Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[crazy4disney]

Planning was not the only problem with FastPass+. Relegating an entire segment of visitors to insufficient attractions per hour and attractions per day was a problem. The extra capacity requirements of a reservation system were a problem. Basic crowding was a problem. There is no need to “try” bringing back FastPass+ because it is the same type of system as Genie+, and the root problems will remain.

If that was/is the case and Genie is the same type system as FP was and Disney knew there was a problem. Why on Earth would they expect this to be any different?!? Did they truly believe $15 was gonna stop people from getting it when they are already spending a fortune. They wanted to charge for it. Which i dont blame and didnt want to deal w bad PR. Lets call a spade a spade here. And again if capacity was an issue they could have easily said 2 rides not 3 or gave Deluxe 3. Mod/Value 2 and non resort 1. Or better yet build capacity! But the latter was too logical.

 

[Chi84]

Planning was not the only problem with FastPass+. Relegating an entire segment of visitors to insufficient attractions per hour and attractions per day was a problem. The extra capacity requirements of a reservation system were a problem. Basic crowding was a problem. There is no need to “try” bringing back FastPass+ because it is the same type of system as Genie+, and the root problems will remain.

Yes, but there will always be a line reservation system at WDW. People may as well advocate for the one that works best for them.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Who said they had to or needed to… heck ive said in my circle for years FP being free is the greatest thing or perk Disney has probably given to us and use i use free loosely. See prior posts…. All im saying is Genie is awful and they know it hence why they changing it. FP worked the complaint was planning now all of a sudden it didnt work when the planning excuse got basically destroyed. I know FP isnt coming back all im saying is why not try it and see if that system can work better than Genie or whatever they have in store bc it seemed like an effective system for resort guests and is capping sales is an answer so be it. Sell it to resort guests 1st…

I do believe they will continue to adjust their new money making machine we call Genie +; try to reduce the squeaky wheels and keep the machine running.

I agree. Genie plus should be limited, and should be FREE to on site DELUXE resort guests, resort guests must opt in to be counted so they know how many they distributed.

There must be some optimum number of Genie + to standby that would make both the genie + wait times and the standby wait times the lowest they could be.

The Disney Data folks gotta stop spending so much time planning their convention and crunch the numbers..

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Did they truly believe $15 was gonna stop people from getting it

Yes.

 

[crazy4disney]

Yes.

I find that utterly amazing especially when 30% use practically crashed the system!

 

[crazy4disney]

I do believe they will continue to adjust their new money making machine we call Genie +; try to reduce the squeaky wheels and keep the machine running.

I agree. Genie plus should be limited, and should be FREE to on site DELUXE resort guests, resort guests must opt in to be counted so they know how many they distributed.

There must be some optimum number of Genie + to standby that would make both the genie + wait times and the standby wait times the lowest they could be.

The Disney Data folks gotta stop spending so much time planning their convention and crunch the numbers..

It will never be free to anyone imo especially deluxe who already have that typeof money to spend. At least not until they need promos to get people thru the gates

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yes, but there will always be a line reservation system at WDW. People may as well advocate for the one that works best for them.

The one that worked best for you was the one with more capacity available to it. That’s it. So if you truly believe they will always offer a reservation system then you should be joining along with the all stand-by crowd who want more capacity, because more capacity is the thing that will most influence and improve a reservation system.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You truly are a real jacka$$ honestly. Who ever said that or implied that. Guess trying to have a conversation is impossible these days when someone disagrees with you. You claim FP doesnt/didnt work i experienced otherwise as has countless others. And if the system didnt work and Disney kept it in place all these years yet attendance kept rising why would they dare try and fix it. Just keep charging more. Seemed to work fine.

You’re trying to insinuate things without commitment and then say “I never said that!”

I tried to be reasonable as to the realities of what is going on…as others have…but you’re insistent at some “offense” and then hoping that it applies to everyone.

Enjoy your travels…I suggest Nantucket

 

[Chi84]

The one that worked best for you was the one with more capacity available to it. That’s it. So if you truly believe they will always offer a reservation system then you should be joining along with the all stand-by crowd who want more capacity, because more capacity is the thing that will most influence and improve a reservation system.

Everyone wants more capacity regardless of which system they favor.

 

[Chi84]

Yes.

Do you know whether Disney has ever considered going all standby? No line reservation system at all?

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Everyone wants more capacity regardless of which system they favor.

I'd actually like each park reduced to just 1 low-capacity ride each, preferably a spinner that lasts 30 minutes.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Do you know whether Disney has ever considered going all standby? No line reservation system at all?

As far as I know, no, because the balking point for most guests is too often reached with or without FP. And often times, popular attractions maximum wait time does not increase because of FP (the cumulative balking point for standby doesn't change). Many guests feel like having to wait 40, 60, 80, 120 minutes is all the same. Many are in the 35 minutes or less camp (which wouldn't happen without FP anyways).

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Everyone wants more capacity regardless of which system they favor.

And yet…absolutely NONE is coming after next year.

Zilch.

And I know you hate it…but why would they when people pay premiums for short time periods for upsells to get at the limited capacity?

Now you get to pass go and collect $200

 

[lazyboy97o]

Everyone wants more capacity regardless of which system they favor.

People have repeatedly argued that more capacity is not a practical solution and some sort of “line skipping” scheme is required to deal with that issue.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

People have repeatedly argued that more capacity is not a practical solution and some sort of “line skipping” scheme is required to deal with that issue.

The problem is when they add capacity, they push the marketing lever to fill that capacity and we're back to square one.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The problem is when they add capacity, they push the marketing lever to fill that capacity and we're back to square one.

The problem is deeper than that. They push the marketing lever because they delay adding capacity for as long as possible while Walt Disney Imagineering’s costs continue to spiral out of control.

But it’s not just attractions. The world’s busiest theme park has had abandoned and under used retail and dining space, spaces that could help with capacity and directly generate revenue.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

The problem is deeper than that. They push the marketing lever because they delay adding capacity for as long as possible while Walt Disney Imagineering’s costs continue to spiral out of control.

But it’s not just attractions. The world’s busiest theme park has had abandoned and under used retail and dining space, spaces that could help with capacity and directly generate revenue.

Certainly. In reality, the solution here is reduce volume. And we all know what that means.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Certainly. In reality, the solution here is reduce volume. And we all know what that means.

Which is exactly what had to happen at Volcano Bay. Disney though also doesn’t want to reduce volume even if they could increase prices to cover the loss. There’s a lot of benefit to having the crowds as it sets expectations and can be massaged.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The problem is when they add capacity, they push the marketing lever to fill that capacity and we're back to square one.

Yes and no…

The first instinct is that more capacity will mob the place and require unwanted overhead…

But consider it’s already expensive enough that they’re close to draining their client pool?

In that case added capacity can work for both sides.

 

[mmascari]

Depends on your definition of rope drop but far more than 5,000 people arrive at the Magic Kingdom from pre-open to 1 hour after open.

We picked up an early bus to leverage the early entry 30 minutes. Got to the park and let in even before the early entry. Queued up on the bridge towards Cosmic rays with lots of other early entry hotel guests still prior to the 30 minutes. Right on time, they dropped the rope and everyone walked in. We were far enough back that by the time we got to 7DMT the line was already somewhere near or beyond Dumbo. Immediate change of plan, we were not waiting in that for 7DMT, MDE when it updated a few minutes later was already showing an hour. We did Speedway and Buzz then over to Splash right at full park open, no lines for any of them, then a short one for HM. G+ for Peter Pan and Pirates in the morning. Space and BTMR LL in the evening. 5,000 isn't even close, there was way more than that there for start of the day.

Of the 3 Rope Drops we did, it had the lowest pay out. At AK, we only beat off site guests in by 3 minutes, but it was enough to save an hour for Flight of Passage. At DHS, we were early enough to be held at the tap points, that got us on RotR with practically no line, and then Smugglers and Toy Story too.

The early entry perk is clearly designed to drive more and more people to rope drop and get in the park as soon as possible early in the morning.