Genie+ has been a hot topic among Disney World and Disneyland fans.
Today is the Walt Disney Company’s first-quarter earnings call, which means we’re getting an update on the financial state of the company and the status of several ongoing projects. Disney just reported an update on the Genie+ program, which was implemented in 2021 in Disney World and Disneyland.
Genie+ replaced the FastPass+ program, with one of the main differences being that the new version is not free. For $15 per person per day, you can reserve your spot in “Lightning Lanes” at certain attractions to skip the lines.
For the most popular rides, you’ll have to pay a separate fee to skip the line. These can cost anywhere from $7 to $15 per person (from what we’ve seen so far). This system is called Individual Attraction Selection (but we prefer the term “Fancy Rides”).
Disney just reported that more than a third of domestic guests purchased Genie+, Individual Attraction Selection, or both during their trips to the parks this past quarter.
And over the holiday season, over 50% of guests purchased Genie+, Individual Attraction Selection, or both!
This is an increase from the previous quarter, when Disney reported that just under a third of guests were purchasing these services.
It seems like Genie+ is on the rise, and it’s especially popular during the busy season at the Disney parks.
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Click here to learn all about Genie+
Have you used Genie+ in Disney World or Disneyland? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.
We just returned from WDW and pre-purchased Genie+ for our group of 4. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease, however disappointed that you could only get one ride at 7:00 and then had to wait 2 hours after park open to continue to schedule your rides. You are constantly walking around with your phone in hand waiting to schedule either your next ride, mobile ordering, etc. I would definitely purchase Genie + again.
What choice do you have other than to buy it? The choice to wait in line for 2 hours or to just pay and ride a lot faster.
I am dreading our trip in June promised to three grandchildren prior to Covid. It sounds like the Lightening Lanes will be about as long as the Standby Lanes very soon. This system is ridiculous
you have to use it if you want to get everything done in the quickest way possible. an extra charge but we go to disney with disposable income, might as well spend it here
I would like to know how many people were actually happy purchasing Genie+. How many repeat buyers are there. My guess is not many. We used it the first day of our trip and did not purchase it again. Complete waste of money and time constantly glued to your phone.
For the 50% that used it over the holidays, it was simply panic buying. People knew they were visiting during a busy time and bought because they assumed it would be needed to avoid the longest lines of the year.
Data is showing it does help people save time in line, but counterintuitively, it saves less time on the busiest days because a users are working against each other to get reservations, and the result is each buyer gets fewer reservations, and what they do get may be for one major attraction and the rest for minor ones.
The statistic Disney posted is a bit meaningless. We were in WDW over thanksgiving and used Genie plus one day. It ended up being a waste of money so we didn’t do it again. But we would show up as one of the 50%, so would a group that just bought ROR one day. It would be more helpful to know how many people were using genie plus on a daily basis, how many were purchasing the fancy rides per day (i.e. ROR), etc.
I think it’s almost time to up the price to something close to $100. Of course more people are buying it…what’s 15 bucks per day per person on top of a $7000 vacation!?
People don’t have a choice. They are using it because they want to. It’s because they have to. It’s extortion. It’s very similar to sports stadiums charging personal seat licenses.
Excellent analogy! And just like going to football games, going to Disney world is an unnecessary luxury that one can freely choose to partake in or not. Nobody is being forced to do anything here. Gotta use your language better.
I used in for a day in January. I was underwhelmed. It required too much time glued to my phone and the times I was able to secure were not convenient. I suppose if you are only concerned about riding rides at any cost, it probably helps. But otherwise it just fouled up my day.
It’s not that it is more popular, people don’t have a choice unless they like waiting in long lines.
They are forced to buy it. Let’s be honest Disney. Just experienced this during a trip in January.
I was at MK on Monday and the lines were so long that in order to ride anything in the earlier part of the day, you had to buy your way onto the rides. We sat and people watched for hours before any of the lines were even manageable enough to bother. The line was actually short “looking” for Peter Pan so we got in it…turns out, it was an hour long due to the continuous flow of the lightning lane. It’s like the standby line doesn’t even move. It’s awful!