*Confirmed* G+ Changes to Advanced Lightning Lane

[LoveToDisney]

We went in the late 70s/early 80s. There were lines EVERYWHERE. You did MK (which was all of WDW at the time) moving from one line to another. Many lines were outside in the sun. It was awful. I remember when they first introduced the original fastpass. Disney said they wanted the guests OUT of the lines so we could go eat/shop and basically spend money rather than stand in line during our wait times to ride the attraction. It worked pretty well until Disney stopped expanding parks/rides and there weren’t enough attractions to spread the guests.

 

[SL6827]

If Disney is waiting on DAS, which does sound good, it might now be a while. DAS is effecting thier bottom line I suspect now.

 

[mamaofsix]

We went in the late 70s/early 80s. There were lines EVERYWHERE. You did MK (which was all of WDW at the time) moving from one line to another. Many lines were outside in the sun. It was awful. I remember when they first introduced the original fastpass. Disney said they wanted the guests OUT of the lines so we could go eat/shop and basically spend money rather than stand in line during our wait times to ride the attraction. It worked pretty well until Disney stopped expanding parks/rides and there weren’t enough attractions to spread the guests.

Another factor: the world's population in the 80s was 4.4 Billion. Vs. 8 Billion today. With double the population, we have way higher crowds everywhere - Disney included.

Did Disney double their attractions at MK to keep up with the population inflation? Nope.

They did, however, do an outstanding job increasing their prices to keep up with financial inflation. lol.

 

[Minnie1222]

DAS is effecting thier bottom line I suspect now.

I remember learning about DAS from seeing a mother and a child at a FP check-in point. They had a piece of paper and were told by the CM to return at a certain time. That just broke my heart. So if Genie+ is helping people like them, why are we even questioning its validity?

 

[Minnie1222]

Another factor: the world's population in the 80s was 4.4 Billion. Vs. 8 Billion today. With double the population, we have way higher crowds everywhere - Disney included.

Did Disney double their attractions at MK to keep up with the population inflation? Nope.

They did, however, do an outstanding job increasing their prices to keep up with financial inflation. lol.

Disney know they don't have enough attractions to accommodate the extra population, hence the steadily climbing prices to keep people out.

 

[mamaofsix]

I remember learning about DAS from seeing a mother and a child at a FP check-in point. They had a piece of paper and were told by the CM to return at a certain time. That just broke my heart. So if Genie+ is helping people like them, why are we even questioning its validity?

Unfortunately, as we've seen frequently on this thread, people like to continually bring up DAS as the scapegoat of all that is wrong with G+. Despite repeated evidence to the contrary.

It gets exhausting explaining the system to people who don't understand how it works or how minimally it affects the lightning lane.

There are far more people using rider swap clogging up the lightning lane than DAS, but for some reason picking on a disability access system is more fun for some.

The idea that revamping DAS is what's holding up changes to G+ doesn't make much sense either. The two systems have almost nothing to do with one another. If anything, an advanced selection G+ system would result in LESS people using DAS. I believe other insiders who are saying that it's a software and logistics issue that's holding it up. Not DAS.

 

[Jrb1979]

Unfortunately, as we've seen frequently on this thread, people like to continually bring up DAS as the scapegoat of all that is wrong with G+. Despite repeated evidence to the contrary.

It gets exhausting explaining the system to people who don't understand how it works or how minimally it affects the lightning lane.

There are far more people using rider swap clogging up the lightning lane than DAS, but for some reason picking on a disability access system is more fun for some.

The idea that revamping DAS is what's holding up changes to G+ doesn't make much sense either. The two systems have almost nothing to do with one another. If anything, an advanced selection G+ system would result in LESS people using DAS. I believe other insiders who are saying that it's a software and logistics issue that's holding it up. Not DAS.

I agree that it's not DAS holding it up. I don't think it's a software logistics issue either.

As a poster said earlier, the idea sounded good at first but than they realized why FP+ didn't work with giving out pre-booked rides. IMO they are back to the drawing board.

 

[scard192]

If Disney is waiting on DAS, which does sound good, it might now be a while. DAS is effecting thier bottom line I suspect now.

I have seen posts in FB groups I am in that groups of way more than the DAS plus 5 others are being allowed in by CMs. group of 12 people, one person said their group was 20. Those should not be allowed in my opinion.

 

[mamaofsix]

I have seen posts in FB groups I am in that groups of way more than the DAS plus 5 others are being allowed in by CMs. group of 12 people, one person said their group was 20. Those should not be allowed in my opinion.

This is 100% false. Don't believe everything you read online.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is 100% false. Don't believe everything you read online.

It does happen IRL that more than the allowable number does get let through by a CM for DAS.

 

[mamaofsix]

It does happen IRL that more than the allowable number does get let through by a CM for DAS.

CM's don't just "let people in" on rides for DAS. This shows a lack of understanding of how DAS actually works.

Guests must be linked to the DAS holder by Guest services at the time of DAS registration. The only time where more than 5 are allowed to register are if it's an immediate family member that exceeds 5. Even then, this is rarely offered. And it would never be 20 - that a ridiculously false report. I'll use my own family of 8 as an example. For my child with a brain injury, only 5 are allowed to be linked with them. This is strictly enforced 100% of the time. No one else is ever let through the line with them other than those registered.

My guess is that these "online reports" of 20 being let in are groups with multiple DAS users in the group.

Anyway, I get tired of this conversation.

Why don't we switch topics and talk about the 50% of young families that use Rider Swap in the G+ lightning lane, many of whom have children double dipping and riding twice in a row with each parent?

 

[Smugpugmug]

ADRs have been awful for years. Please start charging a massive reservation fee for setting up a reservation.

They've actually been pretty easy to get for a few years now. I don't make them super far in advance anymore. You can get pretty much anything you want day of these days. I've gotten stuff like Artist Point and Homecoming day of. The crappy places have always been available for whenever you want but even the most difficult ADRs aren't that hard anymore.

 

[reddog21]

This is 100% false. Don't believe everything you read online.

But it's on the internet so it has to be true!

 

[Jrb1979]

CM's don't just "let people in" on rides for DAS. This shows a lack of understanding of how DAS actually works.

Guests must be linked to the DAS holder by Guest services at the time of DAS registration. The only time where more than 5 are allowed to register are if it's an immediate family member that exceeds 5. Even then, this is rarely offered. And it would never be 20 - that a ridiculously false report. I'll use my own family of 8 as an example. For my child with a brain injury, only 5 are allowed to be linked with them. This is strictly enforced 100% of the time. No one else is ever let through the line with them other than those registered.

My guess is that these "online reports" of 20 being let in are groups with multiple DAS users in the group.

Anyway, I get tired of this conversation.

Why don't we switch topics and talk about the 50% of young families that use Rider Swap in the G+ lightning lane, many of whom have children double dipping and riding twice in a row with each parent?

What this does show is more people are finding ways around paying for G+ it's probably why more people are using DAS now than in the past. Not saying they are abusing it, just they didn't need it with FP+.

 

[Smugpugmug]

What this does show is more people are finding ways around paying for G+ it's probably why more people are using DAS now than in the past. Not saying they are abusing it, just they didn't need it with FP+.

Plus more people opting for VIP tours. I remember there was a thread on here about how Disneyland locals noticed a significant increase in VIP tour groups walking around the parks. I noticed it at WDW too but that one was Disneyland specific.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

CM's don't just "let people in" on rides for DAS. This shows a lack of understanding of how DAS actually works.

Guests must be linked to the DAS holder by Guest services at the time of DAS registration. The only time where more than 5 are allowed to register are if it's an immediate family member that exceeds 5. Even then, this is rarely offered. And it would never be 20 - that a ridiculously false report. I'll use my own family of 8 as an example. For my child with a brain injury, only 5 are allowed to be linked with them. This is strictly enforced 100% of the time. No one else is ever let through the line with them other than those registered.

My guess is that these "online reports" of 20 being let in are groups with multiple DAS users in the group.

Anyway, I get tired of this conversation.

Why don't we switch topics and talk about the 50% of young families that use Rider Swap in the G+ lightning lane, many of whom have children double dipping and riding twice in a row with each parent?

I'm speaking from my CM's information over the course of several years. There's no misunderstanding going on there. This is the internet so no you don't have to believe me, I don't know that 20 people are being let in but I trust the integrity of my friend. You may not

 

[mamaofsix]

What this does show is more people are finding ways around paying for G+ it's probably why more people are using DAS now than in the past. Not saying they are abusing it, just they didn't need it with FP+.

Agree with you 100%. For families like ours, it would be a dream come true if a system similar to FP+ were brought back.

 

[mamaofsix]

I'm speaking from my CM's information over the course of several years. There's no misunderstanding going on there. This is the internet so no you don't have to believe me, I don't know that 20 people are being let in but I trust the integrity of my friend. You may not

Fair enough. It was the 20 people I was referring to as false information.

 

[lowlight]

CM's don't just "let people in" on rides for DAS. This shows a lack of understanding of how DAS actually works.

Guests must be linked to the DAS holder by Guest services at the time of DAS registration. The only time where more than 5 are allowed to register are if it's an immediate family member that exceeds 5. Even then, this is rarely offered. And it would never be 20 - that a ridiculously false report. I'll use my own family of 8 as an example. For my child with a brain injury, only 5 are allowed to be linked with them. This is strictly enforced 100% of the time. No one else is ever let through the line with them other than those registered.

My guess is that these "online reports" of 20 being let in are groups with multiple DAS users in the group.

Anyway, I get tired of this conversation.

Why don't we switch topics and talk about the 50% of young families that use Rider Swap in the G+ lightning lane, many of whom have children double dipping and riding twice in a row with each parent?

I think you feel personally attacked by the DAS talk, but I’m pretty sure nobody means any offense when talking about DAS abuse. DAS is a wonderful offering that allows many people who would not otherwise be able to enjoy the parks to do so. I would never want to see DAS removed, but it’s obviously being abused and as a DAS user I’d hope you’d want that fixed as much, if not more, than anyone else.

Rider swap is another great offering by Disney that allows families to actually use the rides. Sometimes kids ride twice so there is someone to ride with the parent so they don’t ride alone- the exact same reasoning behind DAS+5. I don’t think anyone in this thread targeted legitimate DAS users as the boogeymen, and if they did I’m sorry because having to use DAS is not some great privilege, I’m sure most would trade their illness for not having to use DAS in a heartbeat. The abuse needs to be fixed, or else any fix of Genie+ will be negated by pushing more to abuse DAS.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Fair enough. It was the 20 people I was referring to as false information.

With all due respect I'm going to push back on that. The PP quoted both groups of 12 and groups of 20. You responded with

This is 100% false. Don't believe everything you read online.

In no way would any person reasonably think you're just speaking about 20 people being let through. And my response was a simple

It does happen IRL that more than the allowable number does get let through by a CM for DAS.

And then you responded by telling me I'm just misunderstanding and they don't let people through.


And I get it, and I've spoken about it before but anyone who has worked with the public before understands how it can be to deal with the public. I understand you weren't meaning anything by your response to me so water under the bridge. I know DAS is a iffy topic, I get it