Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Basil of Baker Street]

Watch. They will come up with some silly scheme of different G+ advanced booking packages. The "30 days out" package for $$$. The "15 days out" package for $$ or the "day of" package for $

 

[Splash4eva]

My guess is you will be able to book more after you use your pre booked ones. Odds are there will be few left

This is what confuses me and not coming at you specifically. When FP was around and everyone was using/had access to it and crowds were higher i would have no real problem being able to get additional FPs in the park & yes solid ones for the most part now with a paid system and lower crowds there is gonna be issues? I get there are capacity issues big time but the logic to me just doesnt add up

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is what confuses me and not coming at you specifically. When FP was around and everyone was using/had access to it and crowds were higher i would have no real problem being able to get additional FPs in the park & yes solid ones for the most part now with a paid system and lower crowds there is gonna be issues? I get there are capacity issues big time but the logic to me just doesnt add up

I think you will be able to get some - and like with every system, over time the power users will figure out how to maximize it

Though of course now with having to pay for it, expectations to how much you get from it go up

Also, now there are the ILL attractions wich take one (or 2) tier 1 attractions out of the mix at each park

 

[Jrb1979]

This is what confuses me and not coming at you specifically. When FP was around and everyone was using/had access to it and crowds were higher i would have no real problem being able to get additional FPs in the park & yes solid ones for the most part now with a paid system and lower crowds there is gonna be issues? I get there are capacity issues big time but the logic to me just doesnt add up

I also think they aren't giving out as many as before. Plus you don't see them giving ones away for any guest issues like they used to.

 

[Splash4eva]

I also think they aren't giving out as many as before. Plus you don't see them giving ones away for any guest issues like they used to.

Yes the “bribing” of guests whenever there was an issue of hey here is ME FP for your entire party days are over lol

 

[mikejs78]

Requiring guests to be in the park is a far superior approach and one that works at every other resort around the world.

1) Potential for a bottleneck right inside the tapstyles as people are going on their phones right after they scan in to book their first G+
2) Favors rope droppers who already get the benefit of early entry, etc - basically gives additional benefits to only one way of touring the parks and no everyone wants to do that on vacation

The "Running of the bulls" was chaos, now it's on a phone. The first reservation can be made as you're walking into the park and increasing the wifi access at the park entrance is not a difficult task.

I think I remember that there was talk that they will never do this in WDW because of the chaos that was the RotR VQ when they first had the in-park requirement...

Personally, I don't want to be up at 7 AM on my vacation and I hate the idea of everything being so incredibly scheduled. Your points are valid, but there needs to be some balance between fastest finger and otherwise equitable. A requirement that you're in the park has been the best way to stagger guests and avoid the fastest finger component. I understand the sentiment / convenience side of things but the two ideals cannot exist simultaneously.

One thing that would absolutely be a huge step backwards would be a reversion to 3 advanced bookings. Until such time that the attraction count increases at EPCOT, DHS and DAK, those parks simply cannot handle 3 advanced bookings.

If there needs to be a hybrid of everything that also allows for simplification on a paid system:

• You can pay for Genie+ ahead of your visit
• You can make a single advanced booking per person per day that is unencumbered by what you do day of. Resort guests would have access to this at some arbitrary time ahead of their trip (say 7 AM, 7 days out + the length of their trip like the old 60+9 rules)
• Day of, you have your advanced booking + a rotating reservation that you can book upon checking into a park for the day.
• Once you've checked into a park for a day you can book reservations for other parks without having to be in those parks. You can also go back to your hotel or even leave property and book those reservations.

Those rules are essentially what is currently happening at Disneyland + an additional advanced reservation. The distinction of individual lightning lanes and tiers adds a layer of complexity that Disney executives don't care about because they're getting 6 figures + a day per attraction.

Your system is almost what I would make, but scrap the "Once you've checked into a park"

I would make it so the same rules apply now as G+ with when you can book a second one after your advance reservation (2 hours after park open, or after you've used the first one). This eliminates the 7am race (with the advanced booking) and allows people that want to stack LL for an evening visit to stay at their hotel and not miss out.

This would be ideal and relatively simple. Which is exactly why Disney won't do it.

Hopefully they just shift one thing at a time instead of failing all over the place. Take the current system, allow some kind of prebooking for the first ride of the day for length of stay and leave the rest as is. See how that goes for a bit and make more changes as needed.

They will fall all over the place. Disney doesn't know anything about iterative development.

This is what confuses me and not coming at you specifically. When FP was around and everyone was using/had access to it and crowds were higher i would have no real problem being able to get additional FPs in the park & yes solid ones for the most part now with a paid system and lower crowds there is gonna be issues? I get there are capacity issues big time but the logic to me just doesnt add up

It's because of ILL. That takes high demand rides out of the Genie+ bucket.

 

[mattpeto]

Establishing a tier system kills Genie+ value completely. Can’t bring back tiers unless they kill ILL.

 

[drizgirl]

Establishing a tier system kills Genie+ value completely. Can’t bring back tiers unless they kill ILL.

And they won't do that. They don't kill income streams.

 

[drizgirl]

It's probably what will happen, they don't have to capacity for this to work. Just remember from their data guests are satisfied with 2-3 attractions per day.

Wait, what? I thought their research back before making the move to FP+ said guests needed around 9 experiences in a day to be satisfied. Who on earth pays what Disney charges and is satisfied with 2-3 attractions per day?

 

[Jrb1979]

Wait, what? I thought their research back before making the move to FP+ said guests needed around 9 experiences in a day to be satisfied. Who on earth pays what Disney charges and is satisfied with 2-3 attractions per day?

It's 2-3 LLs per day. That's what they said since Genie+ started.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It's 2-3 LLs per day. That's what they said since Genie+ started.

That is what is says on the G+ page for when you get it - that you can expect to get 2-3 LLs if you start early in the morning

I don't know if survey results say the average guest is satisfied by that nor how many the average guest is actually getting in a typical day .... I think the Disney language is partly to cover themselves so if someone buys it at 2pm and then only gets 2 uses out of it they can't complain

I don't think we have ever gotten less than 5 in a day (just from personal use) .... If we only actually got 2-3 I would not be satisfied

 

[drizgirl]

It's 2-3 LLs per day. That's what they said since Genie+ started.

1) They are full of s*** or
2) People are schmucks.

 

[mattpeto]

if I pay for G+ and can only book 1 in tier one all day, it's not worth it

Yup. Is anyone going to feel fulfilled with tapping into Jr Dance Party and Muppets after PAYING for it?

 

[Jrb1979]

That is what is says on the G+ page for when you get it - that you can expect to get 2-3 LLs if you start early in the morning

I don't know if survey results say the average guest is satisfied by that nor how many the average guest is actually getting in a typical day .... I think the Disney language is partly to cover themselves so if someone buys it at 2pm and then only gets 2 uses out of it they can't complain

I don't think we have ever gotten less than 5 in a day (just from personal use) .... If we only actually got 2-3 I would not be satisfied

I agree. I think if they go to 3 in advance it will limit most to 3 as a lot of availability will be gone

 

[Tha Realest]

if I pay for G+ and can only book 1 in tier one all day, it's not worth it

Imagine paying $125/day so your family of five can book Peter Pan ahead of time

 

[TheMaxRebo]

at least for busy times it will feel like basically paying for another ILL for that Tier 1 ride ... maybe you get lucky and can get a 2nd if you book at 3 for early in the day to get through them quickly, but man, if this turns out to be the case I would be interested in the argument for why this is the best path forward vs just prebooking 1

 

[mattpeto]

Imagine paying $125/day so your family of five can book Peter Pan ahead of time

This sounds awful right?

There is little value to paying for the old FP+ system, assuming the rules revert with Tiers. (Have to use up 3 before getting the next one).

 

[nickys]

at least for busy times it will feel like basically paying for another ILL for that Tier 1 ride ... maybe you get lucky and can get a 2nd if you book at 3 for early in the day to get through them quickly, but man, if this turns out to be the case I would be interested in the argument for why this is the best path forward vs just prebooking 1

Which is probably why they seem to be going back to pre-booking 3 attractions.
I put money on it being just like G+ was at the beginning where you paid for the length of your ticket. So you pay say $10 per ride to book them ahead of time.

And Disney get that cash up front, which is a win for them.

I was just at DLP where we paid about €20 each for Big Thunder and the Mickey & the Magician show. We also paid maybe €14 for Peter Pan - which I wouldn’t pay for next time. So $10 per ride seems OK if I know I can book our favourite rides.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Which is probably why they seem to be going back to pre-booking 3 attractions.
I put money on it being just like G+ was at the beginning where you paid for the length of your ticket. So you pay say $10 per ride to book them ahead of time.

And Disney get that cash up front, which is a win for them.

I was just at DLP where we paid about €20 each for Big Thunder and the Mickey & the Magician show. We also paid maybe €14 for Peter Pan - which I wouldn’t pay for next time. So $10 per ride seems OK if I know I can book our favourite rides.

the bolded part is key ... if it was $10 to book Big Thunder, Space Mtn, and Jungle Cruise ... or Frozen, Remy, and TT, or whatever - then fine

but if it is $10 per ride and the three you get are Big Thunder, Philharmagic, and Tea Cups due to tiering, then that feels more like paying $30 for Big Thunder and booking other stuff just b/c the system makes you

but will have to see the final version and how it works in practice

I think I just really hate tiering lol

 

[mikejs78]

I'm betting this new system doesn't last long. I suspect it won't be nearly the money maker G+ has become.