Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[bruin086]

How do LL and ILL work for family rider swap? Does everyone in the party need LL or ILL? For the person (or two people?) riding twice, do they need to purchase ILL twice?

 

[UNCgolf]

Again... I think we just need to look at Disney's track record over Guest Recovery. They aren't going to tell a customer to pound sand and walk away over a $9 LL sale. They will offer some other value if the normal alternative doesn't fit the customer and they goto complain.

That's my whole point -- there isn't anything of comparable value, at least that I can think of off the top of my head. People are paying for something very specific. Just offering something else that costs the same (or roughly the same) isn't going to work for the same reason it generally doesn't work with merchandise or food.

I was never suggesting Disney was just going to keep the money and offer nothing in return. I'm saying that this is a fundamentally different thing than typical Disney guest recovery and offering anything other than a refund likely isn't going to work for a lot of people.

 

[Chi84]

Someone posted that Rise was down and their window was extended to the end of the day. Sounds reasonable enough with a no refund policy.

But there’s no reason to extrapolate from this that Disney’s going to keep your money under any and all circumstances. Nor did they offer a different paid ride or offer to substitute some Genie+ rides. People are making things up and then saying those things aren’t good enough. Maybe wait a second to see what actually happens.

 

[flynnibus]

That's my whole point -- there isn't anything of comparable value, at least that I can think of off the top of my head. People are paying for something very specific.

Why is it so foreign to think they won't just give them a LL for another time? or good for another day?
Or if that doesn't work, I'm sure the GR people will come up with something. This is what Disney does... I don't know why people are making this out to be a big deal.

Normal compensation doesn't work for your specific scenario? Disney will listen to you if you put in the time.

This is nothing new.

This is the most 'Karen' topic in this thread yet.

 

[UNCgolf]

Why is it so foreign to think they won't just give them a LL for another time? or good for another day?
Or if that doesn't work, I'm sure the GR people will come up with something. This is what Disney does... I don't know why people are making this out to be a big deal.

Normal compensation doesn't work for your specific scenario? Disney will listen to you if you put in the time.

This is nothing new.

This is the most 'Karen' topic in this thread yet.

If you would read the thread, you'd already see the answers to these questions. The whole point is that refunds are likely going to be a necessity because of the specific situation at hand, which is very different from the standard Disney issues you're talking about.

It's literally the least 'Karen' thing imaginable.

 

[disneygeek90]

Someone posted that Rise was down and their window was extended to the end of the day. Sounds reasonable enough with a no refund policy.

But there’s no reason to extrapolate from this that Disney’s going to keep your money under any and all circumstances. Nor did they offer a different paid ride or offer to substitute some Genie+ rides. People are making things up and then saying those things aren’t good enough. Maybe wait a second to see what actually happens.

IMO, you’re paying for a top tier ride at the specific time when you want. If that’s not met, there should be a refund. People aren’t required to stay until close and that shouldn’t be a requirement. If rise is down, offer an option in the app to cancel the booking. Disney loses nothing (they didn’t experience the attraction they had paid upfront for) and the guest walks away less annoyed than if they had to choke down the $15-60.

 

[Chi84]

If you would read the thread, you'd already see the answers to these questions. The whole point is that refunds are likely going to be a necessity because of the specific scenarios at hand. I'm not even sure what you're trying to argue.

It's literally the least 'Karen' thing imaginable.

I’m not sure how many questions were actually answered because there probably haven’t been enough experiences reported and we don’t know the circumstances surrounding the ones that were.

 

[UNCgolf]

I’m not sure how many questions were actually answered because there probably haven’t been enough experiences reported and we don’t know the circumstances surrounding the ones that were.

The questions he posed were answered -- i.e. why just offering a different LL or a different time isn't going to work for everyone for various reasons.

I feel like people aren't even understanding the point @disneygeek90 and I are making regarding refunds vs. other recovery options. It's about a blanket no refund policy (if that's what's happening -- I specifically said this was hypothetical) and why that's unlikely to work.

This isn't like FP+ or even Genie+ where you're not really owed anything specific. This is a transaction for a specific item (experience) at a specific time.

 

[disneygeek90]

I’m not sure how many questions were actually answered because there probably haven’t been enough experiences reported and we don’t know the circumstances surrounding the ones that were.

It shouldn’t even be a secret tho, or something you need to go to guest services for. If the ride is down during your selected time, a refund should be available. No questions asked.

 

[Chi84]

The questions he posed were answered -- i.e. why just offering a different LL or a different time isn't really going to work for this situation.

I feel like people aren't even understanding the point @disneygeek90 and I are making regarding refunds vs. other recovery options.

I understand it and agree that refunds should be given if a ride is not available at the time you purchased it for. I can see a no refund policy based on a guest’s change of mind or failure to show up, but a ride going down is different. Just my opinion, but I don’t see Disney sticking with this policy for very long. Too many unhappy guests and terrible publicity.

 

[UNCgolf]

I understand it and agree that refunds should be given if a ride is not available at the time you purchased it for. I can see a no refund policy based on a guest’s change of mind or failure to show up, but a ride going down is different. Just my opinion, but I don’t see Disney sticking with this policy for very long. Too many unhappy guests and terrible publicity.

Right -- this is the only point I've been making from the start. If a ride is down, not having a refund even as an option is going to cause problems.

I was never suggesting people should be able to get a refund just because they change their mind, although I don't think there's much reason for Disney to forbid that either. It would just open the spot for someone else.

 

[aaronml]

You are given an "Experience Redemption" to use when it comes back.

Is this what the app calls it now? For a while they were showing in the app as “Experience Access” but I would have hoped they’d have switched to “Lightning Lane” branding by now.

 

[UNCgolf]

You are given an "Experience Redemption" to use when it comes back.

Well we just had a long discussion about this, but what if it's impossible for a person to ride when it's back up due to a dinner reservation or something along those lines? Or if the ride doesn't come back up the whole rest of the day?

Is there any indication what Disney plans to do in those scenarios?

 

[flynnibus]

If you would read the thread, you'd already see the answers to these questions. The whole point is that refunds are likely going to be a necessity because of the specific situation at hand, which is very different from the standard Disney issues you're talking about.

It's literally the least 'Karen' thing imaginable.

Disney gives a hundred different forms of Guest Recovery outside of Refunds. The sky is not falling if there are no refunds... and again if you talk to Disney, they are one of the most back-bending companies on the planet when it comes to Guest Recovery.

Disney isn't going to screw people over a $9 digital line skip.

 

[Chi84]

Well we just had a long discussion about this, but what if it's impossible for a person to ride when it's back up due to a dinner reservation or something along those lines? Or if the ride doesn't come back up the whole rest of the day?

Is there any indication what Disney plans to do in those scenarios?

I think we’ll have to wait until the problem becomes a real one instead of a hypothetical. Then Disney will respond and we’ll know. They may even change or tweak their policy since it’s only been in effect one day.

Disney’s guest recovery has always been excellent. Just as an example, when I sent an email informing them of problems we had having our credit card repeatedly disconnected from MDE a few years ago, I received a call the next day from a person who took quite a bit of interest in the issue. She then gave us two complimentary nights at Bay Lake Tower.

I know that’s an extreme example, but I don’t think there’s any reason to conclude prematurely that Disney is going to deny refunds under any and all circumstances.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think we’ll have to wait until the problem becomes a real one instead of a hypothetical. Then Disney will respond and we’ll know. They may even change or tweak their policy since it’s only been in effect one day.

Disney’s guest recovery has always been excellent. Just as an example, when I sent an email informing them of problems we had having our credit card repeatedly disconnected from MDE a few years ago, I received a call the next day from a person who took quite a bit of interest in the issue. She then gave us two complimentary nights at Bay Lake Tower.

I know that’s an extreme example, but I don’t think there’s any reason to conclude prematurely that Disney is going to deny refunds under any and all circumstances.

I don't either -- I don't think anyone was suggesting that was actually going to be their blanket policy. It was just a hypothetical discussion based on the earlier information that Disney was not offering refunds to people today even though Rise went down; this is a discussion board, after all!

I fully expect them to change their policy (if that is in fact their policy) because I don't think there's an easy way to get around it that's going to work for most or all guests.

It's also really only going to be an issue on Rise the vast majority of the time. The other rides don't go down very often. I'm still curious about skipping the preshows on Rise, though. I think it's really bad form for them to skip roughly half the experience when people are paying for it; I know I'd be very unhappy.

 

[RSoxNo1]

On the home page next to My Future Plans you will see My Day with the option to change it. Change that day to the first day of your park hopper ticket. You should then be able to scroll down to a purple bar asking if you would like Genie+. If you click that, it should lead you through a series of prompts letting you add it. You have to add it for the entire trip.

Thanks, I think part of the issue initially was I have an AP but people I'm traveling with are getting 8 day hoppers. I didn't click far enough.

It also appears that if you have a hopper it's an all or nothing proposition, you can't selectively say you want it for one day but not the other.

 

[FantasiaMickey2000]

So I was here today. I went to Animal Kingdom. I did not buy any of this and I certainly felt like I didn’t need it. I’m sure folks at Hollywood Studios may have felt differently but I see zero value in Genie+ at AK or the ILL for Everest. I could maybe see it for FoP if the wait is over 2 hours. But I got to the park a little after 8 and only had a 50 minute wait. I’d assume if you want to ride FoP just try not to ride in the middle of the day and you shouldn’t have a bad wait.

 

[DisneyDodo]

Why is it so foreign to think they won't just give them a LL for another time? or good for another day?
Or if that doesn't work, I'm sure the GR people will come up with something. This is what Disney does... I don't know why people are making this out to be a big deal.

Normal compensation doesn't work for your specific scenario? Disney will listen to you if you put in the time.

This is nothing new.

This is the most 'Karen' topic in this thread yet.

Why should you have to “put in the time” to get reimbursed for a service the company couldn’t provide? If the ride goes down, it should be just as easy to get your money back as it was to book the ILL in the first place. If Disney wants to also offer other options, like an any-time pass, great! But there is no excuse for refusing a refund, or making you hunt one down.

 

[flynnibus]

Why should you have to “put in the time” to get reimbursed for a service the company couldn’t provide? If the ride goes down, it should be just as easy to get your money back as it was to book the ILL in the first place. If Disney wants to also offer other options, like an any-time pass, great! But there is no excuse for refusing a refund, or making you hunt one down.

Disney will give automatic recovery options - if those options don't work for you, then you need to goto GR.

none of this is new