Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[UNCgolf]

IMO part of disneys play was to level the playing field for those not paying a large upcharge for staying at a Disney resort.

I don't think that's true, but even if it was, it's clearly failed. Some of the headline attractions are sold out before non-resort guests are even allowed to try to book one.

 

[TimeTrip]

I don't think that's true, but even if it was, it's clearly failed. Some of the headline attractions are sold out before non-resort guests are even allowed to try to book one.

Easily remedied by increasing the prices on ILL. Not sure why they haven't got more aggressive about it.

 

[FeelsSoGoodToBeBad]

I don't think that's true, but even if it was, it's clearly failed. Some of the headline attractions are sold out before non-resort guests are even allowed to try to book one.

I agree. IMO Genie+ and its associated costs would push more people to stay offsite vs on in most cases so they can offset some of the expense. Especially since there is no real benefit to adding it to the entire trip, aside from not having to mess with it on a day-to-day basis. If you can stay off property for less, add it only to the days/parks you want, and still get most of the same benefits as those parkgoers paying a premium to stay onsite, it seems like a dubious business move.

For my family, the ONLY reason we stay on property anymore is for the transportation to/from parks, as it allows our family (especially my teens) more freedom to enjoy the parks as we like without negotiating back and forth about who's ready to leave the park and head back to the hotel and who wants to stay. If not for that, I don't see much benefit for our family to stay on-property, but that one is HUGE for me.

 

[wutisgood]

I don't understand Disney+. I don't believe it will ever turn a profit. Right now it's helping Disney stock go up, but eventually it will have to cough up some healthy numbers. It can't just be promising forever.

Remember when pin codes existed, extra magic hours were long, free dining was a real value? Disney was actually a better deal than many vacations for a lot of people. They got people hooked and then massively jacked up the prices. Disney plus will turn a profit because it's going to be 3x the price adjusted for inflation and people will pay for it especially those that need the kid babysitter.

You won’t need genie during the slow times

Variable pricing made many slow times pretty crowded. What do you think this will do?

But it did benefit those with more money. If you were staying at a Disney resort (which are significantly more expensive than non Disney), you had an advantage and benefit to get high demand FP+ such as SDD and FoP. IMO part of disneys play was to level the playing field for those not paying a large upcharge for staying at a Disney resort.

Disney got angry about not being able to extract more money from daily guests and pass holders and now they are screwing resort guests who the think will just suck it up and take it. Bold move cotton.

I agree. IMO Genie+ and its associated costs would push more people to stay offsite vs on in most cases so they can offset some of the expense

It seems like such a big blunder to not have extra magic hours for everyone on site and expand them even. Let the day guests fight for upcharges and resort guests ride some of the big rides after hours.

 

[wutisgood]

I do think if we could predict the future of disney parks with the current management we should look closely at the star wars galaxy's edge launch in california.

The parks at the time were otherwise running full entertainment and ride capacity. I visited Disneyland just before star wars land was running. The discount I got for a 5 day 1 park per day was about $220. We will see how the greediness plays out but I think disney is making a long term blunder here.

 

[Thepuma]

What I don't really understand is why they got rid of FP+

It was fair...everyone got 3 initially then 1 at a time after that. It didn't benefit those with more money and it just appeared more 'Disney' ie FAIR.

All this Genie + and LL+ does is immediately increase profits while weakening the brand.

Yes...in the short term (12 to 18 months) Disney will still see record numbers..thats because we lost the ability during the lockdowns and people from Europe are just starting to be allowed back.

I say give it 18 months and Disney will see numbers drop.

It didn’t work, just like Ops said it wouldn’t.

Which is odd because on the 20 or so holidays I've been on to Orlando when they've had FP+ it's worked absolutely perfectly - it made my day a lot smoother, a lot less hanging around, a lot more enjoyable.

 

[Thepuma]

But it did benefit those with more money. If you were staying at a Disney resort (which are significantly more expensive than non Disney), you had an advantage and benefit to get high demand FP+ such as SDD and FoP. IMO part of disneys play was to level the playing field for those not paying a large upcharge for staying at a Disney resort.

ETA:. Meant to say SDMT instead of SDD. I'm not sure how often FP+ for SDD was gone by 30 days out.

There's only ever been 3 rides I've not been able to get a FP+ for 30 days ahead. SDD, FOP, SDMT.

All we did was ripe drop them and get on the within 15 minutes.

So while yes, being a resort guest was a slight benefit, it wasn't huge.

 

[Jrb1979]

What I don't really understand is why they got rid of FP+

It was fair...everyone got 3 initially then 1 at a time after that. It didn't benefit those with more money and it just appeared more 'Disney' ie FAIR.

All this Genie + and LL+ does is immediately increase profits while weakening the brand.

Yes...in the short term (12 to 18 months) Disney will still see record numbers..thats because we lost the ability during the lockdowns and people from Europe are just starting to be allowed back.

I say give it 18 months and Disney will see numbers drop.

Which is odd because on the 20 or so holidays I've been on to Orlando when they've had FP+ it's worked absolutely perfectly - it made my day a lot smoother, a lot less hanging around, a lot more enjoyable.

I personally hate both. Solely for the fact of how it's implemented. Every other park uses skip the line not only to generate revenue but it does give those who buy it to ride more and wait less.

My biggest problem with it is that too many people have it. My hope when they announced Genie+ that less people would have it meaning those who did would have a chance to ride everything having little wait. Instead they priced it too low and we are back go problem FP+ had. If everyone has FP nobody has if.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Which is odd because on the 20 or so holidays I've been on to Orlando when they've had FP+ it's worked absolutely perfectly - it made my day a lot smoother, a lot less hanging around, a lot more enjoyable.

Because you knew the system and had preferences that worked well with it. Such individual experience didn’t map across the entire park’s operation.

 

[Jrb1979]

I was thinking another way to make Genie+ work better is to limit stacks to 2.

 

[matt9112]

I was thinking another way to make Genie+ work better is to limit stacks to 2.

Maybe? The system needs to be either really crappy at current cost or far better at higher prices. Remember express is super easy to use and reauires no planning or luck.

 

[Waters Back Side]

I was thinking another way to make Genie+ work better is to limit stacks to 2.

The only park I really see stacking of more then 2 happening is at MK. And there are not a lot of availability issues for the rides on the Genie + tier at MK being how many there are to choose from.

At HS for example itll be hard to stack more then 2. Especially if people are buying the ILL's in the AM and picking one Genie +. Unless its actually in the evening like 6 PM and at 11 AM and 1 PM you select two others before 6 PM but by then most are not available anyway unless you want to choose Alien Swirling Saucers and Star Tours. Epcot the rides you could stack do not have exceedingly long waits where it causes availability issues anyway like Figment. LWTL, Spaceship Earth and Nemo. so the most someone would stack is Test Track and later on Soarin if on the board still. I do not see a situation where a stacking of 3 occurs often other then maybe MK.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Slow day today? I pull up the tip board for HS and SDD had a slot for 1pm. Cannot see why. Its Saturday of a holiday weekend.

 

[nickys]

I was thinking another way to make Genie+ work better is to limit stacks to 2.

So incur the wrath of those who paid $15 to only get 2 rides using it?

Book SDD with a return time of 4:30pm
Then at 11am you book say TSMM with a return time of 5pm.
And then they say, “sorry, you picked the “wrong” rides, you have to wait until 4:30pm to book your next one”.

That sounds fair to you, does it?

 

[Jrb1979]

So incur the wrath of those who paid $15 to only get 2 rides using it?

Book SDD with a return time of 4:30pm
Then at 11am you book say TSMM with a return time of 5pm.
And then they say, “sorry, you picked the “wrong” rides, you have to wait until 4:30pm to book your next one”.

That sounds fair to you, does it?

In that instance it would suck to limit it to 2 cause it's not your fault that happened.

My idea comes from those who purposely stack for a park they aren't visiting til later in the day.

IMO the way Genie+ should work is you can only hold 1 LL at a time. I still think it should be rolling availability each day like they used to do with FP

 

[Waters Back Side]

In that instance it would suck to limit it to 2 cause it's not your fault that happened.

My idea comes from those who purposely stack for a park they aren't visiting til later in the day.

IMO the way Genie+ should work is you can only hold 1 LL at a time. I still think it should be rolling availability each day like they used to do with FP

But then this circles back again to if you can only hold one at a time, you might have a return time for 4:30pm for your first ride.

And there was a hack that some people were stacking rides anyway that was an advanced method and a loophole that Disney already halted.

And again. Other then MK, it is not often that someone would have 3 rides unless one or two of them always have availability anyway. Any paying Genie + guest should be allowed to stack rides if there is a return time of more than 2 hours from their last choice. Genie + is useless otherwise.

 

[nickys]

The only park I really see stacking of more then 2 happening is at MK. And there are not a lot of availability issues for the rides on the Genie + tier at MK being how many there are to choose from.

At HS for example itll be hard to stack more then 2. Especially if people are buying the ILL's in the AM and picking one Genie +. Unless its actually in the evening like 6 PM and at 11 AM and 1 PM you select two others before 6 PM but by then most are not available anyway unless you want to choose Alien Swirling Saucers and Star Tours. Epcot the rides you could stack do not have exceedingly long waits where it causes availability issues anyway like Figment. LWTL, Spaceship Earth and Nemo. so the most someone would stack is Test Track and later on Soarin if on the board still. I do not see a situation where a stacking of 3 occurs often other then maybe MK.

I don’t understand this idea that there is no point in booking a G+ for something like SE or LwtL, just because the waits might “only” be 30-45 minutes. Why wait when you don’t need to?

And I would disagree with statements like “the most someone would stack is Test Track and Soarin”. If I had dinner reservations at Epcot, I could hop to the park at 5pm and have 4 (or more, depending on opening time at my first park) G+ passes ready to use before dinner. That would be a nice relaxed evening.

 

[nickys]

In that instance it would suck to limit it to 2 cause it's not your fault that happened.

My idea comes from those who purposely stack for a park they aren't visiting til later in the day.

IMO the way Genie+ should work is you can only hold 1 LL at a time. I still think it should be rolling availability each day like they used to do with FP

But with FP, if your return window was more than 90/120 minutes away you could book another. I remember having paper FPs for 3 different rides for the family and having to find the right ones.

 

[Waters Back Side]

I don’t understand this idea that there is no point in booking a G+ for something like SE or LwtL, just because the waits might “only” be 30-45 minutes. Why wait when you don’t need to?

And I would disagree with statements like “the most someone would stack is Test Track and Soarin”. If I had dinner reservations at Epcot, I could hop to the park at 5pm and have 4 (or more, depending on opening time at my first park) G+ passes ready to use before dinner. That would be a nice relaxed evening.

The 2nd point is true you are right about that. But as far as the first point I made I was more or less talking about stacking in terms of how it is impacting ride availability. That is what the poster(s) is saying as a solution in terms of making the Genie + work better. But like you said, it might make sense to prioritize some of those rides if it means you want to make sure you fit it in before a dining reservation etc. And I do agree, yes there is nothing wrong at all with stacking those rides if that's what you want to do as a paid Genie + guest. I might find myself doing the same thing after my first ride.

 

[Jrb1979]

The 2nd point is true you are right about that. But as far as the first point I made I was more or less talking about stacking in terms of how it is impacting ride availability. That is what the poster(s) is saying as a solution in terms of making the Genie + work better. But like you said, it might make sense to prioritize some of those rides if it means you want to make sure you fit it in before a dining reservation etc. And I do agree, yes there is nothing wrong at all with stacking those rides if that's what you want to do as a paid Genie + guest. I might find myself doing the same thing after my first ride.

I'm not against stacking per say. The problem is there isn't enough capacity for Genie+ to work. Since a high enough price increase is coming to limit how many buy it and enough new attractions aren't coming either, the only way to make it work is to limit how many LL people can hold at one time. Limiting it to 2 opens more availability to everyone.