Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability & Demand Post-Price Increase at Disney World
Earlier this week, Walt Disney World rolled out new date-based pricing for the Genie+ service. That’s code for a price increase, which has already happened with the cost of paid FastPass jumping from $15 to $20 plus tax overnight. This post takes an early look at whether demand has been damped and if there’s better Lightning Lane availability as a result.
Along with higher prices, Walt Disney World is currently experiencing elevated attendance following Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This always catches Walt Disney World fans by surprise as people assume it’s not a major holiday. However, many schools do use it when setting their fall break, which does have a big impact on crowds.
Consequently, crowd levels have been a 9/10 or 10/10 every single day since October 7. As a whole, this week’s crowd level has been 10/10, with an average wait time across all attractions (at least, the ones that post wait times) of 49 minutes. That makes this the 3rd busiest week of the entire year, after the week of Presidents’ Day and the peak of spring break. To put that into perspective, the average wait time two weeks ago was 33 minutes, and we were already hearing complaints about increased crowds then.
This crowd conversation is relevant because we’ve seen that more people purchase Genie+ when crowds are higher. This is something we’ve seen time and time again in the last year. We even predicted that demand for Lightning Lanes will be higher when Genie+ prices are higher because the Genie+ date-based surcharge over the low or regular seasons is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Intuitively, this makes complete sense. Worse wait times creates a higher incentive for bypassing lines, meaning higher uptake of Genie+ even when it costs more. The rationale is simple–people are willing to pay more to skip lines when they’re worse. Even at a higher price, Genie+ offers greater utility and value for money on a 9/10 crowd level day than it does a 3/10 day.
Moreover, those visiting during peak weeks are already paying more for their vacations. The difference between $16 and $22 (after tax) is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and won’t cause many guests to balk at pricing. What’s another “few dollars” on top of a multi-thousand dollar trip if it’ll offer a competitive advantage?!
Nevertheless, this is the first time we’ve seen an actual price increase with Genie Plus, so we wanted to see whether demand remained strong and Lightning Lane availability continued to move in the same manner when the paid FastPass service increased in cost by $5 overnight. So, that’s exactly what we’ll do here.
In general, we observed many of the same patterns as previous 8/10 to 10/10 days at Walt Disney World. Slinky Dog Dash is still fully booked within minutes of 7 am. Same goes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on the Individual Lightning Lane side of the ledger. At Magic Kingdom, Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight are gone by mid-morning. The same is true of Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure at EPCOT.
In order to give you an idea of what inventory is looking like throughout the day, I’ve been taking copious screenshots over the course of the last couple of days–over 400 this week, with 200+ yesterday alone. I’m trying to find a good way of presenting those and will continue to tweak the approach as this could be a useful illustration going forward.
In any case, I’ve been checking Genie+ regularly and have the following in 2-hour increments (consistent with the 120-minute rule, since that’s the relevant consideration when it’s busy). Commentary follows in case you can’t make sense of the screenshots, or just want an interpretation…
7:30 am Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~9 am Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~9 am Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~11 am Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~1 pm Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~3 pm Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
~5 pm Genie+ Lightning Lane Availability
Inventory is improved, with headliners remaining available in all four parks through at least 11 am. Not a new-this-week phenomenon, but EPCOT has displaced Disney’s Hollywood Studios as the ‘toughest’ park for securing a solid slate of top-tier attractions. It remains possible, in theory, to secure Lightning Lanes for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track. In practice, it’s exceedingly difficult on busy days without luck or skill.
Speaking of which, we deliberately avoided checking availability at known or anticipated Genie+ Lightning Lane drop or refill times. Knowledge of how this works and a strong refresh game will help you beat the masses when using Genie Plus. Of course, that means more screen time and potentially added frustrations, so your mileage may vary.
Another not-new phenomenon worth pointing out is the longevity of Lightning Lane inventory for several popular attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is something we first observed with the start of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party season, as that became our preferred ‘hopper park’ following a morning at Magic Kingdom on those days.
As the early fall off-season has transitioned to shoulder and now peak season, it continues to be true, albeit to a lesser extent. While Slinky Dog Dash is still gone fast (reminder: speed strategy works!), most other attractions have availability until late morning or early afternoon. Still not as good as Magic Kingdom, but last Thanksgiving there were days when you could literally get 1-2 headliners and then A.S.S. (literally and figuratively a la Alien Swirling Saucers).
All in all, honestly no huge differences as compared to pre-price increase in terms of Lightning Lane availability as compared to similarly-situated days earlier this week. Beyond the prediction that higher crowds results in more demand, I wonder if there are a couple other factors at play.
First, people who arrived over the weekend and have been buying Genie+ all along may not even have noticed the price increase yet. This might sound silly, but it’s not exactly prominently displayed in the app. I can only speak for myself, but my “tradition” when buying Genie+ is doing so half-awake and before I’ve had coffee when my alarm goes off at 6:55 am.
Not only that, but I’m clicking through as quickly as possible to get the ball rolling and ready for 7:00:00 am. If I were on vacation and hadn’t been following the “news,” it’s entirely conceivable that I’d be paying more without even realizing it. I’m not suggesting that this is happening to a ton of people, but it’s probably occurring with a non-0 number of guests.
Second, there are still plenty of outstanding tickets with the Genie+ add-on that are totally insulated from the price increase. Back when Walt Disney World announced that they were eliminating the Genie+ ticket add-on, they did so with 3 weeks’ notice. We heard from many readers who bought tickets with the add-on during that window to hedge their bets against future price increases, smartly predicting that it would save them money in the long haul.
It’s impossible to know how many people did this, or simply purchased vacation packages earlier in the year before there was any threat of this ticket option disappearing. In normal times, most planners booked travel ~6 months in advance with another large contingent of those who buy tickets at the last minute. The former window has shrunk a lot in the last two years, but still exists to some degree.
As such, our bet is that no fewer than 20% of Walt Disney World guests with Genie+ for the remainder of this year have the ticket add-on. In reality, that number could be significantly higher–but I doubt it’s any lower. It really depends on how confident pre-planners were that they’d want or need Lightning Lane access. Sentiment from people on blogs like this and social media are not representative of the park-going public, so it’s really hard to surmise.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting (to me, at least!) to follow the evolving dynamics of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World as we head into the peak holiday season. There have been a lot of changes in the last several months, good and bad, that have impacted the utility and usability of paid FastPass at Walt Disney World…and there are likely more to come. (In addition to the tweaks, I’m very curious about whether Fantasmic will be added to Genie+ and how that nighttime spectacular’s return affects attendance dynamics at DHS.)
We’ll continue monitoring Lightning Lane availability and all other changes with Genie+ in the coming weeks. As for more on the ground testing of Lightning Lanes, I’ll probably wait until around Thanksgiving for the dust to settle on all of this and Fantasmic to fall into a groove. At $20+ per day now, I’ve gotta be more selective with my trial runs. So I guess in one regard, Walt Disney World has already been successful with the price increase reducing demand…among the demographic of “bloggers doing field testing of the service.” 😂
If you have questions about the basics of using–or not using–the paid FastPass service, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for all of the foundational need-to-know info. This whole system is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or two-dozen. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
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
If you’re at Walt Disney World this week for fall break, what has been your experience with Genie+ or standby lines? Have you noticed any discernible differences pre v. post-price increase? Any success or failures making multiple high-priority Lightning Lane selections? Would you recommend Genie+ to others, or just advise sticking to standby? Other problems or thoughts to share? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!
The only success I’ve ever had G+ is stacking. And it worked out very well, at HS and MK. We rode just about every ride in MK, getting there around 11am and rode all of the big ticket rides with G+ at HS getting there around 4pm, and had time to stop for adult beverages a few times. Both times during the busy summer months.
My biggest issue as a longtime AP, and I do not know what it is but the crowds post-covid have been absolutely horrendous… not so much the size, but the actual people. Never have I witnessed the things that have gone on and the attitudes of the people who are there… all post covid. It’s weird, and extremely disappointing. It’s like a different clientele… very hard to explain, but it’s just so very different. Curious if others feel the same… or are there just not many local AP’s left?
We experienced the exact same thing on our trip 6 weeks ago. The people were amazingly rude, that includes staff. Sorry cannot bring myself to refer to them as cast members anymore. With few exceptions most of the staff were rude and unhelpful. So many families were arguing, being nasty to each other and other guests. We were shocked at things we witnessed.
Can you post a stacking strategic approach to genie+ for those planning to arrive after 3pm to the parks? Thanks
This would be super helpful. I have no desire to rope drop in these times
Francisco, I can offer some examples of what I did in the park this week for afternoon entry. Using the Magic Kingdom as an example, I started by booking the Individual Lightning Lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train exactly at 7:00 AM and chose a 7:05-8:05PM return time. Then I booked a Genie lightning lane for EPCOT that I knew would sell out quickly (Frozen) because we were headed to EPCOT for lunch before hopping to the Magic Kingdom later in the evening. Two hours after the Magic Kingdom opened, I booked Peter Pan for 6:45 – 7:45 (because it sells out fast I could get the later return time) then repeated that process a couple times until I had: Haunted at 6:25, Peter Pan at 6:45, Seven Dwarfs at 7:05, and Splash Mountain at 7:15. It was tight but we made it to all of them and all of them (except Haunted which was having difficulties) were walk on. And this was at a 9/10 crowd level at the Magic Kingdom. The key to stacking later is to pay attention to which rides book up first and how quickly they are selling out. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on your phone, but you kind of need to take a wait and watch approach, refreshing the Tip Board until you can get a time that works for you. It also depends on the park. For HS I booked Rise and Millennium Falcon around 3:05 and 3:45 but didn’t get Slinky Dog until 8:30PM (it sold out within minutes). And if you are entering the parks later there will be some rides that are sold out too quickly for you to book (in my case Mickey and Minnie’s RR was gone before I could get it). Anyway, I would recommend studying Tom’s Genie posts very carefully. Good luck and have fun! We had an amazing time!
Many thanks!
What would be your next topic next week on your blog.
We were just there for two weeks in September. We had a park hopper. We did all four parks three times each. Genie couldn’t have been easier. I don’t think I spent more than a couple of seconds, a few times a day on my phone and we didn’t wait in any lines.
We stayed on property so at 7 AM every morning we bought a couple of the lightning lanes for the parks that we knew we would be in. We paid for flight of passage and we paid for guardians of the galaxy. We didn’t care about going on rise of the resistance because we’ve been on it before
We didn’t do rope drop. We did stay till park close though because we had all adults.
I must be missing some thing about the frustration and the difficulty using individual lightning lanes and genie plus. Yes I know it’s an extra cost But it couldn’t have been easier. We are night owls so we purchased it at night before we went to bed. We rode everything we wanted to, multiple times, including the headliners in each park.
After spending $10,000 for this vacation I wasn’t really going to be upset about an extra 15 or $20 here or there.
Hi Tom, I know this is WDW post but also know you’ve been in Cali quite a bit recently. I’m an Inspire Magic Key holder and go approximately 1x per week. I don’t mind being the one to be glued to the phone watching the ride times but I have not been able to figure out known or anticipated Genie+ Lightning Lane drop or refill times. Slots don’t seem to open much. Do you have any insight on this for the Disneyland parks? Much appreciate it.
Thrill Data has heat maps that show historical LL availability by day, so that might be useful and/or interesting. Agreed that if it were to change it’s too early to see significant changes AND that it’s likely that this isn’t a big enough dollar change to act as a significant impediment to purchases.
As long as it’s still cheaper to buy Genie+ and stay off property than to stay on property and take advantage of Early Entry in lieu of Genie+, there’s going to be people who will do so.
Or people like my family who would rather pay for Genie than have to get up early. Fighting with my teens to get up at 6am vs leisurely morning enjoying a cup of coffee and chilling, while they sleep till 11 and I stack genies?? I’ll take the latter
Tom, thank you for doing the legwork to show G+ context in use. We lived a few miles from WDW from 2001 to 2020 and were experts at managing lines during that time. All of that is meaningless in the world of G+. We did use G+ at Disneyland in March to great success. Unless a ride went down before our time and then all bets were off. This really seems to be the best website for not only reporting the news but explaining why and how it is important. And in a very timely manner. Thanks!
So basically they knew that there would be date based pricing coming up. That is why they took it away as an add on option in a vacation package.
Exactly Tiffany. They are not stupid just greedy. Just the nostalgic or “I want to have my kid experience what I had” is the problem and feeding the greed machine. Cut them off. Just a matter of time before genie minus is tiered so you only get one e ticket and the rest A.S.S.
ALL the changes from getting rid of the MAGICAL BUS to and from the Airport, the FREE Dining Plan, getting rid of the OLD FAST PASS ( at least you could relax more knowing What TIME you were to be at each THREE rides for that day ! ), All the Price Increases for FOOD, TICKETS, just about EVERYTHING !! It is just a Shame what this HEAD of the Company now is doing ! He even said he will Keep RAISING and CHANGING Everything as long as people Keep coming ! PLEASE people – If Everyone just said lets ALL SKIP Disneyworld NEXT year — which I know many people are so fed up and are NOT going back next year. I am sure things might get better if they see people are staying HOME . ENOUGH is ENOUGH. — Everyone STAY HOME Next year.
I just got back from being at Disney World this last week. I totally agree, it’s very in-magical place now. Nickel and dimed all day long, and forced to pay higher prices as the first day we didn’t do Genie+ and only did 3 rides. Going to check out other places next as long as Bob is still there.
I am here now and have been here all week. It’s crowded. All I have to say is that I really, really wanted to hate Genie while I was planning this trip. I’d never used it before, it’s expensive, and it seemed too complicated. But thanks to the Genie tutorials in this blog, and this blog only, I have not waited in a single line this week. I used every Genie strategy that Tom suggests and we have had an amazing time. It wildly exceeded my expectations. Tom and Sarah, I cannot thank you enough.
How can we ride Guardians of the Galaxy if we park hop to EPCOT in the late afternoon? Is it a LL alone?
There is indeed an Individual Lightning Lane purchase that can be made for GOTG separate from the Genie+ purchase, instead of joining the virtual queue.
Depending on crowds, the 1PM drop of additional slots for the GOTG virtual queue has been lasting for quite a while. It was still going strong at 1:15PM on October 1, and Tom has seen it repeatedly last past 2PM when park hopping guests are allowed into Epcot.
You’d need to purchase it in the morning. You can choose a later time. Or you can wait to see if the queue is still open at 2, but that’sa gamble. Lastly if you are a deluxe guest and hop to Epcot on a Monday you can use the 6pm virtual queue drop. And if you are lucky you can do all 3 in one day! We did that this summer
Another G+ hater here. We use to do 2-3 trips a year and have only went once after the park reservation and G+ came out. It was a quick 2 day trip to try G+, and it just took too much away from our ,once, relaxing vacation. This quote out of your post is why and the key points are in CAPS. “but my “tradition” when buying Genie+ is doing so half-awake and before I’ve had coffee when my ALARM GOES OFF AT 6:55 AM.
Not only that, but I’m CLICKING THROUGH AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO GET THE BALL ROLLING AND READY FOR 7:00:00 AM.”
Well our daughters really wanted to do a Disney trip so we will be there next month, of course after the price increase. SMH I will also mention another weird thing WDW has and it’s FL resident tickets, they max out at 4 days and we wanted to do 6 park days, but I’m refusing to pay max price for 2 more days. WHY do they have a 4 day max, especially when there are no APs available? Because of that we decided to spend 2 nights at US, so WDW lost out on resort nights, ticket cost and food etc. that we would have spent there.
BTW; I would also be interested in a form of a PDF G+ guide. This is one of the biggest issues, we should not be needing a guide.
Thanks for the research Tom. I am super curious if Genie+ will collapse again during the week of Thanksgiving.
These screenshots reinforce for me that Genie+ is still a good deal *relative to other current Disney upgrades.* There are some Genie+ sleeper rides that maintain availability late into the day. If you can snag a high-demand ride at 7am, a decent ride at 120 minutes, and a “sleeper” ride or two for later in the day, this is a good value *for WDW in 2022.*
I’m trying to maintain my Disney love. Since I didn’t appreciate how good the perks were at Disney a decade ago, I am trying to appreciate how awesome Genie+ is now compared to five years from now.
Genie+ has ruined WDW. There’s nothing else to say.
This convoluted new system makes me and many others so frustrated that I don’t know when or if I will be returning to the parks. I don’t want to have to figure thus out nor do I want to spend extra for the rides. There will be a lot of people who do, which will cement this mess forever. If people refused to use it, they might change the policy. I also DON’T want to be on my phone all day managing this mess they have made. It’s taken all the joy from the experience. All this on top of exponential increases in transportation from the airport and loss of extras is frustrating.
Is there somewhere in your blog I can find a strategy for Epcot (Frozen/Remy/Test Track) possibility of booking all through genie plus that you mentioned in this article?
Thanks!!
Price increases (now and in the future) seems to be based upon Disney executives meeting Wall Street expectations of revenue growth (which normal mean 8 percent or more to keep overall stock price from falling). I’m thinking the current, and future (I.E, by end of 2023), price increases will be in the 15 to 20 percent ranges to offset revenue loss due to projected recession downturns in attendance slated to start in mid-2023. With unknown causalities such as Disney+ losing subscribers and other such under-performers as ESPN, and if the recession last for 6 months or more and impacts United States, European and South American travel to Disney all bets are off. Disney stock is down almost 50 percent just this year (and why Chapek still has his job is beyond me), and I expect Disney stock price to settle around 40-50 per share before everything settles in 2025.
We were there from 10/6 – 10/11, so we just missed the increase in prices. My wife, youngest, and I all pre-paid, but my college-aged sons decided later to join us (because of course), so I had to buy G+ for them each morning so we could ride together. The whole process is such a pain: buying in the morning, booking at 7:00, having to remember to book again in two hours. And, with DAK and Epcot having little utility, it just doesn’t seem worth it, especially with the price increase. I’ll be curious to see how demand shakes out over the next couple of months.
Hey Tom,
Unrelated topic, but I saw Monsieur Paul (MP)is reopening soon and can be booked on Disney.com though going to MDE app, MP is not listed as open or reservationable. Yes, new term. Feel free to use…
We bought our 8 day tix for Christmas from Sams Club on the last day that the included Genie+ was offered. After spending 4 days in the world this week (2 days without and 2 days with Genie+) I’m SO GLAD we sprung for it!
Hi Tom! Is there a printable guide to Genie+ planning? I cannot remember all there is to know about using this service and am not the most tech savvy person. My trip is not until next year, but I need to be able to read it when I have time, without being stuck on a computer. Please let me know if there is a helpful printable guide.
Keep up the good work! Your blogs help me tremendously! Thanks!!!