Disney’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass: Is It Worth the Shocking Price Tag?

Christian looking with a questioning look at the Lightning Lane Premier Pass logo for Disney parks

Disney Parks have announced that they’re piloting a new Lightning Lane Premier Pass option, and while on paper it may sound good at first, upon closer look there are some……..interesting things about this new Lightning Lane option. So let’s take a look and decide if Lightning Lane Premier Pass is going to be a good value for you on your next Disney vacation.

The Chaos of Skipping Lines at Disney Parks

Let’s face it – most people that visit Disney parks miss the days of the old paper Fast Passes. They were included for free with the cost of admission. You walked up to a ride, picked out a piece of paper at said ride, it told you when to come back, and you came back at that time to ride the ride without waiting in line. You didn’t have to pay more to do certain rides. It was just included in the cost of admission and fairly easy to figure out. 

Eventually though, Disney began complicating the system, and we got things like Fast Pass+, where resort guests could reserve their times ahead of time and use mobile phones. Then after the pandemic, we got Genie+, a complete overhaul of the system which had its own issues. And more recently, we’ve gotten a shift into Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass, as the name implies, is good for multiple attractions throughout the parks. You purchase it for each person each day at whichever park or parks you’re planning on visiting, and it allows you to pick a time to come back and ride that attraction without waiting in the standby queue.

Lightning Lane Single Pass is for newer and more popular attractions at Disney parks. Basically, they are not included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass – you have to purchase an additional pass in order to shorten your wait time with these attractions. So those are for rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tron Lightcycle Run, Avatar: Flight of Passage, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. If you want to ALSO shorten your wait time at OTHER rides at those parks, you have to also purchase a Multi Pass. Are you with me so far? Not like it’s super confusing at all.

Ever since this system rolled out, I’ve wanted an option where I can purchase and shorten the wait times for every ride in the park. I didn’t wanna have to purchase a Multi Pass if I wanted to do most of the rides, and then purchase a Single Pass to truly ride everything.

What is Lightning Lane Premier Pass?

Enter what Disney has just announced: the Lightning Lane Premier Pass. At first, it sounds wonderful. You pay one price and you’re able to ride every ride in the park that has a Lightning Lane system once a day. That includes rides that are on both Single Pass and Multi Pass. Sounds great, right? Should be simple, right? Well, as has been the pattern with Disney recently, there are some interesting things have to do with said Premier Pass.

First of all, the cost. So with Lightning Lane, the cost varies each day depending on a variety of factors, including crowd levels, time of year, etc. So there’s going to be a price range for each park and each park is going to have a different price.

So again, let’s take Magic Kingdom as an example. Let’s say that we are going to Buy Lightning Lane Premier Pass on the cheapest day, so it’s going to be $330 plus tax per person per day. Let’s just for even number sake, forget about taxes for a second, and let’s just say that a buying Lightning Lane Premier Pass is going to be $330.

With Lightning Lane Premier Pass, I can ride ANY ride that has a Lightning Lane once a day. In addition, you do not have to select a reserve time to come back and ride the attraction – you basically buy Premier Pass, and you can just show up in an attraction, wait in the shorter line, and get on. That’s what you get for $330.

Is There A Cheaper Option Than Lightning Lane Premier Pass?

So then what’s the cheaper alternative? Let’s say that I want to pay for a Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass so that I can ride all the Lightning Lane attractions in the park except for Tron Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. I’ll have to wait in regular standby line for those two attractions. Lightning Lane Multi pass usually costs at the most around $30.

That doesn’t make sense to me. Why is it an additional $240 for me to just not reserve a time to come back to the ride? Why does it cost so much? $240 is much as much or more as it costs to skip the line at other premier theme parks across the world. Why am I paying $90 to skip all of the rides at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park, and then an additional $240 to just be able to show up at the ride and not have to reserve a specific time slot?

So let’s say we’re going on one of the least busy days at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and we’re gonna spend $270 for the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which means we’ll be able to ride all the lightning lane attractions in the park, including Star Wars Rise of Resistance, which some may argue is the most popular ride on property. In addition, we won’t have to reserve any specific time to come back and ride those attractions. We can just show up at the Lightning Lane entrance and walk into that line, which should be shorter than the regular standby line.

Now again, let’s take a look at our other option. If we buy a Lightning Lane Multi Pass, that’s about $30 per person per day plus tax. And let’s say I don’t want to wait in the line for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance because that thing breaks down a lot. So let’s say that we also want to purchase a Single Pass for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance. That costs us an additional $30.

Another big point – this doesn’t include park hopping. So you pay all this money and can’t go from park to park. You can only use it in the park you’ve purchased for that day.

Frustrations With Disney Compared to Competitors

And this is what has been frustrating me about Disney as of late. Disney has some of the most visited theme parks in the world, including parks like Magic Kingdom, which actually is the most visited theme park in the world. Why is it so hard for them to figure out how to make this system work when there are a plethora of other theme parks that have figured this system out?

To use my Universal Express Pass Unlimited, I purchase it, show up to the park, show up to the Express line at the ride……….and that’s it. Disney, however has decided that’s making it that easy should actually cost you more, because remember, with Lightning Lane Premier Pass, you’re paying an extra $200 on top of their regular Lightning Lane products to be able to just show up at the ride without needing to reserve a specific time slot. The math in the pricing just makes no sense to me.

Additionally, Disney has announced that they’re rolling this out in the coming weeks and that only guess who stay at Deluxe Resorts at Walt Disney World are able to purchase the Lightning Lane Premier Pass. So you have to be staying at the most expensive resorts on property, and then you have to pay for the most expensive Lightning Lane option (which again can be as much as about $400 per person per day), on top of your expensive Disney World tickets, on top of your expensive hotel stay.

What About Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Disneyland Resort?

So as usual, for some strange reason, Disney has decided to make things different over at Disneyland. For Disneyland Resort, the Lightning Lane Premier Pass is going to cost $400 for the rest of 2024. Let’s break that down. 

Now at Disneyland, both theme parks are included, so you will be able to skip the line for all Lightning Lane attractions at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. But for $400? What if you don’t want to visit both parks on one day? So again, you’re better off paying for Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass individually at both parks, and it will still be cheaper. You’ll have to select a time to come back to your attraction, but you will still be saving a few hundred dollars essentially – more if you’re coming with a large family.

Who Is Lightning Lane Premier Pass For?

To be honest, when you first hear about it, it sounds like it would be for people that want to be able to skip lines for all the attractions at the Disney parks, including myself. But then when you look at the details, like the cost as well as the fact that at Walt Disney World, you can’t park hop at all, I don’t know who this pass is for.

On top of that, currently, you can only purchase this if you’re staying at the most expensive resort hotels on Disney World property. So you’re already spending a lot of money on the hotel, on the tickets, and now you’re going to spend a lot of money on Lightning Lane Premier Pass to not have to reserve a wait time for when you come back to the attraction.

It’s entirely possible that in the future, Disney adjusts some things and it becomes more lucrative and more worth it in the long run. But I think right now, it’s going to be a better value if you just pay for the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and the Lightning Lane Single Pass together. That way, you can also get the Lightning Lane option that includes park hopping, and it’s still going to be cheaper, even if you have to reserve a spot to come back and ride your ride.

Christian McIlwain

Christian has been a fan of theme parks since he was a child. He grew up visiting Kennywood Park throughout his childhood. He has over twenty years of experience both researching and working in the industry, including his current role as a travel agent and advisor. Currently, he lives in Atlanta, GA where he frequently visits Six Flags Over Georgia and Orlando area theme parks.

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