BREAKING: Walt Disney World Introduces Date-Based Variable Pricing for Genie+ Service

[cakebaker]

I absolutely disagree with you. Disney's goal with G+ and ILL is to get as many people as possible to purchase it at the highest price. Maximize profits for the shareholders and get largest bonus possible. Take a look at park ticket pricing, it's gone up way over the cost of inflation, and yet nobody believes attendance is down. You might see a small drop in G+ purchase due to a price increase, but the nature of game dictates people buy it to maximize their time in the parts. Usage will go right back to normal.

There is a price level somewhere, if G+ continues to be as problematic as it is, that some people will quit buying it and I think that's exactly the spot Disney is looking for. The only question is, how high do they have to go to acheive that. For me, I'll pay considerably more for an improved experience but I'm not paying much more than the original $15 for what it does now- especially at HS and Epcot and I'm pretty much devoted to buying all the bells and whistles I can afford. I absolutely believe attendance is down. Remember back to what a truly sold out day was like- and it only happened once, maybe twice a year at most. That is not what a sold out park looks like now. Crowded as it is, there's still a lowered capacity limit. We've been back 3 times since re-opening, the latest just last month. Even thought it felt crowded, it was nothing like the old crowds we use to contend with. That's clearly an effect of lowered capacity, but I think DIsney is fine with lower capacity, higher profits per guest.

 

[DisneyFive]

So many people claiming to know what Disney wants….
I’m pretty sure profits is the highest on their list.

and right there with that is guest satisfaction.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes, and they adjust every lever available to achieve that. It would be completely fascinating to get an inside view into how they forecast and adjust park attendance limits, ride capacity, price points, cast member costs and staffing, complaints, trends, buying patterns, etc. Someone/Some people are tasked with crunching all the data and then forecasting. I think it's completely fascinating.

I've read a lot about how some people are dropping this or that, but given how difficult (like impossible) it was for me to get an ADR for my arrival day for 6 people, I don't think we're looking at empty tables just yet. It's just moving some people from QS to Table Service, etc. That's part of it too -- how many people are wanting __________ and can't get it because it's so sought after.

Some of the ADR issues is just staffing level issues. 6 people is limiting from the get-go. We had anywhere between 6 to 9 people for our May trip and we also had more difficulty. Although back then there was more sharing of staff between locations at times too. When it was just my husband and I we had much more options like I was able to get San Angel Inn for 2 people but it never had any options for 4 or more which is why we ended up at La Hacienda with our group but TBH I really don't think the are putting out as many ADR times as they could though even now.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I'm honestly surprised they haven't incorporated something like an old FP+ Concierge level prereserved aspect to Genie+. $15-$22 for regular Genie+ and then a $50 to $75 pp add on to pre reserve 3 more. For just my partner and I trips I'd probably buy that everyday.

 

[Mango7100]

I am not so sure that $50 is a breaking point. Yes, it is very expensive. But there are lots of people that are buying park tickets plus holiday party tickets or after-hours tickets. That group is spending up to $150 dollars on top of the price of their park ticket.

To be clear, I am not comparing the Genie+ experience to an after-hours event experience. I am simply trying to look at what today's guests are willing to pay in addition to their park ticket.

Like another poster said, $50 per person is less than the cost of an adult going to a character meal. Plenty of people are adding those to their day.

So even at $50, guests can cut from dining to pay for LLs or it looks like a steal compared to other opportunities for lower wait times (like parties).

That’s what we would do when it gets $50. I would rather have Genie+ and an ILL than do a character meal for $67 a person excluding tax and tip.

 

[wilkydelts]

That’s what we would do when it gets $50. I would rather have Genie+ and an ILL than do a character meal for $67 a person excluding tax and tip.

That is not even a comparable situation. A Character Dinner is a special dining event. No one does character dining everyday of their trip. Cutting your character dinner gets you cost 1-2 genie+ days. You are simply trading where a small portion of funds go, it isn't helping cover $50 a day genie+ for the trip.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That is not even a comparable situation. A Character Dinner is a special dining event. No one does character dining everyday of their trip. Cutting your character dinner gets you cost 1-2 genie+ days. You are simply trading where a small portion of funds go, it isn't helping cover $50 a day genie+ for the trip.

I don't know about you but there are plenty of people who do character dining multiple days of their trip. That was all I used to hear about when it came to the DDP especially as that was one of the better usages of your dining credits. Maybe nowadays people are more discriminating because the character dining was slow in coming back but never underestimate the Disney fans who love their opportunities to see characters. Many also use this (at least how it was mentioned on the Boards) as a way to see the characters without having to do meet and greets (or as many), save them time and hassle there.

 

[Mango7100]

That is not even a comparable situation. A Character Dinner is a special dining event. No one does character dining everyday of their trip. Cutting your character dinner gets you cost 1-2 genie+ days. You are simply trading where a small portion of funds go, it isn't helping cover $50 a day genie+ for the trip.

Speak for yourself, we have done character dining for one meal (either breakfast or dinner) every day of a trip. Just because you don’t does not mean “no one” does

 

[Jrb1979]

That is not even a comparable situation. A Character Dinner is a special dining event. No one does character dining everyday of their trip. Cutting your character dinner gets you cost 1-2 genie+ days. You are simply trading where a small portion of funds go, it isn't helping cover $50 a day genie+ for the trip.

It still comes back to the mindset that you must have Genie+ to visit the parks.

 

[snikki]

There are plenty of people doing multiple character meals a trip. Our first few trips we used it as a way to skip character lines and did about 4 a trip. Or more. Even if it’s not a character meal you can cut out HDDR, dessert parties, fantasmic dinner package, harmonious dinner package and signature dining and break even.

You also don’t “need” G+ each day of your trip. Most people say it’s not necessary at AK and EP.

 

[Mango7100]

It still comes back to the mindset that you must have Genie+ to visit the parks.

I don’t think I must have Genie to visit the parks, I want to have it because it makes my experience better (my family has visited 5 times since Genie started). To me it is worth it because I get between 6-12 LLs to save time standing in line. No one must have a lot of things to visit WDW. You don’t have to have table service or any character meal to visit. You don’t have to buy a souvenir. You don’t have to have a glass of wine at dinner. You don’t have to get Photo Pass. You spend your money on what you deem important. For some people that is Genie Plus, for some people it’s not. And that’s OK.

 

[cm8]

I don’t know about record breaking, but there are enough of us who go ever6 year who can categorically state that the parks are not tumbleweeds.

im here right now, and it’s one of the busiest octobers I’ve ever seen after 20 years of October visits. Can i say without challenge that I have NEVER seen it higher? Not really… but I can tell you that 1-2 hour waits for every ride and crowds so thick it’s hard to find open areas is not the norm for me at this time of year.

Agreed! This place is packed! I’m scared to see how MNSSHP is going to look tonight

 

[Kingoglow]

That is not even a comparable situation. A Character Dinner is a special dining event. No one does character dining everyday of their trip. Cutting your character dinner gets you cost 1-2 genie+ days. You are simply trading where a small portion of funds go, it isn't helping cover $50 a day genie+ for the trip.

That is exactly the sort of budgeting trade off that we have been talking about in this thread.

Nobody is out there buying Genie+ for everyday of their trip. Or at least, they shouldn't be, because there is no value in Genie+ in Epcot or AK at all. I mean, I guess you can count the guests that prebooked Genie+ early on... they have it for every day of their trip, at a lower price too. At Epcot and AK, guests can 100% navigate their day with all rides with out Genie+ (you will need the ILL's though). And if you are only going to MK and/or HS... sure, you are getting Genie+ for at least one day at each of those parks (but you don't need to buy it for two MK or two HS days).

We are talking about the rising cost of Genie+; how high will it go before everybody quits buying it. It will have to rise much much higher than the cost of other vacation options such as Table Service meals, Character Dining, and Desert Parties. And the price of Genie+ will be weighed heavily against after hours parties, but Disney might just raise those prices too.

It seems like, from several of the recent posts, that you vacation differently than other people. Of course you do, we all do this differently. There is plenty of conversation that has happened in this thread of people presenting the things that they would drop from their trips to cover the higher price of Genie+.

 

[cakebaker]

You keep saying that the people who are upset "hate" or "dislike" Disney or think it is evil. That's an oversimplification.

Many of us dearly love Disney but are dismayed at the current situation. I'm actually showing my dissatisfaction with my pocketbook - no trips planned - but that doesn't mean I'll never go again. And I'm always hopeful that something will change, so I check in on the Disboards to see what's up.

It isn't black (Disney is evil!) or white (You must never complain!). Like most things, it is gray.

First, I didn't say it in that particular response and I don't say everyone who is upset hates Disney or thinks they're evil but clearly there are those who think anything and everything Disney does is only to line their pockets with no regard for the guest experience- the phrase "money grab" floats around here a lot. I too am bothered by many things they are doing, that doesn't mean I think they're this giant, soul-less corporation out to get the little guy- and that is a pervasive view, at least in this forum.

I agree, it isn't either Disney is evil or you must never complain- but there are people that are firmly in both those categories. I am not.

 

[cakebaker]

Or at least, they shouldn't be, because there is no value in Genie+ in Epcot or AK at all. ....At Epcot and AK, guests can 100% navigate their day with all rides with out Genie+ (you will need the ILL's though).

I don't believe there is no value at all in getting Genie + for those parks. I do believe the need is less, but Genie+ still is helpful, just not a must have like I think it is for the MK and HS. Also, I as rule, won't buy ILL's. I don't like the practice of charging for individual rides and I'm not going to support it any more than I feel like I absolutely have to. Guardians is the one I have bought, but only once and that was to allow my grandson to get an extra ride in- yup, set aside my principles for a grandchild. lol

At $15 a day, I would buy for every park, even with the limited value at AK and Epcot- but at a higher rate, with it performing as it does now- I certainly wouldn't and might not buy it at all.

 

[Kingoglow]

I don't believe there is no value at all in getting Genie + for those parks. I do believe the need is less, but Genie+ still is helpful, just not a must have like I think it is for the MK and HS. Also, I as rule, won't buy ILL's. I don't like the practice of charging for individual rides and I'm not going to support it any more than I feel like I absolutely have to. Guardians is the one I have bought, but only once and that was to allow my grandson to get an extra ride in- yup, set aside my principles for a grandchild. lol

At $15 a day, I would buy for every park, even with the limited value at AK and Epcot- but at a higher rate, with it performing as it does now- I certainly wouldn't and might not buy it at all.

Like I said further down in my post. We are all doing this differently. We family has successfully navigated riding all Epcot and AK rides on those park days without paying for Genie+. And still have plenty of time to experience festivals at Epcot and all the trails in AK (we do skip the Dory show though - its not for us).

You say less value. I think we are both probably talking about the same thing.

 

[leeniewdw]

Some of the ADR issues is just staffing level issues. 6 people is limiting from the get-go. We had anywhere between 6 to 9 people for our May trip and we also had more difficulty. Although back then there was more sharing of staff between locations at times too. When it was just my husband and I we had much more options like I was able to get San Angel Inn for 2 people but it never had any options for 4 or more which is why we ended up at La Hacienda with our group but TBH I really don't think the are putting out as many ADR times as they could though even now.

I don't disagree, but I presume there are a number of people with parties of 6 that would gladly take an ADR if they'd adapt seating/reservations to accommodate them. I was just saying there's a backlog of people who'd like [fill in the blank] experience/dining that would backfill if people start shifting some $$$s around.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nobody is out there buying Genie+ for everyday of their trip. Or at least, they shouldn't be, because there is no value in Genie+ in Epcot or AK at all.

I'm going to clarify something...people don't necessarily know if something of value, especially a front of the line pass, until they try it out. And everyone has different needs and wants. We here on the DIS have found a general consensus that there's less value at AK and Epcot, please keep that in mind.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't disagree, but I presume there are a number of people with parties of 6 that would gladly take an ADR if they'd adapt seating/reservations to accommodate them. I was just saying there's a backlog of people who'd like [fill in the blank] experience/dining that would backfill if people start shifting some $$$s around.

To the bolded I think that's the case no matter in time anywhere. People want to eat where they want to eat with the group of people they want to eat with. I was just saying that the ADR situation of now is not quite as easy to reflect the extent the crowd will be or are because of the conditions of restaurants in general.

I do think it was more reflective pre-pandemic just not so much as of now. And we also don't know because of the timing of it all with the park reservations if Disney holds back reservation slots in relative to the park reservation system. Before I would have never questioned it but now with a way for them to say exactly how many people they want in the parks (before 2pm at least).

I don't know that it's a matter of formula of just shifting around money. Plus there are restaurants in WDW (Disney Springs has more) that are not owned by Disney. But I do def. understand wanting more options, it just adds a layer of frustration that isn't needed.

 

[Kingoglow]

Sure, thanks.
These same people come here for our advice, so we tell them our experience. That is my experience (and the experience of many others) so I will continue to give people that advice.