Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[TQQQ]

I bet you a million dollars this isnt’ what they do though.

Unfortunately I agree with you

 

[JD80]

It's because their IT sucks and they have no clue how to handle any influx of additional web traffic.

The fact that there is a queue and not a "Oops website broken." page is showing they have some clue.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I've said this a bunch of times, assuming G+ stays functionally the same - as a pay for line skipping service - then the best solution is to:

• Prepurchase G+ for the length of your stay again.
• Eliminate the 7AM rush - allowing resort guests to prebook your 7AM pick for each park at least 2 weeks prior to your trip.
  • Allow limited amount of ILLs to be pre-booked as well leaving a large pool for 7AM and later the day of.
  • The only 7AM decision people who have preplanned should be making is whether or not they should sleep in or book a VQ or wait until a 1pm drop.
• Allow preplanners to modify their LL bookings all the way up until they use them, this way they have X weeks/days prior to their trip to tinker with their bookings all the way up to the day of to try and get something different if they wish. Then at 7AM the day of when the larger pool opens they can do the 7AM dash if they wish.

I think allowing multiple picks like FP+ back in the day will be a mistake.

You're not solving the fastest finger problem, you're just moving it to two weeks out from your trip.

At this point, Cosmic Rewind and TRON don't need virtual queues either. We've become complacent with systems and structures that don't enhance the guest experience. We're paying for a service in Genie+ that may be an improvement over Fastpass+ but still ultimately isn't as good as something like Max Pass or the Disneyland equivalent of Genie+.

I understand there are guests that prefer to book things in advance, but the most equitable system is one where the line skipping option is predicated on the guest checking in to a park for the day. That's what happens in Disneyland and the stress level is substantially lower.

As for the "multiple picks" option. The only compromise I would consider is one advanced booking per guest and all guests are on equal footing. That one advanced booking should also be unencumbered by any day of activities. That would allow someone to book an attraction for a park they intend to hop to instead of all of these advanced bookings forced to the mornings.

Lastly, they need to eliminate the "fake value". Adding Fastpass and Genie+ on attraction that don't need it (most shows, Teacups, etc) further reduces spontaneity. The most primitive of these systems, OG paper fastpass was also somehow the most dynamic in that respect. On a slow day, they'd shut off Fastpass for certain attractions. Only on busy days did they turn it on for things like Stitch's Great Escape or Primeval Whirl. You don't need to spend $2 billion for an inferior system. All they had to do was digitize what was already there... you know, what Disneyland did.

 

[TQQQ]

You're not solving the fastest finger problem, you're just moving it to two weeks out from your trip.

At this point, Cosmic Rewind and TRON don't need virtual queues either. We've become complacent with systems and structures that don't enhance the guest experience. We're paying for a service in Genie+ that may be an improvement over Fastpass+ but still ultimately isn't as good as something like Max Pass or the Disneyland equivalent of Genie+.

I understand there are guests that prefer to book things in advance, but the most equitable system is one where the line skipping option is predicated on the guest checking in to a park for the day. That's what happens in Disneyland and the stress level is substantially lower.

As for the "multiple picks" option. The only compromise I would consider is one advanced booking per guest and all guests are on equal footing. That one advanced booking should also be unencumbered by any day of activities. That would allow someone to book an attraction for a park they intend to hop to instead of all of these advanced bookings forced to the mornings.

Lastly, they need to eliminate the "fake value". Adding Fastpass and Genie+ on attraction that don't need it (most shows, Teacups, etc) further reduces spontaneity. The most primitive of these systems, OG paper fastpass was also somehow the most dynamic in that respect. On a slow day, they'd shut off Fastpass for certain attractions. Only on busy days did they turn it on for things like Stitch's Great Escape or Primeval Whirl. You don't need to spend $2 billion for an inferior system. All they had to do was digitize what was already there... you know, what Disneyland did.

This is just unrealistic....WDW is a completely different animal than DL (they might as well be 2 different companies)......

The fast finger thing isnt a problem......and its better than fast running with old paper tickets

WDW has less rides in 4 parks vs DL more rides in 2 parks..........

Also WDW has 35 hotels (vs 3 at DL) that they fill with guests that pay a crap ton of money to stay, eat and spend and if their satisfaction numbers go down then the whole business model fails

Thi isnt about equality, its about keeping the high paying customers happy without angering the lower paying customers too much

 

[Dayma]

This is such a joke, too.

I've run into this kind of thing countless times over the last several years on their website and it's like "what the actual H-E-L-L are they doing?".

I mean, does their site not have scalable resources?

Maybe someone should introduce the head of their IT to AWS.

Disney uses AWS. Actually one of their larger customers. Disney regularly presents at AWS re;invent conferences also.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Disney uses AWS. Actually one of their larger customers. Disney regularly presents at AWS re;invent conferences also.

You’d think they’d learn how to use it more to better scale up and down for website and backend db traffic

 

[JD80]

You're not solving the fastest finger problem, you're just moving it to two weeks out from your trip.

At this point, Cosmic Rewind and TRON don't need virtual queues either. We've become complacent with systems and structures that don't enhance the guest experience. We're paying for a service in Genie+ that may be an improvement over Fastpass+ but still ultimately isn't as good as something like Max Pass or the Disneyland equivalent of Genie+.

I understand there are guests that prefer to book things in advance, but the most equitable system is one where the line skipping option is predicated on the guest checking in to a park for the day. That's what happens in Disneyland and the stress level is substantially lower.

As for the "multiple picks" option. The only compromise I would consider is one advanced booking per guest and all guests are on equal footing. That one advanced booking should also be unencumbered by any day of activities. That would allow someone to book an attraction for a park they intend to hop to instead of all of these advanced bookings forced to the mornings.

Lastly, they need to eliminate the "fake value". Adding Fastpass and Genie+ on attraction that don't need it (most shows, Teacups, etc) further reduces spontaneity. The most primitive of these systems, OG paper fastpass was also somehow the most dynamic in that respect. On a slow day, they'd shut off Fastpass for certain attractions. Only on busy days did they turn it on for things like Stitch's Great Escape or Primeval Whirl. You don't need to spend $2 billion for an inferior system. All they had to do was digitize what was already there... you know, what Disneyland did.

My suggestions are all assuming the basic functions stay the same but the time of the actions are different. Fastest finger problem is always going to be there no matter what, but it'll be lessoned if it's done in advance vs. day guests. Resort guest perk. The 7AM race needs to be eliminated when I'm on vacation.

Agree on the VQs.

If I had my way, all LLs could only be booked once you ding in to the park. Or any park assuming hopper/AP/multipark G+.

 

[JD80]

You’d think they’d learn how to use it more to better scale up and down for website and backend db traffic

More likely than not it's not the web services, they are queueing you most likely because the inventory system for tickets and hotel rooms is over loaded. There is probably a maximum amount of people they want simultaneously booking.

Just a guess though.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I mean, does their site not have scalable resources?

No, no it doesn't.

 

[GhostHost1000]

My suggestions are all assuming the basic functions stay the same but the time of the actions are different. Fastest finger problem is always going to be there no matter what, but it'll be lessoned if it's done in advance vs. day guests. Resort guest perk. The 7AM race needs to be eliminated when I'm on vacation.

Agree on the VQs.

If I had my way, all LLs could only be booked once you ding in to the park. Or any park assuming hopper/AP/multipark G+.

The only issue with that is everyone bottlenecking right after entering the gate on their phone booking something

 

[RSoxNo1]

This is just unrealistic....WDW is a completely different animal than DL (they might as well be 2 different companies)......

The fast finger thing isnt a problem......and its better than fast running with old paper tickets

WDW has less rides in 4 parks vs DL more rides in 2 parks..........

Also WDW has 35 hotels (vs 3 at DL) that they fill with guests that pay a crap ton of money to stay, eat and spend and if their satisfaction numbers go down then the whole business model fails

Thi isnt about equality, its about keeping the high paying customers happy without angering the lower paying customers too much

These are all great hot takes.

I'm advocating for a digitized version of the prior Fastpass that requires guests having checked into a park before use. If anything Disneyland is MORE equipped for an advanced booking scenario than WDW.

 

[TQQQ]

My suggestions are all assuming the basic functions stay the same but the time of the actions are different. Fastest finger problem is always going to be there no matter what, but it'll be lessoned if it's done in advance vs. day guests. Resort guest perk. The 7AM race needs to be eliminated when I'm on vacation.

Agree on the VQs.

If I had my way, all LLs could only be booked once you ding in to the park. Or any park assuming hopper/AP/multipark G+.

the resort guest perk of being able to purchase ILL's isnt an issue to me.....Being able to select your return time spreads out demand and you can almost always get something close to your desired return times, unlike Genie+ "next available" feature which takes up all the early times

 

[TQQQ]

These are all great hot takes.

I'm advocating for a digitized version of the prior Fastpass that requires guests having checked into a park before use. If anything Disneyland is MORE equipped for an advanced booking scenario than WDW.

Thats the reality of it, whether you like it or not.....Fact is, you cannot shoehorn DL model into WDW......It just wouldnt work.........Just as if you tried to do opposite since most DL guests are day guests.........

Now thats a hot take (but doenst seem you can grasp the concept?)

The fact that you supposedly know the differences but still suggest that WDW adopts DL's model shows me you really dont know how it "really" works

 

[TQQQ]

These are all great hot takes.

I'm advocating for a digitized version of the prior Fastpass that requires guests having checked into a park before use. If anything Disneyland is MORE equipped for an advanced booking scenario than WDW.

The reason that Genie+ functionality is changing for the 10th time since it was implemented is because the vast majority of guests do not like it.....They want pre booking........Sorry if you are not in that group

 

[Splash4eva]

the resort guest perk of being able to purchase ILL's isnt an issue to me.....Being able to select your return time spreads out demand and you can almost always get something close to your desired return times, unlike Genie+ "next available" feature which takes up all the early times

Choosing a time seems to be the most obvious change they can make or at least a “time frame” for Genie.

 

[JD80]

The only issue with that is everyone bottlenecking right after entering the gate on their phone booking something

The world isn't a perfect place.

Unless they get rid of line skipping all together.

 

[JD80]

The reason that Genie+ functionality is changing for the 10th time since it was implemented is because the vast majority of guests do not like it.....They want pre booking........Sorry if you are not in that group

I know you like saying "changing for the 10th time" but it's a silly point.

 

[TQQQ]

I know you like saying "changing for the 10th time" but it's a silly point.

In what way? How many times has it changed then?

 

[MrPromey]

Disney uses AWS. Actually one of their larger customers. Disney regularly presents at AWS re;invent conferences also.

Okay then... you think this is because they're too cheap or because they lack the competency?

Seems like if Amazon can scale for Prime days and black Friday (using the biggest AWS customer as the most obvious example) Disney should be able to handle an influx of bookings when it comes to offering a free dining package.*

*I know their back-end is a hodgepodge of systems and databases that weren't designed to work together that they've developed workarounds over the years to make work rather than outright replace (or at least it used to be) and that's probably a lot of the problem but that still feels like it should be more of a Disney problem than a customer problem to me.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Okay then... you think this is because they're too cheap or because they lack the competency?

Seems like if Amazon can scale for Prime days and black Friday (using the biggest AWS customer as the most obvious example) Disney should be able to handle an influx of bookings when it comes to offering a free dining package.*

*I know their back-end is a hodgepodge of systems and databases that weren't designed to work together that they've developed workarounds over the years to make work rather than outright replace (or at least it used to be) and that's probably a lot of the problem but that still feels like it should be more of a Disney problem than a customer problem to me.

poor management and planning

along with outsourced IT