Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Purduevian]

That won’t last. It’s only that way because of the pandemic. It’s going to be a problem and it’s coming soon. Disney is not immune to it like people think

The parks re-opened on July 11th 2020. 709 days ago. The covid vaccines have been widely available since summer of 2021 about a year ago. Flights were back to 75-80% of 2019 levels back in July of 2021 (Source). I'm amazed people are still considering the travel "revenge travel" or covid travel. I think the parks/resorts are just flat out crowded because people are back to regular travel plans. WDW was always crowded back in 2019. I just don't think the lack of Magic express, magic bands, evening extra magic hours, ect are stopping many people from going back to regular vacations.

At least for me I got my revenge travel back in 2021... Spending quite a bit extra on vacations and experiences that year. Now in summer of 2022, I am still traveling, but it is pretty similar to what I was doing pre-pandemic.

Nonetheless, again, Disney hasn’t done perks at their parks based on resort affiliation before with very narrow and limited exceptions.

Not sure if these are considered park perks... but I always felt like some of the park perks for deluxe guests were

• Monorail/friendship boat transportation is nicer than bus transportation
• I always felt like busses showed up more frequently at the nicer resorts
• Never having to share a bus with another resort

I realize these aren't inside the park, but it closely relates your experience going to and from the parks and resorts.

 

[monothingie]

I do believe @disneyglimpses that they didn't expect this many to buy it. Which is why they stopped advanced sales.

Based on the extremely negative feedback G+ has received, stopping advanced sales was probably the smallest thing and least impactful to revenue move they could have made.

It's difficult to gauge whether this change made almost 2 weeks ago is even having an impact. I don't seem to see any significant or even marginal change in standby line wait times as the result of fewer G+ LL being in the system.

 

[Vacationeer]

Has anybody been unable to buy G+ since sales were ‘capped’? We have a trip in 4 months and would like to buy G+ at least a few days of our trip but now not sure if it will even be available.

 

[Jrb1979]

Based on the extremely negative feedback G+ has received, stopping advanced sales was probably the smallest thing and least impactful to revenue move they could have made.

It's difficult to gauge whether this change made almost 2 weeks ago is even having an impact. I don't seem to see any significant or even marginal change in standby line wait times as the result of fewer G+ LL being in the system.

I don't think you will much impact til they revamp it.

 

[brettf22]

@MickeyLuv'r these are not perks!

 

[Disney Glimpses]

The parks re-opened on July 11th 2020. 709 days ago. The covid vaccines have been widely available since summer of 2021 about a year ago. Flights were back to 75-80% of 2019 levels back in July of 2021 (Source). I'm amazed people are still considering the travel "revenge travel" or covid travel. I think the parks/resorts are just flat out crowded because people are back to regular travel plans. WDW was always crowded back in 2019. I just don't think the lack of Magic express, magic bands, evening extra magic hours, ect are stopping many people from going back to regular vacations.

At least for me I got my revenge travel back in 2021... Spending quite a bit extra on vacations and experiences that year. Now in summer of 2022, I am still traveling, but it is pretty similar to what I was doing pre-pandemic.


Not sure if these are considered park perks... but I always felt like some of the park perks for deluxe guests were

• Monorail/friendship boat transportation is nicer than bus transportation
• I always felt like busses showed up more frequently at the nicer resorts
• Never having to share a bus with another resort

I realize these aren't inside the park, but it closely relates your experience going to and from the parks and resorts.

For sure. That being said, nothing is stopping a value guest from utilizing those by dining at a deluxe, for example.

It’s certainly no secret that deluxe resorts are provided a slew of minor benefits that extend slightly beyond the room. But as soon as you walked through the park gates, you became an equal. Disney appears to be okay with changing that now. We’ll see how far they’re willing to take it.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Your right on them loving the revenue for it. I do believe @disneyglimpses that they didn't expect this many to buy it. Which is why they stopped advanced sales. They can't do much til next year when those who pre-purchased Genie+ are done.

Disney knows it's not working but they like the revenue that it's making. IMO they just need to raise the price and price some people out.

The 12am/7am has to change too. I’m so tired!

 

[GhostHost1000]

Your right on them loving the revenue for it. I do believe @disneyglimpses that they didn't expect this many to buy it. Which is why they stopped advanced sales. They can't do much til next year when those who pre-purchased Genie+ are done.

Disney knows it's not working but they like the revenue that it's making. IMO they just need to raise the price and price some people out.

I still don’t think just adjusting the price is going to “fix” the design of Genie+/LL. Sure less might use it and things may be easier to get at times, but the overall system and use of it itself is still a major step back from the previous one and even has missing features the previous one had. It’s just a poor design with an even worse plan and implementation

 

[pdude81]

The 12am/7am has to change too. I’m so tired!

That don't confront me.... long as I get my money next Friday

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I still don’t think just adjusting the price is going to “fix” the design of Genie+/LL. Sure less might use it and things may be easier to get at times,Y but the overall system and use of it itself is still a major step back from the previous one and even has missing features the previous one had. It’s just a poor design with an even worse plan and implementation

I know we've gone back and forth about this and you're not wrong. But by reducing the number of people using it, 90% of the complaints will evaporate overnight and the rest they will iterate on and improve over time.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

stopping advanced sales was probably the smallest thing and least impactful to revenue move they could have made.

That was my initial thought at as well but they seem to believe it will have a significant impact on the number of people using it (though I wasn't given hard numbers to support this).

 

[pdude81]

I know we've gone back and forth about this and you're not wrong. But by reducing the number of people using it, 90% of the complaints will evaporate overnight and the rest they will iterate on and improve over time.

But what if people start complaining that they can't purchase it? I'm not sure I understand how limiting the sales won't just off a different group, unless it also comes with a sharp price increase so that people then only think about using it a day or two of the trip. You've said the price increase won't come until much later, so I'm concerned they just trade one outrage for another in the short term.

 

[monothingie]

I still don’t think just adjusting the price is going to “fix” the design of Genie+/LL. Sure less might use it and things may be easier to get at times, but the overall system and use of it itself is still a major step back from the previous one and even has missing features the previous one had. It’s just a poor design with an even worse plan and implementation

The major problem with G+ (and any type of FP system) is that there will never be enough system capacity for guests. When FP+ was implemented they had to invent capacity through means of M+G or Fireworks viewing to make the system work. And even if it didn't work for guests, other than time and patience it didn't cost guests anything. G+ with a price tag now has to be accountable because there is an actual tangible cost to guests for using it. I can't imagine guests being happy paying for something they couldn't use.

The problem that Disney will have with any fix to G+ is that they still want to be able to monetize what they have with the same participation level. WDW is a unique situation and revenue generating solutions developed for other parks including DLR may not be the best solution. Max Pass worked great at DLR because it was a hybrid which gave advantages to those who bought into it. But non-purchasers could still participate with FP to an extent. This would probably be the ideal evolution of G+.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I know we've gone back and forth about this and you're not wrong. But by reducing the number of people using it, 90% of the complaints will evaporate overnight and the rest they will iterate on and improve over time.

I understand, but after just using it for a week and a half I don’t see how 90% of the complaints would be just about it being overused. It’s a horrible, complicated, frustrating design regardless of usage imo and at this stage Disney just keeps going backwards making Disney vacations less enjoyable and more stressful which is gonna end up biting them in the you know what

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I understand, but after just using it for a week and a half I don’t see how 90% of the complaints would be just about it being overused. It’s a horrible, complicated, frustrating design regardless of usage imo

It's not about it being overused. More than 90% of the complaints are about not being able to reserve a desirable attraction after paying significant amounts of money to do so. For your concerns to be more prominently addressed, they need to fix that first. Then the primary complaint will shift.

 

[GhostHost1000]

It's not about it being overused. More than 90% of the complaints are about not being able to reserve a desirable attraction after paying significant amounts of money to do so.

90% of people complaining may mention that as a problem, but I hope Disney isn’t stupid enough to not listen to the other complaints they have about it

I’m afraid Disney as incompetent as they are these days are just going to attempt to fix one problem and create 2 more or like I said in a previous post, slap a band-aid on a bleeding amputation

 

[monothingie]

But by reducing the number of people using it, 90% of the complaints will evaporate overnight and the rest they will iterate on and improve over time.

Sadly you replace one categorization of guest dissatisfaction with another.

The people who complained about not being able to use G+ will now complain that they can't get access to use G+. (remember the guest satisfaction horrors with the VQ for ROTR and Rat.

They need capacity. The adaptive pricing strategy (even if they were serious about its implementation) to lower demand hasn't worked and will never work at WDW.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

90% of people complaining may mention that as a problem, but I hope Disney isn’t stupid enough to not listen to the other complaints they have about it

I’m afraid Disney as incompetent as they are these days are just going to attempt to fix one problem and create 2 more or like I said in a previous post, slap a band-aid on a bleeding amputation

They can definitely walk and chew at the same time here, and they are. Unfortunately though, I have a hunch though that a lot of your frustrations with the system design are intentional (outside of bugs).

 

[GhostHost1000]

They can definitely walk and chew at the same time here, and they are. Unfortunately though, I have a hunch though that a lot of your frustrations with the system design are intentional (outside of bugs).

Then they are more incompetent than I thought if that is the case

I challenge any of the real designers who used the previous system to use this one with their family for a week and see how much they enjoy it vs the old, but that probably never happens.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Sadly you replace one categorization of guest dissatisfaction with another.

The people who complained about not being able to use G+ will now complain that they can't get access to use G+. (remember the guest satisfaction horrors with the VQ for ROTR and Rat.

They need capacity. The adaptive pricing strategy (even if they were serious about its implementation) to lower demand hasn't work and will never work at WDW.

Not necessarily. The number of complaints will significantly decrease. Also, the number one metric they use is overall satisfaction. As long as that is within their desired limits, they will be happy. So while the complaints will shift, if overall satisfaction improves significantly, that will be considered a win.

If/when they solve the capacity issue, we'll see just how dissatisfied the average guest is with the design of the system.