Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Dranth]

It’s not surprising they are unconcerned with the new system not allowing a small group of users to stack reservations for the evening. They want you in the parks spending money while you wait for your return time.

They want your money, I am not sure they care if it is the park or the resort as a whole but encouraging people to spend more time in the parks will come at a cost for the rest of the resort.

Using MK for example, I will spend significantly less if I stay at the park all day vs. spending part of the day there and the rest doing things around the resorts.

 

[JIMMYEDDIE]

In an earlier post, you were arguing using the unstated assumption that rope-droppers would get early return times for their 3 pre-selects and eat up all the inventory before people arriving later could use their 1st pick. Now you're arguing that it's not realistic to assume that someone could get 3 early return times and book a 4th in another park.

correct......Look 7 days out from today, tell me what is sold out....what if thats ur only day in that park?

Why is that so hard to understand?

 

[GoofGoof]

They want your money, I am not sure they care if it is the park or the resort as a whole but encouraging people to spend more time in the parks will come at a cost for the rest of the resort.

Using MK for example, I will spend significantly less if I stay at the park all day vs. spending part of the day there and the rest doing things around the resorts.

True, assuming you are at the resort and spending money somewhere else. Some people may have been at work stacking their fast passes for the evening when they swing by after work. Some people may have been at Universal or Sea World or somewhere else off property doing the same.

 

[easyrowrdw]

with 2 ILL's, first pick and VQ, you would have up to 4 pre booked and then eligible to book an additional pick 2 hours after park opened or if you used ur pick, while preserving inventory

I wonder how many guests booked multiple ILLs and bought G+. Personally, if I was buying G+, I didn't also pay for an ILL, much less two. I want to do all the rides, but I'm only willing to spend so much

The risk with only 1 prebook is there’d still be experienced users getting a half dozen rides while inexperienced users only got 1.

Purely (jaded) speculation but I think the sole reason behind the 3 prebooks is so buyers feel they “get their moneys worth”. I don’t think modern Disney cares at all about their guests experience anymore but they do care that those guests don’t ask for a refund, the 3 prebooks should accomplish that goal.

Yeah. Getting 4 pre-booked rides in JIMMYEDDIE's scenario is going to cost a lot more than 4 pre-booked rides in the system they've just implemented (3MLL + VQ). If an average guest will be happy having 4 pre-booked rides at MLL prices, then I could see this being a positive for them. And if someone was willing to pay for G+ and 2 ILLs now they'll get 6 rides pre-booked. I can see why people would like that too.

 

[osian]

With the way I expect to use this system though for the 4th and beyond, it’s disappointing that rides with such short wait times are either sold out or pushed hours and hours later. Maybe the short waits and sold out attractions mean that they are keeping the inventory artificially low right now.

TBH that's the only way this system can be anywhere near fair. Reduce the number of LLs handed out and increase the standby/LL ratio accordingly. So that people who don't get the onsite perks, or those who are onsite but have been deliberately blocked from using the system because of where they live, are not disadvantaged too much.

Having a perk or incentive is one thing to make your experience better, but it shouldn't mean at the expense of someone
else's experience. It's like you're paying extra to make someone else's holiday that bit less enjoyable.

 

[Saskdw]

TBH that's the only way this system can be anywhere near fair. Reduce the number of LLs handed out and increase the standby/LL ratio accordingly. So that people who don't get the onsite perks, or those who are onsite but have been deliberately blocked from using the system because of where they live, are not disadvantaged too much.

Having a perk or incentive is one thing to make your experience better, but it shouldn't mean at the expense of someone
else's experience. It's like you're paying extra to make someone else's holiday that bit less enjoyable.

IMO someone who books a Disney vacation package at their resorts should have a better experience than someone staying at an Airbnb up the street. If Disney did a better job of giving perks to onsite guests their resorts wouldn't be empty right now.

 

[JD80]

Can't tell if that's sarcasm or not... I know the system isn't mature yet, but in just 5 refreshes lets see what I can pull in MK ~1:30pm:
Attempt 1: 6:35PM pirates
Attempt 2: Nothing Great
Attempt 3: Nothing Great
Attempt 4: 3:20Pm Pirates
Attempt 5: 9:15 BTMRR (was sold out)

The later in the day, the more modifying it takes, but inventory is constantly changing.

Was making a joke! Sorry.

 

[GoofGoof]

Interesting review of day 1 of MLL at DHS on Blog Mickey:

Lightning Lane Multi Pass First Impressions from a Day at Disney's Hollywood Studios: App Improvements, Terrible Same Day Availability

We purchased the all-new Lightning Lane Multi Pass and put it through the paces on opening day at Disney's Hollywood Studios

blogmickey.com

In summary they were able to book 3 of the 4 tier 1 attractions with RnRC not available due to operational issues. In addition to SDD, MMRR and SR they also got 5 additional reservations: ToT, StarTours, TSMM, Alien Saucers and Frozen Sing Along. So 7 rides and a show. They arrived at 9:30 and last reservation was 6:30-7:30. It was not a high crowd day yesterday. One takeaway is it is possible to get all of the available tier 1 attractions in 1 day with the new system. Something that some people thought would not be possible.

 

[JD80]

I didn't like the 7am scramble the morning of, but the modify feature they later added imo was a huge improvement...allowing me to pretty much find what I wanted whenever I wanted if you tried hard enough. If they would have just changed it to 1 prebook each day of your trip I would have been ok with that. No system is ever going to work well with some many rules and so few selections to choose from

I was at WDW in the middle of my vacation when the modify feature went in. It was pretty awesome.

For me personally? If I can get a decent 3 prebook then get 1 maybe 2 other rides at MK then I'm happy with this. Why?

1. I don't have to wake up and start scrambling.
2. I don't have to wake up and potentially have my day messed up because my first LL messed up my "plans". I don't like feels bad moments first thing in the morning.
3. If I know I have 3 and know I'll only get 1 or 2 more I don't have to work the system to maximize it. I can just relax on vacation. Imagine that.

 

[JD80]

I think things will get more extreme with this new system, that the crowded days you will be very limited, not much beyond your prebooked 3 and then slow days you will be able to get a bunch

But we shall see - maybe they really push up the price on peak crowd days to try to reduce use

That describes G+. Last year during my December trip that was what I got with G+ at MK.

 

[Dranth]

That describes G+. Last year during my December trip that was what I got with G+ at MK.

To be fair, that describes every system they have ever had. Very busy days are very limited.

 

[JD80]

To be fair, that describes every system they have ever had. Very busy days are very limited.

Yep

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I was at WDW in the middle of my vacation when the modify feature went in. It was pretty awesome.

For me personally? If I can get a decent 3 prebook then get 1 maybe 2 other rides at MK then I'm happy with this. Why?

1. I don't have to wake up and start scrambling.
2. I don't have to wake up and potentially have my day messed up because my first LL messed up my "plans". I don't like feels bad moments first thing in the morning.
3. If I know I have 3 and know I'll only get 1 or 2 more I don't have to work the system to maximize it. I can just relax on vacation. Imagine that.

5-6 feels like my magic number as well, not including any LLSP. I come at it from the angle of cost per ride. Upwards of $10 per ride or so or higher, and I don’t feel like that’s good enough value for saving some time on what are largely the mid range atttactions. Similar logic as to why I personally won’t pay for LLSP on most rides, although those are arguably their top tier rides.

A big issue with Genie+ for me was your whole day hinging on getting an early enough time for that first ride if you were not planning on stacking. That’s an aspect I’m happy to lose.

 

[Purduevian]

The truth of the matter is the average LLMP user will get the same number of LLs as the average G+ user. Capacity remained constant through this change.

Some groups will now get more/better LLs than G+
Some groups will now get less/worse LLs than G+

It's a closed system.

I personally feel like this is going level the playing field as everyone that books can get at least 3 good ones.

 

[gorillaball]

should say and BENEFITS few

and you might want to say... In My Opinion it benefits few

 

[Dranth]

The truth of the matter is the average LLMP user will get the same number of LLs as the average G+ user. Capacity remained constant through this change.

Some groups will now get more/better LLs than G+
Some groups will now get less/worse LLs than G+

It's a closed system.

I personally feel like this is going level the playing field as everyone that books can get at least 3 good ones.

I really don't understand the sentiment that this is somehow a more level playing field. It is the exact opposite in my mind. Everyone was treated the same under G+. With this if you stay on site you have an advantage over those that don't. If you have a longer stay you have an advantage over those with a shorter stay. If you get to the parks early you have an advantage over those that don't.

NONE of those advantages existed under G+, or at least not to the degree they do now.

Now if you think those people should get more for their money than others fine, but that is not a level field.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Now that the way to reserve LL's has changed, is there a website like Thrill Data that is tracking what is left days out? We go to MK on day 2 of our arrival, and are only going for three nights. So, I am curious if we will even stand a chance to get on Tron and Tiana, if others can buy out all of the LL's up to 14 days earlier (those with longer trips).

Was just hoping that there may be somewhere tracking over the next few days when things are selling out for the future days. Thrill Data seems to mostly show the day of?

 

[doctornick]

Agree....But Genie+ at least leveled the playing field and had availability all day

The playing field is more “level” for this in that everyone purchasing gets at least 3 attractions a day. The reason why Genie+ worked so well for more adept users is because when they grabbed all the headliners, maybe people only got one or two useful picks.

That said, of course, there are specific groups that benefit more from this and some that are more disadvantaged. I would agree that this will have some more extremes in terms of those it helps (people in resorts, long stays, rope droppers) and those it hurts (particularly people who liked to stack and arrive late to parks).

But I’d guess that the “average” guest who uses this will be more satisfied particularly since they will know the minimum of what they getting at the time of purchase and, if that isn’t good enough, won’t buy it and at least won’t be disappointed in “wasting their money”

 

[JAB]

Now that the way to reserve LL's has changed, is there a website like Thrill Data that is tracking what is left days out? We go to MK on day 2 of our arrival, and are only going for three nights. So, I am curious if we will even stand a chance to get on Tron and Tiana, if others can buy out all of the LL's up to 14 days earlier (those with longer trips).

Was just hoping that there may be somewhere tracking over the next few days when things are selling out for the future days. Thrill Data seems to mostly show the day of?

I sure hope so.

In the FP+ days, there was a site that had a FP+ availability calendar (I can't recall which site) where you could see what selections were gone and when. It was one of the most useful things for planning out FP+ selections ahead of time so that you didn't waste time on booking day trying to scramble to adjust your park schedule on the fly to accommodate FP+ availability.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

My extremely anecdotal LLMP experiment at around 4 to now Orlando time, 10 refreshes, looking for anything worthwhile which I personally define as a typically hard to get attraction at any time of day (the ones that sell out quickly), or a mid tier attraction with a near immediate entry:

MK - Jungle Cruise for 4:45 at refresh number 9. Other options are immediate entry for attractions that absolutely do not need it, like Philharmagic or Carpets, or later in the evening LLs for POTC, Buzz, and Mermaid.

Epcot - All attractions available for immediate entry or close to it, with the exception of FEA and Remy. All also walk ons or very short waits with the except of FEA, Remy, and Soarin (35 mins). FEA And Remy did not appear with 10 refreshes.

DHS - ToT held at entry about 15 minutes away through all 10 refreshes. Through all 10, I saw close but not immediate options for MMRR, TSMM, and MFSR. RNRC and SDD remained sold out. Waits are pretty high there.

AK - Looks good enough that I didn’t bother.