Introducing the New Lightning Lane Premier Pass

Starting October 23, 2024, Guests of the Disneyland Resort will have the option to purchase Lightning Lane Premier Pass. Select Walt Disney World Resort hotel Guests will have the option beginning October 30, 2024.

This premium service takes Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass and takes them up a notch. Don’t worry, the first two options aren’t going anywhere! Premier Pass will simply be a third option for Guests who want an elevated experience.

Lightning Lane Premier Pass will provide one-time access to any Lightning Lane entrance, and there is no need to book an arrival window like with the other two services. Guests who purchase Premier Pass will be able to walk up to any Lightning Lane entrance, scan to redeem their pass, and enter the shortened queue. Guests will have access to one Lightning Lane entry per attraction, per day. All Lightning Lane attractions are eligible, regardless of their classification as part of the Multi Pass option or Single Pass category.

The ability to simply show up to an attraction without the need for a ride window allows theme park Guests to spend more time with friends and family and less time interfacing with the park app on their mobile device. Guests won’t need to wait for their attraction return windows; they can simply ride any time they wish. Only a limited number of Premier Passes will be available for purchase each day to keep the system from being overtaxed.

PhotoPass Lenses and digital Disney PhotoPass downloads from the day are also included with Premier Pass. Walt Disney World Resort Guests will receive all of their attraction photo and video downloads, while Disneyland Resort Guests will receive all PhotoPass photos including those from the rides. There are a few other differences between the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort versions of Premier Pass.

Disneyland Resort Lightning Lane Premier Pass

The Disneyland website explains everything here. The most important aspects to note are as follows:

• All theme park Guests are eligible to purchase Premier Passes via the Disneyland app up to 2 days in advance of their park visit. This booking window opens at 7:00 AM Pacific Time.
• Lightning Lane Premier Passes will cost $400 per person, per day through the end of 2024. Starting on January 1, 2025, pricing will vary by date and Guest demand. The range will be from $300 to $400 per person, per day in 2025.
• Both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park are included. Guests will want to make sure they have the Park Hopper option for their theme park day in order to make the most of their Premier Pass purchase. Guests who do not have the Park Hopper benefit will only be able to utilize Premier Pass in one park.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is not yet listed. I anticipate it will be part of the program when the attraction opens on November 15, 2024.

Walt Disney World Resort Lightning Lane Premier Pass

The Walt Disney World website explains everything here. The most important aspects to note are as follows:

• Guests staying at Disney Deluxe Resort hotels, Disney Deluxe Villa Resorts, Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, Walt Disney World Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green Resort ONLY are eligible to purchase Premier Passes via the My Disney Experience app up to 7 days in advance of their hotel check-in date. This booking window opens at 7:00 AM Eastern Time. Guests may purchase up to 14 days of Premier Pass at this time.
• Prices for Lightning Lane Premier Passes will vary by date and theme park. At launch, prices will range from $129 to $449 per person, per day, plus tax.
• Lightning Lane Premier Pass gives Guests one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane entrance in one park for one day. Guests who have the Park Hopper option will not have access to Lightning Lane Premier Pass in a theme park other than the one for which they have purchased Premier Pass for the day.

The Elephant in the Room (er, in the Park)

OK, let’s get real for a moment and talk about that pricing. Ouch, right? But let’s break it down a bit. First of all, the saying “Time is money” applies to your precious vacation time just as much as it does in any other situation. If you only have one day to spend in a particular theme park, it may not be possible to experience everything you hope to see using just the Standby queue. Spending hours in various lines versus jumping from attraction to attraction can make a huge difference in how much you enjoy your vacation time. While the combination of Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass can also help you maximize the number of attractions you can experience, you need to stick to your attraction return time windows, which can be limiting.

A more comparable example to Lightning Lane Premier Pass is a VIP Tour. For an even greater price tag (starting at $3150 for a party of up to 10 for a 7-hour tour), you also get the equivalent of Lightning Lane access to any attraction you wish. You have one of Disney’s famous “plaids” to assist you throughout the tour, along with several surprise and delights. VIP Tours do allow for Park Hopping, so if you’d really like to maximize your theme park day by visiting up to 4 parks, this may be an even better fit than Premier Pass. Especially for large parties where $400+ per person adds up really quickly!

So, when does Lightning Lane Premier Pass make sense? In my mind, the best metric to use is a cost-per-attraction basis. For the purposes of this analysis, I’m taking shows out of the equation. While they are all worth seeing, and the performers do an amazing job, there is no real time savings to using Lightning Lane to enter a show. The theaters hold many, many people and all but the latest late-comers to the Standby line can usually be admitted into the same show as those who are in the Lightning Lane.

Hands down, Disneyland Resort is your best bet when it comes to the number of rides you can experience with Premier Pass. This holds especially true if you have a Park Hopper pass and boundless energy. If you are visiting on a day with longer than usual park hours, when Haunted Mansion is in its non-Holiday format, and when Pirates of the Caribbean participates in Lightning Lane, you would have the opportunity to experience as many as 24 rides via the Lightning Lane queue. That breaks out to less than $17 per attraction.

The next best place to experience Premier Pass is the Magic Kingdom. You’d have access to 18 rides (and two shows) with the variably-priced add-on. Two of the rides are currently participating in Lightning Lane Single Pass, so there is some value in purchasing Premier Pass versus purchasing two Lightning Lane Single Passes and Lightning Lane Multi Pass for the day. While I’m sure Premier Pass will always add up to more than these three purchases, remember the extra value of not needing to wait for specific time windows to open for each ride.

Will Lightning Lane Premier Pass be for everyone? Absolutely not! But if you have specific attraction goals in mind for your vacation, this could be a way to make them more feasible. Clients who book their Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort vacations with Passes and Ports will have access to our planning expertise so you can make the most informed Lightning Lane decisions. Message us, and we will be happy to get you started on your path to adventure!