Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Patcheslee]

Frozen is really bad tonight with the ILL. In 10 minutes I counted 50 people check into ILL. The line is moving as slow as in the FP days. Very different from any other ride I’ve experienced at Epcot.

Has it been down today?

 

[Touchdown]

I don’t know

 

[dav23]

Have now used Genie+ at Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Just don't think the value is there at all. The 2-hour and one-ride only restrictions make it very difficult to use the system in your favor. Just not enough attractions.

The ILL system, to me, is more efficient and while it costs more, at least you know what you're getting when you pay for it. It is very possible to drop a lot of money on Genie+ only to have a combination of factors make your day a total bust.

 

[DisneyDodo]

Sure, it's more affordable, but that's because it's a completely different product. Disney would have to charge even more than Universal does if they offered a similar product for WDW.

I don't know why people keep comparing them because the only thing they have in common is that they let you skip a standby line. Basically everything else about them is different.

Uni’s EP is actually more similar to WDW’s VIP tours than it is to G+, so by that standard, it’s dirt cheap.

 

[awoogala]

Uni’s EP is actually more similar to WDW’s VIP tours than it is to G+, so by that standard, it’s dirt cheap.

and no extra person added to talk to all day... the one time we did a vip tour, it was...awkward (but I'm not a very good people-person).

 

[ChrisFL]

I want to give it a month or so to see how people's experiences are. Unfortunately these kinds of systems can only anticipate guest behavior so much prior to launch

 

[wutisgood]

They have bumped up admission prices MASSIVELY in the last five years - increased prices on most days by about 40%. It doesn't make a difference. Until people stop paying, they'll keep grabbing. The big change is that WDW feels less and less compelled to hide the greed.

Stubhub for a time showed the price with fees by default and that corresponded with lower average sell prices. Adding just to the cost upfront actually would make a difference in less money for disney. People are mostly dumb enough to not look at total price if it isn't presented to them. There is a reason annual passes spiked massively when they created payment plans. People don't have more money they just are bad at managing money.

 

[wutisgood]

Have now used Genie+ at Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Just don't think the value is there at all. The 2-hour and one-ride only restrictions make it very difficult to use the system in your favor. Just not enough attractions.

The ILL system, to me, is more efficient and while it costs more, at least you know what you're getting when you pay for it. It is very possible drop a lot of money on Genie+ only to have a combination of factors make your day a total bust.

I think if I were at one day at hollywood studios I would spend the 15 on rise and just go early to do the rest, but if that return time ended up being really late, could I ask for some sort of refund because I couldn't even park hop and used a hopper to enter? I would not be on site and would prob get a late time. Do they let rise run late that once can get in standby last minute? So they give 2 hours worth of line compensation if it breaks down?

 

[nickys]

So, how does this work for APHolders?

You need to add it each day that you want it.

Other than that, no difference.

 

[nickys]

Have now used Genie+ at Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Just don't think the value is there at all. The 2-hour and one-ride only restrictions make it very difficult to use the system in your favor. Just not enough attractions.

The ILL system, to me, is more efficient and while it costs more, at least you know what you're getting when you pay for it. It is very possible drop a lot of money on Genie+ only to have a combination of factors make your day a total bust.

I think DHS would be a great place to have Genie+. Unless return times are so far out that you really do have to wait the full 2 hours to book another.

At AK I would be trying to ride everything early on (using the early hours perhaps) and then stacking G+ times to ride things again, maybe after a break or lunch at AKL.

That said I think there’s more value in Genie+ when you park hop.

 

[nickys]

I think if I were at one day at hollywood studios I would spend the 15 on rise and just go early to do the rest, but if that return time ended up being really late, could I ask for some sort of refund because I couldn't even park hop and used a hopper to enter? I would not be on site and would prob get a late time. Do they let rise run late that once can get in standby last minute? So they give 2 hours worth of line compensation if it breaks down?

You’d have to go to GS to ask for a refund.

But you could also hop to Epcot so that you can get back to DHS for your ILL time.

 

[GimpYancIent]

They have bumped up admission prices MASSIVELY in the last five years - increased prices on most days by about 40%. It doesn't make a difference. Until people stop paying, they'll keep grabbing. The big change is that WDW feels less and less compelled to hide the greed.

Yes! Less of a product, lower quality of a product, minimize guest experiences, but, raise park ticket prices well beyond any competitor, raise resort rates beyond any competitor, charge resort guests parking fees (because others do it) and now additionally charge for rides that used to be part of the park ticket price. Whether a person has money to burn or is scrimping / saving and borrowing in order to go to a Disney property the enthusiasm, excitement and desire to experience Disney is slowly but steadily on the decline. Sadly the reality check will occur when the money flow goes down to a trickle because the public finds more worth while entertainment options that satisfy them at reasonable costs.

 

[John park hopper]

Disney picks and chooses what fees they will charge and justifies it by saying others do it i.e. resort parking fees. If thats the game they play the majority of other hotel chains provide at a minimum continental breakfast, rewards for frequent guests ( points for future stays., free parking, snack bags on check etc, etc). Come on Disney get with the program and do what others do touch of sarcasm

 

[dreday3]

We've been doing quite well with Genie + and getting rides easily at MK, AK and DHS. Today we are trying with Epcot.

But advice, book Slinky early, we missed out! But can get Wednesday.

Paid for Rise and Railway. Would not pay for Rise again, but Railway is a pretty awesome ride!!! Would definitely pay for that another day if long lines.

Honestly, if it wasn't so hot and humid, probably could do without as most lines under an hour. But being able to breeze through lines without melting is a great thing right now!

Having a great trip. Gran Destino is gorgeous, but I have to be honest, staying here does feel different than staying at an Epcot or MK resort. Find myself missing the sound of boat horns!

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

I've seen many people say that Universal Express Pass is a better deal than Genie+. I find that perplexing. I realize the differences are you can ride the same ride multiple times and don't have to make reservations but with the price of Express Pass for one day you could book Genie+ for a week and objective ride several times the number of rides that you would in a day at Universal with Express Pass.

I don’t know that it’s a “better deal”. There are a lot of factors and those factors can be subjective to the individual.

But what it is - is a better process. If I decide that I want to go on Gringotts - I walk up (whenever I want), get in the EP line, scan my pass, ride the ride. There’s no “return time”, no availability issues, no need to pre-plan.

 

[Chi84]

I was under the impression that you could schedule the ILL’s but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A window pops up with a couple of times, but you can’t load more. So they work pretty much like Genie+. At least that’s my experience. I asked a cast member at CBR and he started explaining the entire process from Disney’s side. Didn’t seem to get what I was asking so it’s possible I didn’t get the best info.

 

[dreday3]

I was under the impression that you could schedule the ILL’s but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A window pops up with a couple of times, but you can’t load more. So they work pretty much like Genie+. At least that’s my experience. I asked a cast member at CBR and he started explaining the entire process from Disney’s side. Didn’t seem to get what I was asking so it’s possible I didn’t get the best info.

We've been able to schedule all of them for the evening even at 7am. When you click, it gives you hours, then when you click hours, it gives every 15 minutes of that hour, about.

 

[Chi84]

We've been able to schedule all of them for the evening even at 7am. When you click, it gives you hours, then when you click hours, it gives every 15 minutes of that hour, about.

Thanks so much! I’ll go tell the CM I just talked to.

 

[Touchdown]

Not sure if this was Genie related or not but at 9:03 in the MK the HM had a 30 min wait (all queues inside the gate filled) I wisely walked past that and walked onto BTMRR x2 and then walked onto Splash. The app had them correctly listed at 5 min waits too so I’m not sure if it was just the first ride EE folks saw at opening or Genie sent them all that way.

 

[JAB]

An interesting tidbit I saw while watching one of the vloggers using LL... if you have your max of 2 ILL reservations booked, but one of your ILL attractions goes down and your reservation gets converted to an anytime pass, it no longer counts against your 2 ILL cap, and the system will let you book a 3rd ILL.