Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
They should let you book it week in advance of your trip, to take some stress out of your morning. Maybe 60 days or so.

Or they could just do it at park opening. Or the night before, but at like 8 PM so it's not too late for people.

It's the same issue they had with the RotR boarding groups; the 7 AM time was nonsensical when the park didn't even open until 9 AM. There's just no operational reason to do it that early.
 

moorish

Member
I don't think that's correct. According to the Disney PR release, Genie+ passes are indeed "next available time," but the individual, pay-per-ride passes are "schedule a time to arrive."

If you notice in the screenshot you posted, Dumbo simply lists "9:55 AM" where Space Mountain lists "Starting at 10:55 AM" - i.e no scheduled times available earlier than 10:55 AM.
This would make the Genie+ passes different than MaxPass, yes? With MaxPass, were you limited to next available time or could you select time slots?
 

aliceismad

Well-Known Member
Genie+ itself seems fine; it's basically just MaxPass. The fact that they're sectioning off the top attractions for an additional charge sucks, though (and hurts the value of Genie+), and the 7 AM start time for getting one just doesn't make a lot of sense. I know it's not an issue for some people, but it is for others -- it favors early risers the same way opening them up at 1 AM would favor people who stay up late -- and I can't really think of a good reason to set it at that time.
I think if they're doing it day-to-day, early morning is the only way they can still give on-site guests a tiny sliver of a perk. Since offsite guests have to be in a park before they can choose, it seems like it will push more people to rope drop. (Or whatever they want to call it since on-site guests have a 30-minute early morning perk as well.)

I do like that it's one pass at a time, but the value remains to be seen. I was always able to get decent 4th, 5th, etc. FPs.
 

Chi84

Premium Member
Paper fast pass at wdw would sell out right after the park opened for the popular attractions. When you ran to soarin an hour after the park opened the fast passes were gone for he whole day
That's with a free system where people not getting the ride didn't have much of an impact on Disney. I wonder how it will be different with a paid system. If all the good LL rides are gone first thing in the morning, I don't see much incentive for people to continue to buy Genie+. I never used MaxPass so I don't know what happened with rides under that system.
 

fngoofy

Well-Known Member
How well were those return window times enforced?

Infinite? Of course not. Enough to clog up what is supposed to be a mostly wait-free experience? I guess time will tell.
In the last year or so of FP+ they had cut that grace period down to like 10-15min (unless you had a verifiable reason, like stuck on a ride or monorail, etc.
 

JAB

Well-Known Member
This would make the Genie+ passes different than MaxPass, yes? Were you limited to next available time or could you select time slots?
No. From the info in the Disney Parks Blog post, Genie+ passes are similar to MaxPass and paper Fastpass, where you are just given the next available return window with no choice. It's only the pay-per-ride passes for attractions like 7DMT, and RotR that let the user select a scheduled time.
 

DCLcruiser

Well-Known Member
Because it's one of the better rides at WDW! Which is how good all the old EPCOT rides were; even one of the lesser Future World attractions is now one of the better rides on property.
Wow, I meant to respond to this earlier. I just don't enjoy it. I mean, it was nice the 1st time, but after how many years I have zero interest in it. I don't see the major appeal.
It's just plants and some fish farms.

Yes but you could without paying too and the difference in lines will likely be next to nothing.
You mean stand in the standby line? Well, yes, I could. But I also only usually have 1 day to see everything in each park. FP/LL gives me the ability to efficiently go on a lot of rides and standby as few as possible. $15 is well worth it to me. We were always paying for FP, now YOU have the option to not pay for it.
Yeah that's a horrible value. If you're awake for rope drop, there's no reason to buy this for Animal Kingdom.
Well, I can see the value in IAS for AK bc you only ride KS in the morning or late afternoon when it is cool, or else the animals are hiding. That usually meant wasting a FP on KS and using standby for rides before it. As for LL, I always FP rides (besides EE) if it's available, why wait in line?
 

fngoofy

Well-Known Member
The ironic part is they’re doing the opposite of that now. On site has basically no benefit and we know their IT infra is going to crash. You’re better off being the only person in your offsite hotel trying to book things at 7 am than being in the grand Floridian.
Time, quality, and the desire for you to have an overall positive experience.
If your room at Days Inn has a problem they are not as motivated to fix it as All Star Movies is going to be.
Same as when I had a problem with my dining plan, the resort person I spoke with was happy to fix it. It didn't have anything to do with the resort, the restaurant that caused the problem was in EPCOT, but the person at Wilderness Lodge made it right.
It's those little things you get on site. Plus transportation, early entry, free parking at the parks if you drove, probably a couple of other items I'm missing as well.
 

moorish

Member
No. From the info in the Disney Parks Blog post, Genie+ passes are similar to MaxPass and paper Fastpass, where you are just given the next available return window with no choice. It's only the pay-per-ride passes for attractions like 7DMT, and RotR that let the user select a scheduled time.
Sorry, my question wasn't clear as I was asking about how MaxPass worked in the past. But you answered it anyway!
 

Chomama

Well-Known Member
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LMZ27

New Member
Scenario question: 4 day trip, park hoppers. Staying on property. 5 person family. 50 days out from trip, all my ADRs are done, and I have a rough itinerary figured out for park hopping, golf, ADRs, fireworks, parties, etc. Can I decide which days I need Genie+ and purchase them at this point? So for example, I decide I only need Genie+ for MK & Hollywood days. On the MK day, I want it for all 5 in my party. For the Hollywood day, I want it only for 3 people in my party. Is this a possibility to purchase Genie+ at this point, customized as described, 50 days out? (Just as an example!)
 

JAB

Well-Known Member
Sorry, my question wasn't clear as I was asking about how MaxPass worked in the past. But you answered it anyway!
Ah. Sorry; I misunderstood. To answer in more detail, then... Prior to the pandemic, DLR still used paper Fastpasses (which were free), and MaxPass was essentially just paying to be able to get Fastpasses using the Disneyland app instead of having to physically go to the Fastpass kiosk to get a paper Fastpass.
 

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