Disney is Charging Up To And Over $400 to Skip Lines?! Lightning Lane Premiere is INSANE!

Did "Walt's vision" embrace the assumption that the Florida project would host 50 million people a year?

In my view, I (and most guests) should welcome this only if it signaled the end of the regular Lightning Lane (single use and multi-pass) services. If Lightning Lane Premier was the only service available (and supplemented by an even more expensive "unlimited" version), it would put more guests on equal footing since only the richest of the rich would actually pay to skip lines at Disney parks, forcing a majority of folks into the standby line. It would also align the experience at most other American theme parks with the Disney experience, with reasonable and predictable standby lines, and allowing guest who want a VIP-type of experience to pay a fortune to skip the lines.

However, that's not what Disney is doing here. Not only are they going to maintain the current LL systems for the peasants, but they're limiting access to this service at WDW to DVC and Deluxe Resort guests (and Swan and Dolphin for some reason) - the service appears to be available to anyone in California (though it's even more expensive). At first glance, this looks very similar to Universal Express (single use), but at WDW you have to be staying in the most expensive hotels to even have a chance to buy it (reportedly there is a limited supply of these for each day/park).

I guess you could look at it as Disney fleecing the rich, who have no problem plunking down $500/night to stay at the Poly, and thus wouldn't bat an eyelash at another $200+/person to bypass 7-8 lines (park dependent obviously). However, given the way Disney fans (dare I say "Drones") buy pretty much anything the company sells, this will do nothing but further degrade the park experience for guests who are already paying a fortune just to get into a Disney park. Ultimately, this really feels like Disney is trying to have it both ways by giving regular guests a tease of line skipping through LL multipass (formerly Genie+) and single use while giving rich folks something between that and a traditional VIP tour. I think there are far too many interests to serve here, and this will not only create an even more confusing system for folks to navigate and use, but will be difficult for Disney to ensure guests paying for the various services are satisfied.

In other Disney upcharge news, DVC just announced a new program that will create an "upper class" of members who can pay an extra $99/year to have lounge access, Photopass, "discounted" weekday admissions, and other random perks.

Just for the record, I have zero issue with paid front of the line perks. I just remember the Pixie Dusters saying it would never happen at Disney... and here we are. Genie Plus, Lightning Lane, now this.

I just have to laugh because it's more expensive than Universal's Unlimited Express Pass, which allows you to ride as many times as you like, and this only works on rides with LL lines, which is not everything in the parks.

Cautiously optimistic about the idea, but I don't love the plan to only make it available to certain guests. Disney loves to dangle an enticing carrot in front of guests whenever hotel bookings go down and this just adds to that perception.

Epic Universe is looking better and better every day.

I honestly don't know anything about the current system. LL, FastPass, Genie+. . . it's all so confusing and makes visits formulaic and uninteresting.

And as I just experienced, Universal Express pass is INCLUDED with your deluxe resort. Disney is making it an upcharge. At least those at lower resorts at Universal can purchase an Express pass but Disney won't allow it.

Ticket pricing just announced for Comcast's new Orlando park: "Only vacation packages and three-day tickets (or longer) to (Comcast's) Universal Orlando Resort, which include one day at Epic Universe, will be sold beginning October 22. In one pricing example, three-day tickets would range from $374.88 to $554.87 (after tax) per person, depending on the date."

If Disney did this, the haters would be howling "Cash grab! Cash grab!"

@Sarah - I really think the only reason Disney is limiting sale of the new Lightning Lane Premier Pass to Deluxe resort guests is because there won't be very many available per day/park (maybe a thousand or less). Disney also mentions that this will be a "trial" period, so it's possible that if Disney does not sell enough of these to Deluxe Resort guests, they'll eventually relax the restriction to allow any resort guest (and perhaps any ticket holder) to purchase these. After all at Disneyland, any guest can buy the product, though the prices are higher and require holding a park-hopping ticket/Magic Key.

@TH - The only aspect of the ticketing structure that is a "cash grab" is the requirement from guests to buy tickets for the existing parks in order to step foot inside Epic Universe. The prices though, are pretty much on par with current standard prices for Universal Orlando parks (not including various discounts and offers). I do think Universal is pushing it a bit here, especially considering that they don't appear to be adding anything major to IOA or USF prior to the debut of EU, but Disney has made similar decisions regarding pricing and other ticketing restrictions that could be categorized as a "cash grab".

My biggest concern here is not that guests are being more or less "blackmailed" into buying tickets to the legacy parks just to visit Epic Universe, but that Universal will put administrative systems (i.e. portal reservations) in place that will make seeing all of Epic Universe in a single day virtually impossible, necessitating guests somehow figuring out how to get into Epic for a second day during their trip, or planning a return visit to Orlando just to see the rest of the new park that they were unable to see on their first trip. That's exploitative and a "cash grab" more than any multi-day ticketing requirement.

RM: "@TH - The only aspect of the ticketing structure that is a "cash grab" is the requirement from guests to buy tickets for the existing parks in order to step foot inside Epic Universe."

Me: Whether or not something is or isn't a "cash grab" is not the point of my post. The point of my post is, had Disney used the same tactic, the sizable, if not really noisy, hate Disney community would (loudly) denounce it as a cash grab. But Comcast gets a free pass from the same folks.

@TH - To be fair, Universal has been getting criticized (both here and elsewhere) since the multi-day admission policy was initially leaked months ago. The general theme park community has been calling Universal out for the obviously financially-driven policy, so I don't think Universal has gotten a "free pass" on this.

However, I do find the timing of Universal's ticketing announcement (which wasn't hinted at until a day prior to them making it official this morning) peculiar being directly on the heels of Disney's Lightning Lane Premier Pass announcement. I wouldn't be surprised that Universal chose to make this announcement today solely because Disney offered Universal "cover" for what is a shrewd pricing scheme.

@RM: Any criticism aimed at Universal for its multi-park tactic is (at best) muted compared to the grenades lofted at Disney.

Russell, I was going to comment on the timing of Disney's LLP announcement on the day before the Universal Epic Universe news. Glad someone else caught that.

One of the things that shocked me while working at Disney World for many years was the huge amount of ultra-wealthy people who go regularly and seem to just not care about how much money they spend. Like one day I was working at Riviera and a VIP tour guide came back and dropped off some girls, and he told me that they booked a VIP tour and he picked them up, took them to lunch at Club 33, then they wanted to go back to the hotel. So they purchased a VIP tour just to get shuttled to Magic Kingdom and back...and of course tipped him as well.

(From Disney World's VIP tour page: ranging from $450 to $900 per hour, with a minimum of 7 hours and a maximum of 10 hours. Valid theme park admission is required for each theme park visited on the tour and is not included in the price of the tour)

And this kind of behavior is something you just get used to working any job that deals with money at Disney World. Over the past few decades Disney has really learned to milk the **** out of these people, they figured if they have demand why not, its easy money. Look at the absurdity of something like Golden Oak.

I agree the big problem here is there are just too many people in the "Lightning Lane" (something I will never get used to saying instead of Fastpass). When a major e-ticket is down for a few hours and then the "Lightning Lane" is a 20+ minute wait for the rest of the day, these people are getting majorly ripped off.

Going back to the original post: this new premier will diminish the value of the standard LL options. What Disney has most definitely decided is that unless you are filthy rich, they do not care about repeat customers. We used to love it as a destination, because it cost more but you got an amazing stay with exceptional customer service. They have raised prices and customer service has diminished substantially.

This is a horrible decision, and it is like they have the person that made the starcruiser decision in charge. “Well that didn’t work, so let’s try this.” Next up they will charge to breathe the air in the Avatar land.