Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Splash4eva]

It’s not.

Nothing they’ve tried for 2 years has made a dent. The downward spiral

Have I mentioned this is most inept Disney leadership they’ve had from the birdseye view?

They’re declining in a “boom” economy? It’s absurd…it’s antithetical

I just think the product is stale. Prices have skyrocketed (granted they are not alone here) & the thought of going somewhere spending all this money to basically sit in 60 minute lines is just NOT fun and a hard sell to kids these days…

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I just think the product is stale. Prices have skyrocketed (granted they are not alone here) & the thought of going somewhere spending all this money to basically sit in 60 minute lines is just NOT fun and a hard sell to kids these days…

And there’s one guy responsible for the stale product…which is why a change is imperative…yesterday

Worst board ever as well

 

[JulieMc]

Yes it’s not good enough. I’m coming from Australia and arrive the evening before my first Disney World Day. International Disney Guests are at a huge disadvantage. I was so excited not just upset.

 

[JAB]

And there’s one guy responsible for the stale product…which is why a change is imperative…yesterday

Worst board ever as well

Disney seemed to be at its best when there was a dreamer/pragmatist pair at the top like Walt and Roy, or Eisner and Wells.

When there's one person making both the creative and financial decisions, it usually skews too far to one or the other.

 

[PirateFrank]

Does anyone know how the 7-day advance window is impacted if you are on a split-stay of WDW resorts? Does the 7-day window reset for the second hotel stay?

 

[DisneyRoy]

Are all the t1 attractions gone now at park open? I expect the same with the update.

Edit: go on thrill data and look at LL return times almost all t1 attractions are available through 2-3pm on most days.

There are some that are gone within minutes. The Remy/Frozen/SDD bundle are all sold out quickly. SDD within a few minutes of 7 am.

 

[Splash4eva]

And there’s one guy responsible for the stale product…which is why a change is imperative…yesterday

Worst board ever as well

All his puppets. And honestly. What baffles me is this. This is a company which as far as Wall St goes has been nothing but dead money for basically what a decade? Yet Iger has gotten a pass for some reason which in this industry happens on very rare occasions

 

[the_rich]

There are some that are gone within minutes. The Remy/Frozen/SDD bundle are all sold out quickly. SDD within a few minutes of 7 am.

That's not true. Sdd was available until about 11am when I was there last week. Frozen had availability until about the same time. I couldn't tell you about Remy because I had that at 7am.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I’ve never used G+ or LL. I’d consider using this. It’s an improvement.

The only ones who seem to be complaining are non-US guests. I’m ok with that for now. They can work that out later. They built you your own parks in Europe and Asia.

Half-kidding, but the most overused and amateurish phrase on this site is, “Oh, all the good stuff will be gone if I don’t get it on day one.” Most of you ought to know that by now.

How do you know they won’t be holding some slots available? Have even one of you considered that? Because it’s been standard practice on almost everything so far.

As someone who goes with few plans, few bookings, and does almost everything I want, it’s tiresome. You’ll stress yourselves out and then do most things anyway.

 

[GoofGoof]

Finally trying to get up to speed on all of this.

When G+ was announced, I didn't like it because the planner in me liked the certainty of FP+ pre-selections; I didn't like the idea of not knowing if or when I'd be able to get a LL with G+. Once I actually used it, though, and saw that there was plenty of availability, I ended up liking it. Once I knew how to prioritize LLs, there was never an issue getting LL for the rides we wanted. FP+ was usually 3 and out, but the day-of availability of G+ meant we easily got 5+ LL in a day. And making selections day-of allowed for more flexibility, especially when park hopping. LL-MP™ goes back to having to lock in to at least one park every day, so now I find myself not really wanting to go back to pre-selections.

I had touring with G+ down to a science, but like I said when G+ was announced - it is what it is, and I'll figure out the most efficient way to plan with what I'm given. From what I've seen so far, the strategy right now seems to mostly be the old FP+ strategy with a few tweaks here and there, so that makes the switch a bit easier.

Planning scenarios are already running rampant through my head. Things like...

If my pre-selections are:

1. 10:30 AM
2. 11:30 AM
3. 5:00 PM

If I use #1 and select #4 for 1:00 PM, then use #2 and select #5 for 2:00 PM, will I be able to use #4 and select #6, then use #5 and select #7 even though #3 hasn't been used yet? From what I've read it just seems to be a rolling max of 3, and once you use any LL, you can pick a new one, so the answer would seem be yes as I understand it, but I'm not sure.

One question I still haven't seen addressed at all is whether day-of selections will also return to selectable times, or will they stay "first available" like G+.

Obviously LL-MP™ won't have the same levels of day-of availability as G+, but, given that, unlike FP+, LL-MP™ will be paid, with no re-rides, and you only have to wait until you use 1 instead of all 3, it's certain that day-of availability will be better than FP+; however, It remains to be seen whether that availability will actually be useful or not, and we'll only know once it's been in use for a bit and @lentesta gives us all the data.


Welp, back to re-doing my planning strategy...

View attachment 794854

I think the easiest way to think of it you can always have 3 live reservations. When 1 is used or expires unused you can book another. It makes no difference what order they were booked in.

 

[James Alucobond]

Half-kidding, but the most overused and amateurish phrase on this site is, “Oh, all the good stuff will be gone if I don’t get it on day one.” Most of you ought to know that by now.

How do you know they won’t be holding some slots available? Have even one of you considered that? Because it’s been standard practice on almost everything so far.

I mean … That’s how it was for FastPass+, which this functionally emulates. If you can plan out 5 attractions between 3 multipasses and 2 ILLs, you’re naturally going to have to be eating into inventory much farther into the day than you’re currently encouraged to with Genie+. And because you’re pre-booking, if something goes down for an extended period, you’ll also end up with a whole lot more people who have all-attraction passes. It was not unusual to have absolutely nothing good to pick from at non-MK parks after lunch in the FP+ days. I’m not convinced this will do anything different; you just pay for it now.

That said, I largely agree with you that, if you’re on top of things, you don’t need any of the line skipping services anyway. I don’t purchase them and make out just fine because I’m an early riser and don’t stress about riding everything. But I think it’s a bit dismissive to assume people don’t have legitimate concerns when it so nearly resembles something we’ve already experienced.

 

[flynnibus]

What could possibly be "illegal" about it...it was no problem with booking FP+ via the web site, and Disney can already take payments for the whole package via the UK web site. Ah...it's about promoting use of the app isn't it? They don't want people to use the web site, or they just can't be bothered to develop it. But that's their choice. Nothing "regulatory" about it at all.

Using the app and website are different... because there are rules about taking payments through the app due to the apple and google store ecosystems. They work very hard to keep app developers from taking commerce through the app that doesn't conform to being processed through them. There could be nuances here we aren't aware of... and using the website isn't a good comparison. Different players involved... different rules involved.

My guess at this point is Disney made a choice to only support these purchases through the app... and this choice had these consequences they hadn't quite worked out ahead of time. I would expect them to have some sort of exception process before too long... like taking purchases over the phone, through agents, etc.

 

[C33Mom]

This is not legal advice and, while I am a lawyer, I am not a privacy lawyer but I do sit on a compliance committee for a global U.S. corporation and think about this in my day job. I don’t think anybody should be taking the word of European privacy lawyers about how easy (or desirable) it is to just your company up for compliance with an increasing thicket of EU consumer protection regulations (not because he isn’t a good European privacy lawyer but because he may not realize how onerous is compared with US). EU entities have a LOT of additional compliance costs that Disney would be passing on to all of us customers if they decided to adopt them voluntarily for a product that is primarily designed to be used inside FL (and maybe eventually CA).

Despite the headaches, my guess is that Disney will try to find a way to allow pre-booking for international guests, unless it’s hoping to just divert them to California and Paris.

 

[GigglesMcSnort]

No problems with FP+
No problems with Genie+
Dining was an issue on the app, now sorted
Magical enhancements (tours, droids etc) can only be booked using a vpn or by calling the UK arm of their travel agency

So there’s no consistency. We can book and pay for some things but not others. Genie+ was non refundable, so that’s not the issue (no legislative changes since then). Which to me suggests they could sort this if they wanted to. Or if they were half competent.

Edit: forgot to mention I can sit here in the U.K. and mobile order for pick up in an hour using MDE.

It's hard not to wonder if there is not in fact an element of wanting to provide more value to US guests than international guests...

 

[JD80]

There are some that are gone within minutes. The Remy/Frozen/SDD bundle are all sold out quickly. SDD within a few minutes of 7 am.

Those would be your targets for pre-book or rope drop.

Everything else goes later. Epcot frozen was gone by 10, nearly everything else was 1pm.

 

[flynnibus]

I’m convinced that the average international visitor wanders into the park without any real idea of how to use the LL system. Maybe they purchase genie+ and try to muddle through it, having no real idea how to work the 2 hour countdown rule, stacking, etc.

Why do you think International Customers are somehow a dumber demographic then domestic? International customers are not some rogue corner case for WDW... It's one of the biggest demographics and is packed with people that don't just visit WDW because of some 'must see' list.. but are many people that are generational fans who including many high repeat customers. I mean.. you're on a website created by UK fans no less.

These people are making big investments - they are not lackadaisical about their trips.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

That's not true. Sdd was available until about 11am when I was there last week. Frozen had availability until about the same time. I couldn't tell you about Remy because I had that at 7am.

But the last few weeks have been relatively slow. Actually, this year so far has been relatively slow. Perhaps the parks will continue to be somewhat slow and it will not be an issue.

I have been at WDW when the parks were busy, and SDD/Remy were both gone within seconds. When Remy ran out, FEA next went quickly.

 

[flynnibus]

There’s no conspiracy. Disney has publicly stated that they couldn’t roll this out until they fixed the DAS issues.

Where was that publicly stated? (curious...)

 

[GoofGoof]

What is available for how long under G+ is highly dependent on the crowd level and the park.

According to Touring Plans data for yesterday here is when genie+ ran out:

EPCOT: Remy and Frozen were gone shortly after 7am with Soarin gone right at 11am when people could book their 2nd choice

DHS: SDD was gone shortly after 7am, TSMM around 9am, Smugglers right at 11am, Mickey Train and ToT both just after 1.

AK: Na’vi was gone before open, EE 11am, safari just after 11

MK: BTMRR before 11, Pan just after 7am, Space before 8am, jungle cruise 9:30am, Pirates around 7am

Keep in mind these are when they ran out completely so for example BTMRR at 10:15am had a return time near park closing. Not a problem if you are there all day in same park. Not ideal if you hop.


I think the point is that at a crowded time when more people bought G+ rides sell out quicker. It’s tough to get 3 meaningful reservations a day and you have no control over return windows. The big question will be how quickly will the advance reservations sell out? Probably very quickly.

 

[flynnibus]

Which means that their website will now be less useful than it was 11 years ago...

I doubt that there are technological limitations as to why they couldn't make LL selections available on the website like they did for FP+, and they do for dining reservations, so they either don't want to do it, or don't want to spend the money to do it...

All this reeks of a simple decision to be 'app only' and consequences of that..

Instead of a project plan that said "lets build agent bookings, then build the website to allow self-service, and then build the app for self-service..." - Someone probably stood up and said "we should just force everyone to use the app, it will be cheaper and drive adoption and reduce staffing". Then they do that.. and later realize there might be some app payment ecosystem constraints they didn't account for and can't serve that international market on launch due to it.

Everyone going down regulatory, privacy, GDPR, FP+ history are all barking up the wrong tree. This is likely a TOOLING problem - not a regulatory one. Disney has been able to sell you products online forever. The problem is they need the platform they are using to support international and they need to deal with more elements.