Many guests visiting Disney World are wondering about the new Genie Plus service and studying the options for the next trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth. One of the most common questions is:
What is Genie Plus?
Genie Plus is an advanced service that Disney World offered in the fall and is part of the new paid Genie service. Lightning Lane entrances can be accessed through Genie Plus, providing users with a way to avoid much of the general queue at the attractions in each park.
It is worth repeating that you have to buy Genie Plus for each day when you might be using it. The tickets cost $15 per person per day for those staying at the Walt Disney World resort and $25 per person per day for visitors. This enables one to reserve the Lightning Lane entrance in one go (from what is available) with the help of the My Disney Experience app.
Is Genie Plus free with certain tickets?
Therefore, it is important to make the general public understand that Genie Plus is not available for free if you have tickets to Walt Disney World. To use Genie Plus, a guest must make a one-off purchase of the add-on for the current date at the prevailing rate for the number of tickets on the day of the visit.
Currently, there is no option for getting a certain percentage off through a Genie Plus annual pass, DVC membership, or any other membership. This cost is a fixed one and ranges from $15 to $25 per day depending on whether you are a guest staying at Walt Disney World Resorts.
What features come free with regular park tickets?
While Genie Plus itself is not free, there are some great Genie features that all guests can utilize at no extra charge with their regular park tickets:
- Suggested itineraries and recommendations based on individual travelers.
- Estimated time to wait and or prediction of wait times
- Park reservation assistance
- Basic filter searches
Therefore, by understanding the menu, you can get value from the new Genie service’s options that can help you improve your touring plan without necessarily having to buy Genie Plus.
Why does Disney charge for Genie Plus?
Disney has dedicated a lot of money to creating and providing the Genie and Lightning Lane services. It makes guests part with a little extra amount to help them recover some of the costs rather than making overall ticket prices higher.
They also help to control high demands on the Lightning Lanes thus making the demand-based pricing fit for use. This helps to maintain availability for the guests who opt to pay for Genie Plus while possibly providing more efficient distribution of guests between standby and Lightning Lane lines.
Could Genie Plus be included for free in the future?
Therein, it is improbable that Genie Plus shall be within the package of standard tickets hence, given that the service was recently introduced. Disney consequently will estimate the guests’ demand and their suggestions to understand whether it is sensible to make any modifications in the future in terms of business.
For example, if consumption of Genie Plus is not high, Disney may use discount strategies or combine them with other products to improve uptake and access. However, for now, you should brace for being charged anything between $15 -$25 per ticket per day if you want to reserve the lightning lane access through Genie Plus during your vacation.
What about Genie Plus and annual passes?
Sadly, there is no Disney Genie Plus free for annual pass holders or any form of discount currently available at Walt Disney World. Accordingly, all other annual pass holders also have to pay the standard Genie Plus price per day to access the Lightning Lanes.
Indeed one can understand this during these initial periods of the new system implementation. However, Disney may evaluate providing some level of Genie Plus features for repeat annual pass guests down the road as an annual pass reward.
Is Genie Plus worth paying for?
Whether Genie Plus is "worth it" mostly comes down to your personal preferences and priorities:
Good for: Actors who desire to get as many different rides/attractions in a day as possible, do not want to spend time on lengthy standby lines, make lots of advanced fast-pass-like arrangements
Not as necessary: Guests comfortable with a slower moving pace, O. K. waiting in queue lines, attraction focused on show rather than on intense rides
A possible exertion to calculate the expenses outside the parks and compare them with the given prices to determine the possible value can also be done mathematically. However, there isn’t a correct answer for every situation for all travel parties – the value of Genie Plus is unique!
Anyway, using Genie itself is free and gives all the guests more options than ever to create their ideal, Disney Day.
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