Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[MickeyLuv'r]

That's not true......you cannot enjoy every attraction at Epcot without line skipping........We go to WDW on vacation weeks (because i have young kids) and the parks are always packed and we could NEVER get every ride done, even with FP+, never mind without it

you are being self righteous and trying to make yourself seem smarter than everyone else.......well you're not

you need line skip to enjoy Epcot, you needed it before the new rides, and you need it now more than ever since RemRat and GoG

Admittedly we got ILL for Rat, but that was it in Epcot. We rode everything just fine. The benefit of G+ was minimal. Another day, we even rode Rat without paying. Demand for Rat has dropped off, but could be higher over Thanksgiving/Christmas week.

In MK, we made good use of G+, and it works pretty well if your part is able to start in AK/HS then hop to MK for a late night. It is pretty lame in HS, but HS is pretty lame these days (In terms of # of attractions and wait times).

 

[Vacationeer]

I would love to know who is paying these prices........

How much money do you have to make to afford going on a week's vacation to WDW? For an average family of 5 to stay in a moderate, fly, go to parks, get modest merch and eat is about $20,000

There are ways to cut costs and still manage what most would consider a successful trip. I recently ran some budgets for a friend. You don’t need to spend 20k. It can be a third of that for a family of 5 even including travel expenses. It’s also a third of that for our trip this month:

*No way around ticket prices. We don’t go often enough anymore to buy APs. Our 6 day hoppers = $650pp.
*Food - We have 3 table service meals and the rest will be quick service = $400pp.
*Room = $550pp (540+10 housekeeping tip each) - Our upcoming $1650 rental averages $275/nt staying 4 nights at Boardwalk and 2 nights at Grand Floridian.

WDW- $1600pp X 3ppl = $4800. This gets us 6 park days with hopping, all taxes and parking fees included, all meals on property including TS tips, ability to walk to 3 parks, Early Entry everyday, and 2 night EMHs we can walk home to our room.
Travel-$350pp X 3ppl = $1050 (Sun-Sat flights to/from NY $150pp, To/from airport $50pp, Loaner Car $150pp)
_______
$5,850 total cost without extra bells and whistles
We’re celebrating a birthday and decided to splurge an extra $960 to add:
3 days of Genie+ $180
Memory Maker $180
MNSSHP $600
Between Early Entry and Extended Evening hours, we don’t see value in buying ILLs.
Grand Total: $6,810 - 7 days/6 nights for 3 adults

Expensive? Yes. Mind bogglingly expensive? We can each save $25 a week for 1.5 years. And this is kinda what we do. We cut corners in regular life to help save money to pay trips off before we get there.
________________________
OK though, let’s get more serious. Many of my friends and family have more than 2 kids and it is HARD to put money away nevermind pay for 5 people at WDW. But can a family of 5 do WDW under $10k? Absolutely:
$750 - 5 r/t airfares from NY
$150 Uber or family drive r/t to airport
$160 - Sunshine Flyer r/t
$2750 - Five 5 day tickets
$150 - Grocery delivery breakfast, snacks and drinks
$1000 - $40pp/day quick service and park snacks food budget
$1690 - Caribbean Beach May ‘23, sleeps 5, Skyliner direct to EP/HS, includes Early Entry and awesome pool.
Grand Total - $6,650
Round up to $7k then everybody gets 2 days of Genie+ and each a $30 souvenir
That’s a rockin’ trip. I hope this family has the time of their lives!

 

[allgiggles]

I would love to know who is paying these prices........

How much money do you have to make to afford going on a week's vacation to WDW? For an average family of 5 to stay in a moderate, fly, go to parks, get modest merch and eat is about $20,000

I think we're an "average family of 5" and we didn't spend anywhere close to $20K on our Disney trip in June. We're all young adults/adults; stayed in a suite at AoA (so more expensive than a room at a Moderate) for 8 nights; we had 8-day park hopper tickets; had Genie+ for 8 days; bought at least 1 ILL every day (some days we bought 2); bought all of our meals (full disclosure: we did not do any TS meals this trip but did eat at some of the higher priced QS restaurants), snacks, and drinks in the parks or at the resort (other than 5 breakfasts that we ate in the room); 4 of us drove the 1,000+ miles each way to and from Disney and spent 3 nights in hotels on the drive (we were all in one car); one person flew and used Uber to and from both airports; and we spent about $700 on souvenirs. Our total cost for *all* of that was a little under $14,000....and that included a 12-night stay at a kennel for our dog! It would take *a lot* of work for us to spend another $6,000....even on an 8 day trip. We didn't *try* to save money on this trip -- we ate what we wanted, when we wanted it and didn't worry about the price. We bought a lot of drinks and snacks in the parks each day. We bought the souvenirs we wanted. If we had done a few TS meals on this trip we might have added another $1000 to that total. And most people stay less than 8 nights (I think I've read that the average stay is 6 nights) so if we had a shorter stay, our costs would have been lower. We also could have saved some money by booking 2 rooms at a Value instead of the suite, but we weren't trying to save money...we were booking what works best for us. I think it's totally possible for a family of 5 to go to Disney for $10K (or less if you don't spend as much on food in the parks; don't spend a ton on souvenirs;, etc.). I'm not sure who's spending $20k to stay at a moderate resort...except maybe people who are coming from another country and staying for 2 weeks.

 

[Purduevian]

I hate to say it... I would keep paying for G+ up to ~$35 per person per day even with no changes. However, I also understand my situation is different than most.

1) I don't have children yet, so it's just my wife and I (although this will be our last trip this way!)
2) We typically go Rope drop to park close, meaning we get the full value out of the service
3) When we go, it's typically for 1-3 days before going to a beach for the rest of the week. Meaning I'm not looking to buy it 7-10 days straight
4) I've used it pretty well the few times I've used it and ridden everything I've wanted to with minimal waiting all day.

I'm guessing I'm Disney's ideal guest for G+ right now.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

There are ways to cut costs and still manage what most would consider a successful trip. I recently ran some budgets for a friend. You don’t need to spend 20k. It can be a third of that for a family of 5 even including travel expenses. It’s also a third of that for our trip this month:

*No way around ticket prices. We don’t go often enough anymore to buy APs. Our 6 day hoppers = $650pp.
*Food - We have 3 table service meals and the rest will be quick service = $400pp.
*Room = $550pp (540+10 housekeeping tip each) - Our upcoming $1650 rental averages $275/nt staying 4 nights at Boardwalk and 2 nights at Grand Floridian.

WDW- $1600pp X 3ppl = $4800. This gets us 6 park days with hopping, all taxes and parking fees included, all meals on property including TS tips, ability to walk to 3 parks, Early Entry everyday, and 2 night EMHs we can walk home to our room.
Travel-$350pp X 3ppl = $1050 (Sun-Sat flights to/from NY $150pp, To/from airport $50pp, Loaner Car $150pp)
_______
$5,850 total cost without extra bells and whistles
We’re celebrating a birthday and decided to splurge an extra $960 to add:
3 days of Genie+ $180
Memory Maker $180
MNSSHP $600
Between Early Entry and Extended Evening hours, we don’t see value in buying ILLs.
Grand Total: $6,810 - 7 days/6 nights for 3 adults

Expensive? Yes. Mind bogglingly expensive? We can each save $25 a week for 1.5 years. And this is kinda what we do. We cut corners in regular life to help save money to pay trips off before we get there.
________________________
OK though, let’s get more serious. Many of my friends and family have more than 2 kids and it is HARD to put money away nevermind pay for 5 people at WDW. But can a family of 5 do WDW under $10k? Absolutely:
$750 - 5 r/t airfares from NY
$150 Uber or family drive r/t to airport
$160 - Sunshine Flyer r/t
$2750 - Five 5 day tickets
$150 - Grocery delivery breakfast, snacks and drinks
$1000 - $40pp/day quick service and park snacks food budget
$1690 - Caribbean Beach May ‘23, sleeps 5, Skyliner direct to EP/HS, includes Early Entry and awesome pool.
Grand Total - $6,650
Round up to $7k then everybody gets 2 days of Genie+ and each a $30 souvenir
That’s a rockin’ trip. I hope this family has the time of their lives!

And to be fair if need be, you can get it down alot cheaper than that.

keep the $2750 5 day ticket.
Drive rather than fly from NYC (From northern NJ) gas _ tolls is around $440, lets round up to $500
No Uber fee
no Sunshine flyer
Marriot SpringHill Suites at Flamingo Crossing is on average $1000, for that length of stay and that is not using marriot points, which can bring that number down. (you do lose the early entry from being on site to be fair)
Keep the same Food at $1150

Grand Total $4,400

And that is without looking into alternative methods to reduce the price even more, such as discounted gift card purchases to pay for tickets. Using a Marriot Rewards card to get free nights and points to use against the room fee. Bringing more food/drinks down with you on the drive to reduce food costs.

 

[DCBaker]

The Individual Lightning Lane for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind did not increase to $17 today as it has on Fridays in the past - it remained at the $15 price point today.

 

[TQQQ]

I think we're an "average family of 5" and we didn't spend anywhere close to $20K on our Disney trip in June. We're all young adults/adults; stayed in a suite at AoA (so more expensive than a room at a Moderate) for 8 nights; we had 8-day park hopper tickets; had Genie+ for 8 days; bought at least 1 ILL every day (some days we bought 2); bought all of our meals (full disclosure: we did not do any TS meals this trip but did eat at some of the higher priced QS restaurants), snacks, and drinks in the parks or at the resort (other than 5 breakfasts that we ate in the room); 4 of us drove the 1,000+ miles each way to and from Disney and spent 3 nights in hotels on the drive (we were all in one car); one person flew and used Uber to and from both airports; and we spent about $700 on souvenirs. Our total cost for *all* of that was a little under $14,000....and that included a 12-night stay at a kennel for our dog! It would take *a lot* of work for us to spend another $6,000....even on an 8 day trip. We didn't *try* to save money on this trip -- we ate what we wanted, when we wanted it and didn't worry about the price. We bought a lot of drinks and snacks in the parks each day. We bought the souvenirs we wanted. If we had done a few TS meals on this trip we might have added another $1000 to that total. And most people stay less than 8 nights (I think I've read that the average stay is 6 nights) so if we had a shorter stay, our costs would have been lower. We also could have saved some money by booking 2 rooms at a Value instead of the suite, but we weren't trying to save money...we were booking what works best for us. I think it's totally possible for a family of 5 to go to Disney for $10K (or less if you don't spend as much on food in the parks; don't spend a ton on souvenirs;, etc.). I'm not sure who's spending $20k to stay at a moderate resort...except maybe people who are coming from another country and staying for 2 weeks.

 

[DCBaker]

The price for Genie+ today has risen to $22 -

Rise of the resistance has also risen to $22.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

The price for Genie+ today has risen to $22 -

View attachment 672828

Rise of the resistance has also risen to $22.

View attachment 672830

I know it’s just me.. and a few others here but wow that’s a lot of money. Pay to play with everything anymore. Boy do I miss the good old days.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

I laugh because it's so utterly absurd. Who's paying these prices? A maroon? An nincowpoop? An ignoramoose? A fool and his money will soon part. It'll take some serious incentivising to get me and mine back to Disney. With this - I'm calling it quits. There's "greed" and then there's whatever Disney is doing. Insane! I'd rather spend a few days doing a roadtrip to Pigeon Forge, TN at a park where guests aren't treated like wallets with legs. Disney can go suck an egg.

What's next? The return of tiered ticket books and raising the gate entry fee another hundy!?

 

[Purduevian]

The price for Genie+ today has risen to $22 -

View attachment 672828

Rise of the resistance has also risen to $22.

View attachment 672830

The ILL is such an interesting concept when looking at value.

Rise had a wait around 100 minutes all afternoon yesterday and a price of $20. $0.20 per minute per person

 

[Andy_0410]

I laugh because it's so utterly absurd. Who's paying these prices? A maroon? An nincowpoop? An ignoramoose? A fool and his money will soon part. It'll take some serious incentivising to get me and mine back to Disney. With this - I'm calling it quits. There's "greed" and then there's whatever Disney is doing. Insane! I'd rather spend a few days doing a roadtrip to Pigeon Forge, TN ending in a few days at a park where guests aren't treated like wallets with legs. Disney can go suck an egg.

I agree it’s not even worth it
Really struggled to get more than 3 lightning lanes on my trip last month and with fastpass used to get 4 or 5. But without it you won’t get each park done in a day with maybe the exception of animal kingdom. First time in 3 years as come from uk and just felt I was constantly paying for more and more everyday. No free fastpass, no free dining plan, no free parking at hotels. I knew all this before but with the value of the pound against the dollar( I know that’s no one’s fault) it was so expensive and had much better experiences in the past

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

They have it bassakwards. When the quality of the product goes down, the cost should go down. The "value" just isn't there anymore. Not for me at any rate. It's against my principles to pay more for a lesser experience. LLs makes me ill. I don't need to ride X or Y so bad that I'm willing to pay double digits per ride on top of an already overpriced gate fee. There was a time when "pay per ride" attractions were reserved only for roadside tourist traps and dumpy carnivals. I feel like Genie+ is the beginning of the end.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The price for Genie+ today has risen to $22 -

View attachment 672828

Rise of the resistance has also risen to $22.

View attachment 672830

Was interesting in that G+ and Rise went up but neither Mine Train not Cosmic Rewind ILLs went up to previously seen highs - maybe found the max for those attractions? Or at least max for those on top of the increased G+ price?

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I laugh because it's so utterly absurd. Who's paying these prices? A maroon? An nincowpoop? An ignoramoose? A fool and his money will soon part. It'll take some serious incentivising to get me and mine back to Disney. With this - I'm calling it quits. There's "greed" and then there's whatever Disney is doing. Insane! I'd rather spend a few days doing a roadtrip to Pigeon Forge, TN at a park where guests aren't treated like wallets with legs. Disney can go suck an egg.

What's next? The return of tiered ticket books and raising the gate entry fee another hundy!?

I will still pay is so I guess I am those words you use ... We only have a few days so will spend the extra to increase our chances of maximizing our days

And we went to that park in Pigeon Forge this summer (where the skip the line was $60 or $80 per person depending on the level, fwiw) and while it was nice, we didn't find it came close to the experience of a Disney park ... Guess we are just those suckers being targeted

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

I will still pay is so I guess I am those words you use ... We only have a few days so will spend the extra to increase our chances of maximizing our days

And we went to that park in Pigeon Forge this summer (where the skip the line was $60 or $80 per person depending on the level, fwiw) and while it was nice, we didn't find it came close to the experience of a Disney park ... Guess we are just those suckers being targeted

Enjoy!

 

[Unbanshee]

Was interesting in that G+ and Rise went up but neither Mine Train not Cosmic Rewind ILLs went up to previously seen highs - maybe found the max for those attractions? Or at least max for those on top of the increased G+ price?

View attachment 672835

Source: https://blogmickey.com/2022/10/price-of-disney-genie-increases-again-at-walt-disney-world/

 

[dreday3]

I will still pay is so I guess I am those words you use ... We only have a few days so will spend the extra to increase our chances of maximizing our days

And we went to that park in Pigeon Forge this summer (where the skip the line was $60 or $80 per person depending on the level, fwiw) and while it was nice, we didn't find it came close to the experience of a Disney park ... Guess we are just those suckers being targeted

I want to be a nincowpoop? Sounds exciting!

 

[Jrb1979]

I will still pay is so I guess I am those words you use ... We only have a few days so will spend the extra to increase our chances of maximizing our days

And we went to that park in Pigeon Forge this summer (where the skip the line was $60 or $80 per person depending on the level, fwiw) and while it was nice, we didn't find it came close to the experience of a Disney park ... Guess we are just those suckers being targeted

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. If you aren't into big thrill rides then Disney will always be first.

 

[BG313206]

They keep raising pricing and lowering the quality of their product
Nothing will ever change until people stop going.
I really believe they don't care about anyone's experience just the bottom line