Thing is I don’t really have a problem with G+. Free FastPass was overused which is what led to the really long standby lines. Because they had to allocate 70-80% of line capacity to FP as everyone got 3 going into the gate, the system was overwhelmed.
G+ is kind of win-win. Those who really want a line skip can get one. And it’s similar to MaxPass in DL, which most people loved. And for those who don’t want to do it, there will be fewer people (just by nature of the cost and the fact that you can only get one LL at a time), so I imagine far less capacity will be allocated to LL than was for FP.
Now ILL$ is another story. The fact that they are charging that much to skip a line for a single attraction is ridiculous and is much more of a blatant money grab than G+. That I will boycott and will do everything I can to not use it.
I really don’t see that many people getting an ILL$$$ beyond the top three rides at WDW. If that is true, then the others will be basically standby-only.
I’d at first been annoyed by ILL$$$$. But, think if all the ILL$$$ rides were G+. Then in EP and HS, every single last person would get G+. Then after they got it, they’d want to use it. Then you would have paid-standby since the LL would basically be turned into standby.
If everyone is special, then no one is special.
Great article. When the data is plotted, you can see the behaviour of the people using G+/ILL$ and gleam quite a bit of insight into how to plan your own touring.
Those attractions where the dotted line starts higher (later in the day) at park opening are in higher demand first thing in the morning. Those rides are scooped up in the 7am drop.
Those rides that follow the dotted line throughout the day are not being reserved and shouldn’t need a LL reservation.
You can see that demand dies down for soarin’ as the the day progresses. If you were not to use G+/ILL$, then wait until later in the day to ride.
Those rides with high variability (wild swings) look like people want to ride them, but end up not committing to the LL reservations.
I am excited to see this data. I cannot wait until more data is collected and typical patterns start to emerge. TP will definitely be able to keep us ahead of those G+ maniacs.
The article is helpful. Explored SDD times this morning. Gone at 7:04, started dropping at 7:08 for about 90 sec but mostly evening. Gone around 7:10. At 7:11 saw a few early morning then lots of mid afternoon times. Gone again in another minute.
Just wanted to share this here, which relates to the Leading Post of trip planning. This was shared by TP after a question from a blog article.
"The ability to have our software calculate an efficient plan using forecasted Genie+ return times and your own inputted Individual Lightning Lane return times estimates (you have a choice with those, and if you pick early, you should be able to choose nearly whatever times you want) is forthcoming, likely by early 2022. So in the future, even though there are lots of unknowns, you’ll be able to experiment more with Lightning Lane planning."
Even if that is not ready for my trip starting last weekend in Jan., I expect I’ll get enough advice from here. People will have a solid grasp on which are the best G+ to get first, second and third. By my trip, I’ll be able to enter the G+ reservations into my plan and optimize around them. I may cross the park more than I’d like.
Thanks for sharing - looks like I will continue making wild touring plans on the backs of random napkins when I am procrastinating doing something else, as I anticipate what will and won’t work for my upcoming trip!
They are setting themselves up in a very bad way, certainly from an optics perspective but perhaps also from a legality perspective.
If guests are purchasing those premium rides based on standby wait times, and then waiting a long time anyway… that’s not good.
It does seem that the general Genie+ product is also at risk because the improved accuracy is not significant by any means. And so the same applies as above.
I think it goes the other way as well – purchase a LL$ based on standby times and the wait is actually low. People will be mad to have spent money on something that wasn’t necessary.
oh! got it. yes, totally agree. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s anything in this scenario that Disney can do right. They’ve painted themselves into quite a corner. I’m interested to see how attendance numbers are in 2023 - well after everyone is done doing their revenge/covid make up trips. If recent sentiment is any indication, even the super Disney fan is pulling back their plans to visit again.
“even” may not be the right word. It may be the case that the guests pulling back most are the super fans. I’m not sure how much the casual, occasional WDW go-er cares about these changes. My close friend who went in October after G+ was put in place didn’t seem to mind G+. He still plans to return next in 2-3 years and G+ isn’t impacting his decisions at all.
