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

[gottalovepluto]

Is there a reason that this thread isn't pinned to the top?

Maybe because this thread is a touch of news with a lot of worry and speculation? Pinned threads tend to have solid info so I would expect a pinned one once the system goes live and good info is out there…

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I assume the current G+ info thread that is pinned will change to the new system or be deleted and a new one created.

 

[FLCA026]

I am new to all of this. so if I am going in August and I purchase my tickets. I won't be able to "Purchase" the lightning lane multipass until 7 days before my stay correct? or do you purchase it and then go to make your choices 7 days before?

 

[Tom_E_D]

I am new to all of this. so if I am going in August and I purchase my tickets. I won't be able to "Purchase" the lightning lane multipass until 7 days before my stay correct? or do you purchase it and then go to make your choices 7 days before?

If staying onsite, you will be doing it all seven days before check-in. From the Disneyworld website: "When staying at Disney Resort hotels or other select hotels, Guests can purchase Lightning Lane passes—and choose experiences and arrival windows—starting 7 days before the first day of their Resort stay, for their length of stay (up to 14 days)."

 

[FLCA026]

If staying onsite, you will be doing it all seven days before check-in. From the Disneyworld website: "When staying at Disney Resort hotels or other select hotels, Guests can purchase Lightning Lane passes—and choose experiences and arrival windows—starting 7 days before the first day of their Resort stay, for their length of stay (up to 14 days)."

ok got it! thanks!

 

[thegash35]

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

This new system sucks - yet more planning that needs to be done in advance. I'm so over having to plan out every step of the day at Disney before you even get there. Between Dining, the new lighting lane and everything else, it's just impossible to have a spontaneous trip. I have no idea why people want or need to make lightning lane selections days in advance. What a trash system.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

Numerous people do not feel rope drop is worth the early hour. I’m cool with it but many aren’t and I get that. We all
Have our favorite ways to Disney.

…Of course now I get a 3:45am wake-up call a week before any WDW vacay since I’m in CA. I may not mind 7am when I’m on the East Coast with a day of Disney fun ahead of me but I am rather opposed to 3:45am when I’m still on the West Coast with a day of work ahead of me

 

[missingdisneymore]

And yet, others LOVE the planning and organizing. I suppose it allows one to choose how they like to do Disney. Show up and be spontaneous or plan plan plan. No one is forced to do one or the other.

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

This new system sucks - yet more planning that needs to be done in advance. I'm so over having to plan out every step of the day at Disney before you even get there. Between Dining, the new lighting lane and everything else, it's just impossible to have a spontaneous trip. I have no idea why people want or need to make lightning lane selections days in advance. What a trash system.

 

[cmbr]

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

This new system sucks - yet more planning that needs to be done in advance. I'm so over having to plan out every step of the day at Disney before you even get there. Between Dining, the new lighting lane and everything else, it's just impossible to have a spontaneous trip. I have no idea why people want or need to make lightning lane selections days in advance. What a trash system.

I think it's totally understandable if this system doesn't jive well with how you like to do your vacations, and I'm certain there's a whole crowd of people with you on this one! Unfortunately, I don't think there's necessarily a right answer to the LL issue, you either prefer spontaneity or planning in advance. And honestly, considering 60 day advanced planning was a perk of the FP+ system for resort guests, taking that advantage away in the G+ system was never going to be a very well liked change, even if it meant all park-goers had an equal opportunity to get the LLs they wanted for the day.

Though as a CST resident, waking up at 5:45 never makes me a happy camper. Doesn't matter if its a week before my trip or the day of my park visit. I respect those of y'all that can rope drop, but I will never be able to join your ranks.

 

[elvispursley]

Visiting from Hawaii, I really like that I can just stay up late to make our choices for LLMP instead of getting up at 7am every day to get G+. I’m 6-hrs behind and rope drop is just impossible!! Will only need to worry about GoTG VQ in our Epcot days.

 

[disney-inspired]

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

This new system sucks - yet more planning that needs to be done in advance. I'm so over having to plan out every step of the day at Disney before you even get there. Between Dining, the new lighting lane and everything else, it's just impossible to have a spontaneous trip. I have no idea why people want or need to make lightning lane selections days in advance. What a trash system.

I'd rather do some small pre-planning and have guaranteed rides for my day. Dining has always been pre-planned and the move from 180 days to 60 days is an overall improvement. But basically it's been more about pre-planning for over 10 years now (FP+ came in 2013) so not really something new.

People want to make their LL selections in advanced to guarantee they get to experience their favorite attraction at least once on their trip. If they travel during a known busier season, it's helpful. Also a lot of visitors aren't the DIS diehards and go only once or once every several years. They do the planning to make the best trip possible.

To me, spontaneity at WDW only works with traveling groups of adults or those who go very frequently.
I always do some sort of planning for my trips but the degree varies by who's in my travel party.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I don't get people complaining about getting up at 7 on a Disney vacation. It's Disney and rope-drop is the best time to do the parks.

This new system sucks - yet more planning that needs to be done in advance. I'm so over having to plan out every step of the day at Disney before you even get there. Between Dining, the new lighting lane and everything else, it's just impossible to have a spontaneous trip. I have no idea why people want or need to make lightning lane selections days in advance. What a trash system.

First of all, many of us don't view rope drop as the best time to do any parks. Second, no one says you have to book 7 days in advance - totally optional. Nothing says, if you were happy with Genie+, that you cannot use the new system in a similar fashion.

The changes appear to be made because most guests prefer the option to do a little pre-booking of attractions. On days we're going to purchase LL, it will help with our planning. Everyone does the parks differently.......

You must have really loved when ADRs were 180 days and FastPass was 60!

 

[Jellybean9]

I'd rather do some small pre-planning and have guaranteed rides for my day. Dining has always been pre-planned and the move from 180 days to 60 days is an overall improvement. But basically it's been more about pre-planning for over 10 years now (FP+ came in 2013) so not really something new.

People want to make their LL selections in advanced to guarantee they get to experience their favorite attraction at least once on their trip. If they travel during a known busier season, it's helpful. Also a lot of visitors aren't the DIS diehards and go only once or once every several years. They do the planning to make the best trip possible.

To me, spontaneity at WDW only works with traveling groups of adults or those who go very frequently.
I always do some sort of planning for my trips but the degree varies by who's in my travel party.

I just don’t like that all flexibility is basically gone. My family of 4 (including 9 & 11 yr olds) likes to adapt our plans based on how the trip is going. For example, if it rains on our MK day, we might want to scrap AK and do another day at MK. Or if we accomplish everything in HS in 1 day, we might not go back there for a 2nd evening and instead go to another park. But if you’ve preselected all these attractions (we visit every 2-3 years for a 4.5 day trip so we will purchase multipass everyday) you’re very much married to a certain park every day until you’ve at least used 1 lightening lane.

Also, anyone that is mindful of getting their money’s worth with multipass will be forced to get to the park at rope drop. I can’t imagine spending ~$130/day for a family of 4 to use LL to ride just one tier 1 attraction and 2 mediocre attractions that you probably don’t really need LL for. So this new system is locking you into a specific park every day and to getting up at the butt crack.

 

[DisneyFive]

I just don’t like that all flexibility is basically gone. My family of 4 (including 9 & 11 yr olds) likes to adapt our plans based on how the trip is going. For example, if it rains on our MK day, we might want to scrap AK and do another day at MK. Or if we accomplish everything in HS in 1 day, we might not go back there for a 2nd evening and instead go to another park. But if you’ve preselected all these attractions (we visit every 2-3 years for a 4.5 day trip so we will purchase multipass everyday) you’re very much married to a certain park every day until you’ve at least used 1 lightening lane.

Also, anyone that is mindful of getting their money’s worth with multipass will be forced to get to the park at rope drop. I can’t imagine spending ~$130/day for a family of 4 to use LL to ride just one tier 1 attraction and 2 mediocre attractions that you probably don’t really need LL for. So this new system is locking you into a specific park every day and to getting up at the butt crack.

You are making assumptions that most likely won't pan out that way. Flexibility is not gone. With the old FP+ system (which this new system is very close to) we've switched park days during our trip. Yes, we lost those precious prebooked FP's, but it's not the end of the world. We still rode EVERYTHING we wanted to including all the headliners. It just took a little more refreshing during the day to find the rides and times you wanted, but it was certainly very doable.

I would hold off judgement until you actually experience it. You will certainly get far more MPLL's than just 3 even if you purchase the system day of. That's been our real world experience with the VERY similar previous system.

 

[Jellybean9]

You will certainly get far more MPLL's than just 3 even if you purchase the system day of. That's been our real world experience with the VERY similar previous system.

Yes, if you get to the park early and hustle. I’m not saying I won’t be able to accomplish everything. It just won’t be as easy, flexible, or convenient as it was with Genie+. I’m very familiar with Fastpass+.

 

[DisneyFive]

Yes, if you get to the park early and hustle. I’m not saying I won’t be able to accomplish everything. It just won’t be as easy, flexible, or convenient as it was with Genie+. I’m very familiar with Fastpass+.

No worries, we just have differing opinions of which system works better. It may be due to our particular touring style or desire to preplan. I don’t view G+ as easy, flexible or convenient as FP+ which if far more similar to MPLL. There may be some argument for flexibility, but they each had their pluses and minuses in that regard. G+ was flexible in that you started at 7 AM each day. However, it took away the flexibility to sleep in in the morning when it was much needed. Also there were many times that I was waiting at 7am on G+ for my attraction to get to the appropriate time window, which was super frustrating. Wanting to return to get some more rest but having to stay up waiting 20 to 30 minutes in some cases

 

[spewey]

I just don’t like that all flexibility is basically gone. My family of 4 (including 9 & 11 yr olds) likes to adapt our plans based on how the trip is going. For example, if it rains on our MK day, we might want to scrap AK and do another day at MK. Or if we accomplish everything in HS in 1 day, we might not go back there for a 2nd evening and instead go to another park. But if you’ve preselected all these attractions (we visit every 2-3 years for a 4.5 day trip so we will purchase multipass everyday) you’re very much married to a certain park every day until you’ve at least used 1 lightening lane.

Also, anyone that is mindful of getting their money’s worth with multipass will be forced to get to the park at rope drop. I can’t imagine spending ~$130/day for a family of 4 to use LL to ride just one tier 1 attraction and 2 mediocre attractions that you probably don’t really need LL for. So this new system is locking you into a specific park every day and to getting up at the butt crack.

Yes, if you get to the park early and hustle. I’m not saying I won’t be able to accomplish everything. It just won’t be as easy, flexible, or convenient as it was with Genie+. I’m very familiar with Fastpass+.

I am perfectly prepared for my assumptions to be blown up, and to be proven wrong. But (and I know I sound like a broken record on this thread) unless for some reason Disney significantly reduces LL capacity under this new system, I do not see much of a necessary change in strategies from Genie+.

I'm still trying to see how this forces anyone to rope drop. Under Genie+, you could make one selection at 7AM, and the next at 11, and then 1PM - from anywhere. Under LLMP, you can make three in advance, for any times, from anywhere. I get that if you didn't want to actually arrive at a park until after 5PM you could have more LLs under Genie+ lined up, but then how much time would you actually have to use them? And based on my experience, at that point in the evening, these two systems become basically interchangeable, for all but a few extremely popular attractions (SDD, 7DMT, etc). In other words, at 7PM at HS either with LLMP or Genie+ or FP+ once you tap in there's probably lots of other LL options to choose from.

As to the tiers - I've been mulling this over. The feeling is the new system could freeze you out of more than one Tier 1 ride a day. Maybe true - but was Genie+ much better? With that, assuming you picked a Tier 1 at 7AM, the earliest you could try for another Tier 1 was at 11AM, or after you tapped in, which, if the ride is super popular, could probably be after 11AM anyway with your return time. And if your strategy with Genie+ was get the earliest possible time for a Tier 1, so you have a better shot at another one for later, that meant rope dropping that park anyway.

I get that's confusing; my point is, under Genie+ it isn't like you can sleep in or not actually enter a park until the afternoon and still have a great shot at difficult to book rides. If you did that, and Tier 1 rides were still available at 11AM, that suggests to me they still will under LLMP. Which means, I guess, if we really want to try for another Tier 1 that day, we probably should be at a park by 11AM to use our first selection. Which is a decision we will have to make.

I do get the flexibility thing; I am hoping you can modify (or even cancel? - probably not) easily. The fear folk have is that somehow pre-booking will mean having to select in advance or risk not having any choices day of. But remember, it's not like MORE people will be making LL picks than before with Genie+ - in fact, there should be quite a few less. So if in the afternoon at MK most rides had LL return times available when you were using Genie+, the same should be true with LLMP.

 

[rastuso]

I am perfectly prepared for my assumptions to be blown up, and to be proven wrong. But (and I know I sound like a broken record on this thread) unless for some reason Disney significantly reduces LL capacity under this new system, I do not see much of a necessary change in strategies from Genie+.

I'm still trying to see how this forces anyone to rope drop. Under Genie+, you could make one selection at 7AM, and the next at 11, and then 1PM - from anywhere. Under LLMP, you can make three in advance, for any times, from anywhere. I get that if you didn't want to actually arrive at a park until after 5PM you could have more LLs under Genie+ lined up, but then how much time would you actually have to use them? And based on my experience, at that point in the evening, these two systems become basically interchangeable, for all but a few extremely popular attractions (SDD, 7DMT, etc). In other words, at 7PM at HS either with LLMP or Genie+ or FP+ once you tap in there's probably lots of other LL options to choose from.

As to the tiers - I've been mulling this over. The feeling is the new system could freeze you out of more than one Tier 1 ride a day. Maybe true - but was Genie+ much better? With that, assuming you picked a Tier 1 at 7AM, the earliest you could try for another Tier 1 was at 11AM, or after you tapped in, which, if the ride is super popular, could probably be after 11AM anyway with your return time. And if your strategy with Genie+ was get the earliest possible time for a Tier 1, so you have a better shot at another one for later, that meant rope dropping that park anyway.

I get that's confusing; my point is, under Genie+ it isn't like you can sleep in or not actually enter a park until the afternoon and still have a great shot at difficult to book rides. If you did that, and Tier 1 rides were still available at 11AM, that suggests to me they still will under LLMP. Which means, I guess, if we really want to try for another Tier 1 that day, we probably should be at a park by 11AM to use our first selection. Which is a decision we will have to make.

I do get the flexibility thing; I am hoping you can modify (or even cancel? - probably not) easily. The fear folk have is that somehow pre-booking will mean having to select in advance or risk not having any choices day of. But remember, it's not like MORE people will be making LL picks than before with Genie+ - in fact, there should be quite a few less. So if in the afternoon at MK most rides had LL return times available when you were using Genie+, the same should be true with LLMP.

It ALL depends on the price. If it stays the same, which will absolutely stun me, then yes, same old same old, but no second rides.

If the price goes up substantially, it will become a huge advantage for the folks that can afford it.

Cedar Point charges $125 a day, Disney HAS to realize they are leaving money on the table.

 

[disney-inspired]

It ALL depends on the price. If it stays the same, which will absolutely stun me, then yes, same old same old, but no second rides.

If the price goes up substantially, it will become a huge advantage for the folks that can afford it.

Cedar Point charges $125 a day, Disney HAS to realize they are leaving money on the table.

Cedar Point is in no way comparable to WDW in terms of guest numbers. Also, their "fast lane" pass is basically the the FOTL pass that Universal offers. They make it super expensive so less people will buy it and therefore it retains its values.

Disney can't charge that much as LLMP is NOT a FOTL pass, you still have to wait for your allotted time and may still wait some.

 

[123SA]

It ALL depends on the price. If it stays the same, which will absolutely stun me, then yes, same old same old, but no second rides.

If the price goes up substantially, it will become a huge advantage for the folks that can afford it.

Cedar Point charges $125 a day, Disney HAS to realize they are leaving money on the table.

I've never been to Cedar Point - - does the average length of stay figure into this? If Cedar Point is a two day park, what you have is people willing to spend an additional $250 per person. Would the price point change if the average visit was 4-6 days?