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

[HeiHei2018]

Wait times for Remy and Frozen are 40 and 35 minutes right now, which is way shorter than normal at this time of day (8:30 pm). I think they gave out fewer LLMP than G+. Maybe just to make sure everything went smoothly today, or maybe a permanent change. (Just my hypothesis based on limited data. Please don’t yell at me.)

 

[123SA]

Wait times for Remy and Frozen are 40 and 35 minutes right now, which is way shorter than normal at this time of day (8:30 pm). I think they gave out fewer LLMP than G+. Maybe just to make sure everything went smoothly today, or maybe a permanent change. (Just my hypothesis based on limited data. Please don’t yell at me.)

That's good news!

 

[Dave006]

Just a reminder that tonight is an Extended Evening Hours (EEH) at MK for Deluxe resort guests until Midnight. And HS has a special ticket event, a Disney After Hours Event from 9:30 to 12:30 AM so wait times are somewhat off at MK.

Dave

 

[Nuclear Monkey]

Well, when I checked Space Mountain had a 70 minute wait for standby. (60 minutes now at 8:37pm) That's not a line I want to stand in. My concern is what effect does this new system have on standby wait times. I hope it's no different that Genie+, but I suppose it will take a while to determine that.

Do you really want to pay $25 on top of ticket price to ride space mountain?

 

[Nuclear Monkey]

Not correct - you are not limited by tiers for any rides you book day of once you starting using your pre-booked ones. (And if you start yelling "availability" - you often found the most popular rides were gone by mid-day under the prior system). Only real change from the old system is allowing pre-booking so you don't have to wake up at 7am to do it every day.

It’s actually significantly different in price. All the blogs seem to be saying it’s the same cost as genie+ but they’re overlooking that the MK genie+ price gave you access to 4 parks. That ain’t an option any more. So if you visit two parks and want to use it in both it’s something like a 75% increase.

 

[Figment Mom]

As someone who is here now and had incredible success with G+ and purchasing day-of ILL all last week, I think the new system is a downgrade.

It limits our flexibility with days. Availability is lousy right now. And I have to make decisions I'm not ready to make.

I'm only buying LLMP for our remaining MK day because I want to try it out. We purchased FOP today, ROR for our last HS day, and I just grabbed a GOG for tomorrow.

I used to be a "buy G+ every day" person. Unless availability improves with this new system, it will be standby for us for the forseeable future.

 

[lmross]

It’s actually significantly different in price. All the blogs seem to be saying it’s the same cost as genie+ but they’re overlooking that the MK genie+ price gave you access to 4 parks. That ain’t an option any more. So if you visit two parks and want to use it in both it’s something like a 75% increase.

you only pay for one park

 

[AttheParks]

Not correct - you are not limited by tiers for any rides you book day of once you starting using your pre-booked ones. (And if you start yelling "availability" - you often found the most popular rides were gone by mid-day under the prior system). Only real change from the old system is allowing pre-booking so you don't have to wake up at 7am to do it every day.

I never found the popular rides gone by mid-day with Genie+- maybe SDD, but that's it. And if you knew the Genie+ daily drop times, they were refreshed on a schedule.
All rides today were gone much earlier than Genie+. You had to be very lucky to snag the few and far between times that popped up today. I hope they just released less than usual since they were unsure of how things would play out.

 

[Karalee402]

As someone who is here now and had incredible success with G+ and purchasing day-of ILL all last week, I think the new system is a downgrade.

It limits our flexibility with days. Availability is lousy right now. And I have to make decisions I'm not ready to make.

I'm only buying LLMP for our remaining MK day because I want to try it out. We purchased FOP today, ROR for our last HS day, and I just grabbed a GOG for tomorrow.

I used to be a "buy G+ every day" person. Unless availability improves with this new system, it will be standby for us for the forseeable future.

I'm really hoping availability changes, but this is just what I was afraid of. We'd gotten so good at maximizing Genie, and while I know this was the first day and it I'm willing to give it a chance, the availability today was really rough. I appreciate your insights from the park!

 

[AttheParks]

As someone who is here now and had incredible success with G+ and purchasing day-of ILL all last week, I think the new system is a downgrade.

It limits our flexibility with days. Availability is lousy right now. And I have to make decisions I'm not ready to make.

I'm only buying LLMP for our remaining MK day because I want to try it out. We purchased FOP today, ROR for our last HS day, and I just grabbed a GOG for tomorrow.

I used to be a "buy G+ every day" person. Unless availability improves with this new system, it will be standby for us for the forseeable future.

Ugh! Sorry to hear this, I am glad you had some good days with Genie+. This is what I was afraid of...much less of a value and frustrating!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

It’s actually significantly different in price. All the blogs seem to be saying it’s the same cost as genie+ but they’re overlooking that the MK genie+ price gave you access to 4 parks. That ain’t an option any more. So if you visit two parks and want to use it in both it’s something like a 75% increase.

That’s not correct. You pay one price, and that’s for the park where you make your advanced reservations.

If you want the best deal, start each day at Animal Kingdom then visit as many more parks as you want.

 

[123SA]

Do you really want to pay $25 on top of ticket price to ride space mountain?

I am assuming we are having a friendly conversation -- at least I think we are.


I visit Disney World once per year at most, but not every year. It is the only vacation we go on in the years it is booked. It will cost me over $10,000 for 9 nights. It is a very significant amount of money to me. The very idea of spending that amount of money and feeling like we didn't get to do the things we wanted to do is just not appealing to me. I'd rather spend the extra money than feel sorry that I did not spend the money. I am fortunate that I can do this, that has not always been the case.

I don't think I would be spending $25 to ride Space Mountain - -I think I would be spending $25 per person to have an overall more pleasant experience. Instead of waiting in a 70 minute line at Space Mountain, we would wait in a 10-15 minute line max and spend the saved hour doing other rides, having a snack, or doing nothing at all. I know that the overall more pleasant experience is not guaranteed.

I think line tolerance is an issue too. All of my recent trips have been in August. I do most of my waiting in the morning, waiting for rope drop. I don't remember ever entering a 70 minute line (I've been stuck in some due to a ride stoppage). Honestly, I'd just walk away from a 70 minute line. So yes, I do think that LLMP & LLSP are useful in August.


(I don't mean to imply to Space Mountain at 70 minutes is all day everyday in August).

 

[DisneyFive]

As someone who is here now and had incredible success with G+ and purchasing day-of ILL all last week, I think the new system is a downgrade.

It limits our flexibility with days. Availability is lousy right now. And I have to make decisions I'm not ready to make.

I'm only buying LLMP for our remaining MK day because I want to try it out. We purchased FOP today, ROR for our last HS day, and I just grabbed a GOG for tomorrow.

I used to be a "buy G+ every day" person. Unless availability improves with this new system, it will be standby for us for the forseeable future

It’s Day 1 of a brand new system. Lots of people are trying it out. I think the first few days especially will be far from normal. It’s a bummer that you have to be the guinea pig/test subject.

 

[georgina]

I know people are checking MK right now and seeing nothing, but I am going to assume there is lightening in the area because it is showing every outdoor attraction as temporarily closed. So remember, weather will always play a part too, they have to then allow for those LLs missed to come back or re-book. I agree with most, today is not a good day to base judgement on the new system. Let's all see how it goes. The ones most affected by this are those that are there now. Those of us who don't have trips for awhile....take a breath. Remember, even a bad day at Disney beats most days at work! The magic is still there, we just need to recognize it, and it isn't always the rides.
After all, as Disney fans, aren't we supposed to be the ones that believe a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down?

While I enjoy the atmosphere of the parks, for me it really is all about the rides. I am not someone to go on about 'Disney magic'.

 

[pangyal]

I’m not at all surprised that they need guests to scan in prior to rebooking an expired/ unused LL. Otherwise, wouldn’t everyone just buy AK at $18 and book for MK at $29? Of course there has to be a roadblock to that.

 

[g-dad66]

Based on thrill-data.com's data on when LLs ran out today, it's pretty clear what two Tier 2 LLs to prebook:

Magic Kingdom:
Haunted Mansion ran out at 7:58
Pirates ran out at 9:22

Epcot:
Mission Space ran out at 9:00
Spaceship Earth ran out at 11:43

Hollywood Studios:
Toy Story Mania ran out at 8:13
Tower of Terror ran out at 8:41

Data also shows the best strategies for Tier 1s:

Magic Kingdom:
Prebook Tiana (ran out at 7:10)
Get LL #4 for Jungle Cruise (ran out at 9:50 ) or Big Thunder (ran out at 10:01) or Space Mountain (ran out at 11:29)
Might be able to get Big Thunder or Space as LL #5

Epcot:
Prebook Remy (ran out at 7:38)
Get LL #4 for Frozen (ran out at 10:13)
Get LL #5 for Soarin (ran out at 8:30 PM)

Studios:
Prebook Slinky (ran out at 9:16)
Get LL #4 for Rock n Roller Coaster (ran out at 10:18)
Get LL #5 for Mickey and Minnie's Railway (ran out at 4:15)
Get LL #6 for Millenium Falcon (ran out at 8:30 PM)

 

[g-dad66]

The next thing I'll be watching for is this: Will it even be possible to prebook Tiana, Remy, or Slinky for a short trip? Even if staying onsite and booking 7 days in advance, will those attractions have any prebooking availability for the first, second, or even third park day.

 

[DavidNYC]

It’s actually significantly different in price. All the blogs seem to be saying it’s the same cost as genie+ but they’re overlooking that the MK genie+ price gave you access to 4 parks. That ain’t an option any more. So if you visit two parks and want to use it in both it’s something like a 75% increase.

Nope - you get all 4 parks for this too. As soon as you use your first reservation you can make another in any park. The only limitation is that the pre-booked ones have to be at one park. And since you couldn't pre-book anything under the old system - not even anything to compare it too.

 

[DavidNYC]

Based on thrill-data.com's data on when LLs ran out today, it's pretty clear what two Tier 2 LLs to prebook:

Magic Kingdom:
Haunted Mansion ran out at 7:58
Pirates ran out at 9:22

Epcot:
Mission Space ran out at 9:00
Spaceship Earth ran out at 11:43

Hollywood Studios:
Toy Story Mania ran out at 8:13
Tower of Terror ran out at 8:41

Data also shows the best strategies for Tier 1s:

Magic Kingdom:
Prebook Tiana (ran out at 7:10)
Get LL #4 for Jungle Cruise (ran out at 9:50 ) or Big Thunder (ran out at 10:01) or Space Mountain (ran out at 11:29)
Might be able to get Big Thunder or Space as LL #5

Epcot:
Prebook Remy (ran out at 7:38)
Get LL #4 for Frozen (ran out at 10:13)
Get LL #5 for Soarin (ran out at 8:30 PM)

Studios:
Prebook Slinky (ran out at 9:16)
Get LL #4 for Rock n Roller Coaster (ran out at 10:18)
Get LL #5 for Mickey and Minnie's Railway (ran out at 4:15)
Get LL #6 for Millenium Falcon (ran out at 8:30 PM)

While I think these are going to be the correct priorities - I also wouldn't put too much stock into sell out times for what is essentially opening day. I expect these will revert to more normal times soon.

 

[g-dad66]

Yes

While I think these are going to be the correct priorities - I also wouldn't put too much stock into sell out times for what is essentially opening day. I expect these will revert to more normal times soon.

Yes, let's hope so!