Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Plus, DAS, to include DAS Advance
Just wanted to say when I started reading this thread at page one a few hours ago, there were only 16 pages and I just now caught up with the end at 51. (for the moment)

Steve, I feel like I deserve some sort of achievement badge for making it to the end in real-time, please!


I don't even want to imagine where we will be by noon tomorrow...

Sorry for quoting you but that was my timestamp proof ;)
 
Last edited:

Waters Back Side

Well-Known Member
It’s not that you have to wait 90 minutes after the window ends on your first ride. MaxPass’ rule was that you had to wait to get another pass until either you used the first pass, *or* 90 minutes had passed since you *obtained* the pass, whichever was shorter.

For example: If you got a pass at 9am, and the return window was 10-11am, you could get a new pass as soon as you used the pass. So at 10am you checked into the first ride, then opened the app and immediately got a second pass. That second pass’ window was from 7-8pm. Then you have to wait 90 minutes to get another pass. So you get a third pass at 11:30am. And so on.
So technically that means I could have two passes at once for two different times. One I grab right after the 10am check in of the first ride for a window of 7p-8p return and another that i choose to get starting at 11:30. Realistically this means you cant ride more then one ride at a time during a certain return window (which was also the case with FP+) but you can still have 2 Lightning Passes at once for two different times of the day.
 

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
I think your UPCHARGE is way to low for the Tier 1 screw job I can sense coming. They already found a way to make us pay for Standing in the Stand by line as you know Genie+ will be gobbled up so it will become the defacto Stand By line
Just going by what was said earlier in the thread. If it’s so low that all the G+ users purchase all the Tier1 rides, even at $25 a pop (family of 4, two Tier1 per park, $200 per family for a once in a lifetime “magical” day at MK) they will sell out.

Every. Single. Day.
 

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
Or the genie+ passes are so limited that the lightning line moves fast but the majority of people who bought genie+ are in standby line.

functionally it depends on how many passes are available to genie+ purchasers: same, more, or less than the old FP? If more than yes the lightning line is the new standby line. If same, then functions like legacy fp or max pass. If less, then you get through quicker if you score a pass but get stuck in standby if not.
If they are charging $15 for a Fast Lane and its not Fast then they will have problems. Oh its a 90 minute wait for Lightning Lane and how long is Stand By probably 95or 100 minutes, Disney Wins :mad:
 

Waters Back Side

Well-Known Member
I don't mind the new system in theory. Well $600 for my family of four over our 10-day vacation sounds steep, it's definitely thousands cheaper than a VIP tour that I'm also considering (mostly for the convenience of simplicity.)

My problem is all the different line systems that have to be juggled now. Even if you decide to not buy genie+, or lightning lane tier one access, you still have some level of management between standard cues and virtual cues. So the average guest (not most people on this board) needs to be aware of which rides use virtual and which ones don't. And then they need to be aware of which ones use lightning lane with genie+ and which ones don't. And we're still not sure if there will be some rides that use nothing but the standard cue. So at minimum we have four different line systems running simultaneously in the park, and maybe more. That's a lot of information to juggle it seems.

There were 3 different systems prior before the shut down when FP+ was still existant...fast pass, stand by and virtual (which was only 1 ride and now will be 2 rides).
 

TinkerBelle8878

Well-Known Member
This sounds absolutely awful and confusing. I really wish they would've gone the same route as Universal with this. Only a certain number of passes with the express thing on it sold per day and thats it. Everyone else goes about business as usual. Realistically, where does this leave people who don't want to pay more, and don't like to preplan their days like this?
 

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
There were 3 different systems prior before the shut down when FP+ was still existant...fast pass, stand by and virtual (which was only 1 ride and now will be 2 rides).
This thing has all the Earmarks of Complete CLuster F&##. There is no way the CM's will be able to manage this when everyone shows up for there Lightning Lane pass under Genie+ expecting a 30 or less wait. Its just renaming the Stand By line and us rubes paying Disney $15 more to stand there. God Forbid with this new system you show up wanting to do Old Fashioned Stand BY.
 

SarahWI

Member
If they are charging $15 for a Fast Lane and its not Fast then they will have problems. Oh its a 90 minute wait for Lightning Lane and how long is Stand By probably 95or 100 minutes, Disney Wins :mad:
I guess I understood it as paying 15$/day doesn’t guarantee fast lane for every ride (like at universal). If you have genie+, you might get a fast lane pass for Buzz but you might not. If they limit the number of fast lane passes, then how is the lane wait 90 minutes? What did I miss?
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
This sounds absolutely awful and confusing. I really wish they would've gone the same route as Universal with this. Only a certain number of passes with the express thing on it sold per day and thats it. Everyone else goes about business as usual. Realistically, where does this leave people who don't want to pay more, and don't like to preplan their days like this?
Disney decided long ago that people who don’t create and follow minutely detailed preplans are bad for business because they create staffing inefficiencies and may not otherwise behave in a manner designed to maximize corporate profits. So they got rid of them.

I used to visit WDW 3 or 4 times a year. It was being forced to preplan, even more then the price increases, that ended that.
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
It's even worse than that for the average day guest - there are now FOUR types of rides:

1) Stand by queue only
2) Genie +
3) Pay per ride
4) Virtual queue

At some point they need to step back and see this is an amusement park and people are coming to spend a leisurely day riding carnival rides with their family.

Layer on top the multiple ticket media options (single day, multi-day, annual pass) and the different benefits of onsite vs offsite, dining programs, etc, etc.

It REALLY doesn't need to be this complicated.

This is too many revenue management execs given too much free reign. The average guest doesn't care nor need all of this in their lives.

Nobody at a senior level (looking at you Josh) owns the guest experience and they will pay the long-term brand cost for this.
And always remember, all of this is a comically desperate effort to avoid building new rides and shows.
 

KrzyKtty

Well-Known Member
And I wouldn't mind virtual cues as much if it wasn't for the fact that you basically need an atomic clock, training, fast fingers, and the luck of the gods to get a boarding pass. It's not like the virtual queue at Universal for Hagrid's where it's fairly easy to get a pass almost at any point in the day. So for a large majority of the guests, there won't be much of a way to ride virtual cues unless they are willing to pay. If that's even an option.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom