Welcome to Holiday Week G+ Surge Pricing

[nikmasteed]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

 

[TikiRob]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

When announced they gave “sample pricing” for October. The expectation is the sky is the limit for the holiday.

It will be interesting to find the breaking point. I don’t mind higher pricing but it is insane for people to be on vacation with no way of budgeting for this.

 

[DavidNYC]

Also shows how this whole reservation system had nothing to do with improving guest experience as they had claimed. We had many days already where most parks were “sold out” of reservations. But clearly they’re packing them in more now if they’re going to use demand as an excuse for this. All the reservation system does is allow them to cut back on staffing effectively rather than provide guests flexibility and convenience. I think the Disney doublespeak gets me more upset than the actual changes. Just admit this is a money grab not designed for the guest compared to past systems.

 

[Dulcee]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

Oof. We are headed back during spring break (when we know crowds will be high). This pretty much guarantees we won't be trying out Genie plus this trip either.

 

[DeeBee3]

I'm very, very scared for Christmas week. Honestly wouldn't pay for that even though it may significantly reduce the number of rides we do. It's just ridiculous.

 

[set88]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

I would bet it's $29 for the week, but I wouldn't bet a lot.

I think it's a significant enough jump to dissuade some people. I'm quite surprised they jumped it so high all at once with no warning.

While this is very unfair to people who were trying to budget for it, I genuinely think it may have been done at least partly because Disney doesn't want the system to collapse this week. Genie+ at HS and EPCOT cannot handle the most crowded days. And it is better for people to pay nothing and get nothing than to pay $15-20pp for a system that doesn't really work.

My guess would be it will dissuade more regular parkgoers from purchase, while first timers and those who only come every few years will find the budget for it. And those are the people the system really needs to work for... so I really hope it does.

Of course, it may still be that enough people buy it that it still collapses... in which case I imagine many people will justifiably be going to guest relations and complaining.

I'll be curious to watch thrill-data and see if there seems to be a noticeable impact.

 

[snikki]

I predicted that Christmas could go up to $50. It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[TikiRob]

Well, I found a way to pay for the increase in our trip this week. Just cancelled our fireworks dessert party and a couple table service dining reservations. Again, if you want to charge these amounts, put it on a calendar like variable ticketing. Not fair to drop this pricing on people while they are on the trip.

 

[wvjules]

Makes me very glad that I have the G+ with my tickets.

 

[TwoMisfits]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

Iger taking over was a good way to blunt this news today...no one will talk about how high this goes this week, at least in the press...

 

[HopperFan]

Also shows how this whole reservation system had nothing to do with improving guest experience as they had claimed. We had many days already where most parks were “sold out” of reservations. But clearly they’re packing them in more now if they’re going to use demand as an excuse for this. All the reservation system does is allow them to cut back on staffing effectively rather than provide guests flexibility and convenience. I think the Disney doublespeak gets me more upset than the actual changes. Just admit this is a money grab not designed for the guest compared to past systems.

It never did. It was to force guests to less popular parks to be able to fill each up to "capacity" and therefore increasing guest attendance.

Well, I found a way to pay for the increase in our trip this week. Just cancelled our fireworks dessert party and a couple table service dining reservations. Again, if you want to charge these amounts, put it on a calendar like variable ticketing. Not fair to drop this pricing on people while they are on the trip.

And this is what I have said since day one. I am not changing my budget, I'll just move money. Last trip the only ADR was a R&C Fireworks Dinner Package. All else I cancelled. I usually do at least one TS a day. And I did just the one. Guess what, we did great on QS meals, even shared a few by getting an extra side. At some point all the nickel and dime will just cause enough pause by folks planning trips.

 

[pigletto]

It never did. It was to force guests to less popular parks to be able to fill each up to "capacity" and therefore increasing guest attendance.


And this is what I have said since day one. I am not changing my budget, I'll just move money. Last trip the only ADR was a R&C Fireworks Dinner Package. All else I cancelled. I usually do at least one TS a day. And I did just the one. Guess what, we did great on QS meals, even shared a few by getting an extra side. At some point all the nickel and dime will just cause enough pause by folks planning trips.

This is what we did as well. We cut down on TS dining ( which isn’t worth the prices being charged at many of the restaurants anyway) to three restaurants and did a day or two less in the parks. I am just fine without any of the fireworks packages as well.

 

[HopperFan]

This is what we did as well. We cut down on TS dining ( which isn’t worth the prices being charged at many of the restaurants anyway) to three restaurants and did a day or two less in the parks. I am just fine without any of the fireworks packages as well.

You know what we had so much more fun not having our days dictated by ADRs. We ate when and where we wanted, we had extra time, we tried some snacks to get that sit and rest time we missed with ADRs ...

A couple nights I did check for ADR the next day and some really popular hard to get popped up. But I paused and said - then I have to spend time getting there and spend all the money for what? I didn't grab any of them. Even shocked myself.

 

[Orsino]

We also dropped park ADR from our trip last week. ADR and G+ simply do not work together. The other factor is we love mobile order. QS is way nicer than it used be before mobile order.

 

[snikki]

Well, I found a way to pay for the increase in our trip this week. Just cancelled our fireworks dessert party and a couple table service dining reservations. Again, if you want to charge these amounts, put it on a calendar like variable ticketing. Not fair to drop this pricing on people while they are on the trip.

This is what we did when we were there two weeks ago. I cut out a few ADRs to make up for G+ and our ILL's. Our budget was our budget and I wasn't increasing it. It worked our great. The ADRs I did make were mostly for lunch so I felt they were easier to work around G+. We loved mobile order and had great QS meals. Especially at AK and Epcot. We loved Docking Bay 7 and Casey's too.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Ughhhh we're going to the parks on the 22nd, 23rd, and 25th of December. I can't imagine going $30+ per person! We're a family of 4. We'd probably have to take out an ADR or not buy any coffee or breakfasts.

 

[Jrb1979]

Also shows how this whole reservation system had nothing to do with improving guest experience as they had claimed. We had many days already where most parks were “sold out” of reservations. But clearly they’re packing them in more now if they’re going to use demand as an excuse for this. All the reservation system does is allow them to cut back on staffing effectively rather than provide guests flexibility and convenience. I think the Disney doublespeak gets me more upset than the actual changes. Just admit this is a money grab not designed for the guest compared to past systems.

The reservation system has nothing to do with guest satisfaction or labor costs. It's about ensuring the right number of guests in each park. So even if the MK is below capacity, if the AK demand is too low relative to the labor they're paying for, they'll shut off MK reservations to encourage guests to go to AK (and the other parks).

 

[wilkydelts]

11/22/22-- $29 Genie+

 

[1lilspark]

$29 per person for today Monday 11/21. This would have me assume we'll top $30 later this week....

Is it me or did they say the max was going to be $22? Wonder if this price will actually dissuade some

The $15-22 range was for the month of October

Well, I found a way to pay for the increase in our trip this week. Just cancelled our fireworks dessert party and a couple table service dining reservations. Again, if you want to charge these amounts, put it on a calendar like variable ticketing. Not fair to drop this pricing on people while they are on the trip.

Agree either put out a calendar or at least give a monthly sliding scale and say okay you are going in x month expect to pay $15-30 + tax x party size

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Again, if you want to charge these amounts, put it on a calendar like variable ticketing. Not fair to drop this pricing on people while they are on the trip.

I would have said give it time since they haven't done this before like other parks have but remember they removed the option to purchase in advance. That points to them wanting to have more on the fly adjustments and more in the moment control over their product. Putting it on a calendar or giving a pricing range when you cannot pre-purchase the product will make less sense business-wise as a normal thing to do. If they restore the option to pre-purchase Genie+ and they've gotten enough time on the ground for feedback on the pricing that functionality of being able to see what it will cost even just a range for a defined time period. Although Disney can do weird things so they may eventually add functionality to see a range on a consistent basis on MDE or the website without consideration for pre-purchasing allowed.

As far as not fair MP increased from $10 to $15 in 2019 and again from $15 to $20 in 2020. Disney does all sorts of pricing updates usually several times a year on food and beverage and depending on the year several times on tickets. Advanced warning doesn't tend to happen here. I'm leaving out the DIS knowing in the past rumors of when ticket pricing increasing occurs because you'd want to talk about the public in general who doesn't get notice of pricing adjustments until after it's announced.