Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[GhostHost1000]

Being able to make selections and change all requires capacity in the system and significant capacity outside the system. Those don’t exist. That’s the problem. FastPass+ offered today would suck because tall of those problems would still exist, it would just be weeks in advance.

Agreed they have MAJOR capacity problems, but they’ve made it worse with genie+ removing some inventory for ILL and the mad dash at 7am

 

[homerdance]

What im sayi … my DAS were few and far between believe it or not. With Genie it was not possible bc of limited availability and the fact return times were far out. DAS with long wait times means i say get a return time for a ride with 100 minute wait. Now what do i do? Cant use DAS and Genie was kinda pointless. So there were plenty of times we were just wandering waiting or sitting looking at clock to enter our next ride. Never had that issue w FP believe it or not. If that makes any sense.

Thanks. Was trying to understand that.

 

[homerdance]

and you can’t plan anything ahead of time really. Park path upon entering, what you’ll be around meal times etc.

This x 1,000,0000

Seriously it’s so frustrating to have a meal planned at noon Tusker house but getting a G+ for expedition Everest at 12:45 or a meal at a resort (chef mickeys say) and then the only time that is available for jungle cruise is right in the middle of that reservation. Cuss words come to mind.

 

[GhostHost1000]

This x 1,000,0000

Seriously it’s so frustrating to have a meal planned at noon Tusker house but getting a G+ for expedition Everest at 12:45 or a meal at a resort (chef mickeys say) and then the only time that is available for jungle cruise is right in the middle of that reservation. Cuss words come to mind.

It’s just unnecessary stress they have created. Guests spend a fortune to visit Disney parks and want to be able to get as much out of it as they can but now are spending more time on their phones stressed out planning during the day and covering and zig-zagging about WAY more distances than before because we take whatever genie+ gives us without any options to select times etc.

So many levels of poor planning around this it’s baffling. Then again maybe not

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Just take a look at these posts and its hard to imagine what needs to be done anymore to enjoy a day at a theme park. Its really out of hand what us diehards need to do. Disney has put themselves in this position and we are paying to try and keep up with bad decisions.

 

[GhostHost1000]

and we are paying

Their plan is working

 

[crazy4disney]

what baffles me is why not just allow people to at least pick return times it would honestly solve some issues and then make resort guests book say 1 ride prior but dont cap it out where none at 7am can get that ride... i know we keep hearing 2023 is when we will see some changes which to me is a disgrace.. again im no IT expert but i cant see and its been said probably an easier fix that could have been done to help alleviate some of this pain....

 

[ChrisM]

what baffles me is why not just allow people to at least pick return times it would honestly solve some issues and then make resort guests book say 1 ride prior but dont cap it out where none at 7am can get that ride... i know we keep hearing 2023 is when we will see some changes which to me is a disgrace.. again im no IT expert but i cant see and its been said probably an easier fix that could have been done to help alleviate some of this pain....

What baffles me is why they don't just have everything be an ILL with real time demand pricing. You walk up to the attraction, the price for the LL is listed right there. The choice is simple, either pay for access or wait in standby.

No planning necessary. Completely transparent.

 

[crazy4disney]

What baffles me is why they don't just have everything be an ILL with real time demand pricing. You walk up to the attraction, the price for the LL is listed right there. The choice is simple, either pay for access or wait in standby.

No planning necessary. Completely transparent.

i cant see that working unless you are posting prices on the app and then honoring them when people walk up... youll have guests walking form ride to ride aimlessly... again charge for a FP type system and reduce the initial booking form 3 to 2 maybe 1...

 

[ChrisM]

i cant see that working unless you are posting prices on the app and then honoring them when people walk up... youll have guests walking form ride to ride aimlessly... again charge for a FP type system and reduce the initial booking form 3 to 2 maybe 1...

All bookings would be via the app/website just like they are now - you pay the price listed with an immediate 60 minute redemption window.

Simple and straightforward.

 

[crazy4disney]

All bookings would be via the app/website just like they are now - you pay the price listed with an immediate 60 minute redemption window.

Simple and straightforward.

See to me 60 minutes window is too much bc it potentially creates a logjam. If you want to create a system that is simply pay as you go. Its just that. Instant. 15-20 min max per ride to get on asap. Not that agree with this type of system personally think its a terrible idea but definitely an interesting concept for people who are willing but then in theory we are back to square 1 a basic full standby system which i think we are all in agreement the parks cant handle.

 

[GhostHost1000]

See to me 60 minutes window is too much bc it potentially creates a logjam. If you want to create a system that is simply pay as you go. Its just that. Instant. 15-20 min max per ride to get on asap. Not that agree with this type of system personally think its a terrible idea but definitely an interesting concept for people who are willing but then in theory we are back to square 1 a basic full standby system which i think we are all in agreement the parks cant handle.

The answer to most of these problems is many many attraction additions

This is a problem Disney has created themselves and made worse overtime. It’s honestly baffling to me how poorly planned some of this is

The problem now is how do they solve this in the short term without losing guest interest in visiting because it’s such a stressful mess

 

[DCLcruiser]

The answer to most of these problems is many many attraction additions

This is a problem Disney has created themselves and made worse overtime. It’s honestly baffling to me how poorly planned some of this is

The problem now is how do they solve this in the short term without losing guest interest in visiting because it’s such a stressful mess

I thought everyone agreed that new attractions = more demand = not the answer?

 

[mysto]

what baffles me is why not just allow people to at least pick return times it would honestly solve some issues and then make resort guests book say 1 ride prior but dont cap it out where none at 7am can get that ride... i know we keep hearing 2023 is when we will see some changes which to me is a disgrace.. again im no IT expert but i cant see and its been said probably an easier fix that could have been done to help alleviate some of this pain....

I think it slows down the machines, and they are the second most important thing to money, guests third. More and more I feel tech is restricting me not liberating me, the EFF may have had a point.

I've been thinking about this, why would they do this? What if it reduces the load on the system?

I think FP+ was getting gummed up because it had too much work to do. To hang on to your reservation it needs another state for each time slot that has to be negotiated with the central servers. A ride/time could be available, pre-reserved (being booked), reserved, and released (needs to add back to the available pool).

G+ just has available and reserved. Released may exist but there are FAR fewer of these because no one wants to give up a reservation BEFORE booking a new one further reducing load. A reservation "book it" request is simpler, it just gives you a time from the pool without checking the time itself or looking at your account to see what you've been promised.

Each time you make a change to a ride/time the change must be communicated to the central server. Semaphores/locks must be established and shared out to redundant servers. FP+ was doing a lot more of this kind of work than G+ does making it easier to support large numbers of users without downtime under G+.

So this shift may have been intentionally intended to serve the machines better than the guests, and some guests noticed.

 

[Andrew25]

I thought everyone agreed that new attractions = more demand = not the answer?

Yes & No.

Attractions do create more demand, but attractions added over time can help reduce wait times overall throughout the park.

Look at Disneyland, the average wait time for ROTR is 80, while at DHS it is 114.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Yes & No.

Attractions do create more demand, but attractions added over time can help reduce wait times overall throughout the park.

Look at Disneyland, the average wait time for ROTR is 80, while at DHS it is 114.

Also, not every new attraction needs to create more demand than new capacity. Galaxy's Edge added new capacity, but I don't think it helped with crowds very much because Rise was VQ-only for so long and Smuggler's Run really didn't add a ton of capacity (I think 7 pods that each hold 6 people). An omnimover ride in that land would do a lot to help offset the capacity issues in DHS and wouldn't be a budget-buster.

 

[UNCgolf]

I thought everyone agreed that new attractions = more demand = not the answer?

There's not much evidence to believe that's true.

Additions generally don't create enough demand to outweigh the capacity increase, especially if the addition is multiple attractions and some shops/dining (something like Galaxy's Edge) as opposed to just one individual ride.

Even there, Guardians opening hasn't caused demand to skyrocket at EPCOT and overwhelm the rest of the park (despite having a VQ), and neither did Ratatouille.

Of course, when rides have a VQ, it also essentially eliminates the capacity increase as long as the VQ exists.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I thought everyone agreed that new attractions = more demand = not the answer?

Expand attractions and capacity in every park. Then build a 5th

 

[Andrew25]

Expand attractions and capacity in every park. Then build a 5th

There's no need for a 5th park when DAK empties out by 6PM, Epcot is half abandoned/disrepair/missing, DHS is missing its identity.

 

[crazy4disney]

The answer to most of these problems is many many attraction additions

This is a problem Disney has created themselves and made worse overtime. It’s honestly baffling to me how poorly planned some of this is

The problem now is how do they solve this in the short term without losing guest interest in visiting because it’s such a stressful mess

Its sad bc honestly my daughter doesnt even want to go and im sure she isnt alone... like you said her words daddy its getting boring not to mention when you tell her all thats still closed it makes it worse... im still debating cancelling tbh issue is all my money is on target cards and i be stuck w a ton of money sitting on them lol for who knows how long.... years of neglect and not building simple additions finally caught up to them or has it as people still go and revenues seem to still be okay for P&R... them wasting money on a Splash overlay ... cancelling MS theatre, cancelling Poppins, not refurbing SE, Stitch vacant for how many years now?, CoP still not updated & PW dormant, VoTL dormant and countless other rides and attraction still not open or added is a disgrace. Fantasmic still closed, we never got a night parade... heck i dont even want to go but at this stage gonna go and make best of it and then Disney will be off the list for some time would be my guess...