Lightning Lane Premier Pass

[ConfettiCupcake]

I think the only park I would really consider this for my family would be DHS on a vacation where we are short on time. That park is IMO still only a full day park because too many of the rides have prohibitively long wait times unless it’s a very slow day. It logistically can also be a bit of a pain with its layout, dead ends, and shows.

 

[Disstevefan1]

My point is you can't spend $ at any corporation without contributing to their greed lol.

Totally agree.

In Disney's Parks and resorts business, they only do things that MAKE MONEY!

Look how fast they pulled the plug on the Star cruiser! I suspect they were making money, just NOT ENOUGH money.

Disney's movie and streaming business however...

 

[Ayla]

My point is you can't spend $ at any corporation without contributing to their greed lol.

Wanna bet? I am incredibly privileged to have the choice not to support greedy corporations (Walmart, Amazon, Twitter, Disney, Exxon, etc etc etc).

 

[Raineman]

When you have people who earn well over 6 figures annually, and are starting to say "This is too much for us. We're probably done with WDW vacations", then you know it's reaching that critical point where "it's just a business, they're just maximizing profits, all corporations do it" turns into "this is corporate greed, pure and simple". We're not stupid or naive -we all know that Disney, from the start, was a business designed to make money. But it was never at the expense of pricing out the majority of their customer base. This is happening now. My family income is in the high 100K range, and we are balking at paying $8000 for a week in a standard room at a moderate resort with 7 day park tickets. For less than that price, we can get a nice suite for a week at a 5 star high end all inclusive resort in the Carribean. I never thought that my passion and love for WDW would ever have been down to the low point where it is now, but here we are, and the spiraling costs are a big part of that.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Wanna bet? I am incredibly privileged to have the choice not to support greedy corporations (Walmart, Amazon, Twitter, Disney, Exxon, etc etc etc).

Corporations are by definition greedy. It's how a corporation work. No one can avoid them a 100%.

 

[JD80]

When you have people who earn well over 6 figures annually, and are starting to say "This is too much for us. We're probably done with WDW vacations", then you know it's reaching that critical point where "it's just a business, they're just maximizing profits, all corporations do it" turns into "this is corporate greed, pure and simple". We're not stupid or naive -we all know that Disney, from the start, was a business designed to make money. But it was never at the expense of pricing out the majority of their customer base. This is happening now. My family income is in the high 100K range, and we are balking at paying $8000 for a week in a standard room at a moderate resort with 7 day park tickets. For less than that price, we can get a nice suite for a week at a 5 star high end all inclusive resort in the Carribean. I never thought that my passion and love for WDW would ever have been down to the low point where it is now, but here we are, and the spiraling costs are a big part of that.

Everyone has their price points. But let's not pretend they are pricing out a majority of anyone. Some yes. More than before? Yes. But not a majority

 

[Brer Oswald]

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.

I didn’t say I’m never going back. But the increase in price and decrease in value means that I’m no longer visiting yearly (like I’ve done for my entire life). Maybe once every 2 years. Maybe once every 5 years or more. Idk. There was a time pre-Covid where you couldn’t keep me away from the place. Now it’s a decision that requires a lot of deliberation.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Some Disney math food for thought. With the way this doesn’t include repeats and also has you paying for LLs that you’d never need, how many of the heavy hitters can you cram into the 7 hour minimum VIP tour? Can you Disney math your way to the VIP tour actually being better value if you were considering this for multiple parks and have a large enough group? Hmm.

Using all low season numbers, a family of 4 plus 2 grandparents comes very close to break even cost with a 7 hour tour with just MK and Epcot. A combo of Epcot, DHS, and AK would do it too. MK and DHS and the tour is cheaper. Yes this wildly silly Disney math, but if a family’s goal is seeing as much as they can in a condensed window it’s an interesting question I think.

Edit - I must be very bothered with the way Premier Pass forces you to indirectly pay for attractions like Laugh Floor and Magic Carpets, that I’m mathing my way to a plaid.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Wanna bet? I am incredibly privileged to have the choice not to support greedy corporations (Walmart, Amazon, Twitter, Disney, Exxon, etc etc etc).

The difference is, at least for me, I perceive value in. for example, Amazon prime and we spend an insane amount of money on Amazon.

My perception of LLPP is that its a rip off money grab.

Could you imagine if LLPP was free if you stayed at GF!

There would be a two year waiting list to book a room.

 

[Brer Oswald]

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.

The thing is, we know Disney. They’re probably going to allot as many Multipasses as they do currently AND have an additional amount of Premier Pass. At the parks where Multipass is selling out (Magic Kingdom and DHS), you better believe they will continue selling out. So yes, there will almost certainly be a greater number of guests in the LL queues than there are now. By how much, we will have to wait and see.

 

[KrzyKtty]

When you have people who earn well over 6 figures annually, and are starting to say "This is too much for us. We're probably done with WDW vacations", then you know it's reaching that critical point where "it's just a business, they're just maximizing profits, all corporations do it" turns into "this is corporate greed, pure and simple". We're not stupid or naive -we all know that Disney, from the start, was a business designed to make money. But it was never at the expense of pricing out the majority of their customer base. This is happening now. My family income is in the high 100K range, and we are balking at paying $8000 for a week in a standard room at a moderate resort with 7 day park tickets. For less than that price, we can get a nice suite for a week at a 5 star high end all inclusive resort in the Carribean. I never thought that my passion and love for WDW would ever have been down to the low point where it is now, but here we are, and the spiraling costs are a big part of that.

Honestly my family was almost to the point of being done with disney for the opposite reason. The level of planning that needed to go into the vacation there is insane. I realize the average cost.My family spends on annual vacations far exceeds the average family. But at this point I am willing to pay a lot more to have a simpler experience. VIP tours do not appeal to us because you are trying to cram everything into 1 day. I don't want to have to wake up at midnight to make a restaurant reservation. I don't want to wake up at 6 for ride reservations to maximize my day. I don't even want to have to rope drop any more just to make sure I get on the big ride.

Something like this would honestly save me thousands. Since I won't be running through the park so much, I won't need to have as many rest days. That inturn means less resort days. At the price point of the deluxe resorts, 4 days saved about balances out.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Even if it means that you're giving them the opportunity to charge you more for those individual things?

I mean, they unbundled FP+ from park admission, then raised the price of admission and have raised the price of the up-charged replacement multiple times. Do you think the alternative, had they not done that would have been to just raise base ticket prices by the % that would have all been together?

Yes. Because 1) as a general rule, offering multiple services at individual pricing, allows people with different budgets, different interests, to pick and choose what is best for them. But maybe more importantly as it pertains to line skipping, 2) you can't offer something to everyone, buried in one price, and have it be an exclusive or benefit. Its simply a standard feature. If everyone is getting to skip the line in the same way, its really not all that beneficial.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Corporations are by definition greedy. It's how a corporation work. No one can avoid them a 100%.

This is just stupid. Corporations are not greedy. They are business which the sole purpose is to make money. They are not charities; they are not non-profits. Their sole purpose of existing is to make money.

Can someone avoid using them? Sure. You could live on a farm and try to exist off of only what you grow/make on your own. I candidly doubt you have the skill to do so, nor do the majority of people, but you could try it. There are many people living throughout the world that live this way. But that leads us to point two, other than a very small minority of people, know one really WANTS to live that way. People want choices, and easier lives. Corporations provide that. They provide economies of scale in production, variety of goods, Transporation and making products available far from someone's local geographic area. You can avoid them if you choose to, you just don't want to.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

Yes. Because 1) as a general rule, offering multiple services at individual pricing, allows people with different budgets, different interests, to pick and choose what is best for them. But maybe more importantly as it pertains to line skipping, 2) you can't offer something to everyone, buried in one price, and have it be an exclusive or benefit. Its simply a standard feature. If everyone is getting to skip the line in the same way, its really not all that beneficial.

FP- and + were both quite beneficial though despite being available to everyone as a standard feature, because the barrier was research, education, and motivation. Not unlike how even today with all the ways to pay your way to a better day, the people who come in with solid plan will still fair better than those who don’t.

I’m pretty confident in saying those days where it’s not an upcharge are never ever coming back, but it didn’t function any worse than the current upcharged systems. Their capacity problem is at the core of the negatives of the functionality of the systems, it’s not the pricing structure.

 

[KrzyKtty]

This is just stupid. Corporations are not greedy. They are business which the sole purpose is to make money. They are not charities; they are not non-profits. Their sole purpose of existing is to make money.

Can someone avoid using them? Sure. You could live on a farm and try to exist off of only what you grow/make on your own. I candidly doubt you have the skill to do so, nor do the majority of people, but you could try it. There are many people living throughout the world that live this way. But that leads us to point two, other than a very small minority of people, know one really WANTS to live that way. People want choices, and easier lives. Corporations provide that. They provide economies of scale in production, variety of goods, Transporation and making products available far from someone's local geographic area. You can avoid them if you choose to, you just don't want to.

FWIW, I was not the one saying I was avoiding them. I also don't have an issue with corporations trying to get $. I was only using the terminology greedy because that was the vernacular others were using. I honestly have no problem with a corporation doing what it is supposed to do. And I have never been personally insulted by a corporation pricing me out of something.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

FWIW, I was not the one saying I was avoiding them. I also don't have an issue with corporations trying to get $. I was only using the terminology greedy because that was the vernacular others were using. I honestly have no problem with a corporation doing what it is supposed to do. And I have never been personally insulted by a corporation pricing me out of something.

Sorry if greedy got hooked into this somewhere in an earlier post/thread. I find it annoying when people someone find an organizition which the sole purpose is to make money, be viewed as "greedy" doing what it was made to do.

 

[KrzyKtty]

Sorry if greedy got hooked into this somewhere in an earlier post/thread. I find it annoying when people someone find an organizition which the sole purpose is to make money, be viewed as "greedy" doing what it was made to do.

I wholly agree. And that is what I was probably somewhat poorly trying to equate to. At the end of the day they are just doing what they are supposed to be doing as a business, especially since they are beholden to their shareholders.

 

[BlindChow]

It's safe to say that if a person looks at this and has to calculate things like "cost per ride" to determine its value, then they are not the target demographic of this pass.

This was never intended as a pass for everyone. The high price was chosen specifically to make it unattractive for most guests. If it was, say, $10, then EVERYONE would get one, and LL would simply become another standby line.

This is a pass for a subset of people for whom "money is no object" when it comes to skipping lines without the hassle of pre-planning.

And, yes, I'm sure many here will be quick to mention their sizable incomes, but if those same people are also arguing that the price is not worth it to them, then they, too, are not the target demographic.

 

[Drdcm]

Sorry if greedy got hooked into this somewhere in an earlier post/thread. I find it annoying when people someone find an organizition which the sole purpose is to make money, be viewed as "greedy" doing what it was made to do.

I don’t know. I think the ways in which businesses go about generating revenue is what determines if someone thinks they are greedy or not, not the actual fact that they are making money.

There’s a reason many people refuse to fly budget airlines and it typically involves unusual or deceptive practices that are designed to trick you into paying more. The whole $100 checked bag up charge has nothing to do with the bag being stopped at the gate and therefore requiring that much extra work, it’s to take advantage of people.

 

[KrzyKtty]

I don’t know. I think the ways in which businesses go about generating revenue is what determines if someone thinks they are greedy or not, not the actual fact that they are making money.

There’s a reason many people refuse to fly budget airlines and it typically involves unusual or deceptive practices that are designed to trick you into paying more. The whole $100 checked bag up charge has nothing to do with the bag being stopped at the gate and therefore requiring that much extra work, it’s to take advantage of people.

I refuse because I'm a flight Diva who only likes airlines that have in seat entertainment I think for a lot of others it is due to the games they play with the bag size.