BREAKING: Walt Disney World Introduces Date-Based Variable Pricing for Genie+ Service

[xdan0920]

I don't understand why so many have a hard time understanding that. The only thing I can guess is the majority of you only visit Disney.

Everyone understands this. What you don't seem able to understand is that G+ is not meant to be a front of the line pass like other parks offer. It is a completely different product, BY DESIGN. It is senseless to compare the two things.

 

[xdan0920]

Honestly, I don't know how families who struggle to pay $15-$25 PP for Genie+ afford to eat at TS restaurants that can run hundreds of dollars for just a meal. We cut out TS meals almost entirely long before Covid. To spend that kind of money for just one meal seemed crazy to us and the money was much better spent on things that actually improved our experience. Even at qs, we watch what we spend- quite often the kids meal is more than enough for an adult to eat. So it's a matter of priorities- but if you're paying what it costs to eat TS meals. it's real hard to claim you can't "afford" the cost of Genie+. It's not a problem of affordability, it's an issue with priorities. For us, expensive meals are not as important as not waiting in long lines all day. So we skip high dollar meals and we buy thing like After Hours, Dessest Parties and Genie +. If you don't have unlimited funds for vacations, you set priorities and accept that you can't have it all.

Yes, that is called budgeting. We all do it.

The issue is Disney is now charging A LOT for a product that, for decades, was included in your admission.

 

[lowlight]

Honestly, I don't know how families who struggle to pay $15-$25 PP for Genie+ afford to eat at TS restaurants that can run hundreds of dollars for just a meal. We cut out TS meals almost entirely long before Covid. To spend that kind of money for just one meal seemed crazy to us and the money was much better spent on things that actually improved our experience. Even at qs, we watch what we spend- quite often the kids meal is more than enough for an adult to eat. So it's a matter of priorities- but if you're paying what it costs to eat TS meals. it's real hard to claim you can't "afford" the cost of Genie+. It's not a problem of affordability, it's an issue with priorities. For us, expensive meals are not as important as not waiting in long lines all day. So we skip high dollar meals and we buy thing like After Hours, Dessest Parties and Genie +. If you don't have unlimited funds for vacations, you set priorities and accept that you can't have it all.

It's all about perspective. If you are older and have visited the parks for many years and have no young children, your perspective will be different. Budget wise, with young children and the horror of getting ADR's these days, I stick mostly to QS and it doesn't affect my park experience. Easy and smart way to save money. Genie+ might be an optional add-on if I'd gone to Disney 40 times in the last 30 years, was in my golden years, liked to watch the sunsets from the resort pool, and really didn't have any pressing sense of accomplishing an agenda. However, Genie+ isn't optional for us. It's necessary, it still sucks, but it sucks more without it. Not buying souvenirs or eating at expensive restaurants are things that make sense to cut for budget savvy travelers, Genie+ isn't the same thing.

 

[cakebaker]

Yes, that is called budgeting. We all do it.

The issue is Disney is now charging A LOT for a product that, for decades, was included in your admission.

I was responding to someone who questioned how families afford the parks - my entire post was about budgeting and setting priorities to cover the reality of what it costs to go. It really doesn't matter how much Disney is charging or what used to be free and now isn't. The question was, how do families currently afford Disney, not whether what Disney is charging is right or not.

 

[cakebaker]

It's all about perspective. If you are older and have visited the parks for many years and have no young children, your perspective will be different. Budget wise, with young children and the horror of getting ADR's these days, I stick mostly to QS and it doesn't affect my park experience. Easy and smart way to save money. Genie+ might be an optional add-on if I'd gone to Disney 40 times in the last 30 years, was in my golden years, liked to watch the sunsets from the resort pool, and really didn't have any pressing sense of accomplishing an agenda. However, Genie+ isn't optional for us. It's necessary, it still sucks, but it sucks more without it. Not buying souvenirs or eating at expensive restaurants are things that make sense to cut for budget savvy travelers, Genie+ isn't the same thing.

I have the luxury of having been to Disney with my own children when they were young, then years of visiting with them as adults and now we're back to visiting with a child again and have been for 10 years. So no, I'm not at the "golden years, watching sunsets" stage. lol I think I got that in my 40's when my kids were grown. My perspective is from being older but with a child in tow who definitely has his own ideas on what he wants to do. Genie + is not an optional add on for us either- expensive dining is. But Genie + is not an absolute neccesity for everyone regardless of how important it is to you or me. There are literally thousands of people going to WDW every day that have not bought Genie+ and seem to be surviving just fine. I don't get how standing in lines doesn't bother people, but my son in law is like that. He'd stand in any line, however long it is, if it was something he wanted to ride. Me? 30 minutes and I'm done- and I've always been that way- age is not related at all.

 

[Jrb1979]

Everyone understands this. What you don't seem able to understand is that G+ is not meant to be a front of the line pass like other parks offer. It is a completely different product, BY DESIGN. It is senseless to compare the two things.

I would say it's why Genie+ doesn't work.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I would say it's why Genie+ doesn't work.

My friends and I describe it as "why did they try to reinvent the wheel"

 

[Jrb1979]

My friends and I describe it as "why did they try to reinvent the wheel"

They looked MaxPass at DL and thought it would work at WDW. To be fair FP+ wasn't much better

 

[Kingoglow]

We have been talking about the pricing pain points and the pros/cons of different FP services. I posted yesterday how I couldn't understand how some people were not researching their several thousand dollar vacation. While I still stand by my thoughts that researching any thousand dollar purchase I super important, after thinking about this overnight. I think the problem with planning a Disney World vacation is that it has just become cumbersome (overwhelming for some).

Disney build all of these different systems:
Special Offer Discounts
Advanced Dining Reservations
Special Experience Reservations
Special Tours
Holiday Parties
After Hours Parties
Fireworks Parties
Early Morning Hours
Extended Evening Hours
Theme Park Tickets (and how much they cost on the particular days you are booking)
Park Hopper
Water Parks and More
Theme Park Reservations
Memory Maker
Photo Pass
Mobile Ordering
Genie
Genie+ w/ Lightning Lanes
Individual Lightning Lane Selections
MagicBands and MagicBands+

All of these system were built with the goal of (not only profit but...) enhancing a family's vacation; and they all sound real nice. But Disney is really bad at implementing ideas.

All of these system are separate. None the systems come together seamlessly into one vacation planning package.

There are many different windows for planning. 120-day, 90-day, 60-day, day off etc. Different phone numbers. Some are done only on the website, some only in the app, some only on the phone.

Instead on planning your vacation all at one through their website (or a travel agent) you have to navigate several different calendar dates and contact points, to put together what has become a piecemeal experience.

While I (and others on this site) are experienced pros and can pick and choose what we want to book on any given vacation, leave the rest on the planning floor, less experienced travels may miss a deadline or not understand the difference between having Genie and having Genie+,

Any reasonable person is capable or going through all of this and picking an choosing the piece that work for them and what they can afford; I stand by this 100%. But Disney has made it way too difficult to go through all of their systems to make those vacation decisions. Some people will never even see most of that list on the website because it isn't part of the user experience workflow of picking dates, hotel and tickets.

If everything in that list (and all of the other systems that I failed to think about) where part of the start-to-finish plan a vacation planning process on Disney's website, then a lot fewer people would get lost and become overwhelmed or frustrated with a Disney vacation.

 

[robinb]

Welp, that didn’t take long.

G+ is $22 today and according to Touring Plans today’s overall crowd calendar is a “6”. So the highest priced G+ is charged for just average crowds.

 

[set88]

Welp, that didn’t take long.

G+ is $22 today and according to Touring Plans today’s overall crowd calendar is a “6”. So the highest priced G+ is charged for just average crowds.

Touring Plans is wrong.

This has been the most crowded week at Disney since spring break of this year. With the exception of MK on party days, every single park is hitting 8/10 to 10/10 crowd days. EPCOT and AK have experienced days that are the 9-10th most crowded in all of the last 500 days.

MK had the 11th most crowded day in the last 500 on Wednesday... a non party day, which today also is.

The scary thing is, the upcoming holidays are almost guaranteed to be even worse.

 

[robinb]

Touring Plans is wrong.

This has been the most crowded week at Disney since spring break of this year. With the exception of MK on party days, every single park is hitting 8/10 to 10/10 crowd days. EPCOT and AK have experienced days that are the 9-10th most crowded in all of the last 500 days.

The scary thing is, the upcoming holidays are almost guaranteed to be even worse.

In my experience, Touring Plans is usually pretty good at crowd estimations. Can you tell me where you’re getting your crowd info? I’d like to check it out. Thanks!

 

[set88]

In my experience, Touring Plans is usually pretty good at crowd estimations. Can you tell me where you’re getting your crowd info? I’d like to check it out. Thanks!

Sure!

Here's a couple links:

https://thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/epcot/2022/10/14

https://thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/magic-kingdom/2022/10/12

You can see any park/day you want by changing the park name and date in the link. This is how I've been researching crowd levels and Genie+ availability.

 

[Jangles]

Welp, that didn’t take long.

G+ is $22 today and according to Touring Plans today’s overall crowd calendar is a “6”. So the highest priced G+ is charged for just average crowds.

It would be great if someone could track the pricing in a pinned thread. It seems that crowd level 6 weekdays is $20, and then crowd level 6 weekends is $22. I suppose that there is some logic to that.

 

[Jangles]

Sure!

Here's a couple links:

https://thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/epcot/2022/10/14

https://thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/magic-kingdom/2022/10/12

You can see any park/day you want by changing the park name and date in the link. This is how I've been researching crowd levels and Genie+ availability.

But this is just based on wait times and could reflect the fact that fewer people are buying G+ at the increased price. Really we need that data.

 

[set88]

It would be great if someone could track the pricing in a pinned thread. It seems that crowd level 6 weekdays is $20, and then crowd level 6 weekends is $22. I suppose that there is some logic to that.

https://www.thrill-data.com/news/disney-world-genie-plus-price-tracker/

Here you go!

 

[set88]

But this is just based on wait times and could reflect the fact that fewer people are buying G+ at the increased price. Really we need that data.

Sure, all available crowd data/predictions is based on wait times - Disney doesn't publish the actual statistics of the number of people that entered a park.

I would be shocked if a significant number of people chose not to buy Genie+ this week because of the price increase. Especially given the crowd levels.

I've been thinking about how it's possible to track that, and I guess the only way would be to see if LL availability gets significantly better.

That assumes that Disney keeps the number of LLs available for each ride constant regardless of how many people are using Genie+. Meaning if 200 people buy Genie+, they'll collectively have access to half the number of LL slots that 100 people buying on the same day would have had.

If that's the case, and the Genie+ price has any effect on the number of people buying it, we should see better availability throughout the day. We'll be able to better compare that after a few weeks of data.

10/9 was a 10/10 crowd day at MK before the price increase. I'm guessing today also will be - we'll be able to see if LL availability was any better. My guess would be no, but I hope to see better availability this weekend as it would mean people are getting some benefit out of having to spend more money on Genie+.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Everyone understands this. What you don't seem able to understand is that G+ is not meant to be a front of the line pass like other parks offer. It is a completely different product, BY DESIGN. It is senseless to compare the two things.

Disney got people used to 15-20mins waits with FP, MP and FP+ and many people got used to being given FP for their inconveniences. So many people complain about waiting any measurable amount of time in line. People actually get more upset at Disney waiting 30mins in the FP/LL line than people paying a heck of a lot more at other parks IME.

To me it's ironic that a discussion would be Disney isn't trying to be a front of the line pass when they really seem to have pushed that through the several products they have. When you go to other parks you're getting a fast(er) way to get to the attraction or show but most are not about a specified number of mins. You just know you're going to wait less than the SB time.

You do have parks like Six Flags that has a graduated pass but it's not about a standardized mins you'll wait in line, it's all relative to the SB line. Six Flags has where you can do virtual waiting, save up to 50% of your wait time, and then save up to 90% of your wait time I italicized the up to because that's the way they can put a disclaimer about their product. Universal is often quoted as about half the SB time being their goal. SDC never gave a time. And so on. These other parks seem to be not overpromise what their product is and while Disney is vague about theirs saying "save time waiting in line" they seem to push harder than the other parks do on average getting people through. I'm realistic enough here that they know people will get frustrated and purchase when they get frustrated with the SB line. They got us with MP at DL with that.

TBH the more I think about it the more I feel like that's a decently large reason for the disconnect at least for the guest. They are clearly trying to get people funneled through the lines but they have a lot of people using it and they have it with a low price. To your earlier point if all the guests each day purchased their product (be it MP when that was around or Genie+/ILL now) I'm sure Disney would be more than happy about but their quality of their product would suffer even more if people paid and couldn't get even one attraction (basing that on presently 2-3 average guests verbiage they give right now).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

They looked MaxPass at DL and thought it would work at WDW. To be fair FP+ wasn't much better

Oh I know, that's just how we think about it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Welp, that didn’t take long.

G+ is $22 today and according to Touring Plans today’s overall crowd calendar is a “6”. So the highest priced G+ is charged for just average crowds.

That's why I wondered if it would end up being more like EBCI. When they went to variable pricing it was quite rare to see the $15 that it had previously been. It can just sound good to say starting at.