Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Laketravis]

I was a beta tester for FP+

Was able to pull paper FP's while also making additional reservations on a prototype app. Participated in multiple focus groups about the experience.

Long story short, I was permanently banned from another forum primarily because of my posts outlining how tiers would be introduced and the process eventually monetized.

The current system sucks. I refuse to use it.

 

[wendysue]

I don’t understand this attitude. Some people no longer enjoy the experience; others continue to love it. No-one is wrong or deserving of scorn for feeling as they do.

You are correct and I hope you continue to love it. I will just sign out of this site now as I can't really add anything positive any longer. We had many great trips, but feel it's ruined now.

 

[wendysue]

I was a beta tester for FP+

Was able to pull paper FP's while also making additional reservations on a prototype app. Participated in multiple focus groups about the experience.

Long story short, I was permanently banned from another forum primarily because of my posts outlining how tiers would be introduced and the process eventually monetized.

The current system sucks. I refuse to use it.

We are done now. There is no point to going back or being on here complaining about it. It used to be soooo fun.

 

[LittleBuford]

You are correct and I hope you continue to love it. I will just sign out of this site now as I can't really add anything positive any longer. We had many great trips, but feel it's ruined now.

I don’t think you need to add anything positive in order to continue contributing here—the more perspectives the better. Anyway, thank you for your gracious response. I hope Disney does enough to win you back one day.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Tiers will ruin WDW. I am in favor of pre booking but as long as there’s no tiers. I’d rather the current system vs any system that has tiers.

They can’t allow 3 prebooked attractions without Tiers. It simply won’t work, there will be nothing left day of (and they want people to purchase day of). They can either:

1. Allow pre booking of your first attraction only, and second attraction 2 hours after park open/after using your first; or
2. Go back to essentially paid fastpass+ with tiers.

There is no in-between that works with their current capacity. I personally hope they opt for #1 because I agree, tiers are awful, especially at MK, and especially given that ILL$ removes the old tier 1 rides from the mix, so you’re essentially left with tier 2 and tier 3 available only through genie+.

 

[Splash4eva]

Posted wait time 85 minutes…
This is just ridiculous & definitely not the only case but this was too egregious not to post

 

[networkpro]

Is there anyone that’s reading this that would rather get up every single morning of their vacation to scramble to book a ride after you paid a ton of money to stay in an overpriced Disney hotel and not know if you can get on the rides you wanted, the reason why you booked that hotel vs getting up once in advance and booking your entire trip so when you get to the park you don’t have to be on your phone the entire time and avoid interacting with your kids?

Please

What a joke.

Thank you for your addition to my list. I'm an early riser for about 340 days out of the year so your struggle with the clock isn't one that I'm familiar with.

 

[JD80]

No one likes planning for this, and it doesn't follow anyone's mental model for how a theme park is supposed to be enjoyed.

This is you speaking for everyone.

 

[James Alucobond]

This is you speaking for everyone.

There is a general sentiment that too much planning goes into a Disney vacation and that it has become overly complex. Many articles have recently been written about it. Genie+, and planning individual rides in general, is a big part of that complexity. It is also objectively true that the system employed by Disney is unique to Disney and that it is therefore foreign to anyone new to it, particularly if they're using other theme parks as a frame of reference. The system is unlike anything that you have to deal with when enjoying any other theme park.

Perhaps I should not have phrased my statement in such absolutes, but I was attempting to convey that there is obviously a fairly universal disdain for planning around uncertainties, confusion, and complexity, whereas the comment I was responding to made really wild claims about having surveyed literally everyone who had used Genie+ to determine that every single person wants pre-booking. See quote below.

There’s not a single resort guest that wouldn’t prefer pre booking vs what it is now.

That’s a fact. I asked every one of them.

 

[TQQQ]

They can’t allow 3 prebooked attractions without Tiers. It simply won’t work, there will be nothing left day of (and they want people to purchase day of). They can either:

1. Allow pre booking of your first attraction only, and second attraction 2 hours after park open/after using your first; or
2. Go back to essentially paid fastpass+ with tiers.

There is no in-between that works with their current capacity. I personally hope they opt for #1 because I agree, tiers are awful, especially at MK, and especially given that ILL$ removes the old tier 1 rides from the mix, so you’re essentially left with tier 2 and tier 3 available only through genie+.

Agree......They should only allow pre booking of first attraction PLUS buying up 2 ILLs

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Agree......They should only allow pre booking of first attraction PLUS buying up 2 ILLs

But it doesn’t sound like that’s the plan. Again, I’m going off of what len Testa already posted, but the plan is tiered attractions and multiple picks.

 

[TQQQ]

But it doesn’t sound like that’s the plan. Again, I’m going off of what len Testa already posted, but the plan is tiered attractions and multiple picks.

How can they do Tiers with ILL's? They would have to eliminate them and theres no way thats happening

 

[TheMaxRebo]

How can they do Tiers with ILL's? They would have to eliminate them and theres no way thats happening

They will have both - which does take the equivalent of a Tier 1 out of the mix.

But there are also some new rides from when they last had tiering ... For example, Remy in Epcot. So while Guardians will still be an ILL and we have lost a tier 2 in Universe of Energy, there is a new Tier 1 in Remy to add to the mix

So I think largely balances out

The one park most impacted, and most likely to see the most change to tiers (other than MK which didn't have them before) is AK.

At AK the tier 1 rides were FoP and Navi River .... Now FoP is ILL and I don't know what will be Tier 1 - maybe Navi, Everest, and Safari?

So basically just don't buy it at AK lol

 

[SamusAranX]

They will have both - which does take the equivalent of a Tier 1 out of the mix.

But there are also some new rides from when they last had tiering ... For example, Remy in Epcot. So while Guardians will still be an ILL and we have lost a tier 2 in Universe of Energy, there is a new Tier 1 in Remy to add to the mix

So I think largely balances out

The one park most impacted, and most likely to see the most change to tiers (other than MK which didn't have them before) is AK.

At AK the tier 1 rides were FoP and Navi River .... Now FoP is ILL and I don't know what will be Tier 1 - maybe Navi, Everest, and Safari?

So basically just don't buy it at AK lol

Imagine being a first time guest and trying to figure this out…yikes.

 

[Jrb1979]

Imagine being a first time guest and trying to figure this out…yikes.

Probably most casual guests too.

 

[TQQQ]

They will have both - which does take the equivalent of a Tier 1 out of the mix.

But there are also some new rides from when they last had tiering ... For example, Remy in Epcot. So while Guardians will still be an ILL and we have lost a tier 2 in Universe of Energy, there is a new Tier 1 in Remy to add to the mix

So I think largely balances out

The one park most impacted, and most likely to see the most change to tiers (other than MK which didn't have them before) is AK.

At AK the tier 1 rides were FoP and Navi River .... Now FoP is ILL and I don't know what will be Tier 1 - maybe Navi, Everest, and Safari?

So basically just don't buy it at AK lol

I don’t think they can do tiers. With the tier system they had before, you could only get one of the tier 1 rides. People will not pay for genie+ to get on only 1 tier 1 ride and then the rest tier 2.

So when I go to HS and buy Genie+ and pay all this money to get SDD, TSMM and MMRR? No way Jose.

The current system I would be able to get SDD, ToT, RnR, MFSR and MMRR just by stacking and going in to the park at 3pm.

Genie+ sales would drop like a stone.

I dont see it happening.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Imagine being a first time guest and trying to figure this out…yikes.

Well, it is more like how it was before so if people could figure it out then they can do so now

Plus you don't have to buy anything - can just ignore it all and just wait standby for things

 

[mattpeto]

I don’t think they can do tiers. With the tier system they had before, you could only get one of the tier 1 rides. People will not pay for genie+ to get on only 1 tier 1 ride and then the rest tier 2.

So when I go to HS and buy Genie+ and pay all this money to get SDD, TSMM and MMRR? No way Jose.

The current system I would be able to get SDD, ToT, RnR, MFSR and MMRR just by stacking and going in to the park at 3pm.

Genie+ sales would drop like a stone.

I dont see it happening.

The rumors are that Tiers will return. We all hated tapping into Disney Jr. Dance Party and VotLM (RIP), but the screaming people that yelled about waking up at 7 am won this round.

It’s likely going to be significantly less value overall but hey you can all sleep in now…

 

[TQQQ]

The rumors are that Tiers will return. We all hated tapping into Disney Jr. Dance Party and VotLM (RIP), but the screaming people that yelled about waking up at 7 am won this round.

It’s likely going to be significantly less value overall but hey you can all sleep in now…

I am the one screaming about 7am. And pre booking is 100% necessary. But not at the expense of tiers.

It won’t work. People won’t pay for it. There’s no value in it at all. Genie sales will drop and they will have to change it again.

There’s no reason that they can’t just modify the current system allowing resort guests to book their first ride and buy 2 ILLs. Solves everyone’s problems

 

[mattpeto]

I am the one screaming about 7am. And pre booking is 100% necessary. But not at the expense of tiers.

It won’t work. People won’t pay for it. There’s no value in it at all.

I didn’t like it either but an inferior system is coming.