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

[Dave006]

Yeah, it's kind of wild. Even next Wednesday I'm seeing 7DMT, and Rise as sold out already. Yikes!

I think we will have to follow this behavior to see if Disney adds additional day-of inventory updates.

Dave

 

[jennypenny]

I really don't understand why SPLLs are selling out so early since that system really hasn't changed. You're now allowed to buy them 7 days in advance but the number of people who want to ride them (theoretically) hasn't changed. They must be holding some passes back? Or more people are buying SPLLs instead of MPLLs?

 

[Tom_E_D]

Why can't you see all the days in July and August through the 16th?

Dave

Sorry, I thought you needed a ticket to get to that screen. I didn't realize the app doesn't check to see if you have a ticket until the next screen. (I still can't see what is available for LLMP without a ticket.)

 

[Dave006]

Tier 2 Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Space all bring back late evening times. Very disappointed so far

If you are at a park today are you able to try to modify Pirates or Space to see if earlier times are available. I don't fully trust the selected times.

Dave

 

[Dave006]

Sorry, I thought you needed a ticket to get to that screen. I didn't realize the app doesn't check to see if you have a ticket until the next screen. (I still can't see what is available for LLMP without a ticket.)

Good I was panicked for a minute there... Correct you can't see the individual LLMP experiences without a valid ticket entitlement. That is Working As Designed (WAD).

Dave

 

[FSU Girl]

I really don't understand why SPLLs are selling out so early since that system really hasn't changed. You're now allowed to buy them 7 days in advance but the number of people who want to ride them (theoretically) hasn't changed. They must be holding some passes back? Or more people are buying SPLLs instead of MPLLs?

Could be because they took out the character meet and greets and show which would have eaten up some of those taking the rides now

 

[AntsGirl]

If you are at a park today are you able to try to modify Pirates or Space to see if earlier times are available. I don't fully trust the selected times.

Dave

So I would book those and then try to adjust after entering?

Toy Story mania, tower of terror, Navi are gone what would be the strategy to get these? I guess keep refreshing?

 

[TeamSy]

I'm not an expert, but I bet that


Disney had to do something to get guest to stay onsite again. We were happy to pay the higher hotel rates because of the benefits justified the higher cost, but since those became non-existent we stopped staying onsite.

Has Disney been struggling to fill hotel rooms? It seems like this is a weird choice to encourage more onsite stays. I don't know that this would play that much of a factor, especially for shorter stays or split stays, which a lot of people do, and it doesn't work well for those. As someone who prefers onsite, but also stays offsite, I wouldn't say I feel the need for "more perks," or that the cost of what I'm paying is not worth it to stay onsite. For me, it's about proximity to the park, which is where the value for me comes in more than anything else. THAT'S why I pay to stay onsite. If Disney prices are too high - swan/dolphin/points become an option. But other offsite hotels are great too. You can save a lot of money with those! Overall I can't see this being a determining factor just to pay to get a few rides, which is what this is so far. You have the *ability* to book more, but it's not looking like that's so easy day of anymore. If anything, this would have us, as annual visitors, switch to Disneyland where there is an easier system where we can get more rides in with less waiting in line. Or to another vacation destination all together. Maybe we are the minority with this. I said it before, but these past 2 years we went with G+ felt like the first time we *truly* enjoyed it in so long. It was so magical. THAT'S why we keep returning. We used G+ for every ride it was offered, we never had a wait, and we were able to stay in the parks longer because it felt like we were always doing something, kids had no meltdowns because they weren't standing in these long lines. It was great!

And we chose to stay onsite because of these perks:
- Proximity to the parks (where else can you WALK to MK, Hollywood, or Epcot), or take a skyliner from your hotel?
- The actual theming of the hotels (for those looking to be wrapped in Disney)
- Early Entry
- The ability to book G+ at 7am vs 9am (you already had a 2 hour advantage)
- The ability to book dining beyond the 60 day mark for the length of your stay
- Extra magic hours for deluxe guests

Sure there are perks that went away: magical express, airline check in, in-park shopping dropped off at your resort, but I wouldn't say the above perks are non-existent. I would much rather G+ and a level playing field if it means I can get more rides done in a day. I wouldn't base my need to stay onsite for the perk of booking 7 days out. It's more about what day of shows - if there's limited availability day of that will be more of a deciding factor if I'm going to use this or not. G+ got me into the double digit rides in MK. I can't see paying for something that will get me 5 rides if I'm lucky, onsite or not.

Maybe we park differently than most, or others, but we are in it to maximize our day.

 

[TeamSy]

I really don't understand why SPLLs are selling out so early since that system really hasn't changed. You're now allowed to buy them 7 days in advance but the number of people who want to ride them (theoretically) hasn't changed. They must be holding some passes back? Or more people are buying SPLLs instead of MPLLs?

I think people are buying it more! For both SPLL & MPLL I think people are just doing it! I think many people did not like G+ for whatever reason (my guess is they didn't know how to use it and were turned off by the idea of 7am on a park day?). They like the idea of now guaranteeing 4 rides (MPLL + SPLL) but they didn't understand that under the old system 4 rides is literally nothing. I think many will look at getting a 5th or *maybe even 6th* under this scenario as a win. However it is unfortunate for those that DID know how to use G+ as that number is extremely low

 

[jo-jo]

Can someone guess at the reason for no rerides? Not riding space all day, but maybe one do over. I don't understand why neither Genie or LL allows it.

 

[jgadway11]

By the way I was able to make all of my LLMP selections this morning across a four night trip with three different resorts. I didn’t have to wait until tomorrow to book my second resort day of LLMPs.

 

[123SA]

Can someone guess at the reason for no rerides? Not riding space all day, but maybe one do over. I don't understand why neither Genie or LL allows it.

Ride capacity.

 

[Dave006]

Could be because they took out the character meet and greets and show which would have eaten up some of those taking the rides now

I don't think that is the difference. The Standby lines at the M&G are not over 45 minutes on average today. Meet Princes Tiana and a Visiting Princess is the only one at 45 minutes which is expected.

Dave

 

[Pens Fan]

I mean why couldn’t we all just have sucked it up a little and gotten up at 7, booked a ride, and gone back to sleep for a bit?!

Another Genie + fan here. It worked and worked well. We had mastered the art of stacking and could book pretty much anything we wanted day of. And no, we were not staring at our phones all day. However, like so many others the 7AM wake up call during our vacation was annoying. What frustrates me is that there was a simple solution to that. Why not just let us book that first LL and/or the ILL$ 7 days in advance for length of stay and leave everything else exactly the same?

They could even have done the 7 day for onsite and 3 day for offsite thing to help boost hotel bookings which is what I assume they were going for. There would still have been a slight advantage for onsite guests, but you wouldn't be locking out so many good rides and times from offsite guests. We are DVC members and always stay onsite for usually a week or longer, so booking 7 days in advance for length of stay works to our advantage. But I can appreciate that it comes at a huge disadvantage to offsite guests or even onsite folks with shorter trips. Only allowing one pre-booking per day would lessen that and be more fair IMHO, as well as open up so much availability day of for everyone.

 

[Sandisw]

Can someone guess at the reason for no rerides? Not riding space all day, but maybe one do over. I don't understand why neither Genie or LL allows it.

My guess is so that more people have the opportunity to use their pass for more rides that day. Since we have to purchase...unlike FP+ which was free...it makes it more likely people will purchase.

We just got back from a few nights and used it opening day. We really thought it was great for starting at HS and park hopping to Epcot. Being able to overlap times to cluster, and then change to the other parks first thing got us a lot of rides with the pass, and found that stand by later in the day at Epcot, even for Soarin, were great.

Had we wanted to park hop to MK, there were still things available at 6 pm when we checked....so, I do think by limiting each person to once per day at the rides is a good thing.

 

[Dave006]

What frustrates me is that there was a simple solution to that. Why not just let us book that first LL and/or the ILL$ 7 days in advance for length of stay and leave everything else exactly the same?

Not really or in your example the 7 day on-site guests would holding all the inventory and most guest feedback indicated that they did not like 7 AM starts everyday while on vacation.

Dave

 

[123SA]

Question about booking LLMP and LLSP

I want to book LLMP 3 rides for my entire party of 4, and I want to book Tron LLSP for just 2 members of the party.

Will it let me deselect 2 people for the LLSP, or do I need to do this in two transactions?

 

[Dave006]

Another Genie + fan here. It worked and worked well. We had mastered the art of stacking and could book pretty much anything we wanted day of.

Yea that's why Disney stopped the Genie+ Ride "Stacking" that they did not properly anticipate or ever announce to the general guest population and went to a max of 3 attractions with a rolling replacement.

Dave

 

[Dave006]

Will it let me deselect 2 people for the LLSP, or do I need to do this in two transactions?

At this point in the rollout I would vote for 2 separate transactions. It keep it simple and let's you complete your initial transaction faster since your selected experiences are only held for a 5 minute period. I don't trust the MDE back-end to manage holds when the system is under stress.

Dave

 

[123SA]

When I book at DHS, I'll select RNRC, TOT, TSM for my entire party of 4. However, I do no ride RNRC.

Should I just ring it off but not ride it? (this pains me as it prevents someone else from getting that spot)

I could replace it, but then won't that put me in the position of now trying to book 3 of the party to match whatever I got?

Do I wait for the 3 to enter the RNRC line, cancel mine, and then book something else for the 4 of us?

When does the ability to cancel end? If my return window is open, can I still cancel or modify?