Plan Ahead with Lightning Lane Entry at Walt Disney World Starting July 24

[kylenne]

It's going to get complicated fast. Do you use valuable rope drop time and burn your two prebook tier 2s to hope for good day of 1s? Or do you balance the strategy a little so that you both get good value from RD/tier2 prebooks but then you can also start picking up earlier in the day.

This is exactly how it was in the FP+ era, and the popular strategy then for getting in as many rides as possible was to prebook beginning around 2 hrs after rope drop and then rely on the drops to land more tier 1s. I imagine it will work out about the same with multipass but we’ll have to see how it works in practice bc this system is slightly nerfed by comparison (ie no re-rides).

 

[emmabelle]

I'm curious to see if once you use your Tier 1 can you book a new tier 1. I'm out if you can't. I'm not going to spend $$$ to ride Tiana's, Buzz and Dumbo only to pick up Speedway.

 

[jimandami]

That was addressed in the FAQs. If you cancel your room, that also cancels your eligibility and any LL reservations that you have made. You will be eligible to make LL picks at 3 days prior with everyone else and you will be starting from a clean slate. Your prior reservations will not be there.

I mean, yes it says that in theory. Does that mean Disney's system will actually be able to pick on your cancellation and delete your selections? Debatable.

 

[Pyxie]

I don't remember ever paying for fastpasses. I remember being at my computer at 4.55am (UK time) with a list of 3 fastpasses per day to book for first 10 days (if I remember rightly).

What they're saying is that the price was built into the ticket cost whether you knew it or not.

But that's sort of a moot point considering tickets cost less back then anyway.

 

[CWTC]

Once the official Disney webpage on this change was working, it appears AP holders will get 3 day window day by day whereas dated tickets can book 3 days ahead for the entire length of their ticket. I cannot find anything on how AP holders staying onsite will be treated - do they get the 7 day window like other onsite guests OR are they held to the 3 day AP rule?

According to Disney AP holders staying on site will not be granted the 7 day window but will held to the 3 day. If that is true, we may not renew our APs. Bummer.

Edited to add: I was told this on the phone and also via the MDE chat. Actually the chat people told me 1st, I didn’t believe them, so then I called in. I’m going to try again in a few days and see what I’m told.

 

[traveler9]

I mean, yes it says that in theory. Does that mean Disney's system will actually be able to pick on your cancellation and delete your selections? Debatable.

Until they fix the problem of Swolphin reservations dropping off constantly, probably not.

 

[pens4821]

I know people hated genie+ but I loved it. I hate tiers first of all. I never got the complaints about 7 am. Other than a couple rides there was no need to book it that early. Not only that but the selfish part is 7 am won’t work for me as I will be at work then. Depending on how busy I am will see if I could get a couple minutes but I doubt it. So I won’t be booking until 2/3.

It worked so well for our touring style. We would stack for our evening park and have 4/5 by the time we got in the park and could get a couple more while there. Especially magic kingdom. Hollywood studios it worked well too but we had to refresh a lot as the day went on to get all the rides. We rarely use it at the other two unless we used it for just one ride and stacked at another park.

Now I doubt we will be able to get to one of those parks after 4 and still be able to get 3 more (maybe MK). It’s possible I guess we will have to see reports I guess.

We got 7 LL rides, dinner, and a ride on 7d at MK from about 5-9. And we got 6 LL rides at HS plus dinner and Rise from 5-9 also. This was during an extremely busy spring break trip this March.

 

[Tom_E_D]

According to Disney AP holders staying on site will not be granted the 7 day window but will held to the 3 day. If that is true, we may not renew our APs. Bummer.

Where did you see that?

 

[hes122]

According to Disney AP holders staying on site will not be granted the 7 day window but will held to the 3 day. If that is true, we may not renew our APs. Bummer.

If true, that's going to be a pain because my traveling companion does not have an AP and I'd like to get us booked at the 7 day window.

 

[CWTC]

Where did you see that?

I called the AP line and did the MDE app chat. They may be wrong but renewing our APs this week was on my to do list.

It’s possible they didn’t have the information yet and/or did not understand my question. I’m going to call again in a few days and see what answer I get.

 

[kylenne]

I called the AP line and did the MDE app chat. They may be wrong but renewing our APs this week was on my to do list.

Phone CMs and chat are notoriously unreliable, even the AP line. I would absolutely not believe a word of that unless and until it’s in writing somewhere on the site. Especially since it would completely fly in the face of how AP resort guests have been handed. This program was just announced today and I doubt they are all up to speed on particulars like this.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

This is exactly how it was in the FP+ era, and the popular strategy then for getting in as many rides as possible was to prebook beginning around 2 hrs after rope drop and then rely on the drops to land more tier 1s. I imagine it will work out about the same with multipass but we’ll have to see how it works in practice bc this system is slightly nerfed by comparison (ie no re-rides).

Not quite. You had to use all 3 before you could start booking day of FP, so you needed to factor in actually using your tier 1 before you could start booking again. You couldn't overlap times, so the best you could start with was bookings for park opening, 1 hour after opening, and 2 hours after opening.

I think you could burn a tier 2 8am, then modify your other tier 2 up to burn it, but you still needed to actually use your first tier 1, which presumably you wouldn't be able to modify up, before the day of game could begin.

 

[MaC410]

Sorry if this has been pointed out already but this was my main curiosity. Just read this on Disney's website for the new system "Limit one Lightning Lane entry per attraction, per day." So unfortunately this aspect is going to be the same as Genie+ and not go back to how it was for Fastpass+

 

[Grandmaof2]

Our vacation is July 22- 29. Can someone explain to me how that would work for our vacation? I am a 78 year old grandma. Thanks!

 

[Cabius]

You paid for FP+ too. Disney just forced you to pay for it every day whether you wanted to or not.

Now you can opt out of paying certain days or the entire trip if you want.

I would only buy that argument if they decreased ticket prices, or even just slowed the pace of ticket price increases, to reflect that they were just unbundling the service.

The reality is that ticket prices still increased sharply! Both single-day tickets and APs are up 20%-25% (depending on date/type of pass)

So yes, we always used to pay for FP+ as part of our ticket. Now, we pay extra for a service that used to be included (not free) -- but nobody is actually saving any money from this unbundling. It's just pure profit upside to Disney.

I don't see a point in throwing tantrums about it. I'm still willing to buy a park ticket, even though the value has gone down and the price has gone up.

But I also don't see a point in making excuses or pretending that this hasn't been an erosion in the guest experience.

 

[Nikkimouse44]

Did they post anything about this scenario?

All 3 pre selects are for the PM timeframe
Scan into the park at park opening - can we not make any selections until we scan into the first pre selects?

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Yay! Will be there for 9 days in early August. Can't wait to drive this new shiny mess around!

 

[kylenne]

Sorry if this has been pointed out already but this was my main curiosity. Just read this on Disney's website for the new system "Limit one Lightning Lane entry per attraction, per day." So unfortunately this aspect is going to be the same as Genie+ and not go back to how it was for Fastpass+

No re-rides is correct and frankly the only way this can feasibly work. If not you go back to the old problem of power users rolling FPs all day long and nothing left day of for anyone else

 

[MaC410]

No re-rides is correct and frankly the only way this can feasibly work. If not you go back to the old problem of power users rolling FPs all day long and nothing left day of for anyone else

I definitely agree but still sad about it haha.

 

[Figment Mom]

From the website: Visiting before July 24? Disney Genie+ service and individual Lightning Lane entry may be available for your visit.

Does this mean it's going down? Our park days are July 18th-21st.

Oh dear. We'll be there then, too. I'm not happy about the timing of this.