Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Hits All-Time Record High Price at Disney World

Lightning Lane Multi-Pass has hit its highest price ever, matching the all-time record high price of Genie+ at Walt Disney World. This post covers crowds, likelihood of the line-skipping service selling out at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT or Animal Kingdom despite the higher cost, and other commentary on the paid FastPass service.

Let’s start by straightening things out. This pertains to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP), which replaced Genie+ as the primary paid FastPass option at Walt Disney World. With the switch, there’s once again the addition of an on-site advantage, ability to make 3 selections in advance, and a lot of other differences that are beyond the scope of this post.

Additionally, there’s Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP), which is the a la carte option that used to be called Individual Lightning Lanes. That’s all bookable in advance. Finally, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP), which is the top tier of line-skipping meant for the top 1-2% of guests and priced accordingly. It’s like Universal’s Express Pass. Got all of that? Good. Now let’s talk pricing for the peak weeks of 2024, which are also the last two weeks of the year.

It should come as no surprise to any fans who have been paying attention over the last few years, but Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is going to hit a new record price for this new service–identical to the previous peak price of the Genie+ system. Here are pricing trends starting the week of Christmas 2024…

December 22-23, 2024 Prices

• Magic Kingdom: $37 per person
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $32 per person
• EPCOT: $28 per person
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $25 per person

December 24-25, 2024 Prices

• Magic Kingdom: $39 per person
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $35 per person
• EPCOT: $32 per person
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $29 per person

Walt Disney World fans are going to be upset about this, because that’s the predictable response. And of course, it’s understandable that fans would still be agitated about a formerly free service now costing money–especially since Lightning Lane Multi Pass really is paid FastPass+ (it’s arguably worse than FastPass+ in some ways, namely the tiers and having the separate Single Pass!).

No one holds grudges like Walt Disney World fans, so it’s safe to say the “bring back free FastPass!” sentiment will continue for the next decade or three. I’m still bitter about Disney killing off Dreamfinder, and others lament the loss of Horizons. It’s what we do. But I digress.

In addition to bemoaning higher prices, I think it’s worth peeling back the layers here because there’s actually good news here once you get past the surface-level sticker shock of the prices.

First, this is not a year-over-year price increase. That’s the first time we’ve seen this since the introduction of the Genie+ system.

Last year, prices went up by $3-4 per park, starting on December 23. That actually wasn’t that significant of a jump compared to prior peak season price increases. In case you don’t recall, Genie+ started at a flat-rate of $15 in late 2021, so there were some fairly major leaps in there in 2022 and 2023.

Even at the $39 price point, Lightning Lanes sold out with regularity last year around Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It sold out most days during that stretch, as well as 4 of the first 5 days of this January. (Albeit at lower prices.) It was on that basis that we openly wondered whether Lightning Lane Multi-Pass would break the $50 barrier (after tax). It now seems pretty clear that will not happen.

If you wanted to be really charitable to Walt Disney World, you could even conceivably argue that this is a price decrease. It’s a bit of a stretch, but it is a plausible argument.

Last year, the cost of the Park Hopping option was $39–the same as Magic Kingdom. This year, the Park Hopping option is included, meaning whichever park you visit first is the cost of Park Hopping. It could be the low, low rate of $29 (a $10 theoretical drop!) if you start at Animal Kingdom. And starting at Animal Kingdom isn’t a bad idea, since it opens earliest.

I’m not particularly receptive to that argument since the peak season crowds coupled with switch to pre-booking Lightning Lanes means it will likely be, for all intents and purposes, slim pickins’ at subsequent parks unless your refresh game is super strong. You probably are not running the table at two parks in 2024 on Christmas Eve or Day. Then again, you weren’t last year, either.

(With that said, I would assert that the average on-site guest is going to do much better with Lightning Lanes this year than they did last year on the same dates, thanks to a mix of the on-site advantage and improved inventory.)

We probably shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves patting Walt Disney World on the back, though.

Pricing data is only available 21 days into the future–through December 25, 2024. Last year, the bonkers crowds didn’t arrive until December 27. I’m not going to rehash how that peak week played out, but if you’re visiting between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it’s worth reading Walt Disney World’s Busiest Week of the Year By Far. Suffice to say, that week saw the 4 worst days in the last 4 years and was much busier than expected. These days were all 10+/10 crowd levels, and the worst average wait times since at least December 2019.

Point being, it’s possible that Walt Disney World recognizes that the week after Christmas is much busier than the week before (even though both are very, very busy) and prices Lightning Lane Multi-Pass accordingly. They’ve done some weird things with Lightning Lane pricing, so nothing would shock me. It would be somewhat surprising, though, since the trend has been to increase prices before Christmas and leave them at that level until New Year’s Eve. I suspect this is the high water mark, and a decrease arrives on January 1, 2025.

If you are planning a visit to Walt Disney World to end the year, we’d highly recommend buying Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.

One point of pride for this blog is not recommending LLMP everywhere, all the time. We typically advise purchasing at Magic Kingdom on non-party days and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in moderate crowd levels or above. EPCOT is more circumstantial, and Animal Kingdom is almost never recommended. In fact, LLMP at DAK just made our Worst 10 Wastes of Money at Walt Disney World.

Well, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve (along with the first few days of January 2025) are the exception to that. During hell week, you need every tool in your kit. It’s not an either/or scenario when it comes to strategy. You need to be up early and using a good plan and doing a midday break and staying out late and buying Lightning Lanes. Even at Animal Kingdom.

(For more advice, see our recent post: Top 12 Tips for Beating Heavy Crowds at Walt Disney World. That was written specifically with these peak holiday weeks in mind.)

I mention all of this both because I don’t want you over-relying on our normal advice about when Lightning Lanes are and are not necessary. But also so you don’t over-rely on Lightning Lanes! Many guests assume LLMP is this ‘golden ticket’ and they don’t have to do anything else in order to beat the crowd. That’s wrong.

You can expect approximately 50% of guests, if not more, to purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass during that week. It’s not some exclusive club that bypasses the line. During that week (and to a lesser extent, the one before it), the Lightning Lane is the regular line, and buying Multi-Pass should be viewed as a peak week tax. The standby line shouldn’t be viewed as the normal line–it’s the slow lane.

Hopefully we’ve earned some credibility here since we’re not always blindly recommending that you buy Lightning Lanes. In which case, also take this advice: make the decision to buy (or not, I guess) right now. The worst move you can make is arriving to heavier crowds than you expected, buying then, and getting stuck with poor selections. Book as early as possible for the best and most difficult Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ride reservations and to increase your odds of worthwhile rolling same-day selections.

Walt Disney World fans who have experience during this timeframe might scoff at the notion of worthwhile selections being available. That’s completely understandable, as we received countless reports over the last few years from guests who got between zero (0) and 3 good Lightning Lanes. That has been a more common experience than you might believe!

The potential difference this year is increased Lightning Lane inventory. I’m not going to rehash another recent post, so check out Shorter Standby Lines and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for a discussion of this phenomenon and the “why” of it.

Suffice to say, all of my recent LLMP field testing has gone really well–even during Jersey Week and Veterans Day. It just took a bit of diligence (~5 minutes of refreshing while in return lines). However, and I cannot emphasize this enough, the worst week I’ve done is nothing like the period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. So I’d hesitate to extrapolate too much from my experience. Regardless, it’s worth a shot…and you only have a shot if you have at least one earlier return time…which you won’t get if you wait until your trip starts to buy Lightning Lane Multi-Pass!

Finally, we always used to make predictions about when Genie+ would sell out during these weeks.

Lightning Lanes typically sell out at higher prices, as they’re (unsurprisingly) tied to higher crowds and therefore higher demand. Nothing would surprise us at this point, but we actually do not expect LLMP to sell out on December 24 or 25. If it does, it’ll likely sell out for every single day between then and the end of the year.

Truthfully, I don’t know what to predict beyond that. Genie+ doesn’t offer great precedent here, largely because it was a same-day system and the switchover to LLMP more or less coincided with the DAS overhaul. There’s a wide range of possibilities here, from Multi-Pass selling out a week in advance due to FOMO or never at all due to increased bandwidth that allows Disney to sell more instances of LLMP. Consequently, I have no clue what to expect…just kinda thinking out loud here. (I would bet against LLMP selling out in advance on any date. Even with pre-booking, I think a lot of sales are still reactionary in response to crowds encountered by guests.)

Ultimately, it should be a fun saga to follow. I’m personally very intrigued by how all this plays out, from how far in advance the best Lightning Lanes in each park book up to what same-day ride reservation refills are like. Being able to lock-in 3 selections before buying is huge during peak weeks like this, as is the on-site advantage.

It’s windows like this when the difference between Genie+ and Multi-Pass will be felt most–value, utility, and satisfaction should all be higher this year than the same week last. Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. All of this is true only if my assumption is correct and prices don’t skyrocket on December 27 or 28. If that does happen, I’ll be back here in a few days issuing a ‘retraction’ on a lot of this.

Oh, and if you’re visiting Walt Disney World between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, hopefully none of this scared you too much. The goal of much of the above was to implore you to prepare, and just by reading this one post, you’re in a better position than at least 90% of other guests. Follow the advice here and in Top 12 Tips for Beating Heavy Crowds at Walt Disney World.

Crazy as the crowds get, we’ve done the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve several times, and love it. The wait times are awful, but if you know what you’re doing (and you do), it can be one of the most memorable times of the entire year to visit. Don’t sweat it too much–you need to be scared just enough to properly plan, not have a meltdown!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass reaching the record high price of $39? If you’re visiting during the weeks of Christmas or New Year’s, what’s the maximum price you’ll pay for the line-skipping service? Thoughts on our perspective or recommendations? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed/got wrong? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!