Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Jeff4272]

you cant predict rain and lightening day of either so = thats out

unscheduled downtime? this is the exact reason to WANT to pre book......the current system makes you take whatever they give you....there's no "unscheduled downtime" in that = that's out

you cant take an easy day by booking same day like it is now.....you have to be up before 7am = thats out

I still have not heard ONE reason not to WANT to pre book........

Doesnt even need to be a good reason, just one reason

 

[Chi84]

In that same planning thought, they eliminated the ride reservation but added the park pass problem. They just traded one reservation for another. They've simultaneously made it worse for both people who like to plan and those that do not. For the planners, they still have to plan a park but cannot plan activities, clearly a disappointment. For the more flexible, they're still forced (perhaps even more) into planning. We have the park hopper too, but the dual requirements to tap in at the reserved park first and limit hopping to 2:00 create significant restrictions that cannot just be ignored.

This is very true. Late April this year was not a particularly busy time, but park reservations for all but Epcot were sold out on the days we visited. So if the weather had been bad on our MK day, we would not have been able to adjust. ToT is one of our favorite rides and it was down much of our HS day, so we missed it. We would have tried again the next day, but couldn't because it was not our reserved park. People who haven't used it yet and think the new system gives them much more flexibility may not be taking the effect of park reservations into account.

 

[Jeff4272]

In all fairness, only if you want to ride top attractions without long waits.

lol

 

[Chi84]

Yeah, but we only have four adults going.

As I've said in other posts, the park reservation requirement limits flexibility much more than Genie+/ILLs. In years past, if we changed our minds we could just drop our FP+ for one park and get them in another one; the headliners may have been gone, but it was a trade-off we were allowed to make if we wanted to. There were many days we decided last minute to go to AK instead of MK and it was no problem. Now it is. There were times we decided to hop to Epcot for lunch. Now the restrictions on park-hopping need to be taken into account. I've been visiting for over 35 years and I can guarantee you that no system has ever been as restrictive as the current one.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I can tell he/she is an insider with good info, but I don’t believe for a second that the “average guest” didn’t like FP+. That sounds like some upper management manipulation (or, at least, exaggeration) of the survey data. Obviously I’m sure some people didn’t like it, because no system is perfect. But I would imagine a majority at least LIKED it. I mean….it was free. You picked your times, compared to the old system where you couldn’t. You were reminded many times when to book your FPs, so it’s not like people were clueless about it. You were guaranteed 3 every day. You could plan your day to avoid having to crisscross the parks. You could plan around dining reservations. Again, sure, not a flawless system, but the average guest didn’t like it? I’d bet good money on that being a lie*.

Now, the “average guest” doesn’t like genie+ and ILLs? Oh yeah. I wholeheartedly believe that!

*not a lie coming from disneyglimpses, but a lie coming from his/her source

Relative to Universal's Express Pass, I did not love FP+. Though FP was better than the current fiasco, I would rather not plan anything. The beauty of Express Pass is I just ride what I want to ride whenever I want to ride it. One of the things I dislike about WDW is the need to be on a schedule all day. If you want any table service food at all, you pretty much have to pre-book it. That has been a dumb part of visiting WDW, because the buses and trains don't run on time, or frequently enough. To go from one end of WDW to the other via bus often takes 90 minutes. That is a huge chunk of my vacation time just to eat.

Then when we do arrive, we wait again to be seated. And we're paying over $50 for this option. If you actually factor time lost, it is probably well over $100 per person for a TS meal.

But if you don't buy the G+ upcharge, you wait 90 plus for each attraction. So that is even more crappy than not paying.

But it gets worse, because using G+ doesn't = getting on all the rides, it only = MAYBE getting on a handful of them. If I am paying to skip rides, make it simple: G+ = something like 4 passes that I can use whenever I choose.

The park restrictions are also an insult, because they aren't being used to give us easy access, they only restrict how early we can go between parks.

 

[mmascari]

* Rain and Lightning/unscheduled donwtime - I think those are worse with Genie+ than FPP. At least with FPP you could try to update your return time. If you try to get SDD at 7 AM and get a 2 PM return time, and then there's rain and lightning then, how is that any better than if you selected that time 60 days in advance?

As far as someone feeling bad and wanting to take an easy day, park pass reservations kind of negate that one. If that was your only Epcot day or DHS day, you're SOL.

Many of the Genie+ implementation conditions are complete trash. There's no getting around that either. Many of these have nothing to do with reserving many days in advance. They should 100% fix those as fast as possible and it's ridiculous that they even went live without them.

The entire park pass reservation restrictions is also infuriating. They quite literally sell park hopper as an upgrade. Remove the 2:00 restriction, or at least push it up to 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM, and eliminate the need to tap in at the reserved park. Quite literally let me buy my way out of needing to reserve a specific park. That way, worse case, I could just ignore my reservation and go to a different park but not at rope drop.

I know lots of people who never did any of that planning. They would not decide on anything until maybe the day before and think about what Park to do, maybe check where to eat, possible book a FP+ then, etc

That's us.

It doesnt work.....you will HAVE to have a rigid schedule

you have to get up before 7am EVERY day....thats THE DEFINITION of a rigid schedule

They're essentially pushing everyone to be a rope dropper. That's not a full day rigid schedule, but it is clearly a single immovable point in the day.


The whole thing feels bad. If hadn't booked this trip in 2020 then rescheduled it 5 times, we would probably go someplace else. I'm already anxious with stress about the trip and we're not even there yet.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Disney simple doesnt have the capacity to deal with the amount of visitors they attract and have done nothing to address this issue over the last decade.

Well they kinda did. They spent a great deal of $ on advertising to keep crowd levels high.

 

[bhg469]

They're essentially pushing everyone to be a rope dropper. That's not a full day rigid schedule, but it is clearly a single immovable point in the day.

You're pretty much spot on. With the HUGE reduction of evening hours, you're definitely forced to take advantage of the whole day. No mid day breaks allowed unless you're there for 7 days.

 

[bhg469]

Well they kinda did. They spent a great deal of $ on advertising to keep crowd levels high.

And my reply right above, if they kept the park open a few more hours they could help alleviate some of their issues.

 

[Jeff4272]

You're pretty much spot on. With the HUGE reduction of evening hours, you're definitely forced to take advantage of the whole day. No mid day breaks allowed unless you're there for 7 days.

And this is one of the reasons that guest satisfaction stinks......

People want to do the parks when it fits them, not WDW

The changes that have been made under that C guy (wont even mention his name) have been atrocious

 

[solidyne]

I still have not heard ONE reason not to WANT to pre book........

Doesnt even need to be a good reason, just one reason

What you are asking:

"Why don't you want to pre-plan attractions?" (There are many good answers to this question.)

What I finally realized you are attempting to ask:

"Why would you prefer 7:00 am planning to 30-day-out planning?" (That's a much better question, and the fact that everyone says G+ stinks pretty much answers the question for you.)

You keep shouting the former question, while reading many legitimate answers in the context of the latter, getting yourself further riled up!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

BUT, you didnt read the post.......you HAVE to plan now and its not going anywhere

I did read the post, you do not *have* to plan. If going a busy time you really should get park reservations but that is about it.

I had two groups of friends who recently went - with only a couple of months booking out, and beyond park reservations (which for one they only set up a couple of weeks ahead of time) they didn't plan anything - no dining, etc. One used G+ on a few days the others didn't use it at all. They both had a great time

And there is a big difference with doing a park reservation and booking dining and specific attractions months in advance

 

[TheMaxRebo]

and fwiw, I 1,000,000% wish they went to Express Pass too..........I think it could work in WDW

I just wonder/what price point a true Express pass would have to be at to really work at WDW. At Universal it ranges from $100-300/day on top of your ticket. It would have to be at least that, probably starting at $200, to work

And at some point you may conflict with VIP tours


I wonder if something more like what they are doing in Paris where you can buy individual ride line skips or the bundle (I think of like 12) would be better

 

[Jeff4272]

What you are asking:

"Why don't you want to pre-plan attractions?" (There are many good answers to this question.)

What I finally realized you are attempting to ask:

"Why would you prefer 7:00 am planning to 30-day-out planning?" (That's a much better question, and the fact that everyone says G+ stinks pretty much answers the question for you.)

You keep shouting the former question, while reading many legitimate answers in the context of the latter, getting yourself further riled up!

Or, you can answer the question........Why WOULDN'T you WANT to pre book rides?

 

[Jeff4272]

What you are asking:

"Why don't you want to pre-plan attractions?" (There are many good answers to this question.)

What I finally realized you are attempting to ask:

"Why would you prefer 7:00 am planning to 30-day-out planning?" (That's a much better question, and the fact that everyone says G+ stinks pretty much answers the question for you.)

You keep shouting the former question, while reading many legitimate answers in the context of the latter, getting yourself further riled up!

Give me one good reason...actually, give me one reason, doesnt even have to be good......keep in mind that its knowing paid FP, park pass and advanced dining are here to stay

 

[Jeff4272]

I did read the post, you do not *have* to plan. If going a busy time you really should get park reservations but that is about it.

I had two groups of friends who recently went - with only a couple of months booking out, and beyond park reservations (which for one they only set up a couple of weeks ahead of time) they didn't plan anything - no dining, etc. One used G+ on a few days the others didn't use it at all. They both had a great time

And there is a big difference with doing a park reservation and booking dining and specific attractions months in advance

But you do have to plan....you have to plan what park you are in every day, you said it yourself

that IS planning

 

[bhg469]

And this is one of the reasons that guest satisfaction stinks......

People want to do the parks when it fits them, not WDW

The changes that have been made under that C guy (wont even mention his name) have been atrocious

The evening hours were reduced for many years now. Sadly it has only gotten worse under him.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

And my reply right above, if they kept the park open a few more hours they could help alleviate some of their issues.

Reduction of park hours and attraction downtime are huge factors not always considered

If a park is open 2 hours less than in the past and a ride is averaging 60mins of down time, that is 3 hours less availability for that ride than potentially in the past. Only magnified by all the people with LL for that down time now need to fit into the remaining open time further impacting standby

Plus with shorter hours it is harder to justify a mid-day break so more people physically in the park at times than in the past (assuming same total # of guests for that day)

 

[mmascari]

As I've said in other posts, the park reservation requirement limits flexibility much more than Genie+/ILLs. In years past, if we changed our minds we could just drop our FP+ for one park and get them in another one; the headliners may have been gone, but it was a trade-off we were allowed to make if we wanted to. There were many days we decided last minute to go to AK instead of MK and it was no problem. Now it is. There were times we decided to hop to Epcot for lunch. Now the restrictions on park-hopping need to be taken into account. I've been visiting for over 35 years and I can guarantee you that no system has ever been as restrictive as the current one.

I just checked the availability for our trip. If I tried to change park passes today, neither MK or DHS is available for any of the dates and only EPCOT is available for every date. If we wanted to switch and a date happened to change and look available, I still wouldn't do it because it's not a single transaction. I would have to drop first and then hope it was still there or be forced into EPCOT as the only option. I suppose I could resort in the morning and then transit EPCOT to get to MK at 2:00 meeting the check in requirement, but what a pain.

If going a busy time you really should get park reservations but that is about it.

Is June a busy time?

Are they keeping crowds artificially low with the park pass restrictions to spread people out?

Are the parks actually at full capacity in June? Should I expect the same crowds as at Thanksgiving or Christmas only with temps in the 90s?

Or, did they just fire to many people during the shutdowns and now cannot get enough people back to actually run the parks at capacity? Did they save more by letting all those people go then they're spending to get them back or not taking in because of the reduction? Will the bad taste they create have long lasting impacts?

 

[mikejs78]

If going a busy time you really should get park reservations but that is about it.

Park reservations have been hard to get since February. I know because I've had to reschedule my trip twice and park reservations have always been a limiting factor. There is no slow/busy time anymore. DHS and MK have regularly been out of park reservations three weeks to a month in advance, so you do need to plan in adance.