Probably the most controversial modifications to line-skipping with Walt Disney World’s swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move 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 put up discusses why characters have been lower from paid FastPass and the probability that’ll change within the weeks to come back or 2025.
For starters, this appears like historical past repeating itself. When Genie+ first launched again in October 2021, it didn’t embrace practically as many sights and different ‘line objects’ 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 Move) 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 Area Mountain at Magic Kingdom–an almost 50-year previous curler coaster! Solely the primary two of these bought even reasonably properly–however they have been all added to Genie+ on a “non permanent” 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 (day by day ops model) across the peak weeks of Christmas and New 12 months’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 couple of extra venues have been added at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios–together with Crimson Carpet Desires, which was eliminated from Genie+ shortly after it was added.
As with virtually all modifications to Genie+ after it launched (other than 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 supply friends with enough 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 properly!).
This background is supplied as a result of it could appear that historical past is at the very least partially repeating itself. Listed below are the sights that have been lower with the swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move:
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 Buddies at Adventurers Outpost
- The Animation Expertise at Conservation Station
EPCOT
- Mickey & Pals Meet & Greet
As a fast apart, it’s completely hilarious to me that Mickey & Pals debuted final month in CommuniCore Corridor at EPCOT with a Lightning Lane. One month later, it has been eradicated. Keep in mind that this alteration 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 building.
It’s type of hilarious in a tragic type of means that one hand didn’t know what the opposite was doing there and CommuniCore Corridor managed to by some means 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 a complete. Simply the chef’s kiss on that complete venture.
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 crew at Disney that was tasked with educating media about Lightning Lane Multi-Move, 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. (Typically, 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-Move 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-Move assume this. I’m properly conscious that line-skipping at character meet & greets and leisure is a headache for Operations, extra burdensome on standby strains, and creates different challenges.
It makes full sense that the venture crew 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 spoil the phantasm, however these spots lack the capability of a few 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 purpose–this has been the method at Disney California Journey, and it’s been a reasonably terrible consequence.
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 undoubtedly assist from a capability perspective in the event that they’re fearful about low-knowledge friends not shopping for Lightning Lane Multi Move after seeing availability. Nonetheless, I feel it could end in an excellent 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 one of the best viewing space for Luminous and stand in there for “free,” which was not attainable with IllumiNations throughout the FastPass+ period. Ditto Fantasmic, which may have a whole part put aside for Lightning Lane. (Doing this in tandem with the above change would pressure friends to make a troublesome resolution–as was the case with FastPass+.)
They might increase costs for Lightning Lane Multi Move. 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 worth ever. However the issue right here is that when costs go up, so too do visitor expectations. In order that additionally doesn’t resolve that concern. (And as we’ve beforehand mentioned, there’s a sure about of worth inelasticity for Lightning Lanes, anyway.)
In my opinion, the trail of least resistance is solely restoring Lightning Lanes at some character meet & greets. That is the obvious choice, because it’s the factor they’ve performed earlier than. So I feel 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 likely be points with availability or satisfaction. To reiterate a degree emphasised in What We’ve Realized from Lightning Lane Multi Move 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 beneath Genie–is a powerful sign of this. It’s fully attainable that, two weeks from now, picks are a lot better as Disney finds the candy spot.
It’s additionally attainable that gained’t occur. That the swap to three pre-booked Lightning Lanes is admittedly vital, and that energy customers like us have been underestimating simply how dangerous the common 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 couple 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 swap to Lightning Lane Multi Move, and that’s most likely at the very least partially as a consequence of it dropping extra Lightning Lanes than the opposite 3 parks mixed!
(For no matter it’s value, I doubt any meet & greets exterior Magic Kingdom will get Lightning Lanes once more. I assume perhaps Mickey & Pals at CommuniCore Corridor or Olaf at DHS? I’m skeptical of that, although. I feel solely the Magic Kingdom ones make sense and are wanted.)
Then there’s the timing when character meet & greets may probably have Lightning Lanes introduced again to Magic Kingdom.
Properly, if we’re speaking about historical past repeating itself, it stands to purpose that the supply and satisfaction state of affairs goes to worsen. There was a ‘final hurrah’ of summer season journey boosting crowd ranges for the launch of Lightning Lane Multi Move, however that is nonetheless nowhere practically 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 12 months’s Eve. Having ‘fixes’ by October could be good.
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 Celebration Season, which is a matter of staffing and capability/provide. Staffing continues to be a problem to some extent, and Disney may be very clearly reallocating some performers from day by 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 Celebration Season is over. Even when they did convey 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 ebook proper now. A part of that’s the reputation of something new. Extra vital is that it’s breaking down continually, so Lightning Lane allocation is decrease than it needs to be as a result of day by day capability for the attraction isn’t even near what Splash Mountain was hitting.)
Anyway, if I needed to guess as to the probably dates for Lightning Lanes at character meet & greets being introduced again, I’d go together with one among two choices. The primary is December 21, 2024–that’s the date after MVMCP ends, which suggests 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 Celebration Season, nevertheless it’s additionally after the ever-briefer winter low season and as crowds begin to enhance for Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, and faculty breaks. Mainly, proper as Walt Disney World realizes one thing’s gotta be performed, 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 likelihood they’re flawed. 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 resolution. 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 occurring a lot earlier throughout its preliminary launch–proper after that notorious Thanksgiving meltdown. I assume we’ll see how this performs out, however I feel it’s pretty secure to say the present Lightning Lane roster isn’t the ultimate one. We’ll virtually actually 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 likely be added to Genie+ or would you favor first-come viewing areas? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!