Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[GhostHost1000]

Disney has created their own problem and are now creating others imo

By having FP’s “free” in the past, most took advantage of that and feel like they have to pay for the new system to at least get close to that same experience. The problem is when we pay for it now, it’s a worse system than before (many factors)

If they start charging a lot more and/or limiting usage, then they just trade one set of problems for another…unhappy guests who now can’t enjoy the park as much as they used to and if they do, having to pay a much higher amount to get close

I don’t know how you solve it, but I’m afraid they don’t either.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I don’t know how you solve it, but I’m afraid they don’t either.

Sadly this is true. There is no concrete plan.

 

[pdude81]

It's good feedback honestly. And I share what I can. But unfortunately, so much of what we dislike about Disney and not even just Genie+ is by design.

If they can significantly cut back the number of people using it, then hopefully the cached "next available" times will update more quickly. That gets real ugly at 7a. Though I hope they will open up first selection for on site guests the night before instead. Or just make it that you can't get one until you're in the park. Early hours swipe counts as in the park, but the return times wouldn't start until official park open.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

If they can significantly cut back the number of people using it, then hopefully the cached "next available" times will update more quickly. That gets real ugly at 7a. Though I hope they will open up first selection for on site guests the night before instead. Or just make it that you can't get one until you're in the park. Early hours swipe counts as in the park, but the return times wouldn't start until official park open.

FWIW, the dev team hasn't finished the capacity limit work yet (still insane that they didn't build it in to begin with). I think they are trying to get a release out before the 4th though. I'm still not really optimistic that they will cap it at a reasonable level though.

 

[GhostHost1000]

FWIW, the dev team hasn't finished the capacity limit work yet (still insane that they didn't build it in to begin with). I think they are trying to get a release out before the 4th though. I'm still not really optimistic that they will cap it at a reasonable level though.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when they truly start limiting it. In terms of how it works along with guest complaints who want to use it but can’t.

I hope this isn’t going to become a mad dash to purchase at a set time (midnight?) vs the 7am mad dash. That’s my thinking with trading one set of problems for another

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I hope this isn’t going to become a mad dash to purchase at a set time (midnight?) vs the 7am mad dash. That’s my thinking with trading one set of problems for another

Knowing them, it won't be capped nearly enough to sell out that fast. I think for the early July days it may sell out by 10am or something. Complete guess though.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I didn’t say you weren’t paying for it. Of course you are. But it’s still an associated perk which has no impact on your resort stay whatsoever.

I’m not hostile. There’s a clear difference between perks based on affiliation and the primary product being purchased.

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

You keep changing your qualifiers. The original question was not about parks. The question was have some hotel guests been treated differently.

That's it.

Disney has offered special products/special offers to sub-groups of their customers many times in the past.

That is the only part of this sub-discussion that was ever relevant to this thread topic: Disney might find a way to limit G+ sales, by maybe deciding that only some resorts guests can buy it, as they have made limited offers in the past.

Another example was the Sunset Safari at AKL. Only a subset of hotel guests could buy it.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

You keep changing your qualifiers. The original question was not about parks. The question was have some hotel guests been treated differently.

Agree to disagree. It's a no brainer that deluxe guests are treated differently than value guests. It's just built into the entire resort collection model. Apologies if we were disagreeing on two different concepts but I was very much referring to explicit perks offered based on resort class; not extensions of the product itself.

 

[monothingie]

I don’t mean to argue here back and forth haha I just can’t believe how bad Disney could botch some of this and be surprised by usage and complaints

How many people who "designed" this beast actually have any experience or can place themselves into the role of the "guest". The only link between guests and the brain trust that develops this stuff (before it is outsourced for engineering and development) is a survey.

You want to get data on user experiences, embed these clowns with a family of 5 with a screaming 2, 6, and 10 year old. Do it on a day which the park is packed and the park is hotter than the surface of the sun.

You'll get some real data.

 

[GhostHost1000]

How many people who "designed" this beast actually have any experience or can place themselves into the role of the "guest". The only link between guests and the brain trust that develops this stuff (before it is outsourced for engineering and development) is a survey.

You want to get data on user experiences, embed these clowns with a family of 5 with a screaming 2, 6, and 10 year old. Do it on a day which the park is packed and the park is hotter than the surface of the sun.

You'll get some real data.

I liked your post, but only because there wasn’t a super like button

 

[DisneyHead123]

Sadly this is true. There is no concrete plan.

I think the issue is that they had a plan that seemed to work quite well, in terms of customer satisfaction (FP+). They just didn’t want to make it obvious that they were charging for a formerly free system, so they tried to fix what wasn’t broken. I think whatever system they go with in the future is going to have to look a lot like the old FP+, in the end. Most people, imho, want to be able to lock in their plans, especially if they are paying Disney prices. Ain’t nobody shelling out 4 or 5 figures to go to Disney in the hopes that they will have a “spontaneous” day of riding the People Mover and going to the Monster’s Inc. show, ha ha. If they want to connect as many people to as many rides as possible, they are going to have to allow advance reservations again (or limit park attendance, or build many new rides - but in the absence of that, a reservation system is the only feasible system.) A day-of dice roll system doesn’t allow people to organize their day around other park goers efficiently, because no one knows what to expect so no one knows what rides to rope drop / budget a wait for / skip, etc.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I think the issue is that they had a plan that seemed to work quite well, in terms of customer satisfaction (FP+).

Guest satisfaction was not great for FP+ for those who aren't resort guests.

 

[Vacationeer]

I thought paying for a FP system that was more like MaxPass at DL would be cool.

I’d gladly take back FP+ with all its warts because at least we’d generally know what to expect. Now we’re left wondering what our trips will be like in Oct ‘22 and May ‘23 (after we already did 2 trips with high uncertainty during the pandemic). Will we not be able to buy G+ due to the cap? Will we not want to buy G+ because it‘s $100/day each? If we can’t do G+, what will the park experience be like?

One huge draw to WDW for my family was not needing to deal with long lines for every popular ride. We could balance a pleasant experience out of ropedrops/EMHs/FPs and not needing to do every ride. We didn’t exactly know how a day would turn out but always had confidence it‘d be fine, and almost always were. Now? Who knows. What happens this summer with G+ might be changed by the time we arrive Halloween, and might change 3 more times before next year’s trip.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I thought paying for a FP system that was more like MaxPass at DL would be cool.

I’d gladly take back FP+ with all its warts because at least we’d generally know what to expect. Now we’re left wondering what our trips will be like in Oct ‘22 and May ‘23 (after we already did 2 trips with high uncertainty during the pandemic). Will we not be able to buy G+ due to the cap? Will we not want to buy G+ because it‘s $100/day each? If we can’t do G+, what will the park experience be like?

One huge draw to WDW for my family was not needing to deal with long lines for every popular ride. We could balance a pleasant experience out of ropedrops/EMHs/FPs and not needing to do every ride. We didn’t exactly know how a day would turn out but always had confidence it‘d be fine, and almost always were. Now? Who knows. What happens this summer with G+ might be changed by the time we arrive Halloween, and might change 3 more times before next year’s trip.

This. 100%

And it’s why we keep getting more frustrated - they keep making a Disney vacation too complicated, stressful, and sometimes not as worth the effort

 

[drew81]

Anyone have a guess on how many daily complaints/refund requests take place at Hollywood Studios?

 

[ToTBellHop]

I have been given the go-ahead to share with you all a behind-the-scenes look at the state-of-the-art machinery responsible for bringing your Genie+ dreams to life.

Spoiler: Warning: may spoil the Magic…

 

[crazy4disney]

You saying this is a design flaw is like saying that a Honda not being able to go 0 to 60 in 2 seconds is a design flaw. You want a product that they aren't selling, that doesn't make it a design flaw. Again, it was meant to be a very lightly used experience where you open it up through out the day and grab an attraction. Taking no more than a minute each time. It's meant to offer flexibility throughout the day; not to schedule your day.

From what I understand, the goal was for guests to basically be able to alternate FP queue and standby queue throughout their entire day. Instead, because so many are using it, it's a 7AM mad dash and then a mad dash every 2 hours after that. All solved by reducing number of people using it via caps or price increases.

No offense. That was my experience with FP for many years. So if that truly was the goal again why on God’s green earth did they change it & mangle it the way they did. I know i know. Guests didnt wanna plan that far in advance etc. Personally again i dont buy it. Yes maybe it was what they “disliked” most about FP but im sorry. This “replacement” is awful & how noone was able to see that before is baffling. Also dont wanna hear they were concerned about bad pr & charging for what was free. Look no further than resort parking fees which provide nothing extra as opposed to FP…

 

[DisneyHead123]

Guest satisfaction was not great for FP+ for those who aren't resort guests.

Was it Genie+ levels bad? I feel I see a lot more public anger about Genie+, but maybe that's just because we're deep into the social media age now.

 

[mysto]

G+ will work perfectly in a world with 2 billion people. Either it was designed by a genius in 1953 or an idiot in 2019.,

 

[Jrb1979]

No offense. That was my experience with FP for many years. So if that truly was the goal again why on God’s green earth did they change it & mangle it the way they did. I know i know. Guests didnt wanna plan that far in advance etc. Personally again i dont buy it. Yes maybe it was what they “disliked” most about FP but im sorry. This “replacement” is awful & how noone was able to see that before is baffling. Also dont wanna hear they were concerned about bad pr & charging for what was free. Look no further than resort parking fees which provide nothing extra as opposed to FP…

Genie+ is awful only cause too many people are buying it. Take away even half the people using it each day and it's a much different story.

The people on this board aren't your average guest. They are the ones that don't like all the planning.