up at Woody's lunchbox got randomly moved, then appeared at the right time, then got moved again. We were unable to get our food until an hour after our original order time.

Hope you stayed safe and dry. Microwave popcorn.... mmmmm.

 

[Alexis56578]

I still think it's only necessary for MK, at least for my family. Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and then rope drop Mine Train or pay.

Pay for FoP

Rope drop Test Track

We don't do HS

Everything else is manageable. I've waited longer than 45min for local coasters

 

[marikujawa]

We used Genie+ in three parks last week (had Boo Bash tickets for MK). I agree that if you don't mind 45 minute waits or you are there from rope drop to park close, it probably isn't a good value for you. This is a product designed for those who do not want to wait in standby lines, and it works pretty well from that standpoint. We bought it to skip longer waits on rides like SDD and ToT, and then used it to skip even very short waits on the less popular rides. The return times on those rides were almost immediate and the LLs were walk-ons - no waits. Obviously, this will change depending on crowd levels.

Genie+ is for people who don't want to wait in standby lines and don't mind spending the extra money for that purpose. If you (in the general sense) prefer spending time in line to spending money for that product, then you should definitely do some planning to see if it's worth it to you.