Ever since the pandemic, one of the biggest annoyances at Disney theme parks has been the monetization of lines for rides.
A few years ago, Disney invented a way to trick customers into paying extra for something that was previously bestowed for free as a mark of Disney’s fabled quality. The standard lines, the ones most of us grew up waiting in for rides, have been systematically and intentionally slowed down. Only people who shell out more cash are permitted to wait in the quicker version of the line, Lightning Lane, which is engineered to move a little faster.
Unless guests want to be relegated to second-class Disney citizenship and forced to endure the slow regular line, they must now pay extra. Those costs mount up. They can be as much as $29 more per person per day for so-called “Multi Pass” access to attractions that have been outfitted with Lightning Lane. On top of that, customers pay even more (in Magic Kingdom, up to $35 per person more each day) to earn “Single Pass” entry to the top tier of the most popular rides. All those charges can now add a potential one-day total of $64 per person—on top of admission, parking, and all that—just to wait in lines that used to be free 5 years ago.
Considering admission alone for a day at Magic Kingdom usually costs $164–$179 for anyone over the age of 9, that brings the grand total of a typical ticket to Magic Kingdom with Lightning Lane access to $243 for a single day. Per person.
Now Disney is trying out a premium add-on product, Lightning Lane Premier Pass, that grants one-click Lightning Lane once-a-day access to all eligible attractions, without having to cobble together all the previous Multi Pass and Single Pass payments.
As we just mentioned, if you bought the two Lightning Lane varieties (Multi Pass and Single Pass) à la carte, it would cost you a maximum of $64 at Magic Kingdom, the world’s most-attended theme park. The total cost is lower on days that aren’t busy.
But Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which includes the two, will cost up to $449 a day (not including park admission). On the quietest days, the price will only go down to $129.
Notice how much higher $449 is than $64.
It’s just the latest Disney cash grab that’s bound to seduce people who are bad with their money, and it’s another notable entry on the list of Disney’s weird recent pricing decisions that Frommer’s has warned consumers about as recently as yesterday.
Disney’s Lightning Lane Premier pass is very similar to the Express Pass that, for many years, Universal Orlando has automatically granted to overnight guests at its three top hotels. That Universal pass can also be bought by day guests for $89 to $289, depending on the day—all markedly cheaper than Disney’s new version.
But Disney’s Premier Pass will not be offered to every guest—at least at first.
At Walt Disney World in Central Florida, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will not be given for free to guests at top-level hotels, as at Universal. At Disney, staying at a nice hotel only makes you eligible to buy the new offering. Premier Pass can only be obtained by people staying at Disney’s most expensive Deluxe-level hotels, where rooms routinely cost well over $600 a night.
Here’s a tip for getting access to Premier Pass for less money: Stay at the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin, or Swan Reserve. They are eligible hotels, but rooms there can usually be had for less money than at Disney’s hyper-overpriced Deluxe resorts.
The second way to get full Lightning Lane access for less? Don’t buy Premier Pass at all—just buy the Multi Pass and Single Pass separately and you’ll pay far less.
The new pass launches October 30 in Orlando. Each pass will only be valid for one park per day.
At Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will cost $400 per person per day, no matter whether you’re a child or not, and will cover both Disneyland resort theme parks on the same day. That starts October 23.
At both resorts, people who buy Lightning Lane Premier Pass will not have to schedule a time to ride, the way they do after buying the cheaper à la carte versions.
For some fans, not having to submit to Disney’s notoriously overcomplicated app and scheduling system will be justification enough for the extreme price markup. In that respect, just like Lightning Lane itself, Premier Pass is a way for Disney to create a new profit center out of its customers’ desires to be liberated from the Disney company’s self-inflicted systemic failings.
The last wrinkle in this development is that Disney recently sold a completely different product that people called the Premier Pass. The Premier Passport, offered until Covid-19 snatched it away, was an annual pass that covered both the California and Anaheim resorts (I owned one for many years). There’s a third Premier product, too: At Disneyland Paris, Lightning Lane itself is called Premier Access. I’m sorry that it’s all so confusing—Disney is supposed to be a branding genius, but there you are.
Spend that cash, Mouseheads. We hope you’ll feel satisfied after you see the grand total on your credit card statement.
Jason Cochran has written Frommer’s guide books to Walt Disney World, Universal, and Orlando since 2006.