Lightning Lane Premier Pass

[Splash4eva]

there's thrill ride Data.

Some rides have a long list of potential drop times, but only some of them happen. TRD appears to have updated their list since just a few weeks ago. Previously, they had some of the drop times highlighted, which I took to mean the more likely drop times.

Thank you will take a look

 

[Splash4eva]

Touring Plans “liners” keep an updated list.

And for a while here I think @Purduevian had one running.

Yes TP i was a member of and it worked like a charm each trip this past one in February was not at all successful only finding a few openings during the trip

 

[Purduevian]

Touring Plans “liners” keep an updated list.

And for a while here I think @Purduevian had one running.

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/lightning-lane-drop-times.984387/

I haven't updated it in months so I don't know if it is still accurate. Not going to lie, I did the work for it for my trip last November and figured I would share it with the forums (I also put it on Reddit), but I don't plan on updating it regularly. It's not to hard to do though if anyone wants to try to to update it. Using thrill data, it's pretty easy to spot trends. This is TSM for example. Anytime there is a consistent jump to Yellow or Green on most of the days, that's a drop time.

 

[Splash4eva]

Than

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/lightning-lane-drop-times.984387/

I haven't updated it in months so I don't know if it is still accurate. Not going to lie, I did the work for it for my trip last November and figured I would share it with the forums (I also put it on Reddit), but I don't plan on updating it regularly. It's not to hard to do though if anyone wants to try to to update it. Using thrill data, it's pretty easy to spot trends. This is TSM for example. Anytime there is a consistent jump to Yellow or Green on most of the days, that's a drop time.
View attachment 854691

Thank you! Will take a look

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I used LLPP for the first time last week - Sunday in Epcot and Friday in MK (bookending a Wish sailing). It was certainly convenient to not have to worry about return times selling out or conflicting with other plans - and since Friday was our debarkation day, it allowed us to do a lot in a relatively short amount of time. We were celebrating a family member's graduation, so this fit the "special occasion" rule my wife and I enacted when LLPP was announced. With the cruise eating into our park time, it worked out well for us.

We didn't arrive at MK until after 11 AM and still hit everything we wanted to. We started in Adventureland and worked our way around and did Jungle Cruise, Pirates, TBA, lunch break for some of us while the teens rode Tron and Space Mountain), Buzz, MILF, 7DMT, Pooh, Peter Pan, Small World, and Haunted Mansion all before 6 PM. After that we had dinner at Be Our Guest and decided to skip the last few remaining rides because thunder storms were moving in and we decided to not chance getting soaked. By my count tracking our waits vs the posted wait times, we saved 267 minutes (closer to 350 minutes for those who rode Tron and SM while us creaky-backed people ate lunch). I know posted wait times are often overstated, but at least 7DMT and HM had lines that looked much longer than their posted waits based on my previous experience (and we had experienced multiple standby wait times earlier in the trip at DAK that were longer than posted).

In Epcot the previous Sunday, my estimated time savings was 220 minutes total for Spaceship Earth, GotG, Mission: Space, Soarin', Frozen, and Remy leaving us plenty of time for all of the festival food booths, topiary displays, and photos we wanted. Frozen went down at least twice that day and we managed to squeeze it in between those issues, so I'm not sure how much that impacted the wait time's accuracy.

Overall, it was worth it for this trip - the prices weren't near their max and this was a special occasion for our group. It's definitely not something I would make a habit of doing as someone who visits multiple times per year, but it definitely made the trip better. Had we been staying at WDW all week instead of just before and after a cruise, we likely wouldn't have bought LLPP since we would have had EEH at both parks. We probably would have just added park hoppers to the tickets for the non-passholders in our party and added 2-3 days to the tickets with LLMP for DHS (skipped this time to avoid the May the Fourth crowds).

 

[tanc]

I used Lightning Lane for 3 days (EPCOT, MK, HS) on my trip, since this will be the last time I go I think until villains land opens.

On EPCOT, I found it to be not that worth it honestly. It was nice being able to ride everything but walking half way across the park for one attraction really made it feel like it wasn't a super great value to begin with. Unless you methodically route a path around it, which imo kind of kills the entire purpose then I wouldn't get it for that park again. Or, I would just get normal lightning lanes and just deal with the fact I'd probably miss an attraction or two that day.

For MK, it definitely felt like a much better experience overall. I was able to ride every single ride I wanted with minimal waits. It was one of the best days I've ever had at MK, practically as good as August 2020 waits and I had a total blast. But the price is so steep that I would likely only do this for a really big trip or if I know I'm not going back for a while. $400 is not cheap at all, but I can't say how good it felt to just walk past every line that had like an hour long wait, which many of them had reached. Basically was done MK by like 2:00 and rode like everything, was nice to go back to the resort and relax for a bit.

For HS, I honestly felt like it was the park that it felt the most worth it. Since many attractions at HS are very close, it was a complete homerun and again the time save felt amazing. The price is even less than MK and I rode just about everything and you get passes for the shows as well.

 

[DCBaker]

Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom is showing as sold out on October 11 and 12:

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So?

Which one or “premier pass” again?

 

[nickys]

Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom is showing as sold out on October 11 and 12:

View attachment 886433

Is anything happening next weekend to explain it?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Is anything happening next weekend to explain it?

Indigenous Columbus Day or whatever is still a long weekend holiday for some

Fall weekends have been consistently heavy for many years…though a birdie told me this weekend is rather dead…which it should not be

 

[nickys]

Indigenous Columbus Day or whatever is still a long weekend holiday for some

Fall weekends have been consistently heavy for many years…though a birdie told me this weekend is rather dead…which it should not be

It’s still odd that suddenly LLPP should sell out for a weekend. That hasn’t happened for a long time iirc.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It’s still odd that suddenly LLPP should sell out for a weekend. That hasn’t happened for a long time iirc.

Some people are getting bad internet advice…

We are likely Partially responsible

 

[mergatroid]

I thankfully have never paid for what I consider to be the new version of fastpass in my life and plan never to. Good luck to those who do though.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I thankfully have never paid for what I consider to be the new version of fastpass in my life and plan never to. Good luck to those who do though.

It provides a little bit of convenience…but it’s rarely if ever worth it

Actually i misspoke

“Worth it” is ambiguous

I meant to say “required or needed”

 

[mergatroid]

It provides a little bit of convenience…but it’s rarely if ever worth it

I get if you're on a once only visit from abroad and you want to definitely do X, Y & Z but from a personal perspective I hate the idea of paying extra. We're kind of blessed because as UK guests we get offered 14 day tickets at a lot less cost than you fine American folk do. Having been visiting Disney for over 45 years I know what attraction is worth waiting for what length of time and what's not. Also staying in Orlando for 2 weeks means we can do half days without worrying about wasting a day ticket on half a day and visit each park multiple times so get to do pretty much everything we want most trips.

I do have sympathy for those who only get a few days or even just a day and understand the temptation for them to pay for Lightening Lanes. Whilst I wish nobody did making Disney scrap it, I know realistically that will never happen and hey it's their money and they can spend it how they like. I kind of think that if FP had never existed originally that it wouldn't feel as bad, just an extra option for those folk who want to pay to beat the lines to finally do so. But using FP for free for so many years makes it so more unpalatable for me to think of doing it now by paying.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I get if you're on a once only visit from abroad and you want to definitely do X, Y & Z but from a personal perspective I hate the idea of paying extra. We're kind of blessed because as UK guests we get offered 14 day tickets at a lot less cost than you fine American folk do. Having been visiting Disney for over 45 years I know what attraction is worth waiting for what length of time and what's not. Also staying in Orlando for 2 weeks means we can do half days without worrying about wasting a day ticket on half a day and visit each park multiple times so get to do pretty much everything we want most trips.

I do have sympathy for those who only get a few days or even just a day and understand the temptation for them to pay for Lightening Lanes. Whilst I wish nobody did making Disney scrap it, I know realistically that will never happen and hey it's their money and they can spend it how they like. I kind of think that if FP had never existed originally that it wouldn't feel as bad, just an extra option for those folk who want to pay to beat the lines to finally do so. But using FP for free for so many years makes it so more unpalatable for me to think of doing it now by paying.

I don’t think many of the lightning lane purchasers are who you describe…

There a certain psychology behind upsells at Disney parks…more often than not.

The buyer has to believe it’s “special to them” and by dumping more and more into it…it makes life better…but that is not really a valid thought pattern

 

[LittleBuford]

I realise I don’t need Lightning Lane but would rather pay for it than spend time in queues. Of course it’s not “special to me”—it’s just a service that I’ve chosen to pay for.

 

[Chi84]

I would bet the LL purchasers are people who have a short visit planned or are first time/infrequent visitors who want to see everything.

Many of the posters here have visited so many times that it’s hard to imagine that others haven’t already seen everything multiple times or don’t plan to visit again.

 

[Chi84]

I don’t think many of the lightning lane purchasers are who you describe…

There a certain psychology behind upsells at Disney parks…more often than not.

The buyer has to believe it’s “special to theM” and by dumping more and more into it…it makes life better…but that is not really a valid thought pattern

Buying stuff that’s special to me does make my life better!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I realise I don’t need Lightning Lane but would rather pay for it than spend time in queues. Of course it’s not “special to me”—it’s just a service that I’ve chosen to pay for.

Fine…

So
1. How much time does it save you?
2. What do you do with that time instead?