Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Jeff4272]

I didn't check every day during thanksgiving week... but I checked Monday tuesday and Wednesday at DHS. Everything except SDD and MFSR was always available at 11. By 1pm ToT and RnRC were sometimes sold out. 1pm always still had TSMM, alien and ST.

I didn't check the rest of the parks, so maybe TT and soarin sold out, but I would be shocked if SSE, the Land or MS were sold out by 11.

Thats not true....I was there Sunday-Thursday and went to HS on Monday 11/22 and Wednesday 11/24 nd we got shut out of ROTR b of an MDE email code request glich, then got SDD for 5:50pmish return and when eligible to book my second Genie+ at 11am the only thing really left was TSMM..............on 11/24 it was worse, only ST was left at 11am

 

[Touchdown]

So...if you got a LL for rise you'd be on immediately - cost 60 mins

Your handful of 30 mins waits..lets say 5....5 x 30 = 150 mins

Add the 60 mins

210 minutes you waited EXTRA in queues than if you'd paid.

So 3 and a half hours extra waited that day....I mean, you may not think at the time, but as shown, even on a day you thought wasn't worth it, it's cost you 3 and a half hours...which robbed you of about 7 rides that day.

Except I hop so in order to save my waits I would need a morning or early afternoon LL for Rise and Mickey. Also some of the times I waited more then 30 min besides DHS were Frozen (cause I only went to Epcot in the evenings) and extra rides on SDMT and FoP. The only >30 wait I regret was JC and that’s only because the line was really short but little did I know JC is now permanently in phase 3, and before I realized that I was too far in and leaving the JC line is impossible.

 

[Thepuma]

You don't like Genie + and won't purchase it.

You don't like stand-by if 30 minutes.

You might have a problem.

Not up you purchase G+ and LL , as shown it would save 3 and a half hours in waits.

Each to their own though I guess.

 

[flynnibus]

People that book resort stays several times a year (like me and my family) want to know we are getting on the high profile rides.......I would never pay $1k a night for a deluxe room if there was a chance i couldnt get on FOP or ROTR without waiting over 2 hours (which happened to me this trip), while getting up at 6:50am, while having my face buried in my phone all day.....

Clearly the solution to your family's needs is VIP tours - just stop spending so much on disney rooms and instead put that money into a tour group.

 

[pdude81]

I agree.......But something will need to change

FP+ fizzled out in 7+ years........I'm willing to bet Genie+ is less than half of that......

This system is EXTREMELY flawed


People will figure it out soon enough......when its slower, it's 100% not necessary and when it's busy, it's 100% not worth it.....

People that book resort stays several times a year (like me and my family) want to know we are getting on the high profile rides.......I would never pay $1k a night for a deluxe room if there was a chance i couldnt get on FOP or ROTR without waiting over 2 hours (which happened to me this trip), while getting up at 6:50am, while having my face buried in m y phone all day.....

Its just not a vacation if I have to do that and I wont pay for that and my guess is a lot of others wont either

They may need to add some sort of option to choose ahead of time, whether for free or for another 5 bucks a head. They are allowing DAS to preselect so there is a system in place. It's a reasonable change and even if they made you pay 5 bucks on top for one preselected then you could at least get your priorities lined up.

However, FP+ had a fundamental flaw that Genie doesn't. That flaw is that each guest got a specific number of free passes per ticket/reservation. So you increase the number of guests for revenue and the line skips increase in tandem. That helped distribute crowds to lower attractions for quite a while but they were always going to run into a brick wall with that program since they claimed they would never charge for it. This is worse for us, certainly right now, but has the potential to keep things fresher as they'll always want a new, popular ride to sell. And with more ride capacity, they can increase attendance and Genie purchases instead of giving out the new capacity in fastpasses. I assume this also helps greatly increase the amount of money they get per passholder, per visit.

So I don't think Genie fizzles. I think they would rather do an 80:20 split like the old fastpass to encourage sales than let this die.

 

[Jeff4272]

Clearly the solution to your family's needs is VIP tours - just stop spending so much on disney rooms and instead put that money into a tour group.

Ha....VIP Tours are $5,000 a day when I go....>Dont think so

 

[Jeff4272]

Clearly the solution to your family's needs is VIP tours - just stop spending so much on disney rooms and instead put that money into a tour group.

And I'll give you a little hint....Everyone in those deluxe 1BR+ rooms (and some studios) is paying the same rate if they arent DVC

 

[flynnibus]

Ha....VIP Tours are $5,000 a day when I go....>Dont think so

5k a day... get another group together.. now 2500... that's like 3 days hotel cost. Decide what's more important. Get more done with VIP tour and stay less.

 

[Jeff4272]

5k a day... get another group together.. now 2500... that's like 3 days hotel cost. Decide what's more important. Get more done with VIP tour and stay less.

It's all important......I shouldnt have to sacrifice hotel nights just to get on rides in under 2 hours............we just did 5 days at Thanksgiving but our last trip was 10 days in April.......

SO for the same cost as my previous 10 day trip i now get 3?

Thanks but no thanks

Even you would agree thats stupid

 

[flynnibus]

It's all important......I shouldnt have to sacrifice hotel nights just to get on rides in under 2 hours............we just did 5 days at Thanksgiving but our last trip was 10 days in April.......

SO for the same cost as my previous 10 day trip i now get 3?

Thanks but no thanks

Even you would agree thats stupid

Here's the thing - you can do something about it or keep crying here about it. I prefer to focus on what can be done moving forward, not crying over spilled milk for weeks on end.

 

[Jrb1979]

It's all important......I shouldnt have to sacrifice hotel nights just to get on rides in under 2 hours............we just did 5 days at Thanksgiving but our last trip was 10 days in April.......

SO for the same cost as my previous 10 day trip i now get 3?

Thanks but no thanks

Even you would agree thats stupid

There is so many other parks out there. Maybe it's time to travel around the country and check them out

 

[clarabellej]

I haven’t been since before pandemic. I had it down to a T, with Fastpass+ and Magical Express. Regretting that my husband never got to experience any of the ease of touring then. We had always stayed off site when he went. Then for 13 years in a row we did Value resort (mostly Pop) & took advantage of early FP+ booking, etc. I tried telling him how we only had to wait in long lines if we chose to.
It was all too good to be true. We’ll miss it, along with Wishes fireworks & old Epcot.

 

[matt9112]

It's true. That's why adding new attractions has never solved the crowding problem. How many new attractions have been added since 1955 and here we are, 60 some years later still complaining the place is too crowded.

I almost thought that Fastpass documentary would have settled this.

How much capacity has been added....replacing okd with new is moot. The parks n

I agree they are under built. Whats also true is that's not getting fixed anytime soon. It's why I say the only temporary fix is limit Genie+

Or there could be enough noise that they actually spend the money needed on the parks and not just "streaming"

 

[Jrb1979]

How much capacity has been added....replacing okd with new is moot. The parks n

Or there could be enough noise that they actually spend the money needed on the parks and not just "streaming"

Maybe eventually. For the next few years I don't see them spending much on the parks til they recoup some of the losses from the last few years

 

[Thepuma]

I haven’t been since before pandemic. I had it down to a T, with Fastpass+ and Magical Express. Regretting that my husband never got to experience any of the ease of touring then. We had always stayed off site when he went. Then for 13 years in a row we did Value resort (mostly Pop) & took advantage of early FP+ booking, etc. I tried telling him how we only had to wait in long lines if we chose to.
It was all too good to be true. We’ll miss it, along with Wishes fireworks & old Epcot.

This exactly. We were the same - the holidays went brilliantly, was thoroughly enjoyable and once you had picked your 3 FP+ in advance you could relax and enjoy your stay.

Now it's stress and having your phone in your hand all day like a zombie.

I miss the old FP+ days so badly.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Here’s the dirty secret… IP is sort of irrelevant unless they hit a merchandise nerve.

It neither guarantees a good nor bad experience. An all IP park could be better than Magic Kingdom, or it could be worse. Right now Magic Kingdom simply has by far the most stuff. A park like WDSP doesn’t suck because it has too much IP, it sucks because it is badly made.

Pandora and Galaxies Edge though in their ways are also very well done and popular.

IP attractions are a year one marketing push driven by focus groups.

 

[Purduevian]

Thats not true....I was there Sunday-Thursday and went to HS on Monday 11/22 and Wednesday 11/24 nd we got shut out of ROTR b of an MDE email code request glich, then got SDD for 5:50pmish return and when eligible to book my second Genie+ at 11am the only thing really left was TSMM..............on 11/24 it was worse, only ST was left at 11am

Thrill data keeps track of G+ Availability. Here is 11/22:

Wait Times at Hollywood Studios - Thrill-Data

Learn what to ride and when with wait times at Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando, Universal Hollywood, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Cedar Point, and more

www.thrill-data.com

Sell out times for DHS:
SDD: ~7am
MFSR: ~10am
RnRC: ~11:05am
ToT: ~11:50am
TSMM: ~12:45pm
Alien: 1pm
Star Tours: ~3pm
So by 11:05 3 rides were sold out. Still had ToT, TSMM, Alien, and ST until 11:50. Then by 1pm you had a shot at Alien, but for sure could have gotten ST

Availability on 11/24: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/hollywood-studios/2021/11/24/2021/11/24
SDD: Really hard to tell, had sometimes had spots up to 7:45
MFSR: ~9:25am
RnRC: ~11:30am, but did have a gap right at 11am
ToT: ~12:20pm
TSMM: ~1pm
Alien: 1:40, but had a gap right at 1pm
Star Tours: ~2:45pm
So again 2 maybe 3 rides sold out at 11. With possibly TSMM, Alien and for sure ST available at 1pm

 

[Jeff4272]

Thrill data keeps track of G+ Availability. Here is 11/22:

Wait Times at Hollywood Studios - Thrill-Data

Learn what to ride and when with wait times at Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando, Universal Hollywood, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Cedar Point, and more

www.thrill-data.com

Sell out times for DHS:
SDD: ~7am
MFSR: ~10am
RnRC: ~11:05am
ToT: ~11:50am
TSMM: ~12:45pm
Alien: 1pm
Star Tours: ~3pm
So by 11:05 3 rides were sold out. Still had ToT, TSMM, Alien, and ST until 11:50. Then by 1pm you had a shot at Alien, but for sure could have gotten ST

Availability on 11/24: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/hollywood-studios/2021/11/24/2021/11/24
SDD: Really hard to tell, had sometimes had spots up to 7:45
MFSR: ~9:25am
RnRC: ~11:30am, but did have a gap right at 11am
ToT: ~12:20pm
TSMM: ~1pm
Alien: 1:40, but had a gap right at 1pm
Star Tours: ~2:45pm
So again 2 maybe 3 rides sold out at 11. With possibly TSMM, Alien and for sure ST available at 1pm

Well either their data is wrong or POSSIBLY there were 1 or 2 still available after someone dropped and you had to constantly refresh (of which you would have to be on your phone all morning from 11am on)

I'll guarantee you there weren't RnR or ToT available.i have a 16, 15 and 13 year old to prove it

 

[HoustonHorn]

Thrill data keeps track of G+ Availability. Here is 11/22:

Wait Times at Hollywood Studios - Thrill-Data

Learn what to ride and when with wait times at Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando, Universal Hollywood, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Cedar Point, and more

www.thrill-data.com

Sell out times for DHS:
SDD: ~7am
MFSR: ~10am
RnRC: ~11:05am
ToT: ~11:50am
TSMM: ~12:45pm
Alien: 1pm
Star Tours: ~3pm
So by 11:05 3 rides were sold out. Still had ToT, TSMM, Alien, and ST until 11:50. Then by 1pm you had a shot at Alien, but for sure could have gotten ST

Availability on 11/24: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/wdw/hollywood-studios/2021/11/24/2021/11/24
SDD: Really hard to tell, had sometimes had spots up to 7:45
MFSR: ~9:25am
RnRC: ~11:30am, but did have a gap right at 11am
ToT: ~12:20pm
TSMM: ~1pm
Alien: 1:40, but had a gap right at 1pm
Star Tours: ~2:45pm
So again 2 maybe 3 rides sold out at 11. With possibly TSMM, Alien and for sure ST available at 1pm

That is consistent with my experience on 11/23.

So, at least for busy weeks, it's kinda back to the tiers as of August 19: you get 1 of either SDD or MFSR (or maybe RNR), then you get some less popular after. Unless you get lucky and catch an SDD in the first 2 hours, which would let you have a shot at MFSR.

The difference between now and August 19, of course, is that now you're paying for the privilege, and instead of stressing 60/30 days in advance, you're stressing every day.

Perhaps I'm dumb, but I'm going to give this another shot in a less-busy time before I write it off completely. Some tweaks to pricing and LL/Standby ratios would help. But assuming it's sticking around, they HAVE to fix the ability to modify LL selections.

 

[Jeff4272]

That is consistent with my experience on 11/23.

So, at least for busy weeks, it's kinda back to the tiers as of August 19: you get 1 of either SDD or MFSR (or maybe RNR), then you get some less popular after. Unless you get lucky and catch an SDD in the first 2 hours, which would let you have a shot at MFSR.

The difference between now and August 19, of course, is that now you're paying for the privilege, and instead of stressing 60/30 days in advance, you're stressing every day.

Perhaps I'm dumb, but I'm going to give this another shot in a less-busy time before I write it off completely. Some tweaks to pricing and LL/Standby ratios would help. But assuming it's sticking around, they HAVE to fix the ability to modify LL selections.

I hear you..........But what i would suggest is test it......Have 1 person in your party buy it and 1 not and see if you even need it. I bet during slower times you would have no need to even pay for it

The annoyance of waking up at 6:50 to do it, having to have your face in your phone all day, having to criss cross the park all day long might not be worth it........


Oh yeah, and you wont have to pay either


This has been my point the entire time........When its busy, its not worth it and when its slow, you dont need it and by not getting it saves you from waking up early, constantly being on your phone and not having a good touring plan