Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Joel]

I'll say that if I'm a paying resort guest, deluxe/dvc even, and I can't purchase G+ if/when I want it, then I will be livid. My guess is that they will open to resort guests earlier than off site but still it's crazy to just cut the availability like that. I would sooner expect them to increase the LL allocation before reducing the number of G+ purchases.

People staying at deluxes should be livid they don't get G+ included. But somehow they keep paying those absurd rates anyway.

 

[jmp85]

That and, probably the biggest issue for me, Fastpass wouldn't change your return time to something that might conflict with another reservation in the seconds between selecting it and confirming.

"Hey look, there's a lightning lane for ToT at 11:30AM, we can do that before we hop to MK for our 2PM paid LL for 7 Dwarfs!"

Disney 3 seconds later: "You're confirmed ToT return time is 3:30PM, thanks for using Genie+ and have a magical day!"

Right there with you. I could rant about my Genie+ experience all day. It just wasn't worth paying for, period. I perceived close to zero value -- unless you count getting to walk onto Pirates when the stand by was only 20 minutes, then yeah, some value exists.

 

[Jeff4272]

You're looking at this the wrong way. That is only one piece of it. Using the numbers in your example, 10,000 people may want to purchase Genie+ but only 5,000 people will be able to - as it will sell out after 5,000 sales (made up numbers, again). The less people using it, the better the inventory will be.

Neither is true

When you bought in advance, you had to buy every day you had a ticket...........Now if i go for 6 days, 4 park days, i might only buy for HS and MK days and not for AK and Epcot days

 

[GhostHost1000]

No system will be perfect and the last one had issues as well, but when you take something that at least works and make it worse, people are going to be upset

Almost like replacing HEA with Enchantment but I digress

 

[Vacationeer]

and then guests will be even more frustrated based on their previous visits and experiences with FP+

I agree. A common complaint with RotR boarding groups was, “I’m putting out all this money for a trip but I won’t know if we’ll get to do this until we actually show up?” This aspect of Genie will be a major gripe now.

 

[Thepuma]

The sad thing is, any of us on this forum alone could have known how bad this was gonna be and what kinda fire they would have, if their own management couldn’t see that, fire them all

It's because the Directors and Management are so out of touch, probably old money driven fools... and I wouldn't mind betting have never been in a Disney Park, let alone used FP+.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Neither is true

When you bought in advance, you had to buy every day you had a ticket...........Now if i go for 6 days, 4 park days, i might only buy for HS and MK days and not for AK and Ecpot days

I was simplifying it. The point is, the inventory will be set and that will include all grandfathered pre-purchases and same day purchases.

Here's the bottom line - the experience they had drawn up last year was based on an estimated number of purchases. That will be the guiding star here. If you are able to purchase it, you should have a good experience with it because not everyone will be able to purchase it after a certain point. That's their plan, anyways.

 

[Chi84]

That and, probably the biggest issue for me, Fastpass wouldn't change your return time to something that might conflict with another reservation in the seconds between selecting it and confirming.

"Hey look, there's a lightning lane for ToT at 11:30AM, we can do that before we hop to MK for our 2PM paid LL for 7 Dwarfs!"

Disney 3 seconds later: "You're confirmed ToT return time is 3:30PM, thanks for using Genie+ and have a magical day!"

We booked Rise for 1:05 and were confirmed for 3:40, which didn't work well for us. Then the ride went down and 2 of our party of 6 were unable to ride. They gave us a refund with because we had to leave the park before the ride resumed operation. I noticed extremely long lines at guest service locations this past trip.

 

[GhostHost1000]

It's because the Directors and Management are so out of touch, probably old money driven fools... and I wouldn't mind betting have never been in a Disney Park, let alone used FP+.

Exactly. They can survey people all they want but unless they really listen to guests and especially repeat guests they won’t have a clue

 

[Thepuma]

1

They could have kept the old FP+ system and charged for it. That alone would have been better than this cluster

100% agree...G+ is worse in EVERY way than FP+

 

[GhostHost1000]

I was simplifying it. The point is, the inventory will be set and that will include all grandfathered pre-purchases and same day purchases.

Here's the bottom line - the experience they had drawn up last year was based on an estimated number of purchases. That will be the guiding star here. If you are able to purchase it, you should have a good experience with it because not everyone will be able to purchase it after a certain point. That's their plan, anyways.

They are going create a new problem or more by fixing a problem this way

Typical Disney management decisions

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I still am perplexed how inventory for a paid FP service is worse than when it was free - even as an AP arriving on a random day. I just don't get it.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I have a trip coming up June 1-12 and I am already worried about coming back and not having that excitement to book again as I used to.

 

[pdude81]

You're looking at this the wrong way. That is only one piece of it. Using the numbers in your example, 10,000 people may want to purchase Genie+ but only 5,000 people will be able to - as it will sell out after 5,000 sales (made up numbers, again). The less people using it, the better the inventory will be.

My concern here is that by limiting the sales they will drive up demand, so you might then anger the people who are having trouble getting it early plus those showing up at 10 when the lines are already starting to back up and didn't have a chance. Now I do get that the lines should be doing better if fewer people are purchasing it, but we still might have that "fast finger" problem that we have with all VQ's if they limit this too much early on.

 

[Jrb1979]

They are going create a new problem or more by fixing a problem this way

Typical Disney management decisions

I disagree. I think the problem is everyone is so used to FP+ and it being available to everyone. Skip the line systems work best when it has limited availability.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

My concern here is that by limiting the sales they will drive up demand, so you might then anger the people who are having trouble getting it early plus those showing up at 10 when the lines are already starting to back up and didn't have a chance. Now I do get that the lines should be doing better if fewer people are purchasing it, but we still might have that "fast finger" problem that we have with all VQ's if they limit this too much early on.

It isn't ideal but there need to be limits or class privileges (60 day resort FP+ selections) in some way. A free for all just won't work unless you substantially increase the price.

 

[Jeff4272]

I still am perplexed how inventory for a paid FP service is worse than when it was free - even as an AP arriving on a random day. I just don't get it.

This is my biggest question too........

How the heck is Genie(-) worse then FP+ when everyone got FP+ and only 1/3 of guests are buying Genie(-) and supposedly capacity has been capped at a lower rate

all the FP+ haters main point was that it took spots away from the standby line....So shouldn't the standby line fly now that only 1/3 of the guests are using the old FP+?

WDW blows

 

[GhostHost1000]

I know how Disney can solve all of this

EXPAND THE PARKS (and then build a 5th gate to spread out crowds…and I’m not kidding)

We need people eater attractions and shows. Updating existing rides is ok but it’s not helping crowds spreading out

 

[mmascari]

Well, it can't move any earlier as that won't be the same day as they have now advertised.

It should be 3:47 AM, not a minute earlier and not a minute later.

Prove your real devotion by staying up all night, every night for your entire vacation.

 

[Jrb1979]

I know how Disney can solve all of this

EXPAND THE PARKS (and them build a 5th gate to spread out crowds…and I’m not kidding)

We need people eater attractions and shows. Updating existing rides is ok but it’s not helping crowd dispersion

I would be in a retirement home (I'm 43) for that to happen with how slow Disney builds things.