Disney World Expands Lightning Lane Premier Pass
Walt Disney World has announced the expansion of Lightning Lane Premier Pass, removing resort restrictions on the newest and most expensive line skipping service to replace free FastPass. This post covers the new eligibility changes for the upcharge option at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Plus, our commentary about how this will impact popularity, wait times, etc.
For starters, we want to reiterate once again that Lightning Lane Premier Pass is not Walt Disney World’s core line-skipping product offering. That is not changing today–or probably ever. Rather, Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP) is a third tier of line-skipping in addition to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP).
There’s a lot more to the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass, all of which is beyond the scope of this post. But if you don’t already know about those line-skipping services, we’d encourage you to read our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World instead of this post. There’s about a 95% or higher chance that’s more relevant for your planning purposes than this one. Suffice to say, the whole Lightning Lane suite of services is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or two-dozen. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
The important thing to know is that Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Single Pass will continue to exist. Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP) is distinct from both, offers an alternative line-skipping product offering for guests who don’t want to hassle with LLMP or LLSP. While Lightning Lane Premier Pass will feature the same ride rosters as the other Lightning Lane services, it’ll function fundamentally differently.
I’m (over)emphasizing this because we’ve already seen a lot of fears from frequent Walt Disney World fans that the pilot program of Lightning Lane Premier Pass is only the first step. They’re concerned that the end result is Lightning Lane Multi-Pass being eliminated entirely, and guests being “forced” to purchase LLPP.
Honestly, I’d love for that to happen. Not because I’m a high-roller who has money to burn–I’ve never bought LLPP and never will–but because of the cascading effects on standby lines. That’s also precisely why Walt Disney World will never do it–because it would mean a revenue stream drying up. You cannot force someone with a $30 budget to spend $300. If that were possible, Walt Disney World would also eliminate Value and Moderate Resorts and replace them exclusively with Deluxe Resorts. But I digress.
Here’s what Walt Disney World has officially announced about the expansion to Lightning Lane Premier Pass…
Eligible Guests can purchase Lightning Lane Premier Passes up to 7 days before the first day of their Resort stay—for their entire length of stay (up to 14 days)—starting at 7:00 AM Eastern Time.
Walt Disney World is now piloting the rollout of Lightning Lane Premier Pass to Guests staying at all Disney-owned resort hotels and other select third party hotels (see below lists), for park visits during their stay.
This is the big update that takes effect starting November 22, 2024. Previously, the only eligible guests were those staying at Deluxe Resorts and Deluxe Villas/Disney Vacation Club properties.
Here’s a full list of the expanded resort roster for Lightning Lane Premier Pass purchase eligibility:
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort & Gran Destino Tower
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort – A Disney Vacation Club Resort
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Lightning Lane Premier Pass Eligible Third Party Hotels
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Reserve
- Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Resort
The only interesting wrinkle with regard to resort eligibility is the list of third party hotels. Notably, this is the much more limited roster for Extended Evening Hours as opposed to Early Entry. This means that the Disney Springs Area and Bonnet Creek Resorts are not eligible.
It also means the Four Seasons Orlando Resort isn’t eligible. This is the on-site luxury hotel (no relation to the landscaping company) at Walt Disney World, located near Fort Wilderness. It’s amusing, at least to me, that guests staying on AP discounts at All Star Sports for like $79 per night can buy Lightning Lane Premier Pass, but those spending $7,999 on some fancy suite there cannot.
Part of me wonders whether the next expansion of the Lightning Lane Premier Pass pilot program is to those third party resorts, especially the fancier ones. The other part of me wonders whether Walt Disney World actually doesn’t want Four Seasons guests to be eligible for LLPP, even if Four Seasons paid for access to the perk, because that would cannibalize VIP tour sales.
Before we get too deep into commentary, let’s touch on some more basics of Lightning Lane Premier Pass–all of which are unchanged with this update. Lightning Lane Premier Pass gives Walt Disney World guests one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane entrance in a single theme park for the day. In other words, there is (still) no Park Hopper option for LLPP at Walt Disney World.
Prices for Lightning Lane Premier Passes vary by date and theme park. Launch prices will range from $129 to $449 per person, plus tax, with the highest prices falling on a limited number of days over peak travel periods. Here are the ranges for each park:
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129 to $199 per person, plus tax
- EPCOT: $169 to $249 per person, plus tax
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269 to $349 per person, plus tax
- Magic Kingdom: $329 to $449 per person, plus tax
That’s an incredibly wide range–$129 on the low end for Animal Kingdom versus $449 on the high end for Magic Kingdom. For the peak season price at Magic Kingdom, you could purchase Lightning Lane Premier Pass 3.5 times on the cheapest day at Animal Kingdom!
However, the rest of the year will see roller coaster crowds at Walt Disney World, with low lows and high highs. There’s a reason that multiple weeks during the holiday season make both lists on our rankings of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 to 2026.
We’ve already seen the peak pricing during Thanksgiving week, with Lightning Lane Premier Pass selling out on select days at both Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As discussed in that post, those cost ceilings are likely to be hit once again from the week leading up to Christmas through New Year’s Eve, and possibly bleeding into early January as crowds remain elevated for that first week in 2025.
Even after the late November 2024 expansion of Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Walt Disney World’s official website still emphasizes that they are piloting the rollout of Lightning Lane Premier Pass with “very limited quantities.” When the new tier of line-skipping first went live, our biggest question was: just how limited is very limited?
Would Lightning Lane Premier Pass be so limited that it easily sells out every single day? Is that the reason Walt Disney World started by restricting it to only Deluxe Resort and DVC Villas? Is this going to meaningful impact Lightning Lane availability for those who want to purchase Multi-Pass or Single Pass? Will this mean more capacity is allocated away from standby lines and to Lightning Lanes?
Those questions will once again be front-of-mind for many Walt Disney World fans seeing this massive expansion of Lightning Lane Premier Pass. While they’re fair to ask, I wouldn’t be worried. The caps and demand for LLPP are pretty low–and that’s a good thing for everyone else!
As mentioned previously, the target audience for LLPP is exceedingly limited. It’s my understanding that fewer than 1% of guests have been purchasing Lightning Lane Premier Pass on the vast majority of days. That will change closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas when crowds are higher, especially at Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but it’s still unlikely to eclipse 2% of all guests.
Given the timing of this announcement by Walt Disney World coinciding with LLPP selling out for several days over Thanksgiving, there’s bound to be fan frustration that the company is getting (getting?!) greedy and simply wants to sell more Premier Pass. That is not the case. As we’ve discussed in recent updates, the top-tier of paid FastPass is underperforming expectations at Walt Disney World. One week is not representative of the bigger picture.
Not only that, but if demand were strong and Walt Disney World wanted to sell more Lightning Lane Premier Pass, they could simply…sell more? After all, they’re the ones who set the caps, so if it were truly a supply shortage, they could create more out of thin air. This is a demand shortfall, hence an attempt at remedying it by expanding the pilot program to all guests staying on-site at Disney-owned hotels.
For our part, we’ve observed absolutely no impact whatsoever on Lightning Lane utilization as a result of Premier Pass. I did extensive testing of Multi-Pass and standby lines around Veterans Day and Jersey Week, which was the busiest stretch at Walt Disney World since LLMP and LLPP launched.
My biggest observation is that Lightning Lanes are less busy than at the same point one year ago, and standby lines are moving much more efficiently. Obviously, this is not due to Lightning Lane Premier Pass–and probably also has nothing to do with the switch from Genie+ to Multi-Pass. But it’s what we found to be the case pretty consistently over the course of the last several months.
It’ll be interesting to see whether that changes around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. This is all a standalone story for another post, but the bottom line is that Lightning Lanes and standby lines are generally moving efficiently, or at least much more so than the last couple of years. (Disneyland is a different matter–we’re still observing plenty of problems and logjams there.)
As for the impact of the expansion of Lightning Lane Premier Pass on lines, my best guess is that it’ll be nonexistent.
To whatever extent demand for LLPP exists, it’s likely disproportionately among guests staying at Deluxe Resorts. There are no doubt some Walt Disney World fans who will “hack” their vacation to downgrade on accommodations and upgrade on line-skipping, but these people are unicorns. They’re also literate unicorns who read and comment on blogs like this one, perhaps creating the perception that there’s a big audience for commando All Star Sports stays paired with Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
Among the guest population at large, it’s hard to imagine a statistically significant number of people doing this. Just like guests dining at Victoria & Albert’s are dramatically more likely to be those staying at the Grand Floridian or other monorail loop hotels than the All Stars, so too will those purchasing Lightning Lane Premier Pass be those at Deluxe Resorts.
The one “big” exception to this could be Gran Destino, with high-rolling convention-goers purchasing LLPP for their family while staying at the tower on business. Even that’s not going to be a meaningful pool of guests, though. It’s just an interesting use-case. Another might be affluent families who choose the Art of Animation Family Suites over similarly-priced rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Even without any caps, my guess is that Lightning Lane Premier Pass wouldn’t really move the needle on Lightning Lane utilization or wait times for everyone else. For one thing, it’s safe to assume that the majority of LLPP guests are already using some form of line-skipping–meaning that they’re either upgrading from Multi-Pass or downgrading from VIP tours. So this really only incrementally changes their frequency.
For another thing, organic demand is unquestionably limited by the high price of Lightning Lane Premier Pass. This is more or less what we discussed at the top of the post. With the exception of a handful of the busiest days of the year, Premier Pass has not been selling out as-is even when available in “very limited quantities” to the guests most inclined to purchase it simply because the price is too high.
There are potential “fixes” to this that involve making the product offering more attractive, such as having an unlimited version, offering a certain number of floating re-rides, introducing a Park Hopper option, etc. However, all of them come with downsides that have unintended consequences that could hurt Disney’s bottom line, such as cannibalizing VIP tour sales, making the service complicated and confusing, or reducing average length-of-stay for high-rolling guests.
Ultimately, if Lightning Lane Premier Pass is mostly not selling out when made available in “very limited quantities” then it obviously also won’t sell out in very high quantities. There isn’t some huge untapped pool of guests who want to buy this product offering but cannot. Which is also precisely why it’ll never replace Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. Although it may not seem like it at times, most guests are cost-sensitive. This is precisely why the lower tier resorts are more popular than the higher tier ones, Cosmic Ray’s is busier than Be Our Guest, etc.
All of the complaints about Disney only wanting rich guests–while feeling valid–ignore this. Walt Disney World cannot cater only to the wealthy, because there simply are not enough such guests to even come close to sustaining the parks and resorts. The popularity, or lack thereof, of Lightning Lane Premier Pass (again, even when sold in “very limited quantities”) should reinforce this conclusion.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about Lightning Lane Premier Pass? Thoughts on Walt Disney World expanding the top tier of paid FastPass to all on-site guests of Disney-owned hotels? Predictions as to how successful this line-skipping service will be? Under what, if any, scenarios would you buy Lightning Lane Premier Pass? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Here’s my scenario for buying a MK top tier highest priced full
On my honeymoon with Elon Musk.
Depending on party size and such, a private VIP tour might cost less…
I’ll still probably never do it but I was thinking like a unicorn for a moment!
Ugh, I’m going on a solo trip in April for the springtime surprise runs. I WAS going to just do a ‘cheaper’ trip, I’m staying at Pop, reading up on strategies, etc. But I’m also a little lazy….lol and since the Misses won’t be there and I have quite a bit Disney Visa rewards $$$, I might acci-tentionally get this for at least the day of the longer run because it might make that day easier…
“No relation to the landscaping company” You slipped that in, and it was hilarious
If you lived out of state and only went to Disney once in a while it might be worth it to stay in whatever Disney property is the cheapest at that time of your booking and put the money toward the LLPP cost.
Hey John,
No Misses or Mistress then 5 words, use the solo rider lane.
Your welcome, and you can send me any amount of he 400 dollars I saved you.
It will be interesting to see if it becomes an either/or option for families. If I was doing a one and done trip with a family focusing on park time, choosing a value with LLPP over a deluxe with standby, would be a solid choice.
Tom, as a Pennsylvania resident I was amused by your joking reference to Total Landscaping. Although, it got me thinking… does Orlando even HAVE “four seasons”? I’ve read repeatedly (including on your blog!) that Orlando has more like two seasons… ~40 weeks of Oven-Roasted Summer, and ~12 weeks of Cool Nights Mild Winter. You’re the expert… would you say there are “four” distinct weather “seasons” in Orlando, or no? I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing, since A/C technology exists, and there are ways to mitigate, even outside. Also, some people like to sweat, roast and wear minimal clothes as often as possible. While I’m not one of those people, I do try to understand and respect their choices.
I suspect the inflated wait times are made to contribute to MPLL sales.
While in Paris where only a minority of guests actually pay for the service the wait times are underestimated to have a regulated flow of guests.
I never have seen an inflated wait time at DLP – always the opposite.
I just want to point out that the difference in LL busyness between this year and last may very well be related to the one thing that’s changed most dramatically — the DAS system. I’m sure you’ve already noticed that but it stood out to me.
@Robert, indubitably RE: DAS.
I think this is awesome news! I know the price is high, and I’d never use it for an entire trip, but this gives families the option to cherry pick parks and days to use it at.
For example, my family and grandparents are spending one day in Epcot before a cruise in April. I’m planning on surprising them with LLPP because we loved how easy Universal was with the Express Pass last year. Now, we can relax and just walk around at our own pace, enjoying our time together without scheduling anything. The running around is tough for the older generation and makes us choose between sticking together or splitting up to get things done.
Is it *technically* worth the money? Not really. But I will happily pay it on occasion to make an extra special day for us all. That’s where the value, especially at the lower cost parks, really comes in for me.
We used LLPP a few weeks ago at EPCOT on a couples trip after we had been up at 3:00 a.m. to run the wine and dine 10k. It was so relaxing to be able to slowly walk around Epcot and not have to crisscross the park to get to LLs. We were easily able to ride everything we wanted to ride and enjoy food and wine. I barely looked at my phone the entire day. (I hate being on a ride and frantically looking at wait times and LL availability). The day felt like I was a carefree kid again in the parks in the 80s/90s. If you can afford it, it’s a great splurge for a special day. Great idea for the grandparents because you can walk slowly and you’ll still get everything done!
Yes! I totally agree about the phone thing. I’m so excited to hear it was such a nice day using it for you guys. I can’t wait now to try it out too!
What would really be nice is if they open it to everyone but for deluxe resorts make it an unlimited pass without restrictions on the number of times you can do each ride. Even if you’re paying for it, this at least gets a little closer to what Universal does with their premier resorts. After doing Disney with Genie+ and Universal with express pass unlimited in the same week, my Universal days were so much less stressful and carefree even with worse weather and much higher crowds.
Lol- u wishing upon a star on that one Heather. That being said- a free pass for staying deluxe seems reasonable
That will never happen. Disney doesn’t have enough attractions in each park and the parks are too spread apart to make this work. Universal used the unlimited express pass with Lowes as an enticement to get Lowes to build their luxury hotels at their park. You will notice that the hotels that have been built since the original three no longer offer the express pass with the room. Universal is going to need to be careful once it starts offering the express pass in Epic Universe. This park is not walking distance from its other two parks. I am anticipating that Universal will not offer an unlimited express pass for Epic Universe, at least not for the first several years of its operations.
Is there an article in the works about premier pass at Disneyland? We are headed there in 2025 and while expensive, I feel like for they dynamics of our group and our park visit style it may be worth it for a day to see as much as possible with as little hassle as possible.
@Melanie-I heard someone from WDWNT did it at DL and saved 10 hours vs. what standby wait times would have cost them. That’s an entire other park day! I didn’t see the video myself-I rarely go to that coast. I watched the one for WDW however, and he saved almost 6 hours there. It wasn’t even a 10/10 park day so that’s significant!
I helped a coworker, who is arriving in property today, with the ins and outs of Disney (she also used a travel agent). Her husband thought that maybe they would buy premier pass for their group (8 ppl) for their park days (5 days) — it would have been an ADDITIONAL $8K. I know it’s thanks giving week, but for her core family of 4, it’s the equivalent of another trip. I think even if I could easily swing that financially, I don’t see the value because you could do so many other trips for that cost. But I’m also NOT the target.
This is more or less how we feel. Even if we were the target audience for LLPP, we wouldn’t buy it because the value proposition just isn’t there for us. Disneyland is a different story; we still wouldn’t buy it, but it at least pencils out a bit better.
Then again, I won’t even buy bottled water because I also don’t think the value proposition is there on that product…so clearly NOT the target, either! 😉
Agree with Lauren and agree with Tom. Adding a whole second trip is a better option, and bringing your own water bottle is much better than buying pre-bottled water. I just bought a collapsible (SEMETOR brand) water bottle and am really pleased with it. In 2-3 times of avoiding purchases of pre-bottled water at WDW, my new collapsible water bottle will have paid for itself.
I guess you were right yesterday about it not selling well lol. I hope this pass is a fail (pun intended)
I doubt it’ll fail, but I’ll admit to being very happy that it wasn’t the runaway success some in the company envisioned.
Well, I hope it does not fail and am happy it expanded to include all the resorts. As a disabled person, applying for and getting approved for DAS has become difficult for a lot of people and I see this a a great alternative for me that will help me be able to do the parks without having to go through the stressful DAS video chat. We got a chance to try it out already and it worked great for me.
HI Tom , We are Deluxe guests and would never pay that much for the Premier LL pass. I feel for the amount Deluxe guests pay to stay there it should be free. Disney really is pricing out the lower income Families and it’s sad the amount of greed there lately.
I mean, I get what you’re saying and agree in principle, but I think LLPP doesn’t really make that point. It was never intended for lower income families in the first place, and doesn’t materially impact their vacation one way or the other.
It’s kinda like saying VW is pricing out the middle class with price increases, and supporting that point with a Porsche 911 S/T that costs ~$400k. That car was never meant for VW’s core consumer, so it’s not really indicative of anything.
Morning Tom!
I am an avid following of your posts and have to say that all your advice is always on point. My husband and son just went to POP from Jan 25-31st. We followed your advice on which day to attend the park and they had a fantastic week with very low waittimes at all the parks. I just wanted to confirm what you had said about Lightening Lane and standby moving much better than last year. My daughter and I went Nov 2023 the same week and the waitimes were very different. Although we did purchase MMLP for each park, it probably wasn’t necessary each day. Rise of the Risistance at one point was a 20min wait!
Thanks again for all your advice. We are going down end of January 2025 and wouldn’t even contemplate paying for the Premier pass.
Thanks for sharing that and the kind words–and glad you had a similar experience!
But out of curiosity, when did you just go? I think Jan 25-31 must be your future trip, right?
Hello Tom!
January 25-31 is a future trip. My husband and son come back today and they were there from Nov 16. They had great wait times and the park days you recommended worked beautifully. I will definitely not be purchasing premier pass when I go in January. Thanks again!