Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
I agree that being able to pick times for SDD wouldn't actually allow one to actually pick times. It would sell out too quickly to matter. I hate to say it, but the obvious solution is just not to ride SDD and enjoy other (better) attractions.


FP+ is an operational disaster. Ops does not want to encourage guests to show up at 1PM to wait 5 minutes for a headliner. Ops does not want people pre-booking. It's kind of a mild miracle they even let you book your first LL from bed and not after tapping into the parks. I know this was the norm for years at WDW, but it was broken operationally. There's a reason Disney's five other resorts never touched FP+.

Until people have actual suggestions that are not 'bring back pre-booking' and 'I don't want to show up until noon, but expect to be able to do everything I want with ease'... this discussion is going no where.


Personally, I think the biggest solution is G+ can't be booked until you've tapped into the parks. Since on site have EMH this gives them that slight advantage. The reason Disney doesn't seemingly want to do this is two fold. Not having rope droppers stop in the entrance to fiddle with the app and because they are averse to giving anyone an advantage to sell more of this. But then not only would people have to 'be up', they'd have to *gasp* get out of beds and get to the parks.
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This is one of the MAJOR problems with Genie(-)............If im spending $1k per night to stay in a deluxe hotel and have no idea if i can get on even one headliner without waiting 2+ hours then im not going

Esp since we dont go to the parks until night
 
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D

Disney4Lyfe

Well-Known Member
Jeff4272 said:
Never happened to me once in the history of FP+.....and I went several times a year for the 10+ or so years FP+ was in place....never once did i not get even the newest and best rides, at any time i wanted
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Hi Jeff. It seems like you maybe took advantage of the original FP system, and are now mad you can't do the same here. I get it. I am the same. I used to have a stack of Paper FP by the end of my park day. Would give them to people coming in! I hopefully find some utility in the new system though.
 
Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
Disney4Lyfe said:
Hi Jeff. It seems like you maybe took advantage of the original FP system, and are now mad you can't do the same here. I get it. I am the same. I used to have a stack of Paper FP by the end of my park day. Would give them to people coming in! I hopefully find some utility in the new system though.
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Thats 100% correct........But this new system does not have one aspect that is better than FP+......

and I hated legacy (paper) FP for the record....it was terrible....only reason its not worse than Genie (-) is because it was free

NOT ONE

AND ITS EXPENSIVE
 
ChrisM

ChrisM

Well-Known Member
Rehashing the same complaints, but I haven't enjoyed using any of the various implementations: they all had aspects that annoyed the hell out of me, and having to puzzle out the most efficient way to use (or game, as some might describe it) whatever the latest system is has become sort of exhausting.

But I'll continue to be blunt about how I think everyone should set their expectations: G+ as it currently exists was simply the initial effort to condition guests to expect to pay for access. And the next step - or "continued evolution" / response to "guest dissatisfaction" - will be to streamline the existing G+ experience by allowing guests to pay more for the privilege.

Park pass reservations all booked up? No worries! You can still buy your way in for an additional $100 per person!

Don't want to get up at 7am to book LL's? No problem! Any LL can be accessed on demand for....whatever current demand/capacity price we've calculated!

The future is going to be: Get Up, Pay Up, or Shut Up.
 
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Vacationeer

Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Rides like SDD and 7DMT etc stunk with FP+ too, where there were no time slots until day 2 or 3 of a trip. At least MK worked well otherwise. With many attractions and headliners they didn’t need to force tiers, and it was easy to run 4+FPs. For a long while HS and Epcot tiers made them a 1 FP park because Tier 2 selections were the easier rides/shows to do without FP. Our day had to be set a very particular way to take any decent advantage of 4+FP. We always supplemented FP+ with other strategies for the longest standby lines and will try the same with G+.

Word on the street is a second drop of ILL time slots starts around 7:17am (courtesy of Bricker at Disney Tourist Blog). Also a pattern for G+ might exist like the FP+ drop times (FP was AK 11:01, 1:01, 3:01, 5:01; HS 9:31, 12:01, 2:31; EP 11:31, 1:31, 3:31). On top of all the other cost hikes and park changes, rejection of the new paid system and frustration at the pitfalls is understandable. MK/EP after hours with our DVC stay should help us, Early Entry has potential, and I’m interested to see if G+ improves our touring at all. There really is no other choice for us than to try optimizing the new system because FP is gone. Maybe it doesn’t turn out so bad after all.
 
Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
Vacationeer said:
Rides like SDD and 7DMT etc stunk with FP+ too, where there were no time slots until day 2 or 3 of a trip. At least MK worked well otherwise. With many attractions and headliners they didn’t need to force tiers, and it was easy to run 4+FPs. For a long while HS and Epcot tiers made them a 1 FP park because Tier 2 selections were the easier rides/shows to do without FP. Our day had to be set a very particular way to take any decent advantage of 4+FP. We always supplemented FP+ with other strategies for the longest standby lines and will try the same with G+.

Word on the street is a second drop of ILL time slots starts around 7:17am (courtesy of Bricker at Disney Tourist Blog). Also a pattern for G+ might exist like the FP+ drop times (FP was AK 11:01, 1:01, 3:01, 5:01; HS 9:31, 12:01, 2:31; EP 11:31, 1:31, 3:31). On top of all the other cost hikes and park changes, rejection of the new paid system and frustration at the pitfalls is understandable. MK/EP after hours with our DVC stay should help us, Early Entry has potential, and I’m interested to see if G+ improves our touring at all. There really is no other choice for us than to try optimizing the new system because FP is gone. Maybe it doesn’t turn out so bad after all.
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No, it will not turn out well, trust me, its a nightmare

and there is another option, dont go!
 
C

crazy4disney

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Jeff4272 said:
Never once did i have a problem getting a FP+ at 60 days out.......Not even close....

Not only that, but I could pick any time i wanted at any park i wanted, there were literally hundreds of times slots available for all the top rides..........
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I can definitely second that.... ONLY time was when Frozen opened at Epcot I was unable to secure one my entire trip. A very kind email to Guest services resulted in a phone call back and she booked me not only 1 but 2 Fastpasses on separate days on top of my regular 3.
 
Vacationeer

Vacationeer

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Jeff4272 said:
No, it will not turn out well, trust me, its a nightmare

and there is another option, dont go!
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Haha. We already did take our hiatus. It only lasted 13 months. But the next trip will be somewhere between 16-20 months after that. We used to average about 8 months until pricing got outta hand while quality suffered Is some areas.
 
Jeff4272

Jeff4272

Well-Known Member
mikejs78 said:
Which was better than having to fight for it every single day. If you were there for 4+ days and staying onsite, you could ensure that you got FPs for the rides you wanted.
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I wonder when this will have an effect on operations, meaning hotel bookings and park sales..........

Between no ME, EMH, free parking, free MBands, etc, then you charge for a crappy system....

Will people say "this makes no sense for me to pay this exorbitant price while not getting any of the former benefits"..................the worst is not having the 60 days window, but maybe thats how WDW wants it...........I just think people arent stupid and as soon as the 50th/pent up travel/dvc inventory issues are resolved that hotel booking will suffer
 
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TikibirdLand

TikibirdLand

Well-Known Member
Jeff4272 said:
I wonder when this will have an effect on operations, meaning hotel bookings and park sales..........

Between no ME, EMH, free parking, free MBands, etc, then you charge for a crappy system....

Will people say "this makes no sense for me to pay this exorbitant price while not getting any of the former benefits"..................the worst is not having the 60 days window, but maybe thats how WDW wants it...........I just think people arent stupid and as soon as the 50th/pent up travel/dvc inventory issues are resolved that hotel booking will suffer
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Crowds seem to defy logic; they keep coming no matter what gets cut.

I don't know what the breaking point is for the masses. A big recession? COVID resurgence?
 
BrianLo

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
TikibirdLand said:
Crowds seem to defy logic; they keep coming no matter what gets cut.

I don't know what the breaking point is for the masses. A big recession? COVID resurgence?
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Tons of Pandemic related pent up demand and household savings from 1-2 years of vacation deferrals. Exacerbated by unwillingness to expand park ride capacity for decade(s). MK and especially Epcot certainly have less capacity than they did in the past.


FP+ really seemed to reward the more spendy (?or perhaps loyal) on site guests / DVC members. I'm not softening that it was a more equitable program, it certainly wasn't. In order for anything to be better for one type of guest it has to be worse for others. BUT, Perhaps it was better to the people Disney actually wants to entice back.
 
pdude81

pdude81

Well-Known Member
For those buying G+ and/or ILL on their arrival day. Does linking in MDE do enough to get you ILL at 7 or do you need to have an online check in with an arrival before park opening time? Curious how to set this up for our arrival tomorrow. I'd like to buy a 7DMT for the afternoon while we're about to take off, but not sure if there are any particular things I need to set up first.

Any help or experience with arrival day ILL would be appreciated
 
nickys

nickys

Premium Member
pdude81 said:
For those buying G+ and/or ILL on their arrival day. Does linking in MDE do enough to get you ILL at 7 or do you need to have an online check in with an arrival before park opening time? Curious how to set this up for our arrival tomorrow. I'd like to buy a 7DMT for the afternoon while we're about to take off, but not sure if there are any particular things I need to set up first.

Any help or experience with arrival day ILL would be appreciated
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You are eligible on check-in and check-out day. As long as your reservation is linked you’ll be fine.

I very much doubt you need to have done online check-in but I’m guessing most people do that anyway.

Good luck! Oh, and enjoy your trip.
 

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