I bought Lightning Lane Premier Pass so you (maybe?) don’t have to….

[BrianL]

This is a really useful review. Thanks for biting the bullet and trying it!

 

[twodogs]

If a ride goes down during your LLPP day, do you get a MEP for that ride, or are you just expected to go back and ride it when it comes back up? I know your day was a little confusing since you were using LLPP and LLMP, but my understanding is that the MEPs that you received were only triggered by you having a LLMP booked at a time when a ride went down (and therefore nothing happens when a ride goes down and you have LLPP)?

 

[disneychrista]

If a ride goes down during your LLPP day, do you get a MEP for that ride, or are you just expected to go back and ride it when it comes back up? I know your day was a little confusing since you were using LLPP and LLMP, but my understanding is that the MEPs that you received were only triggered by you having a LLMP booked at a time when a ride went down (and therefore nothing happens when a ride goes down and you have LLPP)?

I wouldn't think an MEP would be necessary if a ride goes down during the day because you are not locked to a specific time. I would guess it would only be if you were scanned into the attraction when the ride went down that you would get an MEP.

 

[AndrewC]

So I only experienced an attraction going down with Rise and we hadn’t scanned in yet. I *think* I heard cast members saying if people had lightning lanes they would be “good until 6pm.” Those likely would have been in reference to the paid ones since I got the general feel that only a couple cast members knew about the Premier pass. Nothing that I could tell happened in the app, IE no extra multi experience or anything. Possibly if Rise was down for an extended time (past that 6pm, which was about 3 hrs away) something would have happened, but I can’t say since Rise came up about 45 minutes later.

All the multi experience I had been getting throughout the day were from standard lightning lane bookings.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Thanks for trying it out and sharing your experience.

 

[Disneyhanna]

Nice review and I always like hearing how much people can get done in reality. As a semi frequent visitor I think it’s tough to justify the cost but I can see the appeal for people with a short trip that don’t know the parks (and lightning lane tricks) well.

To compare, here is what we accomplished with regular LLMP on Friday and Saturday this weekend. We are good at refreshing and found a majority of rides had immediate or almost immediate return times, and we ended up doing standby if under ~10 minutes to save our LLs (and ended up being too tired to repeat many rides anyways ). We had a couple MEPs that helped us out as well.

Friday (rope drop):
Alice
Snow White
Matterhorn (standby, waited 15)
Haunted mansion holiday
Runaway railway
Big thunder
Indiana jones
Pirates
Matterhorn
Space mountain
Buzz
Goofy’s sky school
Guardians
Monsters inc
Webslingers

Saturday (arrived just after park open):
Toad
Snow White
Pinnochio
Runaway railway (standby walk on)
Big thunder
Indy
Pirates
Smugglers run (standby, waited 10)
Rise (standby, waited 40)
Roger rabbit
Midway Mania
Webslingers
Monsters after dark
Space mountain
Haunted mansion
Cars (single rider, waited 25)

Overall seems like we did a similar number of rides but it probably took us several hours longer and required more steps (crossing the parks) using LLMP. Curious on your step counts? We had a 10-15 min walk coming from the Wyndham Garden Inn but overall around 28-29k these days for us. We were done by 9 or 10pm both nights, could have done more rides but too tired by then. We had a snack every 1-2 rides and hit just about every shop in both parks.

I forgot how long some of the lightning lanes can get since they merge so early such as Indy. Even those 15 minute waits add up especially on the feet! I think that’s a downside of the LLPP, even if you can ride everything, I’m not sure I’d have the endurance. And surely I’d rather re-ride a few select things than utilize LL for rides that don’t need a LL anyways. So many rides are walk on before 10AM after all.

If I had more money to burn I’d love to try and hit every single eligible ride on a LLPP, just to see how long it would take with the right strategy!

 

[Steven G]

if it helps, a VIP tour for 7 hours can hit on average about 16 to 20 individual attractions on an average to pretty busy day (20 is a stretch in 7 hours, but possible if you avoid attractions that are long duration ride time like Pirates or Small World).

If you add on before and after the VIP tour, you could probably pretty easy hit another 5 to 10 attractions.

Obviously, if you are on a VIP tour with 10 people, you may run into more slowdowns, so a 7 hour tour with 10 people that are not all all gung ho, may limit the # of attractions.

But back to LLMP:
Now LLMP doesn't include the non LL attractions, but you could leave the non-LL attractions for either the morning, the evening, or another day, so I don't see why you couldn't do 15+ LLMP attractions pretty easily on your LLMP day. There are 22 total LLMP attractions, and at least for me, there are three of those that I can easily want to skip or at the very least lowest priority (Autopia, Grizzly River Run and Goofy's Sky School for me, but your mileage may vary of course!). I guess that will (eventually) be 23 attractions when Tiana's opens, but Pirates may be removed at that point so back to 22 (Technically as of this moment, there are 21, since Haunted Mansion is still on Virtual Queue).

Now whether 15-20 LLMP attractions is worth the price... well...

 

[LKing]

We were in the parks on Saturday and heard a couple of parties talking about their LLPP. My guess is that there is more appeal than people on this forum think.

 

[cruisehopeful]

We were in the parks on Saturday and heard a couple of parties talking about their LLPP. My guess is that there is more appeal than people on this forum think.

I do think it will be popular. I see so many VIP tours whenever I visit the parks. It's really been an astonishing amount. If a group of 10 bought this, it's only $4K, which is certainly less than a VIP tour. I realize that the VIP tours offer more, but for those who just want to slam a bunch of rides, LLPP is a much better value.

 

[otten]

We were in the parks on Saturday and heard a couple of parties talking about their LLPP. My guess is that there is more appeal than people on this forum think.

Honestly i very much doubt that the main market for PP is going to be people who spend time on Disney forums/social media. People on the dis and elsewhere have done/are doing more research to maximize park time and are less likely to see a benefit to PP compared to regular LLMP and LLSP. I suspect Disney's target market for PP are the people who haven't done/don't want to do any research and just want easy with no thinking involved.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Honestly i very much doubt that the main market for PP is going to be people who spend time on Disney forums/social media. People on the dis and elsewhere have done/are doing more research to maximize park time and are less likely to see a benefit to PP compared to regular LLMP and LLSP. I suspect Disney's target market for PP are the people who haven't done/don't want to do any research and just want easy with no thinking involved.

Amen.

 

[LKing]

I agree completely. I often see people around the park, confused with how to navigate the app.

 

[AndrewC]

I'll see if I can dig up some information on steps, I don't personally track it since I don't use a smart watch (I'm often in a place at work where I can have no personal electronics of any kind on me, so a smart watch just seemed useless when half the time it was sitting in a lock box). I think iPhone kinda sort of tracks steps, so I'll see if I can dig into that. My friend who DID have a smart watch did comment about 3/4 into our day that she was at HALF the steps of Monday, which was our very packed full day. DCA is wild with the Premier pass, as long as attractions aren't really down, you feel like you hardly move to get from attraction to attraction. It's a really weird feeling and you can easily knock the park out in just a few hours. Disney feels MUCH MORE spread out, like annoyingly so after how DCA feels. But, again, it's nowhere near what it's like when you maximize standard lightning lanes. I might not max it out as much as everyone else here, but I certainly am no stranger from Tomorrowland to Galaxy's Edge and back, at least two or three times and the same with Adventure land. It's a huge amount of "wasted" time and energy. Assuming attractions stay fairly up and you don't have hard anchored events (like meals), you could really just go in a linear pattern around Disneyland and be really low on the steps compared to bouncing around, again I would easily believe half as many steps, maybe even less (we did have to bounce for Rise).

Edit: I'll note that it was unfortunate that this went on sale the day we had a lunch booked (and a long one at that, an hour), and then the Chef's Counter at Napa Rose. I guess in a way this was a great "real world" run when you have hard reservations you can't move and you want to pack stuff in, but this wasn't a "how long does it take me before I literally have done everything the pass allowed me to do." We were only in the park probably 6 or 7 hours total....

 

[laugard]

I agree completely. I often see people around the park, confused with how to navigate the app.

Are you like me LKing, also often overhearing people sharing bad information and deciding when is appropriate to nicely chime in to correct/help them?

I usually try to if it makes sense (like they're next to me in line so of course I'd overhear), but sometimes it seems intrusive and too random (I have excellent hearing haha)

 

[LKing]

Are you like me LKing, also often overhearing people sharing bad information and deciding when is appropriate to nicely chime in to correct/help them?

I usually try to if it makes sense (like they're next to me in line so of course I'd overhear), but sometimes it seems intrusive and too random (I have excellent hearing haha)

I enjoy meeting people and helping out where I can. However, I am very careful because there was a thread where people were very passionate about the fact that strangers should not assume that people want to talk to them.

This past weekend in line for Pirates, we helped a woman book her first LL (and it was already noon). She thought she had booked one earlier in the day, but hadn't and couldn't figure out what she did wrong. If people are standing around me looking at the app (or a map) confused, I'll ask if they need help with directions.

This past weekend, we heard someone asking if they could use their LLPP on HMH. The CM at the front told them that they could not because it was VQ. They seemed a little confused. I don't think they knew what VQ was. I also heard someone ask if they could use their Premier Pass at Rise.

 

[laugard]

I enjoy meeting people and helping out where I can. However, I am very careful because there was a thread where people were very passionate about the fact that strangers should not assume that people want to talk to them.

This past weekend in line for Pirates, we helped a woman book her first LL (and it was already noon). She thought she had booked one earlier in the day, but hadn't and couldn't figure out what she did wrong. If people are standing around me looking at the app (or a map) confused, I'll ask if they need help with directions.

This past weekend, we heard someone asking if they could use their LLPP on HMH. The CM at the front told them that they could not because it was VQ. They seemed a little confused. I don't think they knew what VQ was. I also heard someone ask if they could use their Premier Pass at Rise.

Oh, I think I know which thread you're referring to , and yes, that type of outreach is often best avoided

The woman was lucky to have your help. I'd hate to think if she'd gone all day and missed so many more LL opportunities.

While I do think it's not asking so much for people do a little research before visiting (as you would for most activities or travel), at one point this weekend I was modifying times for an attraction and a mobile order while also explaining the no-show policy to a friend of a friend and hopefully soon to be Magic Key holder. Pretty standard Disney info, but the thought did cross my mind for a second that hey, maybe it shouldn't be so complicated to visit and enjoy a theme park lol?

 

[twodogs]

I do think it will be popular. I see so many VIP tours whenever I visit the parks. It's really been an astonishing amount. If a group of 10 bought this, it's only $4K, which is certainly less than a VIP tour. I realize that the VIP tours offer more, but for those who just want to slam a bunch of rides, LLPP is a much better value.

I agree that I feel like VIP tours are everywhere these days (especially at WDW, but also at DL)!

As far as the better deal, it depends on if you book your VIP tour on a lower priced day or higher priced day, and if you max out the VIP at the full 10 guests. On the lowest priced days, the VIP is $500/hour, minimum 7 hours, maximum 10 hours, or $3500-$5000/day. On the most expensive day, the VIP is $800/hour, minimum 7 hours, maximum 10 hours, or $5600-$8000/day. If you truly have exactly 10 people, use only 7 hours of the VIP tour and book the lowest price day for VIP, it is cheaper than everyone getting LLPP at $4000/day (and unlike LLPP, with the VIP tour, you get VIP seating for parades, shows, WOC, fireworks, re-rides on most things, and special entrance into many non-LL attractions).

From the Disneyland VIP site:
• Ranging from $500 to $800 per hour, you and up to 9 other Guests can enjoy a customizable VIP Tour, with a minimum of 7 hours and a maximum of 10 hours.

• A maximum of 10 Guests, including infants, can be accommodated by each VIP Tour Guide.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

We used LLPP this past week and thought it was amazing. We took our niece to L.A. for part of her HS graduation gift and she wanted to do a day at DL. I booked the dates based off of when I could use my DVC points....not realizing what day July 17th was. Fast forward to when we start planning and I realize the 70th anniversary might be busy We decided to splurge that day and get the LLPP. We had already purchased date based tickets with regular LL so figured we could double dip a bit.

We started at Disneyland park which opened at 8am. The lines to get thru the turnstiles went all the way to the DCA entrance and curled around....so I was worried even with LLPP it was going to be nuts. Our plan was to rope drop Fantasyland which worked out great. Snow White/Pinocchio/Toad/Alice were all walk-on. Story boat was a 15m wait as they only had two boats running that early. I really wanted to make sure my niece, a WDW veteran, got to ride these as we don't have them on the east coast. We got in Pirates around 10:15am before our Blue Bayou reservation. It was posted at 20m but the real wait was closer to 10m. After that we started using the pass. Below are the rides we rode during the day. The ones designated (2x) we rode once via LLPP and once via regular LL.

Disneyland
It's a Small World
Haunted Mansion
Indiana Jones (2x)
MMRR
Roger Rabbit Spin
Tiana's
Big Thunder (2x)
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain (2x)
ROTR
Smugglers Run

DCA
GoTG Mission Breakout (2x)
Monster's Inc
Radiator Springs Racers
Webslingers
Incredicoaster (2x)
Soarin
TSMM

All in all we got a TON done. We had stacked a few LLs for 11pm to midnight that we didn't even use as we were exhausted. Being able to park hop on one pass is amazing. At $399 it added a pretty big expense to the day....but man it made it better. Being able to walk from ride to the next closest ride made such a difference. With LL (and FP+ before it) we would criss cross the parks all day long....which my hubby hates. But this makes it so much easier. I think if we do this again, we will NOT double dip with regular LL. It just wasn't nessary.

We will defintaly be purchasing this again in the future. Maybe not every trip....but as long as it stays $399 or below I think it's worth it for the occasional visitor....especially if only 2 or 3 people in the group.

 

[travelfanatic]

We used LLPP this past week and thought it was amazing. We took our niece to L.A. for part of her HS graduation gift and she wanted to do a day at DL. I booked the dates based off of when I could use my DVC points....not realizing what day July 17th was. Fast forward to when we start planning and I realize the 70th anniversary might be busy We decided to splurge that day and get the LLPP. We had already purchased date based tickets with regular LL so figured we could double dip a bit.

We started at Disneyland park which opened at 8am. The lines to get thru the turnstiles went all the way to the DCA entrance and curled around....so I was worried even with LLPP it was going to be nuts. Our plan was to rope drop Fantasyland which worked out great. Snow White/Pinocchio/Toad/Alice were all walk-on. Story boat was a 15m wait as they only had two boats running that early. I really wanted to make sure my niece, a WDW veteran, got to ride these as we don't have them on the east coast. We got in Pirates around 10:15am before our Blue Bayou reservation. It was posted at 20m but the real wait was closer to 10m. After that we started using the pass. Below are the rides we rode during the day. The ones designated (2x) we rode once via LLPP and once via regular LL.

Disneyland
It's a Small World
Haunted Mansion
Indiana Jones (2x)
MMRR
Roger Rabbit Spin
Tiana's
Big Thunder (2x)
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain (2x)
ROTR
Smugglers Run

DCA
GoTG Mission Breakout (2x)
Monster's Inc
Radiator Springs Racers
Webslingers
Incredicoaster (2x)
Soarin
TSMM

All in all we got a TON done. We had stacked a few LLs for 11pm to midnight that we didn't even use as we were exhausted. Being able to park hop on one pass is amazing. At $399 it added a pretty big expense to the day....but man it made it better. Being able to walk from ride to the next closest ride made such a difference. With LL (and FP+ before it) we would criss cross the parks all day long....which my hubby hates. But this makes it so much easier. I think if we do this again, we will NOT double dip with regular LL. It just wasn't nessary.

We will defintaly be purchasing this again in the future. Maybe not every trip....but as long as it stays $399 or below I think it's worth it for the occasional visitor....especially if only 2 or 3 people in the group.

Thank you for the review! I was debating on buying the Premier Pass!