Up to 50 percent of Walt Disney World park guests are upgrading to Disney Genie+ according to Bob Chapek

Feb 09, 2022 in "Disney Genie"

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Posted: Wednesday February 9, 2022 4:23pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In an interview with CNBC this evening, Disney CEO Bob Chapek commented again on the roll-out of Disney Genie+ at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

Disney Genie overview

According to Chapek, between a third and a half of guests are upgrading to Genie+. This appears to be an increase in early reports when he commented at the last earnings call in November that about one third of guests were opting for Genie+.

During the later earnings call, Chapek said "In the quarter, more than a third of domestic park guests purchased either Genie+, Lightning Lane, or both. That number rose to more than 50% during the holiday period. While demand was strong throughout the quarter at both domestic sites our reservation system enabled us to strategically manage attendance. In fact, their stellar performance was achieved at lower attendance levels than 2019. As we return to a more normalized environment we look forward to more fully capitalizing on the extraordinary demand for our parks along with realized benefits that took shape this quarter."

In today's Walt Disney Company Q1 2022 earning report, Genie+ and Lighting Lane purchases were specifically mentioned as a contributor to the increase in average per capita revenue.

First Lightning Lane guests at Magic Kingdom October 19 2021

Disney Genie+ is an option within the Disney Genie service that makes the former FastPass line available at select attractions, now called Lightning Lane. At Walt Disney World, the introductory pricing is $15 per ticket per day. Certain headline attractions are not part of Genie+, and Lightning Lane access at those attractions requires an Individual Attraction purchase which varies in prices.

Learn more about Disney Genie from our recent articles, including a Disney Genie FAQ, and Genie discussion on the WDWMAGIC Forums.

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Chip Chipperson2 days ago

So now that the changes to DAS have been announced, any idea on how far away we are from getting news about pre-booking G+ selections?

Disstevefan18 days ago

I think you are right. This is the new floor. Remember how low the prices were when it started

doctornick8 days ago

@tanc is talking about LL Bean's return policy that was changed a few years back.

aaronml9 days ago

What legendary return policy? Are you talking about for legacy paper FP many years ago? Or something else?

HauntedPirate9 days ago

I’m curious to see if Genie- prices drop further to the old minimums or if these become the new “floor”.

Brian9 days ago

If OP was referring to the mix ratio with the 80% figure, that determines how many LL guests pass through the merge point at any given time versus standby. There will still be the same number of guests who ultimately choose to experience the attraction via either standby or LL whether they let 20 LL guests through the merge point for every one standby or 50. If the suggestion is that 80% of a "popular" attraction's total guests throughout the day are LL guests, I don't know of any in which that is the case.

Purduevian9 days ago

But the ratio of people that get on the ride via Standby or LL throughout a day (on average) must be the same ratio of people that get in the line...

wdwmagic9 days ago

Individual Lightning Lane price drops alongside lower Genie+ cost at Walt Disney World https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/disney-genie/news/08apr2024-individual-lightning-lane-price-drops-alongside-lower-genie-cost-at-walt-disney-world.htm

Brian10 days ago

I believe the figures you are referring to are the mix ratios of LL vs standby guests at the merge point, which can fluctuate throughout the day. These ratios do not themselves determine the types of guests (Genie+ vs Standby) who will ultimately choose to get in line and experience a specific attraction.

DisneyDodo10 days ago

It took me a very long time to parse this post because my brain stubbornly insisted on reading “LL” as “Lightning Lane” every time, which made me assume “bean” was some sort of typo, and I could not for the life of me figure out what you were trying to say. Thankfully it eventually clicked.

SingleRider10 days ago

It’s been reported on this site and others that the LL entrance at any popular attraction accounts for 75-80% of that ride’s capacity because the LL is heavily favored. Having the other 20-25 percent scan at a separate entrance shouldn’t be much of an issue.

Brian10 days ago

It has been discussed several times already why that "solution" is wildly impractical. Don't believe me? Look at the LL entrance of any relatively popular attraction and you'll see clumps of guests struggling to get in because of various issues like finding and presenting their admission media, entitlements not being linked, and more. Now imagine every single guest in the park being forced to do that for each attraction.

MagicHappens197110 days ago

This is insane. I have stated it several times. It’s extended waits that is a problem 9 times out of 10. Not a 15 minute wait for Little Mermaid

SingleRider10 days ago

Disney really needs to come up with a system to prevent anyone with a DAS return time from standing in line for any other attraction. This would be easy to accomplish by having CMs scan tickets at the standby entrances.