Disney World Pilots New Lightning Lane Premier Pass for Deluxe Resort Guests Starting October 30, 2024

Oct 16, 2024 in "Disney Genie"

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Posted: Wednesday October 16, 2024 8:06am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Beginning October 30, 2024, Walt Disney World will pilot a new service called the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, offering an exclusive option for guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, and select partner hotels. This pass provides an opportunity for eligible visitors to gain quicker access to attractions, but with limited availability and specific purchasing guidelines.

Lightning Lane Premier launches at Walt Disney World on October 30, 2024

Priced between $129 to $449 (per pass, plus tax), the Premier Pass grants one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane experience in a single park for one day. This includes attractions available with both the Multi Pass and Single Pass. Unlike the existing Multi and Single passes, the Premier Pass doesn’t require you to select arrival windows for each attraction. You can enter Lightning Lane entrances whenever you choose.

How to Purchase the Lightning Lane Premier Pass

To purchase the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, guests must open the My Disney Experience app, where it will be available for eligible guests to buy up to seven days before their stay. Prices will vary depending on the date and theme park, and availability is expected to be limited. It’s important to note that the pass can only be purchased by guests staying at eligible resorts during their stay at Walt Disney World.

Once purchased, the pass provides one-time access to each available Lightning Lane entrance at one park per day. Guests can skip standby lines for attractions and enjoy a shorter wait time. After tapping into an attraction with a linked MagicBand, MagicBand+, Disney MagicMobile pass, or another admission method, they can continue to use the pass throughout the day.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the Lightning Lane Premier Pass will fluctuate based on demand, date, and the park selected. Guests can view the cost for their selected date in the My Disney Experience app, but availability is expected to be highly limited due to the pilot nature of the program.

Disney's Animal Kingdom: $129 - $199 + tax per person
EPCOT: $169 - $249 + tax per person
Disney's Hollywood Studios: $269 - $349 + tax per person
Magic Kingdom: $329 - $449 + tax per person

Eligible guests will be able to purchase the pass for their entire length of stay, up to 14 days, starting at 7:00 AM Eastern Time up to seven days before their first day at the resort. It’s essential to have valid theme park admission, and in some cases, park reservations may also be required.

Eligibility and Resorts Participating in the Pilot Program

The Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available exclusively to guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, and select hotels, including the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Swan Hotel, and Shades of Green Resort.

Here is the full list of eligible resorts:

Disney Deluxe Resort Hotels: Animal Kingdom Lodge, Beach Club Resort, BoardWalk Inn, Contemporary Resort, Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Polynesian Village Resort, Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club Resort
Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts: Bay Lake Tower, Boulder Ridge Villas, Copper Creek Villas, Animal Kingdom Villas (Jambo House & Kidani Village), Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Villas, Old Key West Resort, Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Riviera Resort, The Villas at the Grand Floridian
Select Other Hotels: Walt Disney World Dolphin, Swan, Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green

Guests staying at these resorts will have the opportunity to enhance their park experience with this new pass, though it remains to be seen how Disney will refine the program based on guest feedback during the pilot phase.

Using the Lightning Lane Premier Pass

Once the pass is purchased, it can be activated by simply heading to the Lightning Lane entrance of any participating attraction and tapping in with a linked admission method. The app also allows guests to track their Lightning Lane experiences through the “My Day” feature, helping visitors manage which attractions they’ve already redeemed and what’s still available.

How does Lightning Lane Premier Pass differ from Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass?

All 3 Lightning Lane passes enable you to skip the standby line and use the Lightning Lane entrance to join a shorter line for select theme park attractions and experiences.

However, Lightning Lane Premier Pass differs from Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass in the following ways:

Provides More Flexibility: With Lightning Lane Premier Pass, you don’t have to choose arrival windows for Lightning Lane attractions and experiences—so you can enter Lightning Lane entrances for the experiences you want, when you want (subject to availability). With other Lightning Lane passes, you must choose an arrival window for each Lightning Lane experience.
Includes Each Available Lightning Lane Experience in One Park: Lightning Lane Premier Pass gives you one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane experience in one park for one day. This includes Lightning Lane Multi Pass experiences and Lightning Lane Single Pass experiences in that park.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass both include photo perks—so you’ll receive digital downloads of select attraction photos and videos from your day, captured with Disney PhotoPass Service. Plus, access Disney PhotoPass Lenses. Disney PhotoPass Terms and Conditions apply. These photo perks are not included with Lightning Lane Single Pass.

Eligibility

In order to purchase any Lightning Lane pass, you must have valid park admission. Park reservations may also be required, depending on the date of your visit. Please see theme park reservation requirements.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available in very limited quantities for Guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts and other select hotels.

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GhostHost100043 minutes ago

Bob being told people are actually paying for this

DCBaker47 minutes ago

Lightning Lane Premier Pass has now sold out at Magic Kingdom on November 23. Here's a look at the dates and park locations that are currently sold out: Magic Kingdom: 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 Hollywood Studios: 25, 28

Ayla55 minutes ago

So, as suspected, not enough takers. 😂

HauntedPirate1 hour ago

With this new opportunity to spend an exorbitant amount of money on something, this is the only thing I feel right now...

JMcMahonEsq1 hour ago

Ah I get you, reading and typing on phone you can lose context. I still honestly don’t see the craziness on the cake here tbh. Is it expensive, sure, though I do agree the size is enough that you can split the dessert, so I don’t think 30 bucks for dessert for 2 people is all that crazy/dumb. I mean I took my son last night to 5 guys for dinner. A burger/fries/shake was over 20bucks. And that was to go, from a fast food chain restaurant, in the suburbs of Northern NJ. It’s not obviously an apples to apples comparison but if I am going to pay 20 bucks for a to go burger and fries, at a local fast food place, how much am I really complaining about spending an extra 10 bucks to split a desert while on vacation at the largest tourist destination in us?

JohnD1 hour ago

At the current price point for Premier, I'm not hoping for this at all. I'll stick with Single/Multipass, thank you. My costs came to around $300 over 5 days. MK is $339-$449 on one day only. It really isn't that difficult in multipass to pick another experience on the app after using one.

JohnD1 hour ago

My combined costs for Single/Multipass came to about $300 over 5 days. $329-$429 for MK on one day is WAY out of my price point. LLMP is going to stay around a while.

Fido Chuckwagon1 hour ago

I wasn't referring to Lightning Lane Premier Pass. I'm talking about $30 for a piece of previously frozen cake, which was in the post that I quoted. I can certainly afford that type of meal (and would certainly pay that type of price or more at an actual Michelin-starred restaurant). But paying that price for previously frozen cake in a faux-fancy establishment? Lol, no. That's for dumb people. Sorry, but it is.

Disstevefan11 hour ago

I think the cracks are, while they are making the immediate truckloads of money from VIP tours and LLPP, used by the one time visitor, they are raising prices on everything constantly and losing sight of ther returning guests that will become priced out and stop returning. It may be Disney values the one time “limitless spending because I am here now and not returning” guest more than the returning guest. But if that’s the case, WHY the continued building of DVC towers? Perhaps to lock these folks in for decades and once they sign the contract, there is no need for any perks for these folks aside from a lounge here and there. Therefore, in my opinion, Disney loves the “spare no expense” one time visitor AND the “locked in” DVC owner. All others meh.

JD802 hours ago

What cracks?

lewisc2 hours ago

The remaining campsites will be sold AS DVC camp sites. Lowest nightly point requirement on property

JMcMahonEsq2 hours ago

No, its a price for people who have disposable income, and value their time. It really is that simply. That's all the product is. For people who go to the park regularly, sure you might not get it, since it might not really matter how much you get done during any one visit, as you will be back next week/month, ect. As for pricing for dumb people, if your worried about the price, then this isn't the product for you. The target audience for this product are people who are likely not considering the price. Its people who don't want to wait in line, and value their time. Listen if your life is so empty that standing around waiting for something, anything, is considered a good use of your time, go for it. But I can't think of any scerio where it would be dumb to priortize doing nothing, over doing something, especially during limtied time off, at the most magical place on earth.

HoustonHorn2 hours ago

Yup - this is the same way you can make the VIP tour financially feasible - you find 1 or 2 other families to get the total number of people as close to 10 as possible, you shorten the trip so that you do the VIP tour one day and hit all the headliners, then you do another day or two if you want to clean up the other stuff that would take more time. I know a lot of people for whom Disney is a box to check - you have kids, you have to go to Disney World. So you do this trip, splurge and never come back. The problem is that people like that are not (or were not) the core audience that developed brand loyalty, repeat trips, became DVC and AP holders, and whose kids formed core memories and brand loyalty that resulted in a cycle of repeat visitors. Bob and Josh and the rest are so in lust with the quick dollar people are spending, with the idea that there is a never-ending supply of first-time whales. That seems to be showing some cracks, but they are eroding their supply of repeat visitors. Shame.

Purduevian2 hours ago

I assume the biggest "issue" at MK is Peter Pan right after the Parade around 240ishpm (people watch the parade, then jump in the LL for big name rides). It doesn't take many people doing that to back up the line at Pan considering it only has an 800pph throughput. If 200 people get in the LL line right after the parade, you've built a 20 min LL even if 0 standby guests are allowed in. I have 0 data on this, but if they sell 2000 LLPP in a day, only ~10% of them need to do this for it to become a problem. If they sell 4000LLPP in a day only ~5% of users need to jump to Pan for this to become an issue LLMP availability on PAN didn't jump for 11/26 according to thrill data. It's possible there is a gap at like 1:45-2:45pm that I can't see though. I'm guessing they are just going to rip off standby right now.