Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[drizgirl]

Wait you don’t get the idea that allowing people the ability to take multiple ride slots from the same ride will lower the overall ability to allow the most guests to get on the most number of rides as possible? You don’t think that for everyone one of you (and me too as I love the dark water rides as opposed to coasters) that wants to re-ride pirates and haunted mansion, you are going to have multiple people trying to book 3 space mountains or Everest?

It worked for FP+. Not everyone wants to ride the same stuff.

 

[Patcheslee]

It doesn’t penalize people who are late coming to the park. You simply get more use out of it if you use it for as long as the park is open.

If stacking was limited to 2 at a time, that would limit anyone showing up later in the day to those 2. Right now people who choose not to be in the park until later can monitor times until returns are later in the day. That's a potential to stack at least 5 return times if waiting the entire 2 hours each time.

 

[DCLcruiser]

Looks like we are going after Thanksgiving. I'll get to test out G+ and see how bad it really is....or isn't.

 

[GhostHost1000]

For every DVC member that sells they gain a new member who they don't have to offer perks to. It think they really don't care if people sell DVC. They care about new buy ins

Yes but there are way more resales out there and people not using those points at the moment than ever before

 

[GhostHost1000]

The way I always played FP+ was to pre-book my 3 at each park around where my partner and I were planning on eating and it made it so easy. Then we could have fun in the parks choosing other fastpasses knowing we got our 3 around our meals. So, for MK that would look like this:

Breakfast - Sleepy Hollow = Haunted Mansion
Lunch - Cosmic Ray's = Space Mountain
Dinner - Be Our Guest - 7DMT

Genie+ makes planning around meal times (especially if you have multiple reservations) a planning nightmare. I get the fact that this is like the original paper FastPass where you had to be strategic with what you booked and when to make sure it didn't overlap a dining res. I'm going at the end of next month (previously used Genie+ in Feb. and had moderate success) so I'm looking forward to seeing how things pan out. I should also note I won't have to be up to book Genie+ every day as I had booked this package before the June 8 cutoff so our Genie+ is for the whole stay.

That’s exactly what I miss. Planning my navigation around the parks and where I’ll be around lunch time or dinner time and knowing it instead of just hoping for it to work out which in my case never did on my recently extended trip

 

[correcaminos]

Yes but there are way more resales out there and people not using those points at the moment than ever before

makes no difference to DVC/DVC as long as they get the dues. Let's be real, they don't care about non-users as long as they get their money and more resales the better in terms of perks.

 

[UNCgolf]

makes no difference to DVC/DVC as long as they get the dues. Let's be real, they don't care about non-users as long as they get their money and more resales the better in terms of perks.

If anything, Disney is probably happy if DVC members aren't using their points and they can sell the empty rooms as cash stays to other Disney guests. Extra revenue for them.

 

[GhostHost1000]

makes no difference to DVC/DVC as long as they get the dues. Let's be real, they don't care about non-users as long as they get their money and more resales the better in terms of perks.

I get the dues part but those are guests not buying tickets and spending money in the parks is what I was getting at. I know it’s not an issue right now with post Covid return madness but I think Disney as a whole is in for a surprise in a year or two if things don’t turn around in a big way

 

[GhostHost1000]

If anything, Disney is probably happy if DVC members aren't using their points and they can sell the empty rooms as cash stays to other Disney guests. Extra revenue for them.

Doesn’t really work that way and not many pay that much for those rooms

 

[UNCgolf]

Doesn’t really work that way and not many pay that much for those rooms

Why doesn't it?

Any room they're selling for cash is money they weren't going to otherwise get if they went to a DVC member -- and those rooms are expensive. As long as the parks are busy, it's likely better for Disney if DVC members aren't coming.

That can change in a hurry if attendance declines, though.

 

[correcaminos]

I get the dues part but those are guests not buying tickets and spending money in the parks is what I was getting at. I know it’s not an issue right now with post Covid return madness but I think Disney as a whole is in for a surprise in a year or two if things don’t turn around in a big way

The park tickets would be a bigger issue. Some use DVC as a home base and have for a while. That part will backfire with DVC since they are trying to sell more.

Doesn’t really work that way and not many pay that much for those rooms

Inside a window or if the rooms are put into RCI etc it will go for it. And Disney not only gets the dues for the rooms, but any they can rent out due to exchanges/breakage. I want to say 30-60 days out is when the rooms become breakage inventory to use for whomever. So that's a win win for Disney

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Multiple insiders have said Disney is concerned about onsite guests and is looking to add more on-site perks (Not necessarily related to Genie+ but could be).

They should be. I never even would have considered staying offsite prior to Covid. Now, having tried Sheraton Vistana and Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek, I’m seriously considering never staying onsite again. There’s just no benefit to staying onsite anymore and the prices are ridiculous.

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

Two words: Demand Destruction.

Now, could be what WDW wants? It's working.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Multiple insiders have said Disney is concerned about onsite guests and is looking to add more on-site perks (Not necessarily related to Genie+ but could be).

Heck, they should be looking into adding on site perks to try to replace all the on site perks they have removed.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

They should be. I never even would have considered staying offsite prior to Covid. Now, having tried Sheraton Vistana and Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek, I’m seriously considering never staying onsite again. There’s just no benefit to staying onsite anymore and the prices are ridiculous.

I have no concrete knowledge of anything on this but I can't imagine a scenario where both EEH and Genie+ perks are not expanded.

The issue is, Disney is dipping their toe into tiered perks (EEH being the first one). Rumored DVC "diamond" memberships would expand this further. Again, no knowledge of this but if G+ resort guest perks are expanded, don't be surprised if they are for deluxe guests only. They sell the moderate/value rooms very well without such perks.

 

[FromMaldonia]

Two weeks until the former ILL rides go back to ILL according to the Genie+ disclaimer. Space Mountain, Remy, Frozen, Mickey&Minnie Railway, and Expedition Everest. Anyone making predictions? Seems like it would be a pretty big mistake to remove more capacity from Genie+. I get that late August and September have lower crowds, but after that we're coming right back into the holidays which seemed to be the impetus for moving those rides to Genie+ before.

Also, it would be the first time any park would have 3 ILL rides. And absolutely nobody will buy Genie+ for Epcot if that's the case (many already do not).

 

[maleficentfan]

Two weeks until the former ILL rides go back to ILL according to the Genie+ disclaimer. Space Mountain, Remy, Frozen, Mickey&Minnie Railway, and Expedition Everest. Anyone making predictions? Seems like it would be a pretty big mistake to remove more capacity from Genie+. I get that late August and September have lower crowds, but after that we're coming right back into the holidays which seemed to be the impetus for moving those rides to Genie+ before.

Also, it would be the first time any park would have 3 ILL rides. And absolutely nobody will buy Genie+ for Epcot if that's the case (many already do not).

I would hope we'll hear something either this week or next week when it comes to this. I'm trying to plan out how I'm doing the parks for my trip at the end of next month and this is the only thing holding me back from finishing.

 

[LittleBuford]

The way I always played FP+ was to pre-book my 3 at each park around where my partner and I were planning on eating and it made it so easy. Then we could have fun in the parks choosing other fastpasses knowing we got our 3 around our meals.

Can you clarify how you chose other FastPasses without first using all three of your preselections?

 

[maleficentfan]

Can you clarify how you chose other FastPasses without first using all three of your preselections?

Just based around where we were in the parks. My usual touring strategy is to pick a starting point and go either clockwise or counterclockwise through the park as much as possible to avoid criss-crossing the park multiple times. For this upcoming trip, I'll use my touring plan I've got in mind for MK. We're starting our day with Early Entry at Peter Pan and then riding Small World. Our first LL of the day will most likely be Haunted Mansion unless I feel (looking attendance from the days or week before) that Jungle Cruise would be a better go. If it holds out, it's looking like MK is going to be quite light in the crowd dept. on August 30th. Then we'll head to Splash and Big Thunder and continue making our way around the park.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I have no concrete knowledge of anything on this but I can't imagine a scenario where both EEH and Genie+ perks are not expanded.

The issue is, Disney is dipping their toe into tiered perks (EEH being the first one). Rumored DVC "diamond" memberships would expand this further. Again, no knowledge of this but if G+ resort guest perks are expanded, don't be surprised if they are for deluxe guests only. They sell the moderate/value rooms very well without such perks.

Diamond Membership? What that rumor?