Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[lentesta]

I am shocked that the public is souring on Disney Parks because the C-Suite occupants put a department full of MBA's in Burbank in charge of their hospitality business.

And those MBAs don't use the processes, tools, or products they recommend.

 

[monothingie]

It makes it needlessly more complicated in a quest for cheap, easy cash.

Disney still is where it was financially last week, month, year…
The bill comes due at some point

I'd be curious what the adoption rate of G+ is, given the below normal crowds.

Squeezing money from a stone?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Serious question. How does this make an already loathed product (G+) better? For a company that surveys the color of the bathroom soap dispensers, how could anyone justify making these "enhancements". How does this entice people to want to come to Disney?

Or they just don't care.

For people who may want to use it at AK or Epcot it makes it more attractive at a lower price

Just logically seeing a price match the value (e.g., th product carries more value at MK and thus warrants a higher price) makes it feel better

Definitely not a game changer and not going to increase demand to travel to WDW but I do see it as an improvement in a vacuum

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'd be curious what the adoption rate of G+ is, given the below normal crowds.

Squeezing money from a stone?

I’m sure they view the declining crowds as leaving them “no choice” on increasing the genie price…

…it’s how warped minds work when they’ve been floating adrift in the blue ocean for 15 years with no food/fresh water

 

[Jenny72]

This sort of feels like that old restaurant joke.

I asked for a steak and they brought me a slab of concrete....but at least the portion was large.

 

[Jrb1979]

And those MBAs don't use the processes, tools, or products they recommend.

As it's been said a few times they look down on the parks and guests. To them it's a place for Carnies.

 

[marni1971]

Few things to make G+ better:

1. Pre-purchase G+ with a WDW vacation pack (like you used to be able to do) like hoppers
   1. Imagine having to buy hoppers the morning of based on park demand? lol
2. X days prior to your vacation you can book 1 attractions via G+.
3. Resort guests can book their 2nd G+ the day of at park open from anywhere. Everyone else has to book once they enter the park.

X has to been at least a week or so prior to check in because a day or two prior to check in is just one more hassle to organize on top of everything else people do right before they start vacation (packing, traveling, wrapping up work etc.)

They've offered 1 before.
They've offered 2 before with FP+.
They already do a version of 3 with ILLs and resort guests.

Would make the system better AND add more perks to staying on site.

4. Get rid of it. It’s broken. The system is broken.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So attached a ticket package or AP to a stay, and give them the same perks for the duration.

They don’t want to do that…

And since dvc is pretty typically “full”…you just mobbed you’re prebook system and we’re back to the hell that is 2017 again

You do understand 1/3 of their on property rooms…and growing…are dvc.

They don’t want to give blanket privileges to them

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

4. Get rid of it. It’s broken. The system is broken.

I love that option…

“I choose you, Aladdin”

 

[Jrb1979]

4. Get rid of it. It’s broken. The system is broken.

It's been broken since FP.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It's been broken since FP.

Yep…because that used numbers. Not adding capacity Is still the root cause of failure. You can’t solve an equation with wrong factors

 

[LuvtheGoof]

4. Get rid of it. It’s broken. The system is broken.

1. Should never have been rolled out in the first place.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Build new attractions (plural) in all parks and then no one needs FP/LL/name of the day

 

[Jrb1979]

1. Should never have been rolled out in the first place.

That goes all the way back to FP. Instead of spending all this time and money on IT for this, they should have spent it on adding attractions to the parks. Each park should have seen a new attraction every 1-2 years.

 

[MrPromey]

If it was restricted to resort guests then that would mean fewer being pre-booked than with FP+

And they could also tier it according to Resort category. 3 for Deluxe for example, if they wanted to.

As someone who went with an AP, I can assure you there were enough resort guests pre-booking to essentially ensure things like 7DMT, FOP, SDD, etc. were never available to reserve after the 30 day mark save for the random might-get-lucky lotto if you happened to be in the app when a resort guest who had them for the day you were looking at dropped them for some reason.

When FP+ was "free" it was annoying and meant we usually didn't end up doing anything that had opened anywhere near my son's lifetime but if they're charging for it, there is no way they'll get away with that for paying guests.

When bookings are up, there are definitely enough resort guests to wreak the system with a change like that. Think about why there was always a mad dash to get what you wanted for your whole stay the moment the clock hit on the 60 day mark for your first day.

I don't expect you (or Chi) to feel bad for the local who wasn't booking major vacations and missed out on things but the dynamic changes when people are paying money specifically for the benefit and Disney has to consider that now because if they open up anything to pre-booking, that makes the day-of purchase almost worthless except on days the parks aren't busy enough to even really need it.

 

[Jrb1979]

Build new attractions (plural) in all parks and then no one needs FP/LL/name of the day

Agreed but that costs money, which lately they don't seem to want to spend unless it's on D+.

 

[monothingie]

For people who may want to use it at AK or Epcot it makes it more attractive at a lower price

Just logically seeing a price match the value (e.g., th product carries more value at MK and thus warrants a higher price) makes it feel better

Definitely not a game changer and not going to increase demand to travel to WDW but I do see it as an improvement in a vacuum

I don't see it as a value proposition, but more of an evolution of G+ to deal with diminishing returns. With lower attendance (ironically partially as a result of negative guest perception of G+) the only way to maintain profitability is to focus on where people use the product. (MK and DHS). With the new baseline cost for the MK almost 100% higher than what it was a year ago, coupled with lower attendance, I think we are seeing the ultimate failings of this product. (They implemented a system no one likes, which lead to less people visiting, so they charge more for it, which result in less people using it, which causes an increase in negative perception, which results the less people visiting Disney, so they charge more for it to maintain profitability.... repeat)

 

[GhostHost1000]

Agreed but that costs money, which lately they don't seem to want to spend unless it's on D+.

Yep and they’ve dug themselves into this hole now.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That goes all the way back to FP. Instead of spending all this time and money on IT for this, they should have spent it on adding attractions to the parks. Each park should have seen a new attraction every 1-2 years.

…don’t steal my lines, dude

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's been broken since FP.

I think when FP was first introduced it worked and made sense and was just for a handful of headliners - that is how I think things should be to help people avoid mutihour waits in queues and that is it

But they they kept expanding it and expanding it (including to attractions that don't need it) and it fell apart and everything since then has been to try and manage things but like putting a bandaid on a severed limb