“Every time this happens, fans go online pledging they’ll never go back to Disney again,” Robert Niles, editor indoor park, in an email. “And they might not, but a lot of other visitors keep coming to the parks, which allows Disney to continue to bring in more and more revenue. I expect this price increase will lead to the same result.”
Disney parks in Florida and California rolled out new rates Tuesday for their Genie Plus service, which allows guests to avoid long wait times. How much will the cost go up? That depends on where you’re going, the day you’re visiting – and in California – when you buy the add-on.
At Walt Disney World in Florida, the world’s busiest theme park, the price was $15 regardless of the day. For October, the cost will range from $15 to $22, depending on how crowded the four parks are on a given day. After this month? Nobody says.
Admission has relied on demand for several years, with slower days priced at $109 for a day, and a single park ticket and busier dates rising to $159; These prices are unchanged in Florida. This means that a family who buys tickets to visit in the slow season in late August can expect to pay much less than someone visiting during the popular winter break.
The company encourages guests to check out the My Disney Experience app on the day of their visit, which is the only time Florida guests can purchase Genie Plus. This means that park-goers there won’t know how much they’ll need to spend in order to be on vacation – although a steep entry on busy days may be a hint that service will also be at the end of the day.
Disney charges for faster access to a selection of its most popular rides separately from Genie Plus; Individual Lightning Corridors have already been priced in a variant. Limit mentioned The price range for skipping the lines for some of these attractions will expand to higher fees on busier days.
Walt Disney World said the change is aimed at “continuing to manage strong demand.”
I opened a question box in my Instagram Stories to see how people were feeling about today’s Disney Parks updates.
With hundreds of responses so far, the words I see get repeated the most
Stressed, stressed, frustrated, anxious, upset, complicated, tired and exhausted.– 🍓✨carlye wisel (@carlyewisel) October 11 2022
At California’s Disneyland Resort, Genie Plus now starts at $25, according to her website. That’s over $20. Los Angeles Times mentioned The price will be $25 when purchased with a ticket or package in advance but is variable when purchased after entering the park.
Disneyland also raised the price of admission on its busiest day to $179. The Los Angeles Times said the highest price was previously $164. the paper mentioned A two-day ticket that used to cost $255 is now $285.
“I’m not surprised by these price increases,” said Lynne Testa, head of the theme park’s tour planning site. touring plans Co-author of Unofficial Guides to Walt Disney World And the Disneyland, in an email. “Disney CEO Bob Chuckle’s comments on the latest earnings call and subsequent investor meetings were crystal clear: They’re going to raise prices until demand drops.”
Disney parks, experiences, and products reported revenue of $7.4 billion for the quarter ended July 2, a 70 percent improvement over the previous year. It was $ 7.2 billion in the first fiscal quarter, when Chapek He said The company’s local parks and resorts “earned all-time revenue and operating income records despite the omicron boom.”
During earnings call In August, Chuck said that about half of the people who visit the parks “purchased” the product. And last month, Josh Damaro, president of Disney Parks, Experiences & Products, He said At a conference Genie Plus was “doing very well” and selling more than executives expected.
He said that in surveys of guests who bought the product, as well as those who bombarded the option to skip a separate line for the most-requested ride, 70 percent said they would buy again.
“So we know we’re headed for something with this,” he said. “It was a change of system. So there will be some backlash to it, which we expect. But we know that when a guest buys it, they get what they paid for, and they feel good about it.”
But Leslie Harvey, founder of the site Trips with Tikes Some fans are frustrated that they have to spend more for an experience they feel isn’t worth the higher price, said the co-founder of the Disneyland group with Kids Facebook. On her last ride, she said she “didn’t see a lot of animatronic hardware getting stuck during the ride.”
75% of people who complain about Genie+ today, will pay Genie+ at the highest price… and because of that, Disney will keep increasing the price. Call it Cash Grab if you want to, but don’t forget you’re enabling it.
– The #1 Disney Dude (@1DisneyDude) October 11 2022
“People always get upset any time there’s a spike in Disneyland prices,” she said.
“Some people really feel the price is too expensive,” she added.
Testa said that Disney watchers noted years ago that the company had “fundamentally abandoned the middle class,” targeting instead the top earning 1 percent to 20 percent of American households.
“I think the biggest concern Disney will have next is that at these premium prices, consumers expect a premium experience,” he said in his email. And we started seeing families saying things like, ‘For the kind of prices that Disney charges to see a replica of St. Mark’s Square at EPCOT, I can bring my whole family to the real Italy for a week. “So I think that’s the new concern for them.”
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