The Disney Blogosphere and Forums have been lit up with all the big news that was announced for Disney World and Disneyland. There are closures, openings, new DVC resorts, and all the usual happenings. However there are two HUGE additions that has caused more than a little controversy and has raised a lot of questions.

Yesterday Disney announced the Lightning Lane Premier Pass for both WDW and DLR. Keep reading to learn more about this new offering. Not to be outdone, DVC also announced a paid perk package called Membership Magic Beyond. This offering also raises a lot of questions., which will be covered in the next post.

So Let’s get in to it.

Lightning Lane Premier Pass

Here is the Disney press release: BREAKING: Disney Launching Lightning Lane Premier Pass With One-Time Access to Every Lightning Lane Attraction.

In a nutshell: Lightning Lane Premier Pass includes one entry to each Lightning Lane entrance in the theme park they are visiting for that day, without needing to book an arrival time in advance.

In addition premier pass includes:

• Lightning Lane Premier Pass will include PhotoPass photo and video downloads.
• All attractions from Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass.
• Guests can ride the attractions that they want–when they want.

Ok that sounds pretty good, right? Yes, but now comes the kicker, price and availability.

Price

For Walt Disney World:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129 to $199 per person, plus tax
• EPCOT: $169 to $249 per person, plus tax
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269 to $349 per person, plus tax
• Magic Kingdom: $329 to $449 per person, plus tax

There is no park hopping. So you will need a different pass for each park. That bears repeating: NO PARK HOPPING!

For Disneyland Resort:

• Disneyland AND California Adventure: $300 to $400 per person, plus tax

At Disneyland there is PARK HOPPING. You pay once for both parks.

Availability:

At Disneyland, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available first come, first served to all guests with a theme park ticket and park reservation. Lightning Lane Premier Passes can be purchased via the Disneyland app up to 2 days before of your park visit, starting at 7:00 AM Pacific Time.

At Walt Disney World, Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available first come, first served to guests with a theme park ticket and park reservation AND staying at a Deluxe resort or DVC Villa. Again they can be purchased via the app up to 2 days before of your park visit, starting at 7:00 AM Eastern Time.

These passes will be available in a very limited quantity. Disney did not define limited. It will be very telling what limited means. I suspect that it will be nearly impossible to snag a pass unless you have lightening quick reflexes and a very fast internet connection. Sorta like how hard it is to get a Virtual Queue slot.

Editorial

Is this another example of “corporate greed”? Perhaps. It is obvious that not all (most) guests won’t be able to afford this. Grandma and I have never bought any line skipping passes. I don’t see how this is going to change that. I think that these passes are targeting first time visitors that have a great FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). To be fair to Disney, Universal has been doing this for years. The big difference is Universals premier pass equivalent is the only line skipping option. There is no LLMP or LLSP at Universal. Several other Disney properties overseas also do something similar. So while it is new to DLR and WDW, it is not a new concept. I also don’t see that this will have a huge impact on standby wait times. LLMP already does that. The number of passes will be small in comparison to the number of LLMP sold. So it will all depend on what limited means.

Disney has always had VIP Tours. These tours include skipping to the head of the line for ALL attractions, not just the LLMP and LLSP enabled ones. I think of Lightning Lane Premier Pass as a self guided VIP tour lite. A VIP tour cost is between $450 to $900 an hour for 7 hour minimum for a party of up to 10 guests. It can cover multiple parks. A very spendy but exclusive offering. You can read more about VIP tours here. In that light, Lightning Lane Premier Pass may seem like a bargain.

Grandpa’s “Crushing It” strategy is about slowing down, taking time and absorbing the vibe that is Disney. I don’t see this changing. This blog is for the folks that want or need to slow down and still get the maximum enjoyment possible. These passes are about getting in the most attractions in the shortest time. Not what Grandpa is about. However I do like that these new passes don’t hold you to a schedule. Just show up on your time. I can get behind that!

I encourage you to read more about these offerings and make up your own mind if it is right for you. All the popular blogs have a lot to say about it. Have a look here for Disneyland and here for Walt Disney World. Both excellent articles on the subject and really goes in depth.

Next time we will go into the new DVC offering. This really raises more questions in my mind.

Until then