now the crowds are lower, Is there any reason to buy the expensive LLMP? Or is attendance picking up again now?

[Babsy]

REALLY feel that this is ridiculous! Having to pay for rides after buying way too expensive park tickets already! If everyone agreed to refuse to buy them, they would undoubtedly go away. I miss the free FP+ so much. we never learned how to beat the system but were happy with our three Fp's per day for most days. But now if you want to ride anything without long waits you have to pay for either single or multi LL. passes! Just trying to decide if I want to do this or not.....

 

[Dave006]

The crowds are picking up and the prices of the LLMP and/or LLSP are going up beginning on Oct. 18th by a $1 and then another $1 on Oct. 20th. As a reminder the prices vary by day of the week and season.

You can still avoid long Standby line waits you just need to plan your day around peak hours and make good use of the 30 minute Early Entry before Rope Drop. Also note the Posted Standby wait times are often elevated well beyond real wait times. No Disney is not inflating wait times to sell LLMP and/or LLSP but they have built in a buffer to allow for the surges of LL returning guests.

Dave

 

[FreeTime]

We will likely continue to pay for. It allows for planning the day better.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

When are you going?

Basically started Columbus Day weekend the crowds pick back up again.

I understand your frustration but it is what it is and you can choose to pay or choose not to pay if you are that passionate about it.

Personally I don't care what the crowds are like I'm going to choose to purchase because it makes my already expensive trip more enjoyable.
But admittedly that's coming from someone who is only paying for herself and can understand the hesitation if you're paying for a family.

You can have to decide if its worth it for you.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

REALLY feel that this is ridiculous! Having to pay for rides after buying way too expensive park tickets already! If everyone agreed to refuse to buy them, they would undoubtedly go away. I miss the free FP+ so much. we never learned how to beat the system but were happy with our three Fp's per day for most days. But now if you want to ride anything without long waits you have to pay for either single or multi LL. passes! Just trying to decide if I want to do this or not.....

1. A number of rides still have short waits, even without buying MPLL, though it depends on your travel dates. Posted wait times are often inflated, but it is hard to tell from outside the park how inflated they are.

2. For the ILL attractions, one option is to simply skip some of them. We don't think Rise is worth $25, so we happily skip it. A plus of skipping Rise, FoP, and the other ILL's, as opposed to using the standby wait, is that we are able to go on other rides in the morning when many people are stuck in the queue.

3. I would encourage you to compare what you would get out of it, vs. what standby waits are. For AK and Epcot, the pass is less valuable. Though we only got a few passes at HS, the standby waits are somewhat miserable without it. We got the most use out of it at MK. With a few tradeoffs, AK and Epcot can readily be toured without it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

At 3:15pm, 20 min or less wait:

Epcot: Imagination, Laving w/Land, M:S, Nemo, Soar, SE, Turtle Talk
AK: Dino, Bug, Kali, Safari
HS: Star Tours, Muppets
MK: Barnstormer, BTMRR, Dumbo, small world, teacups, Aladdin, Pooh, Philarmagic, Monsters, Pirates, Space Mtn, Speedway, LM

and astro?, CBJ, Belle, HoP, Rivreboat, Ariel, Disney Pals, Mickey, Carrousel, SwissFT, Peoplemover, Carousel, CoPTiki Room, Awesome Planet, Canada, Mexico, JoW, Mickey, China, Lightning McQueen, Ariel, Edna, Chewy, animals at AK, Triceratops Spin

 

[Genie+]

Consumers value convenience much higher than a generation or two ago. When spending another 3 or 5% on top of an already expensive trip is going to make 10 or 20% better, it’s hard to convince them to boycott upgrades.

We’ve decided on buying either a sLL or mLL for half our days. RotR is not necessary for us because we’ll have ample opportunity to find a low wait over the trip, worst case we’ll do it during Jollywood nights. I’ll buy GotG because I love that ride and want as many rides possible. Maybe FoP, probably not since we have AK EEH and Moonlight Magic. Right now we have 3 out of 8 days planned to buy mLL. Altogether the LL budget is $90 each over an 8 day trip, increasing the budget 3%.

Crowd levels and buying LL? I think anything average crowds (CL 5) or higher seems worthwhile at MK and HS unless you do not plan hitting many rides that day. I’d say MK for non-party days the rest of 2024 is a good idea. We’ve decided to try mLL during an expected CL 3 at MK on party day for research lol. Curious how well we can work it, then try to pick a couple for EP that evening. Maybe not the best use and Im ok experimenting. Unless AK is expected CL7+ I think sLL is best choice there, and if you can get on FoP a different way then save your $ that day. EP is a toss-up, depends how important riding Frozen and Ratt in the same day is to someone.

I have less of an issue with the charges than how WDW didn’t initially prevent ways the upgrades could collide with each other and actually reduce overall experience. They have to protect guests by controlling how these things all work together. I think we’re finally seeing focus in that area. Recent changes include complimentary Waterpark and Hopper for onsite guests which looks to ease the pain prevent frustration of wasting expensive park tickets on arrival days and MK during party season, dining has increased availability and flexibility, and LL changed closer to the functionality of FP+ and with improvements like being able to hold multiple Tier 1’s that day and 3 rolling selections. The most important part of these added expenses is they should always result in an improvement for the guest. Genie+ sucked so bad it had the possibility to make your day worse than if you didn’t buy it.

 

[Babsy]

When are you going?

Basically started Columbus Day weekend the crowds pick back up again.

I understand your frustration but it is what it is and you can choose to pay or choose not to pay if you are that passionate about it.

Personally I don't care what the crowds are like I'm going to choose to purchase because it makes my already expensive trip more enjoyable.
But admittedly that's coming from someone who is only paying for herself and can understand the hesitation if you're paying for a family.

You can have to decide if its worth it for you.

Thanks for your reply. We are Going in January, just after the New year. I was hoping for low crowds, but apparently there is some kind of race happening there on the weekend that may have a negative impact on the trip. I like that you can pick and choose which days to buy the LL's, as I will probably take some of the suggestions here and just book the busiest days in the MK and DHS. That will ease the financial pain at least a little! LOL

 

[Babsy]

1. A number of rides still have short waits, even without buying MPLL, though it depends on your travel dates. Posted wait times are often inflated, but it is hard to tell from outside the park how inflated they are.

2. For the ILL attractions, one option is to simply skip some of them. We don't think Rise is worth $25, so we happily skip it. A plus of skipping Rise, FoP, and the other ILL's, as opposed to using the standby wait, is that we are able to go on other rides in the morning when many people are stuck in the queue.

3. I would encourage you to compare what you would get out of it, vs. what standby waits are. For AK and Epcot, the pass is less valuable. Though we only got a few passes at HS, the standby waits are somewhat miserable without it. We got the most use out of it at MK. With a few tradeoffs, AK and Epcot can readily be toured without it.

Thank you! This is helpful. Planning to do what you and others have suggested. I think that we will buy LL's for a few days at DHS and the MK. Otherwise we will plan fewer premium attractions and just go on rides with low wait times.

 

[Kooks and Bay Bay]

Thanks for your reply. We are Going in January, just after the New year. I was hoping for low crowds, but apparently there is some kind of race happening there on the weekend that may have a negative impact on the trip. I like that you can pick and choose which days to buy the LL's, as I will probably take some of the suggestions here and just book the busiest days in the MK and DHS. That will ease the financial pain at least a little! LOL

Yeah the WDW Marathon has been happening in January for like 30 years.
I don't think it really impacted the park crowds that much until probably the last decade when it seemed many more people have gotten into running as a form of exercise and enjoyment.

 

[Genie+]

January used to be slow. A decade ago the secret to much lower costs and crowds was Sept and Jan. Sept started falling out of favor after more people realized the compromise was never-ending oppressive humidity, storms, risk of significant weather related travel/trip disruption, short park hours, and CMs exhausted after surviving the blazing hot humid summer that made guests cranky.

January increased in popularity and WDW has worked hard at spreading attendance too. No longer a ghost town but still is a great choice for cost and crowds much of the month.

 

[greeneyedchick]

1. A number of rides still have short waits, even without buying MPLL, though it depends on your travel dates. Posted wait times are often inflated, but it is hard to tell from outside the park how inflated they are.

2. For the ILL attractions, one option is to simply skip some of them. We don't think Rise is worth $25, so we happily skip it. A plus of skipping Rise, FoP, and the other ILL's, as opposed to using the standby wait, is that we are able to go on other rides in the morning when many people are stuck in the queue.

3. I would encourage you to compare what you would get out of it, vs. what standby waits are. For AK and Epcot, the pass is less valuable. Though we only got a few passes at HS, the standby waits are somewhat miserable without it. We got the most use out of it at MK. With a few tradeoffs, AK and Epcot can readily be toured without it.

I don't think LLMP are worth it. We have always had luck getting in line for the big headliners shortly before the park closes. The line usually moves pretty fast at that time of the night.

 

[Upatnoon]

REALLY feel that this is ridiculous! Having to pay for rides after buying way too expensive park tickets already! If everyone agreed to refuse to buy them, they would undoubtedly go away. I miss the free FP+ so much. we never learned how to beat the system but were happy with our three Fp's per day for most days. But now if you want to ride anything without long waits you have to pay for either single or multi LL. passes! Just trying to decide if I want to do this or not.....

No one is forcing anyone to pay for rides, people are eager and willing to pay for the convenience and time saved of bypassing waiting in line.

Many, many guests are eager for linekipping services. Strategies for not having to wait in line is the No. 1 topic on this board. In anything, guests want even more ways to pay more to skip lines.

Disney would be foolish to deny collecting the money of people who just don't want to wait.

Companies have figured out how to monetize impatience. It's easy, since the demand for it is so great.

On the bright side, bringing in new attractions might happen faster because they will make more money because of paying line skippers.

In any event, you don't have to buy these services and, with a good strategy of how you tour the parks, you can have a good experience without paying a penny more.

Sure, you may have to wait an hour for a couple rides, but it's a theme park and they have lines.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thanks for your reply. We are Going in January, just after the New year. I was hoping for low crowds, but apparently there is some kind of race happening there on the weekend that may have a negative impact on the trip. I like that you can pick and choose which days to buy the LL's, as I will probably take some of the suggestions here and just book the busiest days in the MK and DHS. That will ease the financial pain at least a little! LOL

I’ve found this blogger talking through crowds by month to be helpful in determining what crowd level I’m facing link

If you don’t want to buy LL- don’t. Plenty of people skip paying and assemble a touring plan to maximize their day- if they want to avoid some of the worst lines though rope drop and/or park close are key for major rides.

 

[NileNellie]

Thanks for your reply. We are Going in January, just after the New year. I was hoping for low crowds, but apparently there is some kind of race happening there on the weekend that may have a negative impact on the trip. I like that you can pick and choose which days to buy the LL's, as I will probably take some of the suggestions here and just book the busiest days in the MK and DHS. That will ease the financial pain at least a little! LOL

Lol at some kind of race-It's only marathon weekend, the biggest rundisney weekend of them all!

 

[francie57]

With it being marathon weekend you also have to plan getting to the parks since many roads are closed and it affects the buses. Between all the races (Thursday through Sunday) you have to expect at least 40,000 runners for them. They will be running through parts of Epcot on Sunday while the park is open

 

[TheDailyMoo]

I just waited longer for Pooh than Mine Train.

 

[vspenn]

personally, I get more value from spending $30 on LLMP than doing character dining or buying one souvenir. in multiple trips with kids, we have done exactly one character dining ever (in DL) but we always buy LLMP (or genie+, etc). We don't pay for single rides as we can manage to optimize for one ride (usually get on at the end of the day, but also rope dropped a few). But I appreciate not having to optimize for multiple rides and to be able to use LLMP. We also don't really buy stuff - one thing each for the whole trip is what the kids are allowed to pick.

 

[Mousetopia]

REALLY feel that this is ridiculous! Having to pay for rides after buying way too expensive park tickets already! If everyone agreed to refuse to buy them, they would undoubtedly go away. I miss the free FP+ so much. we never learned how to beat the system but were happy with our three Fp's per day for most days. But now if you want to ride anything without long waits you have to pay for either single or multi LL. passes! Just trying to decide if I want to do this or not.....

Same! I WILL NOT buy it. Same reason. Guess what?? Ive never needed it. 1. I use strategy and EE or EEH's. I love the parks early even if not riding rides. Another great time for a headliner is just before park close, etc.
2. Except for the headliners not needed. I believe they inflate wait time to sell more LL and also give a sense of value. I was given it free once on a busy MK day. It was fun..but so many ques had long waits displayed that were not true.
3. I am not interested in wasting the magic buried in my cell phone! Ill put the time in while Im home to plan a strategy for when Im there!

 

[neverlandsky]

EE or RD will always beat any LLMP/LLSP. Why? A lot of people refuse to wake up early on vacation. If you’re fine with not riding every attraction and want to be spontaneous i.e. days before any FP/LL existed, LLMP/LLSP is not needed to have a great time. The second option that will always beat any LLMP/LLSP is Park after hours events or Parties.