Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

T

Trauma

Well-Known Member
wedenterprises said:
I can see the opposite happening. Making lines and crowds manageable is the white whale. If Chapek can do it, then good on him. Whether G+ and reservations the way to get there, is yet to be determined.
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Yes if the Genie really is the holy grail of theme park line managment he deserves praise commensurate to the backlash he will receive if its a failure.

I know where I would put my money.
 
Jrb1979

Jrb1979

Well-Known Member
MansionButler84 said:
There have been a LOT of cancellations. I imagine it finally picks up once kids get the shot. Presidents Weekend should be insane.
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Disagree. It has nothing to with Covid on why there is lots of availability. IMO it has more to with the economy. This past summer was busy due to people re booking their cancelled reservations. The travel industry, Disney included is in for a rough few years.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Jrb1979 said:
Disagree. It has nothing to with Covid on why there is lots of availability. IMO it has more to with the economy. This past summer was busy due to people re booking their cancelled reservations. The travel industry, Disney included is in for a rough few years.
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Interesting perspective.

I would argue we are in for the Roaring ‘20s. We shall see.
 
mikejs78

mikejs78

Premium Member
Jrb1979 said:
Disagree. It has nothing to with Covid on why there is lots of availability. IMO it has more to with the economy. This past summer was busy due to people re booking their cancelled reservations. The travel industry, Disney included is in for a rough few years.
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MansionButler84 said:
Interesting perspective.

I would argue we are in for the Roaring ‘20s. We shall see.
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I'm not sure where you're getting that economy is a factor - I agree with @MansionButler84 - we're in for a roaring 20s. People booked their trips for summer/fall when it looked like the pandemic was over, but then pulled back once the Delta wave started going strong.

All economic indicators seem to suggest a robust economy post-pandemic -
  • Unemployment is at 5.2%, which is historically low
  • Wage grwoth is holding steady, on-par with pre-pandemic times
  • And most importantly to support the Roaring 20s theory - savings among U.S. households is significantly up. both due to the stimulus, and well, because people aren't going places. I suspect that once kids are vaccinated, people will want to release the stress of the past year and half (almost 2 years by the time all kids can be vaccinated) and go places.
I know I fall into that category- I'm fortunate enough that I have enough to be able to travel when I want already, but our savings have gone up significantly in the last 18 months because we haven't done anything - no movies, only recently restaurants, no travel; we have a trip planned for April and we're going all out on it. We're looking at it as our big vacation to make up of two years of missed vacations.
 
Wendy Pleakley

Wendy Pleakley

Well-Known Member
MansionButler84 said:
Interesting perspective.

I would argue we are in for the Roaring ‘20s. We shall see.
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I wonder what the breakdown is in terms of how many people have been negatively impacted in terms of financial status.

There are people who were able to work from home, didn't see their income impacted, and are ready to spend money on travel again.

There are people who have been barely treading water, or worse, and could be years away from having extra money to spend on things like a WDW vacation.

There's also a question of when international travel will truly re-open. As long as there's a COVID testing requirement for air travel, that will continue to have a big impact. It's an added expense, an added hassle, and poses a risk (what happens if you have to miss a return flight due to testing positive?).

I'm guessing that enough people have seen their finances impacted to the point that tourism will be a bit soft for quite some time. That doesn't necessarily mean no travel, but maybe places like WDW seeing a 10% or 20% attendance dip for a few years, compared to the norm.
 
pdude81

pdude81

Well-Known Member
This is all very hard to predict. The place felt mobbed for sure mobbed in the summer but it's hard to really be sure because so many attractions and M&G's were closed. And when covid spread really took off in Florida there were still sizeable enough crowds until Hurricane Fred was supposed to ruin the party and kids went back to school. International travelers are a big factor here and I wonder how significant a surge we'll see if covid transmission drops precipitously.

It seems like airlines are almost back to full strength (flights, not employees), so I'm not sure if the child vaccine issue is harming the overall travel that much. The economy could take a nasty turn (avoiding the politics of how/why) and that would scare people off, but then again we're likely to have 5-11 vaccine options and the possibility of tamiflu-like drugs in Phase 3 trials being available to adults before the end of the year.

Too many factors for me turns into a coin flip
 
mattpeto

mattpeto

Well-Known Member
MansionButler84 said:
Interesting perspective.

I would argue we are in for the Roaring ‘20s. We shall see.
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The general consensus is they are limiting availability. Why, I'm not exactly sure?

Some thoughts:

A trusted insider elsewhere speculated that they can avoid discounting inventory and keep costs low because they are shuttering floors, buildings, etc. Limiting occupancy (or at least the optics) is a better look for the stakeholders. It gives the illusion that the rooms they are making available are all booked. That is true...

I also sort of think: the demand is not there like they originally thought. And Disney knows it...Covid, Delta, rising costs, international travel, employment concerns -don't look past the chip shortage-, etc. - it all adds up as deterrents. Yes, the 50th is a draw, but most revenge travel has already been satisfied (especially by WDW enthusiasts).

Now does it make sense for travelers to go this holiday season or try to wait one more year when we all kind of expect the world to be more pre-pandemic (aka normal). +Tron, +GotG, plus old favorites like Meet & Greets, character meals and the Disney Dining Plan?
(That's why I built the Disney Comeback Index - this all relevant to its purpose)

I believe the crowds will be extremely heavy for Oct 1 and a handful days after. Then it will mostly level off except the holidays.
 
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J

jpinkc

Well-Known Member
mattpeto said:
The general consensus is they are limiting availability. Why, I'm not exactly sure?

Some thoughts:

A trusted insider elsewhere speculated that they can avoid discounting inventory and keep costs low because they are shuttering floors, buildings, etc. Limiting occupancy (or at least the optics) is a better look for the stakeholders. It gives the illusion that the rooms they are making available are all booked. That is true...

I also sort of think: the demand is not there like they originally thought. And Disney knows it...Covid, Delta, rising costs, international travel, employment concerns -don't look past the chip shortage-, etc. - it all adds up as deterrents. Yes, the 50th is a draw, but most revenge travel has already been satisfied (especially by WDW enthusiasts).

Now does it make sense for travelers to go this holiday season or try to wait one more year when we all kind of expect the world to be more pre-pandemic (aka normal). +Tron, +GotG, plus old favorites like Meet & Greets, character meals and the Disney Dining Plan?
(That's why I built the Disney Comeback Index - this all relevant to its purpose)

I believe the crowds will be extremely heavy for Oct 1 and a handful days after. Then it will mostly level off except the holidays.
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I hope you are correct, but I just dont see it. I think it will be a madhouse. I also wonder if Disney isnt being a little sly here. They might be holding some of the resort space thinking that after the big TV 50th etc they might see a surge in demand
 
pdude81

pdude81

Well-Known Member
cjack300zx said:
Why is this been moved back a couple of weeks? Is because of technical difficulties?
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whybecausewelikeyou.jpg
 
mattpeto

mattpeto

Well-Known Member
jpinkc said:
I hope you are correct, but I just dont see it. I think it will be a madhouse. I also wonder if Disney isnt being a little sly here. They might be holding some of the resort space thinking that after the big TV 50th etc they might see a surge in demand
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You could be right. DVC especially seems to be fully booked, but they also need those points consumed.

Conversely, All-Star Sports lost it's opening date and the rest of CL still is trickling back slowly. They are definitely holding back inventory...
 

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