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

[wilkydelts]

This year it will be $22. Next year it will go up a touch. Then again the next and so on and so forth.

You may be correct but the information given was specific to stat the $15-$22 range was for October.

 

[DavidNYC]

We may never see $15 again. They said October would be $15-$22 … our Oct $15 may have passed. Can’t wait for November!

Yup - random Wednesday in October near the top of the announced range. This is just the start. The price and hassle of vacations now to me exceeds what’s left of the magic. If you’ve never been to Disney before you make be fine as you won’t realize how much they’ve detracted from what it once was. They’ve intentionally injected stress into a vacation.

 

[sponica]

This date based pricing totally obfuscates the issue, we have no idea what % is still $15... probably not much. More than likely it's mostly $20 days for G+ now. I wish they would be straightforward with it, this is just a way to have future increases that aren't easily discernible.

I know how you feel, I have a Feb 2023 trip scheduled. I can tolerate expensive things, I just don't want to feel like Mickey Mouse has tipped me over a railing shaking out the loose change from my pockets.

 

[set88]

Yup - random Wednesday in October near the top of the announced range. This is just the start. The price and hassle of vacations now to me exceeds what’s left of the magic. If you’ve never been to Disney before you make be fine as you won’t realize how much they’ve detracted from what it once was. They’ve intentionally injected stress into a vacation.

It's not a random Wednesday, it's Columbus Day week which is fall break for many. Crowds are the highest they've been since Spring Break according to thrill-data.com. 10/10 days the last few days for EPCOT, AK, and MK on non-party days. 8/10 for HS.

 

[Jrb1979]

I have a question for you.

Why do you keep saying the system "doesn't work"? Who doesn't it work for?

Here is a quote from a poster on another board about how Genie+ was supposed to work.

" If the system were operating as intended, you could just open the app up at 4pm and get a 5pm. That's the freedom it was supposed to offer. The planning is literally what they wanted to remove from the experience.

You shouldn't even have to think about reservations, there should just be availability all day long that you would be comfortable knowing that you didn't have to race to get a 5pm - but simply that it would be there whenever it came time."

Due to too many guests using it a day its not working.

 

[LSUfan4444]

These graphs start at a time when the parks still had the A-E ticket system in place (meaning a park ticket was very cheap). It also is likely using single day ticket prices which pretty much no one pays at WDW.

Inflation is high on Disney tickets for sure, I just hate bad data.

Okay, lets do the same thing and start in 2005.

 

[Mrs~Incredible]

It's not a random Wednesday, it's Columbus Day week which is fall break for many. Crowds are the highest they've been since Spring Break according to thrill-data.com. 10/10 days the last few days for EPCOT, AK, and MK on non-party days. 8/10 for HS.

Agree with this. Wait times yesterday were nuts. BUT….honestly more and more of the days are getting like this. Any weekend. Any holiday. Any marathon. Any school break.

It will be few and far between to get a $15 day. And that would likely be 1-3 days during the week (not weekend) of your trip if you’re lucky.

 

[dwg]

Just to put a little twist on another price increase we are DVC members and have been to the parks many times over the years. While DVC has allowed us to have a nice room during our stay the other costs of vacationing in WDW has gotten out of hand when taking into account all of the cut backs and changes that are going along with the increased prices.

With price increases, cut backs and reading about the crowds I worry about the frame of mind of the guests. I have always felt that some guests were rude and had a bad attitude that I attributed to the fact that a week in WDW is very expensive and some people's attitude is that I am going to have a good time because I spent a lot of money and I don't care how that affects someone else's vacation. I think the constant price increases, cut backs and changes will only increase the number of guests with that attitude.

We will be in the parks for a short visit in November. I have to say I am not as excited about the trip as I have been in the past. While we are not ready to sell our DVC contract yet we will definitely be looking for using DVC for other vacations besides going to WDW.

 

[ghtx]

No benefit for them to cap sales (even though consumer friendly). They will just continue to raise prices until it levels off to what they feel is an acceptable level. The issue is that I don't know when people will call it quits and stop buying it. I would have rather them just went straight to a Universal model and charged 1-3x ticket price for an express pass for all rides and it probably wouldn't be as bad as it is now.

Is it true that they have never limited sales for G+? There were rumors that they might be sold out occasionally. Express Pass at Universal is capped, I think.

 

[set88]

Agree with this. Wait times yesterday were nuts. BUT….honestly more and more of the days are getting like this. Any weekend. Any holiday. Any marathon. Any school break.

It will be few and far between to get a $15 day. And that would likely be 1-3 days during the week (not weekend) of your trip if you’re lucky.

Very true. Crowds just keep increasing no matter how much Disney has increased prices.

Personally, I think we're still seeing crowds due to people taking their first trips since Covid and this fall will be worse than next fall.

 

[Jrb1979]

Is it true that they have never limited sales for G+? There were rumors that they might be sold out occasionally. Express Pass at Universal is capped, I think.

Universal does limit sales and it's part of why it works better.

 

[set88]

Is it true that they have never limited sales for G+? There were rumors that they might be sold out occasionally. Express Pass at Universal is capped, I think.

There have never been any reports of G+ selling out, so if it is capped, it's capped much higher than the demand. Supposedly 50% of people are buying it now, so it might be capped at 60% or 70%.... which is outrageous.

It needs to be significantly higher in price and capped to probably like 10-15% of people. Some number that doesn't significantly impact standby wait times.

 

[RamblingMad]

It's pretty sad that new news about Disney is mostly about how they can charge us more.

 

[Princess Merida]

We just returned and did not purchase Genie+ for any of our days. I do not like it at all. Being glued to my phone all day is awful and even if I'm perfect at getting on every two hours I still may only get 2-3 of the rides I want. I can do rope drop and park closing for zero extra dollars and get at least 2 high demand rides done with minimal waits. ILL on the other hand I did purchase for Guardians because there were only two in my party and I felt like riding that was worth the $34 and there was no standby line. Disney is charging more and more money for the products that are inferior to it's competitors products. Universal express pass is more money, but is a far superior product in my opinion. I don't have to get on my phone or plan times. I just get in the express line whenever I want. If I go to Universal at a time when an express pass is necessary, I can just stay at a resort that includes an express pass. Yes, these are the most expensive of the Universal resorts, but still at sometimes half the rate of a Disney deluxe resort. The Disney parks used to wow me, but how does the castle or the other wonders that the imagineering team created wow you when you can't see past the sea of humanity to take it all in. When did we start watching fireworks from behind the main street buildings because they cram too many people in the Magic Kingdom? I'm getting off track lol. Disney is becoming overpriced for us. We will go back spring break and use the 3 day tickets we have left for the parks(without Genie+ of course). After that, we will spend the money elsewhere because even though we can afford it the product is now diluted for many reasons including Genie+ and overcrowded parks. We will use our DVC for the beautiful resort stays and do Epcot or a party here and there. Of course, there will be someone behind me coming in that will spend the money and love the product they receive and that's the way it goes. I enjoyed the years I spent loving the parks. Now I will have more time to love the restaurants and resorts.

 

[nicksinger8]

Sure. Of

 

[nicksinger8]

I contend that this is NOT what Disney wants. They simply want to squeeze as much juice as possible out of the consumers as they can. They want the same or more people buying G+ AND they want them paying more for it.

If they wanted a better experience for those purchasing, they would simply double the price and cut the available volume in half. That's not the goal though. The goal is to maximize the ROI of G+.

Sure. Of course they want to maximise profits. It was ever thus. Problem is - and I suspect they are seeing this in the data and the satisfaction reports - you can’t really find a price that make Genie + a popular mass product. You have to consider guest satisfaction. If too many people have it, it doesn’t work - standby guests and genie plus will be grumpy. You will never feel you are getting value even, I bet, at $5 a person - because people won’t tally up their time like an economist.
$20 for a family of four saving an hour - has each valuing their time at $5 an hour - pretty good. But they’ll still queue a lot. Why bother paying the extra on top of such an expensive ticket? They will keep increasing the price and making it scarcer until they hit a sweet spot. But it will look unaffordable to many, perhaps most. We are getting closer. We might not get to universal - they have a different model given hotel occupancy - but it will be way higher than $15.

 

[MillauFr]

You believe Disney is turning away customers?

I tried to book A hotel for an upcoming trip and the only one available was the Poly at $900 A night. Restaurant reservations were mostly booked in the first 5 minutes so we will leave the parks and dine offsite.

 

[MillauFr]

The upper class will suffer too. When tides turn they turn quickly as we saw in 2008. People on here seem to be oblivious to coming economic crisis, It's deja vu all over again.

What economic crisis? The investors who put their money where their mouth is are all piling into the US.

 

[pigletto]

This week I began to dream of a large family vacation during the 2023/24 Christmas season with my young adult children.
This is just the reminder I needed that we aren’t Disneys intended guest anymore and there are plenty of other places to go vacation as a family.

 

[Disneychick13]

Here is a quote from a poster on another board about how Genie+ was supposed to work.

" If the system were operating as intended, you could just open the app up at 4pm and get a 5pm. That's the freedom it was supposed to offer. The planning is literally what they wanted to remove from the experience.

You shouldn't even have to think about reservations, there should just be availability all day long that you would be comfortable knowing that you didn't have to race to get a 5pm - but simply that it would be there whenever it came time."

Due to too many guests using it a day its not working.

Exactly. They have to a) charge more, way more. and b) cap the amount sold. That’s the only way it will work how it should. If they do that then it will greatly reduce the amount of people in the LL, thereby reducing the wait in the standby line. It seems like that would prove to be a win-win situation. I mean not for people who want it for free, but that’s unrealistic and those days are way behind us anyways.