Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Chi84]

I don’t condone the abuse of DAS. But surely the lengthy wait times exacerbated by the G+/ILL push the experience into untenable territory from a medical standpoint for some. Case in point: went years ago with my father in law. Cancer survivor, but tough guy. He probably couldn’t be on his feet for an hour+ in a line. We went during FP+ days thankfully but don’t see how some of these experiences now (even with a mix of G+ and ILL) would be tenable for him were he still with us. He did have handicap placard for his car but never used it,’probably could have sought out DAS but never did so.

But Genie+/ILL at least allows a person who otherwise couldn’t experience those rides the opportunity to do so, albeit a paid opportunity. (I much preferred FP+.) Lines for the most popular rides will almost always be extremely long, with or without the exacerbation of Genie+/ILL.

 

[Tha Realest]

But Genie+/ILL at least allows a person who otherwise couldn’t experience those rides the opportunity to do so, albeit a paid opportunity. (I much preferred FP+.) Lines for the most popular rides will almost always be extremely long, with or without the exacerbation of Genie+/ILL.

Oh I agree. But even G+ has its limitations, and I feel like it’s usefulness is capped in ways FP wasn’t. It too is bound by the laws of physics (and low throughput and capacity)

 

[Chi84]

Oh I agree. But even G+ has its limitations, and I feel like it’s usefulness is capped in ways FP wasn’t. It too is bound by the laws of physics (and low throughput and capacity)

It definitely is more challenging for us than FP+. But I’m aware it works better for those who are looking for a more ride-centered vacation than we are.

 

[UNCgolf]

It definitely is more challenging for us than FP+. But I’m aware it works better for those who are looking for a more ride-centered vacation than we are.

Does it, though?

I suppose it partially depends on the length of the trip, but I feel like it was easier to get on all the rides I wanted with FP+ than with Genie+, and it made each day simpler. Plus it didn't require some people to have a messed up sleep schedule and/or be sleep deprived on every day of the trip (people say you can just set an alarm and then go back to sleep, but that's not how sleep works -- waking up and then going back to sleep is very different for your body than sleeping straight through).

 

[Chi84]

Does it, though?

I suppose it partially depends on the length of the trip, but I feel like it was easier to get on all the rides I wanted with FP+ than with Genie+, and it made each day simpler. Plus it didn't require some people to have a messed up sleep schedule and/or be sleep deprived on every day of the trip (people say you can just set an alarm and then go back to sleep, but that's not how sleep works -- being wakened and then going back to sleep is very different for your body than sleeping straight through).

You're preaching to the choir. I loved FP+ - our trips were never better. I was just repeating what some Genie+ users were saying here. Our "pounding rides" days are long over, so I have no personal experience as to how it works for people who want to hit every ride in a park on the same day.

 

[James Alucobond]

I'll be honest, as a resort guest, I had a better time on my most recent trip than I did with my FastPass+ pre-pandemic 2020 trip simply by taking advantage of early entry and extra evening hours. I was playing it by ear with Genie+ but ended up not needing to purchase it on any day of my vacation. In Hollywood Studios, we'd been on Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railway (or at least were in line for the latter) before the park even opened to standard guests. Same story in EPCOT with Ratatouille and Frozen, and the 6pm drop for the evening hours Cosmic Rewind boarding groups seemed to us to be pretty low-stress to snag. At Animal Kingdom, we did early Flight of Passage and then had a 20-minute or less wait for pretty much everything else in the park aside from Na'vi River, which I was perfectly happy to just skip.

Assuming you're traveling with folks who can tolerate both early mornings and late evenings for the duration of the trip, I think you can get a ton of the important-to-you things done during the day's bookends and then take it easy in the afternoons while hitting up low-demand rides or even relaxing back at your resort. So yeah, Genie+ was useless to me, but I suppose in an entirely different way. I'm very glad I didn't cave and buy it first thing in the morning and just let things play out.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Wait… Disney has stated several times that they are limiting park admissions via the Park Reservation system to “improve the guest experience”. If that were actually true, then there would be no need to increase the price of Genie-.

Are you still buying what Bob and Josh are selling here?

 

[Abs]

For those that really loved FP+ and are missing it when did you travel? Did you ever try using it during a super busy holiday week? We can only go during school breaks and in those weeks (like Thanksgiving) you got a rope drop ride, your three FP rides and that was it. By lunchtime things like even Ariel or Barnstormer were 90 minute waits. In a park like Epcot you got one ride plus two things you really didn't care about. That system wasn't better. I found those trips way more frustrating than I have my recent ones. Back in 2014 and 2015 when we could travel without worrying about school sure I loved FP+. It was horrible for truly busy times though and I do not miss it.

Is this system the one? No. It's a vast improvement for holiday time though. Ultimately though arguing about it is silly. It's not going anywhere time soon. All I can hope is that with the extra money Disney is making from this it will eventually be invested back into the park. Lack of capacity is the real issue here.

 

[Drdcm]

You're preaching to the choir. I loved FP+ - our trips were never better. I was just repeating what some Genie+ users were saying here. Our "pounding rides" days are long over, so I have no personal experience as to how it works for people who want to hit every ride in a park on the same day.

We’re pretty chaotic and try to do as much as we can in one day. I’d say FP+ was far superior, see my next comment below as to why. With Genie+ I get about 80% if what I want to ride in. Then, I have to pay extra for ILL on rides genie+ isn’t available for. The issue is that you can only have one ride reservation at once. If they opened it up to even 2 rides at a time, it would be MUCH better.

For those that really loved FP+ and are missing it when did you travel? Did you ever try using it during a super busy holiday week? We can only go during school breaks and in those weeks (like Thanksgiving) you got a rope drop ride, your three FP rides and that was it. By lunchtime things like even Ariel or Barnstormer were 90 minute waits. In a park like Epcot you got one ride plus two things you really didn't care about. That system wasn't better. I found those trips way more frustrating than I have my recent ones. Back in 2014 and 2015 when we could travel without worrying about school sure I loved FP+. It was horrible for truly busy times though and I do not miss it.

Is this system the one? No. It's a vast improvement for holiday time though. Ultimately though arguing about it is silly. It's not going anywhere time soon. All I can hope is that with the extra money Disney is making from this it will eventually be invested back into the park. Lack of capacity is the real issue here.

Yes, I did use FP+ on super busy days. If you know the system well, you can generally make it work well. For busy holiday rides, you book three rides as early as you can, then you refresh for the rides you want afterwards and will eventually get a decent amount of cancellations and no show opportunities. This still happened on holidays. I was able to almost always make this work. That being said, I was never there on NYE or Christmas Day, but was there multiple Presidents’ Day weekends and thanksgiving week.

In fact, a few years ago, I did every single ride at Epcot and every single ride at AK in one day using only FP+ for the rides this way.

 

[Drdcm]

Here’s where I have a lot of trouble with the new system. Take what I expect will eventually be the case for Tron as an example. I can pay $616 just to get into the park with a family of 4. Then, if I want to go on tron, I can choose to waste multiple hours of my day (effectively reducing the value of the ticket) or, I can fork over another $120ish so my family can go on a 60s ride.

To me, it’s not worth it. So I won’t do Tron standby, and I won’t do ILL. Now I’m upset, so I won’t come, and I’m not planning to.

I legitimately think Disney is going to be in big trouble in the coming years. I for one won’t be there bailing them out unless they reintroduce perks to entice me back.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Nobody goes to Disney World anymore, it’s too crowded.

 

[LittleBuford]

For those that really loved FP+ and are missing it when did you travel? Did you ever try using it during a super busy holiday week?

Yes, during spring break. I always did really well out of it. I used it much as @Drdcm describes above.

 

[JD80]

Here’s where I have a lot of trouble with the new system. Take what I expect will eventually be the case for Tron as an example. I can pay $616 just to get into the park with a family of 4. Then, if I want to go on tron, I can choose to waste multiple hours of my day (effectively reducing the value of the ticket) or, I can fork over another $120ish so my family can go on a 60s ride.

To me, it’s not worth it. So I won’t do Tron standby, and I won’t do ILL. Now I’m upset, so I won’t come, and I’m not planning to.

I legitimately think Disney is going to be in big trouble in the coming years. I for one won’t be there bailing them out unless they reintroduce perks to entice me back.

If it's anything like Cosmic Rewind, you'll be able to get into the virtual queue easily enough. 7AM drops can be tough, but the 1PM ones are relatively easy to snag.

 

[celluloid]

Nobody goes to Disney World anymore, it’s too crowded.

I get the Yogism and appreciate the humor, but this is not the case. Their attendance is certainly not up.

 

[JD80]

I get the Yogism and appreciate the humor, but this is not the case. Their attendance is certainly not up.

Didn't they just announce it was up over last year?

 

[celluloid]

Didn't they just announce it was up over last year?

it was from the previous pandemic recovery year, but the trend before and during 2021 is still down. The TEA reports show this.

 

[Touchdown]

If it's anything like Cosmic Rewind, you'll be able to get into the virtual queue easily enough. 7AM drops can be tough, but the 1PM ones are relatively easy to snag.

It won’t be. Tron has a much slower loading time and far smaller capacity. It’s going to be like Rise at least initially.

 

[kong1802]

I've made peace with paying $15 pp for our trip in 2024. I don't think I can make peace with $29 though.

I know that's a "the parks are crazy crowded" price, so hopefully when we go it's still around $15 lol.

 

[celluloid]

I've made peace with paying $15 pp for our trip in 2024. I don't think I can make peace with $29 though.

I know that's a "the parks are crazy crowded" price, so hopefully when we go it's still around $15 lol.

Yeah, it's Presidents Day Weekend. So you will not see that pricing again until parts of Spring Break or Easter if it works well for them.

 

[celluloid]

It won’t be. Tron has a much slower loading time and far smaller capacity. It’s going to be like Rise at least initially.

Equals out a bit by the height requirement and accessibility as well as the fact that it is Tron.