If you’ve ever been frustrated with Genie+ in Disney World, just know you’re not alone!
The skip-the-line system has been slightly controversial among guests, with some complaining that it’s complicated to use. The good news is that it can often help you save time in the parks by allowing you to skip some of the long waits. However, for the past few days, the complications might be outweighing the benefits.
Ever since September 23rd, Disney World has been dealing with an ongoing Genie+ problem. Typically, Lightning Lane reservations through Genie+ open for booking at 7AM. But the past few days, this hasn’t been the case for everyone!
For several mornings in a row, Lightning Lane availability has had a delayed release. For a few days, it was 10-15 minutes, but this morning, we weren’t able to book anything until AFTER 8AM. That’s an entire hour later! This means many people like us were sitting at their phones for an hour refreshing the screen and trying to book without success.
Genie+ is STRUGGLING today! We had a hard time seeing Lightning Lane options and getting times to populate this morning! pic.twitter.com/zvxiu8liB4
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) September 27, 2023
To add to this confusion, we noticed during that hour that some Lightning Lanes were disappearing. So apparently, some guests were able to book, but just not all of them. (We had three different people trying simultaneously and none were able to book.) This would be incredibly frustrating for those who tried to wake up early and snag the best Lightning Lane for the day.
When we were finally able to book, many of the return times were already backed up into the afternoon for the popular rides. Peter Pan’s Flight return times were out to 2PM, and Slinky Dog Dash was already showing that it was completely booked for the day. It looks like we’ll be refreshing the app all day and crossing our fingers for some of those attractions.
We chatted with a Cast Member on the Disney World website who was aware of the issues. The Cast Member noted that anyone who was experiencing this problem should try signing in and out of their account in the My Disney Experience app — that may resolve the issue.
As an additional note, this glitch didn’t seem to be affecting the Individual Lightning Lanes. If you wanted to pay separately and book Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, TRON Lightcycle / Run, Flight of Passage, or the other most popular rides, those times were available as normal.
UPDATE: We stopped by Guest Relations to see if Cast Members were offering any type of compensation to guests who experienced issues this morning. However, since we were eventually able to book some Lightning Lanes this morning, we were told that there was nothing that could be done.
We’ll keep an eye on this situation and let you know if anything changes. If you’re traveling this week, just know that this may be a problem you encounter in the morning. Here’s to hoping it gets fixed soon!
Click Here for a COMPLETE Guide to Genie+!
All About Disney Genie, Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection
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FULL List of Rides Included With Genie+ in Disney World
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Genie+ Tips for the Most Crowded Days in Disney World and Disneyland
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Have you used Genie+ in the past few days? Tell us in the comments!
Renee B. says
On Monday 09/25 I was unable to book any Lightning Lane passes until 7:10am. I logged in and out of my account several times between 7:00am-7:10am but still received the same error message when I tried to make a L.L. selection. Then I did a hard shut down of my iPhone, turned it back on, and I was able to purchase Individual Lightning Lane passes for Flights of Passage and Rise of Resistance and book a L.L. for Slink Dog for late afternoon. If you experience this problem again, I definitely recommend doing a hard shut down and restart of your cell phone. It was the most stressful 10 minutes of our whole vacation and annoying since I had been up since 5:30am, but it all worked out in the end.
Jack says
Genie plus is horrible. Get ride of it and return the free fast pass system that worked.
Kate says
So you pay extra money, get up very early on your vacation, miss a couple of hours of your day and they’re not offering any compensation. What “wonderful” customer service!
kim peaslee says
They told us the same thing, really made a mess of the morning.
Paula says
Could not book anything yesterday morning until 8. Frustrating and annoying. People are depending on this system because Disney has forced us to do so. This type of incident is not customer-friendly. Spend some more money on the system to make it work like it should or change the system.
Barbra says
This system, even when it’s working, has made the whole vacation so stressful. Have to be awake early, fumble around with phones under pressure, panicking about missing out on some rides entirely, disappointment when you dont get in and all at extra cost. Who wants to start each day of their vacation like this? It’s miserable.