Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Raineman]

The overall reaction online to this has been crazy. When dyed-in-the-wool pixie dusters/Disney apologists are unhappy about this, you know it's bad. It seems as if the only ones that like this idea are the ultra mega pixie dusters and the wealthy/people that will mortgage their house for a WDW vacation. It's the latter group of people I mentioned that Disney is banking on with this program.

 

[DisneyHead123]

So what? If you wana go on the ride, get in line and shut up about it. If you feel the line is too long then do something else. You are an adult. You have your options. I am old school. I am used to a time where no one ever heard of fastpass. You just got in line and dealt with the wait and enjoyed the ride when it was your turn. Everyone wants to be held by the hand or made to feel special. You are not special. You are not more special than anyone else who paid no matter how much you paid for admission whether you be a AP or what not. Your ticket grants you a fair shot not a result. Again, your ticket grants you a chance to ride a ride not an outcome. You are not entitled to ride any ride. Whether it be shut down or you feel the line is too long, the fastpasses are gone. Boo hoo. You are at Disney. Plenty of other fun stuff to do.

I think you're confusing self esteem culture with capitalism. Self esteem culture = give me a sticker, a cookie, a plastic trophy, and tons of praise for showing up. Capitalism = I give you dollars and you give me stuff. Once we introduce my dollars into that equation, then yes, I have a right to set my own standards about what is 'worth it' to me, and the seller has to meet them or I am free to walk away.

 

[Muffinpants]

Also, I assume this is true but I have not seen anyone confirm it..Genie + is a day by day purchase correct? In other words if you have 5 days of park tickets but only want to buy genie + for 15 dollars for 2 of those 5 days you can. Is this accurate? It's not line a dining plan or park hopper where you purchase it for the entire length of trip?

Seems you can prepurchase the addon when booking your wdw package. But it is also a daily purchase. Pre buying it dosnt give any benefit other than adding it to your payment options.

 

[mab7689]

I feel your pain. Also a teacher in the UK... it's really easy for people to say "Just avoid going at peak times!" but for some of us that's literally not possible. If the surge pricing for the Tier 1 rides is super expensive at peak times, it's going to add so much more money (if we chose to pay it...) to what is already such an expensive trip during school holidays.

It's bad enough being at the mercy of greedy travel operators massively inflating the price in August. This is just salt in the wounds.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Also, I assume this is true but I have not seen anyone confirm it..Genie + is a day by day purchase correct? In other words if you have 5 days of park tickets but only want to buy genie + for 15 dollars for 2 of those 5 days you can. Is this accurate? It's not line a dining plan or park hopper where you purchase it for the entire length of trip?

You do NOT have to purchase for length of stay.

 

[tanc]

Honestly this news has been sickening, and I have been thinking a lot about it. In Tokyo I can spend like $85 for a 1 day ticket, get free fastpasses (that have a digital app to book now) and can simply make new fast passes as I get on a ride. The whole premise of this app definitely seems like the Lightning Lane and nothing really else. I don't care for AR or whatever else is offered, and the recommendations thing probably is not for seasoned guests.

 

[Nottamus]

We are a family of 2. So if for some reason I was willing to pay for tier one rides (which as of now I’m not) it would be painful.
A friend of mine travels with his huge family of 12-16 when they go. That’s real painful. Borderline undoable.

 

[larryz]

It's bad enough being at the mercy of greedy travel operators massively inflating the price in August. This is just salt in the wounds.

Don't you just love tradition? Tradition says you must vacay in August. Your options:
1) buck tradition -- negotiate with your boss and travel some other time of year
2) go somewhere else -- pick a less popular destination that will have lower prices because nobody's going there
3) become a travel professional -- now, traveling off-times and to off-peak locations IS your business, so you have no "August dilemma."

 

[Muffinpants]

I feel this price might be the problem. Everyone hates it and for different reasons. 15$ +4-25$ "it's to much for my family " or "to many people will buy it at this low price so it's really no benefit".

No one batted an eye over vip tours because most just didn't even think of buying it. But with it being 15$ pp aka 1 extra meal.. lots will just buy it thinking I already spent so much might as well make the best of this trip".

Disney really missed the mark.. they could have offered onsite guests free 3 fp. Capped out than upcharged for more. Dvc/deluxe/ap get it free. And off-site pay full price. Than made the single ride upcharge stay but at a set price.

I don't think this many folks would be this angry if that happened.

 

[JusticeDisney]

You forgot lazy….and I think there were others as well. The one that told you to chill was the best.

are you a millennial? I have to ask…because it died…you took like a 5 hour power nap…and now you want to start it up.

Ironically…once in Orlando…I had a co-worker that stewed over disagreements for days/weeks…she’d always repeatedly bring them up again and again. So we told her that it was silly to “take it home…and bring it back again”

just funny how that popped into my head

Nope, not a millennial. Are you an octogenarian?

Don’t worry, nobody here actually expected you to admit that you acted foolish last night, but we all saw it with our own eyes.

Now, please resume your crazy ranting and raving and yelling at everyone in this thread who doesn’t discuss capacity and capacity alone.

 

[DisneyHead123]

So if I understand this correctly, an average day at Disney with Genie+ might now look like this:

- Wake up at 7am and scramble to find a good FastPass at around 10:00-ish

- Agonize about whether or not to buy a Lightening Pass Lane and if you will regret it later if you do / don't

- Rope drop

- Do your Rope Drop ride, maybe 1-2 more, eat, do your first FastPass ride

- For the rest of the day, try to line up your next FP in the manner you would have when you had used up your 3 free FPs in the free days

- For the rest of the day, either scream DOH!! as you see the ride you paid Lightening Lane prices for that morning is available with Genie+ or, alternately, scream DOH!! as your realize you're never going to get a FP for that ride on Genie+ that day, and now the Lightening Passes are long since sold out.

As I said before, I don't hate it as much as I thought I would - it's mostly doing the refresh strategy all day with a $15 charge. Plus a daily morning Lightening Lane "should I shouldn't I" conundrum. I think it's mostly the principle that I find a mood and magic killer at the moment. It's kinda like if your date suggests hey, maybe they could actually pay you for a goodnight kiss and a few 'extras'... once you cross that threshold, no going back to the same place you were before emotionally. With Disney, maybe I'll get over it in a few years, maybe not, I'll wait and see.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Seems you can prepurchase the addon when booking your wdw package. But it is also a daily purchase. Pre buying it dosnt give any benefit other than adding it to your payment options.

I'll have to keep an eye on this. I not only already have my week booked but its paid off for end of Dec. I'll eventually call prior and see if I can add the Genie on for the days I want in advance and pay of off before I even arrive.

 

[cslafferty]

Forgive me if this was already addressed but after 66 pages my eyes are blurry- do I have to buy Genie+ for everyone in my party, or can I just purchase for those who want to ride rides and not for Grandma who doesn’t?

 

[Muffinpants]

So if I understand this correctly, an average day at Disney with Genie+ might now look like this:

- Wake up at 7am and scramble to find a good FastPass at around 10:00-ish

- Agonize about whether or not to buy a Lightening Pass Lane and if you will regret it later if you do / don't

- Rope drop

- Do your Rope Drop ride, maybe 1-2 more, eat, do your first FastPass ride

- For the rest of the day, try to line up your next FP in the manner you would have when you had used up your 3 free FPs in the free days

- For the rest of the day, either scream DOH!! as you see the ride you paid Lightening Lane prices for that morning is available with Genie+ or, alternately, scream DOH!! as your realize you're never going to get a FP for that ride on Genie+ that day, and now the Lightening Passes are long since sold out.

As I said before, I don't hate it as much as I thought I would - it's mostly doing the refresh strategy all day with a $15 charge. Plus a daily morning Lightening Lane "should I shouldn't I" conundrum. I think it's mostly the principle that I find a mood and magic killer at the moment. It's kinda like if your date suggests hey, maybe they could actually pay you for a goodnight kiss and a few 'extras'... once you cross that threshold, no going back to the same place you were before emotionally. With Disney, maybe I'll get over it in a few years, maybe not, I'll wait and see.

I think the LL stuff will sell out super fast no way it can stay open all day and guarantee everyone a ride. Is rotr ending the boarding groups? And just doing a VQ? I wonder how the new system will work if they change it. Assuming no 1pm chances. Will this mean they can make hoppers work all day again? Uhg who knows.

 

[tanc]

A Youtuber I watched called out Disney for ROTR and designing the queue for not having proper capacity. And he is right, Disney should have designed the ride with a big enough queue for people and instead they are relying on wallets to ride a ride. What a sad time to be a fan of Disneyland/ World.

 

[Sandurz]

Ignoring pricing talk, I feel insane seeing so many people say they prefer the 60 day window for FP+ and that this is more complicated. saying “it was so easy to get whatever FP you wanted” when the caveat was you just had to constantly refresh the app all the time.

At its core, it’s MaxPass, which I used exactly one time and immediately loved. Being upset about the price, whatever, but the main system itself is good!

 

[larryz]

Forgive me if this was already addressed but after 66 pages my eyes are blurry- do I have to buy Genie+ for everyone in my party, or can I just purchase for those who want to ride rides and not for Grandma who doesn’t?

As I understand it, it's "per ticket," so those who wish to partake add the option to their ticket. Those who don't, don't. Genie is not MDE, but an add-on, so I'm sure you can aggregate Genie-laden tickets in the app for group planning purposes.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Also, I assume this is true but I have not seen anyone confirm it..Genie + is a day by day purchase correct? In other words if you have 5 days of park tickets but only want to buy genie + for 15 dollars for 2 of those 5 days you can. Is this accurate? It's not line a dining plan or park hopper where you purchase it for the entire length of trip?

Its been confirmed throughout the thread manytimes.

 

[larryz]

What a sad time to be a fan of Disneyland/ World.

May be a good time to check out the competition, eh?

 

[Muffinpants]

Ignoring pricing talk, I feel insane seeing so many people say they prefer the 60 day window for FP+ and that this is more complicated. saying “it was so easy to get whatever FP you wanted” when the caveat was you just had to constantly refresh the app all the time.

At its core, it’s MaxPass, which I used exactly one time and immediately loved. Being upset about the price, whatever, but the main system itself is good!

Disney has conditioned alot of us with the super planner gene. The old fp+ was great for planners. It let you move things around double check your daily schedule , line up your ADRs and have a set plan. This system kinda stressed me out because idk when my LL window is gonna be for each ride. Is it 2-4 hours from now...15min? If I book rotr in the morning will I get on befor 7pm? When it was free this unknown was... Ok at best but if I'm paying.. I don't wanna waste my hoppers to get on the ride I payed extra for.