Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[RSoxNo1]

Out of curiosity, what did MaxPass do to the standby lines at Disneyland?

There's always been the ongoing debate whether or not FastPass helped or hurt the standby lines. COVID removed FastPass giving us a better idea of how that would look, albeit with less than full capacity at the parks. With Lightning Lanes/Genie+, it's somewhat of a hybrid where, theoretically, significantly less people will be filling in the old FastPass lines to save $$$ every day.

Assuming Disney's algorithms are smart and they factor in variables to ensure distributed ride reservations are balanced, should the standby lines not be shorter? Is there not a chance that we will all finally get a "virtually" FastPass-less Disney experience? Obviously that all depends on how many people are willing to spend on this, but who knows, maybe?

It’s kind of hard to tell because the paper system still existed in conjunction with it.

 

[SamusAranX]

If the daily capacity of the ride is lower than the number of guests who wish to ride on a given day, there is no possible system that Disney could use to satisfy everyone. The only question becomes who gets to ride and who doesn't. With VQs, it's random. With LL$, it's based on willingness to pay. With standby, it's based on willingness to wait. YMMV on which approach is best.

Well, at least with standby available in addition to other paid options, you still have an opportunity to ride. Us AP's (well in my case former AP), were spoiled in that we could try again. Once a year vacationers are a bit more out of luck.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Genie+ basically is Maxpass... Maxpass and paper FP are no more.

So will the machines be coming out of Disneyland?

Maxpass existed alongside the traditional paper Fastpass until shutdown. If Genie+ is taking place of Maxpass, paper fastpasses aren't mentioned. I can't find info on the fate of the paper fastpass in California.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Yeah, I still don’t understand why they haven’t reopened the Pirates game or started the Ducktales Agent P replacement yet. They would cost very little to run and are pandemic friendly and add some small but easy capacity

World Showcase needs their entertainment back, too. I know Chapek doesn't like to pay for things that don't add a corresponding income line item, but it's things like this that made the waits tolerable at the actual attractions.

 

[Mander]

This seems really unpleasant for group travel with multiple families. We have a trip booked in April with some family friends (delayed from April 2021). Eleven people, four family groups with different budgets/priorities. If everyone does the Genie+ option, we could book those things together but sorting out the paid attractions seems awful.

Also super excited that instead of one early morning 60 days out, I get to be up before 7am every day of my vacation.

I've got two trips delayed because of covid (one with the above mentioned friends, another one pretty much paid for). We'll see how those go but I don't know. Seems more expensive and stressful than it is worth.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'm pretty sure that's poor wording on their part. The selections you cannot make on the day of your visit are the 2 pre-registered choices. You have to make them in advance, and not day-of. Then the rest of the day goes as DAS normally does, but thru the app.

I’m not convinced that’s true.

Clarification is certainly needed. People are also jumping on a single touring plans post that speculated the 8 upcharge attractions and their price points. Disney needs to specify a few things here.

 

[brettf22]

In what could be an indication of how recently they were still figuring out what to do with FP+ and Genie, WDWMagic's photos of today's Cast Member previews still show "FP+" signs on Rat. Or could be they just didn't want to freak out everybody too far in advance.

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Cast Member previews - Photo 5 of 10

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Cast Member previews - Photo 5 of 10

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[SamusAranX]

I've thought of that back when we had fastpass, here I am getting ahead of other people. But I didn't feel bad because everybody else got fastpass too. Sometimes I get ahead of others, other times they get ahead of me, I didn't mind it either way. Totally fair. It's a fun game for me. Everybody gets a share of getting ahead. Very democratic.

But now I am paying to get ahead of other people, so I'm seriously doing "the rich trampling on the poor" thing. It's not going to feel as fun. Disney has always had ways of paying more to have more privilege, but it was never so blatantly in your face. Unless, of course, nearly everybody buys the Genie+ so that they only people who wait in line are people who don't mind it. Then we are just back to the same old paper fastpass, with park tickets being $15 more than is advertised, that's all. Except for the paid fastpasses, of course. Depends on how many rides are classified in the paid category. Are most popular rides going to requirement direct payment, that is, not included in the Genie+? Then it's not worth it.

Is there any karmatically satisfying situation that's possible where so many buy the LL that standby becomes so barren that you're standing around the same wait time, or even a little less?

 

[SteveAZee]

I plan to break both legs before my next trip!

Just make it an arm and a leg... it's the cost now anyway.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Resorts are going to have a lot of 7am mickey wake up calls to schedule.

This is one of my biggest bummers. You're gonna have to be up everyday at 6:45 AM, even if your park isn't open until 9 or 10 AM.

It really should be 9PM the previous night, assuming you have a room reservation and a Park Pass.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Is there any karmatically satisfying situation that's possible where so many buy the LL that standby becomes so barren that you're standing around the same wait time, or even a little less?

Lightning Lane will have "return windows" just like FastPass did. No, it's not possible for infinite people to load up a given attraction's Lightning Lane at a given time.

 

[Disney Analyst]

In what could be an indication of how recently they were still figuring out what to do with FP+ and Genie, WDWMagic's photos of today's Cast Member previews still show "FP+" signs on Rat. Or could be they just didn't want to freak out everybody too far in advance.

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Cast Member previews - Photo 5 of 10

Remy's Ratatouille Adventure Cast Member previews - Photo 5 of 10

www.wdwmagic.com

I mean, this attraction was designed and being fabricated long before Covid…

I have a feeling Covid sped up the monetized fast pass replacement project, so this ride would have initially and definitely been planned to use FastPass+.

 

[SamusAranX]

Lightning Lane will have "return windows" just like FastPass did. No, it's not possible for infinite people to load up a given attraction's Lightning Lane at a given time.

Well, one can dream. Lol.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

World Showcase needs their entertainment back, too. I know Chapek doesn't like to pay for things that don't add a corresponding income line item, but it's things like this that made the waits tolerable at the actual attractions.

Citizens of Main Street and Citizens of Hollywood too. It’s all the little things that made Disney, Disney.

At least we have fireworks back.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This is one of my biggest bummers. You're gonna have to be up everyday at 6:45 AM, even if your park isn't open until 9 or 10 AM.

It really should be 9PM the previous night, assuming you have a room reservation and a Park Pass.

No, you're not gonna "have to." You're gonna have the choice to. Or not. You can sleep until noon if you want and start making your reservations then.

Also, do people not remember what park hours were like when Galaxy's Edge, Toy Story Land, and Pandora opened? Those parks were opening at like 7am daily for a year plus. You're going to be waking up at 5 if you want to rope drop MK once Tron opens.

 

[Missing20K]

Lightning Lane will have "return windows" just like FastPass did. No, it's not possible for infinite people to load up a given attraction's Lightning Lane at a given time.

How well were those return window times enforced?

Infinite? Of course not. Enough to clog up what is supposed to be a mostly wait-free experience? I guess time will tell.

 

[brettf22]

I'm pretty sure that's poor wording on their part. The selections you cannot make on the day of your visit are the 2 pre-registered choices. You have to make them in advance, and not day-of. Then the rest of the day goes as DAS normally does, but thru the app.

I’m not convinced that’s true.

Clarification is certainly needed. People are also jumping on a single touring plans post that speculated the 8 upcharge attractions and their price points. Disney needs to specify a few things here.

More clarification definitely needed. As written (and interpreted by @RSoxNo1), you can either get two DAS selections ahead of time (and *only* two selections all day), or unlimited DAS selection the day of. I can't imagine that is their intent.

 

[SamusAranX]

Citizens of Main Street and Citizens of Hollywood too. It’s all the little things that made Disney, Disney.

At least we have fireworks back.

Push notification:

"For a limited time, Citizens of Main Street will be performing today! Add the experience for $9.99 per guest in your Genie+ app now! Limited capacity, see terms and conditions"

 

[Missing20K]

Push notification:

"For a limited time, Citizens of Main Street will be performing today! Add the experience for $9.99 per guest in your Genie+ app now! Limited capacity, see terms and conditions"

I can’t possibly be the only one who would loath being notified some umpteenth times a day while trying to feel reassured, am I?

 

[RSoxNo1]

How well were those return window times enforced?

Infinite? Of course not. Enough to clog up what is supposed to be a mostly wait-free experience? I guess time will tell.

The enforcement of the return windows shouldn’t change from fastpass+. This should be the least of your concerns with the new system. Just speculating, but 5 minutes early, 15 minutes late is likely to continue.