Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Saskdw]

We typically go for 10 days and always stay on site (DVC). Park time varies but last trip we didn't enter a park until after lunch each day. Other trips we get there early. We almost never spend a full day in the parks but are more than willing to when the occasion calls for it.

I am not worried about not getting to ride everything I would like over the course of our trips, we are there long enough to do it, I just don't like that they are bringing back a system that was functionally worse for a lot of people.

Side note, ironically, FP+ was one of the biggest reasons we made the switch from 7 day trips to 10 day because I got sick of not being able to get good (or any) FP+ selections for things like FoP.

The 14 day trips for us is probably why we never had an issue with FP+ and I don't think we will have an issue with MLL if we choose to go. Days 8-14 should give us pick of the best of the best.

 

[Disstevefan1]

The new system "fixes" it by giving them a floor of 3 selections. And if they think they are "useless of very limited" then they won't buy it. They will know upfront what they are at a minimum getting. This is drastically different from G+ where people would buy it and then end up not enough as much or what they wanted after the fact.

If I understand correctly you get to see what's available at that moment before purchase of (Lighting Lane Multipass) LLM ?

I have not done it yet, do you see what's available (but cant reserve) then purchase, then must go back in and hope what you saw is still available, or can reserve THEN pay?

 

[Dranth]

The 14 day trips for us is probably why we never had an issue with FP+ and I don't think we will have an issue with MLL if we choose to go. Days 8-14 should give us pick of the best of the best.

Yep, we never had an issue either once we went over the 7 day mark. It was actually a bit eye opening how much more relaxing the whole vacation became once we knew we would be there long enough to do whatever we wanted. Didn't get something one day, no biggie, we'll be back at least a few more times this trip and can prioritize whatever we missed.

 

[Saskdw]

Is it? I thought the system forces you to sign up for three attractions before completing the transaction, but if that is not the case I apologize.

That said, I can't imagine many folks not booked 3 when purchasing.

Yes if you are deciding to pay for it you might as well book all 3 even if you don't like the 3rd one. You can try to change it later.

 

[JIMMYEDDIE]

People like us all could estimate with pretty good accuracy what attractions and how many we could get out of Genie+ on any given day. I don’t think that’s the majority at all. I think we may be underestimating how important the guarantee the attractions before purchase part is to Disney when it comes to increased guest satisfaction and setting expectations.

I completely understand this. But the fact is, if everyone just knew the 120 rule, meaning they knew to book their next ride every 2 hours (so for 8am park opening wouldn't be until 10am) genie was vastly superior (once they got rid of the 7am rule)

Think of how it would be right now if you just had to pick ur first ride every day (along with buying any ILLs) 7 days in advance for your entire visit

There would be plenty of inventory, you'd have at least 2 rides booked in advance, you could sleep in and not have to pick ur day of ride until 10am but you'd also have the flexibility and availability of choosing wherever else you wanted b inventory wouldn't be eaten up and you would get to choose from almost the entire ride offerings.

 

[easyrowrdw]

I can see how some look at it that way but I think people are being overtly optimistic. My expectation is you are going to have to push out to day 8+ of your trip to find a good time for some rides (just like FP+) so you have gone from a crap-shoot to no chance unless you have a longer stay.

Hope I am wrong.

I think I misunderstood. I thought you were saying 7 days out, meaning 7 days from your trip. If Slinky doesn’t have a decent return time even by the 7th day of your trip, that’s obviously terrible. I’d agree with that for sure.

 

[Saskdw]

Yep, we never had an issue either once we went over the 7 day mark. It was actually a bit eye opening how much more relaxing the whole vacation became once we knew we would be there long enough to do whatever we wanted. Didn't get something one day, no biggie, we'll be back at least a few more times this trip and can prioritize whatever we missed.

We would typically throw in a MVMCP as well. We didn't care about the parade and characters so we used that to ride a ton of rides with the short lines. It was never an issue not leaving satisfied with what we did.

I do feel for the families that can only go for 4-5 days at a time. WDW really isn't designed for those type of trips.

 

[JIMMYEDDIE]

That’s how I see it. I think many people were locked out of SDD every day at 7:00. Or at least locked out of a decent return time. This system would allow you to look to the 2nd or 3rd day of your trip to find a good time. That would be your HS day. I think that’s better than a daily crap-shoot to many people.

But that's not how it works in reality. If ur a deluxe guest ur going to epcot on Mondays and MK on Wednesdays to get the extra hours. Or ur basing off what dining you can get. Or ur basing it off what parks are rhe busiest (if AK is a 4/10 and HS is a 8/10 in going to AK that day and finding a different t day to go to HS)

 

[JIMMYEDDIE]

As a grouchy granny once said, “If you don't want it, then don't buy it!”

But I do want it. Disney just made it impossible to have it.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I completely understand this. But the fact is, if everyone just knew the 120 rule, meaning they knew to book their next ride every 2 hours (so for 8am park opening wouldn't be until 10am) genie was vastly superior (once they got rid of the 7am rule)

Think of how it would be right now if you just had to pick ur first ride every day (along with buying any ILLs) 7 days in advance for your entire visit

There would be plenty of inventory, you'd have at least 2 rides booked in advance, you could sleep in and not have to pick ur day of ride until 10am but you'd also have the flexibility and availability of choosing wherever else you wanted b inventory wouldn't be eaten up and you would get to choose from almost the entire ride offerings.

If everybody used Genie+ to the fullest, meaning they understood and could perfectly execute a strategy to book the most time saving and hardest to get LL, you would no longer have been able to make such good use of the system. I don’t disagree that less prebooking would leave more for day of, but that comes with a huge disclaimer that there’s more availability day of for users who fully utilized the system. It wasn’t for everybody. It’s finite and too low for the demand.

It didn’t work how it did for you or I because of when they released their inventory. It worked how it did for you because the majority was not utilizing it fully. I imagine like Genie+ and FP+ before it, the majority also won’t utilize this fully despite getting their initial 3, and power users will adapt like always.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Has anyone tried the following?

• Non-resort guest creates a group of LLs with a resort guest allowing the non-resort guest to book 7+ days out?
• AP holder create a group of LLs with a length of stay ticket holder allowing the AP holder to book 3+ or 7+ days out?

 

[Purduevian]

Side note, ironically, FP+ was one of the biggest reasons we made the switch from 7 day trips to 10 day because I got sick of not being able to get good (or any) FP+ selections for things like FoP.

So, from Disney's perspective the new system:

• Encourages staying at one of their hotels
• Encourages staying longer at the resort
• Should raise the floor of guest satisfactions (everyone gets at least 3 good ones before paying for it)
• Possible will increase TS reservations by allowing people to preplan more around dinning.

There would be plenty of inventory, you'd have at least 2 rides booked in advance, you could sleep in and not have to pick ur day of ride until 10am but you'd also have the flexibility and availability of choosing wherever else you wanted b inventory wouldn't be eaten up and you would get to choose from almost the entire ride offerings.

I'm just curious, the guest that is now eating up capacity that you previously would have used... what do you think their G+ day looked like?

 

[JAB]

If I understand correctly you get to see what's available at that moment before purchase of (Lighting Lane Multipass) LLM ?

I have not done it yet, do you see what's available (but cant reserve) then purchase, then must go back in and hope what you saw is still available, or can reserve THEN pay?

The initial selections you see when pre-booking are held for you for 5 minutes and no one else can book them, so there should be no risk of losing them.

 

[JIMMYEDDIE]

So, from Disney's perspective the new system:

• Encourages staying at one of their hotels
• Encourages staying longer at the resort
• Should raise the floor of guest satisfactions (everyone gets at least 3 good ones before paying for it)
• Possible will increase TS reservations by allowing people to preplan more around dinning.

I'm just curious, the guest that is now eating up capacity that you previously would have used... what do you think their G+ day looked like?

The same as mine if they simply knew to book every 2 hours. Plus they would have SDD st 7am, RNR at 10am, MMRR at noon plus the possibility of paying for ROTR in advance so they would have 4 tier 1 rides before they stepped into the park at noon and likely 2-3 more if they went for EMH/rope drop.


1,000,000x better than this new crap they are offering.

 

[Dranth]

I think I misunderstood. I thought you were saying 7 days out, meaning 7 days from your trip. If Slinky doesn’t have a decent return time even by the 7th day of your trip, that’s obviously terrible. I’d agree with that for sure.

I was saying 7 days from your trip, as you start booking the new system, there will not be a lot of availability for the first seven days of peoples trips because people with 8+ day trips have already booked their full stay before most people will ever get to even see what is available.

The hope is that with less people using the system and no rerides eating up day of inventory this won't be as big of a problem.

I am not convinced of that yet but will gladly eat my words if it turns out fine.

 

[nickys]

Is it? I thought the system forces you to sign up for three attractions before completing the transaction, but if that is not the case I apologize.

That said, I can't imagine many folks not booked 3 when purchasing.

I believe you can simply buy it without pre-booking any.

That’s what DVC member services are doing for international members.

 

[RSoxNo1]

We typically go for 10 days and always stay on site (DVC). Park time varies but last trip we didn't enter a park until after lunch each day. Other trips we get there early. We almost never spend a full day in the parks but are more than willing to when the occasion calls for it.

I am not worried about not getting to ride everything I would like over the course of our trips, we are there long enough to do it, I just don't like that they are bringing back a system that was functionally worse for a lot of people.

Side note, ironically, FP+ was one of the biggest reasons we made the switch from 7 day trips to 10 day because I got sick of not being able to get good (or any) FP+ selections for things like FoP.

So, from Disney's perspective the new system:

• Encourages staying at one of their hotels
• Encourages staying longer at the resort
• Should raise the floor of guest satisfactions (everyone gets at least 3 good ones before paying for it)
• Possible will increase TS reservations by allowing people to preplan more around dinning.

I'm just curious, the guest that is now eating up capacity that you previously would have used... what do you think their G+ day looked like?

I can also see guests building in days off or Universal days at the beginning of their trip.

We regularly stay offsite and I'm considering a park check in on the day of our arrival, then a day off, two days on, day off, two days on, day off, two days on

 

[Saskdw]

I was saying 7 days from your trip, as you start booking the new system, there will not be a lot of availability for the first seven days of peoples trips because people with 8+ day trips have already booked their full stay before most people will ever get to even see what is available.

The hope is that with less people using the system and no rerides eating up day of inventory this won't be as big of a problem.

I am not convinced of that yet but will gladly eat my words if it turns out fine.

What % of people do you think actually go for 10+ days like we do?
I will be surprised if rides are sold out at day 6 or 7 of a trip most times of the year.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I think in general FP+ availability opened up for even the hardest to get attractions at about day 4 or 5. The LLSP attractions are pulled out of the system as are meet and greets, but the system is also paywalled and has more tiering.

If LLMP looks significantly worse than that, I’m thinking there has to be less inventory available. It shouldn’t be behaving that much worse, I wouldn’t think.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I just don't see how this new one changes much of that though which is where my confusion comes in. It looks like people are just more comfortable with it because it is FP+ part 2 instead of it providing any real benefit.

Look, it is the system we have so in that sense, yes, we should all move on and deal with what is in front of us but that doesn't change that it just made the trip experience worse for anyone who isn't in one of three very specific groups. The first being onsite, longer than 7 day stays. The second is what I would call "excessive planners" who need to have as much mapped out as possible. Finally, those that are just happy with 1 T1 and 2 T2.

Who knows, maybe those groups outnumber everyone else but it doesn't seem like it to me which would mean they just made it worse for guests who don't like to plan as much, are staying onsite for one week or less, are staying offsite, are day guests or locals (AP holders in particular). So, likely most of their visitors.

The fact that Disney brought back pre-booking due to guest feedback suggests that more guests prefer pre-booking.