Date-Based Price Increases for Genie+ at Disney World
Walt Disney World has announced higher prices for Genie+ via date-based pricing for the paid FastPass service. This post covers details of how the cost will increase on higher-demand days, the price range for this month, and our commentary about whether this is a good or bad change from a guest experience perspective.
While we’ve seen a few tweaks since the start of fall, Walt Disney World hasn’t really made any big adjustments to curb demand for Lightning Lanes since Eliminating the Genie+ Ticket Add-On at Walt Disney World. Back when that change was made, Disney stated that it was being done because the goal from the outset has been to “launch, learn and evolve” after seeing how guests are using the “popular and in high demand” service.
The other notable change was that Walt Disney World permanently moved one Individual Lightning Lane attraction per park to the Genie+ service. Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After at EPCOT, and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom are all now included in the flat-rate Genie+ service after temporarily shifting there for the busy spring and summer seasons.
These aren’t the only changes Walt Disney World has made to the Genie+ service, both good and bad. Those value judgments depend upon your perspective and priorities, as every change creates winners and losers. This has all been in an effort to balance supply & demand, and has included “warning” guests that Genie+ essentially amounts to paid FastPass.
Other changes have been more well-received among fans, such as adding more entertainment and character meet & greets to Genie+ in an attempt to provide more capacity to the highly in-demand service. We’re not going to rehash all of that here, as even a short history of the changes to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes would be quite lengthy at this point.
In a nutshell, there have been two types of changes being made to Genie+ at Walt Disney World over the last several months: ones that theoretically rebalance supply & demand, and ones that alter the service to change its utility (improve or reduce, depending upon your perspective). This move to date-based pricing for Genie+ at Walt Disney World should, in theory, fall into the former category of reducing demand. Here are full details of the change…
Effective immediately, the Genie+ service prices will vary by date. Meaning that on days when demand is projected to be higher at Walt Disney World, Genie+ will cost more. This will function very similarly to the date-based ticket system, minus the pre-published calendar with ‘at a glance’ price points for each month.
However, this is not ‘pure’ demand-based or dynamic pricing. The prices are set in advance based on internal attendance and demand forecasts. Since Genie+ is now only for same-day purchase, you won’t know how much it’ll cost until logging into My Disney Experience each morning at 7 am. Think of it as a fun little game! 😉
For October 2022, Walt Disney World has revealed that Genie+ prices will range from $15 to $22, plus tax. That’s simply example pricing, and no details have been provided about the minimum or maximum over the course of the year.
However, it’s safe to assume that Genie+ pricing will more or less track with date-based ticket pricing. Single-day ticket prices this month max out at $154 on Saturdays, which are also presumably the $22 Genie+ days. In November and December, day ticket prices max out at $159, meaning Genie+ should cost no more than $23 on those days.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Walt Disney World isn’t releasing a price range for dates beyond October 2022 because the ceiling has not yet been decided upon. If demand remains strong for Genie+ at $22, maybe the weeks of Thanksgiving or Christmas will hit $25.
Or, perhaps there was no ulterior motive with with the range only being released for this month. That might be the range for the entire year. I wouldn’t bet on that being Walt Disney World’s intentions in only releasing October, but that could still be the outcome.
The timing of this move to date-based pricing shouldn’t be too surprising. In last week’s wait times report, Fall Off-Season is Over at Walt Disney World, we addressed how wait times have worsened. Since then, fall break crowds have arrived in full force, with every single day of the holiday weekend having 9/10 or 10/10 crowd levels, with the worst wait times since Easter on 3 of 4 days.
The goal of all these changes is to avoid a repeat of the week before Thanksgiving last year, when Genie+ Collapsed in Crowds. With Veterans’ Day, Jersey Week, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve all right around the corner, the time is right for more big changes to better balance the Genie+ service.
To that end, you might recall that we praised Walt Disney World’s decision to eliminated the Genie+ add-on. We argued that it would have the effect of reducing demand because rather than buying the add-on for the duration of their vacations as as a matter of convenience, people now have to deliberately purchase Genie+ each day. The end result is fewer sales, as many guests realize they don’t want or need (or both) Genie+ every single day. Others review their daily spending on vacation and decide it’s not a pragmatic purchase.
When the add-on was first announced, we called it a “savvy move” on Walt Disney World’s part because 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 high probability that consumers buying the Genie+ add-on will spend far more than those who would purchase it on a daily basis, even if they buy the Genie+ add-on option at a “discount.” It was like the Disney Dining Plan all over again! (That comparison wasn’t a joke–the idea is exactly the same behind the two product offerings.)
That more or less summarized my perspective on the Genie+ ticket add-on being eliminated. I also acknowledged that many Walt Disney World fans would nevertheless be upset about the change, preferring the ease of pre-purchasing rather than having to buy Genie+ each day.
Those fan frustrations were understandable, as buying Genie+ each morning adds another layer of friction to the whole process. There’s also the uncertainty about whether the paid FastPass service will sell out. (In my opinion, Disney’s biggest blunder with that announcement was the “subject to availability” asterisk, which suggested that Genie+ could sell out. That has yet to happen, and probably never will in light of today’s date-based pricing change.)
My take on eliminating add-on was a very unpopular opinion, with approximately 0 of the 100+ commenters on that post agreeing with my perspective. Nevertheless, I stand by every word of it. You might wonder why I’m rehashing it here…perhaps it’s because I relish playing the villain? (No, not at all.) Maybe because I’m a bootlicker who praises everything Disney does? (Some of you seem to think that!)
Rather, it’s to set the stage for wholeheartedly rejecting the contrarian perspective here.
The ‘unpopular opinion’ here about the date-based price increase for Genie+ is easy to foresee because it’s something we’ve seen before on countless occasions. The viewpoint is that price increases are actually good because they decrease attendance and help cut crowds. This was a go-to line of the Iger regime when raising ticket prices, and one that was mindlessly parrotted by a certain subset of fans.
We have rejected this perspective time and time again. And do so yet again. For one thing, there is ample evidence to the contrary, as attendance has increased by millions of guests per year in the pre-closure decade. For another, if Disney wants to reduce crowds, there are ways to accomplish that–building more attractions or not taking 84 years to open a cloned roller coaster in an otherwise empty warehouse. In reality, Disney has little desire to reduce attendance–they want to “optimize” wait times, staffing, and pricing.
When it comes to paid FastPass, there’s a variation of the above argument. This is more or less that Genie+ would be better if prices were higher since Express Pass works well at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. That service costs significantly more but is included for free with stays at Universal’s three top-tier hotels.
For some Walt Disney World fans, the idea of Express Pass checks all of the right boxes. Exclusive but included with select on-site resorts, frictionless, and tech-free. To be sure, Express Pass is better than Genie+ from a usability perspective. We aren’t doubting or debating that. We’ve used Unlimited Express Pass extensively, and it’s far better overall. No question whatsoever. However, date-based pricing for Genie+ with the current cost range is not a move in that direction. (Not to go too far off-topic, but Walt Disney World could not replicate everything people love about Express Pass since its inputs differ.)
Whether it be for park tickets, resorts, or the Genie+ service, date-based pricing is an effective way for the company to its desired optimizations at Walt Disney World. There are certain times of year that experience higher demand for a number of reasons–school schedules, seasonal events, weather, etc.
Charging incrementally higher prices for these times of year allows Walt Disney World to capitalize on and profit from that inherently higher demand. That’s the goal–not redistributing attendance or whatever the talking point might be. There’s a reason spring break, summer vacation, and fall/winter holidays continue to see heavier attendance than any other time of year and have not leveled off with random dates in mid-January, early May, late August, etc. Increasing prices on that quasi-captive audience is simply savvy business or opportunism, depending upon your perspective.
The same thing will play out with date-based pricing for the Genie+ service. The more expensive dates won’t have a better guest experience; if anything, it’ll be worse. Demand for Lightning Lanes will be higher because crowds are higher, and the Genie+ date-based surcharge over the low or regular seasons will be relatively insignificant.
Worse wait times creates a higher incentive for bypassing lines, meaning higher uptake of Genie+ even when it costs more. Keep in mind, those visiting during these peak weeks are already paying more for their vacations. The difference between $16 and $24 (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?!
None of this is particularly speculative. We’ve seen it play out for years with date-based pricing on everything else. Not only that, but Individual Lightning Lanes already have a rudimentary form of date-based pricing, and that form of line-skipping is more “popular” when it’s more expensive. Again, the rationale is simple–people are willing to pay more to skip lines when they’re worse.
This isn’t necessarily to argue against Walt Disney World moving to date-based pricing for the Genie+ service. It’s simply to refute the misconception that Disney is doing guests a favor with price increases by (supposedly) reducing demand, crowds, or whatever. That probably would be true if the cost jumped from $16 to $80 per day, but that’s not the case here. Instead, Walt Disney World is trying to thread the needle by incrementally increasing prices in an effort to keep demand relatively inelastic.
Ultimately, there’s no good quick fix to this issue for Walt Disney World. The immediate alternative that I could get behind is simply capping Genie+ at a reasonable level and letting it sell out at the current price on peak season days. However, as the backlash to eliminating the ticket add-on demonstrated, many people would not be on board with that. Another option would be a price jump so large that utilization of Lightning Lanes dropped dramatically, thereby improving the standby experience.
It’s also hard to fault Walt Disney World for not leaving money on the table. While we hate all of the price increases of the last 2-3 years and believe there will be negative long-term ramifications, it’s also patently obvious that Disney has pricing power and no shortage of demand right now.
Long-term, the solution to all of this is building more attractions. As noted above, queueing is a zero-sum game. No approach to lines–not all standby, not paper FastPass, FastPass+ or Genie–changes capacity. The only meaningful way to alter the equation is by actually increasing capacity.
That’s done by adding entertainment, attractions, or extending operating hours. Everything else is a matter of rearranging the deck chairs, and having different guests or demographics come out ahead or behind. In this case, the “winners” (air quotes) are those willing and able to spend more during the busiest times of the year at Walt Disney World.
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
What do you think of the move to date-based pricing for Genie+ at Walt Disney World? Disappointed that it’s happening, or do you see the upside from a lowered demand perspective? Thoughts on our perspective that demand for Genie+ will continue to be highest on the busiest/most expensive days? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed/got wrong? Will you purchase Genie+ or is $20+ too expensive for you? 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!
Like you, Tom, I understood most of the changes made to Genie+ in the past year. I think they have all been positive, yes, even that you have to purchase same day. This date-based pricing really irritates me though. When I read this article all I could think was – greed, greed, greed. You are right; they do need to try to bring in more entertainment and attractions. That would help capacity issues. These price increases have gone beyond necessity to function and entered the greedy zone. Why did they sit on the Ratatouille ride so long? Why are they dragging their feet on the Tron Coaster? What about the space at the Little Mermaid stage show – they could put something in there? How about Rafiki’s Plant Watch area? Dino-Rama? Epcot has been a mess for years!!! They have space to do more. GET IT DONE! I know staffing was an issue, but they should be starting to recover from that. They cannot use that as an excuse forever. But, they need to stop charging more for less! I love Walt Disney World and I am itching to go back, but I simply cannot afford it right now.
This is incredibly frustrating. For a single person, or even a couple, this news isn’t devastating.
But Genie+ cost our family $405 for our 9 day passes in August of this year. We are a family of 4, with a 3 year old and a one year old. NOW, when our littlest turns 3, we’ll be paying $900 extra (if the price is $25 per person), a $500 increase for the same garbage product that used to be free, with no ability to modify times, no bonuses for those who hold Hopper tickets, and no way to secure spots for relaxing days with parks at night – yes, you can stack, but you’re tied to your stupid phone all.day.long. waiting for times to click past 2 PM because of hopper limitations. Yet it’s NEEDED if you have little ones who can’t wait 45 mintues for Peter Pan. Everything Disney is doing is making me so mad, but the joy in my children’s faces makes me come back, time and again, which is what they count on. I no longer recommend people go – it used to be ALL I talked about, trying to convince friends and co-workers they HAD to visit this magical place. No longer do I do that. :~(
I agree 100% Amy……….I am considered the “Disney guy” amongst my friends and people in town………I’ve been telling them not to go and to look at Unversal or other places because I think Disney is the worst company right now and theres no way they are getting my money
The biggest problem I have with this is the “effective immediately” part. Disney vacations are already getting out of reach for many. It’s not fair to tack on an extra, unexpected cost to a trip that’s right around the corner and can’t be changed. We’ll be there in less than two weeks and now we have to rethink the budget for this added cost on top of the added cost of the previously-free FastPass. Disney needs to give fair warning before increasing the price of something, especially for something that was free not that long ago!
I’m right there with you, Peg! We’ll be there around the same time you’ll be there and it’s ridiculous the constant increases over the last month alone. We booked 6 months ago and now we’re having to re-plan our budget for the trip because some of the extras we were going to do as a little treat to ourselves are going up in price an excessive amount.
Price increases here can actually be *good.*
Genie+ become a better product the LESS it is sold. As we have seen in the holiday crush, when everyone buys it and the parks are full, Genie+ becomes nearly useless… paying for 1-2 line skips.
There simply isn’t enough park capacity to give EVERYONE a bunch of passes. This problem already existed with FP+, which is why Muppetvision was often a 3rd fastpass.
So price increases are good, if they reduce demand, thereby making Genie+ a better product. I’d rather pay $30 for 5 real lighting lane uses as opposed to $15 for 1-2 lightning lane uses.
But in economics terms, it comes down to elasticity. If they raise prices to $22+, but demand doesn’t drop off…. Then you’re simply paying more without any additional benefit. Will a cost increase to $22 be enough to reduce demand?
I don’t know… but put it this way, for a family of 4, that’s an increase from $60 per day to $88 per day. Psychologically, I could see a segment of families that would pay $60 (it’s around 50 bucks) that wouldn’t pay $88 (that’s almost $100!!!).
If they increase to over $25, I can see that psychologically reducing demand — As it would put families of 4 over the $100 psychological threshold.
This was such an interesting take to me – because once I thought about it, I realized I am fully part of that last sentence crowd.
An extra $50 a day does not make me happy at all, but it doesn’t deter me when we only go to Disney every couple years. An extra $100 a day (especially on top of more expensive hotel and ticket costs, combined with a barrage of anecdotal tales of rides breaking down, dirty parks, etc.) actually would stop me.
We are planning to go in January and I have a lot of anxiety around the outrageous cost of the trip and what the actual experience will be. We have such happy memories at WDW.. I hope this upcoming trip doesn’t leave us with a bad taste in our mouths!
Maybe I rambled too much, but my analysis covered why it won’t be good–because demand is likely inelastic at these price ranges. 😉
With that said, I think you raise a great point about anything at or above $25pp being the psychological barrier that does reduce purchases enough to move the needle. Good call on the $100 barrier for an average family being a big one. It’ll be really interesting to see how far WDW pushes prices this Thanksgiving. (My bet now is that they don’t cross $24.)
Agreed that Disney’s interest is maximizing profit, not reducing demand.
So expect that $24 price… creating the worst of both worlds for guests — Higher prices WITHOUT reduced demand.
Though maybe, at some point, they will be concerned enough about guest satisfaction that they will try to limit the purchases of Genie+, so that those who buy it can actually be satisfied. They have tiptoed into that direction with the variable pricing and the announcement that they could sell out of passes for a day.
Have never paid for Genie+ and never will. There are just too many other ways to beat the system that don’t involve giving Disney more money.
Hi there! I was on the Enchanting Extras site for WDW late last night and they raised the cost of the Droid Depot to $119.99 from the $99.99 and Savi’s is now $249.99 (I think it was $219.99 before) as of today. Thought it would be something important to post since no one is covering it yet.
We’ll be heading to WDW on the 28th—this being my first trip since my parents took me in 1993—and every time we turn around something has gone up in price. We booked our trip in April, they should be honoring whatever the prices are when we book things but they have that clause that outright says we can increase the cost and it sucks to be you because you can’t do anything about it. Sigh… I have a feeling this will be my first and last visit unless they change this nonsense.
I am DONE!
So everyone be happy . One less family of 6, so you’ll have more room in the Parks now .
I think Tom must be getting Free Tickets or something, because to have the Nerve to play up to the Billion Dollar Disney Family , in suggesting that the Higher prices will “ weed out the crowd”, is disgusting.
My family is “ in the way “, so more room for Tom!
@Jim – This is literally the exact opposite of my position.
Best wishes, regardless.
@Katie – Thanks for sharing those–it looks like there are a bunch of other price increases that I haven’t covered yet. Time to get back to work, I guess…
I agree that we would heave a sigh about paying another $8 or so for each Genie+ daily add-on, but do it anyway. For exactly the reasons you said: In for thousands, what’s a few MORE bucks … but our next visit is likely our last for a long, long time because it’s all just gotten to be too much.
Question about Genie+ on party days: If you do buy Genie+ on a party day, and you have party tickets, can you continue to make Genie+ reservations during the party? When’s the cutoff — when the party starts?
Thanks.
“…our next visit is likely our last for a long, long time because it’s all just gotten to be too much.”
This is exactly the long-term problem Disney is creating, and one that won’t be easily addressable once there’s an economic downturn or pent-up demand fizzles out (or both!). I really hope someone at the company is preparing for that, because they are alienating A LOT of people right now with each visit.
Cutoff for Genie+ is park closing (6 pm).
Yup, this is exactly why I added on the length of stay G+ for our Thanksgiving trip when they announced they were going to take away that option. When you have a big family, the little price increases add up!
This is a very fair point. I’ve heard the same thing from people who locked in 3 years of Disney+ for a pretty deep discount.
My counter to the latter is that I’ve subscribed to Disney+ for a total of ~6 months since it launched because there wasn’t enough compelling content to sustain 3 consecutive years of a subscription.
To each their own, but I feel similarly about the “need” to buy Genie+ each day of a lengthy trip. (The personal difference there is that I have bought Genie+ a ton, but that’s for testing purposes.)
Great analysis, Tom – thanks for sharing. It’s taken me a while, but I’ve just had to come to grips with the fact that Disney is going to do a bunch of things that make the experience “icky”. I just have to ignore those those things and focus on enjoying the vacation that I want to take. It’s hard to do at times, but there are still ways to enjoy Disney on a budget, and I take great pride in finding ways to “cheat” the system and have a great experience, without all emptying my wallet.
Remember it all started with a mouse and ended with a Shark! So so sad to see so many families priced out of a Disney vacation
I bet a new model would generate even more revenue. Charge a dynamic price to get in the parks and then sell dynamic individual ride tickets for each attraction. You could even charge more for popular rides (5 star ride) down to the least popular rides (1 star rides). You could probably think of a different naming convention. They could even sell these tickets in books, which will result in breakage because few will use all their tickets.
I bet an admission system like this could work!
Wow. I thought they probably wouldn’t raise the prices this year, but can’t say it’s shocking. I agree that this is a small enough price increase that it is highly unlikely to cut down on the number of people who buy Genie+ this holiday season… therefore, it’s unlikely that this change is actually going to benefit guests by improving capacity. I’m pretty confident this will not be the last price increase we see – they just can’t do it drastically at one moment. I imagine they will keep increasing the price of Genie+ UNTIL significantly less people buy it…. and at that point, the service will improve for those willing to spend the money.
I will say – I STRONGLY prefer price increases to capping capacity and making buying Genie+ essentially a stressful lottery for those willing to stay up until midnight and race to purchase… just like getting ADRs or SDD. I would rather know I CAN get Genie+ if I want to budget for it than have each day be a stressful “what if I can’t get it today.” Of course, price increases also make significantly more sense for Disney, and I’m not going to blame them for not leaving money on the table. People have proven this year that they are willing to pay whatever Disney asks. Until that’s no longer true, prices will go up.
Also wouldn’t be shocked to see Disney go back to offering Genie+ as a discounted whole stay add-on at some point. People may ultimately spend more money buying it for days they don’t need it, but they’ll FEEL like they saved money. The exact same racket that the dining plan is.
“I STRONGLY prefer price increases to capping capacity and making buying Genie+ essentially a stressful lottery for those willing to stay up until midnight and race to purchase… just like getting ADRs or SDD.”
While I appreciate this perspective and the stress of uncertainty, there’s no scenario under which Genie+ sells out at midnight…or even 7 am. If that were ever going to happen, it would be after park opening.
The “why” of this is a simple numbers game. Chapek has already said that “over half” of all guests buy Genie+ on certain days, which means that the sales limit of Genie+ is at least 50% of all guests (My guess would be somewhere between 66% and 75%, but the precise number doesn’t matter.) By contrast, ADRs for a given restaurant on any day are less than 1% of all guests. Popular Lightning Lanes are significantly higher, but still probably in the 10-20% range.
Hard to imagine a scenario where 50%+ of all guests visiting a park are up between the hours of midnight and 7 am for the specific purpose of buying Genie+.
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I do agree that the ticket add-on will probably return at some point. Probably whenever per guest spending starts trending downward and Genie+ utilization decreases. Exactly like the Disney Dining Plan.
It would depend on how much they limited the capacity. It would have to be limited a lot more than 50% to be a meaningful limit.
I think Disney’s best bet would be to follow in the footsteps of every other theme park and do a limited number of much more expensive express passes each day that guarantee entry into every ride once. As long as it truly is a small percentage of people buying them, it’s a win for everyone as standby lines wouldn’t be as long without so many LL entries. I don’t know if Disney thought $15 Genie+ would be more palatable than that, or more profitable.
We are leaving October 29th and have bought Disney World tickets with Genie+ for the length of stay. How will this work with our tickets. Will we have to pay more each morning. This trip is just costing more and more each day and we have not even gotten there.
No, it should not cost you more, you already purchased the product and should be good to go.
Haha, that’s just part of the “magic!”
You’ve been “Disneyed!!” Kind of like getting “Munsoned” in Kingpin…;)
Response of the average Disney devotee—Yes Chapek, may I have another!?
And the true Disney cultists just keep coming back for more. Some kind of mass Stockholm Syndrome psychology. Weirdly powerful and awe inspiring at the same time!
People who by all accounts have better than average intelligence and are able to lead successful day-to-day lives, but Disney treats them like a commodity to be used, like cattle or sheep, and the Disney fans lap it up over and over and yet again, like Pavlov’s dogs.
The undeniable power of emotion over reason on full display.
I wonder if there is any limit to the financial abuse and diminishing vacation experience that would actually cause these Disney devotees to not submit any more!?
I saw on another site the price for savi’s lightsabers has gone up also. if I already have a reservation I made at the $220 price point, I’ll still need to pay the $250 when the time comes, correct?
Yes, I believe so, because payment is due upon arrival. What I just learned about Savi’s today is that it has been reduced to a 20 min experience now. That’s outrageous for $250. I often shrug my shoulders at a lot of the price increases etc., but this increase in price/decrease in value is just so brazen. I would never try to dissuade someone from an experience they really want to do, but you should know that you are getting a watered down product.
@Chris how long was the experience before? i was already questioning whether to cancel my res when i thought it was just a price increase for the same experience
If my memory serves me correctly, it was 45 minutes and the show was what makes the cost worth it imo. I’d be curious to see a full post on this or hear other feedback from someone who did it around the same time I did (Fall 2019) and who has also done it recently. I’ve also been reading on other fan forums that there’s been an issue with keeping certain parts/crystals etc in stock. That may not matter too much to someone experiencing Savi’s for the first time, but it’s not good.
On Tom’s review talking about how great the experience is, he says it’s a 25 minute experience, so i’m holding out some hope it’s not too watered down, although it wouldn’t surprise me… I’ll definitely keep my ears open before the cancellation deadline though…
Coming back to say—I don’t think my memory served me correctly–not 45min. Memory is a tricky thing! I really hope you have a great time and enjoy the experience!
We don’t get moving early enough in the day to justify paying for Genie+. By the time we get to a park, the only time slots available are way after we would have been ready to leave. One of the reasons we finally became annual passholders (pre-Covid) was so we would have ultimate flexibility when we visited Disney. The ability to take short, spur-of-the-moment hops from PA to FL was one of the biggest reasons. Now, all of the restrictions and changes made post-Covid have us rethinking our APs. And … given the price of a single or multi-day pass … we just may be done with Disney when our current passes expire.
Interesting. I bought Disney World tickets with Genie+ for the length of stay before these were discontinued. Any word on whether our Genie+ will still apply for our post-Thanksgiving trip?
I agree with your analysis that this current change won’t change Genie+ usage… in the short run. Disney could significantly increase prices in the future, if they decide that exclusivity trumps volume (the dessert party model). Also, I’ve always thought that the park ticket price differentials between peak and low-crowd season are negligible, but you’ve noted that these price fluctuations have been effective at shifting crowds to off-peak months. Maybe there are more marginal Genie+ buyers than we think and the small price change will push them over.
“Also, I’ve always thought that the park ticket price differentials between peak and low-crowd season are negligible, but you’ve noted that these price fluctuations have been effective at shifting crowds to off-peak months.”
Even that has its limits, and applies more for Floridians and others within driving distance than it does most ‘regular’ tourists. If your school district’s summer vacation ends on August 14, you aren’t taking a trip the following week to take advantage of cheaper prices. That’s just not a thing.
If anything, I think Disney has gotten savvy scheduling events (ESPN WWoS, conventions, runDisney, etc.) to fill the off-season calendar. That plus ticket deals, targeted special offers, etc. The one last nut they can’t seem to crack is mid-August through September, which remains “undesirable” for too many guests and isn’t viable for certain events due to weather.
No changes to your Genie+ length-of-stay tickets. You locked in the price and terms at the time of purchase.
this just makes me feel icky. i was not going to purchase genie plus on principle and this ensures i never will. we did just fine at disneyland last month rope dropping and got everything done we wanted, minus what the rain canceled.
Eek. Although I don’t like paying more, I’ve always been of the mindset that the price is worth the happiness it bring us. But with four kids, I have to admit, I’m starting to worry about how much our next trip will cost!
When we were in Disneyland & DCA this summer we paid 20 bucks a day for Genie+. I did it begrudgingly, but it was absolutely worth it. Having spent the money there, I’m sure if we ever returned to the Florida parks I would gnash my teeth, but still purchase Genie+.
Having said that, I think your last bit about Disney failing to add capacity is what really gets me. Even when Disney builds new attractions nowadays it seems like they are eliminating and replacing vs. keeping what they have and adding new attractions. I know that’s not always true (Tron is a true addition), but it *seems* true in aggregate. Outside of building new attractions, it also *seems* like Disney has a reliability and maintenance issue. When you already barely have enough capacity in the parks, losing 10 or so percent a day to downtime hurts the guest experience.
The increased costs, lack of new capacity, and maintenance issues don’t have me clamoring to return (and we aren’t).
A WDW trip was always expensive but goodness gracious, each new move is pushing us closer and closer to pricing out…and we’re DVC members! We bought into DVC in 2018 to use with our future child, who is now two and a half, and we’re at the point where park tickets, flights, food, G+, etc. is hitting its ceiling. We’ll stick with mainly resort stays if we have to use our points, or rent them out for a few years until hopefully this course-corrects. Yikes.
Same here….rentals rates keep increasing along with hotel rates. We haven’t been in 2 years (and not going 2023 either) and will continue to just rent our points out and let others pay until we need to sell. Genie+ has ruined WDW for us and we won’t be back
Agreed, the yearly price increases “stung” but once you arrived and got into the bubble, you tended to forget about it. We were there last November and I can say it was the worst trip ever and that is including the first time we went and had no clue what we were doing. Dirty parks, rides opening late or breaking down, (splash mountain went down while we were in line, then later while we were on it, Rise broke down when we were boarding the transport, and we got stuck in the air on soarin) The bubble is gone, who wants to be tied to their devices all day. Price increases I can handle, but when you are paying more for less, I draw the line. Next time we are in Orlando its universal for us.
GH those are my thoughts exactly- I have no problem paying for for a premium experience, but that’s so far from the case here, which makes it doubly-annoying!