Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Andrew25]

In somewhat of a smart yet hilarious way, Genie is sort of beneficial for those that want to maximize their broad Orlando vacation. With Universal demanding more visitation, Genie+ makes it easier for people to see the "must-do" attractions at Disney in less days. Theoretically, a family that doesn't care about "doing it all" and only the best attractions, can visit WDW in about 2 days with a park hopper. Acquire Genie+, purchase the occasional lightning lane for some of the attractions.

The smart Orlando vacation would be to stay at a Universal hotel with express included, knock Universal out in 2 days, and attempt to visit WDW in 2 days with Genie. You'll have a 5th day for a break, water park, etc.

I still hate the system, but it'll be interesting to see how guests react to it.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Also, now they have another thing they can raise prices on. Yearly we can get a price bump on tix, hotel rooms, food, merch and now fast passes. Not to mention the stuff they just straight cut from the experience like Magical Ea press, magic bands and a plethora of other stuff over the years.

I've been on this forum for quite some time. For at least 15 years, WDW has bumped food prices, especially buffets during all the major holiday seasons: Thanksgiving, Easter, December, and probably other holidays as well.

Yet I don't think most people even notice the upcharges. At least, it doesn't seem to come up in comments.

 

[drizgirl]

I've been on this forum for quite some time. For at least 15 years, WDW has bumped food prices, especially buffets during all the major holiday seasons: Thanksgiving, Easter, December, and probably other holidays as well.

Yet I don't think most people even notice the upcharges. At least, it doesn't seem to come up in comments.

I think people who read here and in places like this know to expect it so it's not worth comment.

 

[Jeff4272]

That's the only way I'd ever pay for Genie +. When I go to Epcot the week of New Years, I have no desire to book my rides right at 7am. I actually prefer to wait because I do not want to book a ride so early. For one if it's always next available wouldn't every ride at 7am first be when the park opens? If that is not the case then its already a given they will stagger availability.

I expect..not hope..but expect to be able to ride Soarin and Test Track on the same day. I expect to be able to use LL for both Smugglers Run and Slinky and ToT on the same day. I am not saying it will work seamlessly where backtracking in the park is not necessary or the order of things you wanted to do will fall perfectly in line. I will always prefer FP+ over this, but this will fail if people do not get to go on the rides they want quickly when it's no longer free to do so. You are paying to save time and paying for convience they have to deliver. Its not about whether they care about us as the guests or not it's about them making money on this. You CAN make your first choice at 7am..which is good for those who like to arrive at the park early. You CAN also wait until 10 or 1030 to book your ride. Its one thing if that means you get Test Track at 5pm and you have to now wait 2 hours for your next choice, but to completely be shut out of a ride because of no availability, I do not think even Disney would fall low enough to do.

As for the IAS rides, I also am more concerned about them selling quickly or to the point that the time you get to "choose" is a time that was not really your first choice.

This is the problem with Genie+...... What if we arent going to Epcot until 3pm and staying until close?

Heres the issue:

at 7am, TOT and Soarin return times are 10am, park opening......So now if have to wait and monitor my phone all day to see when a return time comes up for 4pm (after I get into the park), when i want to go........at 10:30am, TT is now available to 4pm return time so i book it. Now i cannot book another until 12:30.......at 12:30, Soarin and everything else i wanted is gone for the day......

So now i just paid $15 pp to skip the line at TT?

What a waste of money..........wont work

Disney should let you pick return times for Genie+ selections

 

[Jrb1979]

This is the problem with Genie+...... What if we arent going to Epcot until 3pm and staying until close?

Heres the issue:

at 7am, TOT and Soarin return times are 10am, park opening......So now if have to wait and monitor my phone all day to see when a return time comes up for 4pm (after I get into the park), when i want to go........at 10:30am, TT is now available to 4pm return time so i book it. Now i cannot book another until 12:30.......at 12:30, Soarin and everything else i wanted is gone for the day......

So now i just paid $15 pp to skip the line at TT?

What a waste of money..........wont work

Disney should let you pick return times for Genie+ selections

It's not setup for those who go to the parks late afternoon. It's setup to keep in the parks from open to close.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Perfect, thanks!

Reported tolerance with FP+ was 5min early and 15 past end of your time. A few times we showed up 20 min late and were waved in, but one of those was Living Seas (standby and FP were = as it was pretty much a walk-on).

 

[jpinkc]

let's remember there is a whole list of rides that have never been on the Fastpass system and are there for you to enjoy as essentially walk-ons.

01. Astro Orbitor
02. Liberty Riverboat
03. Triceratop Spin
04. Carrousel of Progress
05. Peoplemover
06. Tom Sawyer Island
07. Animal Kingdom Express Train to Planet Watch
08. Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico
09. Magic Kingdom Ca

I havent seen any of them walk ons except Tom Sawyer for a while. Pre Pandemic

 

[Chi84]

It's not setup for those who go to the parks late afternoon. It's setup to keep in the parks from open to close.

How do you know this? Are you inferring that this will be the case because of how MaxPass worked - or based on how legacy worked?

 

[Jeff4272]

It's not setup for those who go to the parks late afternoon. It's setup to keep in the parks from open to close.

Yeah thats my problem with it...........and most people dont rope drop so they are alienating a good percentage of their guests

** and before people jump down my throat what i mean is, MK averages 55k people per day, how many of those enter the park at rope drop vs later in the day? I would say 15%, or about 17k of the 55k daily visitors enter in first hour and then the rest trickle in throughout the rest of the day

 

[Jrb1979]

How do you know this? Are you inferring that this will be the case because of how MaxPass worked - or based on how legacy worked?

IMO to get the most out of it you have to be there at rope drop or close to it.

 

[Jrb1979]

Yeah thats my problem with it...........and most people dont rope drop so they are alienating a good percentage of their guests

** and before people jump down my throat what i mean is, MK averages 55k people per day, how many of those enter the park at rope drop vs later in the day? I would say 15%, or about 17k of the 55k daily visitors enter in first hour and then the rest trickle in throughout the rest of the day

Even if you go to the parks by noon you would still get a lot out of Genie+. It's not worth it to buy it if you're only going for the evening.

 

[Disstevefan1]

The regular (free) Genie seems like it's main goal from a corporate perspective is to spread people out in the park, especially people not that familiar with the parks. From watching that All Ears video, you can tell it what rides you're interested in (but it looked like you can only select up to 8 rides), and/or you can just tell it "I like Star Wars and Princesses" - more general interests.

For instance, in HS I can see it directing people who like Star Wars and don't want to wait for the more popular attractions to go over to Star Tours (hardly a replacement for RotR or Smuggler's), because the programming logic thinks Star Wars + a lower wait="maximizing your fun and minimizing your wait". If you say your family likes Princesses, it will direct people equally to anything involving a princess in whatever park, etc.

Of course Genie will constantly find itself telling people that if you REALLY want to ride RotR instead or Star Tours, and you don't want to wait 100+ minutes to do it, hey, ILL is available for purchase. Or if you don't feel that the Mulan meet & greet in China that it suggested is a suitable replacement for waiting 45 mins to ride Frozen in Norway, hey, buy a ILL for that too.

I can see, for the uninformed visitor, they are standing in one of the parks, it’s hot, it’s mobbed. At this point they just want to ride something. ILL to the rescue.

 

[Waters Back Side]

It's not setup for those who go to the parks late afternoon. It's setup to keep in the parks from open to close.

That is a much smaller subset of people though. Why would they set up a system that caters to the open to close guests when they can make more money making it available to people who like going early and leaving mid day or people who like arriving later and staying until close?

Explain to me the logic in that? How does that make sense. If you mean getting the most rides you can throughout the day then maybe. But I think many people will care more about getting on the rides they really want to. If I can do Test Track, Soarin. Spaceship Earth and LWTL in half a day I do not care that the only other rides I didnt do were walk ons anyway.

I definitely see many issues in particular with how the order of how guests want to do things during theor day will be different then what they planned..for example j wait until 10 am to book Test Track. If I'm expecting to go on Trst Track first when I arrive, that might not always be possible. So I might jave to delete for grabbing the 230 slot that is the only option for next available. And have to wait another 2 hours before getting another LL and hoping there is something between 1230 and 230 and if not make another choice like Soarin for later in the day again. Maybe the Genie when you select what you want to do for the day and put it on the my day section will resort your day based on the times you have LL access to your liking or maybe it won't. But I have a hard time believing if we are paying that the rides will become unavailable after a certain time.

The Genie plus can grow on me. I'm not entirely against it like I would hae been with DPA, but if I end up missing out rides because i wait until 1p or 11 instead of 7 I'll never ever buy the product again.

IAS is a different story. I'm pretty confident resort guests in their exclusive 2 hour window will be able to get a slot on the IAS they want, but choice of time might be misleading if the time you want is not available.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

In my opinion, to get the biggest bang for your buck, not only do you have to rope drop but you should park hop every day too. Do as many rides as you can (or want to) in one park then hop elsewhere and do the same. With the no re-rides, that seems to be the best way to get the most LL. Except maybe in MK.

 

[Jeff4272]

In my opinion, to get the biggest bang for your buck, not only do you have to rope drop but you should park hop every day too. Do as many rides as you can (or want to) in one park then hop elsewhere and do the same. With the no re-rides, that seems to be the best way to get the most LL. Except maybe in MK.

Right and that stinks because we have never rope dropped in the 50 years we've been going to WDW and we never buy park hopper.............

And i think i am in the majority vs the minority on that

 

[Jrb1979]

Right and that stinks because we have never rope dropped in the 50 years we've been going to WDW and we never buy park hopper.............

And i think i am in the majority vs the minority on that

What's wrong with going to the parks for noon.

 

[Jeff4272]

What's wrong with going to the parks for noon.

Nothing......we never go before noon........my point is, there will be no value in buying Genie+ unless you wake up at 7am and do rope drop

a lot of rides will likely be gone by the time we get to the park

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I think people who read here and in places like this know to expect it so it's not worth comment.

But they are surprised when WDW raises ticket prices?

I'm inclined to think the difference has more to do with when fees are paid. Tickets, hotels tend to be paid in a lump sum before we arrive. Parking is paid in a lump sum when we depart, but meal charges occur in small increments while we are in the middle of having fun.

Will WDW visitors come to expect/accept the Genie+ and IAS charges, or will "FP+ used to be free" be posted for years to come?

 

[Touchdown]

It’s fascinating to see the thoughts here, while I totally get the “I’m on vacation I want to sleep in” thoughts, I would counter with what goes through my mind, I’m paying a lot of money to be at WDW, I should plan my day to take advantage of it. I always rope drop and close. That said I park hop, have a table service meal everyday and usually take an afternoon break (and sometimes a nap.) The parks are at their most unpleasant in the early afternoon, they are so much nicer in the mornings and evenings.

 

[Jrb1979]

Nothing......we never go before noon........my point is, there will be no value in buying Genie+ unless you wake up at 7am and do rope drop

a lot of rides will likely be gone by the time we get to the park

I doubt that most be gone that quickly. With only being able to pick 1 at a time availability should be good til late in the day. I think most people will pick whatever LL is next time wise. Majority aren't going to purposely look for something later in the day.