Disney World's Genie+ pricing this week suggests new peak period price level is double that seen in 2021

Nov 22, 2022 in "Disney Genie"

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Walt Disney World's Genie+ priced at $29

Posted: Tuesday November 22, 2022 8:54am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney began Walt Disney World's busy Thanksgiving week yesterday by introducing a hefty price hike to its Genie+ ride reservation system, which continues today.

Genie+ has seen new record price levels this week of more than $30 with tax

Disney World's Genie+ remains at $29 per person today, or just over $30 with tax. This is an increase of $14 compared to the same period in 2021, or a 93% price increase.

Those guests paying the new record-high price for Genie+ should not expect to get anything extra for the price increase. Most guests can only obtain 2 to 3 Lightning Lane entrances with their $29 Genie+ purchase, the same that was possible a year ago with the $15 Genie+ purchase.

Making matters worse is that Disney has also increased the price of Individual Lightning Lane purchases for those attractions which are not included with Genie+. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is now priced at $25 per person, up from a previous high of $22.

Lightning Lane access to Star Wars Rise of the Resistance is priced at an eye-watering $100 for a family of four this week

These latest price increases to Genie+ drastically raise the cost of a day at Walt Disney World's theme parks. For example, in addition to their standard admission ticket, a family of four visiting Disney's Hollywood Studios for a day this week may be paying $116 for Genie+ and $100 to ride Rise of the Resistance. Including tax, that s $229 of Lightning Lane cost (formerly FastPass) that was included at no charge with every theme park ticket just a few years ago.

Walt Disney World's Genie+ priced at $29

The high daily cost imposed on guests by Genie+ is very much in keeping with current strategies developed by the now-departed Bob Chapek. Instead of expanding the parks to increase capacity and revenue, the current system revolves around driving higher spending from consistent guest numbers visiting the parks, all controlled via park reservations.

Frequently praised by ex-CEO Bob Chapek and current Park's boss Josh D'Amaro, it will be interesting to see if the deeply unpopular Genie+ experience sees any changes with the return of CEO Bob Iger.

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Chip Chipperson10 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?

Disstevefan116 days ago

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

doctornick16 days ago

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

aaronml16 days ago

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

HauntedPirate17 days ago

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

Brian17 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.

Purduevian17 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...

wdwmagic17 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

Brian18 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.

DisneyDodo18 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.

SingleRider18 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.

Brian18 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.

MagicHappens197118 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

SingleRider18 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.