Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[floydbeatle]

You're asking the wrong question. It doesn't matter whether the guests can afford it in absolute terms, the question is whether there's sufficient perceived value. I can afford to buy prime rib dinner for my family at Steakhouse 71 AND buy IAS for Mine Train and Expedition Everest, but I'm not GOING to, because Mine Train sucks and Expedition Everest doesn't get long lines.

. I would add though that some may find the perceived value of Disney dining/parties to be equally unappealing. This may lead guests to choose Genie+/ILL as an alternative. I guess we'll find out soon enough!

 

[J4546]

the lightning lane announcements for DL in CA pleasantly surprised me. Indiana Jones is part of the Genie+ as is Splash, Space, Big Thunder, Haunted, and quite a few more.... Didnt See Pirates listed yet but wouldnt surprise me to be an upcharge like RISE.

 

[MickeyCB]

Paying money up front brings me a one time negative reaction. Now they are making me do it every day and a memory from my trip will be starting every single day with a negative thought on paying for fastpass if I do this and having to wake up early every day to do it. I feel like it’s a dumb move but I don’t make millions to make decisions for a multi-billion dollar company.

This is the absolute best statement!!
Annoyed at paying the extra money daily/thinking about it.
Having to get up at 7 and get that annoying anxious feeling that you only had once at 60 days or whatever it was.
And now, no adjustment time. If my fast passes were banging into my dining reservations I had literally months to try to adjust something. Now if my hard to get dining reservation at Space is at the same time as a Rat reservation, not a lot of maneuver time.

So sad that I've reached the point where I'm just tired thinking about my upcoming trip instead of pumped. (We get there on the 21st with no time to see how this is working for people),

And sorry for the long post, but one more comment on what I feel will be an epic, crash to the ground, day 1 at minimum.
Scheduling Boo Bash, multiple day of release dining reservations, etc. were a disaster on the computer and call in, how in the hell do they think all of these people trying for stuff at 7 am, and all of the other people on their 60 day dining aren't going to crash the site.
And with that said you couldn't pay me enough to be a CM at guest services as people storm to the park unable to get anything they want from their hotel rooms?!

 

[mccgavin]

the lightning lane announcements for DL in CA pleasantly surprised me. Indiana Jones is part of the Genie+ as is Splash, Space, Big Thunder, Haunted, and quite a few more.... Didnt See Pirates listed yet but wouldnt surprise me to be an upcharge like RISE.

Pirates is not supported due to the way its queue is configured. They have attempted to add Fastpass to it multiple times, but it's not really possible without stretching the standby line all across New Orleans Square. I don't see Lightning Lane or anything else like it ever coming to DL's Pirates

 

[Ayla]

This is my biggest issue with this. I don’t like waking up early on my vacation and I certainly don’t want to start the day off with a microtransaction. They would have made more money increasing ticket prices $20 a day and would have suffered a lot less backlash. Paying money up front brings me a one time negative reaction. Now they are making me do it every day and a memory from my trip will be starting every single day with a negative thought on paying for fastpass if I do this and having to wake up early every day to do it. I feel like it’s a dumb move but I don’t make millions to make decisions for a multi-billion dollar company.

I think this is a great point, something Disney is overlooking or ignoring to their detriment. Psychologically, you're spending money as the very first daily chore.

Yuck.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I honestly don’t know why you consider this a conspiracy theory. Disney routinely manipulates line lengths in various ways. They stack at the end of the evening to discourage people entering the line, they greatly inflate wait times as we just saw last week. Even something as simple as altering the number of cast and vehicles based on anticipated crowds keeps the line in broadly steady parameters. Now, explain why, having spent billions to create a system that provides a monetary incentive for manipulating lines, they won’t do so? What moral or corporate philosophy renders this beyond reason? They can justify it to themselves and others very easily - well, not many paying reservations for EE, demand is low, don’t need to staff much at all. Instead of condescendingly dismissing this out of hand, tell me why it’s crazy.

Because they care about guest satisfaction as measured by customer surveys. We all know Chapek is a data guy, right? They have an internal target of the number of attractions each guest should be able to experience in a given day, and they're not going to push people below that number. I know the meme around here is that all they care about is the current quarter's net income, but they're not so clueless that they don't realize that "intent to return" is a leading indicator of future profitability.

Of course, when it's slow they'll have less staff, but that's not new. Maybe they'll have fewer people working Everest, but they'll also have fewer people working Carpets and Casey's and every other thing. That's just normal park ops.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is my biggest issue with this. I don’t like waking up early on my vacation and I certainly don’t want to start the day off with a microtransaction. They would have made more money increasing ticket prices $20 a day and would have suffered a lot less backlash. Paying money up front brings me a one time negative reaction. Now they are making me do it every day and a memory from my trip will be starting every single day with a negative thought on paying for fastpass if I do this and having to wake up early every day to do it. I feel like it’s a dumb move but I don’t make millions to make decisions for a multi-billion dollar company.

There's no reason to wake up early to do this. It's like people have PTSD from Rise of the Resistance boarding groups. This isn't that. If you normally wake up at 9, wake up at 9.

Cc @GhostHost1000

 

[FantasiaMickey2000]

There's no reason to wake up early to do this. It's like people have PTSD from Rise of the Resistance boarding groups. This isn't that. If you normally wake up at 9, wake up at 9.

If you wake up at 7 you can book your first attraction for genie+ at an early time. Then you can book a second one at 9. If you wait to get up until 9 then you get one less booking on genie+ and the morning slots might be filled.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If you wake up at 7 you can book your first attraction for genie+ at an early time.

We're talking about people who like to sleep in. Why would people who like to sleep in WANT their first attraction at an early time?

The people who will be in the parks for a 9am Lightning Lane are already up at 7.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

I honestly don’t know why you consider this a conspiracy theory. Disney routinely manipulates line lengths in various ways. They stack at the end of the evening to discourage people entering the line, they greatly inflate wait times as we just saw last week. Even something as simple as altering the number of cast and vehicles based on anticipated crowds keeps the line in broadly steady parameters. Now, explain why, having spent billions to create a system that provides a monetary incentive for manipulating lines, they won’t do so? What moral or corporate philosophy renders this beyond reason? They can justify it to themselves and others very easily - well, not many paying reservations for EE, demand is low, don’t need to staff much at all. Instead of condescendingly dismissing this out of hand, tell me why it’s crazy.

Come on. Disney only has the best intentions in mind for YOU, the Disney Guest!!! I mean come on. They held up construction on three rides so you could enjoy them after covid! They cut back staff so you can get to know the ones who are left better! They’re blessing you with Genie+ So you can pass the line on dinosaur!! They’re giving you the gift of being able to ride Rise totally and completely stress free and still make the next showing of muppetvision!!!

To think they might be after your wallet further by ratcheting down capacity at times on targeted rides is not only insane, it’s a downright embarrassment. How dare you.

(Also they’re totally gonna do it. And anyone that thinks they won’t needs to pass me some of what they’re taking.)

 

[doctornick]

the lightning lane announcements for DL in CA pleasantly surprised me. Indiana Jones is part of the Genie+ as is Splash, Space, Big Thunder, Haunted, and quite a few more.... Didnt See Pirates listed yet but wouldnt surprise me to be an upcharge like RISE.

Huh, just checked it out and am surprised to see that they only have RotR on ILL for DL. It is surprising to me that they didn't have more rides there set up for separate purchase especially since they could handle it in terms of the capacity. And I actually thought they might have more than 2 per park to make up for having fewer parks.

It kind of makes it surprising that they went with 2 at all of the WDW parks. Why not just just go with FoP at DAK for example?

 

[doctornick]

Also, can someone explain how LL works for MMRR? Do you get loaded into the pre-show? or in the line after? If it's the former than you still have a bit of a wait to actually ride.

 

[FantasiaMickey2000]

We're talking about people who like to sleep in. Why would people who like to sleep in WANT their first attraction at an early time?

The people who will be in the parks for a 9am Lightning Lane are already up at 7.

You said “There's no reason to wake up early to do this.” and I provided you with two. You don’t think that if people are paying $60 a day for their family of four to have genie+ that they aren’t going to feel pressured to maximize their use out of it in order to get their money’s worth?

And if it functions the same way as FP+ did then I would and I’m someone who likes to sleep in. If you have an hour long window I would absolutely make my first reservation from 9-10 even if I don’t plan on arriving to the park until 9:45 instead of 8:30. Especially considering you can make a new reservation once you use the first one.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Come on. Disney only has the best intentions in mind for YOU, the Disney Guest!!! I mean come on. They held up construction on three rides so you could enjoy them after covid! They cut back staff so you can get to know the ones who are left better! They’re blessing you with Genie+ So you can pass the line on dinosaur!! They’re giving you the gift of being able to ride Rise totally and completely stress free and still make the next showing of muppetvision!!!

To think they might be after your wallet further by ratcheting down capacity at times on targeted rides is not only insane, it’s a downright embarrassment. How dare you.

(Also they’re totally gonna do it. And anyone that thinks they won’t needs to pass me some of what they’re taking.)

Sometimes I think the highest level businessperson you people have ever talked to is the floor manager at the local Applebee's. Your impression of corporate executives seems to be based on James Bond movies and Occupy Wall Street rally posters.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You said “There's no reason to wake up early to do this.” and I provided you with two. You don’t think that if people are paying $60 a day for their family of four to have genie+ that they aren’t going to feel pressured to maximize their use out of it in order to get their money’s worth?

And if it functions the same way as FP+ did then I would and I’m someone who likes to sleep in. If you have an hour long window I would absolutely make my first reservation from 9-10 even if I don’t plan on arriving to the park until 9:45 instead of 8:30. Especially considering you can make a new reservation once you use the first one.

People who wake up early will be able to do more than people who sleep in. That's true under standby only, FastPass, MaxPass, FastPass+, or Genie+.

"What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!"
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

 

[mikejs78]

Come on. Disney only has the best intentions in mind for YOU, the Disney Guest!!! I mean come on. They held up construction on three rides so you could enjoy them after covid! They cut back staff so you can get to know the ones who are left better! They’re blessing you with Genie+ So you can pass the line on dinosaur!! They’re giving you the gift of being able to ride Rise totally and completely stress free and still make the next showing of muppetvision!!!

To think they might be after your wallet further by ratcheting down capacity at times on targeted rides is not only insane, it’s a downright embarrassment. How dare you.

(Also they’re totally gonna do it. And anyone that thinks they won’t needs to pass me some of what they’re taking.)

They are not going to manipulate lines to sell more ILL. Besides being bad for business, that could actually get them into serious trouble with the FTC.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Sometimes I think the highest level businessperson you people have ever talked to is the floor manager at the local Applebee's. Your impression of corporate executives seems to be based on James Bond movies and Occupy Wall Street rally posters.

I own 5 telecom companies…. That can be verified by members here. @marni1971. I believe his opinion is trusted here.

you’re the biggest Disney honk on this board currently…. And that’s saying something.

there’s a reason I joined here in 2004 (or whatever it was) and hardly post anymore.

what they’re doing is further killing the Disney parks. Which began a decade or more ago. But because Disney fans are willing to take a special level of abuse, it will continue. There will be a breaking point…. But we’re not there. Till then I’ll continue to be a pass holder in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

They are not going to manipulate lines to sell more ILL. Besides being bad for business, that could actually get them into serious trouble with the FTC.

Do you think they’re immune to such? It may come.

But probably not. They hold influence.

 

[FantasiaMickey2000]

People who wake up early will be able to do more than people who sleep in. That's true under standby only, FastPass, MaxPass, FastPass+, or Genie+.

"What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!"
- Ecclesiastes 1:9

In terms of getting fastpasses? Absolutely objectively 100% false. You could get up at 8:30 and be at the park at 9:45 and use your fastpasses that started in the 9, 10, and 11 o clock windows and then get more once you used those. If under the new system all the 9 and 10 am slots are taken by 8:30 AM then you will have fewer Lightning lane uses. I don’t think using the word of the Lord for defending corporate greed applies here.

 

[Jeff4272]

So if I understand this right, as a person coming for a one week stay, now I only have to:
1) book park reservation 60 days out
2) book dining reservations 60 days out
3) pay $75 per day for me, my wife and 3 kids for genie + per day x 7 days
4) pay $75 per day for the top tier IAS for the 5 of us per day
5) pay $35 per day for the “second tier” IAS per day
6) wake up at 7am every day to do all this
7) pay for my ride from the airport that used to be free
8) pay for my Magic band that used to be free
9) pay for parking that used to be free
10) pay to stay at deluxe if I want 2 nights per week in Epcot or MK

All this was free for the last 49 years and 11 months and I used to only have to get up once and cost nothing to do the same thing?

all while paying an additional $249 per person, another $1,295 for 5 of us, for a 4 hour Christmas party that’s not even a party?

this is awesome, not confusing, not expensive, totally reasonable and I can’t wait to experience it!