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

[gottalovepluto]

No more waking up at 7:00am!!! That alone makes me very very happy

Are they eliminating VQs?

 

[gottalovepluto]

I arrive on 7/28 I have to try and figure this out and get everything booked on the 24th? Ugh

#RIP

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do I understand correctly that we will be able to book these in-advance LLs only on the mobile app and not on MDE on a desktop, for example?

Right now the website specifically says the app.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Are they eliminating VQs?

No. Scott Gustin said in a mini Q&A he did on his Twitter that the VQs for Tron and Guardians are staying.

 

[tzolkin]

Honestly this is the worst news we got for our August trip. We HATED having to choose plans in advance and loved doing it day of...
I do not like the idea of selecting 3 rides in advance when I don't know what that day will bring, but also now having to because it may sell out.

I'm feeling the same way. Our last big family trip was back during the time when you booked 3FPs in advance and we disliked it so much that we have taken several years off from the parks.

Kids are all adults so we like having the option of being spontaneous, splitting up to relax or go to different parks on a whim, etc. I had just started learning about Genie+ and thought that would be ideal since we wouldn't have to decide until the morning of if we wanted to purchase or not and could just add for those who wanted to do that park that day. Then this new system was announced the next day. We will likely make park plans and purchase it for 2-3 days of our trip, but it will definitely change the overall feel of the trip.

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.

Right. I understand what people mean-- that all the perks were factored into the ticket prices whether you used them or not. But, as ticket prices have increased so drastically over the last few years and now no longer include those perks, it's inevitable that people are going to be upset about now having to pay for perks that were previously included with a much cheaper ticket.

8 day PHs for our last trip were $479 each with FP included. Now they are $877 each and you would need to pay an additional $320+ (assuming $40 per day) to buy the LLs. Businesses like to frame these changes as a positive-- "you were automatically paying for this feature before, now we are giving you the option to choose whether or not to pay for it". In reality, it's just a way for them to increase the total price by 250% in a slightly less noticeable way.

 

[LilyWDW]

I am so glad I am not going until September. Plenty of time to figure out how this is working.

I hate original FP because I have some physical limitations that made that fast walk first thing in the morning difficult.

FP+ was great, especially being able to preselect some options.

Genie+ was fine and I never had problems using it and never felt like I was glued to my phone on the trip.

This seems like a FP+ and Genie+ hybrid so I feel like I will likely like the way it works.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

That isn't quite 100% correct. You could also do just 1 pre-book, or cancel your prebooks. It was a gamble, but it was an option in the FP+ days.

You had to use or expire two tier 2s before you could pick up another tier 1 in the same park, though. I know I got burned once because the system anytimed one of my 2s and so I had to go book and use another one before I could start pulling 1s. If you failed to prebook or cancelled, you sill had to get through two 2s if you wanted more 1s before hopping. Based on the text, this won't be the case in the new system.

 

[japanese maple]

I feel moderately prepared. We don't go until December.

Would you all bother to buy this on party days? MVMCP and Jollywood? I thought no, but then I thought if I could book Slinky before the party starts (and Tiana or something at MK), may save us some party time.

 

[nursejackie]

13 nights in Moderate and Deluxe, 14 day Disney ticket, all at great expense and all in Disney's pocket and yet overseas guests cannot utilise this service! I am disgusted:

International guests will not be able to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Single Pass prior to arriving in the United States. This is likely related to international laws, and may change in the future — but probably not any time soon.

 

[spewey]

)I posted this on the News/Rumors page but I think it belongs here as well).

With the rumored changes, I was hoping for a modification of Genie+, perhaps allowing for length of stay purchase, with some advanced selections. Not eliminating it.

I certainly get many, many people hated Genie+. But then many hated Fastpass+, many hated the old paper system, and so on. When this was announced, last night I said to my wife "Alright! I get to learn from scratch a FOURTH different system in 10 years!".

And I'm sure I'll make it work. But - for us anyway, simply being completely selfish - this is a step back. By far the best experience we had with these "express" systems came in our last trip, in 2022. We were some of the lucky ones who were able to purchase Genie+ for our entire length of stay, so no worrying about that every day. And, acknowledging having getting up before 7 to book certain rides is a bit inconvenient in theory, in practise - again for us - it was not a big deal at all.

Our first day that trip was a textbook example of what could be done with the system. We booked an ILL for SDMT at MK for just after lunch, and roped dropped that park; we also booked an ILL for RotR for about 4, and Genie+ for SDD in the evening. We toured MK at open hitting rides based on wait times, and two hours in I booked another Genie+ for the afternoon in HS. And so on, every two hours, stacking times at HS. Hopped over there after SDMT, and began to "churn" through our Genie selections, adding another after each tap in.

Sounds complicated, right? And stuck staring at your phone all day, right? Not at all. I don't think that was ever true. I mean, are there folks out there that simply refuse to check wait times on their phones at all? Just on principle? Meaning you have to walk half a mile in the brutal heat just to see a line is too long?

In other words - you're in line for a ride. Where to next you wonder? Let's check the ride times. Oh look - there's a Genie+ return time for Big Thunder - I think I'll take it! It's not that hard.

Using this system, in the day I'm describing above we were able to (including the ILLs) skip the standby lines for about a dozen rides. It was awesome.

Oh well. La plus ca change ...

 

[carlyannek]

I just got off the phone with Disney, as we had to modify our tickets for our upcoming trip. The customer service rep asked me if I was aware of the new changes to Genie. I told her that I was aware, and that I was disappointed that international guests were not having the opportunity to book in advance, despite my 14 days booked at a deluxe resort. She had no idea what I was talking about. She then pulled up her document on it, and went to the FAQ portion. She read the whole thing aloud to me, and then went "oh.. my.. gosh...." and then read line ten to me which stated "for international guests, while they will be able to utilize this service, it will not be available until they arrive to the United States." She then messaged her team lead, who confirmed the change.

For those who were wanting confirmation from Disney.

She said she was so embarrassed because had I not brought that to her attention, she would have been giving incorrect information. She said we would be vocal about this with her lead and make sure that the correct information is given out to people.

Why is Disney trying to sneak this through? I do not know.

 

[Silvermist999]

13 nights in Moderate and Deluxe, 14 day Disney ticket, all at great expense and all in Disney's pocket and yet overseas guests cannot utilise this service! I am disgusted:

International guests will not be able to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Single Pass prior to arriving in the United States. This is likely related to international laws, and may change in the future — but probably not any time soon.

Our trip starts on the 27th and we are staying onsite but we can’t even book on the 24th since we are coming from Canada. I hope they figure this out in the next few weeks.

 

[LilyWDW]

I just got off the phone with Disney, as we had to modify our tickets for our upcoming trip. The customer service rep asked me if I was aware of the new changes to Genie. I told her that I was aware, and that I was disappointed that international guests were not having the opportunity to book in advance, despite my 14 days booked at a deluxe resort. She had no idea what I was talking about. She then pulled up her document on it, and went to the FAQ portion. She read the whole thing aloud to me, and then went "oh.. my.. gosh...." and then read line ten to me which stated "for international guests, while they will be able to utilize this service, it will not be available until they arrive to the United States." She then messaged her team lead, who confirmed the change.

For those who were wanting confirmation from Disney.

She said she was so embarrassed because had I not brought that to her attention, she would have been giving incorrect information. She said we would be vocal about this with her lead and make sure that the correct information is given out to people.

Why is Disney trying to sneak this through? I do not know.

I don't think Disney is trying to sneak it through. I think the CM did not read the document as well as they should have. Having been a manager who had to get information out to employees, it is amazing how many don't pay attention to what they are given. I mean, you even said she "pulled up HER document on it" and it was in there.

 

[Cazbucket]

13 nights in Moderate and Deluxe, 14 day Disney ticket, all at great expense and all in Disney's pocket and yet overseas guests cannot utilise this service! I am disgusted:

International guests will not be able to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Single Pass prior to arriving in the United States. This is likely related to international laws, and may change in the future — but probably not any time soon.

Same here 7 days deluxe 7 days Mod plus 14 day tickets. I too am disgusted

 

[Karalee402]

I just got off the phone with a CM wanting to try to get confirmation (for whatever that's worth so early on) about split stays. The lovely CM I spoke with said she'd assume it would be treated the same as ADRs since the system registers two different stays, but that they haven't released anything specific on that yet. I just keep hoping that since it's ticket based, it may not be treated the same as ADRs. We shall see.

 

[carlyannek]

I don't think Disney is trying to sneak it through. I think the CM did not read the document as well as they should have. Having been a manager who had to get information out to employees, it is amazing how many don't pay attention to what they are given. I mean, you even said she "pulled up HER document on it" and it was in there.

I think you're interpreting my summary a little too literally. I'm not claiming she felt ownership of the document lol she was literally just trying to help me and confirm the question that I asked. The portion about international guests not being able to participate in the advanced selections was a footnote in the document she was given. I'm sure like any call centre job, they are provided with new documents and memos all the time. When this rolled out for them yesterday, she was given no indication from her superiors that it would be different for international guests, and there was only a line written about it in the FAQ. That's what I mean about sneaking this through. The fact that we are all here left to squabble about it and we are distrustful of information means that they weren't forthright in their policies.

 

[gottalovepluto]

-

 

[gottalovepluto]

Why is Disney trying to sneak this through? I do not know.

Now I think the planning team is just a bunch of space cadets and this being an issue didn’t even occur to them…

 

[Nick6300]

This looks like the old FastPass system, only now you will pay for it. This looks like a huge step backwards in my opinion. One park per day? And IF you're lucky enough to snag something good once everyone else already staying on property snags theirs at the 7 day mark, there will be absolutely nothing good left the day of once you scan into your first LL. This looks really terrible.

I've been referring to this new LL process as "FP+$". Because it appears to be like FP+ but start at today's G+ pricing, dynamic, but they will increase the pricing and maybe have more ability to increase pricing because the 3 selections at a time, in advance, may seem worth more to guests vs. the 1 at a time G+. This is smart on their part in more ways than just that for value adding to increase pricing in the future... as advance booking of FP+$ means a sneaky way of having reservations back for their tracking. Also people who liked to wait to see how crowds were before buying G+ may have FOMO and feel pressured to buy it, in fear of missing out on all good selections, also increasing use of FP+$.

Just like any major change, not everyone is going to be happy with it. Guests who mainly stay offsite, certain AP locals or guests like me who stick with Sept stays and try hard not to buy G+, is not going to want increased adoption of FP+$. They will either be pressured to buy it more often than they would have wanted it or maybe see longer wait times SB. Guests who buy G+ most days now or more wealthier guests who don't care if it goes to something like $100/person/day in a few yrs. probably love going from 1 selection to 3, in advance. For us, who usually stay on site, selfishly would want 1 day or no advance booking for offsite.

Maybe I'm wrong, it could be too early to judge this negatively.

 

[nursejackie]

I am lucky in a way, because I do not travel until August 2025, and maybe things will have changed by then for international guests. But then again it may not, and it's just added stress, I should only be feeling excitement!

I have emailed Disney and also signed the petition.