Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[nickys]

Now back to Genie+ and ILLs.

Seeing reports that there has been a major problem today with payments for ILLs being charged to credit cards but the booking not going through. Some people have had hundreds of dollars charged to their CC.

I suggest anyone who has been using their CC today, whether for ILLs, mobile ordering or whatever, to check their statements.

 

[nickys]

This would be easy to avoid by requiring a time period for the priority requests. Something like they have to be booked at least two months in advance.

Still need those reservations flagged somehow on MDE. Room assigners don’t see the DVC details, so it would have to be on MDE somewhere.

 

[pdude81]

You & others keep saying this yet countless people have shared their experiences and success using this system you claim is/was flawed. Bottom line they have lacked capacity for years if not longer and basically have done nothing to alleviate that burden and attendance has risen which added to said problem. No matter what system they come up with none will work until they add capacity which we know is not even close to happening and imo wont happen until after Uni opens up their new park. They are gonna ride Tron and the other smaller additions and hope to get sloppy seconds from people going to Uni then maybe reassess when to truly expand. In their eyes if they provide capacity they may be afraid the demand to pay for a skip the line system is not gonna be needed…

People have success with G+ too, but you won't hear people begging for it back until they make it even worse.

They couldn't really solve the FP capacity issue without losing money, as every additional guest they brought in to ride that new ride now has 3 line skips per ticket. At least in this circumstance they are limiting the number of total passes given out so that standby lines have a chance of actually moving.

 

[pdude81]

Actually I doubt it will, but not for that reason.

Room assignments are now done centrally, both DVC and non-DVC resorts. If they decide to give priority to certain guests, their reservations would need to have some kind of priority flag on MDE.

Even if they split the room assignments into DVC and non-DVC sections, those reservations would still need to be flagged somehow.

And then what happens when a priority guests makes a last minute reservation? It would be too late at that point to redo all the assignments. Cue one irate DVC member who’s paid for priority assignments and doesn’t get what they wanted.

I'm guessing also this would have to be specifically per contract and not per person, which limits the amount of money they can make with it. Otherwise how could it be done along with dues payments.

 

[Jrb1979]

People have success with G+ too, but you won't hear people begging for it back until they make it even worse.

They couldn't really solve the FP capacity issue without losing money, as every additional guest they brought in to ride that new ride now has 3 line skips per ticket. At least in this circumstance they are limiting the number of total passes given out so that standby lines have a chance of actually moving.

I agree they need capacity in the worst way. To solve the lack of capacity they need to limit Genie+. It blows my mind they don't understand that or don't care. Ever since Covid ended $$$ is all that seems to matter as well recouping all the losses from Covid.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I agree they need capacity in the worst way. To solve the lack of capacity they need to limit Genie+. It blows my mind they don't understand that or don't care. Ever since Covid ended $$$ is all that seems to matter as well recouping all the losses from Covid.

I think they do but they just view it as less urgent of an issue than we do. I will say though, it has been much better lately. Some days worse than others.

 

[lazyboy97o]

So the company ignored an underlying crisis and that crisis has now begun to damage other facets of the parks experience.

They didn’t ignore it, they intentionally created it. Leadership thought they were smarter than the carnies who actual operate the parks and they could devise a system that would let them dramatically slow down having to build those stupid rides everyone is always going on about at their hotel developments.

 

[crazy4disney]

People have success with G+ too, but you won't hear people begging for it back until they make it even worse.

They couldn't really solve the FP capacity issue without losing money, as every additional guest they brought in to ride that new ride now has 3 line skips per ticket. At least in this circumstance they are limiting the number of total passes given out so that standby lines have a chance of actually moving.

For starters define “success with Genie” bc its impossible to have the same rides/times vs FP and the 3 rides you were able to book at the times you want. I used it in November with less people using Genie. Less people in parks yet lines were far from moving and honestly rendered DAS basically useless as ive stated here countless times. I go back next month and will see how round 2 is. And to anyone who will again “attack me bc i have DAS” and my opinion doesnt matter etc etc etc. DAS was so useful that i chose to but Genie again a product that to me was awful and from what ive read only gotten worse…

 

[pdude81]

For starters define “success with Genie” bc its impossible to have the same rides/times vs FP and the 3 rides you were able to book at the times you want. I used it in November with less people using Genie. Less people in parks yet lines were far from moving and honestly rendered DAS basically useless as ive stated here countless times. I go back next month and will see how round 2 is. And to anyone who will again “attack me bc i have DAS” and my opinion doesnt matter etc etc etc. DAS was so useful that i chose to but Genie again a product that to me was awful and from what ive read only gotten worse…

I'm not going down the rabbit hole with you because I don't have a rabies shot. It's getting to the point where Jeff4272 would tell you it's time to let it go.

But I've used it on two trips and done quite well with it, though I admit having advance knowledge of it's operation from this site and I'm not willing to take the garbage times they give out on first try. I detailed my usage for one of the days on Easter break a couple hundred pages ago.

Now I would say in terms of your discussion of Genie adding or detracting from DAS, I think it should only make your life easier in a busy crowd time. That could theoretically let you be in 3 lines at once, if you don't count stacking. DAS is made worse by the overstatement of return times, which started really as soon as they resumed operation in 2020.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

For starters define “success with Genie” bc its impossible to have the same rides/times vs FP and the 3 rides you were able to book at the times you want. I used it in November with less people using Genie. Less people in parks yet lines were far from moving and honestly rendered DAS basically useless as ive stated here countless times. I go back next month and will see how round 2 is. And to anyone who will again “attack me bc i have DAS” and my opinion doesnt matter etc etc etc. DAS was so useful that i chose to but Genie again a product that to me was awful and from what ive read only gotten worse…

Sorry I missed it but why was DAS so awful? That’s really unfortunate to hear.

 

[crazy4disney]

I'm not going down the rabbit hole with you because I don't have a rabies shot. It's getting to the point where Jeff4272 would tell you it's time to let it go.

But I've used it on two trips and done quite well with it, though I admit having advance knowledge of it's operation from this site and I'm not willing to take the garbage times they give out on first try. I detailed my usage for one of the days on Easter break a couple hundred pages ago.

Now I would say in terms of your discussion of Genie adding or detracting from DAS, I think it should only make your life easier in a busy crowd time. That could theoretically let you be in 3 lines at once, if you don't count stacking. DAS is made worse by the overstatement of return times, which started really as soon as they resumed operation in 2020.

1 thing i will say i did notice in November when it came to return times was yes not grabbing the later ones and letting things settle down definitely helped but still think genie is awful.... if you dont mind either sending me some tips privately or point to where i can easily find what you felt worked well i would love to have that input from you or anyone else for that matter...

 

[crazy4disney]

Sorry I missed it but why was DAS so awful? That’s really unfortunate to hear.

after the initial 2 that i was able to pre book for each day (which basically replaced FP excluding the rides not included) the day of ones because wait times were long whether inflated or not any return time for DAS for anything worthwhile was well over 60-90 minutes so realistically not many were able to be used and in past years yes wait times were similar but as ive stated i had plenty of success same day w FP+ vs success with genie hence why DAS wasnt really used much by me as ive stated. Now with genie having longer gaps as well as DAS i spent way more time just wandering or doing nothing much waiting for next ride time to arrive to enjoy said attraction...

 

[Purduevian]

For starters define “success with Genie” bc its impossible to have the same rides/times vs FP and the 3 rides you were able to book at the times you want. I used it in November with less people using Genie. Less people in parks yet lines were far from moving and honestly rendered DAS basically useless as ive stated here countless times. I go back next month and will see how round 2 is. And to anyone who will again “attack me bc i have DAS” and my opinion doesnt matter etc etc etc. DAS was so useful that i chose to but Genie again a product that to me was awful and from what ive read only gotten worse…

I'll count my G+ day a success. I would be surprised if anyone looks at my day and says G+ was a failure.
In 1 day at MK (sold out day in February) I used LL on: Big Thunder, Space, Pooh, Mad Tea Party, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Mermaid, Buzz, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates.
I also had time to standby: People mover, Monsters inc, tea cups, big thunder, splash, pirates and got an awesome spot for fireworks (waiting a little over an hour for them).
I also watched the castle stage show, 3 cavalcades, and spent a lot of time shopping.

Was it as good as my last time using FP+ in MK? Nope back in 2019 i skipped
Splash, Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pooh (x2), 7 dwarf, Meet tiana and Rapunzel, Meet Ariel, Mermaid, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Buzz (x2), Meet Mickey& Minnie, and meet Tinkerbell.

However, G+ worked just fine for me and I felt was worth the $15 per person.

 

[pdude81]

1 thing i will say i did notice in November when it came to return times was yes not grabbing the later ones and letting things settle down definitely helped but still think genie is awful.... if you dont mind either sending me some tips privately or point to where i can easily find what you felt worked well i would love to have that input from you or anyone else for that matter...

I'll either write something up for you or point you to old posts if I can find them. Might take a day or so.

What I'm most worried about not is them taking the return times off that first screen in the early morning (7ish) as that was the most important part of my strategy.

 

[DCLcruiser]

I'll either write something up for you or point you to old posts if I can find them. Might take a day or so.

What I'm most worried about not is them taking the return times off that first screen in the early morning (7ish) as that was the most important part of my strategy.

Can you clarify.

 

[crazy4disney]

I'll count my G+ day a success. I would be surprised if anyone looks at my day and says G+ was a failure.
In 1 day at MK (sold out day in February) I used LL on: Big Thunder, Space, Pooh, Mad Tea Party, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Mermaid, Buzz, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates.
I also had time to standby: People mover, Monsters inc, tea cups, big thunder, splash, pirates and got an awesome spot for fireworks (waiting a little over an hour for them).
I also watched the castle stage show, 3 cavalcades, and spent a lot of time shopping.

Was it as good as my last time using FP+ in MK? Nope back in 2019 i skipped
Splash, Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pooh (x2), 7 dwarf, Meet tiana and Rapunzel, Meet Ariel, Mermaid, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Buzz (x2), Meet Mickey& Minnie, and meet Tinkerbell.

However, G+ worked just fine for me and I felt was worth the $15 per person.

Okay i would agree MK was only park of the 4 where i think genie has a shot of being a "success" ... did you use it at any other park?

 

[crazy4disney]

I'll count my G+ day a success. I would be surprised if anyone looks at my day and says G+ was a failure.
In 1 day at MK (sold out day in February) I used LL on: Big Thunder, Space, Pooh, Mad Tea Party, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Mermaid, Buzz, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates.
I also had time to standby: People mover, Monsters inc, tea cups, big thunder, splash, pirates and got an awesome spot for fireworks (waiting a little over an hour for them).
I also watched the castle stage show, 3 cavalcades, and spent a lot of time shopping.

Was it as good as my last time using FP+ in MK? Nope back in 2019 i skipped
Splash, Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pooh (x2), 7 dwarf, Meet tiana and Rapunzel, Meet Ariel, Mermaid, Dumbo, Tea Cups, Buzz (x2), Meet Mickey& Minnie, and meet Tinkerbell.

However, G+ worked just fine for me and I felt was worth the $15 per person.

Okay i would agree MK was only park of the 4 where i think genie has a shot of being a "success" ... did you use it at any other park?

I'll either write something up for you or point you to old posts if I can find them. Might take a day or so.

What I'm most worried about not is them taking the return times off that first screen in the early morning (7ish) as that was the most important part of my strategy.

thank you

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Okay i would agree MK was only park of the 4 where i think genie has a shot of being a "success" ... did you use it at any other park?

From my experience Genie plus works even better at other parks.

In Epoctt on 3rd of July we were able to:

1) Lightening Lane Guardians for a group of 10
2) Genie Plus, Rat, Frozen, Spaceship Earth, nemo, Living with the land, Soarin, and Fast Track
3) walked on 3 Caballeros
4) Got Boarding Group for Guardians at the 1PM drop for 10 people.


After our first 2 Genie Plus selections, many of the others we were able to bounce, from ride to ride, with limited to no wait. Went from soaring, scan in and booked living with the land for almost same time. After getting out of soaring, scanned into living with land, booked nemo for 5min later. Finished nemo walked over to Rat prebooking and then booked spaceship earth.

Now not all lines at Epcott were hour+ waits, but aside from our boarding group ride of GotG and maybe 5min on frozen, we didn't wait in a line for basically the entire day at Epcott. Even if all the Genie plus lines were only 15min each, being able to skip them to me is still a sucess.

Our group had similar sucess at HS, but personally for me as i don't ride Tower, Slinky Dog, or RRC, it doesn't feel like as big a win, but for them we still had limited to no wait times. In fact i think the longest wait we had was 3 of us who were not going on ToT went over to Alien Sauces and waited 20min in line.

To me the $15 buck is worth the sucess of waiting in almost no lines whatsoever, even if I don't get the certainty of knowing I am riding ride X at 10:45 exactly.

 

[Purduevian]

Okay i would agree MK was only park of the 4 where i think genie has a shot of being a "success" ... did you use it at any other park?

My February trip was 1 day at MK, 2 days at USO, then 6 days on the beach. That was the only time I've been to WDW since G+ started. I did use at at Disneyland to great success, but I'm guessing you are more interested in the other 3 WDW parks.

Personally IF I was planning a trip, I would buy G+ for all of the parks just due to the way my family tours (open to close, get on as many rides and attractions as possible).

 

[crazy4disney]

From my experience Genie plus works even better at other parks.

In Epoctt on 3rd of July we were able to:

1) Lightening Lane Guardians for a group of 10
2) Genie Plus, Rat, Frozen, Spaceship Earth, nemo, Living with the land, Soarin, and Fast Track
3) walked on 3 Caballeros
4) Got Boarding Group for Guardians at the 1PM drop for 10 people.


After our first 2 Genie Plus selections, many of the others we were able to bounce, from ride to ride, with limited to no wait. Went from soaring, scan in and booked living with the land for almost same time. After getting out of soaring, scanned into living with land, booked nemo for 5min later. Finished nemo walked over to Rat prebooking and then booked spaceship earth.

Now not all lines at Epcott were hour+ waits, but aside from our boarding group ride of GotG and maybe 5min on frozen, we didn't wait in a line for basically the entire day at Epcott. Even if all the Genie plus lines were only 15min each, being able to skip them to me is still a sucess.

Our group had similar sucess at HS, but personally for me as i don't ride Tower, Slinky Dog, or RRC, it doesn't feel like as big a win, but for them we still had limited to no wait times. In fact i think the longest wait we had was 3 of us who were not going on ToT went over to Alien Sauces and waited 20min in line.

To me the $15 buck is worth the sucess of waiting in almost no lines whatsoever, even if I don't get the certainty of knowing I am riding ride X at 10:45 exactly.

Listen i would LOVE to be wrong a month from now in regards to genie and rides being available during the entire day with little down time in between rides ....