Lineberty is an app that is relatively new to
Disneyland Paris. At present it is used for publicly scheduled character meet and greets at Walt
Disney Studios and as an option for queuing at the En Coulisse quick service
restaurant. On our recent trip in July we gave this a try.
Firstly, I am aware of complaints others have had with the
process and the app. Disneyland Paris do seem to refining some of the process
despite the prior testing used on the Spiderman meet and greets. When we went
they had change some of the times that you could book from.
How the App works
There are currently three scheduled times when a virtual
queue becomes open. When this time begins you need to have turned on your GPS on
your device, be within the park (our testing found that 300 meters was the
required distance from the meet location) and open the app. You are given a
list of locations by distance. Walt Disney Studios should be the nearest. You
can then choose between meet and greets or restaurants. You ca be in one queue
from each category at a time. When a virtual queue is open an estimated time
will show. It a queue says closed then it either hasn’t opened for the day or
time is now passed the opening hours. You can check these on the weekly
programme guide available in the parks or on the Disneyland Paris website. If
the queue says full then all the current spaces have been taken but more may
open later if people cancel.
Select the queue you want to join. Only one queue can be
joined with within the category. On the next screen you select how many people
will be in your group; up to 8 people. It will also tell you when you are
expected to reach the front of the queue. Select get this ticket and you will
be added to the queue. You get a ticket number which you can show when you join
the queue in person. You should get a text when you are 5 groups from the front
at which point you should join the queue. Going into the app at any other point
should allow you to see how far you are from being at the front.
Our Experience.
We didn’t experience any crashing issues using the app while
at the parks and when testing before we went. We need install a virtual GPS
locator so we could join the queues while driving to the parks. We made
attempts to meet Buzz and Captain America in the morning on a Saturday (one on
each of our phones), the Incredibles Saturday afternoon, En Coulisse on
Saturday afternoon and Mickey on Sunday and managed to get all of them without
an issue.
Testing vs Actual Experience
When we were testing before we went all of the Buzz, Woody
and Mickey meets became available 9:45am French time. Captain America and The
Incredibles became available at 10:45am French time. This had changed when we
arrived with afternoon meets for Captain America, The Incredibles and Woody
opening at 2:15pm French time. We thought this was a change for the better. It
means those that attempt to join the queue and are turned away in the morning
still have a chance in the afternoon. Day guests also have at least two windows
to meet characters. With this looking like it could roll our across both parks
making this change seems much needed.
Queuing
We got our times for Buzz and Captain America on Saturday
morning. We were given expected wait times and were table to track them as the
morning went on. They were very accurate and within 10 minutes. The only reason
they were further out is that our Buzz time was slightly out was due to a
character break. There was seating by the Buzz and Mickey meets that would
normally be very full but the area was a lot quieter due to fewer people being
in the area. We believe this was due to the physical queue being so much
shorter than normal. While we were there the temperatures were reaching 32-34
degrees celsius so these shorter waits outside were greatly appreciated.
At En Coulisse we were able to join the queue less than 20
minutes before being at the front at a peak lunch time of the of the day.
Issues
We did attempt to get a time without using the virtual GPS
locator but this gave us a error saying we were too far away. This was most
likely down to not resetting our phones properly after using the other app.
Ideally we would have liked this to be included in the
Disneyland Paris app as it feels odd to use an unofficial app.
Perception
Before we went we had heard lots of negativity about the app
but our experience didn’t match that. We didn’t see lots of complaints. The
website and park programme give details about the app and those using it seemed
to be quite happy with the process.
Lineberty vs Fastpass+
If you’ve been to Walt Disney World you may have experienced
Fastpass+. It’s a system we really like but has its issues. When we go to
Florida we normally know we are going over a year in advance and can book our
Fastpasses (including character meets) before we go. When we go to Paris the
decision is often a lot sooner, sometimes only a week or two. We are also aware
locals may make the decision on the day, like we would for a UK theme park.
Lineberty gives everyone attending on the day equal chance to get a meet which
Fastpass+ would be fully booked weeks before hand.
Final thoughts
We’ve made many attempts to meet Buzz, especially with a
family member who requires a disabled pass. This was our first success in normal
park hours. Usually all disabled pass places have been filled by 10:20am meaning
we’ve missed out. This app gave us as much chance as anyone else of meeting
Buzz.
The app isn’t perfect but it has certainly improved our
experience at Disneyland Paris and enabled us to join in more meet and greets.
Please can we have it in the official app instead.
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