You're exactly right. We used to go to Disneyland and stay for several days in the Grand California and purchase a multi-day park hopper pass. Ate all our meals on the property and came home with lots of merch. Last time I came for 1 day, I stayed off property at a good neighbor hotel and only bought lunch and dinner at the park. The value to fun ratio no longer justifies the expense, and they have made it too hard to book. Short-term gain for the books will produce long-term loss. Sadly, I'm in no hurry to go back.
Gosh, I wish more people were this way and would not go to Disneyland if they have an issue with it. It’s so much nicer when all the folks at the parks are having a good time and if more people made the wise choice not to force themselves to somewhere that they are disappointed with, there would be more happy people there. Thanks for being self aware and making a wise choice.
@@WindowtotheMagic Disneyland has always been predominantly a locals park with the average daily guest living within 125 miles. Due to Disney's short term thinking with trying to squeeze the last few pennies out of people they will loose the out of town guests for years to come.
David - People need to keep in mind, as mention today on WDWNT (Tom Corless), that every other themepark like Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland were charging for these skip-the-line services well before Disney. And every other international Disney park charges as well and as Tom pointed out, so will Tokyo Disney (owned by Oriental Land Co.). Some, like Disneyland Paris have the Premium pass similar to Universal that cost $100+. Personally I wish Disneyland and Disney World would just do what Universal does and offer a limited amount of unlimited front-of-line pass for $150 and be done with it. No searching on your phone for ride times,etc. You just buy the all-day unlimited pass and hope onto any ride at any time.
Max pass was awesome. We just tacked it on when we bought our AP's once a year. It was simple and we didn't notice the cost as much. Talk about less friction.
Ridiculous hot take: I’m calling it now, when Epic Universe opens, WDW is either gonna offer free LL for resort guests, or 1 free LL per guest with entry.
Geanie plus sales seem to be going great if you look at the lines for every ride with it. As someone who comes from overseas the $25 is a very small cost compared to airfare , insurance , visa
I'd be willing to walk to the attractions for FastPass again if it was free again. I agree that the biggest grip with Lighting Lane is putting the line skipping behind a paywall and still expect guests to continue paying high prices in other areas in the park.
Is it a step in the right direction ? Nope, I need them now to drop the charge for fastpass. Or an agreeable option would be to include a few fast passes with purchase of your ticket and then give you the option to buy more if you’d like.
I was an out of state DLR passholder in 2022. Have not gone since then. Have no plans to go back. Before 2022 I went one vacation a year 5 days. I am sick of all the reservations plus nickel and dime stuff like LL. For indefinite period I'm done. It's sad, I miss it, but I'm done. Was even an AP in the 90s when i was local for years. This die hard is done.
Cool, thanks for leaving more space for the rest of us. It's so funny watching old people whine about how things are "soooo expensive now" when in reality it's always been this way and my generation has been nickle and dimed our our entire lives, you guys only care now that it's impacting your interests and needs. Tell me how I'm 21, live out of country, have rent, bills, debt, etc to pay and I can still afford to go but people in their 40s are whining about the price? Maybe yall are just bad with money.
@@slowazzd2165 Do you have kids? I would take a guess and say no. People are saying it is to expensive because for a family of 4 to now go to the park they have to take on debt at 10% or more of their yearly income. With 50% going just towards rent that does not leave much room for anything else.
@@slowazzd2165 And you are undesirable and NOT welcome at Disneyland. When I take over Disney and make it great again, only registered Disney purists will be welcome as they are the only guests who matter. Disneyland will be a private members-only club like the Augusta National Golf Club, home of The Masters.
@@slowazzd2165 never once did I mention price as a factor. I didn't buy LL because I never had to. And you are self involved. Others make choices and it has nothing to do with you kiddo. My choices are based on hating reservations and waiting to see if things improve. Lots of stuff is down right now and Murphy is broken. I have time. Stop jumping to wild conclusions and get a life vs jumping people for sport online, loser.
Disneyland's reservation system IS a friction point. You are 100% correct. And it's not in place to control crowd numbers. Crowds are still huge and the park is usually overfull. I'm a local who has loved going to the park for years. They've lost the serendipity of it all. It's impossible to even think this, but they really need to put someone in charge of our park... Disneyland specifically... who understands and LOVES the park. Bring it back to it's former glory and not squeeze every last dime out of attendees.
What worked about the old fastpass system was people had to walk to the ride to get one, not everyone was willing to do that. Now digital on phone there is no effort to get one.
MUL-TEE Pass. Yes, she knows it's a multi pass! 😁 As an out-of-state key holders, who comes 4 to 5 times a year, I usually buy Genie +. But you are correct, I no longer buy all the merch that I used to. I am VERY selective as to how I spend my money in the parks. Bringing back the advance rides selections at WDW is great. I was sad when they removed that service
Well said, sir! 👏 I especially liked when you said something along the lines of years ago, if Disneyland did something, it was to improve guest experience, not make more money.
I'm sure I'm not the only one in this camp who refuses to buy a "magic key" or annual pass until the reservation system is gone. Obviously, many still buy it. But, when I had my pass, could go when I wanted, and there were paper fast passes, I spent SO much money in the park. I always bought a souvenir, ate at Jolly Holiday for breakfast, Plaza Inn for lunch, and Blue Bayou for dinner. Every time I went, that was my routine. Mind you, I only went once a month, because I live in Las Vegas, but I would still drop $150-$200 extra each time I went to the park. Now, I haven't been back, except for one time, since the pandemic. My annual pass payment and the $200 a month I would spend, apparently were just a drop in the bucket, that didn't mean much to Disney.
a single day ticket, multi-day ticket, Magic Key…. they all need reservations so what is the difference? What gets me is that the top Inspire Key at Disneyland gets blocked the two weeks around Christmas. Not WDW, so again Disneyland gets the shaft! As they do with still having the same reservation system while WDW has loosened it up a lot. Disneyland still uses the antiquated security check system while WDW for several years just has you walk through and only checks backpacks if needed. Yep, we need to be much more like WDW. But I am with you in that at the very least the top tier Magic Keys should not have to do reservations at all! I would be willing to pay more for the top pass if that were to ever happen.
@@FunAtDisney That's been the argument since they launched the Magic Key. One, you shouldn't have to be required to make a reservation, and two, you should be able to go any day that you wish, including the Christmas season. I understand blocking out special ticketed events.
@@FunAtDisney it sucks for sure. Disneyland is definitely a magic key park and WDW is a tourist park. Makes sense they would have more ‘perks’ for annual pass holders at WDW. As opposed to Disneyland, they want to limit the magic key traffic as much as they can from the looks of it. I hate it my self. Pre pandemic was the best time to be an annual pass holder at Disneyland and all around for tourists as well. Free Fast Pass, all day entertainment, easy to navigate without constantly being glued to the phone. Enter times
100% agree. We are in Canada and every time we think about visiting Disneyland again, we always decide against it BECAUSE of the current state of genie÷ and the reservation system. Bring back the old maxpass. Edit: I disagree that they can't bring back maxpass. They could offer 1 fast pass for free and multiple passes if you pay or some other variation
@@RobertGoodwin-zv9vi I was just referring to the comment that they can't bring maxpass back without offering a free option. Just a quick idea that I think it is possible.
Hi Fresh Baked. Uk resident here. I find it interesting that we have had a massive sale on recently with free dining and 14 days tickets for price of 7 etc. Then they make this change and from what i understand UK visitors can't pre book until we land . Am I wrong? Would appreciate your investigating this or explaining this, thanks.
Also, I don’t think it’s right that you must have a smart phone to go to Disneyland. There are still people (believe it or not) who do not have smart phones and can’t get a paper ticket to enter the park.
You hit the nail on the head. When we went, we got genie plus which meant we couldn’t spend money in other places in the park. Like souvenirs or a fancy or sit down dinner.
I would still like the paper fast pass 😢😢 they were fun to go and scan your ticket and get a return time, yeah digital is more convenient now, but I miss that 🙂
We went to DL Paris and the 1 day park hopper ticket was about $140. The Premier Access pass was an extra $199, so $340 all in for one day two parks with one lightning lane pass for every ride that you would want to ride (all the good and best ones). With the LL feature, we only needed one day (vs two) in the park to see and do everything. Because of the high cost, the LLs were short and quick and we zipped through every ride in two parks by dinner time. I wonder if that would work at DL or would is inhibit out of town guests from visiting longer. Interesting.
Sadly, disney lost some people during the genie plus phase. Like my grandma, she use to go every year before the pandemic and LOVED IT. She went last year and was like WTF happened?? Why is everything so crowded, confuseing and expensive. She told me she will not be visiting anymore.
100% agree about genie + making me not want to spend as much money or even GO. I have a so-cal magic key and don't want to go when it's busy. Genie + seems to have made every ride "busy" every day. I don't want to pay but I have bought genie the last two times I went because the lines were so unbearable! Parking price increase has made me decide to not go as well. Literally! My thought was "it's going to be 30 for parking and 25 for genie and $20 for a cocktail, should I really be spending that money?" Lol
I have not bought Genie at all. Been a lot too. Used to buy Maxpass because it was a better cheaper service. Refuse to pay for LL. I'm a Disneyland person and I know when to get in a line and when not too.
Ya I was just there in October and went on everything I wanted to without paying for Genie. (for reference everything I wanted was Space, Pirates, Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow, Alice and Toad, Jungle Cruise, Railway, Big Thunder and Pooh. I had tons of time left over to look in the shops and enjoy some street shows)
I can see the local’s point of view. But out of towner’s get a huge benefit with genie plus. And the out of towner’s will still stay, eat and pay for genie plus to maximize what they can do on their vacation.
I'm a Magic Key holder and never buy Genie+, however I did pay for the Max Pass add on for the Annaul Pass. I liked the ability to book a return time from the app, but can't justify paying almost $30 each for my family for Genie+. I hope they make an add on option for the Magic Keys and kinda wondered after this announcement if this plays into why they put another pause on Magic keys sales?
Hi there - thanks for the breakdown. I went to Disneyland two weeks ago, and we did use the Genie+ system. Because our trip was only one day, I did want to ride as much as I could, especially those rides that I never went on before. As a family, we went on practically every ride that was open. I would guess that was made up of around 60% Genie+ lightning lane, 35% standard queue, and two rides as single rider. The Disney app was an excellent resource, especially the interactive map, which was critical for finding the best way to get from one land to another. Being able to see current standby times, which ended up being startlingly accurate, was great. The ride reservation system was, however, stressful. Constantly checking my phone to see if something changed, reacting quickly to rides re-opening after an outage, was exhausting.
I wish that here at Disneyland they would go back to offering MaxPass for an extra fee for Magic Key holders. We paid an extra $100 for our Annual Passes for the ability to book Fast Pass rides on our phones. I’d love to be able to do that again. As I recall we could book up to three different rides. I’d even go for it if they limited our Lightning Lane to one individual choice and one multi pass choice. That would work for us. At this point my wife and I do NOT pay for Genie+ and won’t in pay for Lightning Lane MultiPass the future. We’ve only bought Individual Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers a couple of times and maybe we’ll do that again a couple of times next year. Disney would make a lot more money off of us if they offered what we had with the MaxPass extra on our passes. Yes, it would be great to go back to the totally FREE system but I seriously doubt they’d ever do that.
My husband and I are going to be saying Leeluu Dallas MultiPass at Disneyland SO MUCH to eachother now. I have a feeling you'll be overhearing a lot of people saying it in the parks. Classic😄
Back when we had to put in our park ticket to get a paper return, I would constantly take my paper and forget my park ticket. Would always notice that I was not alone with this problem.
They just need to give FREE "max pass" on mobile but make people pay for the photos OR pay for extra fastpasses. Instead of 1 at a time allow 2, 3 or 4. I like your idea for individual purchases as well.
They should drop the price at DL. Considering the amount of pass holders and locals - we aren’t gonna pay $30 for a fastpass when we can just come back next week instead. But something like $10-15? I’d consider it, especially during the summer when it’s hot and busy.
Also - thank you for such an informative and detailed breakdown of all the Lightening Lane changes. I run to you and Brayden’s channels any time I hear new Disney news of any kind to get an honest and sincere breakdown and discussion of the changes happening. ❤
Here's what I would love to see. You go to an attraction, scan your ticket or magic band at you can get a free fast pass for the next available time. If you want to schedule your fast pass time then you pay for a service. That would give a free option, a paid option, and there would be a reason to have a magic band.
Hotel reservations are obviously down, and that is why they are doing the 7 day thing. Not only will it encourage staying on property, it will encourage staying an extra day on the front end to start 7 days earlier, at least if they are going to back to being able to book all days at once
Hear me out. They are so out of touch with their audience I could see them putting back in the free fast pass stations but making them synch to your magic band only so you are forced to buy a magic band.
Magic Bands will be going away in the not too distant future. When I take over Disney, one thing I will be doing if it hasn't been done yet will eliminating magic bands and eliminating the technology.
We went to DL in CA last week and Paris last summer. Much prefer DL Paris system where you buy the service and are allowed to ride each of the LL rides one time at your leisure without having to make reservations for any particular return time. Took out so much of the stress and hassle of visiting DL and felt like we benefitted from the service we paid for without LL selling out early and without everyone having to enter the park early just to start making the reservations (teens liked closing down the park, and hated waking up early, which really cut into the value of Genie Plus in DL if you don’t arrive until afternoon).
Absolutely correct about losing money long term. We were APs for 30 years, many of those years at a Premium level. We went at least four times a year so we could 'break even.' (We live about 3 hours away.) We stopped right before the Covid closure because we needed to cut expenses. After reopening, we were going to get Magic Keys, but it was so difficult to get reservations that now we go only once or twice a year. And we won't be going this year at all because of ride closures, etc. Your idea of an a la carte $5 LL is genius. We would totally do that!
I like your optimism Fresh Baked. I share the same positivity. Thanks for the video. I like the riffing videos where we can think about things for a second. Fresh Baked!
Just before covid you could add max pass to your season pass for $100. You get a fast pass to most attractions on your phone but only 1. You then could get another fast pass within 15 minutes of the first fast pass you already had a reservation for. I'm pretty sure that's how it worked back then.
The thing I liked about MaxPass vs Genie+ is that it wasn’t limited to one per ride per day. I used to easily be able to do my favorite attractions multiple times per visit, and if I wanted to ride a slightly less popular one like AstroBlasters all afternoon I could get like five fastpasses in a row. But I’m usually willing to wait in standby for my favorite attractions at least once, and if I can only get one lightning lane for each anyway, that’s not worth the $30 to me
I m glad for this change. We did have fast pass + on our first trip to WDW and it worked well. I’m glad that they made it 7 days and 3 days so you can do more planning for “last minute “ visits. I would never expect them to stop charging for it.
My one, biggest question is why can't we book LLs at 7am at Disneyland??? Why???? Doing that at WDW was awesome. Is it the hours they're open? I've never been able to get that question answered.
Yes, LL needs some retooling. Every other park has a paid "skip the line" option, so I don't see it going away. Having some rides being a la carte only, and others only in the package is confusing. They need to pick one or the other. I would def pay $5 a la carte for HM. No way is Disney reinstalling kiosks, it sounds dumb to scan your phone on a separate tablet, if anything, they'd just turn off monetization of LL. Maxpass had more uptake because it was included on top level aps and there was the ability to add it to other APs for a flat fee. By Disney charging for LL/FP, it also gives them something they can give away, and make people feel special, maybe as a part of a hotel package, or just randomly upon entering the park, or on one's birthday...
The new naming will most assuredly be more confusing for guests (especially new ones). I'm glad the service will stay the same without major changes at Disneyland, however. Also "Multi Pass" totally made me think of Fifth Element as well. 🤣
I’m from out of state so paying $30 isn’t a big deal for me. Or they could change everything to standby and every lightning lane attraction would have 30-40% shorter wait
How about...if they insist on charging for LL, then have that feature the ability to book a fave ride up to, say, 3 times and have a free service for the LL that offers a one-and-done option? That was my pet-peeve was to pay for Genie+ to only be able to ride a ride once. Oh, and eliminate the single LL and include it in the paid option but you can ride it only once. Just a thought.
I am from out of state, visiting every-other year. I have to buy the Lightning Lane pass system. I grew up in Santa Barbara, visiting Disneyland once a year. One park, one day. Crazy to imagine now...!
I think the main problem with coming up with a system is you first have to commit to the satisfaction of the guests over a line item on the balance sheet. The original FastPass was a system designed to help guests ride 2 to 3 more rides in a day. It was more carefully controlled not to impact Standby lines. Now there's no incentive to make any experience satisfactory other than the paid ones. Unfortunately, I don't see how Disney can bring itself to come up with a reservation system that goes back to helping guests experience more I also feel like guests are willing to wait in longer lines than they used to. We know there's a breaking point where, for every attraction, the posted wait time is enough to prevent people from joining the line. I feel like those breaking points are much higher than they were in the 80s and 90s. Certainly, the AP culture that came out of the $99 AP does contribute here, because you will have at least some segment of guests who are willing to wait, with their party, for longer because they can chat and there is less or no pressure to see it all in one visit. There's really a lot to think about, if we're talking about a fair and helpful system. I'm not even sure that's on the table at this point.
I’m really glad you brought up the electronic kiosks that they had right before Covid hit, because you’re stream of thought jogged my memory and I was just thinking about those! I know I have photos and video from back then, and I’m sure you do too, so if you make any reference to this in the future, it would be cool to see visual references to support your narrative 😊 yes, I remember those things were pretty great, and they had potential.
Unpopular opinion - I love genie plus because we travel to Disneyland a few times a year and We spend so much so we llike the option to pay a bit more to have shorter lines. For local pass holders they can go often and they know how to handle the lines. We only have a short stay so every moment matters. I would be massively depressed if they got rid of paid LL service.
It seems like they are trying to entice WDW attendees to stay at WDW resorts. The changes really only benefit those staying on property. Maybe they're struggling to fill their resorts and thought this is an easy way to maybe get those numbers up.
I think, if they do indeed (and most likely will) continue to monetize fastpass/lightning, they should combine the a la carte option and the current system. You can choose to buy the lightning lanes individually for $5-ish a ride, or you can pay the $25 for an "all you can eat" sort of option. I feel it would be a compromise that can satisfy a larger amount of guests.
Do you think they will go down the paris route, i think it works so well here. Limited amouts at a very high price. Either single ride or a very high price for 1 ride on each one.
I loved fast pass, and I still miss it today. When we booked our anniversary trip, seven years ago, we booked it through AAA, which meant we got free fast pass. Because of that sayings we bought before in the park which meant they made more money. Now that I have to pay for Genie plus, or whatever it’s called today,I am buying less in the park now
With Genie+ you can book lightening lanes at Disneyland and DCA, looks like they are screwing everyone out of park hopper lightening lane that currently exists.
Still no benefits, no perks to staying at DLR. We always stay on property but it’s pointless since DLR hotel guests have none of the tactical advantages of WDW. DLR concierge used to book dinners and packages, we’d get fast passes at checkin. Now, nothing but a huge bill. Awful customer care.
Maybe for Disneyland resort hotels they should give a few fast passes as a perk or maybe do the universal premium hotel express pass for the grand Cal. They’re just not worth the price point for me right now
As someone who no longer lives in Ca and can only visit once a year. I don't mind the paid LL (whatever they may want to call it down the road). What I wish they would have fixed with this is the way you use it. When I was there often the rides would go out for an hour or more, even right after opening up. So if I wanted to do Space I would have to book that and maybe ride a few things and come back. But two, three or more hours? Where am I going to be in the park at that point? Are the kids going to be tired? Are we still going to be in the park at that time? If I book that one thing that is now two or more hours out, I can't book a closer one till either two hours later or on use. I don't know how they would make this work but I think if you could just use your paid LL when you want to. Just scan and go in when you are in the area and use it. That may make it more worth it.
I rmbr reserving FP early at WDW back in 2018 so I'm glad to hear it's coming back! ETA: I love & appreciate your honesty regarding Disney's business mindset, strategies, and decisions. So many Disney lovers act like they love everything Disney does but we all know not everything they do is a good choice, especially lately. I agree with what you said that Genie+ has a bad connotation.. I still hate that I have to pay for what was once free (I did appreciate MaxPass bcuz technically I still had a free option). It was one of the things I raved about Disneyland because it was free and fair.. not like other parks that made you pay extra. And I also think you're correct in that it does deter me even more from buying their overpriced merchandise as well as decrease the amount of times I frequent Disneyland in a year.. and I used to be an AP holder too. I want to go back to loving Disney like I used to.. here's to hoping they bring some of that back! 🙏🤞
Would seem the simplest plan would be to just make it all under one umbrella of LL. And then just have those plus $ rides clearly marked as costing whatever the additional amount.
This move by Disney is clearly the result of not enough WDW guests buying LL. I have a trip coming up and was thinking I could wait and see the crowds when I get there and then decide on LL. With low numbers of attractions in 3 of the parks, I imagine a lot of people did the same. Now I feel like I have to buy LL in advance because enough other people will be doing it and all LLs could be gone by the days of my visit. Disney is monetizing FOMO and it's going to work brilliantly for them.
You're exactly right. We used to go to Disneyland and stay for several days in the Grand California and purchase a multi-day park hopper pass. Ate all our meals on the property and came home with lots of merch. Last time I came for 1 day, I stayed off property at a good neighbor hotel and only bought lunch and dinner at the park. The value to fun ratio no longer justifies the expense, and they have made it too hard to book. Short-term gain for the books will produce long-term loss. Sadly, I'm in no hurry to go back.
Gosh, I wish more people were this way and would not go to Disneyland if they have an issue with it. It’s so much nicer when all the folks at the parks are having a good time and if more people made the wise choice not to force themselves to somewhere that they are disappointed with, there would be more happy people there. Thanks for being self aware and making a wise choice.
@@WindowtotheMagic Disneyland has always been predominantly a locals park with the average daily guest living within 125 miles. Due to Disney's short term thinking with trying to squeeze the last few pennies out of people they will loose the out of town guests for years to come.
Why do they keep making things more confusing? What used to be fun has become a chore.
Wait… are you saying that going to Disneyland is a chore for you?
For real. I feel like I’m trying to do complex math problems reading this stuff.
Why? To do more marketing. To give more content for content makers. Big companies like to do constant changes
Lol.. You and Chris Provost both!! You hear MultiPass and you can't help but think of 5th Element! 😂🤣😂🤣
😂😂😂
My husband too. Lol! 😆
David - People need to keep in mind, as mention today on WDWNT (Tom Corless), that every other themepark like Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland were charging for these skip-the-line services well before Disney. And every other international Disney park charges as well and as Tom pointed out, so will Tokyo Disney (owned by Oriental Land Co.). Some, like Disneyland Paris have the Premium pass similar to Universal that cost $100+.
Personally I wish Disneyland and Disney World would just do what Universal does and offer a limited amount of unlimited front-of-line pass for $150 and be done with it. No searching on your phone for ride times,etc. You just buy the all-day unlimited pass and hope onto any ride at any time.
Max pass was awesome. We just tacked it on when we bought our AP's once a year. It was simple and we didn't notice the cost as much. Talk about less friction.
Yep. I wish at least they would let us bundle something for Lightning Lanes with our Magic Keys
Ridiculous hot take: I’m calling it now, when Epic Universe opens, WDW is either gonna offer free LL for resort guests, or 1 free LL per guest with entry.
Absolutely.
I hope so, that would get me to stay at there shitty Marriott styled rooms!
Geanie plus sales seem to be going great if you look at the lines for every ride with it. As someone who comes from overseas the $25 is a very small cost compared to airfare , insurance , visa
Well supposedly, 30-40% of the lightning lane is actually DAS pass so how good is it really doing if that’s the case.
I'd be willing to walk to the attractions for FastPass again if it was free again. I agree that the biggest grip with Lighting Lane is putting the line skipping behind a paywall and still expect guests to continue paying high prices in other areas in the park.
I have no problem paying. They should increase the price and make it more exclusive and make it unlimited rides vs 1 time per day
I don't mind paying $24 for the software. Walking to the attractions to get a paper fastness is a waste of my time.
In the beginning, you bought tickets for each ride. My mom used to have them. That is almost this.
Your comment shows wisdom beyond your years. Well said.
Except it was cheap to enter the park.
Maxpass was also $10. A lot of people would opt-in to digital if the cost was lower.
I don’t mind paying extra for Genie plus, what I don’t like is only being able to use it only once a day for each ride that uses Genie Plus.
Max Pass Service was only $10/day the first time I bought it in 2017. Good times...
That was before Bidenomics inflation
@@dbdb4962Bidenzuela
Is it a step in the right direction ? Nope, I need them now to drop the charge for fastpass.
Or an agreeable option would be to include a few fast passes with purchase of your ticket and then give you the option to buy more if you’d like.
Maxpass was a paid service but cheaper and you could book the same ride more than once.
I was an out of state DLR passholder in 2022. Have not gone since then. Have no plans to go back. Before 2022 I went one vacation a year 5 days. I am sick of all the reservations plus nickel and dime stuff like LL. For indefinite period I'm done. It's sad, I miss it, but I'm done. Was even an AP in the 90s when i was local for years. This die hard is done.
Cool, thanks for leaving more space for the rest of us. It's so funny watching old people whine about how things are "soooo expensive now" when in reality it's always been this way and my generation has been nickle and dimed our our entire lives, you guys only care now that it's impacting your interests and needs. Tell me how I'm 21, live out of country, have rent, bills, debt, etc to pay and I can still afford to go but people in their 40s are whining about the price? Maybe yall are just bad with money.
@@slowazzd2165 Do you have kids? I would take a guess and say no. People are saying it is to expensive because for a family of 4 to now go to the park they have to take on debt at 10% or more of their yearly income. With 50% going just towards rent that does not leave much room for anything else.
@@slowazzd2165 And you are undesirable and NOT welcome at Disneyland. When I take over Disney and make it great again, only registered Disney purists will be welcome as they are the only guests who matter. Disneyland will be a private members-only club like the Augusta National Golf Club, home of The Masters.
@@slowazzd2165 never once did I mention price as a factor. I didn't buy LL because I never had to. And you are self involved. Others make choices and it has nothing to do with you kiddo. My choices are based on hating reservations and waiting to see if things improve. Lots of stuff is down right now and Murphy is broken. I have time. Stop jumping to wild conclusions and get a life vs jumping people for sport online, loser.
@@slowazzd2165trust fund baby
Disneyland's reservation system IS a friction point. You are 100% correct. And it's not in place to control crowd numbers. Crowds are still huge and the park is usually overfull. I'm a local who has loved going to the park for years. They've lost the serendipity of it all. It's impossible to even think this, but they really need to put someone in charge of our park... Disneyland specifically... who understands and LOVES the park. Bring it back to it's former glory and not squeeze every last dime out of attendees.
What worked about the old fastpass system was people had to walk to the ride to get one, not everyone was willing to do that. Now digital on phone there is no effort to get one.
MUL-TEE Pass. Yes, she knows it's a multi pass! 😁 As an out-of-state key holders, who comes 4 to 5 times a year, I usually buy Genie +. But you are correct, I no longer buy all the merch that I used to. I am VERY selective as to how I spend my money in the parks. Bringing back the advance rides selections at WDW is great. I was sad when they removed that service
You can't reverse boil the frog. Unfortunately, the frog is dead.
All paid fastpass is like Disneyland going back to tickets per ride.
Well said, sir! 👏 I especially liked when you said something along the lines of years ago, if Disneyland did something, it was to improve guest experience, not make more money.
Universal you can use it once per ride each at after 3pm. THATS an amazing deal. Disney should do that.
I'm sure I'm not the only one in this camp who refuses to buy a "magic key" or annual pass until the reservation system is gone. Obviously, many still buy it. But, when I had my pass, could go when I wanted, and there were paper fast passes, I spent SO much money in the park. I always bought a souvenir, ate at Jolly Holiday for breakfast, Plaza Inn for lunch, and Blue Bayou for dinner. Every time I went, that was my routine. Mind you, I only went once a month, because I live in Las Vegas, but I would still drop $150-$200 extra each time I went to the park. Now, I haven't been back, except for one time, since the pandemic. My annual pass payment and the $200 a month I would spend, apparently were just a drop in the bucket, that didn't mean much to Disney.
a single day ticket, multi-day ticket, Magic Key…. they all need reservations so what is the difference? What gets me is that the top Inspire Key at Disneyland gets blocked the two weeks around Christmas. Not WDW, so again Disneyland gets the shaft! As they do with still having the same reservation system while WDW has loosened it up a lot. Disneyland still uses the antiquated security check system while WDW for several years just has you walk through and only checks backpacks if needed. Yep, we need to be much more like WDW.
But I am with you in that at the very least the top tier Magic Keys should not have to do reservations at all! I would be willing to pay more for the top pass if that were to ever happen.
@@FunAtDisney That's been the argument since they launched the Magic Key. One, you shouldn't have to be required to make a reservation, and two, you should be able to go any day that you wish, including the Christmas season. I understand blocking out special ticketed events.
@@FunAtDisney it sucks for sure. Disneyland is definitely a magic key park and WDW is a tourist park. Makes sense they would have more ‘perks’ for annual pass holders at WDW. As opposed to Disneyland, they want to limit the magic key traffic as much as they can from the looks of it. I hate it my self. Pre pandemic was the best time to be an annual pass holder at Disneyland and all around for tourists as well. Free Fast Pass, all day entertainment, easy to navigate without constantly being glued to the phone. Enter times
don’t you think that by charging for genie plus they didn’t increase the ticket price as much. So by not buying genie plus you’re saving.
100% agree. We are in Canada and every time we think about visiting Disneyland again, we always decide against it BECAUSE of the current state of genie÷ and the reservation system. Bring back the old maxpass.
Edit: I disagree that they can't bring back maxpass. They could offer 1 fast pass for free and multiple passes if you pay or some other variation
😂 for Free!? Disney does nothing for free! I'm surprised they don't charge for bathroom use
@@RobertGoodwin-zv9vi I was just referring to the comment that they can't bring maxpass back without offering a free option. Just a quick idea that I think it is possible.
Well I sure wish you worked for Disney cause my last visit I couldn't even get a free dessert on my birthday
Hi Fresh Baked. Uk resident here. I find it interesting that we have had a massive sale on recently with free dining and 14 days tickets for price of 7 etc. Then they make this change and from what i understand UK visitors can't pre book until we land .
Am I wrong?
Would appreciate your investigating this or explaining this, thanks.
One of the reasons I watch your channel: you're always great at analysis. Keep it up!
Also, I don’t think it’s right that you must have a smart phone to go to Disneyland. There are still people (believe it or not) who do not have smart phones and can’t get a paper ticket to enter the park.
You hit the nail on the head. When we went, we got genie plus which meant we couldn’t spend money in other places in the park. Like souvenirs or a fancy or sit down dinner.
I would still like the paper fast pass 😢😢 they were fun to go and scan your ticket and get a return time, yeah digital is more convenient now, but I miss that 🙂
We went to DL Paris and the 1 day park hopper ticket was about $140. The Premier Access pass was an extra $199, so $340 all in for one day two parks with one lightning lane pass for every ride that you would want to ride (all the good and best ones). With the LL feature, we only needed one day (vs two) in the park to see and do everything. Because of the high cost, the LLs were short and quick and we zipped through every ride in two parks by dinner time. I wonder if that would work at DL or would is inhibit out of town guests from visiting longer. Interesting.
Another reason I can't imagine them going back to paper fastpass is because they repurposed those spaces i.e. for new Haunted Mansion queue.
Sadly, disney lost some people during the genie plus phase. Like my grandma, she use to go every year before the pandemic and LOVED IT. She went last year and was like WTF happened?? Why is everything so crowded, confuseing and expensive. She told me she will not be visiting anymore.
As WDWNews Today stated every park has a paid skip the line service, Disney was the last to do it and the other parks charge much more.
100% agree about genie + making me not want to spend as much money or even GO. I have a so-cal magic key and don't want to go when it's busy. Genie + seems to have made every ride "busy" every day. I don't want to pay but I have bought genie the last two times I went because the lines were so unbearable! Parking price increase has made me decide to not go as well. Literally! My thought was "it's going to be 30 for parking and 25 for genie and $20 for a cocktail, should I really be spending that money?" Lol
I have not bought Genie at all. Been a lot too. Used to buy Maxpass because it was a better cheaper service. Refuse to pay for LL. I'm a Disneyland person and I know when to get in a line and when not too.
Ya I was just there in October and went on everything I wanted to without paying for Genie. (for reference everything I wanted was Space, Pirates, Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow, Alice and Toad, Jungle Cruise, Railway, Big Thunder and Pooh. I had tons of time left over to look in the shops and enjoy some street shows)
I can see the local’s point of view. But out of towner’s get a huge benefit with genie plus. And the out of towner’s will still stay, eat and pay for genie plus to maximize what they can do on their vacation.
I think Disney is trying to get as many small wins as possible (especially in Florida) before Epic Universe opens
I'm a Magic Key holder and never buy Genie+, however I did pay for the Max Pass add on for the Annaul Pass. I liked the ability to book a return time from the app, but can't justify paying almost $30 each for my family for Genie+. I hope they make an add on option for the Magic Keys and kinda wondered after this announcement if this plays into why they put another pause on Magic keys sales?
David, the greatest invention ever the max pass. It was fully operated on the phone
I’m in Vegas too and we would go every 4 to 6 weeks and besides our annual pass, we spent about 500 bucks per trip going. I want my free pass back.
Next thing tightwad Bob will do is charge us for a TSA type entrance into the bag check gates
The thing I want back from fast pass/max pass is choosing a ride more than once.
Hi there - thanks for the breakdown. I went to Disneyland two weeks ago, and we did use the Genie+ system. Because our trip was only one day, I did want to ride as much as I could, especially those rides that I never went on before.
As a family, we went on practically every ride that was open. I would guess that was made up of around 60% Genie+ lightning lane, 35% standard queue, and two rides as single rider. The Disney app was an excellent resource, especially the interactive map, which was critical for finding the best way to get from one land to another. Being able to see current standby times, which ended up being startlingly accurate, was great. The ride reservation system was, however, stressful. Constantly checking my phone to see if something changed, reacting quickly to rides re-opening after an outage, was exhausting.
I wish that here at Disneyland they would go back to offering MaxPass for an extra fee for Magic Key holders. We paid an extra $100 for our Annual Passes for the ability to book Fast Pass rides on our phones. I’d love to be able to do that again. As I recall we could book up to three different rides. I’d even go for it if they limited our Lightning Lane to one individual choice and one multi pass choice. That would work for us. At this point my wife and I do NOT pay for Genie+ and won’t in pay for Lightning Lane MultiPass the future. We’ve only bought Individual Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers a couple of times and maybe we’ll do that again a couple of times next year. Disney would make a lot more money off of us if they offered what we had with the MaxPass extra on our passes.
Yes, it would be great to go back to the totally FREE system but I seriously doubt they’d ever do that.
My husband and I are going to be saying Leeluu Dallas MultiPass at Disneyland SO MUCH to eachother now. I have a feeling you'll be overhearing a lot of people saying it in the parks. Classic😄
Back when we had to put in our park ticket to get a paper return, I would constantly take my paper and forget my park ticket. Would always notice that I was not alone with this problem.
They just need to give FREE "max pass" on mobile but make people pay for the photos OR pay for extra fastpasses. Instead of 1 at a time allow 2, 3 or 4. I like your idea for individual purchases as well.
5-10 years from now when LL/G+/FP/MP is free again and the frog is boiled I will remember this video. Expert analysis as usual FB!!!!
They should drop the price at DL.
Considering the amount of pass holders and locals - we aren’t gonna pay $30 for a fastpass when we can just come back next week instead.
But something like $10-15? I’d consider it, especially during the summer when it’s hot and busy.
Also - thank you for such an informative and detailed breakdown of all the Lightening Lane changes. I run to you and Brayden’s channels any time I hear new Disney news of any kind to get an honest and sincere breakdown and discussion of the changes happening. ❤
Disneyland needs to have FREE extended hours certain nights. Im talking 2am! They will sell more merch and food and still make money.
Here's what I would love to see. You go to an attraction, scan your ticket or magic band at you can get a free fast pass for the next available time. If you want to schedule your fast pass time then you pay for a service. That would give a free option, a paid option, and there would be a reason to have a magic band.
Hotel reservations are obviously down, and that is why they are doing the 7 day thing. Not only will it encourage staying on property, it will encourage staying an extra day on the front end to start 7 days earlier, at least if they are going to back to being able to book all days at once
Tokyo is strill offering free "FP" through a Mobile Device. The workaround for those with a MD is to talk with a Guest Services Cast Member.
Hear me out. They are so out of touch with their audience I could see them putting back in the free fast pass stations but making them synch to your magic band only so you are forced to buy a magic band.
Magic Bands will be going away in the not too distant future. When I take over Disney, one thing I will be doing if it hasn't been done yet will eliminating magic bands and eliminating the technology.
We went to DL in CA last week and Paris last summer. Much prefer DL Paris system where you buy the service and are allowed to ride each of the LL rides one time at your leisure without having to make reservations for any particular return time. Took out so much of the stress and hassle of visiting DL and felt like we benefitted from the service we paid for without LL selling out early and without everyone having to enter the park early just to start making the reservations (teens liked closing down the park, and hated waking up early, which really cut into the value of Genie Plus in DL if you don’t arrive until afternoon).
Absolutely correct about losing money long term. We were APs for 30 years, many of those years at a Premium level. We went at least four times a year so we could 'break even.' (We live about 3 hours away.) We stopped right before the Covid closure because we needed to cut expenses. After reopening, we were going to get Magic Keys, but it was so difficult to get reservations that now we go only once or twice a year. And we won't be going this year at all because of ride closures, etc.
Your idea of an a la carte $5 LL is genius. We would totally do that!
Just bring back MaxPass, under the LL name and charge the 30-35$. I’d be okay with that. Offer 1 free LL with every ticket too.
I like your optimism Fresh Baked. I share the same positivity. Thanks for the video. I like the riffing videos where we can think about things for a second. Fresh Baked!
For DW - people can see some guaranteed value before they purchase - which seems good. It also helps Disney sell more hotel rooms of course.
Just before covid you could add max pass to your season pass for $100. You get a fast pass to most attractions on your phone but only 1. You then could get another fast pass within 15 minutes of the first fast pass you already had a reservation for. I'm pretty sure that's how it worked back then.
Season pass is six flags terminology. Annual pass is what it used to be called at Disneyland 🙂
The thing I liked about MaxPass vs Genie+ is that it wasn’t limited to one per ride per day. I used to easily be able to do my favorite attractions multiple times per visit, and if I wanted to ride a slightly less popular one like AstroBlasters all afternoon I could get like five fastpasses in a row. But I’m usually willing to wait in standby for my favorite attractions at least once, and if I can only get one lightning lane for each anyway, that’s not worth the $30 to me
Leeloo is a Disney Princess…confirmed
I m glad for this change. We did have fast pass + on our first trip to WDW and it worked well. I’m glad that they made it 7 days and 3 days so you can do more planning for “last minute “ visits. I would never expect them to stop charging for it.
2:00 You're not the only one, Dave! Every time you said it, I said it in my head ❤😂
My one, biggest question is why can't we book LLs at 7am at Disneyland??? Why???? Doing that at WDW was awesome. Is it the hours they're open? I've never been able to get that question answered.
Yes, LL needs some retooling. Every other park has a paid "skip the line" option, so I don't see it going away. Having some rides being a la carte only, and others only in the package is confusing. They need to pick one or the other. I would def pay $5 a la carte for HM.
No way is Disney reinstalling kiosks, it sounds dumb to scan your phone on a separate tablet, if anything, they'd just turn off monetization of LL. Maxpass had more uptake because it was included on top level aps and there was the ability to add it to other APs for a flat fee.
By Disney charging for LL/FP, it also gives them something they can give away, and make people feel special, maybe as a part of a hotel package, or just randomly upon entering the park, or on one's birthday...
It is unfortunate how Disney has lost touch with their guests. Greed is the downfall of all great companies.
The new naming will most assuredly be more confusing for guests (especially new ones). I'm glad the service will stay the same without major changes at Disneyland, however. Also "Multi Pass" totally made me think of Fifth Element as well. 🤣
One of the first thoughts I had was that they want to stop associating something that’s hated with one of their valued IP’s.
Can Disneyland Annual pass holders pre-buy multi pass before entering the park?
I’m from out of state so paying $30 isn’t a big deal for me. Or they could change everything to standby and every lightning lane attraction would have 30-40% shorter wait
This is a great change for WDW. Being able to plan your trip and not be forced to get up everyday at 7am is so nice. Glad they listened to the guests.
I missed this! Just watching this! Excited to hear your thoughts.
How about...if they insist on charging for LL, then have that feature the ability to book a fave ride up to, say, 3 times and have a free service for the LL that offers a one-and-done option? That was my pet-peeve was to pay for Genie+ to only be able to ride a ride once. Oh, and eliminate the single LL and include it in the paid option but you can ride it only once. Just a thought.
What happened to Magic Key Holders getting discounts on Genie +? I swear that use to be a thing? Or am I crazy?
I am from out of state, visiting every-other year. I have to buy the Lightning Lane pass system. I grew up in Santa Barbara, visiting Disneyland once a year. One park, one day. Crazy to imagine now...!
I think the main problem with coming up with a system is you first have to commit to the satisfaction of the guests over a line item on the balance sheet. The original FastPass was a system designed to help guests ride 2 to 3 more rides in a day. It was more carefully controlled not to impact Standby lines. Now there's no incentive to make any experience satisfactory other than the paid ones. Unfortunately, I don't see how Disney can bring itself to come up with a reservation system that goes back to helping guests experience more
I also feel like guests are willing to wait in longer lines than they used to. We know there's a breaking point where, for every attraction, the posted wait time is enough to prevent people from joining the line. I feel like those breaking points are much higher than they were in the 80s and 90s. Certainly, the AP culture that came out of the $99 AP does contribute here, because you will have at least some segment of guests who are willing to wait, with their party, for longer because they can chat and there is less or no pressure to see it all in one visit.
There's really a lot to think about, if we're talking about a fair and helpful system. I'm not even sure that's on the table at this point.
I’m really glad you brought up the electronic kiosks that they had right before Covid hit, because you’re stream of thought jogged my memory and I was just thinking about those! I know I have photos and video from back then, and I’m sure you do too, so if you make any reference to this in the future, it would be cool to see visual references to support your narrative 😊 yes, I remember those things were pretty great, and they had potential.
Unpopular opinion - I love genie plus because we travel to Disneyland a few times a year and We spend so much so we llike the option to pay a bit more to have shorter lines. For local pass holders they can go often and they know how to handle the lines. We only have a short stay so every moment matters. I would be massively depressed if they got rid of paid LL service.
🤔 How many times a day will guests say Multi-Pass like LeeLoo😂🤣. I'm doing it at home, can't imagine how many times I'll say when I'm there!
so I'm guessing existing tickets with genie plus will just be changed in regards to the name?
Genie/LL should be free when staying on property. Universal does it in Orlando and its great
It seems like they are trying to entice WDW attendees to stay at WDW resorts. The changes really only benefit those staying on property. Maybe they're struggling to fill their resorts and thought this is an easy way to maybe get those numbers up.
Well said! 1 or 2 passes would serve most APs. They are slow to react, it may be a little too late to truly recover.
I think, if they do indeed (and most likely will) continue to monetize fastpass/lightning, they should combine the a la carte option and the current system. You can choose to buy the lightning lanes individually for $5-ish a ride, or you can pay the $25 for an "all you can eat" sort of option. I feel it would be a compromise that can satisfy a larger amount of guests.
Do you think they will go down the paris route, i think it works so well here. Limited amouts at a very high price. Either single ride or a very high price for 1 ride on each one.
When you said “Multipass” I thought of 5th Element as well 😂
I loved fast pass, and I still miss it today. When we booked our anniversary trip, seven years ago, we booked it through AAA, which meant we got free fast pass. Because of that sayings we bought before in the park which meant they made more money. Now that I have to pay for Genie plus, or whatever it’s called today,I am buying less in the park now
With Genie+ you can book lightening lanes at Disneyland and DCA, looks like they are screwing everyone out of park hopper lightening lane that currently exists.
They wanted to give people what they asked for most. Picking rides in advance because planning was most of the fun. Hotel guests being rewarded here
Basically WDW is going back to the way it was when fastpass was a free service.
So genie+ and the free day planner thing is gone?
Still no benefits, no perks to staying at DLR. We always stay on property but it’s pointless since DLR hotel guests have none of the tactical advantages of WDW. DLR concierge used to book dinners and packages, we’d get fast passes at checkin. Now, nothing but a huge bill. Awful customer care.
Maybe for Disneyland resort hotels they should give a few fast passes as a perk or maybe do the universal premium hotel express pass for the grand Cal. They’re just not worth the price point for me right now
As someone who no longer lives in Ca and can only visit once a year. I don't mind the paid LL (whatever they may want to call it down the road). What I wish they would have fixed with this is the way you use it. When I was there often the rides would go out for an hour or more, even right after opening up. So if I wanted to do Space I would have to book that and maybe ride a few things and come back. But two, three or more hours? Where am I going to be in the park at that point? Are the kids going to be tired? Are we still going to be in the park at that time? If I book that one thing that is now two or more hours out, I can't book a closer one till either two hours later or on use. I don't know how they would make this work but I think if you could just use your paid LL when you want to. Just scan and go in when you are in the area and use it. That may make it more worth it.
I rmbr reserving FP early at WDW back in 2018 so I'm glad to hear it's coming back!
ETA: I love & appreciate your honesty regarding Disney's business mindset, strategies, and decisions. So many Disney lovers act like they love everything Disney does but we all know not everything they do is a good choice, especially lately. I agree with what you said that Genie+ has a bad connotation.. I still hate that I have to pay for what was once free (I did appreciate MaxPass bcuz technically I still had a free option). It was one of the things I raved about Disneyland because it was free and fair.. not like other parks that made you pay extra. And I also think you're correct in that it does deter me even more from buying their overpriced merchandise as well as decrease the amount of times I frequent Disneyland in a year.. and I used to be an AP holder too. I want to go back to loving Disney like I used to.. here's to hoping they bring some of that back! 🙏🤞
But upon making a reservation with a LL for a ride, can that reservation still be altered or changed?
Would seem the simplest plan would be to just make it all under one umbrella of LL. And then just have those plus $ rides clearly marked as costing whatever the additional amount.
This move by Disney is clearly the result of not enough WDW guests buying LL. I have a trip coming up and was thinking I could wait and see the crowds when I get there and then decide on LL. With low numbers of attractions in 3 of the parks, I imagine a lot of people did the same.
Now I feel like I have to buy LL in advance because enough other people will be doing it and all LLs could be gone by the days of my visit. Disney is monetizing FOMO and it's going to work brilliantly for them.
This is my exact thoughts too! I went earlier this year for 5 days and only bought it/needed it for 2 days