Lightning Lane dilemma

[mousefan73]

I was just recently at Universal they also have a pass” system. It was my first time so I asked one of their employees how long express lines are in comparison to regular line. I was basically told to take the regular line and make it a half. So here we have a situation where people are actually paying for the benefit but still aren’t guaranteed move ahead of EVERYONE in line type of situation. There’s still a wait it’s just shorter. Even at WDW back in the day with the fast pass you’re still waiting at times 20 to 30 minutes when things were really busy for headliners.

 

[chimoe]

We been to Universal 4 times and always got express passes. I would disagree with 1/2 of standby wait. I would say anywhere between walk-in and 15min.

if the standby line is 1hr then the express pass wait is around 15min. I honestly can’t remember waiting in a line longer than that.

I was just recently at Universal they also have a pass” system. It was my first time so I asked one of their employees how long express lines are in comparison to regular line. I was basically told to take the regular line and make it a half. So here we have a situation where people are actually paying for the benefit but still aren’t guaranteed move ahead of EVERYONE in line type of situation. There’s still a wait it’s just shorter. Even at WDW back in the day with the fast pass you’re still waiting at times 20 to 30 minutes when things were really busy for headliners.

 

[tony67]

I was just recently at Universal they also have a pass” system. It was my first time so I asked one of their employees how long express lines are in comparison to regular line. I was basically told to take the regular line and make it a half. So here we have a situation where people are actually paying for the benefit but still aren’t guaranteed move ahead of EVERYONE in line type of situation. There’s still a wait it’s just shorter. Even at WDW back in the day with the fast pass you’re still waiting at times 20 to 30 minutes when things were really busy for headliners.

As PP posted - there is no guarantee of the time but Id agree - walk on to 15 min.

If you are there at a crazy busy time then 1/2 might be right - ive neve gone at a crazy busy time.

Also - Universal does not have express pass for their "big" rides, so velocicoster and harrgrads dont use the express pass - they are designed for it but they do not use it. Of course they might be watching how this all works for Disney and look at adding a paid level for the headliners.

 

[tony67]

Is there a scheduled start date to when this begins? My trip is in 2 weeks. Ugh!

Id think they will get this going pretty soon - the signs are already up - id guess my mid month so they can work out the bugs before the 1st.

 

[SkyGuy]

Since the announcement said “coming this fall”, I’m going with September 22nd-ish (as a wild stab in the dark).

 

[hayesdvc]

Whether the specific ride will have a paid option or not (ie, ROR), the FP+ signage has been changed to Lighting Lane. So, at MK I pay my $15 and able to choose Pirates will I enter the Lighting Lane for that ride and pay individual $$$ to ride SWMT, will I enter something called Lighting Lane, too?

 

[fumanchu2488]

Not sure the exact situation but could you just ask everyone to pay for their own when you get there? If you (grandparents) have paid for everything it doesn’t seem like too big an ask just to have the others pay the Genie+ fee.

Based on my understanding the one good thing I have heard is it may be a la cart. So when you get there if it seems like the Genie+ is necessary, just buy it. Also, I would go out on a limb to say the best park to have it would be MK, so maybe you just get it your MK days.

Lastly, and the thing that bugs me more than anything, is the individual attraction selections. Your group is kind of who this is designed to help but you will have to make a decision. The once in a few years travelers that really want to ride ROTR. Is it worth it to you to pay $15 or $20 per person to guarantee that ride? Maybe, but that is an awful lot of money. Say your group really wants Mine train, ROTR, Remy and Avatar. That by itself could be $600 or $700 not to mention the Genie + of you do that.

in short, I would just hold off and wait until you get there.

 

[Turksmom]

Whether the specific ride will have a paid option or not (ie, ROR), the FP+ signage has been changed to Lighting Lane. So, at MK I pay my $15 and able to choose Pirates will I enter the Lighting Lane for that ride and pay individual $$$ to ride SWMT, will I enter something called Lighting Lane, too?

Yes. The physical queues are Lightning Lanes. Genie+ is the $15 pp/pd option that allows you to access most Lightning Lanes at the next available time. Individual Attraction Selections are paid for individually and not included in the G+ fee.

 

[hetzeltj]

Our plan to keep wait times minimal for the most popular attractions while not paying for those LL$ attractions will be the same two strategies we used during FP+ when we couldn't grab a fp we really wanted.

1) Rope Drop. This will be even more important for those of us staying on property. With the 30-minute early entry, we will get a head start at the most popular attractions. And I can't remember if they will allow LL$ during that early entry period, so that might help the standby lines move quicker.

2) Park close. Waiting in line after everything is closed (including the LL) is much easier for us because it doesn't feel like we are wasting time. What else is there to do? Wait in the long transportation line? We enjoy hopping in line the last second in one of the most popular rides and then turn our brains off. That also makes exiting the park so much easier.

If we have 8 park days, that gives us quite a few attempts to ride something with minimal waits AND not paying extra. We don't even need rope drop or stay until park close every single day to get a lot of the best attractions knocked out with shorter lines. We like to take a long break during the afternoon so we can take advantage of better wait times in the mornings and evenings, so this works for us.

This is the only way to do disney.

 

[1lilspark]

Whether the specific ride will have a paid option or not (ie, ROR), the FP+ signage has been changed to Lighting Lane. So, at MK I pay my $15 and able to choose Pirates will I enter the Lighting Lane for that ride and pay individual $$$ to ride SWMT, will I enter something called Lighting Lane, too?

Yes…
Lightning Lane is just the new name for fastpass lane and you book them either via genie + subscription or ala carte micro transactions ( DAS riders, rider swap return, guest recovery passes will probably also board via the lightning lane like they did when it was fastpass)

 

[Miffy]

The IAS attractions (the a la carte, pay-for-the-attraction ones) are not on Genie+. Genie+ is one set of attractions and IAS is another, smaller, set. No attraction is on both. If I understand this correctly. So someone who paid for IAS would not be competing with a Genie+ purchaser.

I'm gonna guess that the attractions that sell out IAS every day will be RotR and FoP. I'll probably be one of the people paying for FoP if it's that or waiting in a 2-hour-long line. I've had pretty good luck with the RotR BG process, although I'm suspecting those slots will be more limited after IAS is installed.

 

[Tonberry]

My opinion:
Anyone in the LL they'll let in right away. As soon as they see a LL enter the que, they'll put them right in ahead of the standby line. Disney is going to see them as paying customers and get them in and out as quickly as possible. For 2 reason.
1) If they have no wait at all, the guest will think it's great and be more apt to pay for another LL. If they have to wait a little bit, they'll think "this isn't worth the money I paid."
2) It gets them out quicker. The faster you can get a guest who's willing to pay for a service in-and-out, the faster they'll become available to make another purchase.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

The IAS attractions (the a la carte, pay-for-the-attraction ones) are not on Genie+. Genie+ is one set of attractions and IAS is another, smaller, set. No attraction is on both. If I understand this correctly. So someone who paid for IAS would not be competing with a Genie+ purchaser.

I'm gonna guess that the attractions that sell out IAS every day will be RotR and FoP. I'll probably be one of the people paying for FoP if it's that or waiting in a 2-hour-long line. I've had pretty good luck with the RotR BG process, although I'm suspecting those slots will be more limited after IAS is installed.

I think your statements are correct, but the Virtual Queues/Boarding Groups do add yet another layer of confusion/options to the process! If I understand it correctly, ROTR will continue to be a Virtual QUeue attraction - meaning no actual standby option. So you'll have many people trying to grab the free BGs. After that, it's expected there will be a purchase-to-ride option, what you've mentioned as IAS. ROTR will have no actual involvement with G+. On the other hand, there are likely to be some attractions that are currently non-BG attractions that will be added to the IAS list. Using your example of FOP, it's very possible that is a paid IAS, but also on the G+ system. I wonder if they would consider making all IAS attractions with a Virtual Queue/BG option. The wild and crazy planning requirements for WDW!

 

[Miffy]

I think your statements are correct, but the Virtual Queues/Boarding Groups do add yet another layer of confusion/options to the process! If I understand it correctly, ROTR will continue to be a Virtual QUeue attraction - meaning no actual standby option. So you'll have many people trying to grab the free BGs. After that, it's expected there will be a purchase-to-ride option, what you've mentioned as IAS. ROTR will have no actual involvement with G+. On the other hand, there are likely to be some attractions that are currently non-BG attractions that will be added to the IAS list. Using your example of FOP, it's very possible that is a paid IAS, but also on the G+ system. I wonder if they would consider making all IAS attractions with a Virtual Queue/BG option. The wild and crazy planning requirements for WDW!

As I understand it, if a ride is an IAS attraction it is not on G+. But I could be wrong. And since no one has yet used Genie or Genie+ or IAS, we'll have to wait for the on-the-ground info.

 

[cjlong88]

As I understand it, if a ride is an IAS attraction it is not on G+. But I could be wrong. And since no one has yet used Genie or Genie+ or IAS, we'll have to wait for the on-the-ground info.

This is exactly how I interpret it. The IAS attractions aren't available on Genie+. So you want LL access for 7DMT (an IAS attraction, for example, you will need to pay a separate charge for that access because 7DMT isn't on the list of attractions included with Genie+.

 

[1lilspark]

What I see the strategy for the $LL attractions to be:

Rise & Remy = try for 7am boarding group if fail either book a LL (if your off site you must wait till you tap into park but on-site may also do this at 7am) or gamble on the 1pm boarding group drop if you don’t get in at 1PM if there are LL still available the surge price will go up because it’s your only option to use attraction

mine train (and if rumored list is true FOP, slinky dog, test track, Safari and space mountain) you see the standby wait vs the surge pricing at the time for LL and do what’s best for your party/budget in the moment

 

[fumanchu2488]

What I see the strategy for the $LL attractions to be:

Rise & Remy = try for 7am boarding group if fail either book a LL (if your off site you must wait till you tap into park but on-site may also do this at 7am) or gamble on the 1pm boarding group drop if you don’t get in at 1PM if there are LL still available the surge price will go up because it’s your only option to use attraction

mine train (and if rumored list is true FOP, slinky dog, test track, Safari and space mountain) you see the standby wait vs the surge pricing at the time for LL and do what’s best for your party/budget in the moment

I don’t think this would work because my understanding is that you would need a park reservation for the park where the ride is. But now thinking that may not be true because I think it had something about park hopping. But maybe you can buy it once you hop to that park. I don’t know this is so confusing.

 

[gottalovepluto]

As I understand it, if a ride is an IAS attraction it is not on G+. But I could be wrong. And since no one has yet used Genie or Genie+ or IAS, we'll have to wait for the on-the-ground info.

I thought Disney specifically said IAS attractions will not be available on G+

 

[1lilspark]

I don’t think this would work because my understanding is that you would need a park reservation for the park where the ride is. But now thinking that may not be true because I think it had something about park hopping. But maybe you can buy it once you hop to that park. I don’t know this is so confusing.

RE: Hopping from my understanding
If you pay for genie+ you can use it for the day so long as there are open LL windows in the system

for $LL you are limited to 2 attractions PER day so you could theoretically have a park reservation for DAK buy LL for FOP than hoo after 2 to MK and pay for Mine Train (if slots are still available for the day)

at least that’s my understanding

 

[fumanchu2488]

RE: Hopping from my understanding
If you pay for genie+ you can use it for the day so long as there are open LL windows in the system

for $LL you are limited to 2 attractions PER day so you could theoretically have a park reservation for DAK buy LL for FOP than hoo after 2 to MK and pay for Mine Train (if slots are still available for the day)

at least that’s my understanding

It is so confusing. But I don’t think you could try for Remy and ROTR on virtual group in the same day because you probably need a park reservation. The next question is paying for the LL. I would think you need to be in the park at least to buy the LL access since my guess would be that the times come quick. Or maybe you buy it and get to pick a time?