Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[G00fyDad]

Maybe this will prompt more people to sleep in now and then get to the parks later to take advantage of this new process.

Nahhh. It is still too complicated for most people to understand the basic functions of the process. This will go unnoticed by many and only attributed to an already broken system.

 

[crazy4disney]

Maybe this will prompt more people to sleep in now and then get to the parks later to take advantage of this new process.

Nahhh. It is still too complicated for most people to understand the basic functions of the process. This will go unnoticed by many and only attributed to an already broken system.

But lets face it. If you want a headliner from what i see when booking starts. It shouldnt be too difficult to get a 2pm slot pretty early in the morning

 

[GhostHost1000]

Just think what could be solved by simply returning to a way for guests to select and modify their times rather than play the refresh game all day

and then add purchase and 1 selection per day prior to your vacation and then now we have something to work with….well generally speaking with the lack of attractions they have of course

 

[mmascari]

Also, this doesn't bode well for getting rid of the 2 pm time restriction.

It may actually be the reverse.

The old way, the system needed to know when you would be allowed in a park and then move the return time to later in the day. The new system just gives the same time to everyone.

A good question will be, does it let you book one before you can get in or does it stop you later in the process instead after you pick it and just validate if that time is good for you.

If they change or create multiple different hopping times. Like those annual pass park passes we heard about starting at different times. That would create all kinds of different return times for each ticket. Validating if the selected time is good after you pick it is relatively simple, or just make the user do it which is poor experience but easy. Bumping the time to offer it ahead is much harder with lots of different return time rules vs the "just after 2:00 PM" rule.

Which could mean, it's a precursor to hopping times getting more complicated. Perhaps just related to the annual pass park pass changes.

For people already in the park, it's probably an improvement. In the old way, people hopping could use up a bunch of return times starting at 2:00. So, if the return time was moving 30 minutes later every 10 minutes all morning. Before, when it got to 1:59 it might immediately advance to 3:00 instead of 2:10 since hoppers had already consumed all the slots starting at 2:00. With the change, it would keep advancing at the demand rate all day. That puts hoppers and already there on a level playing field for return times after 2:00.

 

[mmascari]

But lets face it. If you want a headliner from what i see when booking starts. It shouldnt be too difficult to get a 2pm slot pretty early in the morning

Jungle Cruise is almost after 2:00 now and it's only 9:15.

(Well if 12:45 is "almost" 2:00, but it'll probably be after 2:00 by 10:00.)

 

[dreday3]

It may actually be the reverse.

The old way, the system needed to know when you would be allowed in a park and then move the return time to later in the day. The new system just gives the same time to everyone.

A good question will be, does it let you book one before you can get in or does it stop you later in the process instead after you pick it and just validate if that time is good for you.

If they change or create multiple different hopping times. Like those annual pass park passes we heard about starting at different times. That would create all kinds of different return times for each ticket. Validating if the selected time is good after you pick it is relatively simple, or just make the user do it which is poor experience but easy. Bumping the time to offer it ahead is much harder with lots of different return time rules vs the "just after 2:00 PM" rule.

Which could mean, it's a precursor to hopping times getting more complicated. Perhaps just related to the annual pass park pass changes.

For people already in the park, it's probably an improvement. In the old way, people hopping could use up a bunch of return times starting at 2:00. So, if the return time was moving 30 minutes later every 10 minutes all morning. Before, when it got to 1:59 it might immediately advance to 3:00 instead of 2:10 since hoppers had already consumed all the slots starting at 2:00. With the change, it would keep advancing at the demand rate all day. That puts hoppers and already there on a level playing field for return times after 2:00.

Complicated.

I try not to think on Fridays.

 

[mysto]

The old way, the system needed to know when you would be allowed in a park and then move the return time to later in the day. The new system just gives the same time to everyone.

So many of the differences between fp+ and genie+ reduce the load on the servers. This change does too, one less thing for them to check.

Those poor servers must be whining and crying to get so much attention. Maybe they have unionized.

 

[Vacationeer]

Jungle Cruise is almost after 2:00 now and it's only 9:15.

(Well if 12:45 is "almost" 2:00, but it'll probably be after 2:00 by 10:00.)

Having to keep checking back to when JC finally crosses the 2pm line is adding time to that person’s cooldown, so they’d get less usage from the system overall which I think is intentionally. I think their goal is to continue nerfing any strategies that gain advantage so everybody can be on an equal playing field (and equally as challenging a time trying to maximize the system).

 

[DCLcruiser]

Jungle Cruise is almost after 2:00 now and it's only 9:15.

(Well if 12:45 is "almost" 2:00, but it'll probably be after 2:00 by 10:00.)

I show 2:50 PM LL for Jungle Cruise @ 10:23 AM (not sure if it came out earlier).

*I am not in the parks and do not have an active ticket, so maybe my info is not real?

 

[GhostHost1000]

So many of the differences between fp+ and genie+ reduce the load on the servers. This change does too, one less thing for them to check.

Those poor servers must be whining and crying to get so much attention. Maybe they have unionized.

They could reduce way more load on the servers if they just let people pick their times instead of refreshing 5,247 times a day

 

[Jrb1979]

They could reduce way more load on the servers if they just let people pick their times instead of refreshing 5,247 times a day

This is how Genie+ is supposed to work. A part of the problem aside from too many using it is guests trying to use like FP+. It's more of a go with the flow system.

 

[JAB]

So many of the differences between fp+ and genie+ reduce the load on the servers. This change does too, one less thing for them to check.

Those poor servers must be whining and crying to get so much attention. Maybe they have unionized.

This change doesn't reduce load on the servers. It still has to check the return times; the only difference now is that if the return time is before 2pm it tells you "not allowed" instead of just giving you a 2pm LL.

In fact, it's likely to significantly increase server load because of all the extra requests from hoppers who now have to constantly refresh to get the same 2pm LL as before.

 

[Vacationeer]

People who are not hopping may see better after 2pm availability, but won’t that just be swapping out for less pre-2pm? Hoppers will switch strategy and start competing in that park that morning instead. People who call it a day before dinner will now see less availability during their day, and will be the most adversely affected.

 

[GhostHost1000]

This is how Genie+ is supposed to work. A part of the problem aside from too many using it is guests trying to use like FP+. It's more of a go with the flow system.

Except at 7am and more refreshing throughout the day than before

 

[Jrb1979]

Except at 7am and more refreshing throughout the day than before

I can agree with the 7am part. I disagree about the refreshing part. It's more that guests are looking for optimal time instead of taking what's available

 

[mmascari]

People who are not hopping may see better after 2pm availability, but won’t that just be swapping out for less pre-2pm? Hoppers will switch strategy and start competing in that park that morning instead. People who call it a day before dinner will now see less availability during their day, and will be the most adversely affected.

Sort of, it's probably not that simple. There's a bunch of nuanced impacts that will happen.

The old way, at one extreme, a park hopper with a pass not to MK could have made 1 LL for 2:00 at 7:00 AM. Then, again at 10:00, 12:00, and 2:00. That's 3 LL reserved before they could be there and 4 by 2:00. All for return times after 2:00.

For the person who was in the park already that's 3 slots removed from inventory that they never had any access to at all. Even if they made selections at the exact same times.

With the change, the hopper cannot reserve those slots at MK. This leaves them 2 options. First, wait for something to get to after 2:00 and reserve it, then wait 2 hours and repeat. That pattern is likely to delay selections that they only get 1 or 2, certainly nothing at 7:00 AM, deferring when they make each selection. Second, they reserve something at the park they're at for use closer to the time they're reserving it. That will shift load into the park they're in. However, the park pass is already managing crowd size and distribution in the early hours.

The implications and how it impacts overall experience will likely not be known until it's been done this way long enough to observe it.

This is how Genie+ is supposed to work. A part of the problem aside from too many using it is guests trying to use like FP+. It's more of a go with the flow system.

I think this is most of it.

I think the 2 hour window is a hedge in the system because of popular rides that have return times much later. This is like when your third FP+ was late in the day and you couldn't take advantage of getting a fourth until you used it. The 2 hour window makes that experience better.

But, what Disney clearly wants people to do is take a LL that's much closer than that. Something in the 40 to 75 minutes from when you're reserving it. Then, immediately repeat after you use it. If you did that, instead of 4 LL by 2:00, it could be 7:00, 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30. Getting 8 LL in the same timeframe.

The issue is, for the popular rides, that's almost impossible. For the other rides, it works just fine.

 

[mmascari]

They could reduce way more load on the servers if they just let people pick their times instead of refreshing 5,247 times a day

While I would love to pick a time for each LL, just like getting a movie ticket, the system would fall apart if they did that.

Can you imagine that by 9:00 AM all the slots between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM are taken for everything in the park?

It would also completely defeat the idea that G+ is trying to push crowds towards less crowded rides. If that's a desired concept for guests is a different question. It's been stated this is one of the goals of the system.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I can agree with the 7am part. I disagree about the refreshing part. It's more that guests are looking for optimal time instead of taking what's available

Exactly which is causing more hits to the app than necessary

 

[GhostHost1000]

While I would love to pick a time for each LL, just like getting a movie ticket, the system would fall apart if they did that.

Can you imagine that by 9:00 AM all the slots between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM are taken for everything in the park?

It would also completely defeat the idea that G+ is trying to push crowds towards less crowded rides. If that's a desired concept for guests is a different question. It's been stated this is one of the goals of the system.

I thought the goal of genie (non paid recommendations) was the part the “attempts” to spread crowds out more. Even though no one follows it.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I thought the goal of genie (non paid recommendations) was the part the “attempts” to spread crowds out more. Even though no one follows it.

Genie+ does that too by not letting you pick times. The whole point is that your options are limited to follow how the system wants to allocate people.