LL Premier Pass is here!

[Jrb1979]

I honestly doubt you are paying $600+/night for a hotel at Cedar Point vs Disney.

In mid summer the Cedar Point hotel can be $300 a night.

 

[jennab]

I am not buying rides, I'm paying to avoid stress (not just that day but leading up to it) and avoid conflict with my traveling companions resulting from my stress and need to follow a schedule. In terms of rides, I get to still prioritize other people's interests but also ride what I want to. I am frugal overall but spend money to avoid stress and be kind to myself, and feel grateful that I can afford to.

Yes this is exactly the type of people I think will buy. Those looking for the convenience or to avoid stress. Make it more of an easy trip without the need to pre-plan or constantly be on their phone.

 

[Lewisc]

Members of DIS aren't really the target market. We go more often then average. We don't care if we don't do every attraction every trip.

I would consider the equivalent of LLPP if I went to Paris or Tokyo. A once on a lifetime trip. A trip that would include the city. An extra day at DLP or a day at Versailles? Paying to skip lines makes sense.

LLPP makes the most sense for a once in a lifetime trip. Also guests with large budgets

 

[jennab]

I don’t know. I really think it depends on the person. There are people saying they’d buy it to cut back on park days, and shave a few days off their deluxe resort stay to save money.

Oh good point. I suppose reduce the amount of nights at the resort. Squeeze more in during a shorter time frame. Although I don’t see most people staying at a deluxe resort and purchasing this to be very frugal with their vacation $.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Members of DIS aren't really the target market. We go more often then average. We don't care if we don't do every attraction every trip.

I would consider the equivalent of LLPP if I went to Paris or Tokyo. A once on a lifetime trip. A trip that would include the city. An extra day at DLP or a day at Versailles? Paying to skip lines makes sense.

LLPP makes the most sense for a once in a lifetime trip. Also guests with large budgets

Having just got back from Japan Disney being at the end, yeah...although their skip the line pass cost us under $14 per ride (exchange rate), they were 1,500 to 2,500 yen so while I agree with you in the mentality of going more all out because we viewed it as it's Japan and it's not like I'll be able to go back super quick the price point by comparison is well there is no comparison. The park tickets for at least Japan are much less too. Our tickets cost about $60 (9,400 yen) per day

I know your overall point and don't disagree and I think DLP is more in line with the discussion as I think they already have a higher price option for their get ahead of the line but I also think if the discussion gets to talking about price Tokyo Disney Resort is just far more economical to begin with so it's truly more easy to spend the money even the several hundred if talking about this new product and still cost less than a WDW day without the extras.

 

[CarolynFH]

I am not buying rides, I'm paying to avoid stress (not just that day but leading up to it) and avoid conflict with my traveling companions resulting from my stress and need to follow a schedule. In terms of rides, I get to still prioritize other people's interests but also ride what I want to. I am frugal overall but spend money to avoid stress and be kind to myself, and feel grateful that I can afford to.

IF we buy LLPP for one MK day in January (definitely IF), this will be the reason. Being able to move around the park in a manner sensitive to the toddler’s reactions and needs at the time might be worth the $$$ to me, who will otherwise by default be the LLMP/LLSP booking agent.

 

[JenSop]

Honestly, I'm surprised at how shocked I am that Disney is doing this. I know they've become money-hungry greed monsters lately, but I could always back them up to others to some extent. But I can't over this. This is really horrible. We'll never be using this, despite being DVC. I just CANNOT justify that price point. No Nope Never.
This is a sucky move Disney!!!

 

[jennab]

Honestly, I'm surprised at how shocked I am that Disney is doing this. I know they've become money-hungry greed monsters lately, but I could always back them up to others to some extent. But I can't over this. This is really horrible. We'll never be using this, despite being DVC. I just CANNOT justify that price point. No Nope Never.
This is a sucky move Disney!!!

Why is it horrible? You don’t HAVE to use it. Much like the VIP tours. They’ve been offered for a long time but no one is being forced to buy one. Think of this being an option between multi/single pass and VIP tour. Just gives more options to people who do want to purchase.

 

[CeCe0906]

Oh good point. I suppose reduce the amount of nights at the resort. Squeeze more in during a shorter time frame. Although I don’t see most people staying at a deluxe resort and purchasing this to be very frugal with their vacation $.

Depending on your need for Disney theming- Swan/Dolphin are included in the hotels available for the premier pass. We usually stay Dolphin, and that's usually much cheaper, especially if you accumulate Marriot points.

 

[SL6827]

Not entirely.

I happened to hear about this while listening to the radio. The DJ's laughed at the pricing.

This has a strong potential to generate negative publicity for WDW.

With this, you can only do each ride once, and can't park hop. The Philarmagic LL is not particularly valuable. In Epcot, most days a number of rides have waits that are 15 min or less, like Nemo and the Land. The Epcot value of this pass is rides like GoG, Rat, and FEA. And that is assuming none of those rides goes down.
Looking right now, FEA is down. The only other ride with a posted wait over 15 min is Soarin', which had a much shorter wait earlier in the day.

And we all know the posted wait times are often inflated.

If someone pays $200+ then sees most of the rides were walk-on/near walk-on, they may well describe the pass as a bit scammy, when they could have bought LLMP instead for a far lower price.

Right now, in Epcot- paying $200 for 3 rides- since FEA is down- would basically be paying $67 per- worthwhile- LL.

During summer storms, a large chunk of AK suspends operations. It is pretty common in the summer. No EE, safari, animal attractions, Kali, and soon no Dinosaur. A family who buys this would only be able to use this on FoP, FotLK, Nemo, Tough tba Bug, and Na'vi for the duration of the storms. They'd have to wait for the storm to pass to use any other entitlements, and that might not happen before 6pm park close.

This. And it will happen to some at some point. Valid concerns.

 

[Lewisc]

Why is it horrible? You don’t HAVE to use it. Much like the VIP tours. They’ve been offered for a long time but no one is being forced to buy one. Think of this being an option between multi/single pass and VIP tour. Just gives more options to people who do want to purchase.

Every slot sold as LL,$LL,LLPP etc is one slot less available to guests who think their ticket price is the total price they are expected to say. Guests who want to ride a lot of attractions, busy day, need to budget extra $$$.

For years treated all guests, once they entered the park the same.

 

[SL6827]

I don't think this will sell well in EP or AK.

 

[danikoski]

Not entirely.

I happened to hear about this while listening to the radio. The DJ's laughed at the pricing.

This has a strong potential to generate negative publicity for WDW.

With this, you can only do each ride once, and can't park hop. The Philarmagic LL is not particularly valuable. In Epcot, most days a number of rides have waits that are 15 min or less, like Nemo and the Land. The Epcot value of this pass is rides like GoG, Rat, and FEA. And that is assuming none of those rides goes down.
Looking right now, FEA is down. The only other ride with a posted wait over 15 min is Soarin', which had a much shorter wait earlier in the day.

And we all know the posted wait times are often inflated.

If someone pays $200+ then sees most of the rides were walk-on/near walk-on, they may well describe the pass as a bit scammy, when they could have bought LLMP instead for a far lower price.

Right now, in Epcot- paying $200 for 3 rides- since FEA is down- would basically be paying $67 per- worthwhile- LL.

During summer storms, a large chunk of AK suspends operations. It is pretty common in the summer. No EE, safari, animal attractions, Kali, and soon no Dinosaur. A family who buys this would only be able to use this on FoP, FotLK, Nemo, Tough tba Bug, and Na'vi for the duration of the storms. They'd have to wait for the storm to pass to use any other entitlements, and that might not happen before 6pm park close.

That's why I mentioned that the only park I'd really consider this for is HS. And that's because we want to ride Rise, Millennium Falcon, Slinky Dog, Midway Mania, Tower of Terror, Runaway Railway, and Rockin Rollercoaster. And then we could still do Star Tours and the Frozen Sing-a-long (even though they usually don't need a LL). We are also going to be there the first week of January when it'll still be busy from the holidays. So HS is the only one I'd consider for very specific reasons. But the other parks, probably not. We'd stick with MPLL and ILL, if that. Like for Epcot we are really only going for Guardians, Soarin, and to pick a pearl. So an ILL for Guardians and stand by for Soarin and we are good.

 

[Disneylover99]

Oh good point. I suppose reduce the amount of nights at the resort. Squeeze more in during a shorter time frame. Although I don’t see most people staying at a deluxe resort and purchasing this to be very frugal with their vacation $.

Probably not if they’re buying this for pure convenience. But there will be those on a budget that will just cut back in other ways to make it work. FOMO is strong for many planning Disney trips and that could play a part in this as well.

 

[Jrb1979]

Members of DIS aren't really the target market. We go more often then average. We don't care if we don't do every attraction every trip.

I would consider the equivalent of LLPP if I went to Paris or Tokyo. A once on a lifetime trip. A trip that would include the city. An extra day at DLP or a day at Versailles? Paying to skip lines makes sense.

LLPP makes the most sense for a once in a lifetime trip. Also guests with large budgets

I love this new option and it's one thing that will make us do more trips. The one thing we hated the most about Disney trips is the amount of planning involved and having to setup return times to ride anything.

This new system let's us visit the parks how we like visiting them. On our schedule not Disney's. Being able to walk into the park and ride whatever we want whenever we want is the best thing ever.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

If someone is that worried about the weather, being scammed, or ride closures, then please don't buy the pass.

This product is supposed to reduce the stress, not adding more.

I think people buy products in the hope of getting value from them.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

In all honesty when you're on vacation who really takes time to price out cost per ride?

Many people, because I've already seen numerous lists posted on various theme park websites. I'm not sure about posting a direct link, but cost breakdowns are already available.
While this may not be your thing, it is the kind of breakdown other Disney fans love to calculate!


Here's a quick breakdown of some highlights from one such source. This is not my math, so I can't explain how they got the numbers they did, but I think the following comes from Scott Gustin.

Sea World- 6 rides average $8.43 per ride - with unlimited re-rides

Volcano Bay (single use) - 12 rides- $6.21 per ride - no re-rides
US (single)/just US- 14 rides - aver $14.07/ride - no re-rides
IoA (single)/just IoA - 16 rides - aver $12.81 - no re-rides

US/IoA- both parks unlimited - 30 rides - aver $8.25 per ride - with unlimited re-rides - if bought (no hotel stay)

AK - 10 rides - aver $17.47 per ride- no re-rides
Epcot -11 rides - aver $20.24 per ride - no re-rides
HS - 14 rides- aver $23.51 per rides- no re-rides
MK - 20 rides - aver $20.71 per ride - no re-rides

Though I'd say this is only a partially useful breakdown because the rides are not all equal. An Express Pass/LL for rides like Living with the Land/Cat in the Hat is not as valuable as one for a ride like GoG/Mummy.

Still, I don't ever want to totally act on emotion when I'm on vacation and over-spend. I appreciate having at least a rough idea of the cost per attraction.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We just got back from a very shot trip, just one day tickets upgraded to hoppers so we could go see Happily Ever After at MK after spending most of the day at HS with a resort pool break in the middle of the day. If this new Premier Pass was offered with hopping, I would buy it no question, because while we were able to ride everything we wanted in HS with very little waits by combining early entry and LLMP, there was very little LL left for MK by the time we hopped over there. Tiana's and Haunted Mansion had a lot of downtime and were sold out for LL and VQ anyway. We were able to get LL for POTC, BTMRR, and Buzz, and that was it. I'm booking a last-minute holiday trip now and I'm not getting hoppers since it's hard to get value out of them in my opinion, unless you're hopping to Epcot to eat or MK just for the fireworks.

 

[SL6827]

So a DW vs Universal price difference is pretty high I would think. DW- $400 for a night at a Deluxe, then say $300 for each member of a four person family= $1600.

Universal- $400 for a night at a Deluxe?
$400 for all four members of the family. Am I missing something?

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Why is it horrible? You don’t HAVE to use it. Much like the VIP tours. They’ve been offered for a long time but no one is being forced to buy one. Think of this being an option between multi/single pass and VIP tour. Just gives more options to people who do want to purchase.

Outside of this forum, reactions I've seen have not been as positive.


WDW is now perceived as overpriced and getting worse. Magic Express is still sorely missed. Fastpass is still missed.


Many of the rides in MK are 50 years old. Meanwhile, Universal will soon be opening a whole new park with all new rides. WDW is further monetizing long waits. It is an odd contrast.