Discount Genie+ Add-on for New Magic Ticket
Walt Disney World has released the new 14-day Magic Tickets, which replaces the similar Ultimate Ticket available exclusively for advance purchase by “holidaymakers” from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Europe. In this post, we share details about the tweaked ticket, what it offers, the Genie+ discount, and other commentary.
For those who are unfamiliar with them, let’s start with the basics of Disney Magic Tickets. These offer Park Hopping to visit multiple theme parks and water parks on the same day. Magic Tickets also include Memory Maker for unlimited downloads of your family’s images captured by Disney PhotoPass photographers. Disney Magic Tickets also offer access to the ESPN Wide World of Sports and Oak Trail Golf Course, plus miniature golf at Winter Summerland or Fantasia Gardens.
In addition to the aforementioned two-week variety, Disney Magic Tickets also have a 7-day option. You can use the 7-Day Magic Ticket over 15 days and the 14-Day Magic Ticket over the course of 18 days. Despite there being a week-long or two week option, the pricing is exactly the same–Walt Disney World advertises booking a 14-day ticket for the price of 7 days.
To my knowledge, all of that is consistent with and identical to the Disney Magic Tickets’ predecessor, the Ultimate Ticket. There are a couple of changes that are potentially significant.
First, Magic Tickets are now date-based. Value Season tickets are priced at £469 each, Regular Season tickets cost £489 or £509 (beginning in November 2022), and Peak Season tickets are £549.
Second, there’s now an option to purchase a Genie+ length-of-visit add-on to the Magic Tickets. This is necessarily new, as Genie+ didn’t exist previously.
For the 7-day Magic Ticket, adding Genie+ costs +£10.99 per day or +£76.93 per ticket. This is approximately $14.99 per day, or exactly the same price as the per-day add-on. For the 14-day Magic Ticket, Genie is discounted to +£6.99 per day or +£97.86 per ticket. That’s approximately $9.54 per day, which is a pretty decent savings–or is it?!
Before offering commentary, I want to be clear that we have zero firsthand experience with these 14-day tickets. Many of you reading this are probably significantly more knowledgeable about them. I’m just going from info in the announcement, and basing my thoughts on that plus our experience thus far with Genie+ and other tickets.
As with pretty much anything Walt Disney World-related, there are undoubtedly unique wrinkles to the Magic Tickets, and I don’t know what I don’t know. Seasoned holidaymakers from across the pond, please feel free to correct or supplement in the comments!
Despite our inexperience, we’re covering these new Magic Tickets because a lot of this blog’s readers are based abroad–overwhelmingly in the United Kingdom–and we love our readers from [insert city where you reside + thunderous applause and cheering]. Joking aside, we really do appreciate you all–and love the places we’ve visited in the UK and Europe!
Now that we’ve successfully (?) sucked up to the international audience, we really are sharing this because there’s always a big appetite for it. We’ve heard repeatedly from readers in the UK that they are anxiously awaiting all news about tickets & discounts and are very ready to get back to Walt Disney World. And there is some commentary here worth considering before you take the plunge on these tickets and the Genie+ add-on…
Let’s start with the new date-based nature of the Magic Tickets. This is sure to disappoint, especially as (to my knowledge) this effectively amounts to a price increase for Regular and Peak Season dates, as the Value Season is simply the previous across-the-board price.
That’s one way to look at it. Another is that a price increase was going to happen one way or the other, and this “spared” this guests who travel in the off-season. I’m not trying to spin Walt Disney World raising prices in a positive light, but we all know it’s an inevitability at this point, and at least this offers a reprieve for some guests. Silver lining?
The price jump is especially steep for Peak Season. Fortunately, the only dates I see that fall into that tier are December 12, 2022 through December 31, 2022. This is likely a popular travel time for UK visitors, so that probably stings a bit for holidaytime holidaymakers. 😉 On the plus side, the entire calendar before that is Value or Regular, and those prices are much more palatable for everyone else.
The Christmas and New Year’s surcharge is also consistent with what Walt Disney World has been doing to everyone else during those dates for the last several years. If you want to visit during those dates as a local, you’ll have to fork over significantly more for the higher tier Annual Pass. Likewise, regular date-based tickets are significantly more expensive during the last few weeks of the year.
Moving on the the Genie+ add-on, this is very attraction on its face, which is probably the idea. Saving ~$5 per day is not insignificant. However, I’m guessing that’s not how a lot of UK visitors will look at it.
It seems that many guests buy the 14-day tickets as a matter of convenience, without plans to visit for all of the days–or at least, not full days. Accordingly, Genie+ wouldn’t have full value for many guests buying the Disney Magic Tickets.
Just in crunching the numbers, the breakeven point for the Genie+ add-on is 9 days. If you’d visit the parks and buy Genie+ for 9 days of your Walt Disney World holiday, you’re coming out ahead by just doing the add-on ahead of time. Fewer than 9 days and you’re better off just purchasing Genie+ on certain days upon arrival.
The problem–and the reason this is a savvy move on Walt Disney World’s part–is that guests don’t know how many days they’ll want Genie+ before actually using it. Whether it’s a matter of overestimating its usefulness or peace of mind, there’s a good chance consumers buying the 14-day Magic Tickets will spend more with the “discount” Genie+ option than they would adding it on a daily basis. It’s like the Disney Dining Plan all over again!
One of the things we’ve stressed in our Genie+ and Lightning Lane coverage is that it’s not necessary in every park or every day of your trip. Even as we’ve been more optimistic and positive about Genie+ than most readers, we’ve still cautioned against buying the length-of-stay add-on. It’s just not necessary for the vast majority of guests.
Granted, that was the non-discounted option–but it was also for shorter ticket durations. It’s one thing as a blogger trying to hack the system and test maximizing my ride count for the sake of research and putting together planning resources. I cannot fathom visiting Walt Disney World like a normal human and needing Genie+ for 14 days. Or even 9. I’d maybe want 5 days–perhaps more during peak season just as a safety net.
Then again, I’m also someone who only leveraged the Disney Dining Plan for ‘bite-sized’ trips and would far prefer to simply pay out of pocket for food during longer vacations. Just like I’m not good enough at eating to maintain the value proposition for a longer visit, I’m not good enough at riding rides to utilize Genie+ for that long.
After a few too many sugary cupcakes, I hit a wall and crash into a food coma, tongue stained from artificial colors. Likewise, my body can only handle so many roller coasters in a week. (Perhaps this all says more about me getting old than anything else, but I digress.) Your mileage may vary, and you shouldn’t substitute my judgment or preferences for your own.
Ultimately, that’s my perspective on the Genie+ add-on for the 14-day Magic Tickets. It’s interesting and promising that Walt Disney World is already offering a discounted Genie+ add-on, even if it’s only for these UK/EU tickets. My expectation is that we’ll see a lot more of this as Walt Disney World collects data about Genie+ purchases and determines at what date duration of tickets they’re losing sales.
That was the driving motivation behind “the longer you play, the less you pay per day” and the principle is the same here. There will undoubtedly be a Genie+ option for Annual Passes at some point, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if regular tickets start seeing discounted bundles for 5-day and longer options. We shall see what happens in the coming months as Genie+ continues to evolve and Disney tweaks its approach!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the new Disney Magic Ticket? Disappointed that it’s date-based or higher tier options are more expensive? Will you be buying the Genie+ add-on, doing it day-by-day, or skipping Genie+ entirely? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed/got wrong? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
This is a really important point. I don’t normally do “convenience” but travelling with two toddlers means I do not want to be faffing around on my phone every morning buying or not buying genie+.
Bonjour everyone. Are those tickets available for french visitors ? On the wdw website ? Thanks for your help
Hey Tom. Your assumptions are pretty close. When visiting we would book for 8 in a 2-bed at OKW, with free dining (great value with that many guests), for 21 days with 21-day ultimate passes (only 10% more than 14-day), which expired 21 days after first use. Our 168 table credits would see shocked looks from servers on day 1.
However, we had no need for full park days. Generally we would park hop based on ADRs. We would buy 14-day Universal/SeaWorld tickets and mix up our days – easy with a rental and free WDW parking. Fastpass+ for the headliners and smart use of standby was adequate.
As such, on future visits we would use Genie+ sparingly (or not at all). However, British first-timers would benefit more and might like the safety net of daily Genie+, before realising on day 5 that it wasn’t necessary. Brits stay for longer and don’t need to cram.
Sadly our days of 21-days on site are long gone due to price rises. Next visit will be on site at Universal with the odd day to WDW. The UKP10,000 spent on a WDW trip previously will become UKP2,000 at WDW with the remainder at Universal or off-site hotels. How funny that Universal had the reputation for nickel and diming. Now they give unlimited front-of-line free with a $350 hotel room, whereas Disney charge you for Genie+ when staying in a $700 room.
BTW – “Ultimate” ticket sellers were expected to ship to an EU address, and could only accept payment from an EU credit/debit card, to prevent US citizens buying them. No EU ID checks done when entering the parks.
I have just bought 14 day Magic tickets for February 2022. Initially when I saw the discounted Genie + I ooooed! But then I did the math and we will not go in the parks more than 6 days for rides and having read your blog I only think we would buy for MK and HS so I didn’t purchase with the ticket and we will buy on the day when needed. I buy 14 day tickets due to the same price and more flexible planning, go in for just fireworks etc on days we may not spend the whole day in the parks. (We realize we still need park reservations to do this.)
Hi from the UK! We love your site and all your great commentary. We have used the 14 day tickets quite a few times and I agree with your assumption that very few people would actually use it for 14 full days. Most trips we only do full park days 3 or 4 times and all the rest are half days or even just stopping in for a few rides and mickey bar just because we have the tickets. Following on from your recent Genie + reports I think for our next trip we would probably add it on for one day as HS as there are a lot of rides there we haven’t done and one MK day at most.
We are every other year visitors from the UK. We stay on property, get free dining, the 14 day ticket, go off season and honestly, aside from one day where we force ourselves to universal, we are in a park from open to close every day. We were super good at the fast pass game and honestly don’t remember ever queuing for anything. We will definitely get genie+ at the cheaper rate, and definitely make full use of it. Whilst we’re probably not the majority of UK visitors, we’re definitely not completely abnormal in this!
Thanks for keeping us updated with the parks, we can’t wait to come back (when free dining plan and cheap flights are back on!)!
When u holiday from the UK for 14 days you dont just do disney for 14 days 6 will be at universal seaworld etc so its not really a good deal .
Thanks for remembering us in Ireland 🙂
I live in Ohio and actually bought an Ultimate 14 day ticket from a UK retailer in 2017 when we decided to extend our trip from 7 days to 12 days. I had already purchased a 6 day park hopper from a United Airlines Vacations promo with an expiration of 2030, but this was too good of a deal to pass up. It included park hopping, water parks, miniature golf, Disney Quest AND Cirque de Soleil La Nouba! They Fed Ex’d the tickets back then and I was never asked to provide proof of residency. I wonder if they would now.
Hi Tom! I have my 14 days tickets as part of our booking for end August 2022, staying at POFQ. But, as this – in theory-are less crowded dates, and we will stay “only” for ten days, I would skip including now G+ even if it may be possible. I have also a “parallel” Swan reservation becoming more and more attractive due to the extra evening time… We have time to decide, taking also if, when and how the DDP comes back. Following you and Sarah from Spain, you would be more than welcome in our nice country!!
Hi from the UK and love the site! We’ve got a trip in January with Ultimate tickets already booked- agree that the Genie+ add on seems a bit overblown (I assume we won’t be offered it anyway).
Tbh I think it should be included for duration of stay in a Deluxe anyway like in Universal
Thanks so much Tom. I bought last gasp ultimate tickets for our 2022 trip as I guessed at least prices wouldn’t be going down. We’re travelling at Easter so pretty sure (not having checked) that those dates will be value rather than regular.
I think with ultimate tickets, 7 day tickets could only be used over 7 days and 14 day tickets over 14 days so the extended time frames are a bonus (if I’m right).
You’ve helped me so much with planning our trip. It’s been delayed since 2020 so I’ve spent a lot of time reading and planning to try and make it worth the wait!!
I too am from the UK and love reading anything and everything you and Sarah write about every day. I’m a Disney nerd too (Country bears, Figment, Peoplemover, tiki room, carousel of progress â¤ï¸!).
I’m going to hold fire and not add Genie+ to my 14 day tickets for next year as like you say some savy planning will hopefully make it unnecessary for several days of my holiday. I will continue to eagerly read all your updates over time on Genie+
I’ve bought a 14 days Ultimate ticket for my December stay (being very optministic that I can actually travel to the US) but I actually will visit the parks 10 times. And I’m planning to buy Genie+ only one day at the Magik Kingdom and one day at the Studios. So the new add-on wouldn’t interest me in the slightest (if it’s actually offered for the old Ultimate, not sure).
Unless… it should still be possible to bridge Ultimate tickets to an AP. If for some weird reason they allow to bridge the full cost of the ticket (add-on included) to an AP, someone who wants to do that might actually get the add-on for free on the first visit. Guest services seem to do a lot of confusion when bridging Ultimate tickets, even if it doesn’t make sense it might still happen.
Why do only they get why is not available to travels from Canada or pass holders get a deal.
Thanks very much for this, Tom. We’re from the UK, and coming on a Magic Ticket in December 2021. I’ll be interested to find out whether it’s possible to add Genie+ to that existing ticket (not holding my breath!) – I’ll update here if I get anywhere with our travel agent.
I really, really enjoy your site. It’s so much more data-driven and wonkish than a lot of Disney information sites and videos, which is exactly what I’m looking for; it’s at least a daily visit for me from the moment we start planning a WDW holiday. Thank you for everything you do. (Not least, I feel a lot more confident about navigating Genie+ etc. because of all the work you’ve done explaining it.)
Good suck up to us international travelers, I will be adding on the genie+ to my park tickets just so I don’t have to think about it every morning and at the discounted price it’s worth the few xtra dollars