Reviewing the attendance stats for WDW it seems that the 2023 figures are comparable to those of 2013 and far less than in 2019.
So the reason for having Lightning Lanes is purely financial and has nothing to to do with any crowd control.
The need to book ahead for popular rides or dining is a stress we could all do without. Couldn't Disney just be more transparent and simply increase their gate prices and do away with us having to buy Lightning Lanes ?
If the crowds truly are similar to those of 10 or more years ago then why not consider a return to the FastPass system that, in my experience , worked well ?
Guests then wouldn't have to budget for extra payments or stress out over making advance bookings. We could simply enjoy ourselves at the Parks as we used to do.
@ the-man
I probably won't go to Disney now because I refuse to be ripped off. We visited both coasts, from the UK, for more than 10 years in a row. We love the Parks and always spent a month in either Orlando or Anaheim. We have always argued that our 14 day passes represented good value entertainment despite what seemed high prices.
Now I feel that people can vote with their feet to let Disney know that being "milked" is unacceptable. If guests refused to buy into Lightning Lanes it might make Disney think more about their validity.
Now that really is being on planet Earth.
My problem with it is not so much as cost as incredible inconvenience. I hate having to plan ahead and book them in advance. I also suspect they are entirely unnecessary on a number of attractions and only serve to make the lines longer. Case-in-point: omnimover attractions. They constantly load and move many people through it. Stopping this process for LL makes the whole system take longer. I suspect that if the whole LL system went down, the overall average wait time would be less with the exception of several newer attractions.
My wish is that they have it only for the top tier attractions and do away with it otherwise. But the blue fairy ain’t gonna grant that.
That is good, I agree people should vote with their wallets and not allow themselves to be ripped off (hence why I still haven't been to a SF park since 2018). Heck I live right behind MK and would never pay the outrageous prices to go there (I will admit I go way less than I used to and now just resort to bumming tickets off of friends a few times a year).
The point of your post though seems like you are trying to make a case that Disney changed FP into a paid system in order to make more money. You really don't need to make a case for that, its completely obvious.
It's not that I'm making a case that Disney has introduced a system that makes them more money.
It's more that it wastes guests' time and loads pressure on them to always plan ahead and make bookings for everything. It's taking away spontaneity and that relaxed enjoyment of the Parks. Everyone seemingly fixed to their phones desperately trying to get a Lightning Lane or pre-order some food instead of taking in the ambience of the Park itself. That's just sad. Disney is supposed to be a joyous carefree experience. Instead it's becoming a stressful one.
I would rather accept a ticket price hike so that I can enjoy my time at the Parks with no problems. Fastpass allowed for that and I found that it worked for us.
Of course this is just my opinion. Maybe people today like being stressed out.
Genie+/LL was/is the most blatant cash grab Disney has ever invented. They took the bones of a system that used to be free, took it away during the Pandemic, and then cut it off at the knees and repackaged it as an upcharge/luxury.
The biggest issue with the new system is that now that guests are directly paying for it, Disney has to make it actually advantageous to guests who are buying it (or disadvantageous for guests who don't). It also means that guests who are buying the service are more likely to maximize its use because they have "skin in the game" compared to how most guests approached the old FP+ system (though there were plenty of people who maximized FP+).
I hated FP+. Initially liked Genie+ but now they make you book them in advance again, which is so amazingly against having a good time on vacation. Now it is back to preplanning your vacation. No thank you. I also dislike the limitations. Really, the original FP was fine, but I strongly suspect that if they had no system at all that the average wait times would be lower.
Also, let’s pack thousands of people together and have them walk around. Then make it where they must stop and look at their phones at random times and see what happens.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse…
@HappyHaunt - You're not kidding, because just today Disney did make it worse by announcing "Lightning Lane Premier Pass", which is a new product that allows guests access to all of the LLs in a single WDW park (or both California parks) with no time restrictions for the low low prices of $129-429 (WDW) and $300-400 (DL/DCA).
This is so stupid. Disney's drop of quality and rise in price has made me despise these policies
And you have to stay in a Deluxe or Club resort.
"So the reason for having Lightning Lanes is purely financial and has nothing to to do with any crowd control."
Uhh...welcome to planet earth?