As a salute to all presidents…however largely Individuals George Washington and kinda Abraham Lincoln, the Multi-Park Genie+ has offered out once more at Walt Disney World. Over the lengthy weekend, Lightning Lane costs bounced round for Park Hopping, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom, and Genie+ has now began promoting out. This publish covers all of that together with a dialog about why attendance is elevated.
For starters, let’s discuss crowds. This is among the busier stretches of all the 12 months at Walt Disney World. We’ve been warning readers about this for some time, with the present week being on our listing of the 10 Worst Weeks at Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. Extra not too long ago, we mentioned tendencies in Winter Crowds Warmth Up at Walt Disney World as Worst Weeks Arrive.
However, it’s nonetheless possible catching some vacationers and locals without warning. Just about everybody is aware of that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New 12 months’s Eve are busy journey occasions. Fewer are conscious that Presidents’ Day coincides with mid-winter breaks for lots of college districts, and there’s additionally runDisney’s Princess Half Marathon, youth sporting occasions at ESPN Vast World of Sports activities, and extra on high of all that. It makes this week a recipe for crowd-tastrophe.
For these maintaining rating at dwelling, wait occasions are literally down year-over-year for the week of Presidents’ Day (and so on.) to date. Clearly, we’re just a few days into what can be a busy week, however often it’s pretty front-loaded and the worst crowds happen over the lengthy weekend up till midweek.
With that mentioned, decrease crowds this 12 months was to be anticipated. Final 12 months had the entire above, plus Mardi Gras the very same week. Mardi Gras didn’t coincide with Presidents’ Day in 2024, successfully diluting the crowds (to some extent) over the course of two weeks as an alternative of consolidating them right into a single week.
In any case, crowd ranges have been 9/10 throughout everything of Walt Disney World to date this week, after a 7/10 common final week for Mardi Gras. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not crowds get higher or worse for the remainder of the week. Usually, “higher” could be the simple prediction, however moist climate over the weekend may’ve saved some locals at dwelling, whereas the forward-looking forecast is sunny with delicate temperatures (albeit some lows within the 40s).
However this can be a publish about Genie+ costs and promote outs, not a crowd/climate forecast.
Listed below are the costs for Genie+ at Walt Disney World for February 18, 2024:
- A number of Parks (legitimate with Park Hopper tickets): $35
- Magic Kingdom: $35
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $32
- EPCOT: $28
- Animal Kingdom: $25
For reference, costs have been equivalent on Sunday and barely decrease ($29 max) on Saturday (regardless of that day being busier than Sunday). Costs hit $27 on Friday and have been $25 for a number of days previous to that. The earlier lengthy weekend was within the $27 to $29 vary.
The present (Feb. 18-19) costs are the best they’ve been to date in 2024. Nevertheless, they’re on par with the height of final 12 months’s Thanksgiving week, which was busier than the final couple of days. All-time highs for Genie+ occurred round Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve, when costs peaked at $39.
By way of crowds, Presidents’ Day weekend doesn’t even maintain a candle to the week between Christmas and NYE, which was next-level bonkers to an extent that had not been seen since no less than 2019. (Assuming, for the sake of argument, that Genie+ is “price” its present $35 worth level…it in all probability would’ve been “price” $50-60 in the course of the coronary heart of the vacation season.)
However, the Genie+ “Multi-Park” possibility has offered out for February 19, 2024. In perusing wait occasions, I’m truly barely stunned by this. They’re dangerous, to make certain, however they don’t appear that dangerous. I’m not going to complain about Walt Disney World setting caps on gross sales, although–that’s precisely what they need to be doing to make sure these paying $35 have ample Lightning Lane stock accessible.
With higher climate the subsequent couple of days and crowds final 12 months not peaking till Tuesday, we wouldn’t be in the slightest degree stunned to see Genie+ promote out 2-3 extra occasions this week. Youth occasions and the runDisney race this weekend shouldn’t have as a lot of an affect on crowds as the present vacation lengthy weekend, however they’ll definitely preserve numbers elevated.
Attendance ought to drop sharply beginning on Monday (February 26), main into a comparatively quiet closing 4 days (together with the bonus Leap Day!) of February 2024. A minimum of, as in comparison with the above-trend crowds to date this winter.
Then there ought to be a sluggish begin to March (comparatively talking) earlier than the spring break crowds arrive in full power a pair weeks later. That’ll be the subsequent massive check of Genie+ at Walt Disney World, and it’s secure to foretell a return to $35 and even $39 worth factors, with a brand new report above the $40 barrier not being out of the query.
When you’ve got questions concerning the fundamentals of utilizing–or not utilizing–the paid FastPass service, see our Information to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for the entire foundational need-to-know data. This complete system is complicated and convoluted, so that you may need a query or two-dozen. That solutions the entire most typical ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Genie+ costs and availability at Walt Disney World in the course of the lengthy weekend of Presidents’ Day? Disenchanted that the associated fee is as soon as once more over $30, or do you see upside from a lowered demand/higher stock perspective? Will you buy Genie+ or is the present per day price too costly for you? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
