The. top-of-the-line skip-the-line “Premier Pass” is now available for all guests visiting Walt Disney World. This continues the rollout of the program, which was originally exclusive to just Deluxe Resort hotel guests. Following the initial test period, the program was then offered to all Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests – still not available for guests staying off-site. Starting today, the Lightning Lane Premier Pass is now available to all guests visiting Walt Disney World.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass Available to All
Lightning Lane Premier Pass is offered at each of the four Walt Disney World theme parks, and it allows the holder to skip the line at each of the Lightning Lane-eligible attractions once per day. The value is found in the fact that Lightning Lane Premier Pass holders don’t need to book a return window to skip the line at attractions. Another benefit is that the Lightning Lane Premier Pass allows guests to skip the line at both Lightning Lane Multi Pass attractions and Lightning Lane Single Pass attractions.
With Lighting Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass, guests need to purchase the skip-the-line pass and book a return window at a specific attraction to use the pass. This runs the risk of attractions not having an ideal return window for your day, or an attraction could be completely sold out of return windows. The Lightning Lane Premier Pass skips that headache, allowing you to simply walk up to an eligible attraction and skip the regular line.
With this change to allow all guests to purchase Lightning Lane Premier Pass, guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel are still given an advantage over guests who do not stay at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel. Guests of Disney Resort hotels and other select hotels can purchase passes up to 7 days in advance of their stay—and other Guests can purchase passes up to 3 days in advance of their park visit. Here’s a bit more info on the pre-arrival booking process:
7 Days in Advance for Eligible Resort Hotel Guests
When staying at Disney Resort hotels or other select hotels, Guests can purchase Lightning Lane Premier Passes starting 7 days before the first day of their Resort stay, for their length of stay (up to 14 days).
This early-planning benefit is available to registered Guests staying at:
3 Days in Advance for All Other Guests
Not staying at a Disney Resort hotel or other select hotel? Then you can purchase Lightning Lane Premier Passes 3 days in advance. See additional details below, which vary based on admission type:
- Guests with date-based theme park tickets (which require the Guest to choose a start date at the time of purchase) can purchase 3 days before the first day of their ticket, for the total number of valid admission days on their ticket.
- Guests with other ticket types* can purchase 3 days before their park visit.
- Annual Passholders* can purchase 3 days before their park visit.
Walt Disney World says that the Lightning Lane Premier Pass is still in a piloting rollout phase, which means that there are “very limited quantities” of the pass offered on any given day.
The title of the article calls the Lightning Lane Premier Pass “expensive”, and it is. While a Multi Pass option or Single Pass option hasn’t broken through the $40 per day barrier, the Premier Pass can be more than 10x that price. At Magic Kingdom during the busy holiday season, Premier Pass reached a price of $449 per person, per day. Note that you’re only purchasing Premier Pass for a single theme park too. You can only purchase Premier Pass at one park per day, so no Park Hopping line skipping with the Premier Pass.
That said, the elimination of the booking window and availability headaches can be worth it for some guests.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
