Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Splash4eva]

I'm far from an expert on Genie+ as I've never come close to needing it with how dead it's been when we have gone, but, wasn't it if I sign up at 7am, I could get Remy at 9:00, Frozen at 4:00, and Soarin at 6:00? Now, I get to plan 3 days out, but I get Remy at 9:00, then I need to take like the Seas at 10:00 and Figment at 11:00. And now, everyone else buying is doing the same thing, meaning by the time 9:15 rolls around and I've used Remy up, all the LL for Frozen and Soarin are gone (because everyone else needed to select Tier 1's as well).

Inventory drops have been quite accurate since inception im sure Disney would continue to do so with the nee system… just a question of do the times stay the same or get adjusted and what happens at MK when Tiana goes live

 

[CaptainAmerica]

While technically true I think a key thing here is also party size. For a smaller party size, it’s just way easier to check and find things that open up. I tend to travel with a large group (7-9 people) and it is harder to get LLs that open up for everyone because there’s just not that block all together available ( and they can often disappear between seeing it and confirming).

That’s another reason I prefer pre-booking while more availability overall exists to choose from.

The system alocates inventory for parties, not individuals. Any party up to 12 should see the exact same availability as any other.

FastPass+ did availability based on the number of persons but under Genie+, if there's availability for a party, there's availability for a party, period.

 

[Touchdown]

Why do I think this all comes down to better consumer protections outside the US and Disney not wanting to take the risk knowing it’s a crummy product.

 

[Jrb1979]

People keep talking about how this is better than Genie+ and I don't see it. With Genie+, you only could book one LL at a time. Which helped with availability. Now you are back to people booking 3 before the day starts, which by the time you get to your 4th it's not going to leave much left.

I'm sorry but I can't see paying an extra $800 for 3-4 rides. If I'm paying for shorter waits I expect to be able to use it for every attraction each day.

 

[Supertech65]

Though I'm not sure anyone would have the answer to this but what happens to someone who's doing a split stay between a few on-site resorts. I'm going in November and my arrival day is at the Dolphin, then I'm switching to Old Key West 4 for 3 nights then Boulder Ridge for 5 nights. I have a 14 day ticket that starts the day I arrive on November 7th. Will I be able to set up all of my fast passes 1 week prior to my arrival at the Dolphin through the full 14 day ticket? All three resorts are linked to mde.

 

[Dranth]

Though I'm not sure anyone would have the answer to this but what happens to someone who's doing a split stay between a few on-site resorts. I'm going in November and my arrival day is at the Dolphin, then I'm switching to Old Key West 4 for 3 nights then Boulder Ridge for 5 nights. I have a 14 day ticket that starts the day I arrive on November 7th. Will I be able to set up all of my fast passes 1 week prior to my arrival at the Dolphin through the full 14 day ticket? All three resorts are linked to mde.

I don't know for sure but if it is like what they have done in the past each leg of your split stay is its own trip. So, you should be able to book one week out from your check in day for each segment. At least that is how FP+ worked.

 

[Supertech65]

I don't know for sure but if it is like what they have done in the past each leg of your split stay is its own trip. So, you should be able to book one week out from your check in day for each segment. At least that is how FP+ worked.

That's weird, I don't ever remember it working like that for fast pass. The only part I ever remember it doing that was when you were booking dining reservations. Just wasn't sure if anything officially was put out since a lot of what they're doing here is not exactly the way fast plus worked prior to covid. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens

 

[Weather_Lady]

People keep talking about how this is better than Genie+ and I don't see it. With Genie+, you only could book one LL at a time. Which helped with availability. Now you are back to people booking 3 before the day starts, which by the time you get to your 4th it's not going to leave much left.

I'm sorry but I can't see paying an extra $800 for 3-4 rides. If I'm paying for shorter waits I expect to be able to use it for every attraction each day.

You're right. It's not better, other than the ability to potentially spend a little less time staring at your phone. You're still paying handsomely for something that used to be free, AND that used to offer access to more (and more popular) attractions.

We don't have a WDW trip planned for a few years, but if this is still in place when we go again, we'd likely do the same thing we did last time we went to WDW (August 2023) -- calculate how much more the service is going to cost us for the days/parks where we plan to purchase it, and then drop one or two hotel nights/ticket days from the usual length of our trip, to compensate for that cost and help us feel a little less embarrassed for having bought into this [newly-rebranded] swindle. So long as we're already visiting during a lower-crowd time of year, we won't really miss the extra WDW day(s), and there are many other fun things to do in Orlando.

 

[Dranth]

That's weird, I don't ever remember it working like that for fast pass. The only part I ever remember it doing that was when you were booking dining reservations. Just wasn't sure if anything officially was put out since a lot of what they're doing here is not exactly the way fast plus worked prior to covid. Yes I'll just have to wait and see what happens

I could be misremembering. I know we stopped doing split stays during the FP+ years due to not being able to get reservations. In my memory that was for FP+ and dinning but it could have just been dining.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I want to say FP+ was related to ticket length for multi day ticket holders not the length of stay, as booking cheap throwaway rooms for one night to book used to be a thing. Dining was definitely the length of stay though.

 

[Dranth]

I want to say FP+ was related to ticket length for multi day ticket holders not the length of stay, as booking cheap throwaway rooms for one night to book used to be a thing. Dining was definitely the length of stay though.

I'd forgotten about that whole book a campsite for a night mess. Good times.

 

[GhostHost1000]

One difference I was thinking of between this and FP+ is where that was "free" we just got online and booked what we wanted each day and be done, with this we'll need to get on at 7am, purchase a day.. book that day...purchase the next day, book that day, etc. etc. so it'll take a little longer to do (and I would assume be more strain on the system because of some of that)

One thing I do like is the ability to book another as soon as one is used rather than use all 3 before you can book 1. It'll be interesting to see how well this works (or doesn't) compared to FP+ and where tiers no longer exist the day of.

The ability to select times I think is great personally... again we'll see how this works out. Lots of different options to plan your day now...but most seem like to like not having to deal with it at 7am the morning of and have no idea what your day might look like as you played the G+ lottery throughout the day zig-zagging throughout the parks

 

[mysto]

I'd forgotten about that whole book a campsite for a night mess. Good times.

I think starting in January you must cancel your throwaway room 8 days in advance to get a full refund. So yes campsites will be in demand again as they are the cheapest way to extend your stay. Currently it's 5 days in advance so there's still a bit of a needle eye to squeeze through. They may go back to manually checking for cancellation abuse like they did under FP+.

Unknown to me if split stays will work. Shouldn't be ticket based because you need to have a resort stay, but maybe they'll screw that up and allow a 1 night room to book 14 days of multipass. I doubt it.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I could be misremembering. I know we stopped doing split stays during the FP+ years due to not being able to get reservations. In my memory that was for FP+ and dinning but it could have just been dining.

You could book everything across linked split stays before the pandemic but can’t any longer.

 

[Supertech65]

Another thing (correct me if I'm wrong) I remember back during the fast past plus days when the rides were tiered then too, You booked 1 tier one and 2 tiered two rides. I do remember you had to use all 3 rides before you were allowed to book another and obviously Disney is changing that with this new system. But I'm almost positive you will not be allowed to book another tier one until you use your first tier one ride like it was prior to covid. Since with the new system it looks like you'll be able to book another ride the minute you use your first fp, do we honestly think we will be able to book something like Aladdin's Magic Carpets at 9 AM so that you can quickly book an additional tier one? So many people new to this (and many of the groups I belong to) assume they're gonna book a couple of quick throw away rides at the beginning so they can stack on multiple tier one rides.

 

[Cariad]

I’m convinced that the average international visitor wanders into the park without any real idea of how to use the LL system. Maybe they purchase genie+ and try to muddle through it, having no real idea how to work the 2 hour countdown rule, stacking, etc. Do they get a headliner **now**? They probably don’t realize they should be making their selections right at 7. The type of people who post on this forum are not the “average” international visitor.

This boomer and female International visitor has a better idea of how to use Genie+ and VQ than most, including domestic visitors.
I had it in November 2022 and again in DL last August and I realised straight off that using it early in the day for the big rides, like GoTG and Radiator Racers in CA or any of the major WDW rides was a waste as you could virtually walk onto those rides if you were there at rope drop and made that your first ride of the day and then go on a second time using it when lines got silly, same with LL, but tell that to the American dad in front of me at 7am in the Skyliner line to go to Epcot who bragged loudly that he bagged Remy LL( when it was still LL) for 8.10am for the whole family only to watch the rest of us heading into the ride with a 5 minute wait at the same time as he and the rest of his family did having paid $11 each.
I have always managed to get an early group for GoTG and Tron using VQ, one time being in Group2 and finding only half the cars were filled and I had a car all to myself and an awesome attraction photo. I know about stacking and quite frankly, I seem to be the only person using the extras like the magical lenses and how to be very creative with them. I even had the Genie+ for DL last August and on going to WDW immediately after found the DL Genie magical lenses still worked at WDW, so paid nothing for it at WDW. I have also never paid for LL because you don't need to if you go late in the evening with lines never more than 40 minutes. I didn't even purchase Genie+ at all at WDW last August when I found out I still had the DL magical lenses, I had planned to if needed, but I never did need it and still got on all the rides that didn't have VQ, I even got two rides on Tron in the same day by having an early one in the morning and then getting a second for being at MNSSHP that night.
Yup, you can make daft claims, but sadly you are without a clue.

Being a bit crestive with magical lenses with thanks to the lovely CM at Galaxy's Edge who I had a lovely chat with and agreed to be in this photo using ML.

 

[mattpeto]

Another thing (correct me if I'm wrong) I remember back during the fast past plus days when the rides were tiered then too, You booked 1 tier one and 2 tiered two rides. I do remember you had to use all 3 rides before you were allowed to book another and obviously Disney is changing that with this new system. But I'm almost positive you will not be allowed to book another tier one until you use your first tier one ride like it was prior to covid. Since with the new system it looks like you'll be able to book another ride the minute you use your first fp, do we honestly think we will be able to book something like Aladdin's Magic Carpets at 9 AM so that you can quickly book an additional tier one? So many people new to this (and many of the groups I belong to) assume they're gonna book a couple of quick throw away rides at the beginning so they can stack on multiple tier one rides.

That is not correct from what I've heard.

Day of, there are no Groups. This means at 7 am, you can modify Group 2s to Group 1s if availability is present. The groups are for pre-planning only.

 

[GhostHost1000]

That is not correct from what I've heard.

Day off, there are no Groups. This means at 7 am, you can modify Group 2s to Group 1s if availability is present. The groups are for pre-planning only.

welcome back the 7am day of lottery scramble

 

[Dranth]

That is not correct from what I've heard.

Day off, there are no Groups. This means at 7 am, you can modify Group 2s to Group 1s if availability is present. The groups are for pre-planning only.

Interesting. Wonder if that is intended or not and if they will change it.

Do we know about overlapping times yet like we could with G+?

 

[GigglesMcSnort]

One difference I was thinking of between this and FP+ is where that was "free" we just got online and booked what we wanted each day and be done, with this we'll need to get on at 7am, purchase a day.. book that day...purchase the next day, book that day, etc. etc. so it'll take a little longer to do (and I would assume be more strain on the system because of some of that)

One thing I do like is the ability to book another as soon as one is used rather than use all 3 before you can book 1. It'll be interesting to see how well this works (or doesn't) compared to FP+ and where tiers no longer exist the day of.

The ability to select times I think is great personally... again we'll see how this works out. Lots of different options to plan your day now...but most seem like to like not having to deal with it at 7am the morning of and have no idea what your day might look like as you played the G+ lottery throughout the day zig-zagging throughout the parks

Yeah, I'm really relieved that this means I'm not going to need to try and buy + book fast Genie + passes at 7am on each day I'm in the park. I don't understand how anybody ever thought that was a great idea for people trying to have a relaxing vacation.

Although I cynically also think the reason they did it that way as an interim step was to limit the outrage at this just being a way to charge people for Fastpass+, which was free.