Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[SarahWI]

If it’s like max pass you can book a 2nd reservation 90 mins after the first even if you haven’t used the first yet or if you use the first one, as soon as you scan in and enter the queue you can book a 2nd reservation.

Any hints or flavors of this in the announcements? Honestly this was a nice component of max pass.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Why didn’t they just raise ticket prices $15 a day, there would have been less backlash and they would have made more money overall. This is a bad idea.

Because they still don’t have enough ride capacity and they’d have to ration it anyway in plain view. This weeds out some.

To throw out, People have no problem shelling out over 200 dollars per ticket per day for express at Universal. Including single time express. I mean theexpress for the HHN tickets can be as high as a $500 surcharge. Example for Sept 8th,View attachment 580680

You can go on 30 rides with express pass if you want.

is this the “Disney isn’t doing anything worse..” false narrative angle?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Why didn’t they just raise ticket prices $15 a day, there would have been less backlash and they would have made more money overall. This is a bad idea.

Because they still don’t have enough ride capacity and they’d have to ration it anyway in plain view. This weeds out some.

To throw out, People have no problem shelling out over 200 dollars per ticket per day for express at Universal. Including single time express. I mean theexpress for the HHN tickets can be as high as a $500 surcharge. Example for Sept 8th,View attachment 580680

You can go on 30 rides with express pass if you want.

is this the “Disney isn’t doing anything worse..” false narrative angle?

 

[flynnibus]

1) Disney clearly doesn't care about optics, or they wouldn't have just released a two-tiered system where rubes and the wealthy can pay to skip lines

2) What do you think is more likely for when a ride consistently hits capacity: limiting the amount of $15/person passes, or getting rid of standby? Keep in mind that the $15 pass is essentially 100% profit for Disney as it costs them nothing to give access to rides that are already included with admission.

3) This reminds me of when Six Flags took over my local waterpark.
The first year, you started being required to use an inner tube in the lazy river. Fortunately, they had about 20 stacks of them that you could grab.
The second year, 2 stacks of special tubes appeared next to the river entrance, $10 for the day.
The third year, the stacks switched.

I'll still be here.. you check back and see who was right.

 

[ctrlaltdel]

Confirmed.

Tier 1: Space, Mine Train, Test Track, Rat, Rise, Slinky, Kilimanjaro, and FoP.

Not gonna lie this seems… totally fine? You can pay for the 2 (or I suppose one in one park and another in a park hop scenario) or go rope drop them. I was expecting them to keep the same FP+ tiers, forcing some tough choices even if you paid. This makes the decision to buy relatively easy if you so chose to. Have a bunch of questions how this will work operationally, but this is Maxpass-esque and far from a radical departure from FP orthodoxy. A standby line would’ve have been a much bigger change and had a much more unpredictable effect on operations (probably why they didn’t do it).

Overall, this is as close to the best case scenario as one could hope for. Not saying it’s great, mind you, but the previous thread’s speculation looks a little over-the-top now.

 

[Waters Back Side]

Looks like smugglers run is included with Genie+ and not an extra headliner cost. However Safaris is not. Based on the article.

 

[GoofGoof]

Actually I think this has a lot of benefits...

1 - It limits how much FP use there is in the parks - potentially VERY significantly compared to prior
2 - It eliminates the redonkulus advanced FP booking for the majority of users
3 - So far the pool of paid lightning pass attractions is incredibly small
4 - The two paid lightning pass limit really limits it's potential impact on lines

That said... that's all offset by the cons...

like having to pay for maxpass(digital FP) when Disney was already doing it for free
the limits they start with won't last...

I see it like a ticket price increase... Maxpass is here, FP+ is dead, and Disney is monetizing peak attraction demand in limited cases. That's Aug 18th, 2021 in a nutshell for you.

Pretty good summary.

It’s basically maxpass ($5 per day cheaper than DLR) but they have removed the top 2 rides at each park and they become pay to use fast pass. In theory less people will use this than FP classic or FP+ since you pay for it so less FP riders equals smaller standby lines. If you don’t pay for at least Genie+ you will probably spend more time in line overall, but if you pay for genie+ and the 2 paid rides then you will probably wait less but at a cost. Not great but actually much better than some expected.

 

[RSoxNo1]

It seems that people are taking TouringPlans suggestion of rides for the Genie+ upcharge and running with it. However, I don't know that it's truly been confirmed. I could also see them not having two rides at EPCOT and DAK.

 

[SarahWI]

You can go on 30 rides with express pass if you want.

Which makes it much much more valuable than what Disney has rolled out. I’d rather pay Disney more and get a better product like the express pass.

 

[StrawberryGirl]

Sorry if this has been discussed. Wonder if you’ll be able to ride RoR twice in a day now, by getting a boarding group AND a lightning pass? Or would the boarding group make it so you’re not able to get a lightning pass and vice versa?

 

[wdwmagic]

It seems that people are taking TouringPlans suggestion of rides for the Genie+ upcharge and running with it. However, I don't know that it's truly been confirmed. I could also see them not having two rides at EPCOT and DAK.

They will have two available at each park. I agree with TP list, but we will see how it pans out.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

Can RotR handle all of this, I feel like it's struggling enough without all of this nonsense.

Also, how is SDMT still considered a headliner?

 

[wdwmagic]

Sorry if this has been discussed. Wonder if you’ll be able to ride RoR twice in a day now, by getting a boarding group AND a lightening pass? Or would the boarding group make it so you’re not able to get a lightening pass and vice versa?

Good question! One of the many edge cases that all this creates.

 

[Mickeyboof]

Notable Rise of the Resistance point from the D23 interview with Josh:

Think about Rise of the Resistance. It’s a highly demanded attraction. Guests show up in the morning and they try to get into the virtual queue. We get as many people on there as we can, but inevitably someone is disappointed. Now there’s another option on top of the virtual queue so if Rise of the Resistance is the reason you’re at Disneyland or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there will be an option for you to purchase Rise of the Resistance. So again: flexibility, optionality, better guest experience overall.

Aight Josh. If I’m going to “purchase” Rise of the Resistance, you better get that blaster hallway scene working AND I don’t want a single B-Mode experience.

And please, for gods sake, hire some real actors to board the transport.

 

[GoofGoof]

It seems that people are taking TouringPlans suggestion of rides for the Genie+ upcharge and running with it. However, I don't know that it's truly been confirmed. I could also see them not having two rides at EPCOT and DAK.

This makes sense. Is anyone paying for Test Track? Once Guardians of the Universe of Energy opens then maybe back to 2. For AK the Safari doesn’t get long waits most days so makes no sense to pay for a fast pass.

 

[tallica]

It's funny how Tier 1 is only limited to two rides at each park, per the source. Really, KS doesn't need to be, the line doesn't warrant it, RnRC could maybe qualify. Also, maybe, FEA, depends on the day. At MK, there are days that the longest line goes to Splash Mountain. If this is about profit, they would be wise to move t1 attractions around, based on demand for the day.

You can only purchase 2, no where days Disney say only two rides are going to be tier 1 per park.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

So with this has the legacy term "Fastpass" been scrubbed from the Disney lexicon?

 

[chimchimcheree]

They should just hurry up and re-introduce the ticket books already since the pay-per-ride seems to be a digital E-ticket. It'd save us the disappointment of dragging out the eventual. I enjoyed MaxPass at Disneyland, and I'd be happy to pay the $15 extra for Genie+. Don't like the pay-per-ride, but I can't do anything about it except go get in the standby line.

But, playing devil's advocate for a second: there's no reason Chapek and the other panoply of villains shouldn't upcharge every last thing! They could make visitors pay to breathe the air and people would still come in droves. (Hence a problem people aren't talking about enough: the parks just do not have the capacity to handle the crowds they pull.) They built an entire ritzy subdivision with houses costing in the millions and people have been buying into it! I'm all for them just cranking the price and the misery up until people have finally had enough and attendance takes a hit enough to force re-introduction of the perks that were designed to bring people in in the first place. It's no sweat off my brow if WDW prices me out. I'll go somewhere else.

 

[wdwmagic]

Can RotR handle all of this, I feel like it's struggling enough without all of this nonsense.

Also, how is SDMT still considered a headliner?

It has high demand and is one of the newest rides at MK.

 

[wdwmagic]

So with this has the legacy term "Fastpass" been scrubbed from the Disney lexicon?

Yes