Lightning Lane Premier Pass is launching October 23

[lsutigers03]

For WDW they say you have to be staying deluxe. I haven’t seen anything stated for DLR. Can anyone buy it for DLR? My wife and I are taking our kids for a spur of the moment trip December 25-29. With how busy the parks will be then and how little we get to do things like this we might splurge for at least one day of premier pass. But we’re staying at The Westin Anaheim so it would need to be open to everyone.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

For WDW they say you have to be staying deluxe. I haven’t seen anything stated for DLR. Can anyone buy it for DLR? My wife and I are taking our kids for a spur of the moment trip December 25-29. With how busy the parks will be then and how little we get to do things like this we might splurge for at least one day of premier pass. But we’re staying at The Westin Anaheim so it would need to be open to everyone.

Disney will take your 1,6000 dollars if they aren't sold out

 

[lsutigers03]

Disney will take your 1,6000 dollars if they aren't sold out

Haha that’s what I assumed. I guess they have to limit it in WDW because of how many resorts they have.

 

[OlliePop27]

Haha that’s what I assumed. I guess they have to limit it in WDW because of how many resorts they have.

I think it's more about demographics visiting the parks.

WDW has lots of out of town tourists splurging on a trip to a Deluxe Resort. They want their once a year or once in a lifetime trip to be perfect and not have to learn the complexities of LLMP.

DLR has a more local heavy and repeat visitor demographic. The demand will inherently be lower for LLPP at DLR because repeat or frequent visitors will just buy LLMP or nothing at all.

This is also one of the reasons the LLMP systems work completely differently on the two coasts. The old same day booking system works great at DLR, but it did not work very well at WDW.

 

[KimberMama]

My first thought as a person who has lost disabled access with the new DAS policy was that I could save up and do this on one day of our trip (just two people). Then I read that it’s only LL attractions, still only access to each attraction once per day, and only access to the LL entrance, which as we know isn’t exactly a front of line entrance. So for $400, you get LLMP, the 2 LLSP, and the ability to just show up when you want instead of scheduling using the app. It feels like Disney is underdelivering with the $400 price tag.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

I read this and it makes me dislike disney. Mickey mouse should be redesigned to reflect corporate ideals. Instead of mickey mouse he should be redesigned with dollar sign eyes, gold coin ears, and called Money Mouse.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

My first thought as a person who has lost disabled access with the new DAS policy was that I could save up and do this on one day of our trip (just two people). Then I read that it’s only LL attractions, still only access to each attraction once per day, and only access to the LL entrance, which as we know isn’t exactly a front of line entrance. So for $400, you get LLMP, the 2 LLSP, and the ability to just show up when you want instead of scheduling using the app. It feels like Disney is underdelivering with the $400 price tag.

This is also partly why DAS is also so limited

They made room for people who will pay more

 

[wench]

I drank the Disney Kool-aid a long time ago. 2 DVC memberships, Inspire level MKs, 4 trips from out of state this year alone. Once upon a time we even had the Premier APs that got you into WDW & DLR. But never ever ever ever ever will I do this.

 

[AndrewC]

$400?! This doesn't include admission right? I would debate this next week when I'm there with my friend... but $800 on top of our park tickets is pretty steep for something that is usually doable with the ~$32 pass.... maybe on peak peak days (holidays) the standard lightning lane can be disappointing, but usually I can hit most the stuff I want without too much issue...

 

[KimberMama]

This is also partly why DAS is also so limited

They made room for people who will pay more

I hadn’t even thought that this new paid program would be one more reason Disney limited DAS, and it’s disheartening.

It’s incredibly frustrating, and I do hope DAS gets amended because at present expecting the disabled guest to spend most of their time away from their party isn’t really a reasonable accommodation (if they are using return to line / wait away from line due to stamina issues, pain, anxiety, restroom access, etc.). I also don’t understand why developmental delays qualify for DAS and using the app to book return times, but being physically disabled requires the physically disabled guest to physically go to rides to get return times. I think both kinds of disabled guests should get to use the DAS system, especially since the physically disabled guest may very well be more impacted by having to physically get return times. I don’t want to pay more, I just feel trapped. I’m thinking about this a lot now because my health has deteriorated from when I used to use DAS and I will be using a walker and/or wheelchair in December.

Disney needs to fix DAS rather than creating paid ways for faster ride access and pushing disabled guests to use those. I do understand they are somewhat hampered by the ADA and what they can ask and what validation they can require (which is none). I’d much rather they use a third party to handle this, allowing people to explain exactly why they need disabled access and requiring medical validation. That could push the DAS cheaters to the paid system while not unfairly burdening truly disabled guests by making them pay for access.

 

[tx911]

I compared this to Universal Orlando's pass and I think Disney is charging far too much for basically the same product. I like the idea of not having to schedule the rides (and I think other people would appreciate having that option as well), but not at the price Disney is charging.

Yes, but one must understand that if WDW priced this at $200, there would be FAR too many people using it and it would become useless, along with the LLMP benefits. The whole idea is to limit the number of people who opt-in.

USO is a whole different ball-game, with significantly lower numbers involved. At least at the moment. I think you will find USO modifying its policies once Epic Universe comes on line.

 

[disneychrista]

I hadn’t even thought that this new paid program would be one more reason Disney limited DAS, and it’s disheartening.

I don't think this is the case. It was the abuse and overuse that put the restrictions on it. It has been rumored that there was a 4 times increase in people using DAS pre Genie+ LL vs post Genie+ LL. I don't think it was even intended to be used by people, who like me, have IBSD and could have immediate needs for a restroom. To be honest it really doesn't matter if I had DAS or not, the 15 minutes I was in line could be the time my body decided to have an episode. Though it was reassuring to know I was limiting my time trapped in lines because of DAS and I am a little concerned about my upcoming trip without it.

 

[AndrewC]

Hmm... this is interesting thinking about it a little more. If you plan both pay to ride attractions, and the multi pass, that would be at least $76 for the day, meaning this Premier pass is "only" $324 more. Somehow that actually seems a little more "possible" for me. I think some adjustments could make this really powerful and more popular. I think I might actually bite on this if it had been "14 uses at Disneyland and 10 uses at DCA in a single day with a limit of 3 uses on the same attraction." Something like that. I don't think at this price it would have a skyrocket take rate, I just don't think there are that many small families going and with a larger family (4+ people honestly) the price becomes staggering. I could see a couple, or parent and child, feeling more like they can afford this. $800 is NOT cheap, especially before park tickets, it's likely a $1,000 day or more, but it seems more possible than if you had a family of five buying this or something.

If I could do Rise, Space Mountain, Runaway Railway, and Indy each three times in a day and then Matterhorn and Big Thunder once and then over at DCA do Guardians, Radiator Springs, Midway and Web Slingers each twice, and then Soarin and Incredicoaster once, well.... that really moves the needle for me. I'm an adult without children so Autopia doesn't really appeal to me (I get plenty of driving between Universal and Disney on my trip, lol), Pirates usually doesn't need a line jump if you're there *all* day, same with Falcon. Over at DCA Grizzly isn't important to me since I'm not a fan of being soaked all day in the fall, and Little mermaid and Monsters usually doesn't need a line jump either if you're there long enough. I've actually never done Goofy's Sky School, it always seems like a kids attraction to me... maybe I should try it?

I wonder what happens if an attraction is down for a certain amount of time... if there was likely a chance I could get even a couple "multi experience" passes this *might* be worth trying next week... assuming I could even purchase it...

 

[sophy1996]

Hmm... this is interesting thinking about it a little more. If you plan both pay to ride attractions, and the multi pass, that would be at least $76 for the day, meaning this Premier pass is "only" $324 more. Somehow that actually seems a little more "possible" for me. I think some adjustments could make this really powerful and more popular. I think I might actually bite on this if it had been "14 uses at Disneyland and 10 uses at DCA in a single day with a limit of 3 uses on the same attraction." Something like that. I don't think at this price it would have a skyrocket take rate, I just don't think there are that many small families going and with a larger family (4+ people honestly) the price becomes staggering. I could see a couple, or parent and child, feeling more like they can afford this. $800 is NOT cheap, especially before park tickets, it's likely a $1,000 day or more, but it seems more possible than if you had a family of five buying this or something.

If I could do Rise, Space Mountain, Runaway Railway, and Indy each three times in a day and then Matterhorn and Big Thunder once and then over at DCA do Guardians, Radiator Springs, Midway and Web Slingers each twice, and then Soarin and Incredicoaster once, well.... that really moves the needle for me. I'm an adult without children so Autopia doesn't really appeal to me (I get plenty of driving between Universal and Disney on my trip, lol), Pirates usually doesn't need a line jump if you're there *all* day, same with Falcon. Over at DCA Grizzly isn't important to me since I'm not a fan of being soaked all day in the fall, and Little mermaid and Monsters usually doesn't need a line jump either if you're there long enough. I've actually never done Goofy's Sky School, it always seems like a kids attraction to me... maybe I should try it?

But isn’t it still limited to one time per attraction? So no riding two or three times using LL.

ETA: Oops, sorry, I see you’re throwing out possibilities of ways it might work, if structured differently.

 

[AndrewC]

But isn’t it still limited to one time per attraction?

It is, I would be *way* more likely to jump on it if it was limited in the total times you could use it, but allowed repeat rides up to like three or four or something.

I'm curious what happens if something is down for awhile though. Part of the selling experience is that you don't have to prearrange a time... yes no one can ride when an attraction is down and your pass would allow you to get on it as soon as it comes back up, but at 6pm or something it might limit what you plan to do if you have plans at night or have kids that might be leaving the park at 8 or something because they can't stay up long enough... so I wonder if there's some internal point where if an attraction is down like 3 hours or longer you get a multi use pass that could be used for anything, even if you've already done it.

Otherwise you could really have a very difference experience. Like Disneyland has it's a small world down for refurb. What if Indy and Rise both were down for most the day (like 5 or 6 hours). That's three of your possible 14 uses that would be gone depending when it happened or when you planned to leave the park.... that would be more than a 20% reduction in possible uses for the same price.

It sucks for anyone that misses those attractions, but it's a little different when you explicitly pay EXTRA for an implicit advertised feature (14 uses, once for each attraction). So I wonder how Disney would handle that

 

[Aspencreek]

Our last few times using Multipass/Genie+ we were able to get done basically all the LLs in DL in a day. And we are not rope-droppers but usually get in the park around 11. About the only way I see it making sense is if we had a partial day (like an evening flight home) and we wanted to make sure we could just hop from LL to LL and get them all done as quickly as possible. But even then I doubt we ever actually would pay for it.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I don't think this is the case. It was the abuse and overuse that put the restrictions on it. It has been rumored that there was a 4 times increase in people using DAS pre Genie+ LL vs post Genie+ LL. I don't think it was even intended to be used by people, who like me, have IBSD and could have immediate needs for a restroom. To be honest it really doesn't matter if I had DAS or not, the 15 minutes I was in line could be the time my body decided to have an episode. Though it was reassuring to know I was limiting my time trapped in lines because of DAS and I am a little concerned about my upcoming trip without it.

It's for sure part of it

There was no one reason for DAS becoming as limiting as it is now
They didn't even try Doctors notes

But to think this is was not of the reason to get those Q times down is ignoring everything Disney has one over the past

Disney does things because money we all agree, so why not make it harder to get DAS and make money? Its a win for them and they now have this to make more money

 

[AndrewC]

Again, it's expensive enough that I don't think you'll see 50% of people showing up that day buying it or something. It essentially makes even the cheapest multi day ticket for an adult cost $500+. A couple or parent and child, that's $1,000 before food, parking, anything else. Yes I think there is a decent number that would buy that, but again not crushing demand. A family of four or five, that's $2,000 to $2,500... I just don't think Disney would be overrun with people paying for that.

If you just were planning a single day there, on a lot of days that would be $550 to $600 per person... I actually think this is priced to where they could be more aggressive with what they could offer.

 

[Aspencreek]

What if Indy and Rise both were down for most the day (like 5 or 6 hours). That's three of your possible 14 uses that would be gone depending when it happened or when you planned to leave the park.... that would be more than a 20% reduction in possible uses for the same price.

It sucks for anyone that misses those attractions, but it's a little different when you explicitly pay EXTRA for an implicit advertised feature (14 uses, once for each attraction). So I wonder how Disney would handle that

A couple years ago we bought the ILLs for Rise the morning of our last day at the parks. Kept going down and we never did get on that day. In that case I was able to contact support after the trip and they refunded us the cost of the ILLs, but like you say what if the same thing happened with the Premier Pass? Doubt they'd give you a portion of the cost back even though that would seem justified.

 

[KimberMama]

I don't think this is the case. It was the abuse and overuse that put the restrictions on it. It has been rumored that there was a 4 times increase in people using DAS pre Genie+ LL vs post Genie+ LL. I don't think it was even intended to be used by people, who like me, have IBSD and could have immediate needs for a restroom. To be honest it really doesn't matter if I had DAS or not, the 15 minutes I was in line could be the time my body decided to have an episode. Though it was reassuring to know I was limiting my time trapped in lines because of DAS and I am a little concerned about my upcoming trip without it.

The thing is, I think a lot of people — myself included — managed our disabilities with FastPass and then MaxPass (which was really the best). When those options went away, I think many disabled people looked into DAS for the first time, increasing the number of people who used it. In other words, Disney used to have a free option to reduce line wait times (FastPass) that was good enough for many disabled people. When a paid option became the only choice, those people started looking at DAS. Sure, there were cheaters, and I’m sure there are still cheaters, but a lot of people got pushed into asking for DAS versus managing their disabilities themselves. Plenty of people would rather not have to go through the DAS screening process, which is invasive and in the past was inconsistent in terms of approval.

I can sympathize with the restroom issue, as one of my disabilities is moderate-to-severe ulcerative (pan)colitis. Certainly there are times when going to Disneyland isn’t an option at all. But even when I have symptoms under control, the stress and anxiety of long lines can cause issues (that’s just part of the disease, as you probably know with IBS-D), and there are times that my UC means I have very little energy, or significant pain. In those cases, I might manage a lightning lane line wait, but not a standby wait. I have had to leave a lightning lane, and that’s just part of it. Right now I am coming out of a major flare and my iron levels are so bad I will need to either use a rollator walker (so I can have better balance with dizzy episodes, sit immediately if needed if I get lightheaded, and also to have a place to sit if we can’t find one for the parade) or a wheelchair.

We paid for LLMP for our upcoming trip, in an attempt to make it easier on me. Pushing a walker to every (non-accessible) ride exit to get a return time makes me exhausted just thinking about it. If this $400 LL premier pass offered more than it does (such as unlimited rides, access to all rides, or a faster line time than the LL return lines), I probably would pay for it for one day, just to have a better experience.