Lightning Lane changes are steadily happening, and we’ve spotted the first sellout of the year!
Lightning Lane
Ever since Disney World debuted its new skip-the-line Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Premier Pass, the rules and features have pretty much stayed the same. As more visitors have become comfortable using the revamped “skip the standby line” system, we had a feeling that Disney would slowly increase its already steep price tags for these services. Disney’s latest quarterly call with shareholders called for changes to happen with the program in the future. Well, despite the high prices, it seems like Lightning Lanes are POPULAR — even the luxury Premier Pass is selling out in Disney World. Here’s what we noticed.
If you’ve been following along with us or recently visited Disney World lately, chances are you’ve seen or at least heard a bit about Lightning Lanes. This new system, which replaced the former Genie+ program, is a paid service visitors can purchase before their visit to make reservations for select attractions and rides during their park days. Those staying at a Disney World hotel do have the advantage of making those ride reservations seven days in advance of their visit, whereas everyone else is able to purchase as early as three days in advance.
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So far, this new system of Lightning Lane Multi Pass has seemed to win over those who complained that Genie+ felt a bit too complicated. Disney World took it a step further when they launched Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which is good for one chosen park per day and allows users to walk up to a Lightning Lane entrance and simply scan in — no reservation needed (one time per day)! The trade-off here is this version of Lightning Lane is EXPENSIVE, with prices starting at around $119 for its cheapest day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and going up to $379 at its highest for Magic Kingdom.
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Although it’s quite the price to pay for skipping the standby line at Disney World, it’s certainly useful at busier times of the year, which typically fall around holidays and during the summer months when kids are out of school. Now, we’ve spotted the FIRST day of 2025 where the Lightning Lane Premier Pass has officially sold out in all four parks. With the upcoming President’s Day weekend quickly approaching, checking the purchase calendar in Disney World’s My Disney Experience app shows that February 14th (Valentine’s Day) is sold out for two of the four Disney World parks.
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February 15th is now sold out of Lightning Lane Premier Pass for all four parks…
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…and both February 16th...
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…and February 17th only has Lightning Lane Premier Pass available for Disney’s Animal Kingdom and EPCOT remaining for purchase.
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We found that to be very interesting, especially since President’s Day Weekend is historically a more crowded time to visit Disney World, thanks to the extended weekend. It’s a pretty popular time for families to pop into Disney World for a quick visit while it’s not as hot as the summer months.
Presidents Day crowds in Disney World
Since this piqued our interest, we decided to investigate a little further and found that prices for Lightning Lane purchases have surged for this coming March. Beginning March 1st, prices for Lightning Lane Premier Pass are now available, starting at $159 for Disney’s Animal Kingdom at its cheapest and ranging up to $449 for Magic Kingdom at its highest. As a reminder, this is a premium service available for purchase. These prices are per person and are a separate purchase from your park tickets for the day.
Lightning Lane
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that Disney planned to increase prices for Lightning Lane Premier Pass after the beginning of the year. If you’re thinking about visiting Disney World in the upcoming weeks and have been considering purchasing Lightning Lane Premier Pass or Multi Pass, we’d recommend you know your options in advance and make the best purchasing decisions for you and your family after taking some time to digest all of the information.
Everything You Need to Know About Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Disney World
Whew. We know that planning a Disney World trip is A LOT. And this Lightning Lane thing can be so confusing – which is why we bring you posts like this so often. But we’ve also put together a complete guide in ebook format that gives you all of the info you need, all in one place!
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How about this “hack” (everything seems to be called a hack these days, doesn’t it?): To save those $700+ per person park days, just DON’T GO! Pick a regional amusement park, a national park, a resort town, a bargain cruise, or an international getaway.
Tally up what you’ll sink into a frustrating week at WDW and see what your family can do for way less. And – those costly $150-400+ Premier days don’t guarantee you anything! You may get onto a partially broken ride faster (terrible reliability lately – Rise, Tiana, Frozen, etc.) OR the ride you had your heart set on might be 101 (out of service) for most or all of the day. Ya takes yer chances – Good luck! No refunds – just get over it, and thanks for your money!
You can do a lot better with your $10-20,000, and make those great family memories you’re after, at MANY places besides The Most Cash-grabical Place on Earth.
Have a super family vacation!
This feels like a sure fire way to exclude anyone that can’t afford the premier pass from seeing attractions. I’ve already noticed wait times increasing based on the lightning lane queues. This just means standard queues will be too long to ride most things in the time a guest has to visit.
I guess the nexus of Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day makes sense for these sold outs dates. Premier pass is a great Valentine’s Day gift for a WDW lover, I admit! I certainly wouldn’t mind if I could visit at that time of year. I don’t think that there’s any denying that Disney is only interested in the highest paying customer, and while Disney is a business, like any other, the key word in that statement is “only.” And that’s a shameful direction in strategy to the people who can still afford Disney as well as the ones who can’t.
I just miss the days when it cost $15/day. Or even when they had the paper fastpasses. Why can’t they keep things simple again? I understand about raising prices to keep up with inflation and such, but this variable pricing is getting out-of-hand lately…
Does the premier pass include the individual LLs that cost extra?
And this is why Disney is comfortable raising prices to ridiculous levels. No matter what they do people will pay it.
I wish I worked wherever these people do who can afford such a ridiculous cost!
Sad how Disney is steadily pricing out the average family visiting the parks. I guess Disney only wants certain people visiting their parks while keeping out the rest.
Ronjon – those certain people are the ones willing to part with the CASH, without regard to race, creed, color, sex, or national origin. Disney is an equal opportunity fleecer.