Pre-Arrival Lightning Lanes at Disney World Launch DATE & Details!
Walt Disney World officially announced Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass, the new line skipping services that can be booked pre-arrival. This post covers shares the launch date & details for the new advance ride reservation options at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Plus, our commentary on winners & losers, comparisons to the formerly free FastPass+ system, and more.
There’s a ton of ground to cover here, so we will very quickly recap what has happened in the last year with advance booking of Lightning Lanes. As you might recall, Walt Disney World first teased pre-planning capabilities coming to the Genie+ service and Lightning Lanes with the announcement of 2024 vacation packages.
That was on May 8 of last year and also included the return of the Disney Dining Plan and removal of park reservations for most guests. Subsequent to that, Disney announced a return of all-day Park Hopping. All of those aforementioned changes took effect earlier this year–except Lightning Lane pre-booking. Yet crickets on pre-arrival Lightning Lanes…until now.
Unsurprisingly, many Walt Disney World fans have been confused and assumed that advance-booking of Lightning Lanes was also debuting in early 2024. After all, the original announcements occurred simultaneously and there was ambiguity about when the pre-arrival ride reservations would roll out.
Since pre-arrival Lightning Lanes have yet to arrive–and there haven’t even been any official updates since, we’ve started getting a lot of questions. Speaking of which, here’s a quick rundown of all the changes Walt Disney World has made in service of improving the guest experience since the start of last year:
Up until today’s bombshell news, Walt Disney World had only made the one announcement about pre-arrival ride reservations: “We have heard from guests that they would like ways to plan with Disney Genie+ service and individual Lightning Lane selections before the day of their park visit, and we want you to know we are working on ways guests may do this for visits in 2024. Our goal is to give you the opportunity to spend less time planning in the park and more time enjoying your visit with friends and family. While we are not yet able to share specific details, we look forward to sharing more information at a later date.”
Six months later, we finally have answers. Let’s start with details via the official announcement about Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass from Walt Disney World…
Walt Disney World indicated that they enjoy hearing from guests about all the things they love, as well as how the company can make their experience even better the next time. And Walt Disney World guests have told the company that they would prefer to have the option to do more of their planning before their theme park day.
With that in mind, Walt Disney World is making changes to the Genie+ service and Individual Lightning Lane entry, including new ways to plan ahead.
Walt Disney World will introduce new, simpler names to provide more clarity for everyone. Disney Genie+ service will become Lightning Lane Multi Pass, while Individual Lightning Lane will be known as Lightning Lane Single Pass starting July 24, 2024.
Lightning Lane selections will also be updated to help guests:
- Make Lightning Lane plans before you arrive at Walt Disney World, for added confidence.
- Choose your experiences and return times prior to purchasing, so you know what you’re getting.
- Book Lightning Lane attraction selections for multiple vacation days, all in a single day.
Here’s How Lightning Lanes Work Starting July 24, 2024
Lightning Lane Multi Pass – When you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you may make up to 3 Lightning Lane selections in a theme park, in advance of your visit. You’ll also be able to choose available times as you make your selections.
On the day of your visit, once you use a selection, check the My Disney Experience app for availability to make an additional selection.
Lightning Lane Single Pass - Lightning Lane Single Pass will work much like it does today, where you can secure a time to ride one of our most highly demanded attractions, but you’ll now be able to make your purchase and plan in advance.
How to Plan Ahead with Lightning Lanes
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel will be able to plan Lightning Lane passes up to 7 days in advance, for their entire stay (up to 14 days). All other guests can plan up to 3 days in advance.
These advance purchase windows will let guests secure some of their must-do rides and experiences after they’ve had some time to decide which Advance Dining Reservations they want to book and any other plans they may need to consider at Walt Disney World.
Guests may purchase a Lightning Lane Multi Pass, a Lightning Lane Single Pass–or both. The My Disney Experience app will also be updated to make it quicker and easier to purchase and plan, with fewer steps and a new option to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass in a single transaction.
Lightning Lane passes will blend features from the current Genie suite of services and the previously offered FastPass+ service, giving guests the choice to plan ahead and removing the hassle of planning during their Walt Disney World vacation.
If you still have questions about the changes, please consult our NEW FAQ to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World.
With that out of the way, here’s how we feel about the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass…
Our Commentary
Turning to commentary, the switch from same-day Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass should be well-received by many Walt Disney World diehards. One of the biggest changes is that there’s now a significant on-site advantage via Lightning Lane Multi-Pass thanks to the earlier booking window (7+duration of stay, up to 14 days) for on-site guests as compared to 3 days for off-site guests.
This is similar to FastPass+ (albeit with different timelines–that was 60 vs. 30), but a huge departure from the Genie+ service. That leveled the playing field completely, allowing everyone to make same-day ride reservations starting at 7 am. The only advantage came via Individual Lightning Lanes, and that only really mattered when a ride was still brand-new or during the busiest times of the year.
If FastPass+ is any indication, and it almost certainly is, the headstart given to on-site guests will be hugely advantageous. There’s a decent possibility that attractions like Slinky Dog Dash, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and other tier 1 headliners won’t even be available 3 days in advance. Meaning that off-site guests will have to bank on same-day ride reservation refills. (More on this in a bit.)
With bookings slowing down and resort occupancy decreasing, giving on-site guests a headstart is a really savvy move. We’re unabashedly all for increasing on-site perks. Part of this is admittedly out of selfishness, since we almost always stay on-site. But it’s also objective. Walt Disney World should be rewarding the guests who stay on-site; it’s in the company’s own self-interest to reward guests who book vacation packages or stays in Disney-owned or select other on-site hotels. Perhaps most importantly, it’ll be advantageous in 2025 when Epic Universe opens and Universal is presenting compelling reasons to stay on-site there instead.
A bit beyond the scope of this post, but we’ve also pointed out in recent discount posts that there’s no longer much of a financial incentive to stay off-site if you’re doing Walt Disney World on a tighter budget. You’re going to be hard-pressed to find anything off-site that can beat the nightly rates Walt Disney World is offering on the Value Resorts–especially once you account for Early Entry, transportation, and free parking. All of that plus new rooms, being part of the “Disney Bubble,” and the on-site advantages offered via booking windows for ADRs and, going forward, Lightning Lanes.
(If you want to be able to book Lightning Lane Multi-Passes with the on-site advantage, but aren’t sure which resort to book, check out our new Rankings of ALL Resort Hotels at Walt Disney World from Worst to Best. Spoiler: our #1 resort is one that won’t break the bank!)
The other big complaint advance booking of Lightning Lanes addresses is the dreaded 7 a.m. wake-up call. Aside from switching from costing money, this is the most common criticism we heard of Genie+ from Walt Disney World–the stress of having to wake up early to book ride reservations, doing planning on the fly while on vacation.
For the most part, this eliminates that. Guests will still likely want to get up early to make Lightning Lane selections, but the time for doing so will shift forward to while they’re at homes and, presumably, not trying to have a relaxing experience with their families. Instead of failures or technical difficulties setting a negative tone to start the day on vacation, that’ll happen in the comfort of your own home. And that’s a big win.
Of course, this 7 a.m. wake up call is only mostly eliminated. There’s still rope drop or Early Entry, which we recommend doing at 3 of the 4 parks, even to guests using Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. There’s also the issue of virtual queues, which are separate from Lightning Lanes but interconnected. After all, you might not want to buy an Individual Lightning Lane until finding out whether you’ve won the VQ lottery. Or you might feel the need to modify Lightning Lane selections based upon your success or failure with boarding groups.
So even with pre-arrival Lightning Lanes, there could be the “need” to wake up early on Magic Kingdom and EPCOT days. But this is nevertheless a huge step in the right direction. And it’ll be an even bigger one if/when Walt Disney World finally realizes that virtual queues are guest unfriendly and stress-inducing. Once the VQs are dropped, we will flat-out endorse Lightning Lane Multi-Pass purchasers use Magic Kingdom as their sleep-in day!
The second biggest complaint that the switch to Lightning Lane MultiPass addresses is that Genie+ requires guests to spend all day with their faces buried in their phones. By virtue of allowing you to book before your trip, Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Pass will allow you to not spend time on your phone making 3-4 ride reservations.
Honestly, I think the complaints about screen-time with Genie+ are a bit overblown. Sure, you can spend all day on your phone playing the refresh game, rebooking, and modifying. But none of that is necessary to use the Genie+ system to most of its potential.
The same was true with FastPass+ before and will be true with Lightning Lane MultiPass. It does mean less screen time, but it doesn’t mean no screen time. You’ll still have the “option” of playing the refresh game for subsequent selections trying to time a drop or modifying to improve your return time.
Nevertheless, we’d count this as another improvement. Frankly, I’d rather have a bit of screen time for subsequent selections than returning to the “good ole days” when I was the FastPass runner. I can play the refresh game while comfortably seated on the TTA PeopleMover or while enjoying the songs of Sonny Eclipse in crisp air-conditioning. No need to power walk around in triple-digit feels like temperatures.
As a general matter, the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass should be a lot easier for longtime Walt Disney World fans to understand since this is basically FastPass+ with a few new wrinkles. In a surprising move, even Walt Disney World acknowledged this in its official announcement. (I can’t even recall the last time they used the word “FastPass” prior to this.)
Obviously, the biggest difference is that this is paid and that was free. Another is that the biggest and best (debatably) rides are excluded from Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, whereas they were included under the free FastPass+ system. Given that, this is arguably a worse product despite being a paid one!
Finally, there are once again tiers under Lightning Lane MultiPass–this time for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios. These existed with FastPass+ and are, essentially, necessary to ensure that on-site ‘power users’ don’t scoop up all of the “good” attractions before Lightning Lane reservations open to everyone else. I’m somewhat surprised that Animal Kingdom doesn’t have tiers given the popularity discrepancy between the top and bottom of the Lightning Lane roster…but it also has a lot less demand, so there’s that.
However, there’s one change that–in our view–could be a potential game-changer when comparing FastPass+ and Lightning Lane MultiPass. Whereas FastPass+ required you to use all of your ride reservations before booking more, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass allows you to make more reservations on a rolling basis. Meaning that you can always hold 3 Lightning Lanes via Multi-Pass.
It also allows you to make reservations for subsequent parks as soon as you’ve redeemed the first on your day of visit. While the reintroduction of ride reservation tiers will be a negative for power users, holding 3 simultaneous selections at all times via Lightning Lane Multi-Pass–coupled with pre-arrival bookings–will be a huge advantage for on-site power users.
In practice, this means that you could make pre-arrival reservations for Slinky Dog Dash, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. After tapping into the first of those, you could then book Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. In theory.
This is just one possibility–there are many others. This rolling 3 will open up a whole new can of worms from a strategic perspective, which we’ll get to in the coming weeks and months. For now, I’m more concerned with the “in theory” part of that.
As anyone who has used Genie+ is likely aware, booking Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure as a fourth Lightning Lane is a pretty far-fetched hypothetical for the average guest on an average day. And although the ride wasn’t open back in the halcyon days of FastPass, it would’ve been a tough proposition under that, too. And that was without the simultaneous holding of 3 ride reservations, which is what Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is offering. (In theory.)
While I love Walt Disney World’s move to a rolling 3 selections under Lightning Lane Multi-Pass as a clear way to differentiate it from the free FastPass+ service and offer an improvement (especially given the removal of the top rides), I’m also slightly nervous. I wonder if the capacity will exist for this and, if so, how that’s accomplished.
On possibility is simply that nothing worthwhile will be left same-day for those subsequent selections. That it’ll be all MuppetVision 3D, Feathered Friends in Flight, the Seas with Nemo & Friends, and other “consolation prize” Lightning Lanes.
I’m highly skeptical of this. For one thing, that wasn’t the case even with the FastPass+ service, which had ride reservation refill drops. That was largely done for the sake of lower-knowledge guests who didn’t pre-plan, so they still could conceivably get “good” FastPass selections.
The critical difference between FastPass and Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is that the former was free and the latter is paid. Walt Disney World cannot simply have no worthwhile same-day selections. It’ll kill demand and lead to complaints from first-timers and others who don’t pre-plan. Not only does there need to be day-of Lightning Lane inventory, but it needs to be better than what was offered under FastPass+.
If anything, there should be more ride reservation refills with Lightning Lane Multi-Day than FastPass+ or Genie+ since the stakes are higher. This practical reality is also what opens the door to the new system being very good for power users.
As we’ve said repeatedly, queueing is ultimately a zero-sum game that creates winners and losers in equal parts. Attraction capacity is finite–if someone receives an advantage, that means someone else is disadvantaged. There is no magical system where everyone gets to wait in shorter lines.
This means that the capacity for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass to offer a rolling 3 selections has to come from somewhere. One likelihood that has been discussed here at length in the past is that the recent banning of some third party tour guides and DAS changes were aimed at freeing up Lightning Lane capacity. (We’ve also been expecting Disney to crackdown on unauthorized apps that automate the Lightning Lane selection process–maybe that’ll also finally happen.)
Another possibility is that capacity will come from standby lines. That the ratio of guests pulled from Lightning Lanes to standby lines will be skewed even further in favor of the former. I’m highly skeptical that this will be Walt Disney World’s solution, as it’s at odds with what they’ve otherwise been doing.
From what I’ve heard over the course of the last year or so, Walt Disney World’s aim with its suite of queueing changes is better balance. Policies and systems that feel fairer to the majority of guests and don’t advantage or disadvantage anyone too much. From what we’ve heard, they’ve been trying to thread the needle with all of these changes. It’s an unenviable task and no-win proposition, but that’s the intent.
Other options have less to do with the allocation of capacity and more with supply and demand. A simple one would be lowering the threshold for selling out Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. If it’s easier for the Multi-Pass to sell out, that better preserves capacity.
Of course, if Walt Disney World is going to lower the threshold for selling out, what else would very obviously happen? Price increases! If Disney sets a lower limit on the number of Lightning Lane Multi-Passes that can be sold–and sell outs start occurring more regularly–they’re obviously going to raise prices as an offset. Or rather, to make demand self-regulating to avoid an increased number of sell outs.
In fact, price increases with the launch of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass seems like an inevitability. Walt Disney World might be careful to maintain the same range as before for now (which makes sense given that summer is slower), but I’d still expect a higher average as well as a higher peak by Christmas (maybe even Thanksgiving). There’s no high-demand date between now and October were more expensive dates would stand out, so Walt Disney World could launch with current rates and raise them around the start of the new fiscal year or holiday season.
However, as we’ve also pointed out before, there’s a certain amount of price inelasticity when it comes to paid line-skipping. Most guests who don’t balk at the $35 price point also are unlikely to be dissuaded from buying the service when it’s priced at $45 or $50.
The incremental increase to the cost of a several-thousand dollar vacation in order to “guarantee” a good trip with shorter lines won’t be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for most guests. This isn’t trying to minimize the burden of higher prices–just the consumer psychology that goes into the decision to buy or not buy.
Realistically, I think this means one of two things. Either that Walt Disney World has dramatically freed up Lightning Lane capacity or pricing on the Multi-Pass is going to be much higher by year’s end–enough that enough guests balk at the price. It’s my understanding that Walt Disney World wants higher satisfaction among guests paying for Lightning Lanes and those using standby lines. I don’t see how they achieve both outcomes without some combination of those two scenarios.
Long-term, the solution to all of this is building more attractions. As noted above, queueing is a zero-sum game. No approach to lines changes the underlying capacity. It doesn’t matter if it’s all standby, paper FastPass, FastPass+ vs. Genie vs. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. The only meaningful way to actually alter the equation is by actually increasing capacity.
That’s done by adding entertainment, attractions, or extending operating hours. Everything else is a matter of rearranging the deck chairs, and having different guests or demographics come out ahead or behind. In this case, the winners will be those willing to buy the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.
Given all of the above and everything else, it’ll be really interesting to see how Walt Disney World fans react to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. Back when Walt Disney World killed off free FastPass for good and announced Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, we made the not-so-bold prediction that it would be among the most controversial news of all-time, right up there with the demise of Disney’s Magical Express and when they started charging for overnight parking. It was hardly a bold prognostication–but the backlash was even worse than we anticipated.
So I’ll make another not-so-bold prediction: the fan community’s reaction to this news won’t be nearly as negative as the launch of Lightning Lanes, Genie+ and retirement of FastPass. Of course, the circumstances are also very different–instead of going from free to paid, we’re going from one paid system to another.
I’m honestly not sure what the prevailing opinion will be among Walt Disney World fans. I don’t expect any consensus–fans usually unite around lost perks or price increases, but not much else. Reactions will run the gamut and be much more mixed. There will be some still upset about free FastPass being gone (and holding out hope for its return) and others who are excited about a return of pre-booking. Along with a lot of reactions in between.
Our expectation is that a majority of planners are going to be pleased about the return of pre-booking ride reservations. This perspective is probably going to be disproportionately reflected from readers in the comments versus all Walt Disney World guests. As we’ve pointed out many times in the past, Walt Disney World fans reading blogs like this one skew towards being ardent planners. These diehard Walt Disney World fans are not representative of the general park-going public, many of whom don’t know much about Walt Disney World until arrival.
Under the prior FastPass+ system, casual visitors previously did not know you could make ride reservations at all, let alone a month or two in advance. They would first learn about FastPass, ADRs, virtual queues, and so many other things upon arrival at Walt Disney World. Unsurprisingly, this led to frequent complaints among first-time visitors about the FastPass+ system.
All of that was and is true about first-timers and infrequent guests. That’s one of the major reasons why Walt Disney World moved from FastPass to Genie. The other, obviously, was money. But that explanation is hardly a secret to anyone. Fewer fans realize there were a ton of complaints about FastPass+ from casual visitors, because they themselves are not casual visitors and don’t encounter that perspective. Understandably so, as it’s called the fan community–and not the first-timer’s community–for a reason.
With that in mind, I would say the decision to switch from 30 or 60 days in advance under FastPass+ to 3 or 7 days is actually a very positive one for infrequent visitors. I’m sure some planners will grouse about this–they do with the shorter ADR window–but it’s one of those moves that should be good for a majority, balancing the preferences of planners and casual guests.
Even among Walt Disney World vacation planners, we’re not expecting reactions to be universally positive to Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Pass. That would’ve been the case had these changes rolled out in December 2021 or even early 2022. However, a lot of time has passed since then and frequent visitors have become more familiar with Genie+ and learned how to leverage it.
More importantly and to Walt Disney World’s credit, plenty of positive changes have been made to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes in the last 18 months or so. A big part of this is rolling out features that should’ve been present from launch, which is also part of why Genie+ was so poorly received (and why the ‘brand’ is so irrevocably tainted that Disney is changing its name).
Regardless, complaints from Walt Disney World regulars about Genie+ have decreased in frequency and volume. There’s still the obligatory grousing about it being a cash grab or lamenting the loss of free FastPass. But in terms of problems with the app or making Lightning Lane ride reservations, there’s next to nothing.
Most fans have become familiar with the service and it has far fewer problems than it did at launch. This isn’t to say it’s perfect (nothing is–Lightning Lane Multi-Pass won’t be either!), but it’s no longer fundamentally flawed. As a result of all this, I would say that Genie+ “favorability” among fans has improved pretty considerably.
So much so that I almost wonder if Walt Disney World is late to the game with the rollout of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and basing this decision on stale guest satisfaction stats or complaints from 2022. (Probably not. It seems Walt Disney World is really working to thread the needle here and make this solution workable for both planners and casual guests. While there are still unknowns, almost every aspect of the announcement strikes us as smart.)
Ultimately, I do think the immediate response to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass will be mixed to mostly positive on its own, and certainly more favorable than the initial announcement of the Genie+ service and Individual Lightning Lanes. That was an unprecedented cocktail of emotions worthy of Inside Out 3: anger, frustration, confusion, and more. One of the most bungled rollouts in Walt Disney World history.
It seems like much more thought and time have gone into crafting Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Day, laying the proper foundations for a smooth rollout, and getting things just right. If I had to use one word to describe the announcement of Genie, it would be “chaos.” The one word I’d use for Lightning Lane MultiPass is “balance.” It may not seem like it, but that’s pretty high praise.
As with Genie+ before it, my expectation is also that opinions on Lightning Lane Multi-Pass will grow more positive over time. Walt Disney World planners are notoriously change-averse and there’s undoubtedly familiarity bias at play with some…but those same fans will become familiar with this system, learn its ins and outs, and how to strategically exploit the system–just as they have with FastPass+ and Genie+ before it. The power users will always find out a way to come out ahead, same as they ever have.
We’re more concerned with how Lightning Lane Multi-Pass works for Walt Disney World first-timers and the impact to guests using standby lines. Our hope is that this does a better job of leveling the playing field, and balancing the often-competing interests and preferences of all guests. That means that diehard Walt Disney World fans who are disproportionately the readers of this blog may not be completely happy with the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, but that’s sort of the point. A good compromise leaves everybody mad.
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
What do you think of the switch from Genie+ to Lightning Lane MultiPass? Better, worse, or about the same as you expected? Are you pleased with the prospect of advance ride reservations and no more 7 a.m. wake-up calls? Or did you prefer the same-day system? Interested in how Walt Disney World will implement the new system? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? 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!
I do not see an advantage over current system. Planning ahead is great, yet spontaneity the best. I truly feel unless there is the possibility of modifying it further creates a system that is rigid and non-compromising. Yet modification runs the risk of nothing left after paying! At this point not a fan! I don’t see advantages of this at all. Risk loosing your shirt if you end up delayed at airport, or someone gets sick. 3 vs 7 days still discriminatory to those who are local or cannot afford to stay onsite. I will reserve judgement but I am willing to bet AP locals will hate it!
No offense, but Disney absolutely should give advantages to those who stay on site. It’s a smart business decision. I am admittedly biased because I stay on site, but them bringing back the early booking for onsite guests is my favorite part of this.
I see this as a positive change in many regards. Guests staying onsite can pretty much guarantee selection of 3 good rides before even getting to their hotel. And if the guest consistently books another ride after using one (keeping 3 in the queue), you’ll get to ride just about everything you want. This is very positive for the thousands of guests who are no longer eligible for DAS. I have always been approved due to a mobility issue, but I’m no longer eligible. We are going to WDW in November, and I was concerned about getting any decent LL with Genie+. The new system alleviates those concerns. With so many changes over the last few years, it’s nice to see some onsite perks coming back.
As with any other changes, not everyone will be happy. But it’s time to start accepting that Fast Pass is GONE and stop comparing it to new processes. Times change and we can’t keep comparing everything in the present to everything in the past. When I first started driving, an employee at the gas station pumped my gas, cleaned my windshield, and checked my tires (yes, I’m old!). Quite often they also gave away free glasses/dishes. Now I have to pay 10 times what I paid for a gallon of gas and do everything myself. I want to fill up my car, so I deal with it.
Anyone having anxiety over Disney changes has the option not to go.
Tier 1 at HS includes both Slinky AND Runaway Railway. So your hypothetical isn’t even a possibility.
Agree…..you could get both of them and other Tier 1’s today in the park with Genie+
Whos going to pay $35 for just one Tier 1 ride?
I bet sales drop a lot and they change this within 6 months
I would beet you will be wrong. People like the aspect of being able to plan and take care of things before they get to the park. It’s one of the reasons people love DDP so much. They pay early and then just get to show up at the restaurant and not worry about it. Throw in them no longer having to wake up early on their vacation and rush to choose their selection at 7 am. I honestly dont think most people will have strong feelings one way or the other, but i think this will be seen more positively over all by most.
Also curious how the Tiers will work once you use one and can then get another. If your first one you use is a Tier 2 ride, I would assume you could then only book another Tier 2 for your next one? Or do the Tiers go away the day of?
From my understanding once you ride your first ride, you can pick from any other ride in the park from that point on.
I think Genie+ sales PLUMMET on this
I could get all 4 HS Tier 1 rides paying for Genie+ by stacking and going to the park in the afternoon……
Noe I van book one of those and then only Tier 2
Who is going to pay $35 for 1 Tier 1 ride?
Have they announced what the tiers are? I have not seen it. So curious what you are considering “Tier 1” rides. RotR will still be Individual LL so it wont be on there. My guess would be the Tier 1 rides would be M&M, Millennium and Slinky. While it is possible to get all 3 of those with GP, it is certainly not guaranteed. Especially on busy days.
I think more people will buy the individual passes than you might expect. If I have a 3 year old who is super into Minnie Mouse – I’ll pay for the breakfast at Contemporary so I can guarantee we get that experience. If I have a kid who is super into Tiana … I’m probably paying $35/person to guarantee that experience. I do think the passes will sell – but I would be curious about the impact on other optional expenses. If I’m paying for Tiana, I might not book a fancy sit down meal. At some point, the total budget doesn’t increase – but how I allocate my money might.
As a planner who is TIRED of waking up at 6:45am every day of vacation, I am all-in on this change! Now to add Seven Dwarfs as multi LL option instead of individual LL… a girl can dream!
Coming down with 12 people July 22. Staying in an AIRBNB so likely not worth even getting fast passes as they’ll be all gone like the good ol’ days, at least it was free back then. Throws a bit of a wrench in our planning.
So am I understanding correct that there will no longer be a fee for “multi parks”? Previously when park hoping with Genie+ i would have to buy the multiple park option. According to this if I stay on site and I am booking my rides for Magic Kingdom after I tapped in to my first one I could book Toy Story Mania, but not have to purchase lightning lane multi pass again for the Hollywood studios price? Correct? Disney says on their website: After redeeming your first selection that day, you can choose another multi pass experience (subject to availability).
If you have valid admission with the Park Hopper option, you could even choose a multi pass experience in a different theme park (subject to availability).
Just making sure we won’t be charged twice in one day for Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
Also I understand the tiers, but I am bummed. For Epcot, I didn’t go to ANY of the tier 2 rides when I was there last May. So if you aren’t able to get more Tier 1 rides at Epcot that would be a bummer to just get one ride. You don’t need fast passes for most/any of the Tier 2s.
Overall I am excited about pre planning though! But of course I need to get another Disney trip on the books so I can plan. 🙂
Honestly, on our last trip Epcot was the one park I didnt buy Genie at. You can get enough done getting there early, and I instead allocated that money to riding GotG again with an individual LL. That ride is so awesome I would rather get to ride it again vs savings a few minutes on Spaceship Earth…I imagine my thoughts will be the same with this new system. Getting 2 rides on the likes of Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, Nemo, etc is not worth the buy IMO
Sounds like great news to me. I LOVE the ability to make selections in advance. Managing expectations is key for my neurodiverse kiddo and I was worried about the removal of DAS Advance. But this option is even better AND accessible to everyone willing to pay. I’m glad to see Disney adapting to make the experience better. We know they won’t go back to free fast pass and we know lines are always going to be long, so this feels like the best they can do at the moment to make people happy.
“requires guests to spend all day with their faces buried in their phones” Too true.
I never purchased Genie+ because I didn’t want to be messing around all day on my phone trying to figure it out.
The new Lightning Lane Multipass sounds good to me. I might consider purchasing it, depending on the cost. As others have said, I will be interested to see the rides that are included in it, and the costs.
Yet another confirmation that Disney is eliminating just about everything except autism for DAS. Now they have opened up more space to sell more LL+ systems.
I am for this change. Seems to be combining good things about Genie+ and the old FastPass+ system. Can not please all the people all of the time, but it does look like Disney is being proactive and trying to please as many as possible.
It would be great if they brought back the ability to purchase the new system for the entirety of your stay at a discount.
Does exact opposite
What happens with the current individual lightning lanes? Will they be included, or will we still need to pay out of pocket?
In previous posts from me in regards to G+, I have always said I would of much rather have WDW keep FP+ and just charge for it. I was also not naïve to think it was always going to be free. On the surface I am VERY happy, but that could change based on the cost of it and the tiering selection. I also agree with another poster that said they should of still used FP as part of it’s name and not this LLMP name.
I’m not sure where the people who keeps saying you will now only get 3 rides with LLMP, I constantly was able to get 5-6 rides with FP+ back in it’s day. The fact that I know I already have 3 rides guaranteed for our park days before even arriving is HUGE to us. Not to mention no longer needing to get up before 7 just to grab our 1st ride, now I will be able to plan our park days better in advance, because I now know the times of 3 of our LLMP rides are at. I will be able sleep in a more without needing to wake up to do G+, especially since we rarely do RD anymore. Not sure if this will change but my family also noted that I was on my cell a LOT more in the parks with G+ then I ever was with FP+. I just hope WDW LLMP website can handle the volume, because the number of people reserving at 7 days will be greatly more then the old 60 day window. They may not have given themselves enough leeway, time will tell.
I’ve always wondered why not do some sort of compromise or middle ground when it comes to FastPass. What I mean is, why not bring back 1 “free” fastpass per park ticket and then also have the option where you can purchase additional? The same people who buy it now would still buy the additional. That would seem to at least appease the people angry about the free option completely going away, while allowing Disney to monetize line skipping.
recognizing the world does not revolve around me, and simultaneously feeling so victimized by disney’s timing of everything this summer. we will be there the 27th-30th and we expected test track to be open into july (my son’s fav) and it closed June 17th. we hoped tiana bayou would be open and it sort of is but not for our planned MK visit on the 27th for the afterhours party that we already paid for. hoped rock n roller would be back up as it was closed our last 2 visits. it’s not. hoped country bears would be open as it had closed just before our last visit. it’s not. have been chomping at the bit for a year about these preplanned LL changes they hinted and it affects guests in late July. I need a word for like resentful FOMO. that’s where I’m at. thanks for letting me vent!
Maybe they should include the Lightning Lane passes when staying on site (or maybe just for Deluxe Resort guests or something?) Doesn’t Universal Studios do something like that? I know when we have stayed at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort we have gotten free “TimeSaver” passes for Dollywood which cost $60 plus tax per person otherwise.
Yes, Universal does that. For our family of 5 that’s going to Universal, we can book a hotel and get Unlimited Express Passes for 2 days included. That means we get to skip the line on nearly everything as many times as we want. No planning or scheduling needed at all. It cuts the price in half for the Express tickets for our family, so it’s huge deal…though still expensive.
Hey – Seems like a great development. While its paid, fast pass was far superior to Genie +. This will be a win for everyone. Quick question to throw in for your FAQ planning. I am looking to book a split stay visit next year. Do you think we will be able to make reservations for the entire stay (both splits) at 7 days before the first reservation or will the split reset the clock?
ITs literally worst case sceenario…..It combines the WORST aspects for FP+ and Genie+
I very much like the change! anything is better than what they currently have. The price point should be interesting. and I certainly believe Resort guests (Not so much “good neighbor” hotel guests though! should have the 7-day advantage. I also completely agree with the commentary! Disney needs to build more ride attractions!!!! 3 parks have only 9 or so ride attractions each. And MK has only 27 or so. In comparison, Cedar Point in Ohio and Hershey Park in Pennsylvania have nearly 80 rides each. (Hershey is about the same size as MK and has a waterpark and zoo included!! Both can cost less than $100 per day! Disney needs more rides!! People standing in a ride queue for upwards to 90 minutes are not spending money on food or Loungefly bags!!!
Call my Olde Mind burnt out……so i will be one of the maybe few to grumble…Holy crap what it costs alone just to go into a park let alone cost of food and yet STILL have to Pay to ride on any chosen thing……One thing i am glad about is the 7am call as it never worked for my olde feeble fingers ….I yearn for the good ol days of FAST PASS…….oh well when we do go its now more of a lookie around ,…Downtown Disney stroll……Resort hop and when in parks just to again stroll and see if the lines arent 60-90min long……Oh for the good ol days……Wonder what Walt would think of this mess Egor has done…My rant/My thoughts…….Be easy on me…………