The Genie is out of the lamp at Disneyland… and maybe it should go back in for a bit? Disney Genie debuted at Disneyland today, and there are widespread technical issues plaguing Disneyland’s new FastPass replacement system. As of this writing, Disney Genie launches in the Disneyland app with a warning alerting guests to the issues.
“Pardon the Inconvenience: At this time, new selections, purchases or modifications to Disney Genie+ service or some Individual Lightning Lane features are unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
There are several huge issues that are basically rendering the Genie+ system useless. Guests are not able to make any Lightning Lane selections within the app, either with Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lane. Guests have to wait in line at a kiosk to secure a Genie+ Lightning Lane time slot or purchase an Individual Lightning Lane. Guests who bought Genie+ have to do this every time they wanted a new selection. Waiting in line to skip the line: not exactly what Genie was designed to do.
Happen to be at @disneyland during #Genie+ launch today. Thank goodness I practiced last month at @WaltDisneyWorld (though different rules for when to buy/book your first one)…it was fine at rope drop but then haven’t been able to book another LL for the past hour. Not loading. pic.twitter.com/BUCANkQCxC
— Natasha Chen (@NatashaChenCNN) December 8, 2021
Genie+ is down at Disneyland. I haven’t been able to book another Lightning Lane since about 9am. I recommend patience for first-day launches lol pic.twitter.com/WqgpA7GrX3
— David Vaughn – Disneyland Tips! (@DavidVaughn) December 8, 2021
When I checked the Disneyland app at 2 pm, it was showing Genie+ window for every attraction at both parks as immediately available. After following how Genie+ has been working at Disney World for weeks, this is obviously a technical bug and the Genie+ Lightning Lane system is not working correctly.
Additionally, all of the Individual Lightning Lane attractions show no availability whatsoever within the app.
This is surprising, considering Disney World’s Genie+ Launch did not have the same widespread complete outage. Some wild speculation: It’s possible that the prolonged Amazon Web Services outage yesterday prevented some type of last-minute prep needed to get the system ready for its West Coast debut, or that the technical system at Disneyland is different enough from Disney World’s that Genie needs a few more tweaks to fully work in Anaheim. Another angle that this botched launch is surprising is that Genie+ is closest to Disneyland’s previous MaxPass system, which worked extremely well for years in both Disneyland and California Adventure.
Hopefully Genie will work better for Disneyland guests tomorrow.
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