Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[dreday3]

Sooooo.....our arrival day we plan to go to Epcot at night. Definitely not buying Genie + for that day.

Depending on if RAT is still VQ or has stand-by...I can't say I won't be tempted to spend $22 (if it's $11) for the two of us to ride RAT together before everyone else meets up with us later in the trip. I am so excited for this ride.

I just don't know. I'm kind of an impulse purchaser, and wine only makes it worse.

 

[mikejs78]

Sooooo.....our arrival day we plan to go to Epcot at night. Definitely not buying Genie + for that day.

Depending on if RAT is still VQ or has stand-by...I can't say I won't be tempted to spend $22 (if it's $11) for the two of us to ride RAT together before everyone else meets up with us later in the trip. I am so excited for this ride.

I just don't know. I'm kind of an impulse purchaser, and wine only makes it worse.

It's a much different calculus if you're solo or travelling as a couple than it is for a family with children.

 

[Ayla]

So no cancellations I see too once booked.

Well played di$ney

Once they have your money, no way are they giving it back!

 

[Rich Brownn]

Here’s the thing - I don’t want to be alarmist (more than usual, anyway), and I don’t really believe it myself but… why wouldn’t this morph into a new ticket system, with a price to ride each ride? Because guests wouldn’t accept it? Evidence is they would. Because management knows this is a step too far? There’s nothing to indicate that. If they can monetize each ride individually, justifying theme park investment on Wall Street gets a lot easier. They can pretend it’s all to limit crowds, just as they are pretending now. The infrastructure is in place.

I don’t think they’ll do this, but I’m not sure WHY I don’t think they’ll do it.

Maybe they'll give you a certain amount in admission and tier them like A,B,C.... oh never mind

 

[Chi84]

I understand that and if these people wanna pay money to ride certain rides on top of the money they already paid to get into the parks then more power to them.

People need to STAND FIRM and NOT buy into this.

 

[dreday3]

It's a much different calculus if you're solo or travelling as a couple than it is for a family with children.

Exactly. We have a lot more leeway with things.

 

[Ayla]

Things are very hostile on the Twitter post by Disney announcing this.

Good. It should be.

 

[Missfan1026]

I go to Disney the 19th-22nd. How do I add genie plus and when can I buy it?

 

[hopemax]

It's a much different calculus if you're solo or travelling as a couple than it is for a family with children.

Then it becomes a question of how much are you willing to pay to avoid a meltdown?

This is why it's not surprising to me that Frozen is one of the Epcot options. 80 minute queue and a 5 year old dressed as Elsa who is on Day 4 of overstimulation and not enough sleep vs $60...

 

[teddiem]

People are weird. Like @CaptainAmerica mentioned, in one of the posts "just consider it a $15 ticket increase." If Disney had just transitioned FP+ to a modified Maxpass, and increased the ticket cost at the same time, would people be this upset? If 100% of people had been charged for it, and eligible for it, instead of just whatever percentage of people who select in. Would people just say, "Disney is so crowded, more expensive tickets is just supply / demand at work, they had to do something, etc?" By making it a la carte instead of "standard" people perceive it as a worse thing?

People would be unhappy but not to this level. The issue is Disney is creating more avenues for increased “yield” and at the same time making your vacation that much more complex.

Ticket prices will continue to rise as will the cost of Genie and paid fast passes. They are merchandising the ride system with add on upon add ons.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

So does this mean the virtual queues are just becoming standby queues?

 

[Ayla]

I’m very curious how many people will actually use this, 10%, maybe 20%, far less than free FP+ at least. Standby lines should still be much shorter than before.

Disney has offered front of the line VIP service forever, very few people use it due to cost, more will obviously use this because it’s more affordable but it’s still a pretty big expense for most, an extra $60 per day for a family of 4 plus $40 per ILL ride adds up quick.

I just don’t see most people using this so I don’t think this will have a massive affect on lines. Time will tell.

Disney is going to BOMBARD guests with information about this, as evidenced by @dreday3 already receiving an email less than an hour after it was released.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Well, those prices per attraction were lower than I thought... still not paying them... but lower than I thought...

 

[Rich Brownn]

I noticed on the web page for it on Disney there is no indication that you can only use LL once at each attraction. All it says is you must use your current one and then you can "make another selection". Thats going to confuse (and tick off) a lot of people since they don't advise you of that on the page. (Or anywhere I could find on the site)

 

[GimpYancIent]

Universal is looking better and better. Didn't Universal obtain some more land to expand on to?

 

[Trauma]

If I was Universal I would be fast tracking that 3rd park.

I would be focusing on how much market share I could gobble up while the mouse is busy stumbling around like a greedy drunken fool.

Oh wait Disney has nothing to worry about.

They have KiteTails!!

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Just typed the same exact response as you about these 2 attractions. I never see them as walk ons.

Yeah, I will usually jump on Astro if I see a short queue (other than rope drop when my priorities are higher).

I dunno, I'm not ruling out the possibility that I will buy Genie+, because I HAVE jumped through other crazy WDW hoops before (inside HS by 7am for Rise), but this one feels icky.

Before we enter any queue, we vaguely ask, "Is this worth the XX min wait?" Time = $. If I'm paying $30/hour to be at WDW, something that saves an hour of my time might be worth paying $30. But now I know I'm going to ask the reverse, "Is this 3.5minute ride worth a $15/minute upcharge?" (3 people/$15 each/3 min)

Then I know I will ask myself, "If I'm not actually going on rides, why are we paying $30/hour to be at WDW?"

I've paid to stay at Universal's onsite hotels for unlimited express pass, but that only ends up costing about $7.70/ hour for all of us, and there are no annoying restrictions. We just go on everything as many times as we want without waiting more than about 15 min.

So I want to know, will Genie+ = walk-on? Or will Genie+ waits = what FP waits were? How quickly will WDW refund me if my wait is longer, cause we all know Space Mountain is old. WDW rides are not nearly as reliable as they used to be! A big upcharge better = a quick refund as soon as WDW can't deliver a short wait.

And this upcharge STILL has the BIG problem of making me jump through hoops to use it. I am paying WDW an upcharge to have my time restricted. Will WDW give us a refund if we are stuck on the monorail and can't get to Space in time?

 

[GhostHost1000]

If I was Universal I would be fast tracking that 3rd park.

I would be focusing on how much market share I could gobble up while the mouse is busy stumbling around like a greedy drunken fool.

Oh wait Disney has nothing to worry about.

They have KiteTails!!

With so many recently things Disney has done or is doing, Uni does have an opportunity to “look” better. Even if they aren’t.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I noticed on the web page for it on Disney there is no indication that you can only use LL once at each attraction. All it says is you must use your current one and then you can "make another selection". Thats going to confuse (and tick off) a lot of people since they don't advise you of that on the page. (Or anywhere I could find on the site)

I can’t find anything either, do we know for a fact that’s the case?

The ILL clearly states two rides, one per ride per day, I can’t find anything near that for G+.

The closest thing to that I’ve found is on a Orlando news article that states “Disney leaders said there is no limit to the number of attractions guests can visit with this option but stressed it is one at a time.”

I’d consider $15 to be able to do rides like Slinky multiple times in a day but once per day would be a hard no for me.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Once they have your money, no way are they giving it back!

Even when Space Mtn breaks down...again?

In the last year, there have been days where half the rides in MK were all down on the same day for a solid chunk of the day. When I visited MK in 2019, Splash, Space, HM and PP all went down for a good chunk of the day. We all know Rise isn't reliable.