Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[doctornick]

My mistake. I was thinking that I read someplace that the week after Christmas was always one of the slower weeks.

I think it was probably the week after New Years that you were reading about as being slower.

 

[Disstevefan1]

As long as it evolves into something worthwhile.

Whatever it becomes, it will be monetized…

 

[Waters Back Side]

Today at 7 am I bought Rise for 6pm and 12 minutes later got a Genie + for Slinky. Also got a Genie + LL for RNRC. Rode MMRR with a 55 minute wait standby. Genie + Alien Saucers and Star Tours. A 6 ride day with 4 Genie + rides and Rise.

A productive and satisfying day where I was able to get both SDD and Rise successfully. Still not ideal to wake up at 7 am but it did work out for us.

 

[MrPromey]

IT'S NOT JUST A HOTEL!!!

Sorry - didn't mean to shout like that.

It's a two-day Star Wars role-playing experience that just happens to include food and lodging along with the story line and scripted/free-flow activities.

Think cruise mixed with escape rooms and a theme park visit aligned in a common thread of experience.

Does anyone have larryz's email address? We should probably let him know a penguin that identifies as a he/him appears to have gotten hold of his account credentials...

 

[hopemax]

IT'S NOT JUST A HOTEL!!!

Sorry - didn't mean to shout like that.

It's a two-day Star Wars role-playing experience that just happens to include food and lodging along with the story line and scripted/free-flow activities.

Think cruise mixed with escape rooms and a theme park visit aligned in a common thread of experience.

In my mind, I think of it as Star Wars Camp. Like a hotel or cruise but with a lot more rules about where you can be when.

 

[Jeff4272]

Disney will continue to make changes to the system as needed with no notice.
In my opinion, monetized priority access is here to stay, whatever form it evolves into.

I understand that monetized line skipping is here to stay but they need to scrap genie+ and try something else............This system is terrible and inferior to any other system either Disney or any other park has or has ever had..............

I cannot find one aspect of Genie+ i would keep over FP+ had they just tweaked that and began charging for it

 

[Jrb1979]

I understand that monetized line skipping is here to stay but they need to scrap genie+ and try something else............This system is terrible and inferior to any other system either Disney or any other park has or has ever had..............

I cannot find one aspect of Genie+ i would keep over FP+ had they just tweaked that and began charging for it

One tweak they could make is up the ratio for LL to Standby. Standby used to crawl during FP+ days so why not do that again. Personally I hope they never go back to advanced booking.

 

[Jeff4272]

One tweak they could make is up the ratio for LL to Standby. Standby used to crawl during FP+ days so why not do that again. Personally I hope they never go back to advanced booking.

To me, thats the worst part of Genie+, no advanced booking....If im spending $1,000+ per night i want to know im going to get on the rides i want and not have it be a mad dash at 7am EVERY morning

We will never stay onsite again.......no need


*ETA: Almost every single benefit to staying onsite is gone.........30 minutes in the morning is not a benefit to us and my guess isn't a benefit to most (since only about 20% of people rope drop) and the Deluxe only thing is a complete joke

 

[mattpeto]

I cannot imagine Genie+ lasting........The customers satisfaction feedback has got to be awful and once the pent up demand/50th/DVC inventory issue is over, i think the numbers will suffer


Its a complete and utter disaster

I used Genie+ and ILL for my sister's family from 12/13 to 12/16 and it went great. I used it for my own family (and sister's family) from 12/16 to 12/19.

I tend to think that nobody wants to hear it though, because now it's paid and they can't past that. For my own experience, I waited in line my whole trip 2x or 3x and one was Peter Pan's Flight during the DVMAH.

There are legit criticisms about the product (getting up at 7 am each day - isn't ideal for vacationing), but if you are willing to put out the money for ILL and Genie+, you can really enter the day with 3 FP+ (without worrying about the legacy tiers) and start adding 2 hours after opening. I felt like I was skipping the line on worthy attractions 6-8x per day

The decision to absorb Space, MMRR, Frozen and Everest has helped the Genie+ execution this week for the holiday stretch.

 

[Jeff4272]

I used Genie+ and ILL for my sister's family from 12/13 to 12/16 and it went great. I used it for my own family (and sister's family) from 12/16 to 12/19.

I tend to think that nobody wants to hear it though, because now it's paid and they can't past that. For my own experience, I waited in line my whole trip 2x or 3x and one was Peter Pan's Flight during the DVMAH.

There are legit criticisms about the product (getting up at 7 am each day - isn't ideal for vacationing), but if you are willing to put out the money for ILL and Genie+, you can really enter the day with 3 FP+ and start adding 2 hours after opening. I felt like I have skipping the line on worthy attractions 6-8x per day

The decision to absorb Space, MMRR, Frozen and Everest has helped the Genie+ execution this week.

I used to pay the $50 pp per day to buy the 3 extra FP (by staying in club level) so I dont mind the money aspect if it helps us but Genie+ does the exact opposite..............

its terrible

 

[mattpeto]

I used to pay the $50 pp per day to buy the 3 extra FP (by staying in club level) so I dont mind the money aspect if it helps us but Genie+ does the exact opposite..............

its terrible

What makes it terrible for you?

Are you not getting 3+ FP+ per day? Do you hate getting up at 6:55 AM? Do you wish to re-ride PotC 100x?

 

[Jeff4272]

What makes it terrible for you?

Are you not getting 3+ FP+ per day? Do you hate getting up at 6:55 AM? Do you wish to re-ride PotC 100x?

1) Getting up at 7am EVERY day
2) Not knowing if i can get on the rides i want in advance (we went thanksgiving week and got shut out of ROTR, FOP and others) especially after paying a fortune for my hotel room
3) not being able to pick return times (we don't go to parks until afternoon and typically do 2-3pm til close)
4) was on my phone ALL DAY LONG
5) one of my HS selections overlapped with Topolinos reservation and we couldn't change it because there was nothing left
6) tried to cancel TSMM and get a ToT and ended up losing both because you have to cancel instead of just replacing
7) cost me $1,200 for my family of 5 for 7 days
8) LL lines were long even though i paid for it
9) had to constantly refresh to get correct return time for when we were park hopping
10) Genie+ selections have you criss crossing the parks all day based on availability

but other than that, it was ok (dripping with sarcasm)


I despise Genie+ and we will not be back unless it changes........Was our worst trip we've ever had in November........stressful and exhausting............my kids (13, 15, 16) said it was their worst trip ever, that says a lot to me

 

[Jrb1979]

1) Getting up at 7am EVERY day
2) Not knowing if i can get on the rides i want in advance (we went thanksgiving week and got shut out of ROTR, FOP and others)
3) not being able to pick return times (we don't go to parks until afternoon and typically do 2-3pm til close)
4) was on my phone ALL DAY LONG
5) selection overlapped with Topolinos reservation and we couldn't change it because there was nothing left
6) tried to cancel TSMM and get a ToT and ended up losing both because you have to cancel instead of just replacing
7) cost me $1,200 for my family of 5 for 7 days
8) LL lines were long even though i paid for it
9) had to constantly refresh to get correct return time for when we were park hopping
10) Genie+ selections have you criss crossing the parks all day based on availability

but other than that, it was jsut ok

I think the problem many have with Genie+ is how it doesn't work really well for late arrivals. From everything that I have seen those that get the most out of Genie+ are at the parks for most of the day.

 

[Jeff4272]

I think the problem many have with Genie+ is how it doesn't work really well for late arrivals. From everything that I have seen those that get the most out of Genie+ are at the parks for most of the day.

Well if you think about it, that's the vast majority of park guests.....only about 20% of people rope drop and i would guess more than 50% of a parks daily attendance doesn't enter until after noon

 

[mattpeto]

1) Getting up at 7am EVERY day
2) Not knowing if i can get on the rides i want in advance (we went thanksgiving week and got shut out of ROTR, FOP and others) especially after paying a fortune for my hotel room
3) not being able to pick return times (we don't go to parks until afternoon and typically do 2-3pm til close)
4) was on my phone ALL DAY LONG
5) one of my HS selections overlapped with Topolinos reservation and we couldn't change it because there was nothing left
6) tried to cancel TSMM and get a ToT and ended up losing both because you have to cancel instead of just replacing
7) cost me $1,200 for my family of 5 for 7 days
8) LL lines were long even though i paid for it
9) had to constantly refresh to get correct return time for when we were park hopping
10) Genie+ selections have you criss crossing the parks all day based on availability

but other than that, it was ok (dripping with sarcasm)


I despise Genie+ and we will not be back unless it changes........Was our worst trip we've ever had in November........stressful and exhausting............my kids (13, 15, 16) said it was their worst trip ever, that says a lot to me

Thanksgiving week could have been the outlier though, they made adjustments specifically for the bump in attendance.

I think you might have suffered from some early woes, FP+ didn't go off without a hitch either. We're talking about something that was out for a month. Again, I went during a less crowded time, but didn't have any issues like you did. I do feel like they are a couple of tweaks away to make it a good platform.

I think the problem many have with Genie+ is how it doesn't work really well for late arrivals. From everything that I have seen those that get the most out of Genie+ are at the parks for most of the day.

I think there is some truth to that, but that's how the popular MaxPass worked as well. I think they should add fireworks viewing area, it would make it nice for people to select that first thing and then not have to worry about another Genie+ selection until 10 or 11 am.

I didn't rope drop any day.

 

[Jrb1979]

Well if you think about it, that's the vast majority of park guests.....only about 20% of people rope drop and i would guess more than 50% of a parks daily attendance doesn't enter until after noon

It's Disney's way of changing that. They want people in the parks all day long.

 

[lazyboy97o]

It's Disney's way of changing that. They want people in the parks all day long.

No, they do not. Parks aren’t design for that and doing so would only make the capacity issues worse.

 

[Jeff4272]

Thanksgiving week could have been the outlier though, they made adjustments specifically for the bump in attendance.

I think you might have suffered from some early woes, FP+ didn't go off without a hitch either. We're talking about something that was out for a month. Again, I went during a less crowded time, but didn't have any issues like you did. I do feel like they are a couple of tweaks away to make it a good platform.


I think there is some truth to that, but that's how the popular MaxPass worked as well. I think they should add fireworks viewing area, it would make it nice for people to select that first thing and then not have to worry about another Genie+ selection until 10 or 11 am.

I didn't rope drop any day.

Still plenty of fundamental problems regardless of how busy it is

 

[HauntedPirate]

No, they do not. Parks aren’t design for that and doing so would only make the capacity issues worse.

Bah. Just "make the standby lines crawl again, like they did with FP+" and that will fix all the problems, right?

 

[lazyboy97o]

Bah. Just "make the standby lines crawl again, like they did with FP+" and that will fix all the problems, right?

It’s not just attraction capacity but also retail, dining and even just walkway capacity. All of which you need more of to service virtual queuers. You need less space and staff at a time to serve 10 people in the morning and 10 people in the afternoon versus trying to serve 20 people all day.