Lightning Lane Premier Pass

[Jrb1979]

Not sure why anyone would be ed at this. You don't have to buy anything, doesn't effect the other offerings, and very few people will get this and if they do they aren't taking up return times

I love it. I have said they needed a system like this. Now just get rid of the cheap system and things would be great

 

[Ayla]

Universal is not including Express at their new deluxe resort and the only reason they still provide it at the existing deluxe resorts is because it’s part of a contract they have with Loews that they can’t back out of.

And? How does that change what I said?

 

[Ayla]

We fall into this category also, we aren’t willing to waste (for a lack of a better term) money just because we have a bunch sitting in the bank though.

For us Disney has become an opportunity cost problem, we can afford all of it but we find it harder and harder to justify going to Disney rather than the alternatives, that are now very similarly priced. A week at WDW for $7k vs a weeklong Alaska cruise for $7k in a mini suite is a no brainer for us, and Disney loses that scenario. A week at WDW for $7k or a week in Europe for $10k is still a no brainer for us, again with Disney losing. They’ve become so expensive it’s hard to ignore the dozens of other more exciting options that are in many cases also a much easier trip to plan.

We still love the parks, they just don’t make financial sense anymore, at least not on a regular basis, the days of monthly DL trips (as APs) and the annual weekly trip to WDW (or 2) are now replaced with a trip or 2 to DL and a half week trip every year or 2 to WDW.

We can still afford it, we just can’t justify it.

This is where I've finally landed, after the last 18 months of waffling. I am in the demographic this rollout is supposed to appeal to, and yet another upcharge has zero appeal to me.

 

[Tom P.]

By what metric? You used to get far more “bang for your buck” than you do now.

Probably so. But my family and I were just there three weeks ago, and Walt Disney World is still awesome and still worth the cost, IMHO. Everyone has to judge for themselves, but we're still happy to go. I can't stand all the negativity around here.

 

[celluloid]

So legit question, why are you going to to Disney world, when you can travel the world for much much cheaper ? I’m pretty sure a trip to Tokyo and visiting Disney sea is becoming a cheaper option this rate.

I know the demographic for Disney is the people who are making well over 6 figures, but even wealthy people have to be questioning these increase costs. There is more to enjoyment than Disney and Disney world and nothing about Disney output lately justifies these kind of prices.

Depending on why you fly out of, easily half the cost and I did just that last year.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Probably so. But my family and I were just there three weeks ago, and Walt Disney World is still awesome and still worth the cost, IMHO. Everyone has to judge for themselves, but we're still happy to go. I can't stand all the negativity around here.

I don’t think anyone is saying WDW isn’t still an awesome vacation, it is, it’s just hard not to compare it to the past, especially from a value perspective.

I’m as hostile towards Disneys recent decisions as (nearly) anyone but we still love to vacation at the parks, we just can’t justify spending multiple weeks a year at the parks anymore like we used to. Fortunately for Disney, at least in our case, we can still justify a week a year at the parks and a lot of our former parks vacation dollars will still go to DCL where we still find a ton of value.

 

[Tom P.]

I don’t think anyone is saying WDW isn’t still an awesome vacation, it is, it’s just hard not to compare it to the past, especially from a value perspective.

I’m as hostile towards Disneys recent decisions as (nearly) anyone but we still love to vacation at the parks, we just can’t justify spending multiple weeks a year at the parks anymore like we used to. Fortunately for Disney, at least in our case, we can still justify a week a year at the parks and a lot of our former parks vacation dollars will still go to DCL where we still find a ton of value.

But that's just it. I think people are definitely saying it is no longer an awesome vacation as evidenced by the fact that there are those claiming they're never going back.

 

[Jrb1979]

But that's just it. I think people are definitely saying it is no longer an awesome vacation as evidenced by the fact that there are those claiming they're never going back.

It's great that some of you still enjoy the parks. This new premier LL is a start to bringing us back. It works for how we tour all parks. Just get rid of the cheap version and things would be great.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I’m starting to really get the impression that people don’t really know what this is and aren’t caring to read into it even a little.

All over social media people are saying that this is going to make lightning lane worse. How? This is not creating a new tear of lightning lane users. The very small amount of people that are going to end up buying this would have been using multi pass and single pass anyway. This is not going to mean more people are using lightning lane. It’s the same people just using a different method.

This is very clearly just an alternative to a VIP tour that is aimed squarely at the people who want to skip the line perk but aren’t interested in everything else that comes with a VIP tour. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

I don’t know why everybody is overcomplicating something that is going to be irrelevant to anyone but the small amount of people who were using it other than this is a fandom that has gotten addicted to being angry.

There’s plenty of stuff Disney is doing worth being angry about (like how they treat their CMs while opening these new revenue streams at the same time), and instead of focusing on that everyone’s piling onto this which is not even going to be a factor for 99% of us.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

I don't really get why anyone is defending this. I get that it won't really affect many people. I wouldn't buy this if it were half the price. But it's just yet another symptom of the rot within the company.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

All true. Maybe Gen z would be more appropriate..haha

Nah, millennials definitely used the OG fastpass. I think its the Gen Zers who missed out.

All of Gen Z was born while Fast Pass was free. Gen Z ends roughly between 2010-2012, so the youngest Gen Z had 9-11 years to experience it. Gen Alpha is when you’re gonna start meeting people who never had it. I was born in ‘01 for example so I had it for most of my trips to Disney (I’ve only done 2 with LL).

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I don't really get why anyone is defending this. I get that it won't really affect many people. I wouldn't buy this if it were half the price. But it's just yet another symptom of the rot within the company.

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I don’t think it’s a defense of the company or this dumb product to be saying there is little reason to have a meltdown over this when it’s a niche thing that most park guests will never encounter. Do I think this is a good idea? No. I think there should be one singular expensive skip the line option that all guests have the option to buy until it sells out. This is not that. But this is also not a particularly big deal, and it’s frankly a little exhausting to see a mountain made out of this when there are plenty of other actually impactful things to be upset by.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

And how’s the experience with no LL product? Comparable? Worth the ticket entry?

I mean for me on my trips, yes. I saw no major difference in the standby experience than I always had, and I’ve encountered many who have said the same thing. While I would never say standby is exactly the same, I definitely think the actual scope of it’s change has been greatly exaggerated.

 

[Jrb1979]

I don’t think it’s a defense of the company or this dumb product to be saying there is little reason to have a meltdown over this when it’s a niche thing that most park guests will never encounter. Do I think this is a good idea? No. I think there should be one singular expensive skip the line option that all guests have the option to buy until it sells out. This is not that. But this is also not a particularly big deal, and it’s frankly a little exhausting to see a mountain made out of this when there are plenty of other actually impactful things to be upset by.

I get what you are saying but I don't think it's so much making a mountain out a mole hill with this. For many it's been building with the constant money grabs, regardless if it's only a small percentage of guests who buy this.

Outside of D23 announcements, there hasn't been much good news from Disney in regards to the parks. Having Universal announce Epic Universe opening in May and Disney's answer is a higher priced skip the line pass. It feels like they don't get it anymore.

I mean for me on my trips, yes. I saw no major difference in the standby experience than I always had, and I’ve encountered many who have said the same thing. While I would never say standby is exactly the same, I definitely think the actual scope of it’s change has been greatly exaggerated.

I wonder if part of that is attendance being down.

 

[mickEblu]

So you re telling me the guy who shells out $1600 for a family of 4 (on top of tickets etc) for this service at DLR still will still probably end up waiting 15-20 minutes in line for Indiana Jones or 20 minutes + for Soarin? Crazy. This isn’t a premium product.

 

[HauntedPirate]

So you re telling me the guy who shells out $1600 for a family of 4 (on top of tickets etc) for this service at DLR still will still probably end up waiting 15-20 minutes in line for Indiana Jones or 20 minutes + for Soarin? Crazy. This isn’t a premium product.

Uhh... It’s obviously a premium product, it’s right in the name - “Premier” Pass.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I wonder if part of that is attendance being down.

Could be that, but I’ve also had a pet theory for a long time that everyone was saying lightning lane made standby a nightmare based off of the crowds that we were seeing coming out of the pandemic, which was a massive influx of people who had delayed their vacation and not really accurate view of what standby was going to become with lightning lane under normal crowd circumstances.

But that experience colored the common conversation about it when it was in actuality not really what the day to day was going to look like. and unfortunately, this fan community like all fan communities has a habit of once minds are made up, minds will not change even in the face of a contradiction to the prevailing school of thinking. Heels stay dug in forever.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It's great that some of you still enjoy the parks. This new premier LL is a start to bringing us back. It works for how we tour all parks. Just get rid of the cheap version and things would be great.

I don’t think that’s ever happening, they make way too much money of LL to abandon it now. I think they’ll just continuously raise the price until normal LL is $100 a person, the new premium is $500 a person, and VIP tours are $5k… which I’d honestly prefer to the current system, the fewer people using LL the better for everyone.

Could be that, but I’ve also had a pet theory for a long time that everyone was saying lightning lane made standby a nightmare based off of the crowds that we were seeing coming out of the pandemic, which was a massive influx of people who had delayed their vacation and not really accurate view of what standby was going to become with lightning lane under normal crowd circumstances.

Not to open a huge can of worms but DAS likely played a big part in that also.

As much as I hate my GF no longer getting DAS I’ve noticed a huge change in lines since they essentially eliminated it, granted we can only do the parks in the morning and night now so I don’t know how afternoons are.

 

[C33Mom]

OK, it's starting to make more sense now. Thank you.

As a potential VIP tour user, I don’t think this new Premier Pass option is competitive at all and I’d say it’s a far worse value unless you have no idea what you’re doing and/or think LL on It’s A Small World is equally valuable to a LL for Slinky Dog. Frankly, if they keep allowing park hopping for LLMP, I think you can do more good rides with that than you can with the PP offering described today.

My biggest concern is if they’re going to dramatically increase pricing and somewhat reduce functionality of LLMP to make PP seem better— but maybe they are serious that this will be an extremely limited availability offering that mostly exists to appease lower-upper class parents who don’t mind spending a bit more to make the trip easier and have been balking at returning to Disney because it’s so stressful to figure out how to beat the crowds. We are close to that demo, but one ride per day in one park makes it impossible to justify the price. We’d rather pay a bit more for a tour.

 

[Mark Dunne]

Just look at the comments here, i mean it must be nearly 100% negative , how honestly do they come up with these ideas and not think that the value to mid range resort guests will be pretty cheesed off, so once again for value to mids you get 1/2 hr extra in the morning, with DLP resort guests the park ticket is included, the LL premier is extra yes, id rather they put the price of the vacation up and threw it all in the one package, its like one announcement after another, and there all cash grabbing ideas , shame on the 3 Amigo's who run this beloved company .