Up to 50 percent of Walt Disney World park guests are upgrading to Disney Genie+ according to Bob Chapek

Feb 09, 2022 in "Disney Genie"

Posted: Wednesday February 9, 2022 4:23pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In an interview with CNBC this evening, Disney CEO Bob Chapek commented again on the roll-out of Disney Genie+ at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

According to Chapek, between a third and a half of guests are upgrading to Genie+. This appears to be an increase in early reports when he commented at the last earnings call in November that about one third of guests were opting for Genie+.

During the later earnings call, Chapek said "In the quarter, more than a third of domestic park guests purchased either Genie+, Lightning Lane, or both. That number rose to more than 50% during the holiday period. While demand was strong throughout the quarter at both domestic sites our reservation system enabled us to strategically manage attendance. In fact, their stellar performance was achieved at lower attendance levels than 2019. As we return to a more normalized environment we look forward to more fully capitalizing on the extraordinary demand for our parks along with realized benefits that took shape this quarter."

In today's Walt Disney Company Q1 2022 earning report, Genie+ and Lighting Lane purchases were specifically mentioned as a contributor to the increase in average per capita revenue.

Disney Genie+ is an option within the Disney Genie service that makes the former FastPass line available at select attractions, now called Lightning Lane. At Walt Disney World, the introductory pricing is $15 per ticket per day. Certain headline attractions are not part of Genie+, and Lightning Lane access at those attractions requires an Individual Attraction purchase which varies in prices.

Learn more about Disney Genie from our recent articles, including a Disney Genie FAQ, and Genie discussion on the WDWMAGIC Forums.

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Purduevian6 days ago

Learned a new G+ tip the other day and I thought I would share. If you are refreshing looking for a better time on a single ride... Don't pull down to refresh then click the ride once you see a better time come up. Often times you will be too slow and someone else will have gotten that better time. Instead of refreshing that main page, simply click the ride on whatever time it does to move on to the confirmation screen. The time will automatically shift to the latest time available (which might be different that the tip board screen). If it is not the time you want, click back and do it again. This way if you see a time, you are holding that time as soon as you see it.

allgiggles7 days ago

I've seen many people say they don't like having to be on their phone all day. I didn't experience that. I'd book a LL, set an alarm for a few minutes before the next booking time, and then put my phone away. Lather, rinse, repeat. I don't remember spending more than about 5 (*maybe* 10) minutes on my phone every time I was scheduling another LL. My husband spent *way* more time than that on his phone and he didn't schedule *any* LLs. It was no worse than it was with FP+. And it sure beats having to walk to the ride you wanted to ride to get a FP for it or walking to a kiosk and standing in line to schedule a FP+ before you could do it on the app. I'd venture to guess that I spent more time in the FP/FP+ kiosk days walking back and forth across the parks to get the rides we wanted compared to the amount of time I was on my phone for G+. At least I can parallel process when using my phone -- doing the scheduling while eating a snack or meal or while standing in line somewhere.

GhostHost10007 days ago

Well I’ve had decent luck using it as well after learning the tricks but I spend an enormous time on my phone all day playing the game which I don’t like

allgiggles7 days ago

Didn't need fixing. I'm ok paying for it, I just don't want it to be $35/day. I felt like $15-20 was a good price. We were FP+ power users, but we had even better success with G+/ILL.

GhostHost10007 days ago

Fixed your post

allgiggles7 days ago

Oh how I wish these would be the prices when we're there next month.

DCBaker7 days ago

Here's a look at pricing for Genie+ today - the last time prices were at this level was February 25, 2024.

Splash4eva11 days ago

& to pre pay before the trip for its entirety

Fido Chuckwagon11 days ago

Lol, how I long for the days when it was $15…

capndave11 days ago

Doesn't include the more popular attractions. You have to pay even more to access the lightening lane per ride for those attractions. Total money grab! Disney is pricing themselves out of existence .

Chip Chipperson23 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?

Disstevefan129 days ago

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

doctornick29 days ago

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

aaronml29 days ago

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