Genie+ Now Priced Per Park

 

Disney recently announced more changes to Genie+ - they simply can't stop tinkering with it!  The journey to this point has been a long one, so I won't recap all of it but some of the "highlights" include Genie+ not being available for pre-purchase, variable pricing by date and the ability to modify your reservation (that last one at least is a positive).

The variable pricing was probably the biggest sea change, as originally it came out as one fixed price. Now the pricing is based on Disney's expected crowd level, meaning that the busier and more crowded the parks are, the more Genie+ would cost you.  Disney has pushed the envelope with the pricing, maxing out (so far) at $35 per person during this past Easter season.

Disney World Ticket Price Inflation

 

If you live in the real world, you won't be surprised to hear that things today cost more than things did a year ago.  And that things a year ago cost more than these same things five years ago.  This is true pretty much everywhere, and Walt Disney World is no exception.  If you last went on a trip ten years ago and wanted to price out that exact vacation again now, you should be prepared for some sticker shock.

But do all increases happen at the same rate?  I got to thinking about this when I saw the shocking increase in ticket prices between our last trip and our upcoming one, and I did some digging.  The short answer is no - at least in this particular case, the percentage increase in ticket prices is far higher than other increases.  But there are several factors that might affect this, which we'll discuss below.  The bigger question is why this is, and I'm not sure I have a great answer to that.

The Disney Dining Plan - Is It Right For You?

 

We're back today with a topic that carries a lot of weight among Disney fans - the return of the Disney Dining Plan.  As noted in that post, the original announcement was short on details.  Now that the Dining Plan is available to book (for visits starting January 9, 2024), we have a lot more information about what is included, what isn't, and most importantly, the pricing.

This post will take a look at those things and try to answer the impossible question - is the Disney Dining Plan "worth it"?  Or at the very least, is it right for YOU.  As you might surmise from the word "impossible", there is no real way to answer that question (if you're looking for a simple yes/no, you can probably stop reading this right now).  But we're going to crunch some numbers and talk about how these plans can best be leveraged for your vacation, and then you will hopefully have the information you need to make an informed decision.