Probably the most controversial modifications to line-skipping with Walt Disney World’s change from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Go is the elimination of all character meet & greets and different leisure choices in any respect 4 parks, with Magic Kingdom being hit particularly laborious. This submit discusses why characters have been reduce from paid FastPass and the chance that’ll change within the weeks to come back or 2025.
For starters, this looks like historical past repeating itself. When Genie+ first launched again in October 2021, it didn’t embrace almost as many sights and different ‘line gadgets’ because it did when the system was retired in 2024. What was most notable about this was that there have been two a la carte Lightning Lanes (now Single Go) per park.
These included Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey and Frozen Ever After at EPCOT, and House Mountain at Magic Kingdom–a virtually 50-year outdated curler coaster! Solely the primary two of these bought even reasonably effectively–however they have been all added to Genie+ on a “momentary” foundation; first in late December 2021 after which once more in February 2022 (that grew to become everlasting by the tip of summer season).
Alongside that, Walt Disney World started including leisure to the Genie+ service. This began with Mickey’s As soon as Upon A Christmastime Parade (every day ops model) across the peak weeks of Christmas and New Yr’s in 2021. It continued with Pageant of Fantasy Parade upon its return.
Then got here character ‘sightings’ (bear in mind these?) in every park in early 2022. All of this was unsurprising, as these have been meet & greets that have been a part of FastPass+ previous to March 2020, and all of them have been purpose-built venues that have been created with FastPass+ queues in thoughts. After that, a number of extra venues have been added at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios–together with Pink Carpet Goals, which was eliminated from Genie+ shortly after it was added.
As with virtually all modifications to Genie+ after it launched (except for these including clearly lacking options) the targets of those additions have been to load steadiness and enhance capability. Merely put, there weren’t sufficient Lightning Lanes to offer company with ample perceived worth for cash, which grew to become evident as quickly as there have been “actual” crowds round Thanksgiving (previous to that, the parks had been useless, so Genie+ had labored effectively!).
This background is supplied as a result of it might appear that historical past is at the least partially repeating itself. Listed here are the sights that have been reduce with the change from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Go:
Magic Kingdom
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
- Pageant of Fantasy Parade
- Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
- Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Corridor
- Meet Mickey and Minnie at City Sq. Theater
- Meet Princess Tiana and a Visiting Princess at Princess Fairytale Corridor
Hollywood Studios
- Meet Olaf at Superstar Highlight
Animal Kingdom
- Meet Favourite Disney Friends at Adventurers Outpost
- The Animation Expertise at Conservation Station
EPCOT
- Mickey & Associates Meet & Greet
As a fast apart, it’s completely hilarious to me that Mickey & Associates debuted final month in CommuniCore Corridor at EPCOT with a Lightning Lane. One month later, it has been eradicated. Keep in mind that this transformation to pre-arrival Lightning Lanes didn’t simply come out of the blue–it was introduced over a yr in the past throughout the early phases of CommuniCore Corridor’s development.
It’s type of hilarious in a tragic kind of means that one hand didn’t know what the opposite was doing there and CommuniCore Corridor managed to someway open in June with a Lightning Lane…solely to have it introduced 2 weeks later that it wouldn’t have one. An ideal encapsulation of CommuniCore Corridor as an entire. Simply the chef’s kiss on that entire mission.
Anyway, it’s my understanding that Walt Disney World made the dedication that character meet & greets and leisure shouldn’t have Lightning Lanes, so the choice was made to take away them from the pre-arrival service. When talking with the workforce at Disney that was tasked with educating media about Lightning Lane Multi-Go, I particularly requested about character meet & greets, and it was made clear that these have been purposefully being retired.
No clarification was given, however I used to be not led to imagine it was an oversight nor was the door left open for modifications down the highway. (Generally, they use wiggle phrases like “at the moment,” “at the moment,” or “when __ launches,” suggesting issues will evolve–not so right here.)
In talking additional with credible sources, the language was even stronger: character meet & greets and different leisure wouldn’t ever be part of Lightning Lane Multi-Go and that wasn’t going to vary.
I don’t imagine this.
To be clear, I imagine that folks inside Disney engaged on Lightning Lane Multi-Go assume this. I’m effectively conscious that line-skipping at character meet & greets and leisure is a headache for Operations, extra burdensome on standby traces, and creates different challenges.
It makes full sense that the mission workforce and Solid Members at these areas wouldn’t need Lightning Lanes–particularly at areas not constructed for FastPass within the first place, like Adventurers Outpost. To not wreck the phantasm, however these spots lack the capability of a number of the bigger meet & greet venues as a result of they’re single rooms.
Nonetheless, I additionally bear in mind all the above enjoying out with Genie+ that first vacation season. I additionally bear in mind FastPass+ having a bunch of capability added over time. Most significantly, I do know that there are different “stakeholders” concerned with the decision-making processes, and as quickly as visitor satisfaction takes a success and there are complaints a few lack of availability, they’re going to scramble for options. It’s occurred earlier than; it’ll occur once more.
After all, there are different conceivable options past bringing again the Lightning Lanes at character meet & greets, so it’s not a foregone conclusion that’ll be the result. They might shoehorn Lightning Lanes onto rides that traditionally haven’t had them for good motive–this has been the strategy at Disney California Journey, and it’s been a reasonably terrible final result.
They might change the rolling 3 rule to be extra just like the FastPass+ system the place you needed to redeem all three of your preliminary picks earlier than making subsequent picks. This might positively assist from a capability perspective in the event that they’re fearful about low-knowledge company not shopping for Lightning Lane Multi Go after seeing availability. Nonetheless, I believe it might lead to a good larger hit to visitor satisfaction…and would actually ignite the “Lightning Lanes are paid FastPass+” criticism (because it’d be much more true than it’s now!).
They might add Lightning Lane viewing areas for Fantasmic, Luminous, and different new nighttime leisure as soon as that debuts. I’m truthfully stunned that I can nonetheless stroll as much as the very best viewing space for Luminous and stand in there for “free,” which was not potential with IllumiNations throughout the FastPass+ period. Ditto Fantasmic, which might have a whole part put aside for Lightning Lane. (Doing this in tandem with the above change would pressure company to make a troublesome determination–as was the case with FastPass+.)
They might elevate costs for Lightning Lane Multi Go. Realistically, that is going to occur regardless throughout busier instances. I’m skeptical that Walt Disney World ends 2025 with $39 being the very best value ever. However the issue right here is that when costs go up, so too do visitor expectations. In order that additionally doesn’t clear up that subject. (And as we’ve beforehand mentioned, there’s a sure about of value inelasticity for Lightning Lanes, anyway.)
In my opinion, the trail of least resistance is just restoring Lightning Lanes at some character meet & greets. That is the obvious choice, because it’s the factor they’ve executed earlier than. So I believe they’ll do it once more if there are ongoing points with Lightning Lane availability and visitor satisfaction.
It’s additionally not a foregone conclusion that there will probably be points with availability or satisfaction. To reiterate some extent emphasised in What We’ve Discovered from Lightning Lane Multi Go So Far at Walt Disney World, the system simply launched and Disney might be enjoying it conservatively with Lightning Lane allocations. Seeing Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion ‘promote out’ so rapidly–as in comparison with late within the night below Genie–is a powerful sign of this. It’s fully potential that, two weeks from now, picks are significantly better as Disney finds the candy spot.
It’s additionally potential that gained’t occur. That the change to three pre-booked Lightning Lanes is de facto vital, and that energy customers like us have been underestimating simply how dangerous the typical visitor was with Genie+. I’m very skeptical that about this as a result of, once more, most Magic Kingdom Lightning Lanes beforehand had availability into late afternoon.
To that time, the obvious repair is bringing again a number of of the character meet & greet Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom. In my anecdotal expertise, it appears to be the park ‘hardest hit’ by the change to Lightning Lane Multi Go, and that’s most likely at the least partially as a consequence of it dropping extra Lightning Lanes than the opposite 3 parks mixed!
(For no matter it’s price, I doubt any meet & greets outdoors Magic Kingdom will get Lightning Lanes once more. I suppose possibly Mickey & Associates at CommuniCore Corridor or Olaf at DHS? I’m skeptical of that, although. I believe solely the Magic Kingdom ones make sense and are wanted.)
Then there’s the timing when character meet & greets might doubtlessly have Lightning Lanes introduced again to Magic Kingdom.
Properly, if we’re speaking about historical past repeating itself, it stands to motive that the supply and satisfaction scenario goes to worsen. There was a ‘final hurrah’ of summer season journey boosting crowd ranges for the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Go, however that is nonetheless nowhere almost as dangerous because it’s going to be in October for fall break or in November for Veterans Day and Thanksgiving–to say nothing of Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Having ‘fixes’ by October could be sensible.
I’m considerably skeptical that’ll be character meet & greets getting Lightning Lanes, although. Every of the final couple years, we’ve seen the Lightning Lane precedence rankings of Magic Kingdom character meet & greets skyrocket throughout Occasion Season, which is a matter of staffing and capability/provide. Staffing continues to be a problem to some extent, and Disney could be very clearly reallocating some performers from every day ops to the laborious ticket occasions. Due to that, they’ve lowered the provision of Lightning Lanes for these character meet & greets.
Provided that, I’d think about Walt Disney World will actually need to keep away from bringing again meet & greet Lightning Lanes till after Occasion Season is over. Even when they did carry them again earlier, the added Lightning Lane stock would most likely be a drop within the bucket. Even when working at full capability, character meet & greets actually aren’t bringing that a lot to the desk.
Keep in mind, not all sights are equal when it comes to capability. I’d hazard a guess that Pirates of the Caribbean is succesful of a better provide of hourly Lightning Lanes than each meet & greet in Magic Kingdom mixed. (That is additionally why Tiana’s Bayou Journey is so laborious to e-book proper now. A part of that’s the reputation of something new. Extra vital is that it’s breaking down continuously, so Lightning Lane allocation is decrease than it needs to be as a result of every day capability for the attraction isn’t even near what Splash Mountain was hitting.)
Anyway, if I needed to guess as to the more than likely dates for Lightning Lanes at character meet & greets being introduced again, I’d go along with one among two choices. The primary is December 21, 2024–that’s the date after MVMCP ends, which implies each extra capability due to performer scheduling and extra demand as a consequence of greater crowds for the height weeks of the vacation season.
The second date is much less particular, merely someday in late January to mid-February. That’s clearly additionally after Occasion Season, however it’s additionally after the ever-briefer winter low season and as crowds begin to enhance for Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, and college breaks. Principally, proper as Walt Disney World realizes one thing’s gotta be executed, they’ve the performers to do it, and no different good concepts.
In the end, it bears emphasizing that these are merely predictions and there’s an excellent probability they’re fallacious. Once more, I’ve been advised that Lightning Lanes at character meet & greets is not going to return. That this was not some foolish oversight–it was a deliberate determination. So I don’t know whether or not the above is optimistic within the sense that it defies that, or if it’s pessimistic within the sense that modifications to capability for Genie+ began taking place a lot earlier throughout its preliminary launch–proper after that notorious Thanksgiving meltdown. I suppose we’ll see how this performs out, however I believe it’s pretty secure to say the present Lightning Lane roster isn’t the ultimate one. We’ll virtually definitely see modifications by Spring 2025. Keep tuned.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your ideas on Walt Disney World bringing again Lightning Lanes for character meet & greets at Magic Kingdom? Hope extra leisure will probably be added to Genie+ or would you like first-come viewing areas? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
