Is the Premier Lightning Lane Worth the Price? A Deep Dive
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
Transcript
It's another episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast.
Tony Desiri:I'm Tony Desiri, along with Lauren Mallard.
Tony Desiri:All the magic travel.
Tony Desiri:And today we got a very interesting podcast because we're gonna talk about attractions at Disney World and how to get on them as fast as possible.
Tony Desiri:Because as we touched on a little bit last week, there is a brand new idea that Disney is kind of floating out there of a premier lightning lane.
Tony Desiri:But they do have the lightning lane system that they have now.
Tony Desiri:Something that they changed from what they've had before, which is something they changed from what they had before.
Tony Desiri:So if you haven't gone to Disney World in a while, you may be wondering, well, how do we get on rides as fast as possible?
Tony Desiri:So this has been.
Tony Desiri:And welcome back from Jamaica, Lauren.
Lauren Mallard:Thank you.
Tony Desiri:Absolutely.
Tony Desiri:One of the more, I would say, controversial moves that Disney has made with this.
Tony Desiri:This was this hit.
Tony Desiri:And boy, did people were ready to jump on social media and make some comments on this one.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah.
Lauren Mallard:So this hit my inbox, I guess it was last Wednesday.
Lauren Mallard:I was in Jamaica and I saw it and I kind of just like glanced over it and then I got more details as the day went on.
Lauren Mallard:And to be honest, it was one of those things that I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to because I think this is going to be one of those things that's not going to be a complete game changer in the way that the majority of guests tour the parks, but it's going to be something that we can look at as more of kind of an add on, kind of like a vip tour light situation.
Lauren Mallard:I don't really expect it to impact any guest trips, to be honest, because those that are going to purchase this would have purchased the regular lightning lane anyway.
Lauren Mallard:So they're going to be in that lightning lane line.
Lauren Mallard:But yeah, I mean, let's talk a little bit about how this changes from the regular lightning lane offering that, yes, I do typically recommend, especially if you're not going to be traveling every year to Disney World.
Tony Desiri:So if you are going to Disneyland the world and you may, you may purchase a lightning lane pass for a variety of prices per park, per time of year.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, more busy.
Tony Desiri:It's going to be a little more expensive, different parks, a little bit more expensive.
Tony Desiri: But it's around: Lauren Mallard:Yeah.
Tony Desiri:Okay.
Tony Desiri:And now allows you to book three lightning lanes per session at that moment.
Tony Desiri:And you get to go on the ride booking a time.
Lauren Mallard:Yes.
Tony Desiri:This premier one, which is going to be valued at hundreds of dollars, who knows how much they've been.
Tony Desiri:I've been trying to figure out how much this is.
Tony Desiri:They've been ranging with so many different numbers.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah.
Lauren Mallard:They've given us such a huge range.
Lauren Mallard:And I don't really know.
Lauren Mallard:I'm assuming that it's gonna.
Lauren Mallard:It's gonna depend on peak season, but we're looking at something that might start at $100 per person, which already seems outrageous.
Tony Desiri:Yeah.
Lauren Mallard:Going up to dollar 449 per person.
Tony Desiri:This is.
Tony Desiri:I brought this up last week in the podcast, which has said, okay, now I wanna know value.
Lauren Mallard:Uh huh.
Tony Desiri:Is this really that valuable?
Lauren Mallard:And you know what I would probably say is, number one, why are we not allowing it to be a park hopper option?
Tony Desiri:Right.
Lauren Mallard:So why can't I at least visit two parks and be able to utilize all of the lightning lanes within two parks for the day if I wanted to?
Lauren Mallard:Because let's say if you purchase it for animal Kingdom, surely somebody's gonna say, hey, please don't do that, because what have you got?
Lauren Mallard:Maybe five attractions you can really utilize it on, and you can't hop and use it anywhere else for the day unless you purchase it for another park.
Lauren Mallard:So I'm still trying to understand the logic behind why they did it that.
Tony Desiri:Way and why can't.
Tony Desiri:If I buy this, why can't I ride a ride twice?
Lauren Mallard:Exactly.
Tony Desiri:Now, I'm notorious for this in my family, is that I love haunted mansion like millions of people do.
Tony Desiri:I ride it in the day and I ride it at night.
Lauren Mallard:I do think that it would be more beneficial if they had made it a little bit more like the unlimited express pass at university.
Lauren Mallard:I do think that people might be more enticed to buy it, given that they can ride things multiple times, like you're saying.
Tony Desiri:Exactly.
Tony Desiri:Especially if you want to go back and experience a ride at a different setting.
Lauren Mallard:Yes.
Tony Desiri:You know, Tiana's Bayou adventure is a cool ride during the day, but if you ride it at night, you get the lights and the castle.
Tony Desiri:It's a different view, and it's.
Tony Desiri:And also, you can be in a group where you're.
Tony Desiri:Some people are going off in this direction, some people going on this direction.
Tony Desiri:You meet up for dinner, and now you're going to do some last minute.
Tony Desiri:If I'm paying dollar 400 for a lightning lane, and I'm being told I can't ride Peter Pan twice, that doesn't make valuable sense to me.
Tony Desiri:It's like, I'm giving you so much money, and you're putting a tremendous restriction on the thing that doesn't you're not giving me something of cost to you.
Tony Desiri:You're just giving me your permission, which is no, there's no cost to that.
Lauren Mallard:Right.
Lauren Mallard:So I think if we put it into perspective of what they're offering, let's say, for a family of five in particular, because that's what I have.
Lauren Mallard:So if I am looking at dollar 400 per person per day, we're looking at $2,000 in a day that I would be spending for one park.
Lauren Mallard:So if we put that into perspective of what I might spend, if I were going to purchase a vip tour that can accommodate ten people.
Lauren Mallard:So then we're looking at two families.
Lauren Mallard:If two families split a vip tour in non Peak park time, you're looking at less than $5,000 for the day.
Lauren Mallard:So I'm looking at maybe $2,500.
Lauren Mallard:I can hop to all four parks.
Lauren Mallard:I can do rides as often as I want to do them.
Lauren Mallard:I have a personal guide who is taking me in through backstage exits and entrances.
Lauren Mallard:And I'm really feeling like if I'm going to spend thousands of dollars, that's the way that I'm going to go.
Tony Desiri:That's interesting, because I've heard people like marketing experts say that a certain way you market a product and where you market the product compared to other things changes direction.
Tony Desiri:So if you have an expensive bottle of wine, let's say, right, and you want to sell it to people, but you put it next to cheap produce, nobody buys the expensive bottle of wine.
Tony Desiri:But if you take that bottle of wine and put it next to very expensive produce that people are buying anyway, then the wine becomes relatively affordable.
Lauren Mallard:That's right.
Tony Desiri:So I'm looking at this from Disney's perspective.
Tony Desiri:Are they saying, look, you want to buy this, great.
Tony Desiri:But if you're already considering this, the VIP tour is this, and it might be a little more, but think about what extra stuff you're getting with the VIP tour.
Tony Desiri:So you're already in the mindset of buying this for your family.
Tony Desiri:VIP Tour is only a few more away, and you get way more than that, Zachary.
Lauren Mallard:And, you know, in Disney's mind, too, that might also be a way for them to say, hey, we also have a little more control over this.
Lauren Mallard:We kind of have a little more control over how many people we know that are going to be purchasing the VIP tour, how many humans that's going to take into each attraction, versus if they're going to purchase this premium lightning lane situation.
Lauren Mallard:But you know what it also does from a marketing perspective is when you were talking about that $27 per day for a lightning lane that suddenly seems like the Kmart special.
Tony Desiri:That's right now.
Tony Desiri:Exactly.
Tony Desiri:Exactly.
Lauren Mallard:So in my mind, I'm like, oh, okay.
Lauren Mallard:Well, yeah, of course I'm going to buy lightning lane every day.
Lauren Mallard:I will not, however, I might eat crow eventually, but I don't think I will.
Lauren Mallard:I don't think that I'm going to purchase the premium lightning lane.
Lauren Mallard:So why, I would say is because us, as travel agents, we've spent a lot of time mastering the lightning lane system, whether that was FastPass or genie plus or now Lightning Lane, we know how to almost be able to within one day, especially if you're at one park, we kind of know how to get a lightning lane for every lightning lane that's available.
Lauren Mallard:And if you spend enough time in that, then you should be able to be able to work the system enough to be able to get almost everyone without paying that $400 price tag.
Tony Desiri:I know the social media account exploded on the cost and saying, like, look, there's a separation between rich and poor.
Tony Desiri:Now.
Tony Desiri:There's always been, though, I mean, the people who don't stay at deluxe resorts, and there's always been that.
Tony Desiri:You've been, if you go on the monorail back to your car, you stop, and people get off at Polynesia and they get it stopped at Grant Berlin.
Tony Desiri:So it's always been that way.
Tony Desiri:But I will, I will give Disney credit on this.
Tony Desiri:And this is where I sort of differ from the people who say, this is crazy.
Tony Desiri:This is outrageous, because I had a problem with Genie, plus I had a problem with how cheap it was.
Tony Desiri:Because I go back to the idea that if you're going to charge for this and everyone has it, then nobody has it.
Lauren Mallard:That's right.
Lauren Mallard:Those lightning lanes become not lightning.
Tony Desiri:They don't become lightning lanes, because the old system was a way of, you could go, you had to book this time.
Tony Desiri:You had to book that time.
Tony Desiri:This other way was buy it, and you can just go on the ride.
Tony Desiri:Well, now you're, now you're seeing everybody do it, and you're waiting in line just as long and going, wait a minute.
Tony Desiri:Everyone here just paid $15 to do this.
Tony Desiri:So if you want to have something, and I think you and I talked about this in the first podcast when we talked about the new procedures.
Tony Desiri:This is what I think universal does really well, is saying, look, the express pass is just enough that people go, I don't want it.
Tony Desiri:And you never feel like you're losing places to people with the passes, you never stand in a line going, look at these hundreds of people with badges just walking ahead of me.
Tony Desiri:And I think that's why I don't mind the price.
Tony Desiri:Although 400 a day is just eye opening.
Lauren Mallard:I would really have to see what kind of value that you're being offered at that $400 per person per day, because that's on top of the ticket price behind you.
Lauren Mallard:And even if you're an annual pass holder, the purpose of being an annual pass holder for me is to feel like I'm being able to go without paying a ticket price.
Tony Desiri:Exactly, exactly.
Lauren Mallard:And so that suddenly takes that away and more, if you think about it.
Lauren Mallard:I mean, you're paying four times the cost to get into the park, to be able to ride all of these rides.
Lauren Mallard:And so if you think about it, I don't know how limited it's going to be and how they're going to differentiate if they're going to limit the premium one more than the regular one, but then they're all going in the same lightning lane.
Lauren Mallard:So really, it's no different.
Lauren Mallard:So, you know, it boggles the mind, but I assume that someone had a rhyme or reason to what they're doing.
Lauren Mallard:But I.
Lauren Mallard:I tend to think this might be one of those things that might come and might get kind of evolutionized.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Tony Desiri:And I think this is one of those such situations where the boardroom and the PR department aren't really agreeing on this because the boardroom is saying, look, if we charge this and one person buys it, we just gained $400 in profit because we didn't give them anything.
Tony Desiri:We didn't have to create something.
Tony Desiri:We didn't have raw materials.
Tony Desiri:We didn't have a merchant, you know, merchandising department.
Tony Desiri:We just basically said, boom, you can go on all the lightning lanes, no cost to us.
Tony Desiri:We got dollar 400.
Tony Desiri:If 100 people do it, then we got 40,000, whatever that comes out to.
Tony Desiri:But in the PR department, they're going, you just raise ticket prices all the time.
Tony Desiri:And now you've come up with this thing that reminds people they can't come here and they can't afford.
Tony Desiri:Stop doing that.
Tony Desiri:When we're trying to make this idea that families can come and have a good time without ever worrying about budgets, and you're throwing it another thing out there that reminds people you really can't afford to come here.
Lauren Mallard:Right.
Lauren Mallard:And, you know, and they also added in the exclusivity to the deluxe resort.
Tony Desiri:Right, right.
Lauren Mallard:Which is, I understand if they want to be able to offer a guest something that's staying at a deluxe resort.
Lauren Mallard:But in my mind, that kind of goes out the window if it's just something that they're the only ones that are given the privilege to purchase.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, right.
Tony Desiri:That's right.
Tony Desiri:Why can't I buy it if I'm staying with my parents or staying at all Star wars?
Lauren Mallard:Like, if you want to throw it in for the deluxe resorts, even better.
Lauren Mallard:That'll fill up your deluxe resorts.
Lauren Mallard:Probably that's the way they do it at Universal.
Lauren Mallard:And it works very well.
Tony Desiri:It works very well.
Tony Desiri:Very well.
Tony Desiri:When I tell people, that's a major perk, it's staying at La Portofino, people go, that's fantastic.
Tony Desiri:I didn't know that.
Lauren Mallard:It is.
Lauren Mallard:Especially if you've got a larger family and you are in, and five people in a room at Universal and you get that unlimited express pass, suddenly that's a great value.
Tony Desiri:Great value.
Tony Desiri:Great value.
Lauren Mallard:So, you know, I mean, there's a few things that I probably would have done different if it were me.
Lauren Mallard:And, you know, I'm kind of looking at it as this is another add on kind of thing, if you're interested in it, kind of like if you're interested in a vip tour.
Lauren Mallard:But it's not going to be something that I will necessarily focus on pushing for my guests.
Tony Desiri:All right, now let's talk about whether or not it is worth this, because I said last week, even if I had all the money in the world, I just don't give it away for free.
Lauren Mallard:No.
Tony Desiri:Even if I'm rich, I just don't go, here's $5,000.
Tony Desiri:I don't care.
Tony Desiri:That's what cartoon rich people do.
Tony Desiri:Even if I had the money, I would say, am I going to give Disney $4,000 a day just so we can ride rides?
Tony Desiri:When I'm looking at wait times that say 30 minutes on them.
Lauren Mallard:Right?
Lauren Mallard:What's the value?
Tony Desiri:What's the value in it?
Tony Desiri:What am I really getting?
Tony Desiri:And I think it goes back to your point of a vip tour and all the things that you just mentioned.
Tony Desiri:If I'm going there and I, and I've been planning a trip and I start noticing, let's say I'm going in mid September, and I start going every day to the site and I go, yeah, it's 30 minutes for pirates.
Tony Desiri:It's 25 minutes for this, it's 25 minutes for that.
Tony Desiri:Oh, and they want me to spend $4,000 for my, $2,000 for my family of four or five to go.
Tony Desiri:I don't see where I'm getting value on this.
Tony Desiri:I don't mind waiting 20 minutes for a ride or 30 minutes for a ride.
Tony Desiri:This doesn't really do it for me, for my hard earned money, even if I'm a millionaire.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, right.
Tony Desiri:But I think you're right where you go.
Tony Desiri:But, boy, that VIP tour sounds really interesting.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah.
Lauren Mallard:Because if you're going to spend that kind of money, then especially not always, but a lot of times people are going to want to feel taken care of, pampered almost.
Lauren Mallard:And that's where the VIP tour can really do that.
Lauren Mallard:And if you think about it, I've said before, like, let's go back to club level.
Lauren Mallard:Are you really going to eat enough at the continental breakfast or go and have a glass of wine at dinner or, you know, hors d'oeuvres at night to be able to pay that price difference?
Lauren Mallard:No, you're probably not.
Lauren Mallard:But I will say a lot of my guests who do stay club level, once they do it, they say, wow, the value in this, I really, it's, once I've done it, I don't think I can do without it.
Tony Desiri:Exactly.
Lauren Mallard:And so you, you look at that, I don't think that this premium lightning lane thing is going to fall in that bucket, but you look at things from different perspectives like that.
Tony Desiri:And I've defended, listen, I've defended Disney with prices.
Tony Desiri:I come from the world of sports, covering sports for 30 years.
Tony Desiri:Try taking a family four to an NFL game for less than six, $700.
Tony Desiri:Like, it's just not going to happen.
Tony Desiri:And so I always say, look, you could get 3 hours of an NFL game on a Sunday at your local stadium or whatever, or you can spend 100 some dollars at Disney and get a whole day of theme park action.
Lauren Mallard:Yes.
Tony Desiri:I'm not saying that.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, the increases do concern people, and it does make it so that after, it adds up after a while.
Tony Desiri:But at the same time, I see where people are coming from saying, boy, I don't like the idea of something that, that I can't get for $400.
Lauren Mallard:Exactly.
Lauren Mallard:Absolutely.
Lauren Mallard:And show us what we are getting.
Lauren Mallard:What we are getting when we are paying for that ticket price to start with.
Lauren Mallard:Don't make it seem like it's a sushi menu that I'm checking all the things that I want to add onto it.
Lauren Mallard:Show me what I am getting to start with that I don't have to pay extra for.
Tony Desiri:All right, now let's talk about what we have now, because what we have now, I think, is a better reiteration of.
Tony Desiri:I thought Genie plus was a mess.
Tony Desiri:I didn't get it.
Tony Desiri:I went down there, I tried it, I found it very complicated, and I said, forget it.
Tony Desiri:But I'm different.
Tony Desiri:I'm a different breed.
Tony Desiri:I go there enough that.
Tony Desiri:All right, whatever.
Tony Desiri:I'm coming down to visit my folks in another three months and I can go back here to the parks.
Tony Desiri:But for the people who go once, twice, maybe in four years, five years, I do understand that there is a desire to get on as many of these attractions as possible because you may not be back in six months or a year, or two years, or even three years.
Lauren Mallard:That's right.
Tony Desiri:So how would you say to somebody, okay, I'm going down, and we haven't been in five years.
Tony Desiri:But boy, my kids, we really need to maximize this.
Tony Desiri:We really need to maximize this.
Tony Desiri:This lightning lane now is more easy to manage than I thought the old one was.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah, it is.
Lauren Mallard:And it's something that I usually will say.
Lauren Mallard:We don't know how much it's going to be until we go in to purchase it, which is seven days before their vacation.
Lauren Mallard:But to be usually on the safe side, I go on the upper end, which is in the past seemed to be about $35 per person per day.
Lauren Mallard:So if you take a family of four, then I'm saying that puts us at about $140 for that multi pass.
Lauren Mallard:The multi pass is going to be the one.
Lauren Mallard:That's the big umbrella.
Lauren Mallard:It's going to get you the majority of rides in a park.
Lauren Mallard:Now that also, that price there is typically for the multi park one.
Lauren Mallard:If you have a.
Lauren Mallard:A park hopper, you are going to purchase whatever park you are going to that morning.
Lauren Mallard:So that could go on the low end, which is going to be animal kingdom, or it could go on the high end, which is going to be Magic Kingdom or Hollywood studios.
Lauren Mallard:But that's going to give you access to lightning lanes for any park that you visit for that day.
Lauren Mallard:So if you're looking at $140 for a family of four for the multi pass, then you want to look at any single lightning lane passes that you want for the day.
Lauren Mallard:We're allowed two of those, let's say, at a bucket of dollar, 20 a piece.
Lauren Mallard:I don't know.
Lauren Mallard:That can kind of range.
Lauren Mallard:Rise of the resistance seems to be usually the highest one at $25.
Tony Desiri:Yeah.
Lauren Mallard:And again, we've talked about before, we have strategies for rope dropping.
Lauren Mallard:Some of these where you don't have to purchase the single passes.
Lauren Mallard:If you've got a huge Star wars fan.
Lauren Mallard:Go ahead and purchase it.
Lauren Mallard:Go ahead and do it.
Lauren Mallard:That's another hundred dollars for your family of four.
Lauren Mallard:So we're looking, we're creeping on up there close to $300 by the time that we've done a multi pass and two single passes for the day.
Lauren Mallard:You might not have to do that all four or five days of your trip.
Lauren Mallard:But let's say if you think you do want to do it, go ahead and budget it in there.
Lauren Mallard:Put it under the big bucket of how much I'm planning to spend on my vacation.
Lauren Mallard:It's kind of like with the dining plan, you know, you want to think about how much am I going to spend on food?
Lauren Mallard:Do I want to budget it in a dining plan in the package, or do I want to pay for it when I'm there?
Lauren Mallard:Think about what is going to make your family the happiest when you're there.
Lauren Mallard: o be to be at the bus stop at: Lauren Mallard:and you're probably not going to be on the bus back to the resort until after park close if you want to be able to get in everything.
Tony Desiri:Yeah, exactly.
Tony Desiri:And you made a good point about with the go every single day.
Tony Desiri:This is not something you have to commit to every single day.
Tony Desiri:You know, like the dining plan.
Tony Desiri:If you're staying five days, you got to buy the five day dining plan.
Tony Desiri:You got to do every day.
Tony Desiri:But this can be a la carte if you feel like, we're really tired.
Tony Desiri:We just want to join the ambiance.
Tony Desiri:We did a lot of stuff yesterday.
Tony Desiri:We don't have to.
Tony Desiri:You don't have to buy it.
Tony Desiri:You can buy it the next day when you go to epcot or another park.
Tony Desiri:So you're not committed every single day on your trip to buy it.
Tony Desiri:And I do.
Tony Desiri:I do recommend people do do that on busier days, especially a park like magic kingdom, where there's so much to see, if you don't mind waiting in lines.
Tony Desiri:Animal kingdom doesn't have a lot of attractions.
Tony Desiri:There's really not a real reason, unless it's slam packed to, to bother with that, because you can get on the rides relatively easy, and when you're off one, you go to another, you're probably killing five, six major attractions there.
Tony Desiri:Magic kingdom.
Tony Desiri:There's multiple.
Lauren Mallard:Multiple.
Tony Desiri:There's so many.
Tony Desiri:So those, those are the ones I advise to.
Tony Desiri:But I think this is a vast improvement.
Tony Desiri:But I do think that there are.
Tony Desiri:I wonder, why does it have to be so complicated when universal is just so tidy and neat?
Lauren Mallard:Yeah, and we talked about that before, too, because it's kind of a job.
Lauren Mallard:And I tell my guests this, when you're on vacation, it is going to be a little bit of a job.
Lauren Mallard:If I'm available, I'm going to help you in any way possible by logging into your account and refresh.
Lauren Mallard:Refresh.
Lauren Mallard:Refreshing for you, because that is what you're going to be doing.
Lauren Mallard:You're going to take your little finger with your phone and you're going to refresh that lightning lane wait time board until you see what you want to see.
Lauren Mallard:Because you might see something that says that it's unavailable, but it probably isn't actually unavailable because people are canceling and moving things and Disney's back there looking at wait times and they're changing things.
Lauren Mallard:So you have to be able and be willing to put in the work to make it worthwhile.
Tony Desiri:Yeah.
Tony Desiri:Go find those charging stations.
Lauren Mallard:Yes.
Tony Desiri:They'll bring a portable one.
Lauren Mallard:That's right.
Lauren Mallard:There are fuel rods you can buy, but if you can take a couple of portable chargers, you're gonna need them.
Tony Desiri:My wife found years ago when we were doing this, she actually liked being like commander in chief of our vacation.
Tony Desiri:She enjoyed it.
Lauren Mallard:I love it.
Tony Desiri:She loved it.
Tony Desiri:She would go on it and she'd be like, all right, this is available.
Tony Desiri:We're gonna go do this now.
Lauren Mallard:It's kind of a game.
Tony Desiri:It is kind of fun.
Tony Desiri:I will say, and I go back to something about this premiere, lightning lane, I forgot to mention.
Tony Desiri:I do think in a place like Disneyland in California, I think it's very, I think it would be very valuable.
Tony Desiri:There is so much.
Tony Desiri:They've crammed basically our four parks in Orlando, minus a few rides into two theme parks.
Lauren Mallard:Yes.
Tony Desiri:I mean, you can't do everything at Disneyland on a given day, even though the park is open till like midnight every day.
Tony Desiri:But I think if you were somebody that was visiting California and you said, well, I want to do the beach and I want to go to Six Flags and I want to do Disney for two days, whatever, this might be something, if you can afford it, to consider because you're not going back for a while.
Tony Desiri:There is, I mean, tomorrowland alone has star tours.
Tony Desiri:You know, they got.
Tony Desiri:That's not there.
Tony Desiri:They have just a bunch of different rides in, in Disneyland that they don't have in Orlando.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah.
Tony Desiri:And in the Star wars is located in Disneyland rather than another theme park altogether.
Lauren Mallard:Right.
Lauren Mallard:And within the space, it's so much more manageable where you're not just running all over the place.
Lauren Mallard:Absolutely.
Lauren Mallard:That's a great point.
Lauren Mallard:I can see myself, I've never been out to Disneyland.
Lauren Mallard:I can see myself purchasing it out there and seeing the value in that versus doing it Disney.
Tony Desiri:Now, I do say that I wonder a little bit, because I talked last week was about epic universe, and I started processing all these people that are trying to plan epic universe.
Tony Desiri:There's a bunch of lands coming now, we don't know the end result, but how much of this is in place in anticipation of, look, we're going to try it a little bit.
Tony Desiri:We'll lower the price a little bit down the road, but eventually there's going to be a high demand to make sure you are in villains land or whatever.
Tony Desiri:Is Disney prepping for the eventual unveiling of what's going to happen in animals, animal kingdom, what happens in Magic Kingdom, all of these new lands and attractions to say, yeah, and you don't want to be in a two hour line.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah, that's a great point.
Lauren Mallard:Kind of a test product, right?
Tony Desiri:Yeah.
Tony Desiri:Because I'm wondering about.
Tony Desiri:I think about epic universe a lot, and I think about just the ministry of Magic at Harry Potter.
Tony Desiri:And I go, that's going to.
Tony Desiri:That could be 3 hours.
Tony Desiri:Hagrid right now is still two plus sometimes on busy days, and that place could be jam packed.
Tony Desiri:And if you could say, all right, look, I can afford it, I could do it.
Tony Desiri:Now I get to go on a little bit faster.
Tony Desiri:So I'm wondering how much of that is in play for these new lands.
Lauren Mallard:Yeah, that's a great point.
Tony Desiri:I'm a little old school, though.
Tony Desiri:I kind of miss the old no fastpasses.
Tony Desiri:Just go on, get on as fast as possible.
Tony Desiri:But I do like the idea of being able to know I'm going on a ride and getting on as quick as possible.
Tony Desiri:That is.
Tony Desiri:That has always been very, very good.
Tony Desiri:So anyway, real quick, before we wrap up this podcast, touch on Jamaica a little bit, because this has been.
Tony Desiri:This was kind of exciting week for you.
Lauren Mallard:It really was.
Lauren Mallard:So I was in Jamaica for seven glorious nights last week.
Lauren Mallard:It was myself and Lindsey, who is another agent with all the magic travel.
Lauren Mallard:We went down there and we were invited by sandals and beaches resorts to an event called Jamaica Love.
Lauren Mallard:And this was a huge event.
Lauren Mallard:The main part of the week was on Wednesday.
Lauren Mallard:We had a huge conference in Montego Bay, where the prime minister was present, all of the executives with sandals, talking about what sandals does on the island of Jamaica.
Lauren Mallard:And we were able to participate in a sandals foundation activity on Tuesday where we went to a local school and read to the children and just really saw that sandals and beaches is more than just all inclusive resorts, but we also were able to see all of the resorts across the island.
Lauren Mallard:In Negril and south coast, in Ocho Rios, in Montego Bay, there is a property for everybody at all different price points.
Lauren Mallard:And so if you're looking at all of for an all inclusive vacation, whether that is a family vacation, because there are properties for children and adults or an adults only all inclusive vacation, I can send you wherever you want to go.
Lauren Mallard:If it's not Jamaica, we have options on every island in the Caribbean with all sorts of brands.
Lauren Mallard:I would love to send you again.
Lauren Mallard:We've said before, it costs you nothing to use a traveler.
Tony Desiri:Absolutely.
Lauren Mallard:So why not reach out to us?
Lauren Mallard:We have contacts at all the different resorts that can help make your vacation the best it can possibly be.
Lauren Mallard:And if you book with me before October 27, which is this weekend, I actually have a $250 spa credit that I can offer you or a free catamaran cruise.
Lauren Mallard:So reach out to me, lauren@allthemagictravel.com and we will get you booked.
Tony Desiri:Alright, so that's going to do it for wands and wishes.
Tony Desiri:Again, thank you for joining us.
Tony Desiri:Please subscribe to the channel.
Tony Desiri:If you like what we're doing, please share it with a friend.
Tony Desiri:Leave us a five star review because it helps us with the algorithms getting the word out on how to plan your best theme park vacation at Universal Studio or Walt Disney World.
Tony Desiri:And please reach out to Lauren at Lauren at all the magic travel.
Tony Desiri:You can reach me, Tony travel with tony d@gmail.com we will see you next week with another edition of the wands and wishes podcast.
