Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Muffinpants]

Given what people who have done Early entry the last two days have posted, doing 2-3 rides with practically no wait seems to be the norm.

This is the slowest the parks have been since befor summer.. it's about to get nutty

 

[Andrew M]

Really Disappointed that this might not be available for my mid-October trip. I'm absolutely dreading these lines with 50th Anniversary crowds.

 

[G00fyDad]

Really Disappointed that this might not be available for my mid-October trip. I'm absolutely dreading these lines with 50th Anniversary crowds.

My assumption is that they will rival mid-summer crowds.

 

[aliceismad]

Without an alarm I'm up at 5am for work, by the way. It's the wife and kids who sleep in. And I go along with it since it's their vacation also. I'm the true kid on the trip itching to get to the parks. I just pick and choose my battles lol. I actually TRY to sleep past 5 or 530 on my off days and cannot.

Good possibility I'll be poking around on the Genie pr buying the IAS rides for the day in the food Court with coffee while the wife and kids are in bed still.

Yup. I am not a morning person, but I wake up at 6:30 every day at home and at Disney I'm actually excited to get up. It's dragging the others out of bed on East Coast time that is difficult. I will miss evening magic hours.

 

[andysol]

Haven't posted in a couple years.
I'm coming up on 180 days from my trip and ready to book my FastPasses and Dining.
Has anything changed while I was away other than them finishing Tron?

 

[Andrew M]

Yup. I am not a morning person, but I wake up at 6:30 every day at home and at Disney I'm actually excited to get up. It's dragging the others out of bed on East Coast time that is difficult. I will miss evening magic hours.

This is us exactly. It is absolute torture trying to get my wife and kids up and out the door in time for rope drop. Definitely more of a close the park down at night and then hit the pool afterwards type of family.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

My assumption is that they will rival mid-summer crowds.

Worse, when you consider they're still nowhere near fully staffed/open.

 

[aliceismad]

This is us exactly. It is absolute torture trying to get my wife and kids up and out the door in time for rope drop. Definitely more of a close the park down at night and then hit the pool afterwards type of family.

I made my family rope drop a few times on our last trip, and it went fine. But we also took a mid-day break almost every day. My husband needed his nap.

I see Genie+ in our future, regardless of whether I think it's good value or not, because hubby will believe the cost is worth his time.

 

[Andrew M]

This is the slowest the parks have been since befor summer.. it's about to get nutty

My only hope are cancellations due to COVID concerns. There was basically zero room availability for the 3rd week in October all summer, and now you can get a room at almost any hotel on property.

 

[Waters Back Side]

The only ones we plan to buy are Rat and ROTR.

Now I'm not sure we will even have it by our trip soooo....
For Rat I will just try my best for virtual queue.
My guy and my brother can wait in stand-by for ROTR if they choose and I will shop/eat/drink with my sister. Happy compromise!

Me personally my trip will still feel complete if I skip Rise. I'm not a Stsr Wars junkie. But I've never been on it and my two boys want to try it.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I am not expecting the crowds some of you are…this weekend will be crowded. Otherwise?

 

[pdude81]

Me personally my trip will still feel complete if I skip Rise. I'm not a Stsr Wars junkie. But I've never been on it and my two boys want to try it.

Switching off virtual but having the option to pay in the future actually takes all the pressure off this for me. I've been quick enough to get Rise almost every time we try at DHS, and felt pressured to try the lottery and set up multiple days there each trip. If I know that I can take my shot at a regular line and pay for a slot if my son was really begging me to ride, then it actually does free up some planning space in my head.

 

[Ayla]

So, pre-planning at 7 am as a hotel guest, vs, pre-planning 60 days in advance as a hotel guest? I think I liked the old way better.

I completely agree.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Switching off virtual but having the option to pay in the future actually takes all the pressure off this for me. I've been quick enough to get Rise almost every time we try at DHS, and felt pressured to try the lottery and set up multiple days there each trip. If I know that I can take my shot at a regular line and pay for a slot if my son was really begging me to ride, then it actually does free up some planning space in my head.

Yep. But unlike the Genie rides I'm concerned that the individuals will be necessary to book at 7am or shortly after. So I'm not messing with those. I'll grab it as early as possible. I hope its not the case though. I planned HS 2nd day on Jan 2nd which is a Sunday. I gotta say...that would have been a legit shot to get a boarding group because my thought is people will be heading home that day with school back in session Monday and many people ending their trip on a Sunday. The 3rd on monday our last day is Epcot again, and that day I might not need the Genie and I might have a shot at Remy VQ also even though I planned it for the 28th our 3rd day. So I have decisions.

 

[Patcheslee]

I made my family rope drop a few times on our last trip, and it went fine. But we also took a mid-day break almost every day. My husband needed his nap.

I see Genie+ in our future, regardless of whether I think it's good value or not, because hubby will believe the cost is worth his time.

They really need to think about a husband care center we can drop them off at for nap times, it's been the main reason we do midday breaks . DD13 and I spend it at the pool to kill time. Once in awhile go to a park without him, but then trying to meet up usually ends up a mess.

 

[pdude81]

Yep. But unlike the Genie rides I'm concerned that the individuals will be necessary to book at 7am or shortly after. So I'm not messing with those. I'll grab it as early as possible. I hope its not the case though. I planned HS 2nd day on Jan 2nd which is a Sunday. I gotta say...that would have been a legit shot to get a boarding group because my thought is people will be heading home that day with school back in session Monday and many people ending their trip on a Sunday. The 3rd on monday our last day is Epcot again, and that day I might not need the Genie and I might have a shot at Remy VQ also even though I planned it for the 28th our 3rd day. So I have decisions.

I hate to tell you this, but the window between new years weekend and marathon weekend races this year is pretty small. Perhaps there are fewer entries overall in the races due to covid but I couldn't even guess whether that is the case. You may have a decent shot at standby for ROTR later on that Sunday though.

 

[G00fyDad]

They really need to think about a husband care center we can drop them off at for nap times, it's been the main reason we do midday breaks . DD13 and I spend it at the pool to kill time. Once in awhile go to a park without him, but then trying to meet up usually ends up a mess.

They have those but they go by names such as Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree, Living with the Land, and the TTA.

 

[danv3]

I am not expecting the crowds some of you are…this weekend will be crowded. Otherwise?

I would agree. Sure, it will be crowded this weekend. After that? Busier than September because October is a relatively busy time. But definitely nothing like Christmas crowds. I would guess slower than October 2019 even. We're still dealing with a pandemic and there's little in the way of a compelling draw. Your average American doesn't care about WDW's 50th.

 

[doctornick]

Generally we arrive between 1030 and noon and spend until the park closes. In the past we would usually have a character meal at 10am and head to the parks but those days are over. We just like to sleep in on vacation.

I fine that ~10AM to 12:30 PM or so is the absolute worse times in the parks. Rope Droppers still there and people who have meandered out of bed (or planned to get there at Rope Drop but didn't) have arrived. Plus generally a hot time of day though maybe not as bad as the early afternoon. Crowds start to get less when people eat lunch and leave for mid day breaks or just being done for the day.

To me, I either go for Rope Drop and get there early enough to actually use it effectively. Or I sleep in and go around 1 PM or so and stay until closing. The worse to me is getting there at 10:30 AM and everything just is terrible.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I would agree. Sure, it will be crowded this weekend. After that? Busier than September because October is a relatively busy time. But definitely nothing like Christmas crowds. I would guess slower than October 2019 even. We're still dealing with a pandemic and there's little in the way of a compelling draw. Your average American doesn't care about WDW's 50th.

There have been a LOT of cancellations. I imagine it finally picks up once kids get the shot. Presidents Weekend should be insane.