Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Jrb1979]

I think he is right re: benefits but wrong re: less people paying. And that to me is a problem. Once they learn they don't need to offer resort incentives, it's all over.

Right now people seem to have no issue with the lack to perks. All the Unprecedented Demand. IMO the travel industry is going be on down turn soon with a recession coming.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

You can take the monorail or bus right to your hotel in a lot less time than driving off site.

I disagree on this. I have done both on and offsite many times.
If you choose a hotel that is close to WDW, driving is often the same, especially for AK/Epcot/HS. (driving offsite vs. onsite driving. Driving almost always beats bus)

MK is a little different because of the TTC. Onsite, if you get lucky w/the bus, then the bus can be faster, but it also depends a bit where the bus drops you off. The Express monorail drop is closer to the front gate than many of the bus stop drops.

Walking from CR to MK or BC/YC to Epcot/HS is pretty quick. So those combos are usually faster than offsite, but only those combos.

It also depends how close your car is to your hotel room/bus stop. Sometimes parking is just outside your hotel room door, but the big convention hotels have parking garages far from your room.

Have you ever had the misfortune of attempting taking the monorail during a hold or shift change? The wait can be awful.

Some years back, we experimented with splitting our group- where part of the group drove to/from the park, and the part of the group took WDW transportation. At the end of the night, driving to our onsite hotel often won by over 30 minutes!

 

[pdude81]

I disagree on this. I have done both on and offsite many times.
If you choose a hotel that is close to WDW, driving is often the same, especially for AK/Epcot/HS. (driving offsite vs. onsite driving. Driving almost always beats bus)

MK is a little different because of the TTC. Onsite, if you get lucky w/the bus, then the bus can be faster, but it also depends a bit where the bus drops you off. The Express monorail drop is closer to the front gate than many of the bus stop drops.

Walking from CR to MK or BC/YC to Epcot/HS is pretty quick. So those combos are usually faster than offsite, but only those combos.

It also depends how close your car is to your hotel room/bus stop. Sometimes parking is just outside your hotel room door, but the big convention hotels have parking garages far from your room.

Have you ever had the misfortune of attempting taking the monorail during a hold or shift change? The wait can be awful.

Some years back, we experimented with splitting our group- where part of the group drove to/from the park, and the part of the group took WDW transportation. At the end of the night, driving to our onsite hotel often won by over 30 minutes!

There seems to be more trips that are "holding for further traffic clearance" than not these days.

 

[mikejs78]

I think he is right re: benefits but wrong re: less people paying. And that to me is a problem. Once they learn they don't need to offer resort incentives, it's all over.

Unless they find that resort incentives are directly related to what people will pay. For example, you may be able to sell out a deluxe resort with a 30% discount, but if you add certain perks, you might be able to sell it at only a 15% discount, or at rack rate.

 

[Vacationeer]

Fact of the matter is, the entire experience is watered down.......They removed incentives that you used to get and that makes it less valuable, thats not an opinion, thats a fact......

everyone here would rather free parking, free magic bands, free magical express, booking FP in advance of everyone else and now you dont get it.............that makes it less valuable and A LOT less valuable for a lot of guests that would normally stay onsite

the only real benefit now is location and I just think a lot fewer people are willing to pay 2x-5x per night rates just for location

For some resort guests the removed incentives mean nothing. Personally we never used Magic Express, we don’t need anymore free magic bands, we get free resort parking thru DVC, and find the new EMH system an improvement.

Time is money. We can’t take long trips in our business so we appreciate the ability to get our trip priorities done without running ourselves ragged. The convenience for ropedrops, park closings and breaks is valuable in leaving us the energy to fully enjoy the park hours we attend. Morning and evening EMHs gives us an easier way to knock out some hard rides and time in less crowded parks without the additional costs of ILLs or DAH. It’s a small detour for us to pop over and try an interesting lunch or lounge in the Lagoon or Crescent lake resort areas. All of these are still incentives to us. Offsite, value, mods, deluxe… we’ve tried them all and prefer park resort DVC when prices are reasonable.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

You can’t watch castle and fireworks from offsite. I can from contemporary. You can get right onto the monorail and go to epcott, I can from the contemporary. I can walk to epcott or Hollywood studios from the yacht club or swan and dolphin. You can’t do that from off site. And considering hotels appear to continue to be booking up it sure seems like people are paying for them

Having done this myself, CR used to = a great view of Wishes. CR does not offer a great view of the castle projections used in the new show.

The monorail does not run direct from CR to Epcot. You have to transfer at the TTC.

I just posted that we used to split up to see which transportation was faster. When leaving Epcot, driving is MUCH faster than taking the monorails to CR, especially at park closing. I mean more than an hour faster. (It was actually 90 minutes faster to drive one of the times we tested.)

Flamingo Crossings or Marriott World Center to Epcot = 13min. Bonnet Creek to Epcot = 8-9 min. CR to Epcot = 10min. CR to Epcot via monorail takes longer, even with perfect timing.

Marriott World Center to HS = 9 min. CR to HS = 12 min. Flamingo Crossings to HS = 13min. Bonnet Creek to HS = 6-11min



*******************************************

You are also mistaken, because guests can see the WDW fireworks from a number of offsite hotels - better than most onsite WDW rooms. Though that is of less value now because the new shows rely on projections that aren't very visible from outside the Hub. (Especially if we include the Swan/Dolphin/S Reserve.)

 

[Disney Glimpses]

If Genie+ were introduced as a resort perk (still with a fee), things would be very, very different right now.

 

[Jrb1979]

If Genie+ were introduced as a resort perk (still with a fee), things would be very, very different right now.

Why go backwards? Might as well bring back FP+ then. Then the planners can have their spreadsheets again. That seems to be the biggest complaint aside from little availability. I will say this Disney has trained people well.

Genie+ could have been an amazing system. First get rid of return times. Up the price and limit how many people can buy it.

 

[Ayla]

Having done this myself, CR used to = a great view of Wishes. CR does not offer a great view of the castle projections used in the new show.

The monorail does not run direct from CR to Epcot. You have to transfer at the TTC.

I just posted that we used to split up to see which transportation was faster. When leaving Epcot, driving is MUCH faster than taking the monorails to CR, especially at park closing. I mean more than an hour faster. (It was actually 90 minutes faster to drive one of the times we tested.)

Flamingo Crossings or Marriott World Center to Epcot = 13min. Bonnet Creek to Epcot = 8-9 min. CR to Epcot = 10min. CR to Epcot via monorail takes longer, even with perfect timing.

Marriott World Center to HS = 9 min. CR to HS = 12 min. Flamingo Crossings to HS = 13min. Bonnet Creek to HS = 6-11min



*******************************************

You are also mistaken, because guests can see the WDW fireworks from a number of offsite hotels - better than most onsite WDW rooms. Though that is of less value now because the new shows rely on projections that aren't very visible from outside the Hub. (Especially if we include the Swan/Dolphin/S Reserve.)

Right now, some roads to/from Epcot are closed. I don't know which ones, but that will impact current driving times of passenger vehicles.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Genie+ could have been an amazing system. First get rid of return times. Up the price and limit how many people can buy it.

For a system like this, the price would need to be exorbitantly high. And they aren't going backwards, FP+ worked fine.

 

[mikejs78]

For a system like this, the price would need to be exorbitantly high. And they aren't going backwards, FP+ worked fine.

I'd argue in fact that Genie+ was going backwards.

 

[Purduevian]

Easy solution in my mind, that would help a LOT:

• 1st G+ can be made for resort guests 1 week before trip
• Allow people to pick times on all attractions
• Introduce the modify button
• Remove, ILL and add them to the G+ inventory (this would increase inventory, only 1 of SDD or RotR could be chosen as your first pick). This would also make it more worth it at EPCOT and AK

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I'd argue in fact that Genie+ was going backwards.

They completely underestimated demand. I mean completely.

 

[DCLcruiser]

I disagree on this. I have done both on and offsite many times.
If you choose a hotel that is close to WDW, driving is often the same, especially for AK/Epcot/HS. (driving offsite vs. onsite driving. Driving almost always beats bus)

MK is a little different because of the TTC. Onsite, if you get lucky w/the bus, then the bus can be faster, but it also depends a bit where the bus drops you off. The Express monorail drop is closer to the front gate than many of the bus stop drops.

Walking from CR to MK or BC/YC to Epcot/HS is pretty quick. So those combos are usually faster than offsite, but only those combos.

It also depends how close your car is to your hotel room/bus stop. Sometimes parking is just outside your hotel room door, but the big convention hotels have parking garages far from your room.

Have you ever had the misfortune of attempting taking the monorail during a hold or shift change? The wait can be awful.

Some years back, we experimented with splitting our group- where part of the group drove to/from the park, and the part of the group took WDW transportation. At the end of the night, driving to our onsite hotel often won by over 30 minutes!

Anything is possible, delays can occur, or you might be quicker than the bus route. However, for me, not having to get into your car (and I am a car guy) is part of the Disney vacation bubble. Once you are on property, you are in a different place. Norms are gone. The outside world melts away.

That's part of the cache of on-site resorts. Once you have to get back into a rental car, go through a toll, and deal with real world issues (other people can't drive, did I miss my exit?, etc.) the spell is somewhat broken.

Again, I haven't stayed on site for a long time, but I recognize the invisible benefits.

 

[Jrb1979]

For a system like this, the price would need to be exorbitantly high. And they aren't going backwards, FP+ worked fine.

For those who stayed on site or planned ahead it worked well. That seems to be where most of the complaints come from. Many people are so used to planning their Disney vacation down the last minute of each day. Genie+ throws a wrench into plans.

 

[mikejs78]

For those who stayed on site or planned ahead it worked well. That seems to be where most of the complaints come from. Many people are so used to planning their Disney vacation down the last minute of each day. Genie+ throws a wrench into plans.

Genie+ doesn't alleviate planning. It just shifts it all to the day of. You still have to plan your strategy, be very quick on the trigger at 7:00 a.m. and hope you get our turn time that works for you. If you happen to get one for Slinky dog that conflicts with an ADR? Oh well, you're out of luck.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Exactly. People may not see the value in staying on property but clearly most people still do. As for me, I only see value in some Deluxe and Moderate resorts (due to proximity to parks and/or extended evening hours offered to deluxe).

Most?
There are far more off-property rooms than on-property rooms. Also, a number of folks just drive to WDW as a day trip- no hotel.

Also, a number of on-property hotel guests stay at a WDW because they are attending a work convention. Though that is also true for many offsite folks as well.

What = an offsite hotel? I have myself driven from Tampa area to WDW to visit a WDW park, but I wouldn't really say Tampa = the WDW area. (I've also done Tampa hotel to Universal, and even further than Tampa direct to WDW.)

The Orlando Sentinel puts the area count as over 126,000 rooms (2019), and 5 million sqaure feet of convention space. Las Vegas Sun say Orlando has over 144,000. WDW has approx 36,000. (Magicguides says, "In total, Disney World has over 30,000 hotel rooms, 409 wilderness cabins, 799 campsites, and 3,293 DVC units.") Universal has 6,737 rooms. - though this is just what I found w/a quick internet search.

When we say people are staying onsite for the onsite perks, are we including business-convention goers? I don't think they care that their convention is in Orlando instead of Vegas. They don't really care about Early Entry to Epcot.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Genie+ throws a wrench into plans.

Genie+ isn't an issue because it hinders people's ability to plan. It's an issue because everyone and their cousin is purchasing it and resort guests only have a 2 hour head start in reserving just *one* attraction when they used to have *three* ahead of time for free.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Most?
There are far more off-property rooms than on-property rooms. Also, a number of folks just drive to WDW as a day trip- no hotel.

Also, a number of on-property hotel guests stay at a WDW because they are attending a work convention. Though that is also true for many offsite folks as well.

What = an offsite hotel? I have myself driven from Tampa area to WDW to visit a WDW park, but I wouldn't really say Tampa = the WDW area. (I've also done Tampa hotel to Universal, and even further than Tampa direct to WDW.)

The Orlando Sentinel puts the area count as over 126,000 rooms (2019), and 5 million sqaure feet of convention space. Las Vegas Sun say Orlando has over 144,000. WDW has approx 36,000. (Magicguides says, "In total, Disney World has over 30,000 hotel rooms, 409 wilderness cabins, 799 campsites, and 3,293 DVC units.") Universal has 6,737 rooms. - though this is just what I found w/a quick internet search.

When we say people are staying onsite for the onsite perks, are we including business-convention goers? I don't think they care that their convention is in Orlando instead of Vegas. They don't really care about Early Entry to Epcot.

Sorry, I meant "enough" people do.

 

[mmascari]

They completely underestimated demand. I mean completely.

There's an easy way they could "fix" that and reduce demand.

Many people would be mad. Many people that still ended up with it may be happier. Probably some bad PR in there too. If that bad PR is worse than the bad PR about G+ would be the question.