Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[surfsupdon]

Any update, Steve? I have been waiting to read your news

 

[Waters Back Side]

I thought the news was early entry being extended to 1 hour and 4 rides being moved to Genie + (1 from each park). There is more news then that?

 

[el_super]

Is Genie+ struggling?

It seems really hard to tell. Based on the reports here of lack of availability and general long return times, it may be struggling with popularity. Too many people are trying to use it.

 

[MrPromey]

Despite the cost, I like Lightning Lane much better than FP+. The system absolutely needs to be tweaked though. Two upcharge attractions per park doesn't make a lot of sense when you back into what you can actually ride with Lightning Lane. If they dropped the $15 charge for Lightning Lane, removed the unnecessary attractions that they include to "add value" (shows, typical walk ons, etc) then it would be fine.

Part of the reason people liked MaxPass is that it didn't include unnecessary attractions. The other MaxPass decision that I prefer is that you can only use it once you've checked into the park.

You can't compare a MaxPass experience at Disneyland park to anything at WDW, though.

The sheer difference in attraction numbers made it easy for DL to leave out the unnecessary attractions and still make people feel like there was a lot to choose from. They can't even pull that off at the MK which has more than double the next park at the Florida resort on offer...

I feel like the people who argue against capacity being the main problem have never been to DL.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Genie seems to have been designed with the goal of keeping guests in the parks from open to close. That's not how a lot of guests do the parks. It's as if Disney doesn't know their guests at all.

Oops, I slipped back and called us "guests" again, darn it. We are "consumers" now, sorry about that.

I was really surprised to see the word "sales" used in the pop-up in the app. That's not a word Disney generally uses...usually it's availability or something similar.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think it's a simple move to try to add more inventory to the Genie+ pool... they know G+ is struggling.

That could impact their revenue streams…it’s not quite that simple

With the crowds that are coming, they don't have the number of passes needed for G+ to be acceptable without the ILL rides. This may well be a temporary or "seasonal" thing in times of high demand. I wouldn't read too much into it until we see whether it goes back to normal after the new year.

I don’t think you really believe they’re in this control of the situation, do you?

Or we could all go back to that experience if Disney invested its money in attractions to match capacity these past 30 years. MK attendance has skyrocketed in 30 years. Total hourly attraction capacity has stayed roughly the same.

That ship sailed long ago…not because you’re incorrect…because we kept buying at higher prices while they sat.

On Christmas week, yes, I expect very high demand. Other times perhaps you can pick and choose, but when the crowds are insane I expect the ability to purchase in app will be an easy add for most people. I'm not sure if their idea is to pull back some of the ILL to G+ for each day or just for the holiday, but what I was saying is just that it's too early to know which way this is heading. I have zero inside information on it. Just an outside analysis.

I think they were showing a disaster and nothing hurts future bookings like a well publicized disaster on Christmas.

the reality is they are terrible at running their own parks now…and when that’s being questioned - by both wall and Main Street - even chapek has to address it.

 

[MrPromey]

There are some significant issues brewing around Genie+. I'll have more later.

See guys?! Sadly, even Steve isn't above click-bait.

... he just buries his on page 532 of a forum thread instead of putting it on the front page of his main site.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You can't compare a MaxPass experience at Disneyland park to anything at WDW, though.

The sheer difference in attraction numbers made it easy for DL to leave out the unnecessary attractions and still make people feel like there was a lot to choose from. They can't even pull that off at the MK which has more than double the next park at the Florida resort on offer...

I feel like the people who argue against capacity being one of the main problems have never been to DL.

Maxpass was so much better…I bet the Disneylanders are loving the new pathetic thing they have now?

 

[Touchdown]

Maxpass was so much better…I bet the Disneylanders are loving the new pathetic thing they have now?

Seriously I just wanted this in Florida. No gating the most popular rides in a separate system, no pre booking, only get to book once in the park. Rewards rope droppers.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Seriously I just wanted this in Florida. No gating the most popular rides in a separate system, no pre booking, only get to book once in the park. Rewards rope droppers.

You didn’t even have to rope drop…as it was pretty dynamic throughout the day.

just a much better system in practice. The problem in wdw is really only has enough attractions to satisfy the crowd in one park. The numbers haven’t worked for years…

so you get a paid version of the fastpass+ rationing system…which is all that was for most.

 

[MrPromey]

I love how every step they make to try and make the Disney experience better always makes it more complicated and frustrating.

Standby had slow moving lines but at least they were constant.
Fastpass was basically a virtual queue and it worked ok...the best of Fastpass.
Fastpass+ was just a joke basically needing to book 2 months in advance basically preventing you from swapping your park days while on vacation.
Now Genie+. It gives you bad recommendations, tries to upsell you and, if you do follow it, could have you traversing back and forth through the parks rather than moving at a gradual pace.

I long for the days of waking up on vacation, going to the parks, being able to experience what I wanted to experience, eat where we wanted to eat, and heading back to the resort...without constantly checking wait times and when my reservation window would open and can we do attraction X before needing to rush to our dinner reservation...

Universal isn't perfect by any means but I just got back from a day at Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay... We walked around the lagoon and hit every attraction along the way. We didn't have Express Pass. We just took our time and didn't feel rushed to get to reservations or attraction times. It was really refreshing.

Someone commented on why Universal isn't on top of this really digging in at Disney but at the moment, I feel Disney is giving Universal the best free marketing they could ever hope for.

They just need a few more billboards on 1-4 to remind people they're just up the road.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I see MnMRR being put on the G+ list as a huge negative. The only reason we managed to get on it 3 times on our break was because we paid for it. The stand by lanes were crazy times and with so many other long lines in that park, we couldn't wait 90 minutes for that ride, as good as it is.

You should wear this shirt in a Disney park:

 

[MrPromey]

And I could stand to lose a few $20s, if ya know what I mean.

Disney does


But in seriousness, I can relate.

 

[Thepuma]

It seems really hard to tell. Based on the reports here of lack of availability and general long return times, it may be struggling with popularity. Too many people are trying to use it.

Which is baffling considering that less than half of guests buy G+ , AND you can only have 1 G+ at a time , so how can return times be WORSE than FP+ which was free and 3 bookable up front.

 

[Thepuma]

You should wear this shirt in a Disney park:

Everyone who buys LL+ and Genie + is subconsciously wearing it ....all those not paying for extras is wearing one with "mug" written on it instead. A mug for paying $125 to get in yet stuck in massive lines all day, making it terrible value for money.

 

[HauntedPirate]

"Everyone loves it" - Bob Chapek
"33% of guests are using it" - Bob Chapek

"Spots running out early for many, many rides, and Disney apparently re-thinking things less than 3 months after it was unleashed" - Reality

 

[Thepuma]

I thought the news was early entry being extended to 1 hour and 4 rides being moved to Genie + (1 from each park). There is more news then that?

If Resort guests are let in 1 hour early...and they put more top tier rides on the Genie list, it will soon be pointless non-resort guests getting to the park before their first G+, which would probably be midday at best.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Everyone who buys LL+ and Genie + is subconsciously wearing it ....all those not paying for extras is wearing one with "mug" written on it instead. A mug for paying $125 to get in yet stuck in massive lines all day, making it terrible value for money.

You already paid…that’s the fundamentals

but it’s not your fault…it’s everyone who said “magic” with a straight face for 20 years.

que sera

 

[Casper Gutman]

It feels like we've crossed a threshold. For over a decade, Disney has been, for the most part, a well-run company that didn't particularly value their parks division, exploiting it as a cash register, neglecting investment, and developing a twisted "blue ocean" strategy that resulted in increasingly counter-productive decisions.

Since about a year ago, Disney is a badly run company.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I don’t have the answer, but it certainly feels like they took a system that wasn’t perfect but also wasn’t completely broken and now destroyed it