Is the new Lightning Lane Premiere Pass truly worth the high price?
Disney is offering a very expensive way to skip Lightning Lanes! Will anyone really be willing to pop for it?
It’s no secret that Lightning Lane has been a bone of contention for Disney parkgoers. The old FastPass system gave way to the LL, where folks have to stack what attractions to try and get a reservation for, with the price tier an added annoyance. Some find it far too complex, needing to do ultra-planning and having the issue of being there in the right window for a ride. That can be a nightmare on busier park days.
That was made more complicated with Genie+ and other add-ons with further costs. Disney is now attempting a new way to skip things as starting October 23 at Disneyland and then October 30 at Walt Disney World will be the new Lightning Lane Premiere Pass. Note first, this only works for Disneyland guests with Park Hoppers or Magic Keys, while WDW guests will be sold on a park-by-park basis but only to those staying at a deluxe WDW resort or DVC.
The good news: This app is so much easier as you don’t have to do the whole stacked tier stuff. Just show up at any attraction, tap your app and you can go in, not even needing to pay for the Individual Lightning Lane option. Sounds good, right?
Well, that leads to the massive catch of the price. At Disneyland, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will debut at $400 per person per day. At the Walt Disney World Resort, Lightning Lane Premier Pass prices will range from $149 to $449 per person per day, depending upon when you visit and which park you are using it. Obviously, the fact that WDW has two more parks than California is a reason for the increased price.
So that’s a pretty hefty price tag to jump the lines and will it be worth it?
Who’s the new LL Pass for?
To put it bluntly, this pass is for people who have more money than time for a Disney park visit. While some visitors may be okay with spending a bit more time in line, others want to skip any delays at all to get into their favorite attractions with minimum fuss. Popping a couple hundred dollars more may seem worth it for them.
This is like the Disney VIP Tours without the guide and I have experience with that. My family popped for the VIP tour at a 2023 Disneyland trip and while it was expensive, we all felt it was more than worth it to skip the lines and get on anything we wanted easily. Before the tour started, we had a few regular rides, and going from waiting half an hour for Astro Orbiter to walking on Radiator Springs or Rise of the Resistance was like night and day, with no comparison.
Breaking it down, this would be like paying about $18-25 for each of the top rides at a Disney park, which some may feel is a bargain. There’s also the irony that this is probably the easiest any LL procedure has been, as you just need to scan your phone app once at the queue area, and wham, you’re in the LL lane.
Of course, not everyone is going to be able to afford this and the grousing of folks in a regular line watching someone else pay to walk on. That it’s only being offered to WDW deluxe resort guests, the folks already paying a lot for a WDW visit, is telling as rather than being an added perk to staying there like extra hours, you have to shell out even more. It just reignites the complaints about Disney not caring about more than squeezing as much cash as they can out of guests.
However, there are folks more than willing to pay this price if it means not spending too much time in a line. Disney knows that and why they’re doing this so while this new version of LL may set you back a pretty penny, it can also be worth it to enhance your Disney park experience so it comes down to your wallet against future memories, a battle as old as theme parks.