Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Ayla]

Right....thats my point......only really worked well if you are a resort guest that pre booked your rides for rope drop, which is probably less than 10% of the people that go to the parks so for the vast majority of people it didnt work

I never pre-booked rides at rope drop and loved FP+. We got 8-10 rides a day out of it on a typical day, because I knew how to use it.

I also didn't show up at the park at 3pm, expecting any and all rides to be served to me on a plate. I also did not have the distinct advantage of DAS.

 

[Ayla]

Add in no re-rides please.

Yep. I liked that as long as times were still available, you could re-ride attractions with FP+.

 

[nickys]

Would you pay $39pp to rides those? I certainly wouldnt....If I am paying, I want the headliners, not the C rides

Yes.

I pre booked the Epcot ones, and we’d already been in Epcot and ridden the other rides we wanted. We also got dropped at Soarin and given FP+ access to it at the end of the tour.

I’d pay to ride those 3 MK rides, especially since I’d also have got more MK rides if I’d been there longer. Those are probably my favourite MK rides, along with JC and “Splash Mtn”. I don’t ride Space and haven’t been since Tron opened.

 

[TQQQ]

Yes. I’d pay to ride the 3 MK rides, especially since I’d also have got more MK rides if I’d been there longer. Those are probably my favourite MK rides, along with JC and “Splash Mtn”. I don’t ride Space and haven’t been since Tron opened.

Most wouldnt.....they want the headliners...I know I wouldnt pay that

 

[el_super]

I never pre-booked rides at rope drop and loved FP+. We got 8-10 rides a day out of it on a typical day, because I knew how to use it.

In the before times, I made a couple last-minute trips to Florida where I eventually ended up in the parks. Not having known my plans 90 days in advance, I was pretty much in the same boat: whatever Fastpass+ was available at 3pm was what I got. Sometimes I would get lucky and there would be spots that opened up and I could jump onto Big Thunder or Space Mountain.

The trick to that though was being in a small group of 1 or 2 people. If another small group cancelled Big Thunder at 6pm, you could easily slide in. It just required looking at your phone constantly.

I don't think Genie+ is all that different to Fastpass+. Except if I do end up back in Florida with almost no notice, I know I will have a better chance getting Genie+ slots than I did before with Fastpass+.

 

[nickys]

Most wouldnt.....they want the headliners...I know I wouldnt pay that

So you wouldn’t. Guess what, that’s OK. I would and that’s OK too. If thats the only option then that’s what I’d book for one of our days in MK. (And here I’m assuming I’d have to have paid for length of stay.

What would the headliners have been back then? Space, Splash and what else? Bearing in mind I don’t ride Space.

Those 3 MK rides at MK were a bonus, the first one was booked at about 3:45 when we tapped in to SSE.

 

[TQQQ]

So you wouldn’t. Guess what, that’s OK. I would and that’s OK too. If thats the only option then that’s what I’d book for one of our days in MK. (And here I’m assuming I’d have to have paid for length of stay.

What would the headliners have been back then? Space, Splash and what else? Bearing in mind I don’t ride Space.

Those 3 MK rides at MK were a bonus, the first one was booked at about 3:45 when we tapped in to SSE.

Right and I agree........and when it was free that was great you got those

But not if i have to pay....Zero chance i pay for those......And i think a lot of guests will feel the same way, putting Genie+ revenues at risk

 

[Ayla]

You are just flat out not telling the truth to try and make your point

8-10 rides? impossible.........3 of the parks dont even have 8 rides total

and I can now go to the parks now at 3pm and have 5 headliners already booked.....

Went to HS on Monday at 3pm and had SDD, TOT, TSMM and MFSR already reserved plus Rise.............If you did that with FP+, you wouldnt get one of those rides, even the FP+ Pro that you are.....Its just not possible

I assure you, it was possible and I did it...multiple times a trip, over multiple years.

Again, I also did not use DAS, which you frequently "forget" to mention.

 

[Ayla]

what does DAS have to do with anything? we arent talking DAS

What you say is impossible........It never happened b it couldnt happen, unless it was Hall of Presidents 10x

Nope, not at all impossible. I think you're forgetting how FP+ worked. It was very different from Genie+. We rode all of the headliners at MK (excepting Space), AK and Epcot multiple times.

 

[Purduevian]

Nope, not at all impossible. I think you're forgetting how FP+ worked. It was very different from Genie+. We rode all of the headliners at MK (excepting Space), AK and Epcot multiple times.

I'll back you up. If you were a smaller party and were willing to play the "refresh game" on your phone for 5-10mins it was pretty easy to get whatever attraction you wanted within the next hour or so. My AK day in 2019 ended with a second trip on FOP, then while in line for FOP, we scored a NRJ that was active before we got off of FOP.

I do have a rule about the refresh game for myself. I am not allowed to play it unless I am in a line or waiting for my wife to finish shopping.

 

[TQQQ]

I'll back you up. If you were a smaller party and were willing to play the "refresh game" on your phone for 5-10mins it was pretty easy to get whatever attraction you wanted within the next hour or so. My AK day in 2019 ended with a second trip on FOP, then while in line for FOP, we scored a NRJ that was active before we got off of FOP.

I do have a rule about the refresh game for myself. I am not allowed to play it unless I am in a line or waiting for my wife to finish shopping.

for 95+% of guests this was not not an option and that's why gsat numbers were bad and why they got rid of it

Just not possible

 

[Ayla]

I'll back you up. If you were a smaller party and were willing to play the "refresh game" on your phone for 5-10mins it was pretty easy to get whatever attraction you wanted within the next hour or so. My AK day in 2019 ended with a second trip on FOP, then while in line for FOP, we scored a NRJ that was active before we got off of FOP.

I do have a rule about the refresh game for myself. I am not allowed to play it unless I am in a line or waiting for my wife to finish shopping.

I did the same for refreshing, with one exception. I spent the entirety of FOLK show (that I had seen dozens of times before) refreshing for an Expedition Everest FP for my BIL. It was his first trip and he wanted to ride it again. I was a hero that day.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I wonder of they got rid of everything and had ONLY ILL.
Purchase a return time for the attractions they really, really want to get on, otherwise, standby.

 

[nickys]

I wonder of they got rid of everything and had ONLY ILL.
Purchase a return time for the attractions they really, really want to get on, otherwise, standby.

Like DLP. It works there pretty well. And return times were 5-10 minutes ahead, not sure if they pause sales if too many people book in a short period, or if return times get pushed out.

They do have an option to ride everything once in a day, at any time you want, across both parks. It’s pricey, like at Universal, and few use it.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Hated by some, sure. But that's not the same as "universally hated." Plenty of people liked FP+. I enjoyed it, but would prefer the next iteration of G+ to he a hybrid of the 2 systems that maintains some level of perk for resort guests because paid FP+ with ILLs reducing inventory really isn't much better than G+ - it just shifts the issues from daily 7 AM wake-up calls and zig-zagging around the parks to likely getting fewer attractions for your money. I can't imagine ILLs going away without a major G+ price increase so this would just be a downgraded FP+ for a fee.

I know a friend of ours liked it. On one of their MK days (back in early August 2019, I believe), they ended up with a total of 14 FP+ reservations throughout the day. 14.

What's the maximum number of Genie- slots can one get over the course of, say, a 14 hour operational day at MK these days? 8, you say? And all of those have to be for a different ride? And you have to pay for it? And you can't pre-book any rides? Oh yeah, Genie- is much better.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Like DLP. It works there pretty well. And return times were 5-10 minutes ahead, not sure if they pause sales if too many people book in a short period, or if return times get pushed out.

They do have an option to ride everything once in a day, at any time you want, across both parks. It’s pricey, like at Universal, and few use it.

I like the idea of purchasing ILL as you wish, spend more or as little as you like.
I have no data, but if there was no G+ and there was only ILL as you wish, I think the overall wait times would go down.

 

[TQQQ]

Sheesh.
Never heard of park hopping? Forgotten that re-rides were allowed? Never used FP drops? All the Tier 1 rides had at least 3 drops through the day, they still do (3 per park).

You cannot tell someone they are lying just because you never experienced it yourself.

And even if only 5% of guests could, then it isn’t impossible! Impossible means 0% by definition.

MK doesnt have drops.......re riding Small world 10x is great to say you did it but that doesnt change the fact that the headliners were sold out..........

Also, whatever new system they give us, I doubt they include re rides making the value even worse

 

[TQQQ]

I know a friend of ours liked it. On one of their MK days (back in early August 2019, I believe), they ended up with a total of 14 FP+ reservations throughout the day. 14.

What's the maximum number of Genie- slots can one get over the course of, say, a 14 hour operational day at MK these days? 8, you say? And all of those have to be for a different ride? And you have to pay for it? And you can't pre-book any rides? Oh yeah, Genie- is much better.

I didnt say Genie+ was better....I said it was fixed easier than FP+......by allowing pre booking and re rides, It would solve all the problems and have better function than FP+

Paying for it is beyond everyones control.....Even a terrible FP+ is better than a good Genie+ because it was free, thats not debatable

 

[Purduevian]

I did the same for refreshing, with one exception. I spent the entirety of FOLK show (that I had seen dozens of times before) refreshing for an Expedition Everest FP for my BIL. It was his first trip and he wanted to ride it again. I was a hero that day.

I guess I did have another exception... I definitely got that second FOP FP while "seated" in the pandora bathrooms...

MK doesnt have drops.......re riding Small world 10x is great to say you did it but that doesnt change the fact that the headliners were sold out..........

"sold out" is a relative term for all the attractions. For instance as I've viewing the app the following at EPCOT are sold out (12:35) RAT, Frozen, TT.

The 11th refresh showed me a 2:35pm Frozen slot. It's possible to "miss" this, but if I was in the park today and was able to pin these 3 to the top, I could do a re-fresh and check every 5-10 seconds. So with ~1.5 minutes one of the 3 headlines was possible to book. I then would go about my day for the next 2ish hours not worrying about G+ until it was time to book another one or ride frozen.

FP+ was the same way, even without the official drops times constantly pop up if you are willing to put in a few minutes of phone time every few hours.

 

[Splash4eva]

FP+ success was highly dependent on how many people were in your party. The less people you had the larger chance you had of landing more popular attractions weeks/days/hours/minutes prior to the FP time slot.

I always had 4 people and felt pretty satisfied and successful when using it. 1 trip even had 5…

With all this being said and ive admitted this. My trip during Thanksgiving week was a HUGE success with Genie like i was able to get almost everything for 5 days that week i was there shockingly.