Multi-Park Genie+ has bought out once more at Walt Disney World. In the meantime, costs have elevated to peak season ranges for the beginning of the 2024 Spring Break season for Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and the Park Hopping choice. This publish covers all of that together with a dialog about why attendance is elevated and what to anticipate for the remainder of March.
Let’s begin by discussing crowds. This is likely one of the busier stretches of your complete yr at Walt Disney World. Our current Spring Break 2024 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World recognized March 8 because the unofficial begin date of the college recess season. It additionally predicted that crowds would begin to get actually unhealthy on March 15, and just about not let up till after Easter.
With that mentioned, there are a few countervailing elements suggesting that this week may be worse than subsequent. The primary is the Winter 2024 Florida Resident Ticket Deal, which ends on March 15, 2024. The second is the 2 lowest tiers of Annual Passes being blocked out beginning this weekend or early subsequent week. Handy timing that may be sufficient to offset increased vacationer quantity for Spring Break season. It will seem that’s exactly what Walt Disney World is anticipating, as park hours are shorter subsequent week.
For our half, we’re nonetheless anticipating worse crowds subsequent week than this week. Whereas the ticket deal ending and extra AP blockouts in place will put a dent in crowds, those self same (or related) offsets all the time exist throughout peak season. However, the amount of vacationers is nearly all the time larger than the ensuing discount of locals. The one wrinkle right here is that most of the faculty districts on break subsequent week are in Florida, so it’s not strictly a vacationer season.
I suppose we will see what occurs. Regardless, the next week is Easter and that is a typical vacationer time–and can undoubtedly be the busiest week of Spring Break season. Consequently, it’s made our checklist of the 10 Worst Weeks at Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. (So did subsequent week, for that matter–however Easter will probably be worse.)
Regardless of the way you slice it, the rest of March 2024 will probably be very busy. It’s not a matter of low crowds vs. heavy crowds, it’s all various levels of heavy. However it is a publish about Genie+ costs and promote outs, not a crowd forecast.
Listed here are the costs for Genie+ at Walt Disney World for March 11, 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 jumped fairly a bit in a single day. Animal Kingdom is up $7, going from $18 to $25; ditto EPCOT, which went from $21 to $28. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is “solely” up $6 to $32; it’s the identical story Magic Kingdom and the Multi-Park/Hopper choice, that are up $6, from $29 to $35.
Previous to this, the Magic Kingdom or Park Hopper Genie+ value vary for the final two weeks has been $25 to $29. The present costs are the best they’ve been so far in 2024, matching the height week of Presidents’ Day and Mid-Winter Break. They’re additionally on par with the height of final yr’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. For reference, Genie+ set a brand new report excessive value final yr throughout Easter week at $35, breaking the prior report from the vacation season just a few months prior. That $35 value wasn’t reached once more till final Thanksgiving, and damaged at Christmas. If historical past have been to repeat itself, Easter 2024 would set one other new report, breaking the $40 barrier.
When it comes to crowds, most of Spring Break gained’t even maintain a candle to the week between Christmas and NYE final yr, 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 “value” its present $35 value level…it in all probability would’ve been “value” $50-60 throughout the coronary heart of the vacation season.)
However, the Genie+ “Multi-Park” choice has bought out for March 11, 2024. In perusing wait instances, I’m truly barely stunned by this. They’re unhealthy, to make certain, however they don’t appear that unhealthy. In fact, the day continues to be younger and it’s fully doable crowds go from unhealthy to worse by early afternoon. 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.
One dynamic we’ve observed prior to now is that it looks like Genie promoting out begets extra bought out dates. Visitors develop Genie+ FOMO, seeing that it bought out the day prior to this and thus shifting sooner to buy it the subsequent. The paid FastPass service sells out earlier and earlier, over the course of the week–whilst crowd ranges normally peak on Monday or Tuesday.
On condition that Genie+ is promoting out on the begin of Spring Break season, we’re in all probability in for a lot of extra days when certainly one of a number of choices sells out. We wouldn’t be in the slightest degree stunned to see Genie+ promote out no less than a half-dozen extra instances within the subsequent 3 weeks. Final yr round this time, Genie+ bought out twice throughout Orange County’s Spring Break (that’s subsequent week) and on three consecutive days throughout Easter. Promote outs have turn out to be extra frequent since switching to per-park pricing, although, so a full dozen dates with bought out choices between now and early April 2024 is an affordable chance.
No matter what occurs, it’s going to be a really busy few weeks with excessive wait instances. So plan accordingly, buy Genie+ early, be aggressive with reserving pursuant to the 120 minute rule, have a powerful refresh recreation for trip reservation refills. Oh, and don’t neglect to benefit from Early Entry and twine drop, in addition to zig once they zag savvy technique. One of many largest errors informal company make throughout weeks like that is assuming that Genie+ is an “straightforward” choice for front-of-line entry. It very a lot shouldn’t be. You want an all the above method to beat the crowds–however it may be carried out!
In case you have questions in regards to the fundamentals of utilizing–or not utilizing–the paid FastPass service, see our Information to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for all the foundational need-to-know information. This complete system is complicated and convoluted, so that you might need a query or two-dozen. That solutions all the commonest ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about lodges on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Critiques web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Critiques. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the pieces you might want to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Genie+ costs and availability at Walt Disney World for the beginning of the 2024 Spring Break season? Upset 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 if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
