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Disney hikes ticket prices, Genie Plus skip-the-line service
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Disney hikes ticket prices, Genie Plus skip-the-line service

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When Disney launched its new tool that lets guests skip long lines for rides last year, fans claimed they were being forced to pay for a perk they once got for free.

Now, most visitors will have to pay even more for this privilege. Cue a new round of complaints about “snatch money” and “nickel and dimming.”

“Every time this happens, fans go online to swear they won’t be returning to Disney again,” Robert Niles, editor of Theme Park Insider, said in an email. “And maybe not, but many more visitors continue to come to the parks, which allows Disney to continue to generate more and more revenue. I expect this price increase to lead to the same thing.

Disney Parks in Florida and California on Tuesday rolled out new rates for the Genie Plus service, which allows guests to avoid long waits. How much will the cost increase? It depends on where you are going, the day of your visit and, in California, when you purchase the add-on.

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At Walt Disney World in Florida, the busiest theme park resort in the world, the price was $15, regardless of the day. For October, the cost will vary between $15 and $22, depending on how busy the four parks are on a given day. After this month? Nobody says.

Admission has been demand-based for several years, with slower days being priced at $109 for a one-day park ticket and busiest dates climbing to $159; these prices have not changed in Florida. This means that a family buying tickets for a visit during the low season at the end of August can expect to pay significantly less than someone visiting during the popular winter holidays.

The company encourages customers to check the My Disney Experience app on the day of their visit, which is the only time Florida customers can purchase Genie Plus. That means park-goers won’t know how much they’ll have to spend until they’re on vacation — though the steeper admission on peak days could be a hint that the service will also be more expensive.

Disney charges for faster access to a handful of its most popular rides separately from Genie Plus; these “individual flash routes” were already priced variably. Deadline said the line-skipping price range for some of these attractions would expand to include higher fees on busier days.

The change is intended to “continue to manage strong demand,” Walt Disney World said.

At Disneyland Resort in California, the cost of Genie Plus now starts at $25, according to its website. It’s from $20. The Los Angeles Times reported that the price will be $25 when purchased with an advance ticket or package, but variable when visitors purchase it after entering the park.

Disneyland also raised the price of admission on the busiest days to $179. The LA Times said the most expensive ticket was previously $164; the newspaper reported that a two-day ticket that used to cost $255 is now $285.

“I’m not surprised by these price increases,” Len Testa, president of theme park trip planning site Touring Plans and co-author of the unofficial guides to Walt Disney World and Disneyland, said in a statement. E-mail. “Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s comments on the latest earnings call and subsequent investor meetings were pretty clear: They’re going to raise prices until demand drops.”

Disney Parks, Experiences and Products brought in $7.4 billion in revenue for the quarter that ended July 2, a 70% improvement over the prior year. It was $7.2 billion in the fiscal first quarter, when Chapek said the company’s national parks and resorts “achieved record revenues and operating profits despite soaring the omicron”.

On an earnings call in August, Chapek said about half of people who visit the parks “buy” the product. And last month, Josh D’Amaro, president of Disney parks, experiences and products, told a conference that Genie Plus was “doing phenomenally” and selling more than expected.

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He said that in surveys of customers who purchased the product, as well as those who paid for a separate skip-the-line option for the most popular rides, 70% said they would make the purchase again.

“So we know we’re onto something with that,” he said. β€œIt was a system change. So there will be a reaction to that, which we expect. But we know that when a customer buys it, they get what they pay for and they feel really good about it.

But Leslie Harvey, founder of the Trips With Tykes site and co-founder of the Disneyland with Kids Facebook group, said some fans are frustrated because they have to spend more for an experience they say isn’t worth the higher price tag. On a recent trip, she said she had “never seen so many broken animatronics on rides”.

“People are always upset whenever there’s a price increase at Disneyland,” she said.

She added: “Some people feel really overpriced.”

Testa said Disney watchers noted years ago that the company “has essentially abandoned the middle class,” instead targeting the top 1-20% of U.S. households.

β€œI think the big concern that Disney is going to face next is that at these high prices, consumers are going to expect a premium experience,” he said in his email. “And we started seeing families saying things like, ‘For the kind of price Disney charges to see their replica of St. Mark’s Square at EPCOT, I can take my whole family to the real Italy for a week. So I think that’s the new big concern for them.

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