Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Splash4eva]

They must have either decided not to include international guests or it was an oversight.

If there is a genuine reason why not explain that? The backlash is growing, it would be in their interest to make a statement, otherwise bookings for next year will plummet.

Are you saying UK visitors are not gonna come visit because they cant pre book Genie+ attractions or whatever its called now… not to mention maybe im wrong but it seems like UK visitors bc they come to Disney for some long stays they bypass paying for this service anyway?

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Imagine if due to some regulatory issue guests had to be in Florida to take advantage of an advertised pre booking perk of an on-site stay or multi day ticket. I can’t see people being so willing to shrug it off and not hold Disney responsible for a decision to opt for a program like that. ‘They aren’t saying you can’t use it if you live in Minnesota, they’re just saying you need to book when you arrive in Florida!’

If whispers are to be believed, this change to Genie+ was in the works for a long time and the changes to DAS was the final barrier in changing the system over. I just find it so unacceptable that this wasn’t either worked out in that time period, the cause of the system being held back until it could function for everyone, or a big enough issue to force them to opt for another system.

 

[Jrb1979]

I just have to ask. What's the draw to Disney when you have such amazing theme parks in Europe already. Like Europa Park, Efteling, Park Asterix and Park Aventura.

 

[DCLcruiser]

I just have to ask. What's the draw to Disney when you have such amazing theme parks in Europe already. Like Europa Park, Efteling, Park Asterix and Park Aventura.

They are not Disney or American. Both are major tourist draws for Europeans.

 

[nickys]

App purchases are sometimes more regulated than web purchases (because the people making the laws don't understand technology). There might also be restrictions from Google and Apple on international or cross-region in-app purchases that have nothing to do with government regulation and obviously would have no bearing on web purchases.

If this is the case, then Disney is either making the decision to not spend the time and money to update the web, or planning to update the web but deciding not to wait for both the app and web to be done before rolling out FastGeniePass+.

My guess would be they are trying to move just about everything to the app and don't want to spend resources on the website which they are trying to phase out. Just a guess I don't have any inside info.

That might be true. But then they have to accept that it will severely disadvantage their international guests, and they’ll suffer the consequences.

It’s great news for Universal with Epic Universe opening next year.

 

[nickys]

I just have to ask. What's the draw to Disney when you have such amazing theme parks in Europe already. Like Europa Park, Efteling, Park Asterix and Park Aventura.

Florida and the weather.

 

[nickys]

There might also be restrictions from Google and Apple on international or cross-region in-app purchases that have nothing to do with government regulation and obviously would have no bearing on web purchases

The DLP app, whilst very basic, allows purchases from international guests.

I can order from Temu or Shein via their apps without a problem.

I find it hard to believe that Disney have come across some regulatory issue that no one else has. Or that everyone else ignores, including the Capitol

Maybe @CaptainAmerica is close when he said purchasing a digital service being a problem, although I can book a digital audio guide to tourist attractions in different countries.

Are you saying UK visitors are not gonna come visit because they cant pre book Genie+ attractions or whatever its called now… not to mention maybe im wrong but it seems like UK visitors bc they come to Disney for some long stays they bypass paying for this service anyway?

I think it takes away any incentive to stay onsite.

Many will come and decide to focus on Universal, Busch Gardens etc and maybe just do a couple of days at Disney instead of the other way round.

Personally it makes me think about doing a short city break first, then spend 3-4 nights at Universal and then a week at WDW.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I'm not sure how the full price compares once the exchange rate is taken into account but that is completely not the point. Whether you are staying at a resort using an AP discount, coupon, full rack rate or on sale you should get the same treatment regardless of where you are from. Would you say its fair enough if the early entry perk was denied to Americans but allowed for International guests for example? This is all quite simply indefensible - it was Disney's choice to launch a product that wasn't available for a chunk of their guests.

I think the fact that international guests are barred from the preselects is a bad thing, I agree with you there. I was just pointing out that the comment that UK guests are paying "full price," doesn't actually mean they're paying what Americans are paying.

 

[nickys]

I think the fact that international guests are barred from the preselects is a bad thing, I agree with you there. I was just pointing out that the comment that UK guests are paying "full price," doesn't actually mean they're paying what Americans are paying.

For park tickets alone, no. Al though they’re not the deal they used to be. For the hotel room we pay full price. We don’t get room discounts. And our cancellation (including any changes) is £50 per person.

It would cost less for us to book a room-only deal via the US site with our standalone tickets than a package through WDTC. But then we don’t get the same consumer protection.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I can mobile order from here and pay.

And I was meaning other places. I can book a timed visit to the Capitol, with a tour. Non-refundable. I can book a VIP tour of Kennedy Space Centre. I can book a tour of the Pentagon. All day non-refundable.

For Legoland I can prebook their version of “fastpass” with my dated ticket. For Universal I can prebook Express Pass for a specific day. All of them say non-refundable.

If I couldn’t go to any of these places, I’d have to claim on my insurance. Just like if I book my WDW tickets. We don’t have the guarantee about keeping the value of tickets. To change the date costs us £50 per person. And I can’t push the date of the standalone ticket beyond the end of the calendar year that the original start date, even paying that fee.

These new multi passes etc don’t guarantee those rides. All Disney have to do is say that.

1. Why would you mobile order food from WDW while in England? Even if doing it right before boarding your flight, you're taking a risk that you could be delayed and not get your food. Ordering g when you land or are on the road to WDW would make more sense.

2. If you don't hit "I'm here" in the app, they don't make the food and you don't get charged for it. It's not like you order a burger and show up only to be served chicken tenders.

3. Those other places would refund you if they weren't open. With LLMP, if the ride you pick is closed they just give you a pass for a limited list of other rides, so it's not the same comparison. It's possible that a disclaimer about no guarantees that the rides picked will be operational would solve the problem, but maybe not.

 

[Splash4eva]

The DLP app, whilst very basic, allows purchases from international guests.

I can order from Temu or Shein via their apps without a problem.

I find it hard to believe that Disney have come across some regulatory issue that no one else has. Or that everyone else ignores, including the Capitol

Maybe @CaptainAmerica is close when he said purchasing a digital service being a problem, although I can book a digital audio guide to tourist attractions in different countries.

I think it takes away any incentive to stay onsite.

Many will come and decide to focus on Universal, Busch Gardens etc and maybe just do a couple of days at Disney instead of the other way round.

Personally it makes me think about doing a short city break first, then spend 3-4 nights at Universal and then a week at WDW.

So you are still planning on staying at Disney and spending a week at WDW? Im not trying to be argumentative but you said it was gonna drive people away and now you say you “plan” on staying a week…

 

[CaptainAmerica]

So why is it just Disney who have this regulatory issue?

When we book dining, the app redirects us to the website. Where we can book ADRs and pay for the pre-paid ones too like HDDR.

So if they can do this for dining why can they not do this for the Multipass? And if it was always their plan to do that, why not say so instead of saying “you can do you pre-planning once you arrive at the resort”.

Because Multipass is a digital product, which is the category of transaction that the regulations apply to. You can prepay food. You can book a hotel room. You can buy park tickets. Because none of those are digital products.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Can international do it with a vpn?

 

[nickys]

Can international do it with a vpn?

No. Apps use GPS to determine location. A vpn works on websites because those use IP addresses to determine location.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

But then we don’t get the same consumer protection.

Ooh, I wonder if this is part of the problem too. What is the cancellation policy for you for on-site stays? Is it the same 7 days as the American facing site?

 

[nickys]

So you are still planning on staying at Disney and spending a week at WDW? Im not trying to be argumentative but you said it was gonna drive people away and now you say you “plan” on staying a week…

Actually I’m not planning anything right now.

But thinking ahead and if we decide as a family we want to go back, then instead of staying 2-3 weeks onsite, we’ll plan it so as to be able to pre-book.

I do think it will change how people plan their Florida vacation. Families usually book a villa or condo and split their time between all the Florida theme parks. With Epic opening next year Universal can capitalise on this and people may just drop Disney to a couple of days.

As I said it removes any incentive for booking a package to WDW. I can see numbers booking to stay onsite plummeting for next year unless they can fix the issue.

 

[osian]

Are you saying UK visitors are not gonna come visit because they cant pre book Genie+ attractions or whatever its called now… not to mention maybe im wrong but it seems like UK visitors bc they come to Disney for some long stays they bypass paying for this service anyway?

I think it's one more nail in the coffin. One more straw on the camel's back. And other analogies. I don't think anyone is saying that no-one from the UK will ever come again because of this particualr thing - it's you that's saying that!

Also, just like not all American visitors can not be put into a box and labelled as "they do this...", you can't do that with UK visitors either. A lot have a long stay because it's a long way to come and very very expensive, and Disney targets 14-day (and used to be 21-day) visits with ever decreasing per-day ticket prices for that long (but we still end up paying more, and hotel prices have the same prices and the same DDP offers etc). However, not everyone does 14 or 21 day visits (my next one will be 9 days - 8 days at WDW) and no, UK visitors don't necessarily spend less on line skip passes because they come for a long time. In some ways, they are irregular visits, a 21-day visit is likely to be practically a once-in-a-lifetime thing for a family) so might want to make the most of it while they can.

And the point about this particular service (LLMP) is that there are now a select group of guests (all Americans and Candians) who will be booking up the popular slots and attractions 7 days ahead of UK visitors, and of course Disney is rolling this out because they believe it will increase sales - people will buy in advance for fear of missing out instead of waiting to see. So even if people did skip buying Genie+ in the past becuase they felt it wasn't necessary, it's probably more important now due to increased numbers of people pre-booking. You can't compare what people use to do with Genie+ with what they might do with LLMP, because it's a competely different service.

FWIW, I used FP+ in advance every time in the past. I've only been once when Genie+ was in effect and I bought it roughly half of my days, simply because I found it it wasn't necessary. It was useful not having to commit to buying it advance, you could just wait and see. The lines weren't too long, probably due to not that many people buying Genie+, or I went in a relatively quiet time. Whatever the reason. Now it's going back to the way FP+ was done and people will panic-buy in advance in the same way as FP+.

Basically, you can't define what "UK visitors" do! Your post was all about sweeping generalisations. There are lots and lots of nuances here.

 

[Saskdw]

Actually I’m not planning anything right now.

But thinking ahead and if we decide as a family we want to go back, then instead of staying 2-3 weeks onsite, we’ll plan it so as to be able to pre-book.

I do think it will change how people plan their Florida vacation. Families usually book a villa or condo and split their time between all the Florida theme parks. With Epic opening next year Universal can capitalise on this and people may just drop Disney to a couple of days.

As I said it removes any incentive for booking a package to WDW. I can see numbers booking to stay onsite plummeting for next year unless they can fix the issue.

I'm pretty confident they will resolve this issue, but the question is how long it takes.

 

[nickys]

Ooh, I wonder if this is part of the problem too. What is the cancellation policy for you for on-site stays? Is it the same 7 days as the American facing site?

Any changes are £50 pp. And cancellation fees increase as you get closer to your stay.
Once you get within 100 days the charge starts at 15% + 100% of the flight costs and increases from there. Within 7 days you lose 100%

During Covid they relaxed the rules and allowed you to postpone by a year at a time, but they reverted back by the end of 2022.

 

[osian]

I just have to ask. What's the draw to Disney when you have such amazing theme parks in Europe already. Like Europa Park, Efteling, Park Asterix and Park Aventura.

Those parks are great. But we don't have an EPCOT. And actually, it's far easier for me to get to WDW than to any of those places. And there are also Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens nearby - and one of those has one of my Top 10 coasters.