Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[kong1802]

Because I’m overly cynical, I just can’t help but wonder how high the prices can soar at MK/All 4 pass. Before it was strapped down by AK. Now, it can truly live its best life. $60/day peak times? $35 becomes more standard?

I think it makes sense as AK Genie is wildly ( see what I did there?) different than MK. I just don’t think they will be able to control themselves when it comes to the MK prices.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'd rather have the choice between cheap Animal Kingdom and expensive 4 Parks than be forced to buy the 4 Parks when all I want is Animal Kingdom.

They’ve announced their intention to RAISE the base prices here…you just missed it.

Right for the cheese…

There isn’t “cheap” as part of that.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

They’ve announced their intention to RAISE the base prices here…you just missed it.

I don't think that's the play.

I think the primary goal here is to increase penetration for Epcot and Animal Kingdom clicks, not increase pricing on Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios clicks.

It's about volume, not rate.

Because I’m overly cynical, I just can’t help but wonder how high the prices can soar at MK/All 4 pass. Before it was strapped down by AK. Now, it can truly live its best life. $60/day peak times? $35 becomes more standard?

Nobody buying Genie+ for Magic Kingdom was saying "man, I'd be willing to pay a lot more for Magic Kingdom Genie+ if only they removed my ability to use this at Animal Kingdom."

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't think that's the play.

I think the primary goal here is to increase penetration for Epcot and Animal Kingdom clicks, not increase pricing on Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios clicks.

It's about volume, not rate.

It’s doesn’t matter what you think…that’s how it reads.

But you are half right: it’s about price AND trying to lock in volume.

Genie and dak are somewhat useless because they don’t have any rides…and further stuck because of the one shot fees for the stuff people want.

Nothing will change that but more capacity to sell through genie…nothing

I speak fluent Disney…it’s like riding a bike

 

[dreday3]

No in the morning, you buy the Hopper Genie+ choice. It covers all scenarios.

With the new rules, if I'm going to Epcot then to AK to just enjoy it during the evening (which we do often) - then no, I wouldn't buy the all 4 park choice. Just Epcot. But I don't always know I want to do that until later in the day. So then if I purchased only Epcot, I'd have to repurchase later and ask for a refund if I want to go to MK after Epcot. Right?

And we've never had to pay $27 for Genie +, so it's still a big increase.

 

[Ayla]

It really does just add one more layer of complication. On this trip we did a split stay between two resorts, and when the second hotel gave us new tickets, they mixed up the names. My party had split up that day, so I ended up having to work with guest relations because my husband had a different reservation for a different park, and hadn't visited that park before coming to the current park, and....the whole thing just struck me as asinine for a theme park. The whole conversation about who went to what park and when just seemed so needlessly dumb. On the face of it, the park reservation/hopping system isn't that complex, but then one little thing goes wrong and it becomes a mess.

Along those same lines, the actual act of using Genie+ on the app isn't difficult. It's all the rules/time limits/restrictions that go along with it that make it unnecessarily complicated. It's adding a more complicated layer to something that is already complicated.

And if you think about it, most of the people here are frequent ish visitors who are familiar with how most things work...and we think it's complicated. Think how new visitors feel!

 

[Chi84]

I don't think that's the play.

I think the primary goal here is to increase penetration for Epcot and Animal Kingdom clicks, not increase pricing on Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios clicks.

It's about volume, not rate.


Nobody buying Genie+ for Magic Kingdom was saying "man, I'd be willing to pay a lot more for Magic Kingdom Genie+ if only they removed my ability to use this at Animal Kingdom."

That’s the primary goal all right . . .

 

[Dranth]

If I'm going to Epcot then to AK to just enjoy it during the evening (which we do often) - then no, I wouldn't buy the all 4 park choice. Just Epcot. But I don't always know I want to do that until later in the day. So then if I purchased only Epcot, I'd have to repurchase later and ask for a refund if I want to go to MK after Epcot. Right?

And we've never had to pay $27 for Genie +, so it's still a big increase.

Just curious, what would you do under the current system?

 

[dreday3]

Just curious, what would you do under the current system?

Buy the only option of Genie + that was available if we wanted Genie + that day. And use it for both parks if we wanted. It's all the same price.
Why?

 

[kong1802]

I don't think that's the play.

I think the primary goal here is to increase penetration for Epcot and Animal Kingdom clicks, not increase pricing on Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios clicks.

It's about volume, not rate.


Nobody buying Genie+ for Magic Kingdom was saying "man, I'd be willing to pay a lot more for Magic Kingdom Genie+ if only they removed my ability to use this at Animal Kingdom."

But Disney was limited by AK. they could sell it higher at MK but then would have 0 sales at AK if they did so. They had to keep that in mind. Now they don’t….

 

[mattpeto]

With the new rules, if I'm going to Epcot then to AK to just enjoy it during the evening (which we do often) - then no, I wouldn't buy the all 4 park choice. Just Epcot. But I don't always know I want to do that until later in the day. So then if I purchased only Epcot, I'd have to repurchase later and ask for a refund if I want to go to MK after Epcot. Right?

And we've never had to pay $27 for Genie +, so it's still a big increase.

You can park hop anywhere you want still. You just won't be able to use LL at park hop 2, 3 or 4 unless you paid for the "All Park choice".

 

[MrPromey]

It really does just add one more layer of complication. On this trip we did a split stay between two resorts, and when the second hotel gave us new tickets, they mixed up the names. My party had split up that day, so I ended up having to work with guest relations because my husband had a different reservation for a different park, and hadn't visited that park before coming to the current park, and....the whole thing just struck me as asinine for a theme park. The whole conversation about who went to what park and when just seemed so needlessly dumb. On the face of it, the park reservation/hopping system isn't that complex, but then one little thing goes wrong and it becomes a mess.

I don't think even an extra hair dryer from "Hey Disney" would have helped in that scenario.

 

[dreday3]

You can park hop anywhere you want still. You just won't be able to use LL at park hop 2, 3 or 4 unless you paid for the "All Park choice".

No, I'm not worried about hopping, it's hopping with Genie.

If I purchased Genie + for Epcot only that day because we were going to hop to AK in the evening - where we wouldn't use Genie + - but then decided we were going to go to MK instead of AK, then I'd have to repurchase the all park genie+ because I only paid for Epcot. Then try to get a refund for Epcot. Or however they are doing it.

But I've been told repeatedly that people don't decide where they are hopping spur of the moment, so obviously I have nothing to be concerned with.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

But Disney was limited by AK. they could sell it higher at MK but then would have 0 sales at AK if they did so. They had to keep that in mind. Now they don’t….

You watch…when/if people flood in October - stupidly - you’ll see $38 in magic and ONLY $24 at dak

Which was the “busy” price for both last year

 

[mattpeto]

No, I'm not worried about hopping, it's hopping with Genie.

If I purchased Genie + for Epcot only that day because we were going to hop to AK in the evening - where we wouldn't use Genie + - but then decided we were going to go to MK instead of AK, then I'd have to repurchase the all park genie+ because I only paid for Epcot. Then try to get a refund for Epcot. Or however they are doing it.

You would be able to purchase MK Genie+ separately (assuming still available) and deal with Guest Relations later to get a credit back is my understanding.

They will probably add a "Add Hopper for Genie+" option in the future and just make you pay the difference from the "All Park Choice", I'm guessing.

 

[aladdin2007]

welcome to page 1000

 

[Dranth]

Buy the only option of Genie + that was available if we wanted Genie + that day. It's all the same price.
Why?

Just trying to understand where you are coming from.

We tend to go to a park in the morning, leave in the early afternoon to nap/pool and then hop over to whatever park is closest to our dinner reservations for that night. That puts us in a position where we generally know what parks we will be at so this potentially saves us a bit of money on occasion.

On the days we don't know, I would just treat it the same as I do now in which case we don't bother with G+ or just get the all park version and are no better or worse off then we have been under the current system.

 

[MrPromey]

Well, we had park hoppers and ended up not hopping on half our days. That's just what my kids wanted. But we didn't know that at the start of the day. So I wouldn't have known which genie+ to buy. Maybe they figure you just buy the multi-pass anyway and eat the cost. What's another $30.

You think CaptainAmerica is going to ignore this post or call you fringe?

We know it's going to be one or the other at this point, right?

... I guess he could surprise us with a "you just don't get it" and then try to paint a picture that convinces you you're wrong or stupid but if I were a betting man, I'd go with him ignoring it like he usually does with remarks that conflict with his narrative.

 

[dreday3]

You would be able to purchase MK Genie+ separately (assuming still available) and deal with Guest Relations later to get a credit back is my understanding.

They will probably add a "Add Hopper for Genie+" option in the future and just make you pay the difference from the "All Park Choice", I'm guessing.

Yeah.
I don't want to do that.

I'm not even angry, I just think it's a dumb move amongst more dumb moves. Especially when all signs say attendance is dropping.
But people trying to justify to me why I should be fine with it is just amusing to me.

 

[nickys]

No in the morning, you buy the Hopper Genie+ choice. It covers all scenarios.

Yes you can do that. But if you don’t know whether you’ll be hopping that day or not, you risk paying more than you need to.

So the choice is:
- buy it for all parks and perhaps spend an extra $8-$10 per person
or
- buy it for your first park and then buy it for your second park if you do decide to park hop to and queue for a partial refund at park closing time

It’s not complicated in itself but it does take away some of the spontaneity that getting rid of park reservations was meant to help with. It’s an added decision to makE.

Of course there is the third option of not buying it for the second park, which I guess is the most likely option if you make the decision to park hop after dinner. But if you decide at lunchtime “I’m going to hop over to DHS” it’s more of a PITA. Even more so if someone else paid for it in the first place, which is usually the case with our family where we do different things some days and decisions like that are made on the spur of the moment because we can.