New Lightning Lane Process - Winners and Losers

 

As discussed yesterday, Disney dropped a bombshell as it relates to their Lightning Lane procedure at Walt Disney World.  We're not going to rehash all of that post, but I encourage you to read it so you have some background on the new line skipping service.  It has a lot of similarities to the former FastPass+ (FP+) system that was in effect until the pandemic, and was eventually replaced by Genie+.

There is only so much capacity that each park has, and the number of guests each day are all competing for that capacity.  Any kind of "beat the crowds" service offered by Disney creates a system where some guests benefit more than others.  That's just the nature of these things.  Disney is constantly trying to find the best way to maximize guest spending while also minimizing bad press and publicity.  The Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) are the latest in a long line of these.

Breaking: Pre-Arrival Lightning Lane Booking Coming Soon

 

Disney has once again overhauled their "beat the line" system.  In a throwback to the old FastPass+ days, Lightning Lanes will be available to book in advance at Walt Disney World starting on July 24.  As we're still absorbing this news and all the implications, you can take a look at the official announcement here and then we'll dive into what this means for your future trips.  This is a big one.

On a technical note, this announcement signifies the end of Genie+, or at least the name.  I understand why Disney wanted to get away from the name "Fast Pass", as that was a free service and Genie+ was paid.  But they took years of goodwill associated with that name and flushed it. On the other hand, Genie+ was mostly derided, so there's no great loss there.  Instead, the service will now just be known as "Lightning Lane", a term they were already using in conjunction with Genie+

The Future of Attractions is Intellectual Property

Disney CEO Bob Iger said last month during a media conference that the future of the Disney parks is in intellectual property (IP) and not original stories built for the parks.  He spoke specifically about how the new Zootopia land in Shanghai Disneyland was a great success because the movie is so popular there. He then talked about how as far back as Cars Land at Disneyland and Toy Story Land at Walt Disney World that he knew that investment in IP for the parks was the way to go, and "it's very, very clear what that delivered."

I have to admit, I didn't think much of his comments at the time, mostly because both Iger and Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro, as well as former CEO Bob Chapek, have said similar things over the years. The reason this came up now is because Disney is preparing to "turbocharge" their investment in the parks in the coming years, spending $60 billion in the parks over the next decade.

Tiana's Bayou Adventure Ride Through Released

 

As Walt Disney World prepares for the official opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure on June 28, they released a ride through of the full attraction the other day.  This comes right as media previews are happening.  I don't remember Disney ever releasing a ride through for an entire ride before it opened; plenty of media members will do so, but this is an official Disney release.

Perhaps because Disney was aware that others would be putting out their own videos, they wanted to "get ahead of the narrative" in a way.  Or perhaps they recognized that the ride is only partially "new", given that the track remains the same from when it was Splash Mountain.  We'll talk about all of that in this post, take a look at the backlash and criticism Disney is receiving and then attempt to answer the question of whether this is an upgrade from the attraction that had been there.

Tron vs. Guardians - Which is the Best New Coaster?

Since we don't get to go to Walt Disney World all the time (regrettably), in between trips, it stands to reason that a bunch of new attractions will open (and/or be renovated).  Then by the time we come back and visit again, there are some "new to us" attractions, even if they've been open for a little while.  When we took our recent trip, those new attractions included two major thrill rides - Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot and Tron Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom.

I've already reviewed both of these rides individually - you can find Guardians here and Tron here - so I'm not going to rehash most of what I wrote there (though do please read these first if you want some more specifics about each one).  Instead, I thought it would be fun to have a good old "fight" between the two to determine which is "better."  I'm using heavy air quotes here because you probably know my general feeling - there is no right or wrong answer.  Without spoiling too much of my earlier reviews, I really enjoyed both rides and they are both worthy tentpole attractions at their respective parks.