Disney is adding a new option for its Lightning Lanes. Lightning Lane Premier Pass will debut October 23 at Disneyland and October 30 at the Walt Disney World Resort.
So what is Lightning Lane Premier Pass? The TL;DR here is... if you wanted a Disney Lightning Lane option that functioned like Universal Express, here it is. The new Lightning Lane Premier Pass will allow a theme park guest one unscheduled admission to each Lightning Lane in the park, just like Universal's Express Pass allows visitors to those parks one time through the Universal Express entrance for each participating attraction.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass is different than Lightning Lane Multi Pass in that you will not need to use the app to select available return times for each attraction you want to experience. Just show up, tap in, and go. And you do not need to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane to go on the rides that previously only accept those for Lightning Lane access. Again, show up whenever you want, tap in, and go.
At Disneyland, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available only for guests with Park Hoppers (such as Magic Key holders), as it will be a Park Hopping product in California. But at Walt Disney World, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be sold on a park-by-park basis. And in Florida, it will be available only to guests staying at Deluxe resorts or DVC members.
Okay, so what's the catch, you ask? The price. At Disneyland, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will debut at $400 per person per day. (Again, that gets you access at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.) 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.
For comparison, Universal Orlando's Express Pass costs from $90 to $290 per guest per day. Disney's Lightning Lane Premier Pass also includes unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads, and there is no comparable service at Universal, so it's not a strict apples-to-apples comparison. But also remember that both services's prices are on top of park admission, which is required to use these services.
You can book Lightning Lane Premier Pass via the Disneyland app up to two days in advance of your Disneyland Resort theme park visit. In Florida, you will be able to book up to seven days in advance, via the My Disney Experience app.
Inventory will be very limited for Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which Disney is offering as a pilot program. A Disneyland representative said that the prices in California will begin to fluctuate by date at the beginning of 2025, after the holiday high season ends.
So who is Lightning Lane Premier Pass for? In short, people with more money than time. If you ever wanted to do a speed run through a Disney theme park, where you were guaranteed to hit everything that was open in the park, this might be the best way to do that.
Think of this as a VIP tour of the park, without hiring the VIP tour guide. While Disney's tour guides have been a long-time choice for this kind of access for groups with money to spend, Lightning Lane Premier Pass works for individuals and families who could not afford $500 per hour and up (seven hour minimum) for a plaid-coat Disneyland guide.
Ultimately, rather than further complicating Disney trip planning, Lightning Lane Premier Pass simplifies it. This this is the easiest-to-understand version of Lightning Lane (or its predecessor, Fastpass) that Disney has yet offered in the United States. Just show and go, one time for each ride. Easy.
That is, if you have the money to pay for it.
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I mean, all they really had to do get people booking the top tier hotels is make this an included perk like Universal does.
I have been on the FB pages where all the Pixie Duster moms hang out. It's not good for Disney. Every other post reads "they are done with Disney".
Don't take my word for it. Go on WDW News Today etc...
$400 is not a bad deal for Disneyland all things considered. That comes out to about $18 per ride, which will get you on all the headliners at the resort.
Wait until you see those EPIC prices across town ...
@jeremygary - You don't have to wait much longer. Universal announced this morning that tickets (and bookings for Helios Grand) go on sale starting next Tuesday, October 22, 2024 with the park's first official full opening day on May 22, 2025. The information already details that the tickets being offered next week will be "multi-day" tickets for the existing theme parks bundled with a single day admission to Epic - so all the rumors about a 3-day ticket purchase required to get 1 day in the new theme park have been accurate. Hopefully when tickets officially go on sale next week, Universal will officially reveal how the portals will work and any limitations guests will have to explore the park, particularly since they are clearly forcing guests to buy a multi-day ticket for the entire UO resort in order to get into Epic for a day. Guests need to know whether they can reasonably see the entire park in a single day or if they're going to have to navigate a reservation system to get into each of the portals before buying tickets.
Also, upon browsing the Helios Grand information, it seems like the only perk for booking at the new Signature Collection hotel is the exclusive park entrance. There's not even a mention of Helio Grand guests getting Unlimited Universal Express at USF/IOA, and no other perks noted for Epic Universe aside from Early Park Entry. It's possible that Universal is still not ready to release details about the portals and how guests will navigate between them, but if I were planning a trip and was considering staying at the Helio Grand, I'd probably hold off on that reservation until those details are officially announced.
In all, unless Universal is going to release additional information about the portals and other details about how guests are expected to visit/tour Epic Universe, I'd probably hold off on purchasing these tickets right now, even though there's likely to be an initial rush to be in the park on May 22, 2024.
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I think in a vacuum this was a product that has been in the cards for over 5 years now. However, I think it's a huge mistake for Disney to offer this and still offer ILL and LLMP, because either the value of LL as a whole is going to reduce (since more people will be able to access the LL), or the number of LL reservations available for guests paying for the less costly products are going to significantly reduced to accommodate these (more or less) VIPs.
I really think if Disney's end game was to introduce a product like this, they should have just introduced this as a phase-out/evolution of ILL/Genie+/LLMP. Trying to satisfy all these guests with different motivations for skipping the line is going to be next to impossible, and Disney is trying to have their cake and eat it too. I also think it's problematic that Disney is only offering the product to Deluxe hotel guests - the rich getting richer so to speak. I understand the need for Disney in limiting access to these very valuable products, but from a financial perspective, they would make just as much money (and book just as many Deluxe Resort rooms) if this was accessible to all guests.
Ultimately, this is a step in the right direction and the wrong direction at the same time, and Disney is going to have to work really hard to make the LLP worth the cost while still keeping guest buying ILL and LLMP.