Premier Access Paid FastPass Pricing at Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris has debuted Disney Premier Access in its two parks, which replaces free FastPass. Given the strong rumors that a very similar system will be announced for Walt Disney World and Disneyland within the next month or so, you might want to know what pricing looks like and how the in-app purchases work.
In case you missed the announcement last month, Disneyland Paris has replaced FastPass with a hybrid system for attraction access. In addition to the paid Premier Access, there’s also the Disney Standby Pass that combines a virtual queue with a physical standby line. It allows guests to spend the first part of their wait time for select attractions outside of the queue, and then joining the line for the home stretch. In essence, Standby Pass is a mix of (same-day) FastPass+ and traditional queues.
Standby Pass is offered when Disneyland Paris is running out of physical queue space, which is more likely to happen when the priority queues are not in use or are underutilized. (That’s why there are extended queues spilling out into walkways all over Walt Disney World right now, even though physical distancing is long gone.) When available, guests can use the Disneyland Paris app to book the next available Standby Pass time slot to enter the physical queue line of an attraction, return within the allocated 30-minute time slot, present the QR code, and stand in the queue for the remainder of that time.
Even though it shouldn’t be, the change that has received more attention is Disney Premier Access, which guests can purchase via the Disneyland Paris App. This digital service allows guests to pay to skip the regular queue line for popular attractions, including Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours: the Adventures Continue, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
From anywhere inside the parks, guests can use the Disneyland Paris App to purchase an assigned time slot for the aforementioned attractions. Pricing for Disney Premier Access will be per ride, and is dynamic. It depends upon the attraction and crowds on the day of visit. Think of it like Express Lanes on toll roads, Uber’s surge pricing, or to a lesser degree, Walt Disney World’s date-based ticket and hotel prices.
With Disneyland Paris debuting Disney Premier Access today (August 3, 2021), we have our first look at real time pricing…
In terms of pricing in dollars, the least expensive option is Autopia for $9.50 per guest (current standby wait of 35 minutes) and the most expensive is Peter Pan’s Flight for $18 (also a current standby wait of 35 minutes).
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast is also $18 per person, with a 30 minute wait. That’s $72 for a family of 4 to bypass a posted 30 minute wait time, with an actual wait that’s probably more like 15-20 minutes.
Color me skeptical, but I just don’t see utilization of Premier Access being very high. (In fact, this isn’t Disneyland Paris’ first rodeo with paid FastPass–not many guests bought its previous incarnations.)
I think that’s going to be the case at Disneyland Paris, and I also think it’ll be true at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, “if” (when) similar systems debut in the United States parks.
Contrary to popular perception in the reader comments to our Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World posts, none of the Disney parks are destinations for “the rich” or elites. To be sure, there’s a very small subset of wealthy guests visiting the parks. For the most part, these are one-and-done visitors doing the obligatory rite of passage vacations to appease their children.
While it might feel satisfying to vilify other guests (for some odd reason) and treat them as the “other” or enemy, visitors to Walt Disney World are overwhelmingly middle class. That is objectively true of guests at every resort tier, regardless of what anyone might like to believe. Some are saving for longer periods of time, splurging more, or going into debt to pay for their trips. Of course, outliers exist–but that does not change the core guest demographics.
This is significant because it’s easy to believe something like Premier Access will be a huge success if you’re operating under the assumption that half of all Walt Disney World guests are wealthy. Not so much once you realize that the vast majority are middle class, and things like VIP tours, Club Level, and other various upcharges are niche products. (And even those have a large “splurge factor.”)
Moreover, these various upcharge offerings are purchased by hundreds of guests per day–not used by tens of thousands of guests per day, as was the case with FastPass.
That, in turn, is important because Disney Premier Access would need to be purchased like it were a more mainstream offering in order to have a significant impact on wait times. It’s not going to have anywhere near the utilization rate of traditional FastPass. For many people, paying any amount of money to skip the line at an individual attractions is a total nonstarter.
Personally, my max for the vast majority of attractions is $0. While I’m definitely unrepresentative of all guests, consider how many Annual Passholders, DVC Members, and other repeat visitors there are at Walt Disney World and (especially) Disneyland. Some regulars probably have a higher threshold than I do, but what percentage would pay $72 for their family to do the Buzz Lightyear rides? I would be absolutely shocked if it’s over 5%.
If we were to take our parents or only visited once per year, there are probably a handful of lines we’d pay to bypass–Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Slinky Dog Dash, Frozen Ever After, Splash Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers, Indiana Jones Adventure, and a couple others come to mind. The problem there is that the amount we’d be willing to pay is maybe $25 for our group, which would still put us below the minimum. For us, there are no circumstances in which we’d pay $72 (or anywhere close to it) for our group to be able to ride literally anything.
Of course, everyone is going to have their own price ceiling. Many will be higher than us–but also, many will be lower. The salient point is that any individual attraction line-skipping access is going to be bought by far fewer guests than the number that used the free FastPass+ system. As a general rule of thumb, free is more popular than not free. (Hard to believe, I know.)
In the past, Disneyland Paris also offered attraction bundles for certain types of attractions. I’m shocked they aren’t doing that again. For one thing, bundling allows pairing more popular attractions with less popular ones, which creates the illusion of greater value. There may be zero value to Premier Access at PhilharMagic, but include it in a bundle and people will nevertheless ascribe value to it. Perception is everything.
For another thing, bundling obfuscates actual per attraction costs. It makes consumers less likely to deliberate over whether the cost is “worth it” because there’s no way to assess on a line item basis. This is why all-inclusive packages are so popular (e.g. Disney Dining Plan) even in scenarios where they’re potentially worse. It’s why people drop $100 on a cable television package without second thought, but are more picky when it comes to subscribing to individual streaming services.
Beyond consumer psychology, there are a number of other logistical reasons why I’d expect Walt Disney World to embrace bundling when its version of paid FastPass debuts. I don’t know the specifics of what’s coming to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, but I strongly suspect it’ll be tweaked to the operational realities of each location. (My guess is both a bundle option and a la carte for Walt Disney World.)
Please don’t misconstrue any of this as me advocating for Disney Premier Access. I’d much rather see the return of FastPass+ or debut of something akin to MaxPass. I don’t see us ever buying Premier Access, which will put us at some degree of disadvantage under this system.
However, I also don’t think it’ll be cataclysmic or have as negative of consequences for those who don’t buy the paid FastPasses as many fans anticipate. My biggest concern is more generalized–that Premier Access is a continuation of nickel and diming practices that I abhor.
I’m actually curious and cautiously optimistic about how the Standby Pass will work in practice (I get it in theory), as this sounds like it could be a nice mix of (unpaid!) MaxPass and traditional physical queues. Such a same-day hybrid system is my personal sweet spot (YMMV), especially if lines are constantly moving and waits in the physical line are reasonable.
That’s exactly what I expect to happen due to few guests buying Disney Premier Access when a similar system comes to Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Of course, many unknowns remain that will impact this, including if on-site guests receive some degree of included access, whether there are bundles or it’s entirely a la carte, and more. It’s unlikely that Walt Disney World will use this exact system, but rather, certain elements of it. We should learn more sometime this month! (For more commentary, see the original announcement of Disney Premier Access.)
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you think Standby Pass and Disney Premier Access will be rolled out at Walt Disney World? Think it’ll be a similar system, but debut with the Disney Genie app and offer its own branding and unique wrinkles? Or, do you think this is all wrong—that FastPass+ will return unchanged later this summer or fall? Do you prefer fast-moving standby lines only, or the FastPass and standby combo? Interested in how Walt Disney World will implement the new system? 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!
Thank you, Tom for sharing and keeping us updated.
Thank you to everyone who shares their thoughts.
I love Disney. We are DVC members. However, the charge for this and that is becoming too much. At times, it is not the cost but the principal or greed I feel is happening.
In 1998, we checked in next to a family who paid in Disney dollars, back before gift cards. I was so impressed with the way they saved and purchased Disney dollars so they would not spend their savings. I was inspired. I like that you pointed out the middle class and it is not a pick up and just go decision for most of us. To think Disney is finding ways to nickel and dime us all upsets and disgusts me. Will Disney exs look at what they are doing or is there no turning back?
Thanks Tom! Very interesting. What time did you take the screenshot of the Premier Access availability? Since the earliest return time was 4:05p, I’m just curious how long you’d have to wait to return. Ideally, you could just hop on right away.
I’ve watched the frustrating changes Disney has been making for years on this blog and read the comments of “this is my final straw!” and though I have also been bothered by those changes, I never hit my limit. Like most who read this blog, I am very familiar with Disney’s price points, however my mouth was AGAPE the second I saw those screen shots. As a family of four I’m so peeved just trying to calculate how much that would add to our trip. I naively was thinking they’d just drive up the price of MaxPass. This is really heartbreaking to me if this becomes the new normal.
As someone who chooses to stay off site in a larger, affordable, less crowded timeshare when I visit Orlando, I am also choosing to give up any on-site perks that Disney guests have (or had) such as extra magic hours, transportation and earlier access to FPs and ADRs. I am not however choosing to pay a very high admission price only to have to pay more just to go on rides. What does my admission cost include then? Certainly not parking or food. If this system is instated at WDW, I will have to think about whether to continue visiting. I really feel for those who are losing all the on-site perks of staying at Disney. They are upcharging for what was once included and now the possiblity of a paid FP system? Yes, Universal express passes are a fortune, but there are other free ways to get around a long queue such as going in the single rider line, planning a trip during less crowded times of the year, or riding later in the day. Disney is crowded no matter what time of day/year you go, even with the “limited crowds” that the park passes are supposed to be imposing due to covid. I think Disney is back to full capacity despite having the highest covid cases Florida has seen to date. Why are they still doing park reservations because it certainly isn’t cutting down on crowds? I hope this is just summer and covid revenge travel and things calm down for the Fall, but then again there will be 50th anniversary crowds to tend with. I won’t freak out too much yet since this is not even officially a thing at WDW and I hope it never happens.
By 2025 Disney will be just for the rich and famous. Free dining and free fast pass enabled allowed all families the chance to enjoy Disney at a reasonable price. Taking away the magical express will be a real shame. I enjoyed that bus ride every time I went.
This reminds me a lot of my first cruise experience. After paying a decent amount to get on the boat, it turned out that every interesting thing to do cost extra $$. Sure there were some free activities, but those were incredibly crowded and much less exciting than the add-on options. So I learned from that, and on my next cruise I had a few hundred dollars saved for all the bonus amenities. But the first time was still a shock, and I felt very much like I was being priced out and that only the rich got to have fun.
The difference here really seems to be in expectation. There wasn’t a huge outcry on the ship because everyone except me already knew about the extra fees for excursions or dining experiences or soda. Once I had an idea of what was offered, it turned out that I could pick the vacation that worked out best for ME, instead of paying a lot more for amenities that I wouldn’t actually take advantage of.
I kind of view this in a similar way. Instead of something like the Universal Express Pass that costs double your admission price for each ticket…I could pay an extra 10-30$ for each ticket and get the rides I actually want. I still would RATHER purchase an Express pass and have unlimited rides…but then that causes issues like what was mentioned in the Cedar Point comment below where everyone else’s line is longer.
If looking at this from a guest satisfaction point of view, I wonder how well fastpass+ was scoring before the pandemic hit. Savvy users knew how to maximize it, but the average family probably did *not* and this actually is a pretty clever way to fix that. It means Standby lines won’t be as exorbitant, and suddenly there’s a nice option to skip if your kid is being cranky or really loves Frozen, so that you can tailor your trip to your own needs.
In other words…I guess this is a long-winded way of saying I’m actually tentatively optimistic about this? It seems like it might be the best of both worlds, especially as it settles out and Disney tweaks it to make a better guest experience. If they don’t? It’d be easy enough to decide after actually seeing it in action whether you want to have a trip there again.
This subject, like so many on this blog and others, relates to how crowded WDW is. The solution would be for Disney to expand the footprints of their parks/add considerably more attractions/operate 24hrs…all not very likely. The problem seems to be that we go too often. Even though Amerca’s population is double what it was when WDW was built, there are four times the parks – we go too often. DVC (with yearly visits and expiring points) leads to overconsumption, much like deluxe dining plans lead to ADRs being difficult to get even months in advance. Maybe we should take shorter trips/more resort days/explore the rest of Central Florida, or heck, discover the rest of America – we’re wrecking our favorite place!
Thank you for speaking on behalf of us middle class folks! If we hadn’t received the stimulus, I don’t think this upcoming trip would be happening for us. But it is and my son is so happy! Because of the rarity of this trip (last one was 2016) and the fact that we’ve never been to Galaxy’s Edge, I will for sure pay extra to guarantee a seat on ROR and probably a few other of our must-do rides. I’ve read everything you’ve written and so I know the best practices for ROR but it still gives me anxiety to think we could spend all this money and still not ride it.
I think you’re right that it’s not the best policy overall for families and I applaud you for keeping middle class families, the KIDS really, in the forefront because that’s who Disney World is for, isn’t it? Although, to be honest, Dad is the biggest Star Wars fan 😉
Really appreciate the information and analysis in this blog. I was thinking the same thing –> okay Disney, it’s your prerogative to institute another profit scheme in the form of Premier Access. I’ll play along and buy some of them, but now I’ll be looking at offsite properties for my family’s annual WDW visits. That’s our prerogative.
This was a really helpful post! I was one of the people assuming most of the guests are wealthy. Putting the demographics of park visitors into perspective made this announcement must less of a concern, and more of an option we could potentially utilize. I don’t anticipate being willing to pay so much to skip the line, but at the end of long day of Disney fun, I could see myself going for it just to sit down!
Your logical analysis of the Premier Pass makes sense (at least to me). But I share your sense of budget and value for a buck that I suspect many WDW guests don’t. A trip to WDW is a huge splurge esp for a family of four. Piling on more expensive add-ons happens particularly when a family doesn’t do their planning until the last minute and then has FOMO and fears being blocked from their kids’ favourite attractions. I also suspect that as families wade into the crowds, see the lines or are directed to try a virtual line with little or no success, then frustration will push many to pay. Like all things at WDW, time will tell. I don’t plan on buying any ride access. I enjoy early rope drop and hope I can hit one or two headliners out of the gate then try for the old standby attractions that aren’t as flash. Whether that strategy still works, who knows. Sure I’ll be in good company.
FOMO is definitely a huge thing, and there will undoubtedly be impulse buys by people who don’t want to miss out. I won’t deny that–to the contrary, I think there will be a decent amount of that.
However, I already think budgets are stretched pretty close to their limits for many guests, to the point that there isn’t a ton of wiggle room in splurging even more. Consequently, a lot of those guests will end up spending less on souvenirs, food, etc. in order to buy a few FastPasses here and there.
Basically, I think Walt Disney World is going to have a tough time continuing to increase that beloved (to them) per guest spending metric. So many guests are already at or near their limits and will move around their spending rather than increase it.
Another great article, Tom. Thanks for all the hard work. I’m usually in tune with your thoughts but not sure I am on the demofraphic bit. I would have thought there would be many more “rich elites” than you suggest. Why? All the De luxe’s, upgraded floors and restaurants would not be profitable. The sheer volume of space for them proves it is used. Of course its a small percentage but I’d wager its a lot higher than one would think. On the paid stuff – Yes, Disney fans will literally pay anything. If you can sell out a $70p/p dessert party – you can sell a paid fastpass.
Again, it’s a numbers game. Dessert parties are incredibly low capacity–we’re talking hundreds of people per day. FastPass was utilized by tens of thousands.
A restaurant like Cosmic Ray’s or Pecos Bill does crazy volume–I don’t know the exact numbers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those restaurants is serving more guests in an hour than every Signature Restaurant at Walt Disney World combined in a single night.
Beyond that, people splurge on expensive things. That doesn’t mean those individuals have limitless budgets. Some can, but many others have to make difficult decisions and allocate their budgets to what matters most to them. Maybe they’ll reallocate some money from fancy meals to paid FastPass–maybe they won’t.
Sounds like a carnival or state fair. You pay big $$ to get IN to the fair only to find out that every single ride or attraction costs “tickets”… then you have to go buy exorbitantly priced tickets, count them out (times however many kids you have)… by then most of the fun or “magic” has been sucked out of the day & everyone just wants to go home. This system sounds like a nightmare, “Pay to play” app that my children keep asking for upgrades on. No thanks.
I really enjoy reading your blog and appreciate your work. I’m scheduled for a two week trip to WDW with my family in August 2022 and are staying at an on-site resort. If your right and this Premier Access will be offered and a fee per ride will be access, I will not being taking advantage of this. For a family of four it would just be too expensive to pay to skip the lines on the most popular rides. However, if WDW offers something like Universal Studios offers, pay an extra price per person and you can skip all the lines on the more popular rides, then I would be willing to pay for it. I’m really hoping that they do something different. Maybe WDW could offer something different for families who are staying at one of their resorts.
Hi Tom! Even if I don’t always agree with you, I’m blown away at the length to which you are able to analyze stuff! Cool! As for the price increases for the new version of Fastpass, I sadly believe that there is practically no limit to what most Disney guests are willing to pay. It seems that rational thinking ceases to exist once they reach the parks. Ticket, admission, parking, dining, souvenir prices (and more) have constantly gone up and the parks are crowded… Guests complain but go anyway.
I predict the Premier Access will fail at DLP at the current pricing. I’m surprised they are trying it there first. I’ve been there several times, and I don’t really see the DLP crowd as being free spenders.
> none of the Disney parks are destinations for “the rich” or elites. To be sure, there’s a very small subset of wealthy guests visiting the parks.
I’m not sure that’s the right angle to view this question from, as surely many guests are paying with credit and worrying about the details later. I think rather than asking how much people have in the bank, it’s more relevant to ask how much they’re willing to spend when they’re on a Disney vacation (furthermore, spend on impulse in crowds and heat). How much does the average guest spend, after all? Are they going to balk at extra hundreds when they’ve already spent thousands? Honest questions to which I don’t know the answers.
Tom, first and foremost thank you for all your effort and hard work keeping us up to date. I do have a question I’m hoping you might have some insight . My husband and I bring our adult disabled daughter to Disney every year. We generally need to have longer stays as she cannot tolerate being in the parks more then 2-3 hours tops I never notice the DAS being talked about in regard to fast pass conversations With all this new Fast pass coming down the pike , what will happen to DAS? Any thoughts? We generally don’t get to go on more then 2-3 rides per day. I feel like it’s going to get even worse.
Thanks for your breaking news and insights Tom. I always appreciate your commentary and am impressed with how often your forecasts on these type changes are spot on. This being said, I’m disappointed with Disney on this one. If this “pay to play” goes how I think it is going to go, our annual WDW trips may be a thing of the past. Based on my recent experience, this is going to be bad for guests who don’t pay up. I saw the downside and reduced guest experience for those who did not purchase fast pass up close and personal at Cedar Point this past week. I realize that a roller coaster park is not exactly an apples to apples comparison to WDW but at Cedar Point they’ve had a “Fast Lane” and “Fast Lane Plus” program in place for a few years now so I think it a prime example of what will happen at WDW. I, like most others reading these comments, have been to WDW 20+ times and have visited many other theme parks around the country. Growing up in Michigan, I made plenty of summer day trips to Cedar Point so I thought I was familiar with all the tricks and tips on how to avoid long lines, maximize rides per day, etcetera. Then came my experience this past week. It had been several years since I visited Cedar Point, the last time was ~8 years ago and prior to “Fast Lane”…I think. Anyway, given the demographic of who visits Cedar Point I thought there was no way that enough people were going to pay >$110 or >$160 on top of the regular $65 admission to have “Fast Lane” access that would affect my park experience, boy was I wrong. Not only did the “Fast Lane” passes sell out (I saw signs posted outside the shop selling them stating this fact), even those “Fast Lane” lines were up to 30min for the premier roller coasters. I even observed a Fast Lane line with a posted 1hr wait time. Needless to say, those of us cheapskates who thought we could ride roller coasters all day without waiting >1hr for each ride were sorely mistaken. We could not even rope drop a top tier roller coaster without over a 1hr wait due to the Fast Lane customers filling up the queue and making multiple runs why the rest of watched in frustration. I’m not mad at the people who paid >$200/pp for a day of roller coaster fun any more than I’d be upset with someone who paid for front row tickets to a concert. What does bother me about it is that at least with the concert, those people who paid more didn’t make my experience any worse. With the paid fast passes, I feel that as long as it makes them money then it will be here for good and those who are willing to pay will have a good experience at the expense of those of us who remember the good ol days of free fast passes. Maybe Disney will surprise us by offering some sort of “free” perk to on-site guests, but given the models of pay to play and how successful they are, I highly doubt it.
We have been going to Disney since the early 90’s over 30 times. For me it starting to wear thin. I agree with most of the comments. There is no way that we should pay anything after paying over $100/day/person. We are retired so we don’t have the disposable income. I don’t see how a middle class family could justify the expense. Disney is crossing the line with me. They are WOKE!
BTW we appreciate your work.