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