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

[Tom_E_D]

While I would love to take Jason's reply as fact. Disney does not acknowledge the term "Split Stays". Disney does not allow this for the ADR 60 day booking window for "Split Stays" or was it allowed back in the days of FP+.

Just a reminder that the answers from the Plan Disney Panelists are not official Disney responses. Jason and all the panelists are independent contractors.

Here is the Official Disclaimer on all answers from Plan Disney Panelists:

These views do not reflect the opinions of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online, its affiliates, its management, its agents or its employees and have not been reviewed or approved by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online prior to posting.

Dave

Yup, with FP+ we could book the entire trip over both (or sometimes three) resort stays.

I have no personal experience, but what I've read was that Fastpass+ treated each hotel reservation as separate when it came out, then later made a change so that they were considered a single continuous reservation. So, your personal experiences may be different depending when you went.

I can't cite a source for where I read that offhand. I read it somewhere in the last week.

 

[DisneyFive]

Did people say refreshing was cheating? Huh. As you say, that's just looking for slots others have given up.

To be clear, I am NOT saying booking a throwaway LL is cheating, but it is certainly very different than refreshing. In this case someone is scheduling and holding onto a LL spot without any intention of letting it go, waiting in their room or pool or whatever for it to expire so they can move on to the next. That potentially takes spots from someone who actually wants to use it for that ride. I don't know that I love that.

Yeah, believe it or not, there were those that described refreshing as somehow cheating the system. Crazy IMO. I think most of that sentiment came from those who didn't research, and thereby had missed out on making full use of the FP+ system during their stay. They would return here and want to blame something, anything.

I get what you are saying about throw away MPLL's. I guess it's all speculation right now. It may not even end up working that way. If it DOES work that way, I'm not too shook up over it since the LL's that would be thrown away would almost certainly be tier 2's which typically have shorter waits anyway, thereby not impacting guests in the parks that much. Also, by not showing up you are thereby helping those in line to move faster. My question is, if you do throw away something like Little Mermaid at 9am, can you rebook it later or does it consider it as used? That would put a damper on that whole strategy, losing out on a MPLL because you threw it away.

The way we tour we wouldn't be throwing anything away. We don't sit at a pool or whatever and try to stack 3 for later. With the the previous FP+ system (which this new system is closest to) we would get our first 3+ FP's done by noon and then schedule more for our return after our afternoon break. The 'ol FP+ system really did work well. Even when we switched parks last minute (thereby losing our highly desired prebooked attractions) we were ALWAYS still able to do all the headliners. It just took more persistence with refreshing the day of.

If this new system wasn't something we had to pay for, I would easily consider it the best version of a FP system to date. (With the caveat that there should be no Single Lighting Lanes and all attractions should be rolled into MPLL)

 

[Sunelis]

My biggest issue with G+ and with this new system(other than paying for it) is the "once per day per ride". With FP+ I would ride my preferred rides 3-4 times a day. There's a bunch of rides that I don't care for so I don't really get value out of the system if I can't re-ride my faves.

 

[g3pak]

I'm sure this has been said 50 times but...on July 24, will people be able to book at 7 am EDST or 6 am EDST?

 

[Dave006]

...on July 24, will people be able to book at 7 am EDST or 6 am EDST?

It should be 7 AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time). However it is Disney IT and the rollout of a major stress test of their system with the new changes.

Dave

 

[Upcharge]

While I would love to take Jason's reply as fact. Disney does not acknowledge the term "Split Stays". Disney does not allow this for the ADR 60 day booking window for "Split Stays" or was it allowed back in the days of FP+.

Just a reminder that the answers from the Plan Disney Panelists are not official Disney responses. Jason and all the panelists are independent contractors.

Here is the Official Disclaimer on all answers from Plan Disney Panelists:

These views do not reflect the opinions of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online, its affiliates, its management, its agents or its employees and have not been reviewed or approved by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online prior to posting.

Dave

Unfortunately I tend to agree with this. "Split Stay" has never been an official Disney term. Every hotel reservation is treated separately and given a unique confirmation number. The level of accuracy of statements coming from the Plan Disney Panelists, and before them the Disney Moms Panel, is pretty unimpressive. I appreciate that they are enthusiastic about Disney but it seems to me that what they lack for in training and real life Disney experience they try to make up for by sounding excited. The actual content of the answers is suspect at best.

 

[Upcharge]

I have no personal experience, but what I've read was that Fastpass+ treated each hotel reservation as separate when it came out, then later made a change so that they were considered a single continuous reservation. So, your personal experiences may be different depending when you went.

I can't cite a source for where I read that offhand. I read it somewhere in the last week.

I went on Disney trips multiple times every year from the beginning of Fastpass+ until a week before it ended with the shutdown. We do split stays almost every trip. I never once was able to make my Fastpass+ reservations for a second or third leg of the trip at the 60 day mark for the first leg. I did hear anecdotally that some guests were able to do it by calling in and finding a willing cm. Admittedly I never tried.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Got an interesting email about Lightning Lanes from my TA recently.
It includes this verbiage:

“The date for your pre-planning will be at 7am EST on Jul 21, 2024 for your vacation.”

That’s not correct, is it? Everything I’ve seen indicates that it opens on 7/24 for everyone, even if that’s less than 7 days before your trip start date…

 

[Dave006]

“The date for your pre-planning will be at 7am EST on Jul 21, 2024 for your vacation". That’s not correct, is it?

No, it looks a simple mistake as they used a "3" day July 24th before you visit to book LLMPs & LLSPs. Do you have an on-site hotel or other? When is your arrival date?

ETA: add missing text...

Dave

 

[scrappinginontario]

If it goes live Jul 24th, will onsite guests be able to start booking Jul 17th or, will they need to book and start using it Jul 24th?

 

[Dave006]

If it goes live Jul 24th, will onsite guests be able to start booking Jul 17th or, will they need to book and start using it Jul 24th?

No Disney has announced that it goes live on July 24th for everyone at the 7 AM EDT. Everyone will start booking at the same time. Guests currently on-site, off site, and all types of ticket holders in the US and Canada.

It is going to be a mess with guests trying to make same day purchases, 3 day advanced purchases, 7 day advanced purchases and length of stays up to 14 days from July 24th.

Dave

 

[KrazeeK120]

No, it looks a simple mistake as they used a "3" day July 24th before you visit to book LLMPs & LLSPs. Do you have an on-site hotel or other? When is your arrival date?

ETA: add missing text...

Dave

On-site starting 7/28, so 7 days after the date given in the email by my TA.

 

[buzzrelly]

While they haven't explicitly mentioned Annual Passholders staying onsite, the Disneyworld website breaks things down into two categories: (1) Eligible Resort Hotel Guests and (2) All Other Guests. It then describes when All Other Guests book based on whether they have date-based tickets, other ticket types, or annual passholders. To me, that means if you are a Resort Hotel Guest, it doesn't matter if you have a ticket or an annual pass, you book at seven days before the first day of your resort stay.
View attachment 873569

Thank you! I hope you’re right!

 

[Dave006]

On-site starting 7/28, so 7 days after the date given in the email by my TA.

So your TA missed the start date of the new change and just subtracted 7 days from your trip. Sounds like a minor mistake but you might want to mention it to your TA now that you have confirmed that the new change actually starts on July 24th.

Dave

 

[andrewilley]

Besides, who's to say you can't have six rides pre-booked with this system? Our first day on our upcoming trip I'll be trying for six for sure.

From everything I've read, you will only be able to hold up to three reservations at any one time, and once you've used one you can book another to replace it. It depends on how that feature is implemented though; if booking a fourth slot is based on the start of the current window, there could be a one-hour period when you technically hold four bookings.

[Edit] Having just got to your follow-up post, then yes you'd be able to have three LLMPs, two LLSPs, and a VQ. Expensive day though!

I still thinking that stacking was not the original intention of the current 120 minute facility though - although I completely agree that doing so is not breaking any rules, and once it was discovered and spread around the internet, it was clearly going to be used.

Dates-wise, I think the intention seems to be that 24th July is a hard cutover point. Up to 23rd of July you'll be booking solely using Genie+ at 7am, and on 24th of July at 7am you'll be using LLMP for that day and also for any subsequent dates as per the new 3 and 7 day rules.

Andre

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Dates-wise, I think the intention seems to be that 24th July is a hard cutover point. Up to 23rd of July you'll be booking solely using Genie+ at 7am, and on 24th of July at 7am you'll be using LLMP for that day and also for any subsequent dates as per the new 3 and 7 day rules.

Andre

From what we've been reading, I agree with you. It sounds like this will be the situation. If so, what a total mess it's going to be 7/24 at 7AM - new system, guests already at WDW trying to learn and book, and also folks trying to book 2-7 days out for an upcoming trip. Hope the tech can handle it!

 

[Neener16]

That's the way it used to be when WDW first started. We all paid for our tickets and then waited in line for attractions. The lines, amazingly, moved quickly in most cases. All this without LLL or paid FP, or paid Genie.
Everyone was treated the same and we all waited in the lines.
I imagine that can't be done this way now because of the huge numbers of people visiting, or can it?
I'm just glad we got to experience Disney when it was a simpler time without all the high tech changes and up charges for what you paid for when you paid for your ticket.

I took a trip in July 2021 when it was still busy, but there was no Fast pass or anything. I said I would not go again until they got some kind of program in place. It was miserable, lines were insane, people were extra cranky because of that. Had a much better time with Genie and Genie +. I remember when they had ticket Fastpasses and we would send the kids to sprint to the kiosks to get passes for everyone. That was a bit insane too. Some kind of program is needed. We will see how this one works out when I go in August. Fortunately, we love to plan. It’s part of the fun of vacation although I realize many people probably don’t share our enthusiasm.

 

[Trinity88]

I know this is all still speculation, but I'm confused as to when you can book a 4th LL. Do we think it's after you tap in/use the 1st of the 3 already booked, or when you tap in/use the 3rd of the 3 already booked? I'm really hoping it's after using the first. And then, if you use the one you booked 4th, but haven't used #2 or #3, can you book another one do you think? Basically, it looks to me like you can always have 3, doesn't matter the order they're used in. But others are saying you have to use all 3 before you can book the 4th one.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Got an interesting email about Lightning Lanes from my TA recently.
It includes this verbiage:

“The date for your pre-planning will be at 7am EST on Jul 21, 2024 for your vacation.”

That’s not correct, is it? Everything I’ve seen indicates that it opens on 7/24 for everyone, even if that’s less than 7 days before your trip start date…

Sounds computer generated and the TA didn’t proof it before sending it over

 

[Tjworf]

We are arriving 23/7/2024, first park day on July 24. Yikes! On 24th at 0700 it will be mass chaos on the Disney site, but can we have 3 adults booking 3 separate park days for Multipass/single pass, all on same account? This is stressful!