Disney World Launches New Lightning Lane Premier Pass: Pricing Trends and Best Days to Buy

23 days ago in "Disney Genie"

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Posted: Wednesday October 30, 2024 8:09am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Starting today, October 30, 2024, Walt Disney World is introducing a new service called the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, designed exclusively for guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resorts, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, and select partner hotels.

This premium offering provides access to Lightning Lanes at popular attractions across Disney parks, allowing guests to bypass standby lines without scheduling specific times.

With the Premier Pass launching today, here's a look at pricing trends over the next three weeks across the four Disney parks, highlighting the minimum, maximum, and average prices you can expect.

Lightning Lane Premier Pass Pricing Trend for First 3 Weeks

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Current Price: $129
Range: $129 - $159
Number of Lightning Lane Attractions Included: 10

Trend Observations: Animal Kingdom's Lightning Lane Premier Pass pricing stays relatively stable, fluctuating between $129 and $159. The peaks occur primarily over weekends, with Fridays through Sundays typically priced higher than mid-week days.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Current Price: $269
Range: $269 - $329
Number of Lightning Lane Attractions Included: 14

Trend Observations: Hollywood Studios shows significant price variation of up to $60, with weekends and Mondays reaching $309 to $329. Prices drop on select midweek days to $269, reflecting a pricing approach that aligns with demand, especially for popular attractions like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

EPCOT

Current Price: $169
Range: $169 - $209
Number of Lightning Lane Attractions Included: 11

Trend Observations: EPCOT's pricing tends to rise to $209 on weekends, while weekdays are more moderately priced at $169 to $189. The trend reflects an expectation of increased demand on weekends when EPCOT hosts popular seasonal festivals, such as the International Food & Wine Festival.

Magic Kingdom

Current Price: $329
Range: $329 - $399
Number of Lightning Lane Attractions Included: 20

Trend Observations: Magic Kingdom is the highest-priced pass across all parks, peaking at $399 on a Saturday and also shows the highest variation between low and high pricing. Prices stabilize at $369 or $379 midweek, suggesting Disney anticipates high demand for Magic Kingdom's premier attractions like TRON Lightcycle / Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, particularly on weekends.

Key Takeaways

Weekend Premiums: Most parks and weeks show higher prices on weekends, indicating Disney expects increased guest flow on Saturdays and Sundays.

Demand-Based Adjustments: Parks with more major attractions, such as Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, exhibit higher maximum prices, likely driven by demand for limited-capacity experiences.

Consistent Midweek Rates: Midweek days, particularly Tuesdays, usually offers slightly lower prices across most parks, which could present a value opportunity for guests with flexible schedules.

As this new system launches, it will be interesting to monitor if these prices remain consistent or adjust further based on demand patterns. For those planning trips, checking the Lightning Lane pricing calendar ahead of time may help in budgeting for these premium access options.

Everything You Need to Know About Disney's New Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Walt Disney World

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GhostHost100048 minutes ago

Bob being told people are actually paying for this

DCBaker52 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

Ayla1 hour 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.