October 24, 2024 • 26 mins
This episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast dives deep into the new premier lightning lane system at Disney World and its implications for park-goers. Hosts Tony Desiere and Lauren Mallard discuss the recent changes to the lightning lane offerings, including the potential pricing of up to $400 per person per day. They explore whether this premium option truly adds value for families looking to maximize their time in the parks or if it's just another costly add-on. The conversation also touches on the differences between this new system and existing options, such as VIP tours, and how it compares to the more straightforward systems in place at other theme parks like Universal Studios. With insights on planning strategies and tips for making the most of your Disney experience, this episode is a must-listen for anyone considering a trip to the happiest place on earth.
Takeaways:
- The new premium lightning lane at Disney World is causing controversy among visitors.
- Disney's pricing strategy for the new lightning lane may be targeting affluent guests.
- Families should consider the value of a VIP tour versus the premium lightning lane.
- The current lightning lane system is more manageable than the previous Genie Plus system.
- Guests can choose to purchase lightning lanes on select days to maximize their experience.
- Disney's ongoing pricing increases are making it harder for families to enjoy the parks.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Disney
- Universal Studios
- Sandals
- Beaches Resorts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
It's another episode of theWands and Wishes podcast.
I'm Tony Desiri, along withLauren Mallard.
All the magic travel.
And today we got a veryinteresting podcast because we're
gonna talk about attractionsat Disney World and how to get on
them as fast as possible.
Because as we touched on alittle bit last week, there is a
brand new idea that Disney iskind of floating out there of a premier
lightning lane.
But they do have the lightninglane system that they have now.
(00:27):
Something that they changedfrom what they've had before, which
is something they changed fromwhat they had before.
So if you haven't gone toDisney World in a while, you may
be wondering, well, how do weget on rides as fast as possible?
So this has been.
And welcome back from Jamaica, Lauren.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
One of the more, I would say,controversial moves that Disney has
made with this.
(00:48):
This was this hit.
And boy, did people were readyto jump on social media and make
some comments on this one.
Yeah.
So this hit my inbox, I guessit was last Wednesday.
I was in Jamaica and I saw itand I kind of just like glanced over
it and then I got more detailsas the day went on.
And to be honest, it was oneof those things that I didn't pay
(01:10):
a whole lot of attention tobecause I think this is going to
be one of those things that'snot going to be a complete game changer
in the way that the majorityof guests tour the parks, but it's
going to be something that wecan look at as more of kind of an
add on, kind of like a viptour light situation.
(01:31):
I don't really expect it toimpact any guest trips, to be honest,
because those that are goingto purchase this would have purchased
the regular lightning lane anyway.
So they're going to be in thatlightning lane line.
But yeah, I mean, let's talk alittle bit about how this changes
from the regular lightninglane offering that, yes, I do typically
(01:55):
recommend, especially ifyou're not going to be traveling
every year to Disney World.
So if you are going toDisneyland the world and you may,
you may purchase a lightninglane pass for a variety of prices
per park, per time of year.
Yeah, more busy.
It's going to be a little moreexpensive, different parks, a little
bit more expensive.
But it's around 2025, $27.
(02:16):
Yeah.
Okay.
And now allows you to bookthree lightning lanes per session
at that moment.
And you get to go on the ridebooking a time.
Yes.
This premier one, which isgoing to be valued at hundreds of
dollars, who knows how muchthey've been.
I've been trying to figure outhow much this is.
They've been ranging with somany different numbers.
Yeah.
They've given us such a huge range.
(02:37):
And I don't really know.
I'm assuming that it's gonna.
It's gonna depend on peakseason, but we're looking at something
that might start at $100 perperson, which already seems outrageous.
Yeah.
Going up to dollar 449 per person.
This is.
I brought this up last week inthe podcast, which has said, okay,
now I wanna know value.
Uh huh.
(02:57):
Is this really that valuable?
And you know what I wouldprobably say is, number one, why
are we not allowing it to be apark hopper option?
Right.
So why can't I at least visittwo parks and be able to utilize
all of the lightning laneswithin two parks for the day if I
wanted to?
(03:17):
Because let's say if youpurchase it for animal Kingdom, surely
somebody's gonna say, hey,please don't do that, because what
have you got?
Maybe five attractions you canreally utilize it on, and you can't
hop and use it anywhere elsefor the day unless you purchase it
for another park.
So I'm still trying tounderstand the logic behind why they
(03:40):
did it that.
Way and why can't.
If I buy this, why can't Iride a ride twice?
Exactly.
Now, I'm notorious for this inmy family, is that I love haunted
mansion like millions ofpeople do.
I ride it in the day and Iride it at night.
I do think that it would bemore beneficial if they had made
it a little bit more like theunlimited express pass at university.
I do think that people mightbe more enticed to buy it, given
(04:04):
that they can ride thingsmultiple times, like you're saying.
Exactly.
Especially if you want to goback and experience a ride at a different
setting.
Yes.
You know, Tiana's Bayouadventure is a cool ride during the
day, but if you ride it atnight, you get the lights and the
castle.
It's a different view, and it's.
And also, you can be in agroup where you're.
Some people are going off inthis direction, some people going
(04:25):
on this direction.
You meet up for dinner, andnow you're going to do some last
minute.
If I'm paying dollar 400 for alightning lane, and I'm being told
I can't ride Peter Pan twice,that doesn't make valuable sense
to me.
It's like, I'm giving you somuch money, and you're putting a
tremendous restriction on thething that doesn't you're not giving
(04:45):
me something of cost to you.
You're just giving me yourpermission, which is no, there's
no cost to that.
Right.
So I think if we put it intoperspective of what they're offering,
let's say, for a family offive in particular, because that's
what I have.
So if I am looking at dollar400 per person per day, we're looking
at $2,000 in a day that Iwould be spending for one park.
(05:09):
So if we put that intoperspective of what I might spend,
if I were going to purchase avip tour that can accommodate ten
people.
So then we're looking at two families.
If two families split a viptour in non Peak park time, you're
looking at less than $5,000for the day.
So I'm looking at maybe $2,500.
(05:30):
I can hop to all four parks.
I can do rides as often as Iwant to do them.
I have a personal guide who istaking me in through backstage exits
and entrances.
And I'm really feeling like ifI'm going to spend thousands of dollars,
that's the way that I'm goingto go.
That's interesting, becauseI've heard people like marketing
(05:52):
experts say that a certain wayyou market a product and where you
market the product compared toother things changes direction.
So if you have an expensivebottle of wine, let's say, right,
and you want to sell it topeople, but you put it next to cheap
produce, nobody buys theexpensive bottle of wine.
But if you take that bottle ofwine and put it next to very expensive
(06:12):
produce that people are buyinganyway, then the wine becomes relatively
affordable.
That's right.
So I'm looking at this fromDisney's perspective.
Are they saying, look, youwant to buy this, great.
But if you're alreadyconsidering this, the VIP tour is
this, and it might be a littlemore, but think about what extra
stuff you're getting with theVIP tour.
So you're already in themindset of buying this for your family.
(06:34):
VIP Tour is only a few moreaway, and you get way more than that,
Zachary.
And, you know, in Disney'smind, too, that might also be a way
for them to say, hey, we alsohave a little more control over this.
We kind of have a little morecontrol over how many people we know
that are going to bepurchasing the VIP tour, how many
humans that's going to takeinto each attraction, versus if they're
(06:55):
going to purchase this premiumlightning lane situation.
But you know what it also doesfrom a marketing perspective is when
you were talking about that$27 per day for a lightning lane
that suddenly seems like theKmart special.
That's right now.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay.
Well, yeah, of course I'mgoing to buy lightning lane every
(07:16):
day.
I will not, however, I mighteat crow eventually, but I don't
think I will.
I don't think that I'm goingto purchase the premium lightning
lane.
So why, I would say is becauseus, as travel agents, we've spent
a lot of time mastering thelightning lane system, whether that
was FastPass or genie plus ornow Lightning Lane, we know how to
(07:40):
almost be able to within oneday, especially if you're at one
park, we kind of know how toget a lightning lane for every lightning
lane that's available.
And if you spend enough timein that, then you should be able
to be able to work the systemenough to be able to get almost everyone
without paying that $400 price tag.
(08:01):
I know the social mediaaccount exploded on the cost and
saying, like, look, there's aseparation between rich and poor.
Now.
There's always been, though, Imean, the people who don't stay at
deluxe resorts, and there'salways been that.
You've been, if you go on themonorail back to your car, you stop,
and people get off atPolynesia and they get it stopped
at Grant Berlin.
So it's always been that way.
But I will, I will give Disneycredit on this.
(08:23):
And this is where I sort ofdiffer from the people who say, this
is crazy.
This is outrageous, because Ihad a problem with Genie, plus I
had a problem with how cheapit was.
Because I go back to the ideathat if you're going to charge for
this and everyone has it, thennobody has it.
That's right.
Those lightning lanes becomenot lightning.
They don't become lightninglanes, because the old system was
(08:44):
a way of, you could go, youhad to book this time.
You had to book that time.
This other way was buy it, andyou can just go on the ride.
Well, now you're, now you'reseeing everybody do it, and you're
waiting in line just as longand going, wait a minute.
Everyone here just paid $15 todo this.
So if you want to havesomething, and I think you and I
(09:04):
talked about this in the firstpodcast when we talked about the
new procedures.
This is what I think universaldoes really well, is saying, look,
the express pass is justenough that people go, I don't want
it.
And you never feel like you'relosing places to people with the
passes, you never stand in aline going, look at these hundreds
(09:24):
of people with badges justwalking ahead of me.
And I think that's why I don'tmind the price.
Although 400 a day is just eye opening.
I would really have to seewhat kind of value that you're being
offered at that $400 perperson per day, because that's on
top of the ticket price behind you.
And even if you're an annualpass holder, the purpose of being
(09:47):
an annual pass holder for meis to feel like I'm being able to
go without paying a ticket price.
Exactly, exactly.
And so that suddenly takesthat away and more, if you think
about it.
I mean, you're paying fourtimes the cost to get into the park,
to be able to ride all ofthese rides.
And so if you think about it,I don't know how limited it's going
(10:09):
to be and how they're going todifferentiate if they're going to
limit the premium one morethan the regular one, but then they're
all going in the samelightning lane.
So really, it's no different.
So, you know, it boggles themind, but I assume that someone had
a rhyme or reason to whatthey're doing.
(10:29):
But I.
I tend to think this might beone of those things that might come
and might get kind of evolutionized.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I think this is one ofthose such situations where the boardroom
and the PR department aren'treally agreeing on this because the
boardroom is saying, look, ifwe charge this and one person buys
(10:52):
it, we just gained $400 inprofit because we didn't give them
anything.
We didn't have to create something.
We didn't have raw materials.
We didn't have a merchant, youknow, merchandising department.
We just basically said, boom,you can go on all the lightning lanes,
no cost to us.
We got dollar 400.
If 100 people do it, then wegot 40,000, whatever that comes out
to.
But in the PR department,they're going, you just raise ticket
(11:18):
prices all the time.
And now you've come up withthis thing that reminds people they
can't come here and they can't afford.
Stop doing that.
When we're trying to make thisidea that families can come and have
a good time without everworrying about budgets, and you're
throwing it another thing outthere that reminds people you really
can't afford to come here.
Right.
And, you know, and they alsoadded in the exclusivity to the deluxe
(11:42):
resort.
Right, right.
Which is, I understand if theywant to be able to offer a guest
something that's staying at adeluxe resort.
But in my mind, that kind ofgoes out the window if it's just
something that they're theonly ones that are given the privilege
to purchase.
Yeah, right.
That's right.
Why can't I buy it if I'mstaying with my parents or staying
(12:03):
at all Star wars?
Like, if you want to throw itin for the deluxe resorts, even better.
That'll fill up your deluxe resorts.
Probably that's the way theydo it at Universal.
And it works very well.
It works very well.
Very well.
When I tell people, that's amajor perk, it's staying at La Portofino,
people go, that's fantastic.
I didn't know that.
It is.
Especially if you've got alarger family and you are in, and
(12:23):
five people in a room atUniversal and you get that unlimited
express pass, suddenly that'sa great value.
Great value.
Great value.
So, you know, I mean, there'sa few things that I probably would
have done different if it were me.
And, you know, I'm kind oflooking at it as this is another
add on kind of thing, ifyou're interested in it, kind of
like if you're interested in avip tour.
But it's not going to besomething that I will necessarily
(12:46):
focus on pushing for my guests.
All right, now let's talkabout whether or not it is worth
this, because I said lastweek, even if I had all the money
in the world, I just don'tgive it away for free.
No.
Even if I'm rich, I just don'tgo, here's $5,000.
I don't care.
(13:07):
That's what cartoon richpeople do.
Even if I had the money, Iwould say, am I going to give Disney
$4,000 a day just so we canride rides?
When I'm looking at wait timesthat say 30 minutes on them.
Right?
What's the value?
What's the value in it?
What am I really getting?
And I think it goes back toyour point of a vip tour and all
the things that you just mentioned.
If I'm going there and I, andI've been planning a trip and I start
(13:30):
noticing, let's say I'm goingin mid September, and I start going
every day to the site and Igo, yeah, it's 30 minutes for pirates.
It's 25 minutes for this, it's25 minutes for that.
Oh, and they want me to spend$4,000 for my, $2,000 for my family
of four or five to go.
I don't see where I'm gettingvalue on this.
(13:50):
I don't mind waiting 20minutes for a ride or 30 minutes
for a ride.
This doesn't really do it forme, for my hard earned money, even
if I'm a millionaire.
Yeah, right.
But I think you're right whereyou go.
But, boy, that VIP tour soundsreally interesting.
Yeah.
Because if you're going tospend that kind of money, then especially
(14:12):
not always, but a lot of timespeople are going to want to feel
taken care of, pampered almost.
And that's where the VIP tourcan really do that.
And if you think about it,I've said before, like, let's go
back to club level.
Are you really going to eatenough at the continental breakfast
or go and have a glass of wineat dinner or, you know, hors d'oeuvres
(14:32):
at night to be able to paythat price difference?
No, you're probably not.
But I will say a lot of myguests who do stay club level, once
they do it, they say, wow, thevalue in this, I really, it's, once
I've done it, I don't think Ican do without it.
Exactly.
And so you, you look at that,I don't think that this premium lightning
(14:53):
lane thing is going to fall inthat bucket, but you look at things
from different perspectiveslike that.
And I've defended, listen,I've defended Disney with prices.
I come from the world ofsports, covering sports for 30 years.
Try taking a family four to anNFL game for less than six, $700.
Like, it's just not going to happen.
And so I always say, look, youcould get 3 hours of an NFL game
(15:13):
on a Sunday at your localstadium or whatever, or you can spend
100 some dollars at Disney andget a whole day of theme park action.
Yes.
I'm not saying that.
Yeah, the increases do concernpeople, and it does make it so that
after, it adds up after a while.
But at the same time, I seewhere people are coming from saying,
boy, I don't like the idea ofsomething that, that I can't get
(15:39):
for $400.
Exactly.
Absolutely.
And show us what we are getting.
What we are getting when weare paying for that ticket price
to start with.
Don't make it seem like it's asushi menu that I'm checking all
the things that I want to addonto it.
Show me what I am getting tostart with that I don't have to pay
extra for.
All right, now let's talkabout what we have now, because what
(16:00):
we have now, I think, is abetter reiteration of.
I thought Genie plus was a mess.
I didn't get it.
I went down there, I tried it,I found it very complicated, and
I said, forget it.
But I'm different.
I'm a different breed.
I go there enough that.
All right, whatever.
I'm coming down to visit myfolks in another three months and
I can go back here to the parks.
But for the people who goonce, twice, maybe in four years,
(16:23):
five years, I do understandthat there is a desire to get on
as many of these attractionsas possible because you may not be
back in six months or a year,or two years, or even three years.
That's right.
So how would you say tosomebody, okay, I'm going down, and
we haven't been in five years.
But boy, my kids, we reallyneed to maximize this.
(16:44):
We really need to maximize this.
This lightning lane now ismore easy to manage than I thought
the old one was.
Yeah, it is.
And it's something that Iusually will say.
We don't know how much it'sgoing to be until we go in to purchase
it, which is seven days beforetheir vacation.
But to be usually on the safeside, I go on the upper end, which
is in the past seemed to beabout $35 per person per day.
(17:09):
So if you take a family offour, then I'm saying that puts us
at about $140 for that multi pass.
The multi pass is going to bethe one.
That's the big umbrella.
It's going to get you themajority of rides in a park.
Now that also, that pricethere is typically for the multi
park one.
If you have a.
A park hopper, you are goingto purchase whatever park you are
(17:32):
going to that morning.
So that could go on the lowend, which is going to be animal
kingdom, or it could go on thehigh end, which is going to be Magic
Kingdom or Hollywood studios.
But that's going to give youaccess to lightning lanes for any
park that you visit for that day.
So if you're looking at $140for a family of four for the multi
pass, then you want to look atany single lightning lane passes
(17:52):
that you want for the day.
We're allowed two of those,let's say, at a bucket of dollar,
20 a piece.
I don't know.
That can kind of range.
Rise of the resistance seemsto be usually the highest one at
$25.
Yeah.
And again, we've talked aboutbefore, we have strategies for rope
dropping.
Some of these where you don'thave to purchase the single passes.
If you've got a huge Star wars fan.
(18:14):
Go ahead and purchase it.
Go ahead and do it.
That's another hundred dollarsfor your family of four.
So we're looking, we'recreeping on up there close to $300
by the time that we've done amulti pass and two single passes
for the day.
You might not have to do thatall four or five days of your trip.
But let's say if you think youdo want to do it, go ahead and budget
it in there.
Put it under the big bucket ofhow much I'm planning to spend on
(18:37):
my vacation.
It's kind of like with thedining plan, you know, you want to
think about how much am Igoing to spend on food?
Do I want to budget it in adining plan in the package, or do
I want to pay for it when I'm there?
Think about what is going tomake your family the happiest when
you're there.
Because if you're not usinglightning lane, my recommendation
to you is going to be to be atthe bus stop at 06:45 a.m.
(19:00):
and you're probably not goingto be on the bus back to the resort
until after park close if youwant to be able to get in everything.
Yeah, exactly.
And you made a good pointabout with the go every single day.
This is not something you haveto commit to every single day.
You know, like the dining plan.
If you're staying five days,you got to buy the five day dining
plan.
You got to do every day.
But this can be a la carte ifyou feel like, we're really tired.
(19:21):
We just want to join the ambiance.
We did a lot of stuff yesterday.
We don't have to.
You don't have to buy it.
You can buy it the next daywhen you go to epcot or another park.
So you're not committed everysingle day on your trip to buy it.
And I do.
I do recommend people do dothat on busier days, especially a
park like magic kingdom, wherethere's so much to see, if you don't
mind waiting in lines.
Animal kingdom doesn't have alot of attractions.
(19:43):
There's really not a realreason, unless it's slam packed to,
to bother with that, becauseyou can get on the rides relatively
easy, and when you're off one,you go to another, you're probably
killing five, six majorattractions there.
Magic kingdom.
There's multiple.
Multiple.
There's so many.
So those, those are the ones Iadvise to.
But I think this is a vast improvement.
(20:06):
But I do think that there are.
I wonder, why does it have tobe so complicated when universal
is just so tidy and neat?
Yeah, and we talked about thatbefore, too, because it's kind of
a job.
And I tell my guests this,when you're on vacation, it is going
to be a little bit of a job.
If I'm available, I'm going tohelp you in any way possible by logging
(20:28):
into your account and refresh.
Refresh.
Refreshing for you, becausethat is what you're going to be doing.
You're going to take yourlittle finger with your phone and
you're going to refresh thatlightning lane wait time board until
you see what you want to see.
Because you might seesomething that says that it's unavailable,
but it probably isn't actuallyunavailable because people are canceling
and moving things and Disney'sback there looking at wait times
(20:50):
and they're changing things.
So you have to be able and bewilling to put in the work to make
it worthwhile.
Yeah.
Go find those charging stations.
Yes.
They'll bring a portable one.
That's right.
There are fuel rods you canbuy, but if you can take a couple
of portable chargers, you'regonna need them.
My wife found years ago whenwe were doing this, she actually
liked being like commander inchief of our vacation.
(21:12):
She enjoyed it.
I love it.
She loved it.
She would go on it and she'dbe like, all right, this is available.
We're gonna go do this now.
It's kind of a game.
It is kind of fun.
I will say, and I go back tosomething about this premiere, lightning
lane, I forgot to mention.
I do think in a place likeDisneyland in California, I think
it's very, I think it would bevery valuable.
There is so much.
They've crammed basically ourfour parks in Orlando, minus a few
(21:34):
rides into two theme parks.
Yes.
I mean, you can't doeverything at Disneyland on a given
day, even though the park isopen till like midnight every day.
But I think if you weresomebody that was visiting California
and you said, well, I want todo the beach and I want to go to
Six Flags and I want to doDisney for two days, whatever, this
might be something, if you canafford it, to consider because you're
not going back for a while.
(21:56):
There is, I mean, tomorrowlandalone has star tours.
You know, they got.
That's not there.
They have just a bunch ofdifferent rides in, in Disneyland
that they don't have in Orlando.
Yeah.
And in the Star wars islocated in Disneyland rather than
another theme park altogether.
Right.
And within the space, it's somuch more manageable where you're
(22:17):
not just running all over the place.
Absolutely.
That's a great point.
I can see myself, I've neverbeen out to Disneyland.
I can see myself purchasing itout there and seeing the value in
that versus doing it Disney.
Now, I do say that I wonder alittle bit, because I talked last
week was about epic universe,and I started processing all these
people that are trying to planepic universe.
(22:39):
There's a bunch of landscoming now, we don't know the end
result, but how much of thisis in place in anticipation of, look,
we're going to try it a little bit.
We'll lower the price a littlebit down the road, but eventually
there's going to be a highdemand to make sure you are in villains
land or whatever.
Is Disney prepping for theeventual unveiling of what's going
(22:59):
to happen in animals, animalkingdom, what happens in Magic Kingdom,
all of these new lands andattractions to say, yeah, and you
don't want to be in a two hour line.
Yeah, that's a great point.
Kind of a test product, right?
Yeah.
Because I'm wondering about.
I think about epic universe alot, and I think about just the ministry
of Magic at Harry Potter.
And I go, that's going to.
That could be 3 hours.
Hagrid right now is still twoplus sometimes on busy days, and
(23:24):
that place could be jam packed.
And if you could say, allright, look, I can afford it, I could
do it.
Now I get to go on a littlebit faster.
So I'm wondering how much ofthat is in play for these new lands.
Yeah, that's a great point.
I'm a little old school, though.
I kind of miss the old no fastpasses.
Just go on, get on as fast as possible.
But I do like the idea ofbeing able to know I'm going on a
(23:45):
ride and getting on as quickas possible.
That is.
That has always been very,very good.
So anyway, real quick, beforewe wrap up this podcast, touch on
Jamaica a little bit, becausethis has been.
This was kind of exciting weekfor you.
It really was.
So I was in Jamaica for sevenglorious nights last week.
It was myself and Lindsey, whois another agent with all the magic
travel.
(24:06):
We went down there and we wereinvited by sandals and beaches resorts
to an event called Jamaica Love.
And this was a huge event.
The main part of the week wason Wednesday.
We had a huge conference inMontego Bay, where the prime minister
was present, all of theexecutives with sandals, talking
about what sandals does on theisland of Jamaica.
And we were able toparticipate in a sandals foundation
(24:29):
activity on Tuesday where wewent to a local school and read to
the children and just reallysaw that sandals and beaches is more
than just all inclusiveresorts, but we also were able to
see all of the resorts acrossthe island.
In Negril and south coast, inOcho Rios, in Montego Bay, there
is a property for everybody atall different price points.
(24:50):
And so if you're looking atall of for an all inclusive vacation,
whether that is a familyvacation, because there are properties
for children and adults or anadults only all inclusive vacation,
I can send you wherever youwant to go.
If it's not Jamaica, we haveoptions on every island in the Caribbean
with all sorts of brands.
(25:11):
I would love to send you again.
We've said before, it costsyou nothing to use a traveler.
Absolutely.
So why not reach out to us?
We have contacts at all thedifferent resorts that can help make
your vacation the best it canpossibly be.
And if you book with me beforeOctober 27, which is this weekend,
I actually have a $250 spacredit that I can offer you or a
(25:33):
free catamaran cruise.
So reach out to me,lauren@allthemagictravel.com and
we will get you booked.
Alright, so that's going to doit for wands and wishes.
Again, thank you for joining us.
Please subscribe to the channel.
If you like what we're doing,please share it with a friend.
Leave us a five star reviewbecause it helps us with the algorithms
getting the word out on how toplan your best theme park vacation
at Universal Studio or WaltDisney World.
And please reach out to Laurenat Lauren at all the magic travel.
(25:54):
You can reach me, Tony travelwith tony d@gmail.com we will see
you next week with anotheredition of the wands and wishes podcast.
It's another episode of theWands and Wishes podcast.
I'm Tony Desiri, along withLauren Mallard.
All the magic travel.
And today we got a veryinteresting podcast because we're
gonna talk about attractionsat Disney World and how to get on
them as fast as possible.
Because as we touched on alittle bit last week, there is a
brand new idea that Disney iskind of floating out there of a premier
lightning lane.
But they do have the lightninglane system that they have now.
(00:27):
Something that they changedfrom what they've had before, which
is something they changed fromwhat they had before.
So if you haven't gone toDisney World in a while, you may
be wondering, well, how do weget on rides as fast as possible?
So this has been.
And welcome back from Jamaica, Lauren.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
One of the more, I would say,controversial moves that Disney has
made with this.
(00:48):
This was this hit.
And boy, did people were readyto jump on social media and make
some comments on this one.
Yeah.
So this hit my inbox, I guessit was last Wednesday.
I was in Jamaica and I saw itand I kind of just like glanced over
it and then I got more detailsas the day went on.
And to be honest, it was oneof those things that I didn't pay
(01:10):
a whole lot of attention tobecause I think this is going to
be one of those things that'snot going to be a complete game changer
in the way that the majorityof guests tour the parks, but it's
going to be something that wecan look at as more of kind of an
add on, kind of like a viptour light situation.
(01:31):
I don't really expect it toimpact any guest trips, to be honest,
because those that are goingto purchase this would have purchased
the regular lightning lane anyway.
So they're going to be in thatlightning lane line.
But yeah, I mean, let's talk alittle bit about how this changes
from the regular lightninglane offering that, yes, I do typically
(01:55):
recommend, especially ifyou're not going to be traveling
every year to Disney World.
So if you are going toDisneyland the world and you may,
you may purchase a lightninglane pass for a variety of prices
per park, per time of year.
Yeah, more busy.
It's going to be a little moreexpensive, different parks, a little
bit more expensive.
But it's around 2025, $27.
(02:16):
Yeah.
Okay.
And now allows you to bookthree lightning lanes per session
at that moment.
And you get to go on the ridebooking a time.
Yes.
This premier one, which isgoing to be valued at hundreds of
dollars, who knows how muchthey've been.
I've been trying to figure outhow much this is.
They've been ranging with somany different numbers.
Yeah.
They've given us such a huge range.
(02:37):
And I don't really know.
I'm assuming that it's gonna.
It's gonna depend on peakseason, but we're looking at something
that might start at $100 perperson, which already seems outrageous.
Yeah.
Going up to dollar 449 per person.
This is.
I brought this up last week inthe podcast, which has said, okay,
now I wanna know value.
Uh huh.
(02:57):
Is this really that valuable?
And you know what I wouldprobably say is, number one, why
are we not allowing it to be apark hopper option?
Right.
So why can't I at least visittwo parks and be able to utilize
all of the lightning laneswithin two parks for the day if I
wanted to?
(03:17):
Because let's say if youpurchase it for animal Kingdom, surely
somebody's gonna say, hey,please don't do that, because what
have you got?
Maybe five attractions you canreally utilize it on, and you can't
hop and use it anywhere elsefor the day unless you purchase it
for another park.
So I'm still trying tounderstand the logic behind why they
(03:40):
did it that.
Way and why can't.
If I buy this, why can't Iride a ride twice?
Exactly.
Now, I'm notorious for this inmy family, is that I love haunted
mansion like millions ofpeople do.
I ride it in the day and Iride it at night.
I do think that it would bemore beneficial if they had made
it a little bit more like theunlimited express pass at university.
I do think that people mightbe more enticed to buy it, given
(04:04):
that they can ride thingsmultiple times, like you're saying.
Exactly.
Especially if you want to goback and experience a ride at a different
setting.
Yes.
You know, Tiana's Bayouadventure is a cool ride during the
day, but if you ride it atnight, you get the lights and the
castle.
It's a different view, and it's.
And also, you can be in agroup where you're.
Some people are going off inthis direction, some people going
(04:25):
on this direction.
You meet up for dinner, andnow you're going to do some last
minute.
If I'm paying dollar 400 for alightning lane, and I'm being told
I can't ride Peter Pan twice,that doesn't make valuable sense
to me.
It's like, I'm giving you somuch money, and you're putting a
tremendous restriction on thething that doesn't you're not giving
(04:45):
me something of cost to you.
You're just giving me yourpermission, which is no, there's
no cost to that.
Right.
So I think if we put it intoperspective of what they're offering,
let's say, for a family offive in particular, because that's
what I have.
So if I am looking at dollar400 per person per day, we're looking
at $2,000 in a day that Iwould be spending for one park.
(05:09):
So if we put that intoperspective of what I might spend,
if I were going to purchase avip tour that can accommodate ten
people.
So then we're looking at two families.
If two families split a viptour in non Peak park time, you're
looking at less than $5,000for the day.
So I'm looking at maybe $2,500.
(05:30):
I can hop to all four parks.
I can do rides as often as Iwant to do them.
I have a personal guide who istaking me in through backstage exits
and entrances.
And I'm really feeling like ifI'm going to spend thousands of dollars,
that's the way that I'm goingto go.
That's interesting, becauseI've heard people like marketing
(05:52):
experts say that a certain wayyou market a product and where you
market the product compared toother things changes direction.
So if you have an expensivebottle of wine, let's say, right,
and you want to sell it topeople, but you put it next to cheap
produce, nobody buys theexpensive bottle of wine.
But if you take that bottle ofwine and put it next to very expensive
(06:12):
produce that people are buyinganyway, then the wine becomes relatively
affordable.
That's right.
So I'm looking at this fromDisney's perspective.
Are they saying, look, youwant to buy this, great.
But if you're alreadyconsidering this, the VIP tour is
this, and it might be a littlemore, but think about what extra
stuff you're getting with theVIP tour.
So you're already in themindset of buying this for your family.
(06:34):
VIP Tour is only a few moreaway, and you get way more than that,
Zachary.
And, you know, in Disney'smind, too, that might also be a way
for them to say, hey, we alsohave a little more control over this.
We kind of have a little morecontrol over how many people we know
that are going to bepurchasing the VIP tour, how many
humans that's going to takeinto each attraction, versus if they're
(06:55):
going to purchase this premiumlightning lane situation.
But you know what it also doesfrom a marketing perspective is when
you were talking about that$27 per day for a lightning lane
that suddenly seems like theKmart special.
That's right now.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay.
Well, yeah, of course I'mgoing to buy lightning lane every
(07:16):
day.
I will not, however, I mighteat crow eventually, but I don't
think I will.
I don't think that I'm goingto purchase the premium lightning
lane.
So why, I would say is becauseus, as travel agents, we've spent
a lot of time mastering thelightning lane system, whether that
was FastPass or genie plus ornow Lightning Lane, we know how to
(07:40):
almost be able to within oneday, especially if you're at one
park, we kind of know how toget a lightning lane for every lightning
lane that's available.
And if you spend enough timein that, then you should be able
to be able to work the systemenough to be able to get almost everyone
without paying that $400 price tag.
(08:01):
I know the social mediaaccount exploded on the cost and
saying, like, look, there's aseparation between rich and poor.
Now.
There's always been, though, Imean, the people who don't stay at
deluxe resorts, and there'salways been that.
You've been, if you go on themonorail back to your car, you stop,
and people get off atPolynesia and they get it stopped
at Grant Berlin.
So it's always been that way.
But I will, I will give Disneycredit on this.
(08:23):
And this is where I sort ofdiffer from the people who say, this
is crazy.
This is outrageous, because Ihad a problem with Genie, plus I
had a problem with how cheapit was.
Because I go back to the ideathat if you're going to charge for
this and everyone has it, thennobody has it.
That's right.
Those lightning lanes becomenot lightning.
They don't become lightninglanes, because the old system was
(08:44):
a way of, you could go, youhad to book this time.
You had to book that time.
This other way was buy it, andyou can just go on the ride.
Well, now you're, now you'reseeing everybody do it, and you're
waiting in line just as longand going, wait a minute.
Everyone here just paid $15 todo this.
So if you want to havesomething, and I think you and I
(09:04):
talked about this in the firstpodcast when we talked about the
new procedures.
This is what I think universaldoes really well, is saying, look,
the express pass is justenough that people go, I don't want
it.
And you never feel like you'relosing places to people with the
passes, you never stand in aline going, look at these hundreds
(09:24):
of people with badges justwalking ahead of me.
And I think that's why I don'tmind the price.
Although 400 a day is just eye opening.
I would really have to seewhat kind of value that you're being
offered at that $400 perperson per day, because that's on
top of the ticket price behind you.
And even if you're an annualpass holder, the purpose of being
(09:47):
an annual pass holder for meis to feel like I'm being able to
go without paying a ticket price.
Exactly, exactly.
And so that suddenly takesthat away and more, if you think
about it.
I mean, you're paying fourtimes the cost to get into the park,
to be able to ride all ofthese rides.
And so if you think about it,I don't know how limited it's going
(10:09):
to be and how they're going todifferentiate if they're going to
limit the premium one morethan the regular one, but then they're
all going in the samelightning lane.
So really, it's no different.
So, you know, it boggles themind, but I assume that someone had
a rhyme or reason to whatthey're doing.
(10:29):
But I.
I tend to think this might beone of those things that might come
and might get kind of evolutionized.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I think this is one ofthose such situations where the boardroom
and the PR department aren'treally agreeing on this because the
boardroom is saying, look, ifwe charge this and one person buys
(10:52):
it, we just gained $400 inprofit because we didn't give them
anything.
We didn't have to create something.
We didn't have raw materials.
We didn't have a merchant, youknow, merchandising department.
We just basically said, boom,you can go on all the lightning lanes,
no cost to us.
We got dollar 400.
If 100 people do it, then wegot 40,000, whatever that comes out
to.
But in the PR department,they're going, you just raise ticket
(11:18):
prices all the time.
And now you've come up withthis thing that reminds people they
can't come here and they can't afford.
Stop doing that.
When we're trying to make thisidea that families can come and have
a good time without everworrying about budgets, and you're
throwing it another thing outthere that reminds people you really
can't afford to come here.
Right.
And, you know, and they alsoadded in the exclusivity to the deluxe
(11:42):
resort.
Right, right.
Which is, I understand if theywant to be able to offer a guest
something that's staying at adeluxe resort.
But in my mind, that kind ofgoes out the window if it's just
something that they're theonly ones that are given the privilege
to purchase.
Yeah, right.
That's right.
Why can't I buy it if I'mstaying with my parents or staying
(12:03):
at all Star wars?
Like, if you want to throw itin for the deluxe resorts, even better.
That'll fill up your deluxe resorts.
Probably that's the way theydo it at Universal.
And it works very well.
It works very well.
Very well.
When I tell people, that's amajor perk, it's staying at La Portofino,
people go, that's fantastic.
I didn't know that.
It is.
Especially if you've got alarger family and you are in, and
(12:23):
five people in a room atUniversal and you get that unlimited
express pass, suddenly that'sa great value.
Great value.
Great value.
So, you know, I mean, there'sa few things that I probably would
have done different if it were me.
And, you know, I'm kind oflooking at it as this is another
add on kind of thing, ifyou're interested in it, kind of
like if you're interested in avip tour.
But it's not going to besomething that I will necessarily
(12:46):
focus on pushing for my guests.
All right, now let's talkabout whether or not it is worth
this, because I said lastweek, even if I had all the money
in the world, I just don'tgive it away for free.
No.
Even if I'm rich, I just don'tgo, here's $5,000.
I don't care.
(13:07):
That's what cartoon richpeople do.
Even if I had the money, Iwould say, am I going to give Disney
$4,000 a day just so we canride rides?
When I'm looking at wait timesthat say 30 minutes on them.
Right?
What's the value?
What's the value in it?
What am I really getting?
And I think it goes back toyour point of a vip tour and all
the things that you just mentioned.
If I'm going there and I, andI've been planning a trip and I start
(13:30):
noticing, let's say I'm goingin mid September, and I start going
every day to the site and Igo, yeah, it's 30 minutes for pirates.
It's 25 minutes for this, it's25 minutes for that.
Oh, and they want me to spend$4,000 for my, $2,000 for my family
of four or five to go.
I don't see where I'm gettingvalue on this.
(13:50):
I don't mind waiting 20minutes for a ride or 30 minutes
for a ride.
This doesn't really do it forme, for my hard earned money, even
if I'm a millionaire.
Yeah, right.
But I think you're right whereyou go.
But, boy, that VIP tour soundsreally interesting.
Yeah.
Because if you're going tospend that kind of money, then especially
(14:12):
not always, but a lot of timespeople are going to want to feel
taken care of, pampered almost.
And that's where the VIP tourcan really do that.
And if you think about it,I've said before, like, let's go
back to club level.
Are you really going to eatenough at the continental breakfast
or go and have a glass of wineat dinner or, you know, hors d'oeuvres
(14:32):
at night to be able to paythat price difference?
No, you're probably not.
But I will say a lot of myguests who do stay club level, once
they do it, they say, wow, thevalue in this, I really, it's, once
I've done it, I don't think Ican do without it.
Exactly.
And so you, you look at that,I don't think that this premium lightning
(14:53):
lane thing is going to fall inthat bucket, but you look at things
from different perspectiveslike that.
And I've defended, listen,I've defended Disney with prices.
I come from the world ofsports, covering sports for 30 years.
Try taking a family four to anNFL game for less than six, $700.
Like, it's just not going to happen.
And so I always say, look, youcould get 3 hours of an NFL game
(15:13):
on a Sunday at your localstadium or whatever, or you can spend
100 some dollars at Disney andget a whole day of theme park action.
Yes.
I'm not saying that.
Yeah, the increases do concernpeople, and it does make it so that
after, it adds up after a while.
But at the same time, I seewhere people are coming from saying,
boy, I don't like the idea ofsomething that, that I can't get
(15:39):
for $400.
Exactly.
Absolutely.
And show us what we are getting.
What we are getting when weare paying for that ticket price
to start with.
Don't make it seem like it's asushi menu that I'm checking all
the things that I want to addonto it.
Show me what I am getting tostart with that I don't have to pay
extra for.
All right, now let's talkabout what we have now, because what
(16:00):
we have now, I think, is abetter reiteration of.
I thought Genie plus was a mess.
I didn't get it.
I went down there, I tried it,I found it very complicated, and
I said, forget it.
But I'm different.
I'm a different breed.
I go there enough that.
All right, whatever.
I'm coming down to visit myfolks in another three months and
I can go back here to the parks.
But for the people who goonce, twice, maybe in four years,
(16:23):
five years, I do understandthat there is a desire to get on
as many of these attractionsas possible because you may not be
back in six months or a year,or two years, or even three years.
That's right.
So how would you say tosomebody, okay, I'm going down, and
we haven't been in five years.
But boy, my kids, we reallyneed to maximize this.
(16:44):
We really need to maximize this.
This lightning lane now ismore easy to manage than I thought
the old one was.
Yeah, it is.
And it's something that Iusually will say.
We don't know how much it'sgoing to be until we go in to purchase
it, which is seven days beforetheir vacation.
But to be usually on the safeside, I go on the upper end, which
is in the past seemed to beabout $35 per person per day.
(17:09):
So if you take a family offour, then I'm saying that puts us
at about $140 for that multi pass.
The multi pass is going to bethe one.
That's the big umbrella.
It's going to get you themajority of rides in a park.
Now that also, that pricethere is typically for the multi
park one.
If you have a.
A park hopper, you are goingto purchase whatever park you are
(17:32):
going to that morning.
So that could go on the lowend, which is going to be animal
kingdom, or it could go on thehigh end, which is going to be Magic
Kingdom or Hollywood studios.
But that's going to give youaccess to lightning lanes for any
park that you visit for that day.
So if you're looking at $140for a family of four for the multi
pass, then you want to look atany single lightning lane passes
(17:52):
that you want for the day.
We're allowed two of those,let's say, at a bucket of dollar,
20 a piece.
I don't know.
That can kind of range.
Rise of the resistance seemsto be usually the highest one at
$25.
Yeah.
And again, we've talked aboutbefore, we have strategies for rope
dropping.
Some of these where you don'thave to purchase the single passes.
If you've got a huge Star wars fan.
(18:14):
Go ahead and purchase it.
Go ahead and do it.
That's another hundred dollarsfor your family of four.
So we're looking, we'recreeping on up there close to $300
by the time that we've done amulti pass and two single passes
for the day.
You might not have to do thatall four or five days of your trip.
But let's say if you think youdo want to do it, go ahead and budget
it in there.
Put it under the big bucket ofhow much I'm planning to spend on
(18:37):
my vacation.
It's kind of like with thedining plan, you know, you want to
think about how much am Igoing to spend on food?
Do I want to budget it in adining plan in the package, or do
I want to pay for it when I'm there?
Think about what is going tomake your family the happiest when
you're there.
Because if you're not usinglightning lane, my recommendation
to you is going to be to be atthe bus stop at 06:45 a.m.
(19:00):
and you're probably not goingto be on the bus back to the resort
until after park close if youwant to be able to get in everything.
Yeah, exactly.
And you made a good pointabout with the go every single day.
This is not something you haveto commit to every single day.
You know, like the dining plan.
If you're staying five days,you got to buy the five day dining
plan.
You got to do every day.
But this can be a la carte ifyou feel like, we're really tired.
(19:21):
We just want to join the ambiance.
We did a lot of stuff yesterday.
We don't have to.
You don't have to buy it.
You can buy it the next daywhen you go to epcot or another park.
So you're not committed everysingle day on your trip to buy it.
And I do.
I do recommend people do dothat on busier days, especially a
park like magic kingdom, wherethere's so much to see, if you don't
mind waiting in lines.
Animal kingdom doesn't have alot of attractions.
(19:43):
There's really not a realreason, unless it's slam packed to,
to bother with that, becauseyou can get on the rides relatively
easy, and when you're off one,you go to another, you're probably
killing five, six majorattractions there.
Magic kingdom.
There's multiple.
Multiple.
There's so many.
So those, those are the ones Iadvise to.
But I think this is a vast improvement.
(20:06):
But I do think that there are.
I wonder, why does it have tobe so complicated when universal
is just so tidy and neat?
Yeah, and we talked about thatbefore, too, because it's kind of
a job.
And I tell my guests this,when you're on vacation, it is going
to be a little bit of a job.
If I'm available, I'm going tohelp you in any way possible by logging
(20:28):
into your account and refresh.
Refresh.
Refreshing for you, becausethat is what you're going to be doing.
You're going to take yourlittle finger with your phone and
you're going to refresh thatlightning lane wait time board until
you see what you want to see.
Because you might seesomething that says that it's unavailable,
but it probably isn't actuallyunavailable because people are canceling
and moving things and Disney'sback there looking at wait times
(20:50):
and they're changing things.
So you have to be able and bewilling to put in the work to make
it worthwhile.
Yeah.
Go find those charging stations.
Yes.
They'll bring a portable one.
That's right.
There are fuel rods you canbuy, but if you can take a couple
of portable chargers, you'regonna need them.
My wife found years ago whenwe were doing this, she actually
liked being like commander inchief of our vacation.
(21:12):
She enjoyed it.
I love it.
She loved it.
She would go on it and she'dbe like, all right, this is available.
We're gonna go do this now.
It's kind of a game.
It is kind of fun.
I will say, and I go back tosomething about this premiere, lightning
lane, I forgot to mention.
I do think in a place likeDisneyland in California, I think
it's very, I think it would bevery valuable.
There is so much.
They've crammed basically ourfour parks in Orlando, minus a few
(21:34):
rides into two theme parks.
Yes.
I mean, you can't doeverything at Disneyland on a given
day, even though the park isopen till like midnight every day.
But I think if you weresomebody that was visiting California
and you said, well, I want todo the beach and I want to go to
Six Flags and I want to doDisney for two days, whatever, this
might be something, if you canafford it, to consider because you're
not going back for a while.
(21:56):
There is, I mean, tomorrowlandalone has star tours.
You know, they got.
That's not there.
They have just a bunch ofdifferent rides in, in Disneyland
that they don't have in Orlando.
Yeah.
And in the Star wars islocated in Disneyland rather than
another theme park altogether.
Right.
And within the space, it's somuch more manageable where you're
(22:17):
not just running all over the place.
Absolutely.
That's a great point.
I can see myself, I've neverbeen out to Disneyland.
I can see myself purchasing itout there and seeing the value in
that versus doing it Disney.
Now, I do say that I wonder alittle bit, because I talked last
week was about epic universe,and I started processing all these
people that are trying to planepic universe.
(22:39):
There's a bunch of landscoming now, we don't know the end
result, but how much of thisis in place in anticipation of, look,
we're going to try it a little bit.
We'll lower the price a littlebit down the road, but eventually
there's going to be a highdemand to make sure you are in villains
land or whatever.
Is Disney prepping for theeventual unveiling of what's going
(22:59):
to happen in animals, animalkingdom, what happens in Magic Kingdom,
all of these new lands andattractions to say, yeah, and you
don't want to be in a two hour line.
Yeah, that's a great point.
Kind of a test product, right?
Yeah.
Because I'm wondering about.
I think about epic universe alot, and I think about just the ministry
of Magic at Harry Potter.
And I go, that's going to.
That could be 3 hours.
Hagrid right now is still twoplus sometimes on busy days, and
(23:24):
that place could be jam packed.
And if you could say, allright, look, I can afford it, I could
do it.
Now I get to go on a littlebit faster.
So I'm wondering how much ofthat is in play for these new lands.
Yeah, that's a great point.
I'm a little old school, though.
I kind of miss the old no fastpasses.
Just go on, get on as fast as possible.
But I do like the idea ofbeing able to know I'm going on a
(23:45):
ride and getting on as quickas possible.
That is.
That has always been very,very good.
So anyway, real quick, beforewe wrap up this podcast, touch on
Jamaica a little bit, becausethis has been.
This was kind of exciting weekfor you.
It really was.
So I was in Jamaica for sevenglorious nights last week.
It was myself and Lindsey, whois another agent with all the magic
travel.
(24:06):
We went down there and we wereinvited by sandals and beaches resorts
to an event called Jamaica Love.
And this was a huge event.
The main part of the week wason Wednesday.
We had a huge conference inMontego Bay, where the prime minister
was present, all of theexecutives with sandals, talking
about what sandals does on theisland of Jamaica.
And we were able toparticipate in a sandals foundation
(24:29):
activity on Tuesday where wewent to a local school and read to
the children and just reallysaw that sandals and beaches is more
than just all inclusiveresorts, but we also were able to
see all of the resorts acrossthe island.
In Negril and south coast, inOcho Rios, in Montego Bay, there
is a property for everybody atall different price points.
(24:50):
And so if you're looking atall of for an all inclusive vacation,
whether that is a familyvacation, because there are properties
for children and adults or anadults only all inclusive vacation,
I can send you wherever youwant to go.
If it's not Jamaica, we haveoptions on every island in the Caribbean
with all sorts of brands.
(25:11):
I would love to send you again.
We've said before, it costsyou nothing to use a traveler.
Absolutely.
So why not reach out to us?
We have contacts at all thedifferent resorts that can help make
your vacation the best it canpossibly be.
And if you book with me beforeOctober 27, which is this weekend,
I actually have a $250 spacredit that I can offer you or a
(25:33):
free catamaran cruise.
So reach out to me,lauren@allthemagictravel.com and
we will get you booked.
Alright, so that's going to doit for wands and wishes.
Again, thank you for joining us.
Please subscribe to the channel.
If you like what we're doing,please share it with a friend.
Leave us a five star reviewbecause it helps us with the algorithms
getting the word out on how toplan your best theme park vacation
at Universal Studio or WaltDisney World.
And please reach out to Laurenat Lauren at all the magic travel.
(25:54):
You can reach me, Tony travelwith tony d@gmail.com we will see
you next week with anotheredition of the wands and wishes podcast.
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