Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Saskdw]

Length of stay discounts incoming…

Perfect!
The Stay More Save More promo at Universal has got them a lot of business from us.
We come to Orlando for a full 2weeks. There should be a discount for filling the hotel room and spending money in their parks/shops/restaurants for that length of time.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Length of stay discounts incoming…

There’s such a drastic per day difference in the longer multi day tickets than the shorter ones, this feels like the logical next step. Especially if those longer ticket guests appear to be buying the multi pass for ‘too few’ of their days according to what Disney thinks they should be.

 

[Jrb1979]

I just dont know how anyone can think getting 3 skip the lines is winning under whatever name they wanna call it

Many do. You have to remember outside the hardcores here, your average guest only booked their 3 each day and that's it.

In the end all they are doing is moving the deck chairs on the Titanic. When this fails, like it did before, they will bring out something else.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I just dont know how anyone can think getting 3 skip the lines is winning under whatever name they wanna call it

I sure feel like a loser when I use up one of my LL selections and get to the attraction and see the standby is 5 minutes. It happened at Dinosaur at AK, I am going to miss that ride

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Has it been said if you are staying off property, when you begin making your selections 3 days prior, can you make them for multiple days? Or one day at a time?

 

[Splash4eva]

I sure feel like a loser when I use up one of my LL selections and get to the attraction and see the standby is 5 minutes. It happened at Dinosaur at AK, I am going to miss that ride

Oh yes those are the best. Only good thing there is you can cancel it and walk on and save it for later

 

[flynnibus]

I just dont know how anyone can think getting 3 skip the lines is winning under whatever name they wanna call it

When everyone is special- no one is special

Let’s crank the to the extreme to just make it more obvious. Imagine if disney allowed you to reserve getting in the standby line… would anyone care? No… it’s something that doesn’t help you and everyone can do anyway.

Now crank it back a bit… what if the LL reservations flow like water… but end up being long waits. Are they still great to get? Disney can say they are still better than standby… because they will have basically killed standby with capacity ratios to make that LL capacity so high.

Yea! I got a LL… but it was a long wait… and I can’t do any rerides because standby is unbearable now. Now you’re basically at the point people complain about VQ… yes you ride with a booking… but the wait is still there and i effectively lose my standby freedom of choice.

Now imagine the majority of the park operating like that.

Maybe that’s the easiest way to visualize it… imagine if the majority of rides were VQ but without the lottery aspect and you could hold more than one. That’s what this experience is gonna devolve to.

A park where you prebook every ride… and are miserable if you try to go around the reservations.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

But are they really?!? All they just did here was bring back FP+ and charge for it. Which is what they basically should have done from the get go if they wanted to monetize it which they obviously should. So how is this going to be any more effective? Listen maybe my experience w FP+ and Genie+ were not the norm but there have been plenty here and others i know who had similar success. End of day the lack of capacity is and always will
Be the reason any system does not work

I think they’re hoping the fees smooth out some of logjam they had with “free” fastpass+

They have no idea. The ability of management to mishandle parks is becoming comical

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Has it been said if you are staying off property, when you begin making your selections 3 days prior, can you make them for multiple days? Or one day at a time?

I believe multiple days is just for onsite guests. One day at a time for everyone else.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Length of stay discounts incoming…

There’s such a drastic per day difference in the longer multi day tickets than the shorter ones, this feels like the logical next step. Especially if those longer ticket guests appear to be buying the multi pass for ‘too few’ of their days according to what Disney thinks they should be.

It won’t work

 

[Dranth]

I think the reality is the "park commando's" who post on these boards don't represent the majority of potential WDW guests and aren't the high profit guests for Disney.

We went to WDW for 2 weeks every December from 2008 to 2016. We loved FP+ and haven't even considered a WDW vacation since G+ came to be. These changes have us considering a return for Dec. 2025.

We have no interest in being park commandos.

Except that G+ was actually better than both FP+ and likely this new system for most people. Folks just didn't like the 7am part or bought into the online griping without actually trying it.

Functionality wise and in terms of ride access G+ ran circles around FP+ for your standard guest.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

They MUST and WILL fix this! THEY NEED INTERNATIONAL GUESTS!!!!

They don’t *have* to do everything. I’d bet that most international guests aren’t exactly LL power users. Even back in the free fastpass days a lot of international guests had no idea that fastpass was even a thing and they just waited in standby lines. They are probably betting that their average first time international visitor won’t even notice this.

 

[Saskdw]

What they are hoping is this will fill their resorts and it creates a better experience for the guests staying at their resorts.

If you choose to stay elsewhere and your experience isn't as good that's too bad? It's really the way it should be isn't it?

It also gives them more options for " deals and discounts" which will be greatly needed when Epic Universe opens. They will need free dining, free LL and 40% discounts to draw people there when there is a superior park up the street.

 

[DCBaker]

Has it been said if you are staying off property, when you begin making your selections 3 days prior, can you make them for multiple days? Or one day at a time?

If you have date-based tickets and are not staying on property, you can make your selections for the total number of valid admission days on your ticket.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Imagine all the people asking for a refund.

They will be denied. You don’t get a refund now when the weather turns sour.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

If you have date-based tickets and are not staying on property, you can make your selection for the total number of valid admission days on your ticket.

lol, Disney really hates it’s Annual Pass holders.

 

[nickys]

See here:

When can international guests purchase Lightning Lanes?

They can purchase Lightning Lane passes and make selections upon arrival into the United States.

As for the why of this, it’s probably not because Walt Disney World hates international guests. Although it might seem that way on this one particular issue, Walt Disney World actually loves guests from outside the United States. They’re more of a captive audience, have higher per guest spending metrics, and typically do longer stays. This is why we routinely refer to British guests as Walt Disney World’s “whales” (non-derogatory).

Walt Disney World has not offered an official explanation (and probably never will), but our best guess is that it’s a matter of law. I don’t know what law, but there are a lot of laws in the EU and elsewhere with which US companies do not want to comply, so the “solution” is simply not offering access in those markets.

That’s probably an unsatisfying explanation, but it’s likely the reason why. This means there probably won’t be resolution to this problem in the weeks and months to come, as it’s deliberate rather than accidental. With that said, this also means that Walt Disney World probably doesn’t care if you use VPNs and other techniques to side step this “rule.” (Not that we’re endorsing rule-breaking…but we aren’t not endorsing it here, either.)

Lightning Lanes at Disney World Guide 2025 - Disney Tourist Blog

This guide to Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Pass at Walt Disney World offers answers to frequently asked questions, info & tips for using the paid FastPass+ and Genie replacement. It covers strategy for line-skipping, off-site vs. on-site ride reservation booking windows, tiers for Magic...

www.disneytouristblog.com

Sorry, I’m not accepting Disney Tourist Blog as a legit source for this.

Others, including this site have said otherwise.

That said it is possible it’s true. The “enchanted extras” like tours etc need either a vpn or to be booked by phone.

It would be awful if it is true.

 

[Saskdw]

Except that G+ was actually better than both FP+ and this likely this new system for most people. Folks just didn't like the 7am part or bought into the online griping without actually trying it.

Functionality wise and in terms of ride access G+ ran circles around FP+ for your standard guest.

7am was part of it.

But a big red flag for us was booking a $15k vacation and have no guarantees we would get to ride the headliners. With FP+ we knew we had all the headliners booked 60 days before we left home.

 

[Jrb1979]

What they are hoping is this will fill their resorts and it creates a better experience for the guests staying at their resorts.

If you choose to stay elsewhere and your experience isn't as good that's too bad? It's really the way it should be isn't it?

It also gives them more options for " deals and discounts" which will be greatly needed when Epic Universe opens. They will need free dining, free LL and 40% discounts to draw people there when there is a superior park up the street.

I don't see this moving the needle much at all.

Yay if I stay on site I can pay an extra $800 for my family to book rides early.

 

[Saskdw]

lol, Disney really hates it’s Annual Pass holders.

They don't make much money off most of them compared to vacationers spending a week or two in their resorts.