Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Fido Chuckwagon]

The MDX team hasn't finished/released the ability to suspend sales yet. So while it's June 8th, it will likely be some time before we actually see Genie+ sales suspended on any given day.

MDX version 7.8 (released 2 weeks ago) did not include this ability. Hopefully we'll see it in the next release.

So they’re still going forward this absolutely horrible idea of forcing people to both stay up until midnight to buy G+ and waking up at 7 am to make sure that you can guarantee that you both get G+ and can get a decent ride? No offense but that is horrible. Like just the worst possible decision Disney can make here. I don’t get it at all. Do they not have a single person working on their management team with any common sense?

 

[UNCgolf]

If they built 10 more Guardians of the Galaxy, they could well end up drawing in that many more people and it wouldn't do anything for capacity.

10 new major E tickets would have a MASSIVE effect on capacity. Even a ride with an hourly capacity of 1k is adding 10k or more in capacity for the day, depending on how many hours the park is open. New attractions don't increase attendance nearly enough to offset that additional capacity; no new rides are bringing in an additional 10k+ people to a park every single day.

It would be even better if some of them were the classic people eating boat rides/omnimovers, but Guardians itself has very good capacity.

 

[DisneyHead123]

10 new major E tickets would have a MASSIVE effect on capacity. Even a ride with an hourly capacity of 1k is adding 10k or more in capacity for the day, depending on how many hours the park is open. New attractions don't increase attendance nearly enough to offset that additional capacity; no new rides are bringing in an additional 10k+ people to a park every single day.

It would be even better if some of them were the classic people eating boat rides/omnimovers, but Guardians itself has very good capacity.

I'm trying to think of how one would test this via looking at data and it's difficult as Orlando has not added a large amount of capacity since adding AK. Of course crowds have gone way up since then but they probably would have gone up either way.

I do think that Disney could do more to add capacity instead of refurbishing / replacing old rides. That said, I also think there is at least some element of exclusivity at play - people want to ride hard-to-get rides in part because they are hard to get. Even "pretty good" rides like Nemo and Little Mermaid generally have low wait times. So it's also possible that if there were ten new big ticket attractions, only two of them would be hot tickets and the rest would be the new equivalent of Nemo, just because people go after the thing they can't have (or that's hard to get). So while I think new rides are important to keep the parks interesting and relevant, my thought on reducing crowds is that other forms of people-eaters are needed.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

If Disney built 10 more Carousel of Progress / People Mover / Alien Saucer type rides, people would complain and it would be wasted money (those rides are already relatively low waits, after all, but that doesn't make them that much more attractive to guests). If they built 10 more Guardians of the Galaxy, they could well end up drawing in that many more people and it wouldn't do anything for capacity.

Ideally Disney would expand evenly. So every major expansion would = multiple levels of attractions. Case in point Toy Story Land. They added a coaster, and a flat ride. That land should have included another flat ride like Jessie’s Carousel, a major gift shop like Al’s Toy Barn, an indoor meet and greet, and a sit down show like woodys roundup marionette show.

 

[mikejs78]

I'm trying to think of how one would test this via looking at data and it's difficult as Orlando has not added a large amount of capacity since adding AK. Of course crowds have gone way up since then but they probably would have gone up either way.

I do think that Disney could do more to add capacity instead of refurbishing / replacing old rides. That said, I also think there is at least some element of exclusivity at play - people want to ride hard-to-get rides in part because they are hard to get. Even "pretty good" rides like Nemo and Little Mermaid generally have low wait times. So it's also possible that if there were ten new big ticket attractions, only two of them would be hot tickets and the rest would be the new equivalent of Nemo, just because people go after the thing they can't have (or that's hard to get). So while I think new rides are important to keep the parks interesting and relevant, my thought on reducing crowds is that other forms of people-eaters are needed.

In 2016, AK had an attendance of 10.85 million. In 2018, the first full year with the Pandora expansion, it had an attendance of 13.75 million, a difference of 2.9 million per year,.or about 8k people per day.

 

[UNCgolf]

In 2016, AK had an attendance of 10.85 million. In 2018, the first full year with the Pandora expansion, it had an attendance of 13.75 million, a difference of 2.9 million per year,.or about 8k people per day.

Which is a very nice increase, but obviously not as much capacity as FoP and NRJ added -- and that attendance bump was for more than just a couple of new attractions, considering a whole land went along with them.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

That’s also when DAK added a night show, night safari, and evening hours.

 

[tanc]

Sounds like a home run to me if you are a single person going to the park. I know many people may not agree, but this is the type of pass that would be worth it to me. Tokyo Disney has premier access, so if this goes to Tokyo Disney it probably could be worth looking into since the lines inevitably will become crazy long.

 

[Jrb1979]

Sounds like a home run to me if you are a single person going to the park. I know many people may not agree, but this is the type of pass that would be worth it to me. Tokyo Disney has premier access, so if this goes to Tokyo Disney it probably could be worth looking into since the lines inevitably will become crazy long.

I think it's a home run regardless and it's priced exactly how Genie+ should be. The problem Disney has is due to FP that guests have become so used to not waiting in line that switching to make like other parks guests have become upset.

 

[Touchdown]

If the crowds are horrible at DHS I would buy this in a snap. I still think I can navigate the other 3 parks well enough to not need it.

 

[gerarar]

Tempted to get this. I'm going to France/Paris in about a month with my family, and I'm planning to do a solo halfish-day at DLP (well from noon to close really).

This ultimate pass seems ideal since I'll be able to hit everything I want to do/that's available. Idk when I'll ever be able to go abroad to France again, so this may be my only one chance, so obviously I want to do everything right haha.

Unless it's possible to do majority of the stuff in DLP in standbys and whatnot.

 

[Disstevefan1]

WDW should just get it over with and scrap Genie and just come up with an Express pass like Universal. Yes it's very expensive, but it just works better.

 

[mikejs78]

FWIW, they are more amenable to a product like this. They are surveying guests right now on this very topic. Concessions will need to be made re: VIP tour business though. But at this point, I think it may actually happen because Genie+ is just that bad for them.

I could see that -
* Sell a limited number of "Ultimate" packages at a high price point (maybe limit to onsite guests and (possibly) a limited # of APs per day
* For those that don't purchase ultimate, move everything to ILL - so that day guests can still purchase attractions that they want to skip the line for - but increase the price point so that things like Rise are $30 and normal attractions are $10-15.

 

[Jrb1979]

I could see that -
* Sell a limited number of "Ultimate" packages at a high price point (maybe limit to onsite guests and (possibly) a limited # of APs per day
* For those that don't purchase ultimate, move everything to ILL - so that day guests can still purchase attractions that they want to skip the line for - but increase the price point so that things like Rise are $30 and normal attractions are $10-15.

I like most of that idea, i just don't like favoring one group over another. It should be available day of and when it sells out it sells it sells out.

 

[ChrisM]

I could see that -
* Sell a limited number of "Ultimate" packages at a high price point (maybe limit to onsite guests and (possibly) a limited # of APs per day
* For those that don't purchase ultimate, move everything to ILL - so that day guests can still purchase attractions that they want to skip the line for - but increase the price point so that things like Rise are $30 and normal attractions are $10-15.

Yes - this is by far the most sensible solution (although implement on-demand pricing for ILL). And it's been staring them in the face the entire time. But some combination of fear/stupidity/complacency is making them ignore it.

Pro-tip: More often than not the obvious choice is the right choice (even if your contracted IT staff is largely inept and you may cannibalize some VIP tours).

 

[mikejs78]

I like most of that idea, i just don't like favoring one group over another. It should be available day of and when it sells out it sells it sells out.

Why shouldn't resort guests be favored here? They're paying top $$$.

 

[Chi84]

WDW should just get it over with and scrap Genie and just come up with an Express pass like Universal. Yes it's very expensive, but it just works better.

People compare WD to Universal's Express Pass. But isn't it free for the people staying in their deluxe resorts? I wonder what the breakdown is at Universal - how many people are actually paying the high price as opposed to getting it included with the resort stay. And I wonder how many of those people would buy it at that price if it wasn't. Also, for some reason, this site seems to have a whole lot of single visitors to WDW, at least the ones who post. Charging those prices for the type of families Disney markets to may be an entirely different story.

 

[Jrb1979]

People compare WD to Universal's Express Pass. But isn't it free for the people staying in their deluxe resorts? I wonder what the breakdown is at Universal - how many people are actually paying the high price as opposed to getting it included with the resort stay. And I wonder how many of those people would buy it at that price if it wasn't. Also, for some reason, this site seems to have a whole lot of single visitors to WDW, at least the ones who post. Charging those prices for the type of families Disney markets to may be an entirely different story.

I'm not a single visitor. We are a family of 3 and I don't always buy Express Pass when I go. The disconnect here seems to be that many have this mindset that you must buy a skip the line pass to enjoy the parks.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Why shouldn't resort guests be favored here? They're paying top $$$.

Resort guests should be a top priority for sure. They are the ones experiencing a quintessential Disney Vacation and exactly the guest Disney wants returning as often as possible.

 

[Jrb1979]

Resort guests should be a top priority for sure. They are the ones experiencing a quintessential Disney Vacation and exactly the guest Disney wants returning as often as possible.

I don't disagree with that. Right now people are filling resorts without any perks. If you want to give them perks give them access to the dining plan when it comes back