Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[dirtnap101]

Focused on checking Smuggler's Run return times this morning. In HS, with Genie+, most people will go for SDD as their first G+ at 7am, and might be looking for Smuggler's next as it seems to be the 2nd most popular G+ selection in the park. Of course, with the current G+ rules, unless you get a SDD return time in the 9am-11am range, you can't make your second G+ selection for Smuggler's until 11am at which point, it seems by the return times below, will be later afternoon or even later depending on the crowd level. And that means waiting another 2 hours until at least 1pm before you can make your next G+ selection. So going for the SDD/Smuggler's combo really effects things if you don't plan to stay in HS all day.

I started looking at Smuggler's around 9:20am and these are the return times offered, checking every 5-10 minutes: 2:35pm, 11:55am, 2:50pm, 2:35pm, 11:50am, 2:40pm, 3:00pm, 1:25pm, 3:00pm. Obviously the overall pattern is 2:35 progressing to 3pm, with a whole lot of random earlier times mixed in due to cancellations (I assume).

It will be interesting to see how entities like Touring Plans that scrape published wait times (and previously in the older days, scraped and tracked published FP return times) handle this aspect of the Genie+ system. It's like a combination of paper FP (but restrained by the 2 hour rule and the no re-ride rule), and then mixed in with the modern fact of digital cancellations (like FP+) which introduces the idea of the FP+ hack of constantly refreshing to see what popped up. Also makes it frustrating that you can't swap your G+ for another in one action, but instead have to cancel the current one and then replace it with another.

 

[Touchdown]

EE and Rope dropping continue to be worth doing, in the first 2.5 hours.
-SDMT
-PPF (official opening happens just before I board)
-BTMRR x 2
-Splash
-PotC
-HM
And I’ll mostly be through the Pooh queue as 11am arrives

 

[DCBaker]

Rise still has slots available at 11:30am today -

 

[dirtnap101]

Rise still has slots available at 11:30am today -

View attachment 595444

SDD also still available for G+ (7:10pm return time), although it seems to have been down most of the morning?

 

[dirtnap101]

Rise still has slots available at 11:30am today -

View attachment 595444

looks like it just sold out around 11:45...I think that's the longest ever in the 6 days ILL so far, I wonder if demand dropped, or Disney increased the supply, or a bit of both?

Edit to add: it's going back and forth between showing availability and being sold out, which I assume is normal when it's very close to selling out

 

[DisneyCane]

looks like it just sold out around 11:45...I think that's the longest ever in the 6 days ILL so far, I wonder if demand dropped, or Disney increased the supply, or a bit of both?

Edit to add: it's going back and forth between showing availability and being sold out, which I assume is normal when it's very close to selling out

I'm going to put my money on increased supply.

 

[dirtnap101]

SDD also still available for G+ (7:10pm return time), although it seems to have been down most of the morning?

and SDD G+ return times are gone around 12:50pm, and it is finally operating with a 50 min wait according to MDE

 

[Patcheslee]

looks like it just sold out around 11:45...I think that's the longest ever in the 6 days ILL so far, I wonder if demand dropped, or Disney increased the supply, or a bit of both?

Edit to add: it's going back and forth between showing availability and being sold out, which I assume is normal when it's very close to selling out

I'd go with a bit of both. Isn't Sunday a popular departure date for alot of tourists as well? I personally wouldn't spend it at HS.

 

[danv3]

EE and Rope dropping continue to be worth doing, in the first 2.5 hours.
-SDMT
-PPF (official opening happens just before I board)
-BTMRR x 2
-Splash
-PotC
-HM
And I’ll mostly be through the Pooh queue as 11am arrives

This works well assuming SDMT and BTMRR both open as scheduled. We did SDMT during early entry the week before last and it had a 15 minute delayed opening, which pretty much torpedoed our plan. By the time we got off, the park was open at PPF was a posted 60 minute wait.

 

[UNCgolf]

This works well assuming SDMT and BTMRR both open as scheduled. We did SDMT during early entry the week before last and it had a 15 minute delayed opening, which pretty much torpedoed our plan. By the time we got off, the park was open at PPF was a posted 60 minute wait.

This is another problem with the short 30 minute early entry window. It shouldn't happen too often, but the window is so short that any kind of delayed ride opening will end up with a situation like yours.

It's obviously still better than nothing, though, since you were at least able to ride SDMT without a wait (other than the delay itself).

 

[yensid1967]

not EVEN A MONTH OLD service and they are raising the prices....when will we start telling Disney...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!?

THEY SHOULD JUST GO WITH A MEDIAN PRICE POINT AND CHARGE A FLAT RATE FOR ALL RIDES! So if the most expensive is $15 and the less is $9...then they should just charge $12 for Daily Genie+! Problem solved!

 

[jinx8402]

not EVEN A MONTH OLD service and they are raising the prices....when will we start telling Disney...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!?

THEY SHOULD JUST GO WITH A MEDIAN PRICE POINT AND CHARGE A FLAT RATE FOR ALL RIDES! So if the most expensive is $15 and the less is $9...then they should just charge $12 for Daily Genie+! Problem solved!

Not sure why the outrage. They were upfront when it was announced that pricing would fluctuate just like ticket prices fluctuate based on season/holiday/weekends.

 

[yensid1967]

Not sure why the outrage. They were upfront when it was announced that pricing would fluctuate just like ticket prices fluctuate based on season/holiday/weekends.

but not so quick. Not outraged just sayin

I guess I should not say anything against it...i don't understand how it works...I have 1800+ days to figure it out and by then there will most likely be something to replace GENIE+

 

[doctornick]

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

yeah, the one ride a day feature makes me feel like it would be much more valuable for hopping so you could get more potential use. Allow re-rides and it becomes much better for staying in one park

 

[Patcheslee]

Not sure why the outrage. They were upfront when it was announced that pricing would fluctuate just like ticket prices fluctuate based on season/holiday/weekends.

It will be interesting to see what they will do over time and what the high/lows will be though.

 

[SeeYinzRealSoon]

Question: I've seen language that the advance DAS video screening is for guests visiting on or after Nov 1 and also for guests arriving on or after Nov 1. My mother and I are arriving October 30 and leaving the evening of November 1. Would I be eligible for the video chat with a cast member or not?

 

[Touchdown]

So about all these inflated wait times I just realized another benefit Disney derived from inflating the wait by 10-20%. All those people using DAS get assigned return times based on that wait, ergo increasing the wait time decreases the amount of attractions DAS people “hijack” LL for free.

 

[ChrisFL]

I do think it is in Disney's best interest to make Lightning Lane a flat rate for all attractions, and not change that price based on day, time of year, etc.

It's about peace of mind in planning...they make it complex and confusing for people it just makes people less happy about their experience and, in some cases, less positive about visiting in the first place.

Lightning Lane is just one small part of MANY changes people are having to worry about and hearing those who do Disney planning for a living (DISUnplugged, etc.) it is a lot of work.

 

[gerarar]

This old Disney World ad really puts things into perspective..

 

[Cousin Huet]

We are going on my Father in Law's salute ticket. I am worried that I won't be able to make Individual Lightning Lane reservations for the first day for rise at 7am. I know I'll be able to start the check-in process for the hotel, but the military tickets won't be validated until that evening when my father in law get's to the park after us. I was hoping i would be able to book rise for the first night and some late night lightning lanes for slinky dog. Then validating tickets that evening and go in the park at maybe 6pm. Not sure this will be possible with the military tickets.

So, you should be fine if all the tickets are on the My Disney Experience account you are using. The validation is just to get in the park the first time. The 7am thing will depend on whether they have your entire party listed on the reservation by name. You have to link Shades of Green reservations on a desktop computer. If staying at another Disney resort then you’ll be fine and won’t have issues with ensuring everyone is linked to the resort reservation….that was a new issue we ran into with SOG.

The individual LL doesn’t impact or interact with the standard Genie+ LL stuff at all. The only standard LL pass that allows you to literally select the time is the first one you make at 7am. The rest it is just the next available time after you choose one. If you were planning to show up at the park (DHS) at like Noon then a 12pm-1pm window would be good. You would be able to then schedule another LL at 11am since the park opens at 9am. Also, overlapping LLs don’t matter like they did previously with other plans….you can do whatever you want in that respect.