It’s been one week since Walt Disney World rolled out the new Lightning Lane Multi-Go and there have already been lots of quiet modifications. This put up takes a take a look at LLMP availability for the most well-liked rides in current days, same-day (and advance!) experience reservation refills, and extra–with the aim of figuring out whether or not it’s now roughly tough to attain one of the best alternatives in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
As soon as once more, we wish to warn you that each one of that is topic to vary. For one factor, Walt Disney World isn’t busy proper now. It’s been a sluggish summer season at Orlando’s theme parks, as we talk about at size in Summer time (Nonetheless) Is NOT Excessive Crowds Season at Walt Disney World. Since Lightning Lane Multi Go (LLMP) launched, crowd ranges have been 1/10 to three/10 with WDW-wide common wait occasions of 26-34 minutes.
If you wish to quibble with this–high quality, no matter. Regardless of present crowds, it’s going to worsen. On common, October by way of December might be busier than July and August. Similar goes for many of January by way of March 2025. Proper now by way of mid-September is the calm earlier than the storm. (See our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars.)
I don’t wish to completely rehash our earlier put up about Lightning Lane availability, however it is a actually vital level–so skip forward to the primary app screenshot if you happen to already perceive the “why” of it mattering.
Extra folks buy Lightning Lanes when crowds are larger. That is one thing we’ve seen time and time once more within the final two years. There’s a purpose that demand for Lightning Lanes is larger when costs are larger–it’s as a result of the date-based surcharge over the low or common seasons is comparatively insignificant within the grand scheme of issues.
Intuitively, this makes full sense. Worse wait occasions creates a better incentive for bypassing traces, that means larger uptake of Lightning Lanes even when it prices extra. The rationale is easy–persons are keen to pay extra to skip traces after they’re worse. Even at a better value, Lightning Lane Multi Go provides better utility and worth for cash on a 9/10 crowd stage day than it does a 3/10 day.
Furthermore, these visiting throughout peak weeks are already paying extra for his or her holidays. The distinction between $27 (present pricing for Magic Kingdom) and $39 (peak pricing) is comparatively insignificant within the grand scheme of issues, and gained’t trigger many friends who’re already selecting to e-book the costliest days of the yr to balk at pricing. One other few hundred {dollars} on high of a multi-thousand greenback journey might be “price it” to a big proportion of friends if it provides a aggressive benefit–and Lightning Lanes do!
We all know all of this as a result of we noticed this play out the final time a brand new line-skipping service launched in the course of the low season. Genie+ debuted again on October 19, 2021 at Walt Disney World at a time that was shockingly uncrowded for quite a lot of causes past the scope of this put up.
Earlier than the tip of October, we had extensively examined Genie+ in each single park at Walt Disney World and other than some bellyaching about paying $16 (ah, the great ole days) per park for what was once free and the buggy nature of the app function, our conclusion was that Genie+ was wonderful. We have been capable of e-book each single Lightning Lane in each park with ease (nicely, minus the app glitches). Availability was plentiful, demand was low.
Crowd ranges have been additionally within the 1/10 to 2/10 vary. Quick-forward a few month, and the paid FastPass substitute completely melted down in Thanksgiving crowds. So we examined and retested. Then Walt Disney World made a bunch of modifications to repair issues and assist with the provision vs. demand imbalance. Extra testing and retesting. Frankly, I really feel like Bob Chapek ought to’ve given me a shoutout on the earnings calls for getting Genie+ so many occasions and serving to pump up their numbers.
The ethical of the story is that I simply examined Genie+ over a dozen occasions in 3 of the 4 parks (it rapidly turned clear that Animal Kingdom was a waste of time–even because the system modified, DAK demand dynamics didn’t) throughout its first yr of existence. Subject testing outcomes from one month have been typically out of date by the following.
Historical past is repeating itself with the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Go.
A lot has already modified within the span of 1 week that on-the-ground experiences from launch day at Magic Kingdom are already utterly ineffective. The opposite parks are a unique story. Whereas they’ve all modified for the higher, Magic Kingdom was uniquely dangerous for the primary few days and is now significantly better.
In equity, we warned you that this might occur! Right here’s what we mentioned in What We’ve Realized from Lightning Lane Multi Go So Far at Walt Disney World, responding to considerations about exceedingly restricted availability:
Nearly each Lightning Lane Multi-Go and Single Go crammed up quicker at present on launch day than on the final day of Genie+ regardless of comparable crowds. That second half is especially related as a result of nothing modified about Single Go other than the title. With regard to Multi-Go, just about the one rides that didn’t refill hours quicker than regular are people who usually e-book rapidly.
Magic Kingdom was particularly dangerous, with Group B sights that don’t usually run out of availability till the night (e.g. Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear’s House Ranger Spin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Tomorrowland Speedway–actually, the speedway?!) being passed by early afternoon.
A part of it’s most likely that there are lots of vloggers, bloggers, influencers, and Floridians who have to be “first” all within the parks and “clogging up” the Lightning Lanes. Nevertheless, that’s solely a minor contributing issue. My persons are loud and obnoxious, making us appear larger in quantity than we’re in reality.
The extra seemingly rationalization is that it’s the primary day of a brand new product providing. Walt Disney World has completed so much to put the groundwork for improved Lightning Lane availability, however the actuality stays that they’re going from 1 experience reservation previous to arrival to three–tripling demand proper out of the gate.
Given this, it’s seemingly that Walt Disney World is throttling Lightning Lane availability as a result of it’s model new they usually themselves aren’t certain of what to anticipate. I’d think about they’ll slowly open the valve, so to talk, after just a few days and deeper into August. We must always begin seeing extra upfront availability and experience reservation refills because the months go on. After all, crowds are additionally going to be worse for a lot of October by way of December, so there’s that, too.
The underside line is that I’d warning anybody towards extrapolating developments primarily based on the primary day or week. As we noticed firsthand with Genie, issues modified regularly and repeatedly within the first 18 months after launch. Lightning Lane Multi-Go already seems extra steady (it’s actually not as half-baked), nevertheless it’ll nonetheless evolve over time.
Right here’s a rundown of key takeaways as of week 2 of Lightning Lane Multi Go at Walt Disney World…
Advance Availability – At the same time as of Saturday, we have been nonetheless seeing restricted availability for the next sights beginning 4 days upfront:
- Tiana’s Bayou Journey
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Jungle Cruise
- Slinky Canine Sprint
- Remy’s Ratatouille Journey
- Frozen Ever After
- Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
- Na’vi River Journey (restricted morning time slots)
Fortunately, so much has modified in the previous couple of days. In wanting proper now for tomorrow (August 1, 2024), each single attraction is accessible apart from Tiana’s Bayou Journey. That features Slinky Canine Sprint (albeit at evening), Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Frozen Ever After, and every little thing else on the above checklist.
Tier 2 Troubles – Whereas headliners are the main focus for apparent causes, one of many massive considerations round launch have been the restricted choices for Group B/Tier 2. This drawback was occurring with apparent candidates like Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania, but additionally much less standard rides. This was particularly noticeable with Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, which have been absolutely reserving up upfront regardless of routinely having availability till night underneath the Genie+ system.
The pondering was that, since everybody was choosing upfront and these have been the apparent tier 2 priorities, they have been merely filling up means quicker. Nevertheless, there’s no means that would clarify all of it. This was the largest pink flag for us that Walt Disney World was throttling Lightning Lane Multi Go at launch. You don’t go from just about “limitless” Lightning Lane availability (that means that Haunted Mansion and PotC would by no means be unavailable) to virtually nothing.
That is additionally now not a problem to the extent it was earlier than. A number of the secondary sights listed above are nonetheless working out mid-afternoon, and I believe throttling remains to be at play for the explanations mentioned above, nevertheless it’s now not a significant challenge. I’d count on that this continues to get higher, at the least for the Magic Kingdom sights. (In all probability not Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania.)
Journey Reservation Refill Cadence – One prediction we made previous to the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Go was that experience reservation refills, drops, popup availability or no matter you wish to name them would proceed. (See Journey Reservation Refill Guidelines at Walt Disney World.) This truly wasn’t a daring prediction, as these have been options–not bugs–of each FastPass+ and Genie+ companies.
Our bolder prediction was that experience reservation refills would truly improve. Truthfully, I don’t suppose this was that daring of a prediction, both. Between the system being monetized and extra clear, and worldwide friends being blocked out (albeit not very nicely–it’s fortunately very straightforward to work round that drawback!) this was just about a foregone conclusion. In spite of everything, Disney desires to promote LLMP upfront and same-day, and the one repair for that’s common refills of Lightning Lanes. Apparent accurately, it didn’t seem like the case early on–at the least for Magic Kingdom.
Effectively, we’re glad to report that has modified and in a massive means. Each our anecdotal observations and the information help this conclusion, and because of the elevated transparency of Lightning Lane Multi Go, it’s now a lot simpler to identify a cancellation vs. a experience reservation refill (since there are a number of occasions from which to pick out with the latter).
To see this in motion, we’d encourage you to mess around with the Lightning Lane Multi Go reserving engine–and, particularly, the modify function. Use that in tandem with the Lightning Lane popup releases function on thrill-data. There’s greater than meets the attention there–you really want to drill right down to particular person attraction graphs.
You may assessment the information, take my phrase for it, or take a look at for your self–nevertheless it’s pretty apparent at this level that same-day availability and experience reservation refills are at the least pretty much as good with Genie+ and arguably significantly better. Simply be warned if you happen to’re testing for your self: it turns into addictive–identical to a online game. Additionally like a recreation, it could imply dropping a ton of ‘actual world’ time as your face is glued to a display.
Throttling Tiana’s – Nowhere are the experience reservation refills extra evident than with Tiana’s Bayou Journey. Paradoxically, that is each the #1 hardest Lightning Lane to attain in all of Walt Disney World proper now and likewise the simplest same-day headliner. Let me clarify.
Tiana’s Bayou Journey is routinely gone earlier than the 3-day mark and infrequently previous to the 7-day mark. (I can at present search by way of August 7, 2024–and I see nothing for it on any day sooner or later.) This isn’t the case with another attraction–not even Slinky Canine Sprint!
Nevertheless, same-day availability is (or may be) a completely completely different story. Have a look at that graph above. What it exhibits is a daily cadence of Tiana’s Bayou Journey experience reservation refills which might be occurring with almost-immediate return occasions. That is one thing we’d count on to see for Buzz Lightyear’s House Ranger Spin, not the most recent headliner at Walt Disney World.
Above is only one (of many!) illustrations of this. I looked for Lightning Lane Multi Go availability at 12:48 pm, proper in the mean time a refill occurred for the 1 pm and 4 pm hours. I may’ve had a return time 12 minutes later! That’s a refill, not a cancellation. And guess what? That is regular proper now.
The truth is, we’re seeing this a lot (and it’s within the information) that if I have been a gambler, I is perhaps inclined to e-book Jungle Cruise with my #1 advance decide and punt on Tiana’s Bayou Journey till day-of. The rationale for that is pretty easy: Tiana’s Bayou Journey has extra same-day drops than Jungle Cruise (though each have them).
Essentially, I’d not do that more often than not and I positively wouldn’t suggest this dangerous method if you happen to solely have someday in Magic Kingdom. The one exception can be if Tiana’s Bayou Journey solely had return occasions late within the day once I was reserving upfront. I’d somewhat roll the cube than lock myself into a type of…however I’m additionally not the common visitor.
The rationale that is taking place within the first place is as a result of Tiana’s Bayou Journey remains to be extremely unreliable. On dangerous days, it’s down for hours. Then there are good days, when downtime is about on par with Splash Mountain. Journey reservation refills for Tiana’s Bayou Journey don’t serve the identical operate as these with different sights. As an alternative, they’re about actual time stock administration primarily based on the state of the digital queue and attraction’s uptime or downtime.
Which means Walt Disney World is conservative with advance bookings (Lightning Lanes and even digital queue–because it’s occurring hours forward of time and it’s not possible to know whether or not it’ll find yourself taking place for hours or have a successful streak), after which utilizing the Lightning Lane drops to backfill capability on a near-term foundation. That is completely unbelievable for tech savvy Lightning Lane Multi Go customers, particularly these with a better threat tolerance–nevertheless it’s dangerous for just about everybody else.
It additionally has a few extra implications. The primary is that, if Tiana’s Bayou Journey is having a nasty day, you gained’t see this same-day availability! These experience reservation refills is not going to occur if the experience is down so much and there’s a backlog of digital queue or advance Lightning Lane friends to course of. That’s why it’s such a dangerous technique within the first place!
The second is that this positively will change as soon as Tiana’s Bayou Journey is extra dependable. Now we have no clue when that’ll be (my hope was by now…but additionally had hoped it wouldn’t open damaged!), however suffice to say, if you happen to’re planning a go to in January 2025, you completely shouldn’t be formulating a technique for TBA proper now.
Frankly, you shouldn’t be formulating one in any respect. That is all going to maintain altering, evolving, whatevering. You additionally shouldn’t get labored up or overly excited primarily based on what you see at present. The sky isn’t falling neither is Lightning Lane Multi Go going to be good for everybody. It’s neither superior nor terrible–simply completely different. And as with each previous incarnation of line-skipping companies at Walt Disney World, now we have zero doubts in anyway that energy customers will discover methods to return out forward. Similar as they ever have.
It’ll be attention-grabbing (to me, at the least!) to comply with the evolving dynamics of Lightning Lane Multi-Go at Walt Disney World within the coming weeks and–extra so–as soon as fall break in October and the vacation season rolls round. As soon as once more, I don’t suppose we’re going to study any classes between now and mid-September 2024 which might be related to these planning 2025 Walt Disney World holidays.
Between the decrease crowds and probability of changes, how the following few weeks play out has little worth to anybody visiting for the Christmas season or subsequent yr. There’s no sensible level in you persevering with to learn posts like this one, besides “for enjoyable.” It’s nonetheless attention-grabbing (once more, to me!) to observe this all play out in real-time.
After a rocky rollout from an availability perspective, issues are beginning to enhance. One seemingly change is that Magic Kingdom will proceed to get “simpler” whereas Disney’s Hollywood Studios ought to get “tougher.” (The previous a byproduct of elevated provide; the latter a byproduct of elevated demand.)
It’ll even be fascinating to search out “hacks” and different methods to take advantage of the system, identical to we did with Genie. (Anybody bear in mind the unique stacking circa late 2021 that allowed you to create a number of ‘threads’ of Lightning Lanes by combining the 120 rule with the tap-in rule? Ah, the great ole days!)
Different modifications I’d count on to see are extra readability within the overlap insurance policies (what I’m seeing is in every single place) and–if stock is actually restricted in the course of the vacation season, transferring away from the “rolling 3 rule.” Frankly, I’m unsure any of that’s crucial. I actually suppose what we noticed at launch and are nonetheless seeing at present is a system that’s slowly being rolled out with a conservative method–and Lightning Lane availability throttled consequently.
Walt Disney World laid the groundwork for Lightning Lane Multi Go by releasing up experience capability in different methods, which ought to imply an growth of experience reservation stock underneath Lightning Lane Multi-Go as in comparison with the Genie+ system. Even when not instantly obvious, the fruits of that needs to be evident in Lightning Lane Multi-Go availability over time. The extra open query is whether or not advance reserving plus the upper ‘stakes’ of this costing cash means roughly availability than FastPass+ in the course of the busy vacation season.
We’ll proceed monitoring Lightning Lane availability and all different modifications within the coming weeks. As for extra on-the-ground testing of Lightning Lane Multi Go, that’ll even be coming comparatively quickly, however I’m much less inclined to make the identical mistake as October 2021 once I spent a number of consecutive weeks within the parks…solely to have all of these efforts be rendered completely pointless by Thanksgiving. Between a brand new child, new knowledge and the climate, the majority of my subject testing this time gained’t come till Christmas-time.
You probably have questions in regards to the fundamentals of utilizing–or not utilizing–the paid FastPass service, see our Information to Lightning Lane Multi-Go at Walt Disney World for the entire foundational need-to-know data. This entire system is complicated and convoluted, so that you may need a query or two-dozen. That solutions the entire commonest ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about resorts on our Walt Disney World Lodges Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every little thing it’s worthwhile to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
When you’ve been reserving Lightning Lane Multi-Go to your upcoming Walt Disney World trip, what’s been your expertise up to now with availability? (I’m significantly keen on these of you who’ve booked for August 2024 dates.) Have you ever seen any discernible variations versus the Genie+ service? Any success or failures making a number of high-priority Lightning Lane alternatives? Would you suggest LLMP to others, or simply advise sticking to standby? Different issues or ideas to share? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
