Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[BrianLo]

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

MaxPass, for better or worse, was also better because Disneyland actually has ride capacity.

 

[Casper Gutman]

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

The possible silver lining is that the only way Disney would ever abandon their decades-long program of crowd manipulation and finding new ways to break broken parks is if the policy failed spectacularly and publicly. We MAY be seeing that happen. Things have to go very wrong before they resign themselves to returning to the old ways of adding capacity (and they might just try to sell the whole division again).

 

[Kman]

"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

 

[Jrb1979]

The possible silver lining is that the only way Disney would ever abandon their decades-long program of crowd manipulation and finding new ways to break broken parks is if the policy failed spectacularly and publicly. We MAY be seeing that happen. Things have to go very wrong before they resign themselves to returning to the old ways of adding capacity (and they might just try to sell the whole division again).

Or maybe in the mean time limit availability to buy Genie+ like how every other park does it.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

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

....Merry Christmas everyone?

 

[pdude81]

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

I have no idea. I'm just saying we can't assume this is permanent unless it persists beyond 1/2

 

[RSoxNo1]

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.

MnMRR has not been the ride that has been the problem. It's high capacity, and it regularly has waits of 60 minutes or less. Posted wait times are often overstated.

I'm very interested to see how this moves the needle in each of the parks. I imagine all four attractions will immediately become the highest demand Lightning Lane in their respective parks and hopefully it allows others to last longer in the day. If it's only a two week run than it won't be a true assessment, so here's hoping this lasts longer than the announced time table.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Yeah, I am not sure adding these 4 to Genie+ is going to actually improve the situation for anyone. Right now it’s 3PM and there are still ILLs for Everest, Space and the last few remaining for Frozen. This gives guests a choice to participate as late as 3PM. Putting them on Genie+ will just make them sell out as fast as the rest of Genie+. They will be gone by noon. So Genie+ guests will still have the same disappointment of not getting selections for good rides after their first 2 only now the ILL buyers are out of luck too.

The counter argument to this is that certain Genie+ attractions are selling out well before these. The attractions included in the $15 grouping need more strength and adding these 4 rides back does that.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

MnMRR has not been the ride that has been the problem. It's high capacity, and it regularly has waits of 60 minutes or less. Posted wait times are often overstated.

I'm very interested to see how this moves the needle in each of the parks. I imagine all four attractions will immediately become the highest demand Lightning Lane in their respective parks and hopefully it allows others to last longer in the day. If it's only a two week run than it won't be a true assessment, so here's hoping this lasts longer than the announced time table.

The real problem is 60 minutes for runaway is just not a sustainable crowd distribution pattern.
There is no way to alleviate any of these issues that are going to decrease park disgruntlement without building more stuff…and that takes forever and they have nothing being built that wasn’t announced 4-5 years ago at this point. So it’s gonna take forever and while that does - things will get much, much worse

that is iger’s failure…he will be vilified just as fast as Mikey was…and more deservedly

you can’t sit on parks…it’s antithetical to the entire Disney park rep. Can’t do it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The real problem is 60 minutes for runaway is just not a sustainable crowd distribution pattern.
There is no way to alleviate any of these issues that are going to decrease park disgruntlement without building more stuff…and that takes forever and they have nothing being built that wasn’t announced 4-5 years ago at this point. So it’s gonna take forever and while that does - things will get much, much worse

that is iger’s failure…he will be vilified just as fast as Mikey was…and more deservedly

you can’t sit on parks…it’s antithetical to the entire Disney park rep. Can’t do it.

DHS needs moderate demand, high capacity attractions. Honestly, long term something like Ratatouille would have been perfect (I think it's properly placed in EPCOT, I'm speaking strictly on capacity vs quality).

The park is also hurting with its lineup of 30 year old shows.

The biggest thing through all of this though is that M&MRR absolutely should have been a new build with GMR receiving an update. That would have gone quite a long way to solve the capacity issues.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

DHS needs moderate demand, high capacity attractions. Honestly, long term something like Ratatouille would have been perfect (I think it's properly placed in EPCOT, I'm speaking strictly on capacity vs quality).

The park is also hurting with its lineup of 30 year old shows.

The biggest thing through all of this though is that M&MRR absolutely should have been a new build with GMR receiving an update. That would have gone quite a long way to solve the capacity issues.

Can’t disagree with any of this

they spent 6 years reworking/cutting into the mothballed studio areas and ended up with the same ride capacity - more or less.

that capacity served the park in the late 90’s…and here we are at square one

 

[SingleRider]

Is this new language on Disney's site for ILL purchases? It seems that they are now limiting the ILL purchases to one at a time instead of booking them both at 7am or park open.

For some of our most highly demanded attractions, Lightning Lane entrance access is available to purchase individually. Guests may purchase and select an arrival window one at a time for up to 2 attractions a day. This option is available for all Guests—with or without Disney Genie+ service.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Can’t disagree with any of this

they spent 6 years reworking/cutting into the mothballed studio areas and ended up with the same ride capacity - more or less.

that capacity served the park in the late 90’s…and here we are at square one

How much did Studio Backlot Tour do an hour? Personally, I like the park better now than the previous 15+ years, but the point is not without merit. It's a top heavy attraction lineup that needs to be further rounded out. The other problem is that at this point it's probably not due for another ride for at least 5 years. DAK and EPCOT need more first.

 

[Fox&Hound]

DHS needs moderate demand, high capacity attractions. Honestly, long term something like Ratatouille would have been perfect (I think it's properly placed in EPCOT, I'm speaking strictly on capacity vs quality).

The park is also hurting with its lineup of 30 year old shows.

The biggest thing through all of this though is that M&MRR absolutely should have been a new build with GMR receiving an update. That would have gone quite a long way to solve the capacity issues.

I will never understand why Disney is not embarrassed to be still trotting out B&tB, Indy, and Mermaid after all these years. No offense to the actors involved (who are wonderful), but take these shows behind the barn and shoot them (Note- the shows, not the actors). Replace B&TB with a brand new show, update Frozen and then use the Mermaid space for a redo of Animation Courtyard/Launch Bay for a new land with rides and same for the space where Indy is. It's not that difficult to figure out how to fix the capacity issues with DHS. I loooooove that park but it desperately needs additional rides (GE and TSL are a great step in the right direction) and updated shows).

 

[RSoxNo1]

I will never understand why Disney is not embarrassed to be still trotting out B&tB, Indy, and Mermaid after all these years. No offense to the actors involved (who are wonderful), but take these shows behind the barn and shoot them (Note- the shows, not the actors). Replace B&TB with a brand new show, update Frozen and then use the Mermaid space for a redo of Animation Courtyard/Launch Bay for a new land with rides and same for the space where Indy is. It's not that difficult to figure out how to fix the capacity issues with DHS. I loooooove that park but it desperately needs additional rides (GE and TSL are a great step in the right direction) and updated shows.

I'm of the opinion that DHS should have multiple theaters to act as pseudo black box stage show venues. New movie comes out, it gets a 5-7 year run. Then if there's one deserving of a larger scale do that (looking at you Aladdin the Musical).

 

[Fox&Hound]

I swore I would NEVER pay extra for rides at WDW. I loathed the idea of ILL on top of the already steep ticket price. Then I went two weeks ago after delaying our trip last year and ILL (while expensive) became a wonderful way to experience rides we were interested in riding:

1. Rise of the Resistance- Worth EVERY penny and I would pay again in a heartbeat.
2. Mickey- yup, totally worth paying for and I am glad I did.
3. Flight of Passage- yup, thanks.
4. Everest- probably not needed but it was a nice opportunity to skip the line.

I preferred ILL to Genie+ which we tried in DHS and MK and did not really seem worth it (maybe MK)....

 

[rct247]

Yeah... this switching ILL to Genie+ news isn't good. It means clearly there isn't enough capacity. You have people buying Genie+, find out there are no good times or rides left to pick from after 2 choices or less. The demand is there but they're in a catch-22. Raise prices even more to reduce usage will create even more outrage or everything "good" is sold out by lunch and it is a rip off.

The parks need more ride capacity. Not "attractions". Rides. Period.

 

[Casper Gutman]

How much did Studio Backlot Tour do an hour? Personally, I like the park better now than the previous 15+ years, but the point is not without merit. It's a top heavy attraction lineup that needs to be further rounded out. The other problem is that at this point it's probably not due for another ride for at least 5 years. DAK and EPCOT need more first.

DAK should come first. It’s a good park with a lot of room that needs a lot of capacity - it’s an easy, obvious fix. MGM is a harder sell (I mean, they’re all hard sells given Disney’s delusional focus on crowd management, but in a sane world…) because it just got so much investment, but it needs a new slate of shows, several FL style dark rides, and perhaps one or two headliners. MK seems the most complete at a cursory glance but probably needs almost as much extra capacity as MGM, given the crowds.

EPCOT is basically a vacant lot. Preserve SSE and MAYBE LwtL, and rebuild from the foundations up with a new, coherent philosophy. There’s very little there of value except a lot of bittersweet memories.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

How much did Studio Backlot Tour do an hour? Personally, I like the park better now than the previous 15+ years, but the point is not without merit. It's a top heavy attraction lineup that needs to be further rounded out. The other problem is that at this point it's probably not due for another ride for at least 5 years. DAK and EPCOT need more first.

It doesn’t matter what it replaced…it’s a numbers game…

attendance has risen property wide by 25% since 2000 and zero parks have added much of consequence to address it. The only real net gain is avatarland.

mgm shouldn’t really have star tours anymore…or Indy or beauty and the beast…or one mans dream or launchbay…mermaid…

ok…maybe star tours but that doesn’t make much sense either.

most things are old now…and not in a classic Disney kind of way.

Iger set this in motion the first ten years…building for ego the last 5 is a BB gun at an elephant

 

[lazyboy97o]

The possible silver lining is that the only way Disney would ever abandon their decades-long program of crowd manipulation and finding new ways to break broken parks is if the policy failed spectacularly and publicly. We MAY be seeing that happen. Things have to go very wrong before they resign themselves to returning to the old ways of adding capacity (and they might just try to sell the whole division again).

I just can’t see leadership gaining the confidence to stand up for such a change even if decades of “wisdom” finally collapsed.