What’s Up with Lightning Lane Multi Pass Availability at Disney World?
It’s been one week since Walt Disney World rolled out the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and there have already been a lot of quiet changes. This post takes a look at LLMP availability for the most popular rides in recent days, same-day (and advance!) ride reservation refills, and more–with the goal of determining whether it’s now more or less difficult to score the best selections in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
Once again, we want to warn you that all of this is subject to change. For one thing, Walt Disney World is not busy right now. It’s been a slow summer at Orlando’s theme parks, as we discuss at length in Summer (Still) Is NOT High Crowds Season at Walt Disney World. Since Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP) launched, crowd levels have been 1/10 to 3/10 with WDW-wide average wait times of 26-34 minutes.
If you want to quibble with this–fine, whatever. Irrespective of current crowds, it’s going to get worse. On average, October through December will be busier than July and August. Same goes for most of January through March 2025. Right now through mid-September is the calm before the storm. (See our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars.)
I don’t want to entirely rehash our previous post about Lightning Lane availability, but this is a really important point–so skip ahead to the first app screenshot if you already understand the “why” of it mattering.
More people purchase Lightning Lanes when crowds are higher. This is something we’ve seen time and time again in the last two years. There’s a reason that demand for Lightning Lanes is higher when prices are higher–it’s because the date-based surcharge over the low or regular seasons is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Intuitively, this makes complete sense. Worse wait times creates a higher incentive for bypassing lines, meaning higher uptake of Lightning Lanes even when it costs more. The rationale is simple–people are willing to pay more to skip lines when they’re worse. Even at a higher price, Lightning Lane Multi Pass offers greater utility and value for money on a 9/10 crowd level day than it does a 3/10 day.
Moreover, those visiting during peak weeks are already paying more for their vacations. The difference between $27 (current pricing for Magic Kingdom) and $39 (peak pricing) is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and won’t cause many guests who are already choosing to book the most expensive days of the year to balk at pricing. Another few hundred dollars on top of a multi-thousand dollar trip will be “worth it” to a large percentage of guests if it offers a competitive advantage–and Lightning Lanes do!
We know all of this because we saw this play out the last time a new line-skipping service launched during the off-season. Genie+ debuted back on October 19, 2021 at Walt Disney World at a time that was shockingly uncrowded for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this post.
Before the end of October, we had extensively tested Genie+ in every single park at Walt Disney World and aside from some bellyaching about paying $16 (ah, the good ole days) per park for what used to be free and the buggy nature of the app feature, our conclusion was that Genie+ was glorious. We were able to book every single Lightning Lane in every park with ease (well, minus the app glitches). Availability was plentiful, demand was low.
Crowd levels were also in the 1/10 to 2/10 range. Fast-forward about a month, and the paid FastPass replacement absolutely melted down in Thanksgiving crowds. So we tested and retested. Then Walt Disney World made a bunch of changes to fix problems and help with the supply vs. demand imbalance. More testing and retesting. Frankly, I feel like Bob Chapek should’ve given me a shoutout on the earnings calls for buying Genie+ so many times and helping pump up their numbers.
The moral of the story is that I easily tested Genie+ over a dozen times in 3 of the 4 parks (it quickly became clear that Animal Kingdom was a waste of time–even as the system changed, DAK demand dynamics did not) during its first year of existence. Field testing results from one month were often obsolete by the next.
History is repeating itself with the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
So much has already changed in the span of one week that on-the-ground reports from launch day at Magic Kingdom are already completely useless. The other parks are a different story. While they’ve all changed for the better, Magic Kingdom was uniquely bad for the first few days and is now much better.
In fairness, we warned you that this would happen! Here’s what we said in What We’ve Learned from Lightning Lane Multi Pass So Far at Walt Disney World, responding to concerns about exceedingly limited availability:
Almost every Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass filled up faster today on launch day than on the last day of Genie+ despite comparable crowds. That second part is particularly relevant because nothing changed about Single Pass aside from the name. With regard to Multi-Pass, pretty much the only rides that didn’t fill up hours faster than normal are those that normally book quickly.
Magic Kingdom was especially bad, with Group B attractions that don’t normally run out of availability until the evening (e.g. Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Tomorrowland Speedway–really, the speedway?!) being gone by early afternoon.
Part of it is probably that there are a lot of vloggers, bloggers, influencers, and Floridians who need to be “first” all in the parks and “clogging up” the Lightning Lanes. However, that’s only a minor contributing factor. My people are loud and obnoxious, making us seem higher in number than we are in actuality.
The more likely explanation is that it’s the first day of a new product offering. Walt Disney World has done a lot to lay the groundwork for improved Lightning Lane availability, but the reality remains that they’re going from 1 ride reservation prior to arrival to 3–tripling demand right out of the gate.
Given this, it’s likely that Walt Disney World is throttling Lightning Lane availability because it’s brand new and they themselves aren’t sure of what to expect. I’d imagine they’ll slowly open the valve, so to speak, after a few days and deeper into August. We should start seeing more upfront availability and ride reservation refills as the months go on. Of course, crowds are also going to be worse for much of October through December, so there’s that, too.
The bottom line is that I’d caution anyone against extrapolating trends based on the first day or week. As we saw firsthand with Genie, things changed frequently and repeatedly in the first 18 months after launch. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass already appears more stable (it’s certainly not as half-baked), but it’ll still evolve over time.
Here’s a rundown of key takeaways as of week 2 of Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Walt Disney World…
Advance Availability – Even as of Saturday, we were still seeing limited availability for the following attractions starting 4 days in advance:
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Jungle Cruise
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
- Na’vi River Journey (limited morning time slots)
Thankfully, a lot has changed in the last few days. In looking right now for tomorrow (August 1, 2024), every single attraction is available except for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. That includes Slinky Dog Dash (albeit at night), Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, and everything else on the above list.
Tier 2 Troubles – While headliners are the focus for obvious reasons, one of the big concerns around launch were the limited options for Group B/Tier 2. This problem was occurring with obvious candidates like Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania, but also less popular rides. This was especially noticeable with Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, which were fully booking up in advance despite routinely having availability until evening under the Genie+ system.
The thinking was that, since everyone was selecting in advance and these were the obvious tier 2 priorities, they were simply filling up way faster. However, there’s no way that could explain it all. This was the biggest red flag for us that Walt Disney World was throttling Lightning Lane Multi Pass at launch. You don’t go from virtually “unlimited” Lightning Lane availability (meaning that Haunted Mansion and PotC would never be unavailable) to almost nothing.
This is also no longer an issue to the extent it was before. Some of the secondary attractions listed above are still running out mid-afternoon, and I suspect throttling is still at play for the reasons discussed above, but it’s no longer a major issue. I’d expect that this continues to get better, at least for the Magic Kingdom attractions. (Probably not Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania.)
Ride Reservation Refill Cadence – One prediction we made prior to the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Pass was that ride reservation refills, drops, popup availability or whatever you want to call them would continue. (See Ride Reservation Refill Rules at Walt Disney World.) This actually wasn’t a bold prediction, as these were features–not bugs–of both FastPass+ and Genie+ services.
Our bolder prediction was that ride reservation refills would actually increase. Honestly, I don’t think this was that bold of a prediction, either. Between the system being monetized and more transparent, and international guests being blocked out (albeit not very well–it’s thankfully very easy to work around that problem!) this was pretty much a foregone conclusion. After all, Disney wants to sell LLMP in advance and same-day, and the only fix for that is regular refills of Lightning Lanes. Obvious as it should be, it didn’t appear to be the case early on–at least for Magic Kingdom.
Well, we’re happy to report that has changed and in a big way. Both our anecdotal observations and the data support this conclusion, and thanks to the increased transparency of Lightning Lane Multi Pass, it’s now much easier to spot a cancellation vs. a ride reservation refill (since there are multiple times from which to select with the latter).
To see this in action, we’d encourage you to play around with the Lightning Lane Multi Pass booking engine–and, specifically, the modify feature. Use that in tandem with the Lightning Lane popup releases feature on thrill-data. There’s more than meets the eye there–you really need to drill down to individual attraction graphs.
You can review the data, take my word for it, or test for yourself–but it’s fairly obvious at this point that same-day availability and ride reservation refills are at least as good with Genie+ and arguably much better. Just be warned if you’re testing for yourself: it becomes addictive–just like a video game. Also like a game, it can mean losing a ton of ‘real world’ time as your face is glued to a screen.
Throttling Tiana’s – Nowhere are the ride reservation refills more evident than with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Paradoxically, this is both the #1 toughest Lightning Lane to score in all of Walt Disney World right now and also the easiest same-day headliner. Let me explain.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is routinely gone before the 3-day mark and often prior to the 7-day mark. (I can currently search through August 7, 2024–and I see nothing for it on any day in the future.) This is not the case with any other attraction–not even Slinky Dog Dash!
However, same-day availability is (or can be) a totally different story. Look at that graph above. What it shows is a regular cadence of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride reservation refills that are occurring with almost-immediate return times. This is something we’d expect to see for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, not the newest headliner at Walt Disney World.
Above is just one (of many!) illustrations of this. I searched for Lightning Lane Multi Pass availability at 12:48 pm, right at the moment a refill occurred for the 1 pm and 4 pm hours. I could’ve had a return time 12 minutes later! That’s a refill, not a cancellation. And guess what? This is normal right now.
In fact, we are seeing this so much (and it’s in the data) that if I were a gambler, I might be inclined to book Jungle Cruise with my #1 advance pick and punt on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure until day-of. The reason for this is fairly simple: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has more same-day drops than Jungle Cruise (although both have them).
In actuality, I would not do this most of the time and I definitely would not recommend this risky approach if you only have one day in Magic Kingdom. The one exception would be if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure only had return times late in the day when I was booking in advance. I’d rather roll the dice than lock myself into one of those…but I’m also not the average guest.
The reason this is happening in the first place is because Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still incredibly unreliable. On bad days, it’s down for hours. Then there are good days, when downtime is about on par with Splash Mountain. Ride reservation refills for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure don’t serve the same function as those with other attractions. Instead, they’re about real time inventory management based on the state of the virtual queue and attraction’s uptime or downtime.
Meaning Walt Disney World is conservative with advance bookings (Lightning Lanes or even virtual queue–since it’s occurring hours ahead of time and it’s impossible to know whether it’ll end up going down for hours or have a winning streak), and then using the Lightning Lane drops to backfill capacity on a near-term basis. This is absolutely fantastic for tech savvy Lightning Lane Multi Pass users, especially those with a higher risk tolerance–but it’s bad for pretty much everyone else.
It also has a couple of additional implications. The first is that, if Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is having a bad day, you won’t see this same-day availability! These ride reservation refills will not happen if the ride is down a lot and there’s a backlog of virtual queue or advance Lightning Lane guests to process. That’s why it’s such a risky strategy in the first place!
The second is that this definitely will change once Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is more reliable. We have no clue when that’ll be (my hope was by now…but also had hoped it wouldn’t open broken!), but suffice to say, if you’re planning a visit in January 2025, you absolutely should not be formulating a strategy for TBA right now.
Frankly, you shouldn’t be formulating one at all. This is all going to keep changing, evolving, whatevering. You also shouldn’t get worked up or overly excited based on what you see today. The sky isn’t falling nor is Lightning Lane Multi Pass going to be perfect for everyone. It’s neither awesome nor awful–just different. And as with every past incarnation of line-skipping services at Walt Disney World, we have zero doubts whatsoever that power users will find ways to come out ahead. Same as they ever have.
It’ll be interesting (to me, at least!) to follow the evolving dynamics of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World in the coming weeks and–more so–once fall break in October and the holiday season rolls around. Once again, I don’t think we’re going to learn any lessons between now and mid-September 2024 that are relevant to those planning 2025 Walt Disney World vacations.
Between the lower crowds and likelihood of adjustments, how the next few weeks play out has little value to anyone visiting for the Christmas season or next year. There’s no practical point in you continuing to read posts like this one, except “for fun.” It’s still interesting (again, to me!) to watch this all play out in real-time.
After a rocky rollout from an availability perspective, things are starting to improve. One likely change is that Magic Kingdom will continue to get “easier” whereas Disney’s Hollywood Studios should get “harder.” (The former a byproduct of increased supply; the latter a byproduct of increased demand.)
It’ll also be fascinating to find “hacks” and other ways to exploit the system, just like we did with Genie. (Anyone remember the original stacking circa late 2021 that allowed you to create multiple ‘threads’ of Lightning Lanes by combining the 120 rule with the tap-in rule? Ah, the good ole days!)
Other changes I’d expect to see are more clarity in the overlap policies (what I’m seeing is all over the place) and–if inventory is really limited during the holiday season, moving away from the “rolling 3 rule.” Frankly, I’m not sure any of that is necessary. I really think what we saw at launch and are still seeing today is a system that’s slowly being rolled out with a conservative approach–and Lightning Lane availability throttled as a result.
Walt Disney World laid the groundwork for Lightning Lane Multi Pass by freeing up ride capacity in other ways, which should mean an expansion of ride reservation inventory under Lightning Lane Multi-Pass as compared to the Genie+ system. Even if not immediately apparent, the fruits of that should be evident in Lightning Lane Multi-Pass availability over time. The more open question is whether advance booking plus the higher ‘stakes’ of this costing money means more or less availability than FastPass+ during the busy holiday season.
We’ll continue monitoring Lightning Lane availability and all other changes in the coming weeks. As for more on-the-ground testing of Lightning Lane Multi Pass, that’ll also be coming relatively soon, but I’m less inclined to make the same mistake as October 2021 when I spent several consecutive weeks in the parks…only to have all of those efforts be rendered totally pointless by Thanksgiving. Between a new baby, new wisdom and the weather, the bulk of my field testing this time won’t come until Christmas-time.
If you have questions about the basics of using–or not using–the paid FastPass service, see our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World for all of the foundational need-to-know info. This whole system is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or two-dozen. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve been booking Lightning Lane Multi-Pass for your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation, what’s been your experience thus far with availability? (I’m particularly interested in those of you who have booked for August 2024 dates.) Have you noticed any discernible differences versus the Genie+ service? Any success or failures making multiple high-priority Lightning Lane selections? Would you recommend LLMP to others, or just advise sticking to standby? Other problems or thoughts to share? 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!
Just purchased LLMP for our trip August 10-17. Though there should be lower crowds (who really knows anymore) I wanted to ensure we got Tiana’s for our one MK day. It also leaves us open to try for Tron VQ at 7am and not have to choose between Tron and Tiana. Return time is 11:30am and I still had the ability to modify into early afternoon after purchase.
I have a question on this paragraph:
Almost every Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass filled up faster today on launch day than on the last day of Genie+ despite comparable crowds. That second part is particularly relevant because nothing changed about Single Pass aside from the name. With regard to Multi-Pass, pretty much the only rides that didn’t fill up hours faster than normal are those that normally book quickly.
I thought single pass had changed as you can now book this 7 days prior. Previously it was on the day?
That was specific to launch day, though. Meaning on that particular day, no one had booked it in advance. And yet, it still went much faster than normal.
It’s still going much faster now, but that makes some degree of sense with prebooking.
Do you think Disney will add the character meetings back to the new system like they were in Genie+? What would be the reason to not have them as part of it?
My family of 6 (adults), will be in our “Happiest Place on Earth” the week of Aug 10-16. It is a “first time” for two of our family members. After having a family pow wow, we have agreed not to buy the Multi Pass. Are we making a mistake to not spend the extra money?
I would buy it on one Magic Kingdom day.
You’re spending plenty already, so why cheap out and wait in longer lines?
Me – I remember the og launch of G+ that allowed additional rides with the tap AND 120 minutes- Nov 2021 baby! Your article on using that feature was amazing- we had gobs of G+’s coming out the wazoo.
Heading back this Nov, staying off site, and will be eager to learn all the tips and tricks. Thanks for being such a trusted source.
I’d love to see a similar article on LLSP, which has shown similarly odd and erratic availability (and given that cancellations are not possible, on the day drops).
That was actually brought to my attention this afternoon!
Honestly, it’s something that hadn’t been on my radar *at all* prior to today. I don’t personally buy LLSP and it seemed like ILL was kind of on autopilot before, but clearly I need to start paying closer attention.
In any case, I’ve combed through thrill-data for a couple of hours and am still not confident in offering any analysis. I’ll need to play around with the app for at least a few days, too.
Your commentary is spot on. Today was my first day using the system. I pre-booked 3 morning LL at HS (Toy Story, Slinky Dog, and ToT). Got Mickey and Minnie for 11:45 right when tapping into Toy Story at 9:45. We then park hopped to magic kingdom and got Tiana’s, space mountain, buzz, little mermaid, barnstormer, and Pooh. All of the rides we used these on had at least a 30 minute wait when we used them. We could have gotten numerous more at magic kingdom, but decided we were tired at this point! This may beat my best day using genie. I could have gotten HM, pirates, and even jungle cruise. I just had a six year old picking her favorites!
Wow, that’s an incredibly productive day–thanks for sharing!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in particular, seems like the clear winner (so far) with the switch to LLMP. What you did there wouldn’t have been possible (at least that early-on) under Genie+ without a tremendous amount of luck.
Hi there. I’m curious about the single LL vs MLL. We have a seven day stay in late September and staying on site so we can book 7-14 days out over the length of our stay. What are the chances of getting a single LL at least once for all five featured rides? Or will they be gone at 7:01 as some have said? Wondering if we should realistically hope to get single LL for all five, and if there’s a strategy to booking that might improve our chances, or if going 5/5 is unlikely. TIA.
Is there a way to see availability for a future date (ie. tomorrow, for example), or can you only do so if you have a ticket/reservation for that day? When I’m looking at home out of curiosity, I can only see the availability for day of.
I am wondering if Tom or anyone else has tried in practice to keep one slot open. If you only have two advance lightening lane selections, would you be able to book a third and take advantage of the refills whenever you want? Since I’m staying off-site I am worried I wouldn’t have early LL options. Thank you!
I was able to book and stack three lightning lanes yesterday. Two at the same time and one was five minutes later. This was yesterday at Epcot, but it was after 4 PM. The reason I had all three available is bc there was nothing to book at Magic Kingdom prior to that: TBA had been down for three hours that morning. We wasted all of rope drop bc 7dmt was down until 940a, and space mountain had been down most of the day.
TBA finally opened around 1215ish and we used the experience pass that we were given when our pre-booked multi past lightning lane wasn’t able to be used because the ride was down.
Also I should mention that the three that we booked were (of course) spaceship earth, living with the land, and journey into imagination…and had 5m waits anyway.
When you were given the experience pass, did you also have an opportunity to “refill” the original reservation that was canceled? I’ve pre-emptively had a LLMP reservation canceled for next week (no notice, just saw it was gone). I am reluctant to fill my third spot because nothing good (ride-wise or time-wise) is showing as available and wondered if holding the pass would let me use it for anything day of.
Seriously – is it Lightning Lane Multi-Pass or Lightning Lane Multi Pass? Hyphen or no hyphen? The inconsistency is driving me wild lol
Tom, I consider myself somewhat of a power user, and we’re going Labor Day week, 2-7 (our first early September trip ever…we have frogg toggs and fans, wish us luck), and I’m trying to decipher this comment.
“One likely change is that Magic Kingdom will continue to get “easier” whereas Disney’s Hollywood Studios should get “harder.” (The former a byproduct of increased supply; the latter a byproduct of increased demand.)”
With Jungle Cruise shutting down at MK as PP reopens, and RRC reopening at HS (with nothing shutting down), wouldn’t this be the inverse? It’s very possible I’m misunderstanding something.
What I’m saying is that LLMP availability at DHS has been shockingly good so far, even as compared to Genie+ (whereas the other 2 parks with tiers have been worse).
I believe this is not because Disney has found the ‘sweet spot’ with LLMP at DHS, but because crowds are low right now. As attendance increases, the strain will be more noticeable on the LLMP system at DHS than it is at MK. That’s just my gut instinct–but it’s also what we’ve seen at DHS with G+ and FP+, so I’d be shocked if this is any different.
Does that make more sense?
Yes, thank you!
I must have Disney Magic on my side – we booked Tiana’s 3 out of the 5 days that we’ll be at MK next week!
I’d like to thank, Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother, Tinker Bell, and all the other Disney beings of wish fulfillment. Also, I want to thank myself for waking up at 5:45AM CST on a Saturday to catch the opening of my LL availability. My internal time clock was a bit ahead of my phone’s 6AM alarm clock, so I’d like to thank my higher self for knowing when to wake up, so I am fully awake and prepared for the task at hand.
If those thank yous got any longer, I was going to have to start the “wrap it up!” play-off music. 😉
Seriously, though, there are clearly refills happening during the advance booking windows, too. I’ve heard similar sentiment from others who scored TBA inside 7 days and were surprised by their luck. It’ll be interesting to see how this continues to evolve. Have fun on your trip!
Really good article
You mentioned an easy work around for International guests. Where can i get info on this please?
I’m not an international guest, but I think he just means using a VPN (there are free and paid options) so that you have a U.S. IP address and, thus, Disney will sell you LLMP and LLSP.
Check previous Lightning Lanes posts and look at the comments – it is there (and it is not his vpn)
You shut down the MDE all, turn off location services (gps) on your phone, restart the app, and in the app profile settings change your home country to USA. That satisfies the app that you’re probably in America (since it can no longer access your real location), and it will let you make advance multipass reservations.
It’s so shockingly easy, I somewhat suspect Disney deliberately left the loophole open to avoid international guest complaints.
Services like Standby Skipper may become less useful over time, in favor of “notification” services, like those that exist for ADRs, to let people know about the seemingly random refill times reflected in the Thrill-Data data. Tom–Do you see any other way to more methodically or predictably find refills?
With both FP+ and G+, the refills became predictable and consistent. I doubt that’s happened yet for LLMP, but I assume it will.
What are these notification services you speak of, what is standby skipper and what is thrill data for that matter?? Where can I go to read up on and find out more about these?? I would like to get notified when some ADRs open up? How do I do that?? I wish I had read Tom’s Space 220 articles before my 60 day window opened up for ADRs, were going for an 11 nights stay at the end of September and I would have liked to have attempted to get in there.
Trip planned for last week of August – and attempting to use strategy to avoid using LLMP which has worked well for us during that “low crowds” week for the past two years…we are planning to attend MK on a party day and a second day for extended evening hours, Epcot on a day with extended evening hours, and AK for Early Entry at rope drop; with this strategy in place would you still recommend LLMP for any of these three parks or do you feel savvy strategy can still work well? Has LLMP had any more of an adverse affect on standby lines than the previous system based on what you’ve seen so far? Thank you Tom for your advice.
If it were me, I wouldn’t use LLMP that week, unless I wanted to do multiple rides on certain attractions *or* TBA were really important to me. (The VQ can be tough on some days due to unreliability.)
Another thing to note is that we’ve been hearing more and more reports of ExEH being overcrowded the last couple months. I’m not at all surprised–I’ve experienced the same whenever it’s hot, and Test Track being down is a big blow.
Gotcha, thank you so much for this reply and especially the Test Track reminder/ExE impact 🙁
I don’t see my comment listed. Was it not allowed?
Some comments get flagged for moderation. Sometimes the reason for this is obvious (spam, politics, culture wars, etc). Other times, I have no clue why.
Your comment was the latter, and was approved.
With the same day drops, I’m assuming modify is an option? For example, if I can only pre-book a TBA at 6 pm one week prior to the visit, I could repeatedly modify to earlier times as they are dropped?
To clarify… I’m thinking that if there are early morning drops, you’d be able to modify into them, but if you booked Jungle Cruise as your tier A you couldn’t straight out book one of those TBA drops until you’ve used your first tier B lightning lane… which wouldn’t be until 9 AM. So you’d basically have the whole morning up until 9 AM to modify without competing with the people waiting to book their second tier A of the day.
Yeah, modify is an option.
It’s definitely the best option with Slinky Dog Dash (and other popular attractions)–trying to trade up for better times. That’s especially true since the odds of scoring a same-day drop for SDD are low, comparatively speaking.
I’m not yet sure whether that’s the case with TBA. It’s a good hedge, but if you’re stuck with a 7 pm return and can’t modify same-day until 11:48 am (for example), that could mean forgoing Jungle Cruise. Meanwhile, if you got JC with a 10 am return, you already could’ve used it by that point.
Follow what I’m saying?
I follow, and that’s exactly the deep dive feedback I knew you’d have. Love it, and thank you!
Thanks for the article Tom. My first visit to WDW was 1972 and I’ve been dvc since 2010. I have experienced paper fp, fp+, genie+ and now this.
I know WDW will tweak things as they go but this version of line skipping is the absolute worst of the 4 in my opinion
Everyone hated tiering and it was the worst part of FP+ and this not only brings that back, but now it costs a lot of money and there are fewer rides in the inventory b of ILLs
They could have accomplished their goal by allowing pre booking of the first ride only for resort guests at 7 days and non at 3 days. They could have had ILL pre booking for deluxe only or for all resort guests. They could have had VQ for deluxe or all resort guests. This would have given a clear advantage and incentive to stay on site.
Eliminating the 7am wake up, incentivizing resort stays while preserving the best aspects of Genie+ like stacking and inventory availability would have accomplished a lot more than this system and satisfied most guests will solving the reason why they brought pre booking back (hotel sales and gsat).
This is the fourth change in ten years and this is the worst one they’ve had. Why do they keep getting this wrong? This is awful and I think this actually penalizes resort guests since you get far less for your money.
I beg Disney to admit this stinks and change it now.