Genie+ Really is Paid FastPass+ at Disney World
We’ve been referring to Genie+ as “paid FastPass” since before its debut at Walt Disney World, and now the company is offering a tacit confirmation of this via a new caveat aimed at lowering expectations. In this post, we’ll take a look at the language change, why it was likely added, and more.
This new warning (of sorts) comes after Walt Disney World moved Individual Lightning Lane attractions to Genie+ through August 7, 2022. That should improve the quality of the Genie+ experience, adding availability, and (theoretically) how many standard Lightning Lane selections you can score in a day when attendance is higher.
That move mimics one made for the Christmas season last year, and was one of many problems with Lightning Lanes and the paid FastPass service. Those range from increased technical difficulties to limited ride reservation inventory with the whole system and infrastructure placed under greater usage. In any case, here’s the “expectation lowering” official verbiage from DisneyWorld.com’s Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane Entrance page:
When you take your day to the next level by purchasing Disney Genie+ service, you may choose the next available arrival window for Lightning Lane entrances at select attractions and entertainment. This unique service lets you use our new Lightning Lane entrance at select attractions and experiences at the Walt Disney World theme parks. On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.
You can enjoy a Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane entrance once per day. If you’d like to re-ride an attraction or see a certain show again within the same day, you are welcome to use our regular standby line.
The pertinent new text is this: “On average, guests can enter 2 to 3 attractions or experiences per day using the Lightning Lane entrance if the first selection is made early in the day.” (H/t to Scott Gustin for spotting this change.)
This sentence has been added in a variety of locations around DisneyWorld.com and in My Disney Experience, including on the various in-app pop-ups that appear prior to purchasing the Genie+ service. From that, it’s very clear that Walt Disney World wants guests to see this message, and is attempting to manage (read: lower) expectations about how much they can accomplish via the Lightning Lane line-skipping service.
The reason this is a tacit admission by Walt Disney World that Genie+ is really paid FastPass+ is likely obvious to longtime fans. In case not, 3 is the number of attractions that could be reserved in advance under the free FastPass+ service. This means Genie+ is essentially a $16 daily ticket price increase by a different name.
Actually, it’s not just a $16 daily ticket price increase. As Disney notes, this is the number that can be accomplished if the first selection is made earlier in the day. In other words, you’ll need to wake up at or around 7 am each day of your vacation. Oh, and you’ll also need to overcome the MDX app’s error of the day. (Will it be a deluge of email confirmation codes, random crashes, linking errors, or something else? Who knows! And isn’t that the thrill of it?!?)
In other words, Genie+ has higher costs than free FastPass+, both monetarily and in vacation time and frustrations. (Some of these same faults existed with FastPass+, but at least they were shifted a month or two ahead of your trip and thus couldn’t ruin your day while actually on vacation.)
This change also comes as the Genie+ system comes under greater stress due to elevated attendance at Walt Disney World. We’ve gone over this in a number of recent reports, but winter was (nearly) a return to pre-closure highs, and February was the busiest month in the last two years at Walt Disney World.
Spoiler alert: March 2022 is going to “dethrone” last month for that dubious distinction, with an average wait time across all Walt Disney World attractions of 47 minutes. That’s 2 minutes higher than last month, which may not seem like much, but definitely adds up in aggregate. If Disney Park Pass reservations are any indication (they very much are), April is going to be on par with–or maybe even worse than–March and February.
As a result of our experiences with in in the last couple of months, we’ve been warning that Genie+ is becoming less useful and is not the end-all, be-all of park touring strategy. To that end, we published Genie+ v. Savvy Standby Strategy at Walt Disney World, which is the result of extensive ‘testing’ to determine the best and worst ways to beat the crowds right now. (We put a lot of work into that, and it should be incredibly useful for planning, while not being too overwhelming.)
The only park where Genie+ was the clear-cut winner was Magic Kingdom. Everywhere else, there were superior strategies for saving time waiting in line. That’s true even with Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where we had previously strongly recommended buying the Genie+ service. For DHS, we called Genie+ the “option of last resort” because it’s headache-inducing, but not any more so than standby lines, which are just brutal at DHS.
We’ve also shared recent full day experiences with Genie+ at both Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (see My Day Using Genie+ Lightning Lanes in Peak Crowds at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and My Day Using Genie+ for Spring Break 2022 at Magic Kingdom).
If you read those, you’ll notice I accomplished significantly more than Walt Disney World’s caveat suggests. Keep in mind that the company’s statement is prefaced with “on average.” I’m anything but average when it comes to using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. That might sound like a humblebrag, and I guess sort of is, but it would be a pretty lame point of pride. I doubt my parents are bragging to their friends that their son has mastered an unnecessarily complex queueing system.
More than anything, this is an acknowledgement of the complexity of Genie+ and the differential between its power users and first-timers. There’s a reason we have a ~4,500 word Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ along with another dozen-plus posts for those who want to thoroughly master the new paid FastPass system. It isn’t easy, but knowledge can help significantly in achieving better results.
With that said, I do think Walt Disney World’s stated 2-3 average is way low for Magic Kingdom. Even with only a cursory understanding of the system on high crowd days, guests should easily be able to accomplish double that number of attractions via the Lightning Lanes. That’s the benefit of a more ride-dense park. The other 3 parks are probably in the 2-3 range if you only care about headliners.
(Now this has me curious. If you’ve used Genie+ in the last two months or during the holiday season, how many Lightning Lanes were you able to book? Please share numbers–even if just ballpark estimates–in the comments.)
Even while it has worked for us, we’ve been incredibly disappointed by Genie+ and Lightning Lanes as a whole. Prior to launch, our original perspective was that paid FastPass was an inevitability, and that “it could’ve been worse.” My biggest frustration at that time was messaging; Walt Disney World failed to communicate just how the system would work and the different Lightning Lanes would work. (Something that still hasn’t been sufficiently remedied, in my view.)
I’ll admit to being more bullish back then about Genie+ than the average Walt Disney World fan. I was wrong and feel like I owe you an apology–I expected better of Walt Disney World with the Genie system. This optimism was based on our experiences with MaxPass at Disneyland, which were largely positive.
For a blog known for overthinking literally everything, I should’ve given that analysis more thought. Disneyland is a terrible comparison to 3 of the 4 parks at Walt Disney World because it actually has a healthy number of rides. (Like its predecessor, Genie+ works great at Disneyland…minus some new tech issues and rule quirks.)
I also didn’t foresee some of technical difficulties, frustrating user interface, and lack of obvious features. Call that one a “failure of imagination,” as I should absolutely know better when it comes to all things related to Disney IT. (In my defense, MaxPass was right there as a template and didn’t have this level of problems. Leave it to Disney to reinvent the wheel and make it square.) I also dramatically underestimated the number of guests who would purchase Genie+ at Walt Disney World; as more people purchase Genie+, Lightning Lane availability decreases and competition grows.
Ultimately, that’s the tough and sad thing about Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. “Success” with the system comes at the expense of tech novices or less knowledgeable guests, many of whom will drop $16 per person for next to no advantage. This isn’t just theoretical–we’ve received feedback from literally hundreds of guests at this point who have reported exactly that.
If a third party blog is receiving this type of negative reviews for Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, there’s absolutely no way the company isn’t hearing the same from guests. We’ve noticed longer lines at Guest Relations and have heard of refunds issued for Genie+ becoming commonce. They’re undoubtedly receiving negative feedback online via social media and surveying.
Speaking of which, company executives have praised Disney Genie for improving per guest spending and its high popularity during recent earnings calls and at various conferences. One rather conspicuous omission from this commentary has been guest satisfaction scores. The first few quarters after Walt Disney World reopened, the resilience of these numbers was regularly touted. They’ve been silent on that topic in the quarters since Genie debuted. Any guesses why?!
Ultimately, whenever language like this ‘2-3 attractions’ warning is added to lower expectations, there’s a reason for it. Disney has a sophisticated survey and research apparatus, and my strong suspicion is that the “results” there from guests who have bought Genie+ in the last few months are anything but positive. Of course, that’s just a guess–maybe guests lowkey love Genie+, and the backlash here and on other corners of the internet is incorrect. (That’ll likely go down as the best unintentional joke this blog has ever told.)
In fairness to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, there is no perfect solution. FastPass+ likewise had a steep learning curve, and it was counterintuitive to most guests to plan out rides 30 or 60 days in advance of their vacation. Paper FastPass was physically-demanding, requiring people to criss-cross the parks (remember runners?!). Neither of those were this stressful and confusing, and at least those were not directly monetized (a lot can be forgiven when it’s free!). I certainly hope Walt Disney World is paying attention to guest satisfaction and feedback. Even though Genie+ works well for me (and can for you), it shouldn’t require being a power user who has taken a crash course in the system’s strategy to have a good day in the parks.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on my Walt Disney World’s warning that guests can only experience 2-3 attractions via Lightning Lanes on average? Thinking we’re making too much of this language tweak, or is it a fair to point to this as the paid FastPass system not being able to handle guest demand and meet expectations? If you’ve purchased Genie+ in the last ~2 months (or over the holiday season), how many Lightning Lanes were you able to reserve? Are you planning on buying Genie+ or sticking to free standby lines at WDW? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We were at WDW the week of March 6. We purchased Genie+ only one day at MK (3/8). I was able to book 6 rides with Genie+. Traveling with three kids, this needed to be our “turn in early day” as we were not going to take an afternoon break due to the hassle of leaving and returning to the MK. We left the park about 7pm, but a few attractions were still available to book if we had stayed all day.
7am: I was ready and waiting to book my first LL while at the bus stop. I booked Peter Pan’s Flight. It changed to 10am (from 9am when I clicked) as I had to manually click the kid’s names to add them to the reservation as opposed to it automatically linking them. This occurred throughout the day.
7:10am: Kids find out that I have purchased line skipping services. The two older kids are not thrilled with my choice of Peter Pan’s Flight. I board the MK bus and spend the whole ride searching for a 9am hour LL and dealing with glitches. I manage to book two separate Big Thunder Mtn LLs: two AP holders get 9:05am and the three kids receive 9:35am.
7:30am: We are excited and arrive at MK. We are behind only one other family at the turnstiles. We proceed to rope for 7DMT rope drop.
8:30am: We board 7DMT. Afterward, we split up. 3 go to Space Mountain and beat the regular crowd – 30 minute wait. 7 year old and adult ride Dumbo, Little Mermaid, and the Carrousel.
9:40am: We arrive at Big Thunder for our LL time. We had a quick snack while waiting on the party riding Fantasyland attractions. I did hate the feeling of wanting them to hurry as I wanted to “clock-in” as early as possible for the best selections for the next LL.
I book Haunted Mansion for 11:20am while in line at Big Thunder. I try to find an earlier option through refreshing. There really needs to be a modify option. After booking and canceling the same LL twice, the system refuses to allow me to cancel again, so I accept my fate with the 11:20am LL. This will coincide nicely with our planned lunch at Columbia Harbour House. (Note: This same glitch occurred later when I canceled and rebooked the same LL.)
10:00am: Well-trained 11 year old who has the correct priorities requests to ride the Peoplemover. I, in my Peoplemover t-shirt, am thrilled. We cross the park to ride the Peoplemover, then proceed to Tomorrowland Speedway (at the request of the same 11 year old, what can I say). As we are taking turns moving away from the crowd to apply sunscreen, we realize the line is far longer than the posted 25 minute wait.
Uncertain of the time, but before 11, we make our way to see the updated Mickey’s Philharmagic. We are able to enter the next show. It is now time for the Haunted Mansion LL after a bathroom break. I book a 1:40pm Buzz Lightyear LL. We have lunch after Haunted Mansion.
Unfortunately, after lunch, the 11 year old says he has a headache. We head to First Aid for children’s medicine. We cool down at the Tomorrowland Terrace to decide if we need to head back to the room. Medicine works and kid feels better. It is now time for Buzz Lightyear. We ride Buzz Lightyear, and I book a Splash Mountain LL in the 5pm hour. Kids are thrilled as this has been the most requested ride all day.
We proceed to the Polynesian for a break and Dole Whips. Best decision of the day. (Note: We were staying at the Boardwalk.)
We head back to MK for pictures and shopping. I had set an alarm for the two hour mark after booking Splash Mtn and book Pirates of the Caribbean for 5:55pm at about 3:40pm while on the monorail back to MK.
We get in line for Big Thunder with a posted 45 minute wait only to have it go up to 60 minutes while barely moving in the line. With Splash Mountain being more important, we decide to bail to ensure the possible impending rain storm does not prevent us from riding. We wait a few minutes for our LL window to open. As soon as we exit Splash Mountain, the rain starts. I search for another LL while under the awning. A 5:50pm Magic Carpets of Aladdin comes up. The 7 year old wanted to ride earlier, so I book it as a “bonus”. We had that direction in the spotty rain.
We are ten minutes too early to ride, and the CM suggests we watch the Enchanted Tiki Room as it starts in 2 minutes. We enjoy the show, the rain stops, and we ride Magic Carpets with LL (having way more fun than I thought possible), and Pirates with LL. Tired, but happy, we leave the park.
While in line for cotton candy and popcorn on the way out, the ten year old, unprompted, says “I am glad we had Lightning Lanes today. We would not have been able to ride anything without it.” This statement was sad and true. I was glad I invested in the service for the one day. Based on posted wait times, we saved 4 hours in line, including 85 minutes at Splash Mountain which we were able to pick the perfect time to ride at the end of our day.
Overall, I was glad I purchased Genie+ for the one day at MK since I had my nieces and nephew with me. As an AP holder, I would not have purchased the service for myself. Also, as an AP holder used to navigating the parks, I was surprised we did not accomplish more during the day, especially as one of the first families to enter the park. I was prepared for heavy crowds, having done my research, but the crowds were still a shock to the system after going to the parks frequently during the pandemic.
I decided to describe my entire day as it is likely to mirror many others’ days with trips to First Aid, breaks, etc. I hope my experience will be beneficial for others and set expectations of what you will accomplish with younger kids.
Thank you Hillary!
Thanks for the trip report with the added detail, helps to paint a picture!
What I don’t understand from another post on Genie+ was that Tom was able to maximize LL by checking in early. If you can do that, what is point of a return time. I am confused, if someone can please provide some enlightenment regarding this, it would be much appreciated. Heading to WDW on April 15. Thanks!
3 today at HS – up and scheduling by 7am, set alarm on Fitbit for every 2 hours after park opening. After 3, the only ones left weren’t worth even scheduling (like Olaf meet & greet that only had a 5 min standby wait.). But, more than the crowd levels affecting G+, really the bigger issues are that you can’t do the same ride more than once in G+ and….. The absolute worst is that you can’t time the passes, so if you’re entire party doesn’t want to ride a particular ride and you want to split the G+ passes, you will likely have to choose between doing that and not being together the rest of your rides or not splitting up the passes. Our teens no longer have the option if going on different rides from us for part of the day and meeting back up with us later.
We were there week between Christmas and New Years. In HS we got just 1-2 G+LL per day. In Epcot and Animal Kingdom we managed 2 each. In Magic Kingdom we got 4 or 5. Each day we arrived early but not rope drop and left mid-afternoon. We could have gotten more LLs much later bt that did not work for our plans and preferences. We also could have gotten some useless ones (either low wait rides or things like Philharmagic where it accomplishes nothing) but again chose not to.
It really does sound like Genie+ Really is Paid “virtual version of paper” FastPass at Disneyland, but there’s so many caveats that the WDW Genie+ version seems worse than every other pre-existing system, even setting aside free vs. paid. It blows my mind that decision makers thought that people who don’t like FastPass+ because they had to get up at 7AM 30 or 60+ days out to preplan their vacation trip wanted to get up 7AM to preplan their vacation day. Disneyland’s system that allows one to get a reservation once they’ve entered the park should be closer to ideal for “those wanting spontaneity” or “happen to be new” to the park.
In theory, Genie+ at WDW is really only better than Paid FastPass+ if you like getting up to make reservations at 7AM but only on vacation on the last possible date and worse than at least one preexisting system for everyone else. (Okay, maybe not at Epcot, where you only got two good FP+ anyway.) In practice, forcing the use of the old MyMagic backend has resulted in more tech glitches than before, especially in DL.
We were in Disney the week prior to Christmas and used Genie + on all of the days. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount I was able to book. I was able to score at least 4 LLs on all days EXCEPT for our Hollywood Studios day where we booked only 2, however that still helped our day tremendously. I think the hard part is that you can’t pick the times – that prevented us from selecting more. Our group always wanted a midday break so even if there was a good LL at say 2:00 PM our group was passing on that. During the trip, we definitely found a sweet spot of stacking LLs more in the evening. Park hopping and booking those LLs also proved to be very advantageous. One day specifically, we started the day in Epcot and then had 3 LLs booked for Hollywood Studios that night (RnR, Smugglers, and Toy Story Mania). It made for a great evening! The big thing I miss about FastPass+ (minus the price!) was being able to reschedule times to better align with how we do the parks – early morning risers with mid day breaks.
Today’s finance rumor is that Big Bob will be engaging in his next project in 11 months, courtesy of the Board of Directors. Never has one man with so many resources infuriated so many in so little time.
I assume you mean outside of government lol.
I used genie+ on a trip in early January for DHS, and it was perfect. I hit every ride in the park in perfect linear succession with about 30 min overlap between each reservation, including paid ILL for rise and a 25 min standby at M&MRR.
Fast forward to my Feb trip. I consider myself something of a power user and over planner and due to an inability to even use the app from technical difficulties throughout the day I got smugglers run and alien saucers. And a migraine. Technically I got Muppets too but only cos I thought it was funny to book it as I was already walking in to the empty waiting area. There just wasn’t anything else available by the time the app was working.
I don’t mind having to pay extra for a service that works but to pay extra and do everything right and still not get to do half of what I used to be able to makes me want to hurl refuse at Disney management.
My parents and I went to WDW for marathon weekend and used Genie+ for all parks except EPCOT. I did not go to Studios because I had to work that day, and I heard from my parents they basically paid $15 to use Genie+ for two rides. They then paid additional $$ for Mickey’s Runaway Railroad. Since GEnie+ doesn’t really do any kind of job at funneling guests to queues, smaller parks get hit harder, and they didn’t like how crowded Studios was. We used Genie+ once in AK for the Safari ride (we do NOT do Pandora whatsoever), and I found AK was extremely crowded as well. We paid for LL in EPCOT for Ratatouille, and then I used it for MK when I went the day my parents flew home. I used it for two rides. AND we’re financially minded, which means we did the cost-benefit analysis and paying $7.50 for each ride. That is what rubbed us the wrong way. That and having to be on our phones all the time to get in the queues. I want to step away from my phone when I’m on vacation.
I was at Hollywood Studios on Monday. Even with using speed strategies and knowing exactly what to do, I was only able to book 2 Genie+ selections. Technically I could have booked more but they were things with 10 minute wait, not the bigger rides. Fortunately, we had done early entry and were still able to do everything we wanted, minus Tower of Terror.
Tom, if I can’t use my expertise of an unnecessarily complicated queuing system to finally make my dad stop resenting me, then what is the point?
I used G+ at each park on my first ever visit to WDW in December, and will never use it again at 3 of the 4 parks, not even for parkhopping (unless they extend hours dramatically, eliminate the 2PM hop restriction, and a challenge run is once again possible).
Contrasted to that, I used it at DLR just last weekend on a med-high crowd day (finished up 8/10 on Touring Plans, I believe), rope dropped but left around 4PM even though DL closed at 12AM, and still made seven (7) quality selections. Could’ve obviously made plenty more if I stayed, and none of the G+included rides had run out yet (Indy was closest, with a 8-9PM window. Works a heck of a lot better when you can just casually stroll over to your next park.
We went as first timers the last week of January. Wasn’t planning on buying Genie+ at all but we ended up doing so for Hollywood Studios and 1 day of Magic Kingdom due to high crowds. We got 6 Lightning Lanes out of each day. We used the 2 hour rule for each one, as we were never given a reservation early enough to do otherwise, all of our reservation times were in the mid afternoon or later. I’m happy with our results, but I’d definitely be disappointed with 2-3 reservations.
Weekend right after Thanksgiving 2021:
3 days of Genie+, at least six rides per day.
I loved Genie+ in the fall, curious if it is collapsing under demand now. The sentence that Disney added to the G+ language is disheartening because I was hoping they would increase G+ prices rather than lower expectations. Raise prices to $30-$100 per person per day, well beyond a vacation cost “rounding error.” I’d probably stop purchasing it, but it would work better and be less of a regret to those that don’t/can’t buy it.
I’d also say that Genie+ worked best for us when we sacrificed the “top ride.” If you can live without Test Track, Slinky Dog and Jungle Cruise, it may be a lot less stressful.
Those are the only rides we want to do! Some people saying that they got 6 rides in DHS while they cant get their first ride when they go to book at 7am until the afternoon is just disingenuous. SDD, ROTR, ToT, RNR, MMRR, MFSR are all sold out by 11am every day…..so if you’re counting Muppets, Star Tours and Alien Saucers as “rides” and are willing to pay for that, then all the power to you…..Only thing thats even decent thats available after 11am is Toy Story
And there’s no need to pay for that
We were at MK, Epcot and HS on Feb. 7-9. We used Genie+ and paid lightning lanes. We were able to get quite a few at MK (including 7DMT, paid, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Winnie the Pooh and meeting princesses. What surprised me was how quickly LL disappeared for rides like It’s a Small World, Voyage of the Little Mermaid. They were out of LL availability by shortly after lunchtime and the lines were over an hour long. We skipped many of our Fantasyland favorites because the lines were outrageous (even compared to high attendance times prior to Covid). I also didn’t like not being able to choose the LL return time (like we could with Fastpass+ after using our initial 3).
At HS, we used considerably less as it rained all day and it was a high of 56 so the park wasn’t as busy. But we still got the paid pass for ROTR, and were able to get RNRC, Toy Story Midway Mania, the Frozen Sing Along, and Star Tours.
At Epcot, we did paid Ratatouille, the Seas, Spaceship Earth, Test Track and Journey to Imagination.
We probably average 4-6 LL per day when using Genie+ depending on the park and day. Usually 2-3 of the “good” ones before availability or late return times become an issue. We don’t tend to do full park days so we aren’t always maximizing the number of LL that are possible. On the other hand we often stop booking after about 3 pm (with the exception of Magic Kingdom) because the only things left have short waits anyway or return times too late in the day for my kids. We have done 20 days with G+ since the system debuted. I have detailed notes on our days and can email them if that is helpful. Your G+/LL guides (esp the speed strategy for booking, 120 minute rule, and stacking) have been incredibly helpful! Thank you!
Here is some data from our trip two weeks ago, for whatever its worth (party of 11):
Epcot: ILL for Rat, 2 G+s for TT and Soarin
MK: ILL for 7D, 4 G+s for Space, Thunder, Splash, Peter Pan
DHS: ILL for RotR, 3 G+s for SDD, MMRR, Alien
AK: ILL for FoP, 2 G+s for NRJ, Safari
MK: 1 G+ for JC
I felt like we got real lucky up to the last day, which didn’t go so well.
Just walking around WDW, I was amazed by how many people are still calling LL’s “Fastpass”. The name has very strong brand recognition.
I assume the intention behind the rename was to try to avoid “paid FP” publicity, but my money is on the more recognisable name coming back within a couple of years.
I’m one of those people! Maybe we could compromise with Disney to call it Fast Lane instead? Otherwise I’m afraid I’ll still be calling it Fastpass three years from now.
Why would anyone go to Disney and buy super expensive tickets and then purchase an additional Genie+ fee to add to your already outrageous bill? Didn’t you just by a park ticket to ride the rides?? Disney is the land of the Rich. I’m not rich so guess I will no longer beable to go to the parks.
I’m wondering how long before Disney begins charging for transportation (not joking at all). Maybe they could include it with a resort stay as a perk but I’m thinking it could soon become an add on to a park ticket. Curious what Tom’s (or others) thoughts are on this. Disney has spent a lot of money on the skyliner, various boats, monorail, not to mention all the buses. I just can’t help but think Disney thinks “why are we allowing all these freeloaders on our transportation systems?” Maybe something like a $10 all day ticket?
Not that outrageous of an idea, although definitely new for WDW. You have to buy a ticket to use the monorail at Tokyo Disney.
We have been here since Saturday. It worked reasonably well Sat in MK – we rope dropped a few things and had Peter Pan for an early return time. We left around Mid day, and stacked a bunch for after dinner. The issue with the other parks with less headliners is that right away the return times are late in the day – we have a toddler so a 7-8pm return time is useless. We just got a refund for our party of 6 at Epcot as we only could get test track for 7pm (at 7am!). Clicked on a 230 return time but what I ended up with was 7! By the time the 2h rule came around there was nothing else worth getting…the cast members were very understanding and said it doesn’t work at all in Epcot…they said they are getting tons of complains and are ‘feeding back to management’. I don’t like the system at all because it means we can’t actually plan our days in advance which is pretty critical when you have little kids in toe.