Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[crazy4disney]

Yup, folks are romanticizing FP+. Even folks staying 7 days on site couldn’t get some rides. If you weren’t on site, you entered the park with low level rides. Yes, you had a chance of lucking out, and ALL rides were available, but FP+ was really Only good for folks who stayed at WDW all week, and were happy with 2 or 3 big rides a day.

WDW is broken. They simply don’t have enough rides, and there are enough sheep for now to keep paying.

For starters 2 or 3 Big rides a day is more than you are getting with Genie unless you are both buying Genie+ and paying for ILL and even with that God only know when your return will be…
Next thing. Are you saying when using FP lets say MK for example (even tho i never really had an issue w 7DMT or PP). You werent able to get Splash, BTM, Space, PoTC or HM at basically any time you wanted earlier on? I would consider those 5 big rides and as I said personally never had an issue w the 1st 2 either….
Heading over the Epcot not sure what we would consider “Big” rides but pretty much every ride was available to book on all my trips excluding Frozen when it 1st opened as ive stated.
AK FoP was a tough one but again definitely was always able to get one around Noonish and as far as all the other rides EE and KS were the same choose what time you wanted to ride them for most part and those are pretty big rides.
HS SDD was yes again tough but never had an issue with an earlier morning time slot and other attractions were again easily available ToT, Frozen sing a long (when it was heavily popular) GMR in itS glory. So i dk how you define Big rides and saying you can only get 2-3 but again that was not my experience in the parks at all. And for those that are there a week which means multiple days in the park if for whatever reason you couldnt get a ride 1 day im positive you could easily get it the 2nd day. FP+ was far from perfect but the way these parks are now set up with capacity the system worked pretty dam good for resort guests and those willing to do just a tad extra while in parks to snag extra ones etc. everyone says they are on vacation and want to relax and not have to stare at a phone all day. Here is my take on that Disney is NOT a relaxing vacation if you plan on being in parks all day far from it. You are literally walking miles and miles in the Florida heat with crowds and crying and screaming kids but while on a FP or standby line or while sitting down eating ot having a snack and checking the app for another ride was too much hassles? Come on to me thats just being lazy. The in park additions to me was a game changer and thats where they should have started to charge. Everyone gets 3 free ones.. want the ability to boom extra gonna cost an extra X amount. So now the ones who know how to use the system and willing to do a little extra work can do just that and everyone else can go about their day. Thats where i felt Disney missed the boat.

 

[crazy4disney]

We live in a world where everything can be done on our phones via apps or a computer. So once my windows opened up for Dining and FP. Part of my routine on bus in morning would be to check what ADR’s may have popped up along with checking periodically during the day. Literally would take a few minutes at a time same with my bus ride home. And then again day later on at night a quick look. Then with FP honestly after the day of booking i would say my entire trip was set ride wise where i was satisfied so that didnt need as much checking of any tbh other than maybe curiosity. Also would use mousedining and that definitely snagged me a couple character meals. So to me just like coming to this website and others etc checking the Disney one when windows opened became the same. I didnt see that as a difficult task to do.

 

[Jrb1979]

We live in a world where everything can be done on our phones via apps or a computer. So once my windows opened up for Dining and FP. Part of my routine on bus in morning would be to check what ADR’s may have popped up along with checking periodically during the day. Literally would take a few minutes at a time same with my bus ride home. And then again day later on at night a quick look. Then with FP honestly after the day of booking i would say my entire trip was set ride wise where i was satisfied so that didnt need as much checking of any tbh other than maybe curiosity. Also would use mousedining and that definitely snagged me a couple character meals. So to me just like coming to this website and others etc checking the Disney one when windows opened became the same. I didnt see that as a difficult task to do.

For my family and your average guest it's too much planning to visit a glorified Amusement park. I don't care that it's one of the best parks or highest attended park. At the end of the day it's still a Theme Park.

It has nothing to do with it being hard or being lazy. My family does enough scheduling in our day to day life. It's the last thing I want to do on vacation especially a Theme Park one. It's my number 1 complaint with Disney. Too much planning.

 

[drizgirl]

Everyone is still bickering back and forth on which system is better. Just stop. It all sucks. It’s all a shell game to distract from the fact that they need more capacity. More net new attractions. None of these schemes will work until they build more net new attractions.

 

[Jrb1979]

Everyone is still bickering back and forth on which system is better. Just stop. It all sucks. It’s all a shell game to distract from the fact that they need more capacity. More net new attractions. None of these schemes will work until they build more net new attractions.

More net attractions is needed but we all know that will take years to happen. Even if they add a lot more capacity you still can't make a skip the line system that works for everyone. It's a reason most parks price it so high.

 

[bhg469]

For my family and your average guest it's too much planning to visit a glorified Amusement park. I don't care that it's one of the best parks or highest attended park. At the end of the day it's still a Theme Park.

It has nothing to do with it being hard or being lazy. My family does enough scheduling in our day to day life. It's the last thing I want to do on vacation especially a Theme Park one. It's my number 1 complaint with Disney. Too much planning.

Agree 100%... Especially when my best trips were done with little to no planning. They're punishing people for not being able to keep up with their own attendance and not having enough capacity.

 

[bhg469]

Everyone is still bickering back and forth on which system is better. Just stop. It all sucks. It’s all a shell game to distract from the fact that they need more capacity. More net new attractions. None of these schemes will work until they build more net new attractions.

Attractions, restaurants and extended park hours... They just need more of it all.

 

[crazy4disney]

For my family and your average guest it's too much planning to visit a glorified Amusement park. I don't care that it's one of the best parks or highest attended park. At the end of the day it's still a Theme Park.

It has nothing to do with it being hard or being lazy. My family does enough scheduling in our day to day life. It's the last thing I want to do on vacation especially a Theme Park one. It's my number 1 complaint with Disney. Too much planning.

do i agree that a Disney trip requires planning 100% i would be a fool to say otherwise but as ive stated it is not the only place that requires planning and i understand disney wanting to make guests happy (coough couogh wink wink) but again how they thought this was the answer is beyond comprehension and again not buying the story especially when park pass reservations are going nowhere, adr's are going nowhere so now you created this absolute debacle and people still have to plan almost everything.

 

[drizgirl]

More net attractions is needed but we all know that will take years to happen. Even if they add a lot more capacity you still can't make a skip the line system that works for everyone. It's a reason most parks price it so high.

It won’t improve any while they sit on their hands doing nothing. The reason it will take so long is because they have sat on their hands (and profits) so long.

Line skip programs will always advantage one group over another. The higher prices versions will advantage the people with more money. So the squabbling is about which version advantages a given poster. This would continue even if a more exclusive higher prices system replaced the current one. Maybe even more so.

People spending $600 for a family of 4 to spend one day in the parks need to demand better without needing a pricey add on.

 

[crazy4disney]

Everyone is still bickering back and forth on which system is better. Just stop. It all sucks. It’s all a shell game to distract from the fact that they need more capacity. More net new attractions. None of these schemes will work until they build more net new attractions.

i dont think anyone is bickering we are all having a pretty much adult conversation and if anything we ALL are in agreement that capacity is the main issue along w lack of entertainment and reduced hours.... fact is tho we have 2 systems to compare to and 1 is by far superior than the other that is simply a fact based on pretty much everyone who have used the product and based on insiders saying disney is trying to figure a solution out.... was FP perfect no but what is? unless you plan on paying 3-4-5K who knows how much they charging these days for Plaid service. A shell game is a good way to say it but again it seemed to work "best" yes everyone has different results etc but again when you have 10's of thousands of guests a day and millions per year its going to happen...

 

[JD80]

For my family and your average guest it's too much planning to visit a glorified Amusement park. I don't care that it's one of the best parks or highest attended park. At the end of the day it's still a Theme Park.

It has nothing to do with it being hard or being lazy. My family does enough scheduling in our day to day life. It's the last thing I want to do on vacation especially a Theme Park one. It's my number 1 complaint with Disney. Too much planning.

Sounds like you're some combination of stubborn and lazy.

If you want a Disney vacation with no planning, you can do that. I just spoke with a friend of a friend and he went with a school trip with 140 people. He and his son went with zero planning, bought G+ the day of, bought ILLs and went late in the morning and left early in the evening. He had a blast.

You just need to have the proper expectations if you want no planning.

 

[Jrb1979]

do i agree that a Disney trip requires planning 100% i would be a fool to say otherwise but as ive stated it is not the only place that requires planning and i understand disney wanting to make guests happy (coough couogh wink wink) but again how they thought this was the answer is beyond comprehension and again not buying the story especially when park pass reservations are going nowhere, adr's are going nowhere so now you created this absolute debacle and people still have to plan almost everything.

In testing and in theory it works. What they didn't expect is everyone and their cousin all buying it.

It won’t improve any while they sit on their hands doing nothing. The reason it will take so long is because they have sat on their hands (and profits) so long.

Line skip programs will always advantage one group over another. The higher prices versions will advantage the people with more money. So the squabbling is about which version advantages a given poster. This would continue even if a more exclusive higher prices system replaced the current one. Maybe even more so.

People spending $600 for a family of 4 to spend one day in the parks need to demand better without needing a pricey add on.

People need to stop thinking that you MUST skip the line to visit Disney. Yes it's their fault people got used to skipping lines for free and it was available to everyone. They have to limit availability in some way. Either by capping sales or pricing people out.

 

[bhg469]

Sounds like you're some combination of stubborn and lazy.

Nah, you're just defending the indefensible

 

[Jrb1979]

Sounds like you're some combination of stubborn and lazy.

Not at all. Has nothing to do with that. It's how my family tours parks. We don't do Character meals as it's over priced crap food. Rarely eat on property or stay in the "Bubble". Cheaper and better options off site.

It's attitudes like yours is another reason I have turned off Disney.

 

[bhg469]

People need to stop thinking that you MUST skip the line to visit Disney. Yes it's their fault people got used to skipping lines for free and it was available to everyone. They have to limit availability in some way. Either by capping sales or pricing people out.

Both please

 

[crazy4disney]

In testing and in theory it works. What they didn't expect is everyone and their cousin all buying it.

People need to stop thinking that you MUST skip the line to visit Disney. Yes it's their fault people got used to skipping lines for free and it was available to everyone. They have to limit availability in some way. Either by capping sales or pricing people out.

so you feel people didnt like to plan in advance but are going to prefer to wait in hour long lines instead and that is going to raise guest satisfaction by pricing majority of people out or as you suggest as well capping the availability where even if you want to pay you cant? Good luck w that model & dealing with that PR mess

 

[bhg469]

so you feel people didnt like to plan in advance but are going to prefer to wait in hour long lines instead and that is going to raise guest satisfaction by pricing majority of people out or as you suggest as well capping the availability where even if you want to pay you cant? Good luck w that model & dealing with that PR mess

Less people in the lightning lane means less wait in standby. And guest satisfaction? If that truly mattered they would do one simple gesture for them by making park hours longer again.

 

[JD80]

Nah, you're just defending the indefensible

Not defending anything, G+ is a terrible product. FP+ worked but it was also flawed in many ways.

But this is what we're working with.

Expecting to go to Disney with ZERO planning, but also expecting a top level experience and access to everything and anything at any time is also ignorant of reality.

 

[drizgirl]

They have to limit availability in some way. Either by capping sales or pricing people out.

And as long as people keep setting up this false dichotomy, Disney will continue to avoid building the net new attractions that are needed.

 

[JD80]

Not at all. Has nothing to do with that. It's how my family tours parks. We don't do Character meals as it's over priced crap food. Rarely eat on property or stay in the "Bubble". Cheaper and better options off site.

It's attitudes like yours is another reason I have turned off Disney.

You spend quite a lot of time on a Disney message board for having turned off Disney.

My attitude is that I enjoy my time in the parks but I also realize there are systems in place to provide access. So I either chose to engage with them to maximize my experience or I don't engage with them and set my expectations that my access may be limited.

I've done both, and I had good experiences both ways. My opinion is that the ride systems are garbage. I prefer FP+ significantly more even if that system sucked unless you knew how to manipulate it.