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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Purduevian16 hours ago

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/lightning-lane-drop-times.984387/ This is what I've come up with so far (haven't looked in awhile, maybe I'll check again soon). If you are willing to pay, people have stated touring plans has a list as well. If you do pay for touring plans, don't share any of the information that is behind the payway! Good luck!

DisneyCane16 hours ago

My favorite thing to do with legacy FP, was to start the day in Epcot and, right before we left around 11:30, grabbed another TT FP with something like a 6:25 to 7:25 return time. Then go to another park and return to Epcot in the evening and get a "bonus" ride of TT with barely any wait. Those were the good ole days! With FP strategy we once took my sister-in-law to WDW for a single day and were able to ride all of the headliners at all 4 parks on a moderately crowded day.

nickys18 hours ago

You can but you will have the same restrictions as if you’d pre-booked them. Same park, little overlapping etc. A strategy for just booking one would be a very early return time so that once you tapped in you could then book any tiers in any park.

osian21 hours ago

Quick question - we know you can have three rolling LLs with MP, but you can only book a new one when you've used one up. So can you only get three rolling LLs if you've booked your three in advance? For example, if you've only booked one in advance then on the day when you're in the park can you book another two before you've used the first one?

arich351 day ago

Are there known drop times for Epcot rides day off?

wdisney90001 day ago

In Legacy FP days my brother and I did the same at Epcot rope drop (sans breakfast at Sunshine Seasons). We'd average 2 or 3 rides on TT and Soarin, SSE and usually 1 or 2 rides on El Rio Del Tiempo (now Gran Fiesta Tour) and head out of the park after getting lunch. And we loved getting an extra FP each before getting lunch (usually at Electric Umbrella) and handing them to a random couple on our way out.

MickeyLuv'r1 day ago

Right, and since we don't know when our BG will be called, and we have so little control over our LL return times, WDW has to allow a significant amount of grace. The day I was there Tiana's had some down time, so when it reopened we got in line, but we also had LL passes for 3 other rides. When we got in line for Tiana, according to the posted wait, we should have been okay to use our next LL, but then Tiana's took so stinking long, that we missed our next LL window entirely (SpaceMtn.?) By the time we got off Tiana's, we were well into the time window of our NEXT LL, which I think was Pirates, so we used Pirates first. It was afternoon in August, so plenty hot outside, and we had planned to take an afternoon break. Crossing the park twice wasn't going to happen. This is just one example when something beyond our control caused us to miss a LL window entirely. Early on, I tried to change some of the LL times, but it isn't feasible because there's a dearth of availability.

MickeyLuv'r1 day ago

I don't really see how they can close the loophole of allowing late LL use, at least not while: 1. they are still using BG 2. rides are unreliable 3. TS meal lengths are variable in a way that is unpredictable 4. we don't control our LL times. When booking the 3 initial passes, users don't get to choose return times, they are assigned. users are allowed to shuffle the times, and you can make them a bit later if you want, but as soon as you try to change them MDE shuffles the return times in a way that is somewhat random, and gives you later/worse return times with every shuffle. Once you are in the parks, you have no control over return times. Again, users can refresh, but the times assigned are random. The earliest time I could get for Tiana's was 3:30pm, and that was booking LL's exactly at 7am at 7days out. I would have much preferred an earlier time. I really wanted to be out of MK. After agreeing, I attempted (7days out at 7:01am) to refresh for an earlier pass, and all I got was much worse times, like 7:45pm, and even late PM options dried up within a few minutes.

MisterPenguin2 days ago

FP and Genie+ has always been 5 minutes early and 15 minutes late. The same for VQs and ILL. EXCEPT... GotG:CR stopped caring how late you were for ILL or VQ. 2 hours. 5 hours. They didn't care. Even if other VQ rides did care. Especially TRON, which was super strict. Unless you started to cry in front of the CM. Now?!... who knows. It's cats and dogs living together.

co100642 days ago

Used the new system today at DHS and have surprisingly been able to redeem all the multi-pass rides by now (1:45pm local time). I definitely prefer this to system to Genie+, but I may have had a different experience if I was staying off-property.

Purduevian2 days ago

Gottcha, I did a quick google search and lots of planning sites give the 15 mins, but I couldn't see anything on it from Disney. So: Officially official: Be on time Unofficially official: 15 min grace period In practice: 2 hour grace period Reality: Unlimited grace period at CM discretion

nickys2 days ago

That’s what CMs will tell you. Or what Plan Disney might say. 😁

Purduevian2 days ago

What does "Officially" even mean then if the light turns green after 2 hours?

nickys2 days ago

Officially it’s a 15 minute grace period. In practice though, the 2 hr grace period after the end time was in effect for G+ and is still in effect for LLs. And yes, the light turns green.