Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Ayla]

I think you are screwed in the sense if you are already there in Disney World on vacation and you have however many days left on your trip, let's say 7, for example, your Vacation is now interrupted at 6:00 a.m. And you not only have to make reservations for one day for your family like you did with genie plus, But you have to interrupt your vacation to make reservations for like 7 days or whatever And that's super time consuming and time that is taken away from your vacation. Talk about ruining your morning. And yes everyone will be in the same boat but that doesn't make it any better, everyone who has a vacation in that unfortunate time frame that encompasses genie plus and the new system is going to have one hell of a morning having to make many many reservations all at once. They won't get the advantage of being able to make reservations from the comfort of their own home

No one is required to purchase/use Genie+.

 

[GhostHost1000]

The current system ends on the 23rd.
Those who are already part way through their vacation then will have to try the new system on the morning of 24th.

So the new system starts on the 24th but no one can prebook for the 24th? It’s all done that day and for any days following?

 

[bwr827]

Or even worse. Imagine the window opens on 7/24 during people's travel time for the start of their vacations. Many people get morning flights around 9:00 a.m. or so and probably have to arrive at the airport around 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.. That's not the time when you want to have to make reservations for a family of four for 7 or 10-day stay. And you probably won't even have good Wi-Fi potentially if you're up in the air in a plane, So many vacationers will get screwed if the window opens up at that time and they're traveling.

I’m assuming you might be too busy complaining to the gate attendants about various issues with your flight and will miss the 7:00am LL reservation window.

 

[nickys]

So the new system starts on the 24th but no one can prebook for the 24th? It’s all done that day and for any days following?

Yes.

 

[Ayla]

Or even worse. Imagine the window opens on 7/24 during people's travel time for the start of their vacations. Many people get morning flights around 9:00 a.m. or so and probably have to arrive at the airport around 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.. That's not the time when you want to have to make reservations for a family of four for 7 or 10-day stay. And you probably won't even have good Wi-Fi potentially if you're up in the air in a plane, So many vacationers will get screwed if the window opens up at that time and they're traveling.

LOL You always have the option of vacationing somewhere else. No matter the date it starts, it will impact some people.

 

[RealBlast3]

Guest Services is going to have fun listening to you…

If you’re using Genie+ on your vacation, you’re already awake and on your phone before 7am.

You know about the system change now. Adjust your mindset and expectations for the morning of July 24, and you can still enjoy yourself.

Or you can go in with a negative mindset and ruin your own first few days of an expensive holiday.

I won't be calling guest services. Lol. I'm using this message board to vent and that'll be the end of it lol. I think it's an absolutely fair gripe to complain about people whose vacations are going to have a major inconvenience that interrupts their stay? Or as I said in my last post, some people will not have access to the window due to traveling. Merely pointing out an observation. It doesn't mean it's going to ruin anyone's vacations, but it's definitely not something that people signed up for.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Historically with Disney, the people visiting right at the beginning of a system changeover like this have gotten the short end of the stick. They have never done anything about it or even framed the changeovers as anything but positive for the guests immediately there, FP+ had a whole advertising campaign with be our guest during the ‘test phase’.

It just is what it is, but that really stinks for those who unknowingly found themselves vacationing in that first week or so, being too close to change it for many.

 

[Ayla]

So the new system starts on the 24th but no one can prebook for the 24th? It’s all done that day and for any days following?

Correct.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Yes.

Wow ok. That seems odd because anyone on their vacation during that time now has a worse situation to plan for. Not just a 7am day of 1 booking, but a 7am day of purchase of all remaining days along with multiple days of multiple bookings.

 

[RealBlast3]

I’m assuming you might be too busy complaining to the gate attendants about various issues with your flight and will miss the 7:00am LL reservation window.

Lol I'm not that kind of person. As I said, I'm merely using this message board to vent, isn't that the point of a message board? Of course in real life I will roll with the punches and make the best of it, nothing wrong with pointing out unfair observations though.

 

[bwr827]

Lol I'm not that kind of person. As I said, I'm merely using this message board to vent, isn't that the point of a message board? Of course in real life I will roll with the punches and make the best of it, nothing wrong with pointing out unfair observations though.

Fair enough! It was sounding a little overdramatic so I thought I’d poke a bit of fun.

It’s not an ideal situation, but it is what it is. If my vacation included July 24, I’d go “challenge accepted” and have a solid game plan while also reminding myself not to sweat things too much.

 

[nickys]

Fair enough! It was sounding a little overdramatic so I thought I’d poke a bit of fun.

It’s not an ideal situation, but it is what it is. If my vacation included July 24, I’d go “challenge accepted” and have a solid game plan while also reminding myself not to sweat things too much.

My game plan would probably be:
- rope drop a park
- thus avoiding the inevitable glitches in the app at 7am
- at some point sit down in an air conditioned location for an hour with a beverage to hand and book for the following days

 

[bwr827]

My game plan would probably be:
- rope drop a park
- thus avoiding the inevitable glitches in the app at 7am
- at some point sit down in an air conditioned location for an hour with a beverage to hand and book for the following days

I can see myself on the app while standing at the gate, waiting for early entry. Lots of time then.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Lol I'm not that kind of person. As I said, I'm merely using this message board to vent, isn't that the point of a message board? Of course in real life I will roll with the punches and make the best of it, nothing wrong with pointing out unfair observations though.

We are talking about WDW IT though. at exactly 7am on the 24th, you'll have everyone booking for that day, plus everyone who eligible for advance bookings.

I have little faith the system will be able to handle that level of volume without any problems

I share your concerns. It may end up that people do have to talk to GS that day to successfully get passes booked. I don't think it is at all overblown or unrealistic to consider that possibility.

 

[bwr827]

We are talking about WDW IT though. at exactly 7am on the 24th, you'll have everyone booking for that day, plus everyone who eligible for advance bookings.

I have little faith the system will be able to handle that level of volume without any problems

I share your concerns. It may end up that people do have to talk to GS that day to successfully get passes booked. I don't think it is at all overblown or unrealistic to consider that possibility.

My very first park day last year, and first time with Genie+, the system went down at 7:02am right after I snagged a Tron virtual queue.

At the bus stop, many people were refreshing their phones.

On the bus, everyone was refreshing their phones.

45 minutes later, in the gate line, everyone got in and picked a Lightning Lane.

As long as everyone is in the same boat, nobody is really missing out. But it could get a bit stressful.

 

[GoofGoof]

Historically with Disney, the people visiting right at the beginning of a system changeover like this have gotten the short end of the stick. They have never done anything about it or even framed the changeovers as anything but positive for the guests immediately there, FP+ had a whole advertising campaign with be our guest during the ‘test phase’.

It just is what it is, but that really stinks for those who unknowingly found themselves vacationing in that first week or so, being too close to change it for many.

I was there in 2013 during the “test phase” of FP+. The major benefit was they did not apply the tiers to our reservations so we could book multiple tier 1s in each park that had them. i think maybe the tiers were added after we already booked reservations. We also had an issue with changing a reservation where the new reservation was not showing when we went to tap in and they just let us through anyway. I imagine they will be pretty accommodating to anyone with issues at go live.

 

[JAB]

I’m not an expert, I honestly have no idea how this will work and I hope there isn’t an obvious loophole to exploit. I was just thinking the easiest way to apply this for date based tickets would be to open the window 3 days before your ticket date and leave it open for the length of the ticket use window (which would be 14 days for a 10 day ticket). So if I buy a 10 day ticket with a date of August 4th then my booking window would open August 1st and be open for any of the 14 days from August 4th to August 18th (which are the days my park ticket is valid to use) but I would be limited to making reservations on 10 of those days. I don’t think it would be a fixed 14 day window for any length ticket, that was just my example based on a 10 day ticket. If the ticket is valid for less days the window would be less.

It also works to just open a 10 day window with a 10 day ticket and then each day extend it another day until you reach 14 days. That’s just slightly more of a hassle, not that they are likely to care much about that.

From a development standpoint, the daily expanding window is actually the simpler (and cheaper) implementation since they've already implemented it before with FP+, it allows both on and off-property booking window calculations to share code, and keeping track of all the valid date ranges for the varying length of date-based tickets that would be necessary to do it the other way would be messy and a maintenance headache.

I agree that it's more of a hassle for those guests affected, but it's likely it's just not worth it to Disney to accommodate, and even if the expanding window weren't the simpler solution, I think Disney would still rather slightly inconvenience a subset of off-site guests than upset on-property guests.

 

[JAB]

Lol I'm not that kind of person. As I said, I'm merely using this message board to vent, isn't that the point of a message board? Of course in real life I will roll with the punches and make the best of it, nothing wrong with pointing out unfair observations though.

I understand the frustration. I know I'd be fuming at first, even though I understand the reasons why they chose to do a clean switchover.

Then, when I'd cooled off, I'd spend the next month obsessively putting together a LL plan for the whole trip so I'd be ready to go, and pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that the system doesn't completely implode at 7 am on the 24th.

Good luck. Hope it all goes okay.

 

[GoofGoof]

From a development standpoint, the daily expanding window is actually the simpler (and cheaper) implementation since they've already implemented it before with FP+, it allows both on and off-property booking window calculations to share code, and keeping track of all the valid date ranges for the varying length of date-based tickets that would be necessary to do it the other way would be messy and a maintenance headache.

I agree that it's more of a hassle for those guests affected, but it's likely it's just not worth it to Disney to accommodate, and even if the expanding window weren't the simpler solution, I think Disney would still rather slightly inconvenience a subset of off-site guests than upset on-property guests.

I never stayed off site when FP+ was around so I didn’t know how it worked. I’m sure you are right that if they already have it programmed they won’t recreate the wheel.

Selfishly, I’m more concerned with how they will treat a split stay on property. I have a 10 day park ticket starting 8/18 and two resort reservations (6 days then 5 back to back) with check-in dates of 8/18 and 8/24. So will I be able to book reservations on any 10 days during that trip starting 8/11 or will I have to wait until 8/17 for the last 5 days of my trip since that will be 7 days before the second check-in date? If that’s the case would I instead be able to book the second half of my reservations 3 days prior to 8/18 park ticket date (or 8/15). I don’t think the 3 days makes too much difference overall but just thinking about when I need to hop on to book. Hopefully since the 2 reservations and park tickets are all linked in MDE I can just book it all at once on 8/11.

 

[JAB]

I never stayed off site when FP+ was around so I didn’t know how it worked. I’m sure you are right that if they already have it programmed they won’t recreate the wheel.

Selfishly, I’m more concerned with how they will treat a split stay on property. I have a 10 day park ticket starting 8/18 and two resort reservations (6 days then 5 back to back) with check-in dates of 8/18 and 8/24. So will I be able to book reservations on any 10 days during that trip starting 8/11 or will I have to wait until 8/17 for the last 5 days of my trip since that will be 7 days before the second check-in date? If that’s the case would I instead be able to book the second half of my reservations 3 days prior to 8/18 park ticket date (or 8/15). I don’t think the 3 days makes too much difference overall but just thinking about when I need to hop on to book. Hopefully since the 2 reservations and park tickets are all linked in MDE I can just book it all at once on 8/11.

IIRC, FP+ treated completely on-property split stays as a single combined reservation, and treated on/off-property combos as separate on-property and off-property bookings. However, the way I understand it, the dining reservation system currently treats any split stays as separate reservations.

It's possible the new system just reverts to the way FP+ did it, but it might also work the way current dining reservations do. Since they've implemented split stays both ways, it's honestly anybody's guess as to what the new LL system will do.