Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[pdude81]

You can buy them. The days of having to be resident in the UK or EU are long gone.

Interesting. And do you all have a way to buy more than 5 day tickets to DLR?

 

[nickys]

Interesting. And do you all have a way to buy more than 5 day tickets to DLR?

I don’t think so. I’ve seen the question asked before. In fact I don’t think we have a dedicated DLR site even.

 

[Supertech65]

Let's remember that US guests don't get to buy 14 day tickets though. We can only do 10 day tickets at a higher per day cost. So in the case of base tickets, US guests pay just about the same amount of money for an inferior product.

I agree that not letting foreign guests purchase LL ahead of the visit is trash and should be rectified. Hopefully they can at least let travel agents purchase or book these on behalf of guests in the interim.

Though I don't buy them all that often but I'm from the US and purchase the 14 day tickets any time I'm going for 10+ day (I will be doing this in Nov) The 14 day for the price of 7 is cheaper than Disney's 10 day parkhopper +. Plus Attraction Tickets tend to do specials like the 14 day ticket (which includes Memory Maker, parkhopper and water parks) cost me $750 per adult.

 

[JAB]

I had no idea... how does one buy UK tickets from the US lol?

Try Attractiontickets

I think UK ticket offers are still "officially" for UK residents only, though.

Because of that and the fact that the US version of the Attractions Tickets site doesn't show Disney tickets (I had to switch to the UK site to see WDW tickets), I have to think US customers aren't really supposed to be buying 14-day UK tickets; otherwise, Attractions Tickets would show them for sale on their US site.

Sure, you can still do it if you switch to the UK version of that site, and it sounds like people have had no issues doing that, but it seems like you're taking the risk that Disney won't decide to start enforcing the ToS when you try to use them.

 

[Supertech65]

I think UK ticket offers are still "officially" for UK residents only, though.

Because of that and the fact that the US version of the Attractions Tickets site doesn't show Disney tickets (I had to switch to the UK site to see WDW tickets), I have to think US customers aren't really supposed to be buying 14-day UK tickets; otherwise, Attractions Tickets would show them for sale on their US site.

Sure, you can still do it if you switch to the UK version of that site, and it sounds like people have had no issues doing that, but it seems like you're taking the risk that Disney won't decide to start enforcing the ToS when you try to use them.

Attraction tickets is actually a third party site and can sell to anyone outside of the UK. Its only Disney world UK when running specials you have to be a UK resident in order to participate in those particular discounts. Disney world themselves has no problem letting anyone from anywhere by these particular third party tickets , they're not resident tickets (they never were.) No different when UK residents purchase discounted tickets through undercover tourists using a VPN.

 

[nickys]

Attraction tickets is actually a third party site and can sell to anyone outside of the UK. Its only Disney world UK when running specials you have to be a UK resident in order to participate in those particular discounts. Disney world themselves has no problem letting anyone from anywhere by these particular third party tickets , they're not resident tickets (they never were.) No different when UK residents purchase discounted tickets through undercover tourists using a VPN.

They used to care, in that you had to show valid ID with a UK address when collecting UK tickets.
Once things went digital they stopped caring.

 

[JAB]

Attraction tickets is actually a third party site and can sell to anyone outside of the UK. Its only Disney world UK when running specials you have to be a UK resident in order to participate in those particular discounts. Disney world themselves has no problem letting anyone from anywhere by these particular third party tickets , they're not resident tickets (they never were.)

I'm aware of what it is, and I don't believe you are correct. The "14-day Magic Ticket" (which is what AT and other third parties sell) is a specific ticket made available by Disney exclusively for UK and Ireland. Attraction Tickets don't sell Disney tickets on their US site; you have to switch to their UK site. If Disney was okay with Attraction Tickets making the 14-day tickets available "directly" to US customers, AT wouldn't have made WDW tickets unavailable on their US site. Regardless of where you buy them, the terms and conditions of the tickets are set by Disney.

As I said in my previous post, I'm aware that people are currently able to do it by going through their UK site, but the only reason it works right now is because Disney doesn't bother to enforce the terms. However, there's nothing to prevent them from deciding at any point to start enforcing them which is why you're taking some risk that it will continue to be unenforced.

No different when UK residents purchase discounted tickets through undercover tourists using a VPN.

Using a VPN to fake your location is also intentionally subverting Disney's region restrictions, so you're right, this isn't any different.

 

[JAB]

They used to care, in that you had to show valid ID with a UK address when collecting UK tickets.
Once things went digital they stopped caring.

Exactly. I worry that they could start caring about it again at any time, though.

Is it likely they will? Probably not; but for me, just the possibility they could is enough for me not to want to risk it regardless of the savings.

 

[Supertech65]

I'm aware of what it is, and I don't believe you are correct. The "14-day Magic Ticket" (which is what AT and other third parties sell) is a specific ticket made available by Disney exclusively for UK and Ireland. Attraction Tickets don't sell Disney tickets on their US site; you have to switch to their UK site. If Disney was okay with Attraction Tickets making the 14-day tickets available "directly" to US customers, AT wouldn't have made WDW tickets unavailable on their US site. Regardless of where you buy them, the terms and conditions of the tickets are set by Disney.

As I said in my previous post, I'm aware that people are currently able to do it by going through their UK site, but the only reason it works right now is because Disney doesn't bother to enforce the terms. However, there's nothing to prevent them from deciding at any point to start enforcing them which is why you're taking some risk that it will continue to be unenforced.


Using a VPN to fake your location is also intentionally subverting Disney's region restrictions, so you're right, this isn't any different.

This is how it was explained to me. Believe me, I would not have made such a large transaction without researching it first. I even called wdw directly and was told it was fine.

 

[Purduevian]

I'm aware of what it is, and I don't believe you are correct. The "14-day Magic Ticket" (which is what AT and other third parties sell) is a specific ticket made available by Disney exclusively for UK and Ireland. Attraction Tickets don't sell Disney tickets on their US site; you have to switch to their UK site. If Disney was okay with Attraction Tickets making the 14-day tickets available "directly" to US customers, AT wouldn't have made WDW tickets unavailable on their US site. Regardless of where you buy them, the terms and conditions of the tickets are set by Disney.

As I said in my previous post, I'm aware that people are currently able to do it by going through their UK site, but the only reason it works right now is because Disney doesn't bother to enforce the terms. However, there's nothing to prevent them from deciding at any point to start enforcing them which is why you're taking some risk that it will continue to be unenforced.


Using a VPN to fake your location is also intentionally subverting Disney's region restrictions, so you're right, this isn't any different.

FYI I think you are making a lot of assumptions...
I see this

I can't find anything on the UK site saying it is for UK or Europe residents only. The terms and conditions can be found on this page. https://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/walt-disney-world/help/terms-conditions/

 

[JAB]

FYI I think you are making a lot of assumptions...
I see this
View attachment 799227
I can't find anything on the UK site saying it is for UK or Europe residents only. The terms and conditions can be found on this page. https://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/walt-disney-world/help/terms-conditions/

Walt Disney World Theme Parks

Buy your Walt Disney World Tickets - exclusive to UK and Ireland - before you fly to Florida.

www.disneyholidays.ie

"Remember, Disney Magic Tickets are offered exclusively in the UK and Ireland!"

 

[Purduevian]

Walt Disney World Theme Parks

Buy your Walt Disney World Tickets - exclusive to UK and Ireland - before you fly to Florida.

www.disneyholidays.ie

"Remember, Disney Magic Tickets are offered exclusively in the UK and Ireland!"

I emailed disneytraveluk@disneyonline.com to get clarification. I'm honestly like 50/50 if its allowed or not. Regardless we are WAAAAY off topic.

 

[JAB]

Regardless we are WAAAAY off topic.

Very true.

So what aspect of Lightning Lane were we all upset about before things got sidetracked?

 

[Purduevian]

Very true.

So what aspect of Lightning Lane were we all upset about before things got sidetracked?

The UK not being able to prepurchase LLs...

On a side note the DAS restrictions as it relates to LL/G+ seem to be having a significant effect of the number of people entering the LL.

Some data from in the parks related to this.

We've been counting the number of guests getting in both the standby line and the Lightning Lane line, by minute, on various days at various attractions, for the past year. (So tens of thousands of guests per attraction overall.)

We're doing it to test a new way to predict actual wait times. It has the side effect of measuring Lightning Lane usage over time.

The data are preliminary.

But as an example, we see the ratio of Lightning Lane guests to Standby guests at Haunted Mansion has dropped significantly since the "DAS Switch" May 20

A year ago, on July 8, 2023, we counted 7 Lightning Lane guests for every 10 standby guests at Mansion. And on other days, that ratio was as high as 13 Lightning Lane guests for every 10 guests.

Prior to the DAS switch, we never saw less than 4 LL to 10 Standby at Mansion.

As a ballpark estimate, the "pre-DAS Switch" average ratio might have been 8 or 9 LL guests for every 10 Standby.

Post-DAs the ratio is closer to 2 LL to 10 Standby at Mansion.

That's a significant drop. I am reasonably confident that a look into the park's internal metrics would show a similar trend.

The practical impact of that is that guests who don't pay for Lightning Lane are seeing significantly shorter waits in line.
And I think that's a good thing.

I haven't done the numbers, but I would have a whole bunch of questions if it was proposed that the drop in LL usage was entirely due to guests with legitimate DAS needs being denied DAS, and thus not going to the parks.

For one thing, that'd be 70% of the Lightning Lane usage and 25% of the entire ride's usage. And keep in mind, people are still getting DAS. So that's a large number to accept otherwise.

 

[JAB]

The UK not being able to prepurchase LLs...

Oh, right. They should take a page from the US playbook and throw tea from the ferry boats into Seven Seas Lagoon.

On a side note the DAS restrictions as it relates to LL/G+ seem to be having a significant effect of the number of people entering the LL.

This all seems to support the idea that the DAS changes were to allow more availability for LL-MP.

 

[Ayla]

You can buy them. The days of having to be resident in the UK or EU are long gone.

I'd sure like to know how, since the longest Disney themselves offer US residents is 10 days.

 

[JAB]

The 24th needs to get here ASAP so we can all start to pick apart the details. I'm still curious to see if day-of LL-MP will be timeslots like pre-booking or first available like G+.

 

[GoofGoof]

The 24th needs to get here ASAP so we can all start to pick apart the details. I'm still curious to see if day-of LL-MP will be timeslots like pre-booking or first available like G+.

It’s a good question. My guess is time slots but that’s really only based on how FP+ worked and we know this is not the same system even though it seems very similar.

I am curious to see what time the tier restrictions are dropped (7am, park open or only after using reservation) and specifically if I can modify a tier 2 into a tier 1 on the day of once the tier restriction is dropped. I am also waiting to see for sure how split stays work as far as the timing of the 7 day window for booking. I am assuming similar to ADRs but want to confirm once live. I have 2.5 weeks from July 24th until my 7 day window so some time to see this thing in action before deciding whether to buy.

 

[nickys]

I'd sure like to know how, since the longest Disney themselves offer US residents is 10 days.

My vey next post gave the name, others gave the full website.

 

[Tuvalu]

Currently at WDW at the Wilderness Lodge.

Have MDE app setting to always allow my location.

Went to check today’s Genie+ price and got this.

Way to go, Disney.