Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
You could not prebook fast passes in two separate parks. You could get a fast pass for a new park when you were in it and if they were available.
Once I was done with my prebooked selection, I would often search for and reserve FastPasses in another park before heading over there. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding you, but the benefit you’re describing isn’t new to me.
 
Outside the Magic Kingdom, FP+ also released new times throughout the day.
I honestly see both sides of this argument. Yes, Disney is a business, and consumers have the right to make their choice to patronize it or not. Totally fair.

However, alienating your core supporters and repeatedly charging more for what was once a baseline expectation is unfortunate. Consumers are equally within their rights to express disappointment and react; it's not as simple as choosing to transact or not transact. See the Scarlett Johansson debacle; everyone's got an opinion on it, and in some cases, that opinion toward Disney isn't pretty.

Combine these separate sagas and to many, the Disney brand is being cheapened in a way we haven't seen since the early 2000s (flop films and direct-to-video sequels; theme park creative + maintenance disasters; nearly destroying the positive relationship with Pixar).

Like him or not, Iger helped Disney restore a lot of its goodwill and brand power. There were some clear faults in his strategy (e.g. the live action remakes became more openly criticized, and many voiced their concerns over theme park pricing). Now, a lot of the negatives are being observed in full force, and people don't have to sit quietly and take it. They certainly didn't in the mid-2000s (e.g. "Save Disney").
This I agree with. But if you disagree with Chappie, and for the record I really do, the only viable way to get rid of him with a petition is to become a shareholder and start it there(though good luck with that as long as this makes money). The speaking with your wallet could also work but never really seems to with Disney
 

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
Or get push notifications... that's why you're telling Disney your preferences up front.
So pulling my phone out to check for notifications all day instead of button mashing. Seems like tomato, tamato. Not too mention if the notifications are not something I care to do at the time.

Pull phone out. Check the offer. Decide. Put phone back. Repeat until you hit the magical attraction count that DIS has.


But there's a time and place... hating on boarding groups is not related to G+, LL, etc. We get it, you don't like Boarding Groups - but that didn't change with this thread's topic except to add another option. Boarding Groups are table stakes at this point - don't muddy up G+/LL conversation with stuff that is already done...
The time and place isn’t a discussion board devoted to WDW in a thread about the changes to BGs, VQs, GA+, et al?

ETA: There are *speculated* changes to the BG availability no?

Ok, fair enough.
 

JusticeDisney

Well-Known Member
Or get push notifications... that's why you're telling Disney your preferences up front.



But there's a time and place... hating on boarding groups is not related to G+, LL, etc. We get it, you don't like Boarding Groups - but that didn't change with this thread's topic except to add another option. Boarding Groups are table stakes at this point - don't muddy up G+/LL conversation with stuff that is already done...
I’ve actually lost track of how many different people you are arguing with in this thread alone. And that’s a mouthful coming from me, lol!
 

dovetail65

Well-Known Member
Die hards like the system that heavily benefits die hards, you don't say? AP holders are a vocal minority when it comes to most things about the parks and grossly overstate their financial importance to the company. Having said that, there probably should be some token AP discount on a day of Genie+, or a handful of free days to use throughout the year.

FastPass+ in it's previous form had huge positives for people who knew how to play the system, and negatives for everyone else in the form of bloated standby wait times. This is a re-calibration: less FP throughput means more standby throughput, and shorter FP return lines. So the non-savvy guest in standby has a better time with less waits, and the savvy guest using Genie+ spends less time in return lines and can presumably book more passes than before.
I have not heard you say the new system is better or if you even like it. I must you say you seem to have an AP bias. I am an out of state AP user and am no different than someone buying a 10 day ticket, I just went 4 times a year. If going more made me savvy I can't help that, but I was a newb too and never found anything you said to enter my enter my mind regarding Fp or AP's being able to game the system, exactly how? We all had the same darn rules, that makes zero sense.

I am done saying it, but I will say it one more time. This new scheme, no scheme, can ever make the line waits any shorter, nothing can other than more space and more rides/attractions increasing the People Per Hour(PPH)!

There is no way to change throughput as you say, the rides pump out their designed PPH(People Per Hour) that is all they can do on the best of days. Fp or genie can not optimize the PPH in any way. Once the park hits the Guest saturation nothing can change it. The lines were long this summer with no Genie or FP , you seem to be saying those same days with genie the standby would be shorter? Nope, they will be the same long lines, but now the genie people will have some paid relief. We used to all get 3 ride relief, Free. No savvy user required. We all had 3 FP it was clearly stated how to use it and to say it was anymore difficult to understand or could be gamed any more than this new system is, well crazy.

Fp and Genie is not to shorten lines, Disney never said that and no civil engineer would say that either(unless the park had less guests than saturation on that day). It is nothing more than some people getting shorter lines on some rides. Say whatever you want about the new system, like or hate it, it is not going to make the standby lines any shorter. In year from now we aren't going to be saying wow the lines are so much shorter thank heavens for genie it made the lines shorter. It simply is not what Genie is for. If Disney thought Genie would shorten lines they would be advertising that fact and they don't because their engineers and imagineers know better.

Lines will always be dependent on total PPH for each park across all attractions and how many guest are in the park on any given day. This is why going in off season is always the best option for people concerned about line times. Genie in the off season very well may work as you state, that's the best we can hope for. We are stuck Genie and I am sure I will go and test it, but unless that 7AM thing changes it can never be better than the old system for me. And unless I can reserve my attractions ahead of time and not having the option to just walk to any express line I want to(like at Universal) I almost certainly won't ever book a Disney hotel again. I just cannot drop 600 a night in hopes I get up at 7am and snag what I want.

One more thing, I believe this Genie will sell out every day. Why some think less people will go for it because it's paid is mind boggling to me. People will pay in droves, the lines will be long we will pay more and without the benefit of planning. I can't wait until they state Dinner reservation can only be made day of at 7am.
 
Last edited:

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
This I agree with. But if you disagree with Chappie, and for the record I really do, the only viable way to get rid of him with a petition is to become a shareholder and start it there(though good luck with that as long as this makes money). The speaking with your wallet could also work but never really seems to with Disney
Yes, exactly. That made all the difference with Eisner's ouster when it ultimately materialized, as great as he was for the company in his first decade.

At the same time, I don't hate the Genie concept as much as some here do. There's a good chance I'd give it a try for myself. That said, I can totally understand why many are turned off by it. The sheer complexity of simply doing anything fun at this stage (standby, Genie+, Lightning Lane à la carte, Virtual Queue, etc.) is getting a bit ridiculous.

It shouldn't be so difficult or expensive to ride Ratatouille, for instance; it's really not that good. Yet here we are.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
You couldn't do that with FP+ until your first FPs were consumed... now you can buy a LL pass to another park without being at that park nor being constrained to wait until your other LLs are used.
This makes more sense. Thanks for clarifying. Still, @pixarprincess seemed to be saying that you couldn’t reserve FastPasses in another park before hopping there, which isn’t accurate.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Disney is a business, selling a product and are within their rights to price that product any way they see fit. It is not an entitlement that should be available to everyone whether they can afford the product or not.
And people are free to create and sign petitions against CEO’s if they want to.

Save Disney was a real thing!
 

ilovetotravel1977

Well-Known Member
For the new top tier rides (it seems to be 2 per park for now), like 7DMT, you have these options:
  • Standby
  • Purchase a LL$ (Individual Selection Lightning Lane) for some undetermined price for now


For the new top tier rides where are also a Boarding Group VQ (RotR, Rat) you have these options:
  • Join the lottery at 7 AM (free)
  • Purchase a LL$ (Individual Selection Lightning Lane) for some undetermined price for now


For almost all other rides (HM, BTMR, PPF, DINOSAUR, etc..), they have a Lightning Lane (previously called FastPass Queue), and your options are:
  • Standby
  • Purchase Genie+ for $15 per day per person, and you can schedule a LL one-at-a-time throughout the day
This is best post to outline the new app. Just one question. We would be staying onsite. Do onsite guests get any extra perk(s)? i.e. At 7am we might get to book two rides vs one for non-onsite guests?
 

flynnibus

Premium Member
What matters is how much total capacity they allocate for LL. How and when guests go about booking it doesn't really matter on a macro level.

That is incorrect - How and when guests book is just as important as how much there is at any time.

Either way, if the total number of LL passes remains constant, Genie+ guests will get to use the LL the same number of times, on average.

Sorry - this is simply wrong on so many levels. For all the same reasons guests didn't use FP equally all the time.

What I am most interested in is seeing how they manage the Lightning Lane returns. Expectations and tolerances there will play a huge role in how much availability they can open up.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
So no standby VQ for non-BG rides. So if they price LL$ low enough most people buy it ($4-$24 is low enough in my opinion) then would standby just revert back to the old FP+ lengths?
There are two types of non-BG rides:
  • The new top tier duo of each park
  • All the other rides

Keep in mind that the two BG rides (Rat, RotR) are also LL$ rides along with six others.

A BG ride (Rat and RotR) don't have any type of standby, unless, I suppose there's a very dead day and they just open up a standby line

All the other new top tier rides have standby and LL$.
 

disneygeek90

Well-Known Member
It’s the only way I can imagine it working. Just like legacy fast pass.

The New York Times articles on this actually said “booking the next available time” - so I do think that is correct. And with Disney saying it’s basically based of MaxPass, I think it’s a safe bet.

Think of it like legacy Fastpass, but digital, you don’t need to run to machines to get your next pass, and once you scan your pass you can now book your next one while you are walking in the lightning lane.
It's a lot like Maxpass but without a free option. Without an "AP" for Genie+ and no free option of running around the park, it's still drastically worse than when Maxpass was released in CA if you didn't want to pay.
 

donsullivan

Premium Member
I honestly see both sides of this argument. Yes, Disney is a business, and consumers have the right to make their choice to patronize it or not. Totally fair.

However, alienating your core supporters and repeatedly charging more for what was once a baseline expectation is unfortunate. Consumers are equally within their rights to express disappointment and react; it's not as simple as choosing to transact or not transact. See the Scarlett Johansson debacle; everyone's got an opinion on it, and in some cases, that opinion toward Disney isn't pretty.......
The self-described core supporters do not make up nearly as large a percentage of the total guests who visit WDW as they'd like to believe. And since the day WDW has opened, they have periodically made changes that resulted in regular guests reducing the frequency of their visits. And you know what, peoples life situations change or their interests change as kids grow older and they stop coming back. Every year, since 1971, people have decided they'd had enough of WDW (for hundreds of different reasons) and began spending their vacation dollars going other places and doing other things. And that will happen again surround this. And yet, the attendance at WDW has been on a nearly continuous climb right up until the pandemic blew everything up last year.
 

Missing20K

Well-Known Member
Fp and Genie is not to shorten lines, Disney never said that and no civil engineer would say that either(unless the park had less guests than saturation on that day).

From the horse’s mouth to Walt’s ears.

9009BE4A-2CAC-4298-8069-F988DD2ED7EC.jpeg
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom