Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[evenstephan]

Has anyone ever come across the issue of not being able to purchase Genie+? I'm at the resort with my family, and we’re all AP holders. When I try to buy Genie+, I can get the screen that should allow me to do so, but the purchase button contains no text, and hitting it does nothing (see attached screenshot). Guest relations we're as flummoxed as I am and could only submit the issue to IT.

When I first saw it this morning, I thought the problem might have been due to one of my children's APs not being activated, but the problem persisted after we arrived at the park and activated it at guest services. We were able to all get into Epcot, and I was able to get a boarding pass for all of us for Remy, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with the system not recognizing that we're here. The only thing I can possibly think of is that the park reservation was made prior to the revamp of that system a couple of months ago, and that perhaps the Genie+ part of the system isn’t “seeing” that we’re actually in a park. Any help that anyone could provide would be most gratefully received. It's not the phone - I've signed in on three different ones within my family and have gotten the same result for each.

 

[bpiper]

Has anyone ever come across the issue of not being able to purchase Genie+? I'm at the resort with my family, and we’re all AP holders. When I try to buy Genie+, I can get the screen that should allow me to do so, but the purchase button contains no text, and hitting it does nothing (see attached screenshot). Guest relations we're as flummoxed as I am and could only submit the issue to IT.

When I first saw it this morning, I thought the problem might have been due to one of my children's APs not being activated, but the problem persisted after we arrived at the park and activated it at guest services. We were able to all get into Epcot, and I was able to get a boarding pass for all of us for Remy, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with the system not recognizing that we're here. The only thing I can possibly think of is that the park reservation was made prior to the revamp of that system a couple of months ago, and that perhaps the Genie+ part of the system isn’t “seeing” that we’re actually in a park. Any help that anyone could provide would be most gratefully received. It's not the phone - I've signed in on three different ones within my family and have gotten the same result for each.

Genie + is charged to your on file credit card, not your room charge account. Do you have a credit card on file in MDE?

I would also try uninstalling the MDE app and reinstalling it.

 

[gerarar]

So with a large number of the HS rides down, does the anytime LL allow park hopping or are people stuck with only the park the ride is down?

Last week, I had a MMRR LL for 2:45pm, but the ride was down when the time window started. The LL converted to a Lightning Lane Redemption which meant I could use it anytime for that specific ride that day. If the ride never reopened, then idk what would have happened.

The ride ended up reopening 20 minutes later and used it at around 3:30pm after park hopping from AK.

 

[RoadiJeff]

Disney already offers a high priced, limited skip the line service.

Not anywhere close to the cost of Universal's Express Pass, which is probably why theirs works and Disney's doesn't. A 1-day, one-time use per ride Express Pass at Universal for New Year's Day is $180, in addition to the $152 ticket cost to get into the park for that day. Express Pass availability days up to that are all sold out.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Not anywhere close to the cost of Universal's Express Pass, which is probably why theirs works and Disney's doesn't. A 1-day one-time use per ride Express Pass at Universal for New Year's Day is $180, in addition to the $152 ticket cost to get into the park for that day. Days up to that are all sold out.

An hour of a VIP Tour costs more than a day of Unlimited Express Pass.

 

[RoadiJeff]

An hour of a VIP Tour costs more than a day of Unlimited Express Pass.

I seriously doubt that. Besides, a WDW VIP Tour lasts 7 hours and includes up to 10 people. Thus, divide the cost of a Disney VIP tour by 7 and then divide that cost again by 10.

Also, if you want to compare an Unlimited Express Pass with Disney's VIP Tour, it's $209.99 for New Year's Day. Multiply that by 10 people and it's now $2,099.90.

 

[Touchdown]

I seriously doubt that. Besides, a WDW VIP Tour lasts 7 hours and includes up to 10 people. Thus, divide the cost of a Disney VIP tour by 7 and then divide that cost again by 10.

Also, if you want to compare an Unlimited Express Pass with Disney's VIP Tour, it's $209.99 for New Year's Day. Multiply that by 10 people and it's now $2,099.90.

And that’s less then the VIP tour I did in March 2019 still.

 

[RoadiJeff]

And that’s less then the VIP tour I did in March 2019 still.

Divided by 10 people? I highly doubt it. Don't forget to add the cost of the ticket to get into the Universal park itself.

 

[Touchdown]

Divided by 10 people? I highly doubt it.

The lowest price currently is $425 an hour, and goes up to $850 an hour. For 7 hours that’s $2975 to $5950 for 10 people that would be $297.50-$595 a pop, and that’s before the tip. So yes believe it.

Disney Private VIP Tours

Add even more magic to your visit with this unique experience at Walt Disney World.

disneyworld.disney.go.com

 

[lazyboy97o]

Divided by 10 people? I highly doubt it. Don't forget to add the cost of the ticket to get into the Universal park itself.

($425 * 7) / 10 = $297.50 > $209.99

 

[Jrb1979]

($425 * 7) / 10 = $297.50 > $209.99

Price aside. How is that in any way similar to what Universal offers? For one you have to have a tour guide and two you can't go do what you when you want.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Price aside. How is that in any way similar to what Universal offers? For one you have to have a tour guide and two you can't go do what you when you want.

The guide does what you want, there isn’t a set itinerary.

 

[Touchdown]

Price aside. How is that in any way similar to what Universal offers? For one you have to have a tour guide and two you can't go do what you when you want.

It is the only way to gain unlimited access to the skip the line queue at their respective resorts.

 

[MrPromey]

The guide does what you want, there isn’t a set itinerary.

I think people get confused because they call it a "tour" which I'm pretty sure is an intentional way of trying to hide, for the rest of us what everyone who uses it, understands it really is.

 

[Waters Back Side]

So far I cannot say being here this week has been a bad experience at all. A lot of us know the 7am wake up aspect and the suspense of whether we will get the rides we want as well as paying for them are all negatives, but I'm having a great time with my family.

With Genie + at HS day 1 - SDD, RNRC, and Star Tours. Standby for MMRR and Alien Saucers and successful purchase of Rise at the time that we wanted. (I'm aware we got 3 rides just like the old system for $15 as opposed to more, but we still got rides we wanted. At Epcot Day 2 with Genie + Test Track, Soarin. Spaceship Earth and was able to purchase Remy (had not interest in the Virtual queue, I flat out bought it and walked on in 3 minutes). Day 3 at AK Genie + Everest, Safaris, Kali River and Dinosaur (for 7pm but it broke down and we did not ride it) and bought FOP. I was unable to get Navi River as I should have chosen that earlier and held off on Everest until later since it was available until closing but not a big deal. AK was packed and if I did it right I would have had all 6 rides in AK. Today is a super late arrival at MK..4pm with the intention of staying until 1am.

Disney is what you put into it. Will I say its better then the old FP? NO! Because there was no suspense and allowed for better planning and no early waking up. But this myth of not getting the rides you want is a false narrative. I had no problem getting Slinky and buying Rise at 7am. None. It took all of 10 minutes. I did not need to rope drop. Walked into HS at 10:40 AM and stsyed until closing. No issues getting both Test Track and Soarin. A couple of weird issues with Genie along the way but I love being here and am having fun. Maybe it's my families love of the place contributes but during this busy week it's been a good time and no conflicts with dinner reservations or missing out. We will be at each park again as well over the next 4 days so we will be able to get ToT, TSM and Smugglers on our last HS day and Frozen at Epcot. Had we had each park only 1 time od still feel satisfied. No running to guest services and complaining my kids could not ride SDD or Rise or FOP. The times we chose for the individuals never changed either.

If there is anything at all that did not live up to the hype it was Rise. It was good. It was not epic. But I'm not a Star Wars fanatic anyway so I just went on gor the experience. FOP is far and away the superior ride. It's not even a dispute for me.

 

[RoadiJeff]

($425 * 7) / 10 = $297.50 > $209.99

Universal one park, one day ticket for 01/01/2022: $152
Universal basic Express Pass for 01/01/2022: $179.99
$152 + $179.99 = $331.99 > $297.50

 

[Waters Back Side]

One thing that I actually found a little annoying was that in some cases we found we had to wait to get the ride we wanted for the time we wanted but not with the concern of ot selling out but more or less it fitting into our plans. We should be allowed to choose times. That much I agree with it. At 10am Safaris had availability for 2:45 and it took forever to get to the 3:30pm timeslot which is the window we wanted (330-430) and while waiting other rides booked up. Safaris kept going from 245 pm to 2pm to 130 pm back to 3pm back to 245 pm etc. Eventually we settle for 3 pm and had to hustle for FoP for 330-430 PM.

 

[Touchdown]

Universal one park, one day ticket for 01/01/2022: $152
Universal basic Express Pass for 01/01/2022: $179.99
$152 + $179.99 = $331.99 > $297.50

If you are factoring ticket costs then you need to add the ticket costs to Disney too, they aren’t included in VIP tours either.

 

[RoadiJeff]

If you are factoring ticket costs then you need to add the ticket costs to Disney too, they aren’t included in VIP tours either.

OK...let's do it this way. Since you want to compare a private all-day Disney tour with Universal, let's compare apples to apples. A similar tour at Universal costs up to $6,699. That's for up to 5 people and does not include sales tax or the cost of admission.

VIP Experiences | Universal Orlando

VIP Tours For the ultimate no-expenses-spared Universal Orlando experience, book a VIP tour of one or both parks. VIP guests

touringplans.com

 

[Touchdown]

OK...let's do it this way. Since you want to compare a private all-day Disney tour with Universal, let's compare apples to apples. A similar tour at Universal costs up to $6,699. That's for up to 5 people and does not include sales tax or the cost of admission.

VIP Experiences | Universal Orlando

VIP Tours For the ultimate no-expenses-spared Universal Orlando experience, book a VIP tour of one or both parks. VIP guests

touringplans.com

Let’s not since all I want is unlimited access to the lightning lane/express pass line and I’m just looking for the cheapest way to access those lines.