Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Jrb1979]

I give it a month before they add the old fp+ 3+ available times and the option to modify.

Doubt it. The way it's going so far I doubt much changes. Disney giving 1 choice allows them better control of how many are in a LL queue at a time.

 

[Waters Back Side]

wow so are we in the realm of 1 minute after park and its gone. pressure for off-site guests there

And yet the standby is only 40 minutes..so the best time to ride it standby is now.

 

[Jrb1979]

The question is was the standby really 45 minutes or was it 25 minutes? The people in LL will never know so no matter what the reality is, it is always in Disney's interest to post long standby waits. Even if the real wait is less, it will encourage Genie+ and ILL purchases as well as make the purchaser feel like they got a better value.

5 minutes is still better then 25 minutes. I find it funny how so many are trying to justify using standby as if it's better then LL and having little wait.

 

[JohnD]

You beat me to it. A good, simple view. Glad it's back. Of course mine is "feeling a little empty" right now, LOL.

 

[LovePop]

I like the results for Genie+ so far. The availability and wait time is, for the most part, superior to Fastpass+, making it totally worth it. The only exception I see is with Slinky Dog, but I am definitely getting it.

On the other hand, Genie+ is not absolutely necessary if you know what you are doing. I just read about this blogger who made it through 20 attractions in MK yesterday. He got on SDMT at night, when the fireworks was almost finished, when the posted wait time was 50 minutes but the ride was actually a walk on with empty slots.

The popular rides must post big wait times towards the end so that people don't come and the CMs can close shop on time.

 

[RoadiJeff]

wow so are we in the realm of 1 minute after park and its gone. pressure for off-site guests there

One minute still sounds easier than when the RotR virtual BGs used to fill within the first 8-10 seconds of 7:00am and 1:00pm, alhough I had that routine down pretty well.

 

[Jeff4272]

Yes, I more-so meant for those complaining that they don't want to wake up at 7am.

Nothing really is being lost by sleeping in and booking when you want to wake up (if you aren't rope dropping), since it takes a while to mobilize to the parks and rope drop doesn't mean arriving at 9am, it means arriving way before (and waking up at 7am anyways).

This system is actually made quite well for those who want to sleep in, have a lazy breakfast, maybe pool and head to the parks with several already booked in the mid afternoon.

Not necessarily true.........If im going to HS, I NEED to wake up at 7am to book my SDD Genie+ for a 12:15-1:15 return time..........That way when the park opens at 9am i can book my second at 11am

If i wait until 9am to book my SDD, it could be gone by the time i get up....for eg., right now its almost sold out and today is a very slow day in the park.............so you risk losing a top tier Genie+ ride if you sleep in

 

[wdwmagic]

One minute still sounds easier than when the RotR virtual BGs used to fill within the first 8-10 seconds of 7:00am and 1:00pm, alhough I had that routine down pretty well.

true, but the window seems to be dropping. Roughly went from 40 mins, to 25 mins, to 1 min. Guesses for tomorrow? Resort only?

 

[JohnD]

Can we stop for just a minute to appreciate the new inadvertent acronym? All this Genie+ Lightning Lane stuff is making me ILL.
@MisterPenguin have you added it to the list?

I said it first. But to be fair, how can you not think of this with this particular acronym?

 

[Jrb1979]

Not necessarily true.........If im going to HS, I NEED to wake up at 7am to book my SDD Genie+ for a 12:15-1:15 return time..........That way when the park opens at 9am i can book my second at 11am

If i wait until 9am to book my SDD, it could be gone by the time i get up....for eg., right now its almost sold out and today is a very slow day in the park.............so you risk losing a top tier Genie+ ride if you sleep in

Why not wake up at 7am book it and go back to sleep?

 

[Jeff4272]

5 minutes is still better then 25 minutes. I find it funny how so many are trying to justify using standby as if it's better then LL and having little wait.

Why? Standby is free, LL is not.......It is justifiable, esp if the posted wait time is 40 mins, actual is 25......... essentially you are paying $75 for my family of 5 to save maybe 20 mins? thats $225 an hour


I'd like to get paid $225 an hour


I think very justifiable

 

[Jeff4272]

Why not wake up at 7am book it and go back to sleep?

Why not let me book at 9pm the night before?

 

[Jrb1979]

Why? Standby is free, LL is not.......It is justifiable, esp if the posted wait time is 40 mins, actual is 25......... essentially you are paying $75 for my family of 5 to save maybe 20 mins? thats $225 an hour


I'd like to get paid $225 an hour


I think very justifiable

You are looking at in a vacuum. I'm looking at it as for $15 not only am I saving time, I'm also getting many more rides then those in standby. I am that guy that will wave at those in standby.

Why not let me book at 9pm the night before?

Cause they are going that days LL. Make it for park open make every one happy.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Smart move. Timeshares are never a good deal. People's DVC deposits put on the stock market would likely generate a much greater return in 30 years than the "savings" they experience.

And locking yourself into a yearly vacation sounds like an obligation, not a relaxing time.

yeah…. At the time I was drinking the kool-aid by the gallon. And I had money burning a hole in my pocket.

MANY times I’ve been thankful I didn’t sign that paperwork.

 

[DisneyCane]

Why? Standby is free, LL is not.......It is justifiable, esp if the posted wait time is 40 mins, actual is 25......... essentially you are paying $75 for my family of 5 to save maybe 20 mins? thats $225 an hour


I'd like to get paid $225 an hour


I think very justifiable

I was going to post something similar. I would just state that standby isn't really "free," it's just included with your park admission whereas LL is an additional charge.

 

[Jeff4272]

You are looking at in a vacuum. I'm looking at it as for $15 not only am I saving time, I'm also getting many more rides then those in standby. I am that guy that will wave at those in standby.


Cause they are going that days LL. Make it for park open make every one happy.

Vacuum or no vacuum, $225 an hour is still $225 an hour...........by the end of the day, we will have been on the same rides in almost the exact same park time, it's just that you will have paid and i didnt

Im not saying its not worth it to you, im saying its not worth it to me

i wave at all the people from the Bahamas when im on my second vacation from all the money i saved on my Disney vacation

 

[jinx8402]

I am that guy that will wave at those in standby.

Wow. really classy

 

[Jeff4272]

I was going to post something similar. I would just state that standby isn't really "free," it's just included with your park admission whereas LL is an additional charge.

semantics

 

[DisneyCane]

You are looking at in a vacuum. I'm looking at it as for $15 not only am I saving time, I'm also getting many more rides then those in standby. I am that guy that will wave at those in standby.

Are you really getting that many more rides? You can only use LL once per attraction.

With the original paper FP, I could ride many more rides. In fact, I used to be able to hit the headliners in all 4 parks in a single day, most of them with FP and some multiple times with FP. I had to rope drop one park and plan to be there until closing of one of the latest to close but I could do it. Something like that is impossible with this system.

Here's an example of something I would do often. At Epcot, I could rope drop, go straight to Soarin' (when it was over CA without bending buildings), get a FP for 9:30-9:45, ride standby before FP kicked in with a very short wait, go over to TT as soon as my Soarin' window opened, get a FP for somewhere around 11:30. Go back to the Land and get a Blueberry Muffin for breakfast, ride Soarin' with my FP. Ride the rest of the Epcot rides until my TT window opened. Before getting in the FP line, I would check the distribution times for TT FP. If it was for 6:15PM or later, I'd go grab one. If it was earlier, I'd ride with my FP first and then grab one.

Now, I'd leave Epcot, go grab lunch and then head to MK. I'd get a FP for either Space or Splash as soon as I got there (picking the one with the earliest return time) and then go ride the other one with standby. I'd use a combination of FP and standby to ride everything I wanted to do in MK in 3 or 4 hours. Then, I'd head back to Epcot and ride TT with my evening FP.

If Genie+ mimicked the distribution system of the original paper FP then you could ride many more rides in a day if you had a good strategy. You can definitely spend less time in the parks with Genie+ to ride the same number of rides but I'm not sure if you can really ride "many" more given equal time in the park with somebody doing standby only. With ILL added (every time I type that I think of "Licensed to Ill" by the Beastie Boys), you can do more for sure if the standby person is going to ride things like FoP or RotR. You are paying for it but your $24 (I'm assuming that's what it will be on busy days) can save you 2 1/2 hours of standing in line and you can probably ride 3 or 4 other rides in that time.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Not necessarily true.........If im going to HS, I NEED to wake up at 7am to book my SDD Genie+ for a 12:15-1:15 return time..........That way when the park opens at 9am i can book my second at 11am

If i wait until 9am to book my SDD, it could be gone by the time i get up....for eg., right now its almost sold out and today is a very slow day in the park.............so you risk losing a top tier Genie+ ride if you sleep in.

Not to mention if you get lucky at 9 AM nd find a slot for SDD, it might be during a dining reservation because it will be that late in the day/early in the evening. Then you will not be able to "just wait" until later. SDD is the one so far that needs the 7-8 AM booking. Even FOP in AK has been available all day on the ILL tier whereas ROTR (and several times during the say Smugglers Run) has been sold out. Smugglers usually opens up availability it seems.

Im going to book a MRR LL for 12 Noon on my HS day and walk in around noon with a SDD Genie sometime after with Genie + choices every 2 hours or when redeemed.