Remember the days when there were so many free perks included in your Disney World vacation?
You used to be able to book three FastPasses for free before you started your trip, MagicBands were sent in the mail, and you could get picked up by Magical Express to go to and from the airport; life was really just simpler when all of these perks were included in the price of your trip. And this was not too long ago that these perks started to disappear. Gone are the days of free perks, and Disney’s latest announcement is going to be hard for Disney Adults to get over.
Disney World and Disneyland just changed their pay-to-skip-the-line system over the summer and recently introduced a third option.
Genie+ is no longer and is now Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and Individual Lightning Lane is now Lighting Lane Single Pass. The new system is kind of like FastPass+, except it is not free. It allows you to book your selections in advance, and the rides are split into different tiers. Just as Disney Adults are starting to get used to this new change, Disney announced that soon, a third Lighting Lane option will be available at Disney World.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass will debut at Disney World on October 30th and is already available for purchase at Disneyland.
This third option allows for Deluxe hotel guests (at Disney World) to be the only ones to have the option to try it out. Lightning Lane Premier Pass grants you access to every single Lightning Lane attraction within a park for one flat fee. You do not need to select a return time; you can simply show up at each Lighting Lane attraction once.
Sounds great, right? Well, the price is a bit steep. You can purchase Premier Pass if you are a Deluxe hotel guest for:
- Magic Kingdom: $329-$449 plus tax
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129-$199 plus tax
- EPCOT: $169-$249 plus tax
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269-$349 plus tax
There is no park hopper option, so Premier Pass can only be purchased for one park. As mentioned, this new option is only available to Deluxe hotel guests. It is being sold in limited quantities, so just because you stay at a Deluxe hotel does not guarantee that you can purchase Premier Pass.
Disney Adults have already had to mourn the loss of FastPass+, which was free. We then adopted Genie+, and although we were hesitant at first and annoyed that we had to pay for a once-free service, we adapted and learned how to use it.
When Multi Pass and Single Pass were announced over the summer, we were hopeful about some of the new changes, like being able to see the prices and book in advance.
But now, this third option is where Disney Adults are starting to draw the line. On top of paying for a Deluxe hotel, park tickets, and travel, this new option is expensive. Disney has found a way to take a once-free perk and turn it into three different paid-for services.
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However, Disney World and Disneyland are not the only theme parks with a system like Premier Pass. For years, Universal has had Express Pass. The difference is people are used to this add-on option. Plus, guests who stay at certain Universal hotels get Express Pass for free.
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This change is going to take Disney Adults a long time to get over because they miss the days when things were free and included with your stay at a Disney World hotel.
It will just take some getting used to, and who knows, maybe Disney will use this trial period to make adjustments to Premier Pass. For the time being, we will just have to wait and see when it debuts on October 30th.
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Disney adults will either get over it and pay for it, or be like me and who has never paid for a skip the line pass EVER and won’t pay for this one, either!
Bonus! Disney home rental prices have fallen!