Offsite and new Lightening Lane system

[minerva78]

Sorry if this has been discussed, I hadn't found anything yet. Do any of you think staying offsite is going to put us at a huge disadvantage when reserving rides? Do you know if they are going to purposefully leave spots available for offsite guests 3 days before? I think I remember hearing something like that with Genie+.

We purchased Wyndham points last year. A big reason was how much we LOVED Bonnet Creek and wanted to be able to stay there during peak times when it was harder for owners to rent out points. We have a stay booked December 20 - 28 and I originally planned not to go to Disney and just do other activities in Orlando. My husband's birthday is the 21st, mine is the 22nd, and I thought it would be fun to be there for our birthdays and Christmas even if we didn't go to parks. Problem is a couple of days ago I thought maybe we should go to Disney. We have 4 day tickets we bought right before Covid we could use by paying the difference in ticket price, likely a few hundred dollars. Then I read about this new Lightening Lane system and wondered if it would be worth it staying offsite over Christmas, the most crowded time of the year. We'd likely go to the parks on the 21st, 22nd, 24th, and 26th.

What are your thoughts? I realized I could use the tickets a different time, although it would have to be next summer. A better time would be mid April when my teens have spring break (so late!) but I already have a Wyndham condo booked at Panama City Beach over spring break and I do NOT want to give that up! Lol. Either way, with owning points we will be staying at Bonnet Creek a lot so I will need to get used to this new system regardless. I didn't want to ask on the Theme park tickets forum because they would only tell me stay onsite! Not going to happen right now.

 

[CarolynFH]

Read the pages of this thread starting on or after July 24 to get real-life reports of guests booking at 3 days. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...t-walt-disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yes, you will have a noticeable disadvantage. No, Disney doesn’t hold back inventory for 3 day out bookers. You can look at Thrill Data here to see how early things sell out. Keep in mind it’s a slower season, imho if Disney doesn’t increase inventory you will not get Tiana and I suspect SDD & possibly Remy will be out of your reach as well. However, increased holiday prices could keep demand lower so maybe you’ll have a shot.

During the park day there are random drops for rides so not all hope is lost but they are long shots for popular tier 1 type stuff. Best thing to do is make sure some LL, even if it’s junk, is booked for the first hour of the day so you can tap in and get first dibs on day of availability.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Read the pages of this thread starting on or after July 24 to get real-life reports of guests booking at 3 days. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...t-walt-disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/

Yes except, I would disregard the first week due to the all at once launch style where off-site and on-site ended up booking on the same day.

OP, I would also keep an eye on that thread especially into Oct for Fall Break and Nov for Thanksgiving. It’s not just on-site reports and people are not dismissed because they are staying off-site.

 

[tx911]

Yes, you will have a noticeable disadvantage. No, Disney doesn’t hold back inventory for 3 day out bookers. You can look at Thrill Data here to see how early things sell out. Keep in mind it’s a slower season, imho if Disney doesn’t increase inventory you will not get Tiana and I suspect SDD & possibly Remy will be out of your reach as well. However, increased holiday prices could keep demand lower so maybe you’ll have a shot.

During the park day there are random drops for rides so not all hope is lost but they are long shots for popular tier 1 type stuff. Best thing to do is make sure some LL, even if it’s junk, is booked for the first hour of the day so you can tap in and get first dibs on day of availability.

I worry about this too during peak times! I guess we’ll see over Thanksgiving.

 

[LKing]

Read the pages of this thread starting on or after July 24 to get real-life reports of guests booking at 3 days. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...t-walt-disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/

To make it easier, July 24 starts on page 93, post 1848. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/page-93

As of this posting, there are only 102 pages for you to read through to see if your question is addressed.

 

[minerva78]

Read the pages of this thread starting on or after July 24 to get real-life reports of guests booking at 3 days. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...t-walt-disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/

Great, I'm not sure how I missed that! Thanks.

 

[minerva78]

To make it easier, July 24 starts on page 93, post 1848. https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...disney-world-starting-july-24.3948850/page-93

As of this posting, there are only 102 pages for you to read through to see if your question is addressed.

Oh yeah, that sounds...fun. I think I may just go in April and go to the beach over the summer. It will take me months to go through that thread! Lol.

 

[Genie+]

Sorry if this has been discussed, I hadn't found anything yet. Do any of you think staying offsite is going to put us at a huge disadvantage when reserving rides?

Onsite has advantages but I think they look greater than they actually are.

Not all the inventory seems to be released at 7 or 7+ days. More comes along at 3/3+ day mark, night before, and some even during the actual day. Then once in the park after the first selection is used, everybody has equal footing to switching out to Tier 1s. There’s a limit to how much advantage onsite can actually get.

Take HS for example-

Onsite might take all/most of SDD and the earlier slots on the other 3 Tier 1 rides, but they won’t take them all. Something in Tier 1 will still be left plus a little more inventory will trickle out so there’s still a chance (just lower) of finding SDD or early MMRR. But the other thing that matters is how quickly can you use first slot - and using Tier 2 for this is fine. It is the use of the first LL that opens the ability to modify up to 3 passes into Tier 1 for that day. Offsite has equal footing at that point.

So yeah, onsite gets some advantage. It’s a little more easy/convenient having first dibs yet the end results aren’t going to be a huge difference. This is just for multiLL. For Single LL there will be a wider spread, but the impact smaller being it’s just 1 ride per park (2 at MK).

 

[CarolynFH]

Oh yeah, that sounds...fun. I think I may just go in April and go to the beach over the summer. It will take me months to go through that thread! Lol.

Lo, you could just start reading that thread now, then follow along as time passes and things change. ASAP there will be a new “Everything About LLMP/LLSP” sticky thread just like the “Everything About Genie” thread. Since your trip isn’t until December, you have time to learn gradually!

 

[momof2gr8kids]

All Ears did a video in MK comparing being an offsite guest vs onsite. Granted it's not a busy time right now. Thanksgiving week would be a good indicator.

I think if you're flexible and know that you won't get to ride everything you want, or don't mind waiting in lines, or like watching shows mostly, it will be fine.

 

[shaqfor3]

I honestly think you will be able to get Tiana. Heck I just checked and there is Tiana for 3PM right now.

Slinky is still the hardest one

 

[Gentry2004]

I honestly don't see many data points on the main thread for people booking 3 days out instead of 7. My main concerns are Remy and Slinky. Also, getting a good Tier 2 with an early enough time slot to activate additional LLMP bookings for that day. We strongly prefer to stay offsite but I have a backup onsite reservation just in case. Anxious for more data.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Sorry if this has been discussed, I hadn't found anything yet. Do any of you think staying offsite is going to put us at a huge disadvantage when reserving rides? Do you know if they are going to purposefully leave spots available for offsite guests 3 days before? I think I remember hearing something like that with Genie+.

I just got back from a 4 day trip and ended up changing basically all my LL reservations the day of on two of those days, completely negating the on-site advantage. It wasn’t a big deal. Now if you’re only going at super-crowded times of year I guess it could be more of an issue.

Edit: Just saw that you are going over Christmas. Parks are open late those days. If you’re willing to basically just “stack” for the late afternoon / early evening I’d bet you can get what you want.

 

[Gentry2004]

I just got back from a 4 day trip and ended up changing basically all my LL reservations the day of on two of those days, completely negating the on-site advantage. It wasn’t a big deal. Now if you’re only going at super-crowded times of year I guess it could be more of an issue.

Edit: Just saw that you are going over Christmas. Parks are open late those days. If you’re willing to basically just “stack” for the late afternoon / early evening I’d bet you can get what you want.

On the day of, were you able to modify any LL's to earlier times. My main concern is not being able to "tap" in to the first LL before early afternoon, especially at HS. Less of a concern at MK.

 

[traveler9]

Biggest tip for offsite with dated tickets: select the earliest start date that covers all of your park days and you can book 3 days before that date.

A 4-day ticket, for example, has a 7-day window. In this case - If going 4 consecutive days choose a start date that is 3 days before your first "real" park day, then you can book 6 days out from your first park day.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

On the day of, were you able to modify any LL's to earlier times. My main concern is not being able to "tap" in to the first LL before early afternoon, especially at HS. Less of a concern at MK.

Yes, there was earlier availability. Bear in mind I went at a slow time in early August, but we completely changed our plans one of the days and didn’t have a problem changing all our fastpasses.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Biggest tip for offsite with dated tickets: select the earliest start date that covers all of your park days and you can book 3 days before that date.

A 4-day ticket, for example, has a 7-day window. In this case - If going 4 consecutive days choose a start date that is 3 days before your first "real" park day, then you can book 6 days out from your first park day.

This is where AP holders get super duper hosed of course.

 

[traveler9]

This is where AP holders get super duper hosed of course.

I am one. I’m hoping enough people figure this out and abuse it to where Disney changes it to be 3 days before each park day for all offsite ticket holders. They’re already ahead of us (for all days but the first) even if they choose their real first day as the start date for their tickets.

 

[Gentry2004]

I am one. I’m hoping enough people figure this out and abuse it to where Disney changes it to be 3 days before each park day for all offsite ticket holders. They’re already ahead of us (for all days but the first) even if they choose their real first day as the start date for their tickets.

How are they ahead of you for all the other days? Offsite can only book one day at a time, not length of ticket.

Also convention ticket holders (as we often are) are in the same boat as APs.