Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[GhostHost1000]

Bingo.

It’s like paying for an all you can eat buffet a 20 bucks but then saying you need to pay an extra six dollars if you want the chocolate dessert, 7 for steak instead of chicken, 10 bucks for coke products instead of Publix cola. People just don’t realize it because of the Disney “spell”.

One of the biggest problems aside from needing more attractions is Disney went from a system where it was all included to multi pay needed to do the same thing.

For example. If someone wants to fastpass mine train and other rides in the magic kingdom, now they are paying for two additional things plus the nightmare of having to start it at 7am the day of.

I don’t know what the answer is short of building more attractions, but to me they took a broken system and just broke it another way, charge for it, and made it 10x more confusing on top of that

 

[TheMaxRebo]

My bets are on 35+ for holidays

It already hit $35 when it was a flat price across the parks so I wouldn't be surprised that Christmas week spring break, etc the MK/Multipark is close to $50 or even more ... I think that is a part of this change as they know there is demand at MK beyond what they were charging but at that point no one really buying at AK, etc

 

[lentesta]

They don’t have enough ride capacity for any of it today either

I was promised that implementing mandatory park reservations would improve that aspect of the guest experience. So you must be mistaken.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I was promised that implementing mandatory park reservations would improve that aspect of the guest experience. So you must be mistaken.

Disneys new park reservation system ….you think you hate it now, wait until you try it

 

[scottieRoss]

Bingo.

It’s like paying for an all you can eat buffet a 20 bucks but then saying you need to pay an extra six dollars if you want the chocolate dessert, 7 for steak instead of chicken, 10 bucks for coke products instead of Publix cola. People just don’t realize it because of the Disney “spell”.

And what is wrong with that. Unbundle as much as possible and I can decide what I want and then pay for it. I dropped my cable because the only package they had with the channels I wanted was their top tier. I would much rather pay for the channels I want, so I switched to streaming and ala carte'd the services that I want. TV bill went from $139 month to less than 70. I do not have access to the channels I would never tune to, but I do not have to pay for them either.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

And what is wrong with that. Unbundle as much as possible and I can decide what I want and then pay for it. I dropped my cable because the only package they had with the channels I wanted was their top tier. I would much rather pay for the channels I want, so I switched to streaming and ala carte'd the services that I want. TV bill went from $139 month to less than 70. I do not have access to the channels I would never tune to, but I do not have to pay for them either.

In theory, I agree ... BUT with Disney it feels like, to expand your analogy, they kept the bill at $139 and then made a third of the channels extra cost

Like, when they got rid of Magical Express they didn't lower the hotel costs, they stayed the same or increased and then you have this additional cost on top of it now

Now, the argument is that pricing would have gone up even more if magical express was still around but hard to prove

 

[SamusAranX]

And what is wrong with that. Unbundle as much as possible and I can decide what I want and then pay for it. I dropped my cable because the only package they had with the channels I wanted was their top tier. I would much rather pay for the channels I want, so I switched to streaming and ala carte'd the services that I want. TV bill went from $139 month to less than 70. I do not have access to the channels I would never tune to, but I do not have to pay for them either.

You really don’t see the problem with being charged 150 for a ticket, then all but being forced to opt in to more costs if you want to truly enjoy all attractions the park has to offer because Disney refuses to invest wholesale and knows you’ll buy it? Again, that’s the problem. When is your stop point? 170 per day plus 30 for genie? 200?

 

[Tha Realest]

I'm all for it paid skip the line systems. I use them a lot at most parks. I also now that you don't have to buy it either. The problem isn't the cost, it's more that the majority have the mindset you have to buy it to enjoy the parks. Unfortunately it's only that way due to lack of capacity.

I don’t think it’s just the “mindset.” The standby wait times that occur as a direct result of these line “skipping” services makes for an unpleasant experience for those that do not pay for them.

Put more simply, you have to pay ~$150 to get in the door. If you want to enjoy it, that’ll be extra. If you have a moderate to larger sized family, your vacation now costs multiple hundreds more.

 

[Tha Realest]

You really don’t see the problem with being charged 150 for a ticket, then all but being forced to opt in to more costs if you want to truly enjoy all attractions the park has to offer because Disney refuses to invest wholesale and knows you’ll buy it? Again, that’s the problem. When is your stop point? 170 per day plus 30 for genie? 200?

We’re at or nearing $200/day if you consider base ticket cost, plus G+, plus and ILL

 

[GhostHost1000]

We’re at or nearing $200/day if you consider base ticket cost, plus G+, plus and ILL

I spent over $900 for G+ and ILL for me and my daughter for 10 park days at the end of May first of June.

me being DVC with an annual pass, that’s about 2 or even 3 additional trips in airfare I could have taken prior to G+

 

[dmw]

At least for us last day of school was just yesterday and still end of year parties going on ... But still, Saturday in June should be fairly busy

Wow! You all get out late! School let out on May 25 here in Georgia.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We’re at or nearing $200/day if you consider base ticket cost, plus G+, plus and ILL

It definitely sucks that ticket pricing keeps going up and then you have the extra cost on top for something that used to be included.

But just as a point of comparison, I just checked the Universal site and a one park ticket for today is $149.00. Regular express pass (not unlimited) is $209.99 - so a total of $358.99 for one day (plus tax)

That is a lot (I know you can get it is you stay at a premiere resort, etc, but still)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow! You all get out late! School let out on May 25 here in Georgia.

Yeah, pretty much latest of any area.

We start school right after labor day ... Our schools don't have air conditioning so they try to avoid July and August for school days

 

[Jrb1979]

It definitely sucks that ticket pricing keeps going up and then you have the extra cost on top for something that used to be included.

But just as a point of comparison, I just checked the Universal site and a one park ticket for today is $149.00. Regular express pass (not unlimited) is $229.99 - so a total of $378.99 for one day (plus tax)

That is a lot (I know you can get it is you stay at a premiere resort, etc, but still)

Yes it's a lot but it's also priced that high for a reason. It's to limit the amount of guests buying it. They are two completely different systems. Theirs is much simpler to use.

 

[Jrb1979]

Yeah, pretty much latest of any area.

We start school right after labor day ... Our schools don't have air conditioning so they try to avoid July and August for school days

That's what our schools here do. My nieces finish school tomorrow.

 

[JD80]

Funny how lines somehow managed to move along nicely without this in place. But when you can see with your own eyes how many LL people go before standby, you can't help but see the reality of the situation.

And those not going are the smart ones. They aren't supporting the idiot in charge or his boot-licking toadies.

Stop paying, stop going, and email Guest Services about how bad the system is. See if anything changes.

I mean we really can't compare line behavior during the pandemic to now.

 

[mattpeto]

Except I still enjoy the parks, my family still really loves it, it is the one place kids ask about "when are we going back?" (And we go to other places as well, but this seems to be what they enjoy the most)

So even if less enjoyable, I am not going to punish myself or my family by not going

That last paragraph is exactly right. And applies to all of it- genie, dining plan, after hours, parties, up charges...

Some people expect that because they are unhappy with something and choose not to participate, all of those who are still happy should also choose not to participate.
Now if my doing something directly affected someone in a serious manner, such as their health? Of course I would stop. But a Disney or any other vacation?
Give me a break.

Also, I'm not going to try to convince someone to do anything my way. If asked why I like something, I'll answer. But I won't tell you not to feel the way you do.

That's sort of his shtick: he's ditched the parks in spirit but still hangs out at a WDW board yelling about everything. He doesn't care about your opinion or if you provide facts like ratings. I wouldn't let him to get to you. The poster is clearly haunted.

Back to the topic: Genie+ has worked better for me than FP+ as a system itself. But I don't like paying for it and especially day-of.

Disney is a weird spot: they want a certain % of adoption rate but don't want to price out everyone like Universal does. I'm more nervous that Genie+ system will get worse with some of the things they might be kicking around.

 

[JD80]

Bingo.

It’s like paying for an all you can eat buffet a 20 bucks but then saying you need to pay an extra six dollars if you want the chocolate dessert, 7 for steak instead of chicken, 10 bucks for coke products instead of Publix cola. People just don’t realize it because of the Disney “spell”.

What a terrible analogy.

G+ is a time saver and it works. If it didn't cost money I'd be very happy with it over FP+.

 

[JD80]

And that’s where the problem lies. If you stop paying on the aggregate, Disney might learn. But people on aggregate continue to pay for it.

It's not a problem, it's capitalism unless you're against that. The aggregate has stop paying a bit because bookings are soft. We'll see if the trend continues and then they correct.

 

[Jumping Fountains]

From what I understand the system was designed with ~20% take-up which would have enabled a much more casual, less stressful usage.

But in reality it was getting closer to 50% take-up which overloaded the system

It’s wild to me that they may have underestimated so badly then…