Last week was the third busiest of the 12 months at Walt Disney World, and that predictably-high attendance introduced with it a considerable value improve to the Genie+ service. This got here after Disney introduced final month that paid FastPass can be topic to surge or demand-based pricing.
When that change first occurred, Walt Disney World indicated that Genie+ costs would vary from $15 to $22 plus tax for the remainder of that month. However, that was the value vary for the month of October, and no particulars have been offered in regards to the minimal or most over the course of the 12 months.
Aside from fall break and the mid-month vacation, October doesn’t are usually as busy as November. Certainly no weeks are as unhealthy as Thanksgiving, which is usually one of many 5 worst weeks of the 12 months at Walt Disney World. With a median wait time of 49 minutes for the week, it ranks solely behind the weeks of Presidents’ Day and peak Spring Break season, every of which averaged 51 minute waits, thus far this 12 months. It’s attainable that the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Eve will surpass this previous week–however that will nonetheless put it within the high 5.
Consequently, the value of Genie jumped to a brand new excessive of $29 per individual at Walt Disney World for your entire week. This began November 21 and continued by way of November 26, 2022.
That was up significantly from the earlier excessive water mark for the Genie+ service, which was $22 per individual at Walt Disney World. It had hit that mark plenty of occasions, beginning over fall break in October and persevering with on varied weekends and holidays in November 2022. However, it had by no means gone above that quantity–so Thanksgiving week marked a $7 improve over the earlier excessive.
The week of Thanksgiving additionally introduced with it a number of file excessive costs for Individual Lightning Lanes.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance additionally reached an all-time excessive of $25, however got here “untethered” from Genie+ pricing. In the previous, the excessive water mark for each that ILL and Genie+ has been the identical, which steered Rise of the Resistance would hit $29. It didn’t, however positively might’ve given demand, as that Individual Lightning Lane bought out most days throughout its on-site early entry window.
Over at Animal Kingdom, Avatar Flight of Passage additionally set a brand new file excessive at $16. This was $2 larger than its earlier high value of $14, and $5 above the low finish of the spectrum for that E-Ticket. Clearly, numerous Walt Disney World guests are hyped out of their minds to see The Way of Water…proper?!
For its half, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind matched a excessive of $17, which was its excessive throughout fall break. Recently, it’s been round $15, in order that was $2 above the norm. Surprisingly, the digital queue remains to be in use right here–you possibly can learn how one can enhance your possibilities for achievement in scoring digital queue spots by studying our Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind Virtual Queue FAQ & Ride Guide.
Finally, there’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom. That family-friendly curler coaster as soon as once more hit $12, which is $1 greater than it has been on common not too long ago. Despite being the preferred experience in Walt Disney World’s hottest park and the “cheapest” Individual Lightning Lane, SDMT can also be the least standard. We count on to see it downgraded to Genie+ as soon as TRON Lightcycle Run opens in Spring 2023.
By comparability, at present’s Individual Lightning Lane costs are as follows:
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – $11
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – $15
- Avatar Flight of Passage – $14
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance – $20
As of 1 pm EST, all of those Individual Lightning Lanes have been obtainable for buy. (However, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was because of a experience reservation refill–it had bought out earlier this morning. The relaxation had not.)
As for the Genie+ service, its value plummeted to $17 yesterday (November 27), which was a drop of $12 from the day gone by. Perhaps it was an early Cyber Monday sale?! Honestly, should you requested me to foretell the value earlier than it was launched, I’d’ve guessed $20 or $22. That has been the current development on weekends, so this was really “low” comparatively. With that mentioned, it’s considerably larger than the price of FastPass+ (free), which was supplied 3 years in the past this identical week.
Relative to the earlier week, this cheaper price for Genie+ was presumably pushed by inside attendance forecasts at Walt Disney World. Yesterday solely ended up being a 2/10 on the group calendar, with a resort-wide wait time common of 31 minutes. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is all the time a ‘time of transition’ with markedly decrease crowds, however we weren’t anticipating that large of a drop!
This brings us to at present. Genie+ is again up, costing $20 per individual at Walt Disney World on November 28, 2022. (As a reminder, there’s tax on Genie+ purchases and it’s not included within the marketed value–that means that is really over $21.)
It’ll be fascinating to see what occurs tomorrow. Since we’ve been monitoring this, Tuesday by way of Thursday have tended to be least costly (Saturdays being most costly). My guess is that it’ll be $18, however actually, nothing between $17 and $20 would shock me. I really don’t have any clue.
What I will say is that if Genie+ stays within the $17 to $18 vary, I’ll check it 2-3 days this week. I haven’t finished this in the course of the vacation season but, and this week ought to be barely above-average, so it looks as if time. If you’re concerned with extra ‘My Day with Genie+’ posts, please let me know what’s of most curiosity:
- Magic Kingdom on a Party Day
- Magic Kingdom on a Non-Party Day
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- EPCOT
If you’re not concerned with any of that, please additionally be at liberty to say as a lot. It appeared like readers have been shedding curiosity in these over the summer season and fall, so I don’t wish to waste my time. In the absence of suggestions, my inclination is to do MK on a non-party day, DHS, and (possibly) EPCOT. I can’t be testing at Animal Kingdom–it’s a waste of money and time.
For these protecting rating at residence, Walt Disney World’s daring wager on demand remaining excessive even on the $29 per individual–or practically $31 after tax–for the Genie+ service proved right. In analyzing availability and return occasions courtesy of Thrill-Data.com, final week was really worse than the final month as an entire.
Of course, attendance was considerably larger and so too have been crowds. However, this helps our earlier place that, in contrast to the elimination of the Genie+ ticket add-on, the value improve wouldn’t do a lot to cut back demand for the paid FastPass service. In the grand scheme of a multi-thousand greenback Walt Disney World trip, Genie+ remains to be not that giant of an quantity, and few individuals who would’ve purchased it at ~$18 are going to skip it at ~$29 and “risk” ruining all they’ve spent on the costly journey.
Not to belabor or rehash the purpose an excessive amount of, as we’ve mentioned this at size not too long ago in Disney Doesn’t Want Lower Crowds after which once more a bit within the commentary to the newest value improve submit. In a nutshell, one frequent (albeit mildly contrarian) viewpoint is that value will increase are really good as a result of they lower attendance and assist reduce crowds. Although it’s a go-to line when elevating ticket costs–and one which has been mindlessly parrotted by a sure subset of Walt Disney World followers–it’s faulty.
There is ample proof on the contrary, as attendance has elevated by hundreds of thousands of company per 12 months within the pre-closure decade. If Disney actually needs to cut back crowds, there are methods to perform that: constructing extra points of interest, not taking 84 years to open a cloned curler coaster in an in any other case empty warehouse, extending working hours to unfold attendance all through the day, or including leisure and different diversions to assist take in crowds. In actuality, Disney has little need to cut back attendance–they wish to “optimize” wait occasions, staffing, and pricing.
Whether it’s for park tickets, resorts, or the Genie+ service, date-based pricing is an efficient means for the corporate to perform its desired optimizations at Walt Disney World. There are sure occasions of 12 months that have larger demand for plenty of causes–faculty schedules, seasonal occasions, climate, and so on.
Charging incrementally larger costs for these occasions of 12 months permits Walt Disney World to capitalize on and revenue from that inherently larger demand. That’s the objective–not redistributing attendance or regardless of the speaking level may be. There’s a motive spring break, summer season trip, and fall/winter holidays proceed to see heavier attendance than every other time of 12 months and haven’t leveled off with random dates in mid-January, early May, late August, and so on. Increasing costs on that quasi-captive viewers is just savvy enterprise or opportunism, relying upon your perspective.
Now that we’ve skilled the $29 per tax value level for paid FastPass, we all know that precisely has occurred with the Genie+ service. The costlier dates don’t essentially have a greater visitor expertise–they’re worse. As anticipated, demand for Lightning Lanes is larger when attendance is larger.
Worse wait occasions creates the next incentive for bypassing strains, that means larger uptake of Genie+ even when it prices extra. Keep in thoughts, these visiting throughout these peak weeks are already paying extra for his or her holidays. The distinction between $16 and $30 (after tax) is comparatively insignificant within the grand scheme of issues, and received’t trigger many company to balk at pricing. What’s one other “few dollars” (or perhaps a few hundred {dollars}!) on high of a multi-thousand greenback journey if it’ll provide a aggressive benefit?!
This isn’t essentially to argue towards Walt Disney World transferring to date-based pricing for the Genie+ service or charging regardless of the market will bear (on this case, over $30!). It’s merely to refute the misperception that Disney is doing company a favor with value will increase by (supposedly) decreasing demand, crowds, or no matter.
That most likely can be true if the associated fee jumped from $16 to $80 per day, however that’s not the case right here. Instead, evidently Walt Disney World is making an attempt to stroll a tightrope by incrementally growing costs in an effort to maintain demand comparatively inelastic.
Ultimately, it is going to be fascinating to see how demand for Genie+ continues to play out this Christmas season at Walt Disney World. Even greater than that, we’re curious in regards to the influence of market-pricing for Genie+ come 2023 since a large chunk of present guests have the Genie+ ticket add-on, and are thus insulated from the value will increase, anyway.
As we’ve written earlier than, it’s laborious to fault Walt Disney World for not leaving cash on the desk. While we hate all the value will increase of the final 2-3 years and imagine there shall be unfavourable long-term ramifications, it’s additionally patently apparent that Disney has pricing energy and no scarcity of demand proper now. Hopefully that begins to reverse itself, and issues normalize within the coming 12 months. In the meantime, should you’re already balking at Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane costs, see our Best Time-Saving Strategies at Walt Disney World, which covers the perfect & worst methods to strategy every park. (It’s primarily Genie+ v. every thing else.)
If you will have questions in regards to the fundamentals of utilizing–or not utilizing–the paid FastPass service, see our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for all the foundational need-to-know information. This entire system is complicated and convoluted, so that you might need a query or two-dozen. That solutions all the most typical ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about motels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips submit takes a singular take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for every thing it is advisable to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Genie+ pricing over the course of the final week at Walt Disney World? Glad that paid FastPass “only” prices $17 to $20 now that Thanksgiving week is over? Surprised that demand was simply as excessive on the ~$31 after tax value level, or is that what you anticipated? Disappointed Disney is utilizing ‘surge’ or demand-based pricing on Genie, or do you see that as higher than the service promoting out? Thoughts on our perspective that demand for Genie+ will proceed to be highest on the busiest/most costly days? Any different concerns we didn’t take note of or particulars we missed/bought improper? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we may also help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!