Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Chi84]

Or if you wanted to park hop...

Who is gonna go on record as saying "3 FP+s was all I ever wanted..."

That wouldn’t be so unusual for people who spent several days at WDW and split the days between water parks/resort pools and theme parks. We were fine with just 3 FP+ on most of our days.

One of our favorite days at WDW was breakfast at the resort followed by late morning/early afternoon and lunch at Blizzard Beach. Back to the resort for a break, then headed to AK toward the end of our FP+ window for Safari - we then hit EE at the early part of that window and did standby at Dino on the way to our FP+ window for FOP.

We fit in dinner at Nomad Lounge (great small plates), then headed back to SSR and walked over to Disney Springs for drinks and entertainment.

Not everyone is all about the rides, and being able to schedule a few FP+ made for a pretty relaxing day. Those days appear to be over, so the question for us is whether we find a way to work with the new system or find another place to vacation.

 

[James Alucobond]

Old system you booked 3 in advance and done. Now if you wanted 10 FPs playing the refresh game and wanted to have your face in your phone doing refreshes all day...It's on you.

You could book 3, but only one could be from the higher tier of attractions. That was okay for some of the parks, but if you wanted to hit a lot of headliners in Magic Kingdom, for instance, it wasn't really sufficient. EPCOT also had a really unfortunate array of tier 1s, in my opinion. At least one of my FP+ bookings always felt like a waste.

Not everyone is all about the rides, and being able to schedule a few FP+ made for a pretty relaxing day. Those days appear to be over, so the question for us is whether we find a way to work with the new system or find another place to vacation.

If you're not too fussed about rides, I don't see why it still can't be a relaxing day.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

You could book 3, but only one could be from the higher tier of attractions. That was okay for some of the parks, but if you wanted to hit a lot of headliners in Magic Kingdom, for instance, it wasn't really sufficient. EPCOT also had a really unfortunate array of tier 1s, in my opinion. At least one of my FP+ bookings always felt like a waste.

MK was the best park for FP's in a tiered system.

Either way, it was much better than what we have now.

 

[mikejs78]

You could book 3, but only one could be from the higher tier of attractions. That was okay for some of the parks, but if you wanted to hit a lot of headliners in Magic Kingdom, for instance, it wasn't really sufficient.

Magic Kingdom never had multiple tiers.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Magic Kingdom never had multiple tiers.

exactly!

 

[Chi84]

If you're not too fussed about rides, I don't see why it still can't be a relaxing day.

Not fussed about the number of rides, but we did want to ride the ones we wanted at the times that were convenient for us.

 

[James Alucobond]

Magic Kingdom never had multiple tiers.

Really? I'm struggling to remember why I felt like I had to waste a FP+ in early 2020, then. Maybe everything was already taken in spite of me setting my alarm for the early morning to book. My bad.

MK was the best park for FP's in a tiered system.

Either way, it was much better than what we have now.

I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and I can see why certain kinds of vacationers would vastly prefer FP+. IMO, being paid is what makes Genie an instant dumpster fire since it's not discernibly superior, just different.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Really? I'm struggling to remember why I felt like I had to waste a FP+ in early 2020, then. Maybe everything was already taken in spite of me setting my alarm for the early morning to book. My bad.


I think there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and I can see why certain kinds of vacationers would vastly prefer FP+. IMO, being paid is what makes Genie an instant dumpster fire since it's not discernibly superior, just different.

No question FP+ could have been improved on

 

[James Alucobond]

No question FP+ could have been improved on

I just have zero memories of FP+ actually meaningfully helping me, but that's as a person who only goes every 3 years or so, has to re-learn the system every time (obviously, since I can't remember the tiering), and is the begrudging designated getter-of-reservations for the whole family.

 

[gerarar]

So here’s my breakdown of my first and only Genie+ day for my week long trip (no ILL’s):

(format: got in line-out of ride, blue means G+ reservations made at appropriate qualifying events)
AK
G+ 7am — MMRR for 2:45-3:45. Gave a later time bc it recognized the park hop (later redemption LL)
FoP: 8:05-9:45
G+ 10am — ToT for 4:25-5:25
Dinosaur: 10:10-10:45
Everest: 11:05-11:20 (single)
Kali: 11:25-12:35
G+ 12pm Pirates for 5:15 - cancelled later bc of ROTR
Dinosaur: 1:45-2:35
(missed G+ 2pm bc they were all too early return times)
Park hopped to HS by bus

HS
MMRR: 3:30-3:50 (LLR)
G+ 3:30 Pirates for 8:15-9:15
Star Tours: 3:55-4:25 (20 min estimated)
ToT: 4:35-4:50 (LL)
G+ 4:35 Splash for 8:35-9:35
RotR: 5:00-6:40 (115 min estimated, but down from 5:25-5:55)
G+ 6:40 BTMR for 10:10-close
Park hopped to MK by bus

MK
7:30-8:15 Enchantment waiting and show
PoC: 8:25-8:35 (LL)
G+ 8:25 Space for 9:45-10:45
SM: 8:45-9:05 (LL)
G+ 8:45 HM for 10:00-close
PPM: 9:25-9:45
Space: 10:05-10:15 (LL)
HM: 10:25-10:40 (LL)
BTMR: 10:45-10:55 (LL)
Finished day drenched in rain and exhausted lol

After the 10:05pm redemption, the remaining LL’s were for rides I was not considering like Tea Cups, Speedway, etc.

At one point, I had 3 stacking LLs for Space, HM, and BTMR. My main strategy was to go for rides with larger demand, even if the times were much later. I tried to schedule times around my HS park hop before I had to go to MK for Enchantment.

Overall I would say $15 was worth skipping all those 45-90min waits at HS and 20-60min waits at MK. But it’s a lot of work to plan on the spot and make sure everything’s in order.. Would not really do again for this trip. Now to focus on getting a Rat BG in a couple days..

 

[arich35]

The old way while not perfect was still better. Going to the parks now and planning the day of the morning of is way more stressful than doing it all in advance

After experiencing it last week I couldn't agree more. Also trying to explain it to my wife 10 times and her still not understanding it drove me insane even though I don't completely understand it.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Or if you wanted to park hop...

Who is gonna go on record as saying "3 FP+s was all I ever wanted..."

Not so much all I ever wanted, but certainly something I was content with. If I got the 3 rides I wanted close to or at the times I wanted them, I did not feel the need to grab another. That is not to say if I was allowed to have four or five to start I would not use them. And 2 months in advance I knew what rides I was going on. It was not a mystery as to if I would actually be able to get FPs for them like it is now up to the day of.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That wouldn’t be so unusual for people who spent several days at WDW and split the days between water parks/resort pools and theme parks. We were fine with just 3 FP+ on most of our days.

If this were the case it wouldn’t have been such a big complaint.

 

[Jrb1979]

If this were the case it wouldn’t have been such a big complaint.

That's the thing I don't get. One the complaints is that on busy days people are lucky to get 2 LL a day. Yet many here are saying they were happy with 3 FP+ they pre-booked in the old days. Something doesn't add up.

 

[doctornick]

If this were the case it wouldn’t have been such a big complaint.

The biggest complaints I ever heard was that (some) people didn’t like the pre planning and locking their days in to set itineraries, not that 3 FP+s weren’t enough

 

[LittleBuford]

That's the thing I don't get. One the complaints is that on busy days people are lucky to get 2 LL a day. Yet many here are saying they were happy with 3 FP+ they pre-booked in the old days. Something doesn't add up.

Well, one service was free while the other costs $15. It’s not surprising to me that people resent not getting their money’s worth.

 

[TikibirdLand]

The biggest complaints I ever heard was that (some) people didn’t like the pre planning and locking their days in to set itineraries, not that 3 FP+s weren’t enough

Lots of complaints on the old system. It felt almost Soviet at times: Can we go to Space Mountain now? No, you know we have an ADR scheduled 2 months ago and we can't be late!

But, this new system sounds like a total dumpster fire to me. It's gotta change before we consider visiting again.

 

[G00fyDad]

That's the thing I don't get. One the complaints is that on busy days people are lucky to get 2 LL a day. Yet many here are saying they were happy with 3 FP+ they pre-booked in the old days. Something doesn't add up.

What doesn't add up is the two Lightning Lanes you can get on this system may not be the ones you would have originally chosen 60 days in advance with FP+. Maybe the only things allowed to me on the new system would be two Lightning Lanes that would have been my last two choices with the old system. You are effectively saying "Hey, you got the ride two things so you ought to be happy. Who cares if it's not the two that you really wanted?"

 

[mikejs78]

That's the thing I don't get. One the complaints is that on busy days people are lucky to get 2 LL a day. Yet many here are saying they were happy with 3 FP+ they pre-booked in the old days. Something doesn't add up.

Except I could pick what times were convenient to me for my 3 FP+ reservations. Oh, and I didn't have to be checking atomic clocks and hitting reserve at exactly 7 AM every single day of my vacation to get any one of the headliners.

Doing that once @ 60 days is *far* preferable than doing it every day of my trip at 7.

 

[Jrb1979]

Well, one service was free while the other costs $15. It’s not surprising to me that people resent not getting their money’s worth.

I get that but it's still the cheapest skip the line system out there. Judging by the many comments in regards to paying for it, I get the feeling many either don't visit other parks much or if they do they don't buy a skip the line pass.