Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[Jrb1979]

Without access to Disney’s actual data, I can only assume they believe guest satisfaction will be higher with a prebooking system than with a system like Genie+, or they would not have changed over.

I think it would be counterintuitive for them to revert back to a system that is largely FP+ if it truly rated lower than Genie+ amongst guests, but I suppose they are not immune from questionable decision making.

I disagree this has much to do with guest satisfaction being higher. IMO this change was mainly for a perk to get guests to fill rooms they are struggling to fill.

 

[WDWTrojan]

The fact that Disney is on their 4th different line skip service in 10 years (paper fp, fp+, genie + and now whatever this is called) shows how bad they are at this for guests.

How come they can't get this right? It shouldn't be this hard.

their competitors have mastered it.

I'm not saying to do the same thing as them, but how do they keep getting this wrong?

Disney tries to give this perception that all guests are equal and nobody is being treated as special or more valuable no matter how much money you have, which is nonsense. It's why we're stuck in this "pay just a little bit and you can skip some lines by using this convoluted system." If they didn't care about the optics, they'd charge $200 a day for a simple "ride everything once" service like Universal's and call it a day.

It's also why Disney VIP tours seemingly force guests to use Lightning Lane for nearly everything even though they're paying $800/hour and frankly shouldn't have to wait in a 30 minute Lightning Lane, but they do because "nobody is special." Meanwhile Universal's VIP guides enter through the exits and have their guests on rides within a minute or two.

 

[co10064]

One of my assumptions is that rides are going quicker because more people are buying this system in advance…

With Genie+, you could wait until the day of to see how busy the park was going to be. If you had a multi-day trip, you might buy it on the first day and realize you didn’t actually need it, so you may decide not to purchase it on subsequent days.

But with this new system, I (theoretically) have no idea of how useful the system will be, so I may decide to purchase it for the length of my stay just to be safe.

Thus, inventory is reduced (along with taking off M&Gs).

 

[djlaosc]

(and also because it gives a perk to resort guests).

...US/Canada Resort Guests...

 

[djlaosc]

The one group I’m most curious about is the off site but pre planners. Obviously worse off than resort guests,

...US/Canada Resort Guests, at least for the first few days of their vacation.

 

[John park hopper]

Do I understand this correctly you can buy a multi FP which you can choose 3 attractions and then 1 after that but there are some attractions not covered so you have to buy a single FP or not buy multi FP and buy single FP. I am confused

 

[georgep148]

That was me and that’s what I heard. It’s unfortunately not the case.

Gotta redeem 1 before everything is unlocked.

Definitely unfortunate for anyone visiting late in the day but offers another advantage for getting there early (assuming you can manage to book your LLs early too).

So it doesn’t matter if the first LL you use is a tier 2, then? Everything becomes available to book regardless of tier after any LL is used?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

The meet and greets? Were rides removed?

No, but they also removed things like Enchanted Tales with Belle. That has a higher capacity than a meet & greet.

 

[JD80]

Do I understand this correctly you can buy a multi FP which you can choose 3 attractions and then 1 after that but there are some attractions not covered so you have to buy a single FP or not buy multi FP and buy single FP. I am confused

You've been posting here long enough, not sure why you are pretending to be confused.

 

[John park hopper]

You've been posting here long enough, not sure why you are pretending to be confused.

I am familiar with the old FP free system never used Gene+ so rather than being condescending how about explaining the new paid FP system better yet add you to my ignore list

 

[lentesta]

Exactly this. I have no idea the ratings for any line skipping system that Disney has had but I would be shocked if FP+ truly rated significantly worse than FP or anything else given that Disney decided to switch to a very similar system (and not suddenly or without forethought given that this was announced a long time ago). I’d be curious if @lentesta or anyone else has actual data on the topic.

The only thing I’m sure about is that any system used will have people who dislike it and prefer something different.

We've never measured system-level satisfaction.

That said, we've talked on the show about the G+ and detailed dining survey questions that guests got. Those are public information.

Just based on the way those questions were asked, it's a safe assumption that yesterday's switch to pre-booking was almost certainly in response to survey answers along the lines of "I'm not booking sit-down meals this trip because I don't know my Genie+ return times in advance for my most important rides."

This is my opinion without seeing Disney's internal survey results: G+ costs money and didn't have pre-booking. The stuff they're doing now is essentially paid FastPass+ . So it's a safe assumption that FastPass+ polled better with guests.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So checking this morning, I see that every single LLSP is already sold out, which seems odd as that would never happen this early in the day before

On the flip side, some LLMP that were sold out for advance bookings for today when I checked yesterday (e g., Haunted Mansion) now shows as being available so they definitely added "day of" capacity

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Do I understand this correctly you can buy a multi FP which you can choose 3 attractions and then 1 after that but there are some attractions not covered so you have to buy a single FP or not buy multi FP and buy single FP. I am confused

You can prebook 3 attractions that are part of LL Multi Pass and th n day of after you use your first you can pick another (so you can always have 3 selected - this is different than FP+ where you had to use all 3 preselection before picking your 4th). Then after you use another you can pick your 5th and so on

There are a handful of rides (generally 1 per park, but MK has 2) that are not part of LL Multi Pass but are separate and are LL Single Pass and you pay per ride to access the LL for them. You do not have to buy LLMP to be able to buy LLSP, it is a separate system

 

[MaximumEd]

LLMP, LLSP, and VQ all at the same time is way too complicated and convoluted. The average Disney guest, meaning folks that don’t live on sites like this, is not going to grasp all the tips, tricks, and strategies that we figure out. I don’t see any way this system isn’t a bigger bomb than the last 2.

 

[John park hopper]

You can prebook 3 attractions that are part of LL Multi Pass and th n day of after you use your first you can pick another (so you can always have 3 selected - this is different than FP+ where you had to use all 3 preselection before picking your 4th). Then after you use another you can pick your 5th and so on

There are a handful of rides (generally 1 per park, but MK has 2) that are not part of LL Multi Pass but are separate and are LL Single Pass and you pay per ride to access the LL for them. You do not have to buy LLMP to be able to buy LLSP, it is a separate system

Thank you for the explanation I appreciate it

 

[ToTBellHop]

LLMP, LLSP, and VQ all at the same time is way too complicated and convoluted. The average Disney guest, meaning folks that don’t live on sites like this, is not going to grasp all the tips, tricks, and strategies that we figure out. I don’t see any way this system isn’t a bigger bomb than the last 2.

You shouldn’t be booking VQ on the same day as LL, however.

 

[osian]

Just based on the way those questions were asked, it's a safe assumption that yesterday's switch to pre-booking was almost certainly in response to survey answers along the lines of "I'm not booking sit-down meals this trip because I don't know my Genie+ return times in advance for my most important rides."

Strange that "...because they're too expensive" was not a more popular answer.

 

[lentesta]

Strange that "...because they're too expensive" was not a more popular answer.

Ah, good point. The dining thing was one reason, not the only reason. Thank you.

 

[JD80]

I wish I had a free pass to sit on Len's data collection team meetings and see the raw data come in. So many interesting variables changing in park ops.

It'll be interesting to see if ADRs increase (shown by ADR availability decreasing) and restaurants become busier because people have "more free time" or at least more control of their day. @lentesta do you do any study on restaurant occupancy? I wonder if you could just walk up to a host stand and ask what the current wait would be for walkins is any way to measure how busy/empty a restaurant is.

If there isn't any significant change, I wonder when we'll see any changes like pre-fixe menu adoptions or better/more enticing "free" dining offers.

 

[JD80]

I am familiar with the old FP free system never used Gene+ so rather than being condescending how about explaining the new paid FP system better yet add you to my ignore list

Well I'm sorry if I offended you, but with the amount of time you spend along with the rest of us on these board, I would have thought you may have read any of the number of articles posted on the front page. Happy to see @TheMaxRebo has helped.