Walt Disney World’s recently-launched Lightning Lane Premier Go has bought out for a number of dates through the peak vacation week between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Extra curiously, Multi-Go has not. This put up covers bought out dates and prices for Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom for dates between now and early 2025, plus commentary about each that and Lightning Lane Multi-Go. It’s a feel-good Festivus Miracle!
For starters, we wish to reiterate as soon as once more that Lightning Lane Premier Go just isn’t Walt Disney World’s core line-skipping product providing. Slightly, Lightning Lane Premier Go (LLPP) is a 3rd tier of line-skipping along with Lightning Lane Multi-Go (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Go (LLSP). LLMP is just about paid FastPass+, however minus the marquee attraction in every park (or 2 in Magic Kingdom), which has line-skipping entry bought a la carte by way of LLSP. That’s it within the easiest phrases potential. For extra, see our Information to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
About one month in the past, Walt Disney World expanded eligibility for Lightning Lane Premier Go to all on-site company. This might clarify the elevated promote outs, however we doubt it. Friends of Deluxe Resorts are far and away the demographic most definitely to buy Lightning Lane Premier Go. Though there are different use circumstances for downgrading lodging to splurge on LLPP, these are doubtless outliers slightly than core clients.
The far more lifelike rationalization is solely that Lightning Lane Premier Go is promoting out through the busiest week of the 12 months as a result of that’s when it’s most helpful and there’s the most important pool of potential purchases (e.g. larger occupancy and attendance). That is exactly why Genie+ used to promote out on the dates when it was costliest. It’s not that company solely need to pay extra for line-skipping, it’s that they’re rational actors and the most costly days are that means for a purpose.
Thus far, Lightning Lane Premier Go is now bought out at Magic Kingdom for six of seven days within the week between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Christmas Day plus December 27-31, 2024 are all bought out–solely December 26 stays out there, and that would change at any second as potential purchasers change up their plans to go to Magic Kingdom on the lone date throughout that chaotic week when Lightning Lane Premier Go is offered.
When it comes to pricing, Lightning Lane Premier Go can be at its peak value of $449 plus tax for all of these dates. The following date it’s out there is January 1, 2025, on which date it drops to the cut price basement value of $429 (nonetheless plus tax). Costs regularly lower within the two weeks after that, with a low of $329 on January 6 and most winter days by January 13, 2025 costing $359 or $379.
Lightning Lane Premier Go has additionally began promoting out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with no availability from December 27 to 31, 2024. Equally, LLPP is priced at its peak price of $349 on all of these dates (and for the remainder of this 12 months). Costs likewise drop at DHS on January 1, 2025 to $339 (so not by a lot), however attain $269 by mid-January.
The ultimate promote out is at EPCOT on New Yr’s Eve, the place Lightning Lane Premier Go is priced at $249 on that date and thru the rest of 2024. There have been no promote outs (now or ever) at Animal Kingdom, which is the “most cost-effective” park for LLPP, with peak costs of “solely” $199.
None of that is all that exceptional. That is just about when and the place Lightning Lane Premier Go ought to be promoting out based mostly on crowd expectations. (See our newest Walt Disney World crowd forecast, encompassing Christmas week by Winter 2025.) If something, I’m barely shocked that in the present day, December 23, 2024, hasn’t bought out anyplace. The Monday earlier than Christmas is normally a really busy day at Magic Kingdom and DHS.
Walt Disney World’s official web site nonetheless emphasizes that they’re piloting the rollout of Lightning Lane Premier Go with “very restricted portions.” When the brand new tier of line-skipping first went stay, our largest query was: simply how restricted may be very restricted?
That’s a good query to ask, and we’ve heard from loads of followers who’re anxious that Lightning Lane Premier Go will make the visitor expertise worse for everybody else. Every little thing we’ve seen to date strongly means that the caps for LLPP are fairly low–and that’s a good factor for everybody else!
As talked about beforehand, the audience for LLPP is exceedingly restricted–it’s my understanding that fewer than 1% of company have been buying from the day after launch by current. Whilst that modifications between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve with larger crowds and natural demand, however it’s nonetheless unlikely to eclipse 2% of all company. The caps and demand for this are fairly low.
For our half, we’ve noticed completely no impression by any means on Lightning Lane utilization on account of Premier Go. I’ve achieved intensive testing of Lightning Lane Multi-Go and standby strains this vacation season, together with Veterans Day Weekend and Jersey Week. There have been no points even on busier days. In reality, fairly the alternative.
My largest remark is that Lightning Lanes are much less busy than on the similar level one 12 months in the past, and standby strains are transferring far more effectively. Clearly, this isn’t because of Lightning Lane Premier Go–and doubtless additionally has nothing to do with the change from Genie+ to Multi-Go. However it’s what we discovered to be the case fairly constantly over the course of the final a number of months.
We defined this lately in Right here’s Why Standby Traces and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Sooner at Walt Disney World. The underside line is that Lightning Lanes and standby strains are typically transferring effectively, or at the very least far more so than the final couple of years. (Disneyland is a special matter–we’re nonetheless observing loads of issues and logjams there.)
So nothing to fret about with Lightning Lane Premier Go, even on bought out days. It’s nonetheless a really, very small variety of company utilizing it–and most can be shopping for Lightning Lane Multi-Go or VIP Excursions in any other case, so it’s not like they’re including a lot new pressure or demand on the system.
Talking of Lightning Lane Multi-Go, this can be a “no information is nice information” state of affairs.
As we beforehand reported, Lightning Lane Multi-Go returned to the all-time excessive Genie+ costs for the week of Christmas (reached final 12 months throughout the identical dates and once more this Easter). That wasn’t in the slightest degree shocking. What was shocking is that there weren’t value will increase, bucking a pattern from the final two years. Keep in mind, from 2021 to 2023, peak costs shot up from $15 to $39 plus tax.
On condition that, we had been bracing ourselves for Lightning Lane Multi-Go breaking the $50 barrier. In reality, that’s exactly what we predicted final Christmas based mostly on simply what number of dates and parks bought out. It appeared inevitable. And we absolutely anticipated it to proceed promoting out at $50!
Worth will increase on LLMP didn’t occur through the week main as much as Christmas 2024, and though that is belated “information” (since costs have been out there for a bit), we additionally now know that they haven’t gone up for the busier week between Christmas and New Yr’s. The previous peak of $39 stays the excessive water mark, and that drops off a cliff in early 2025.
You could possibly even conceivably argue that this can be a value lower when it comes to worth supplied. Final 12 months, the price of the Park Hopping choice was $39–the identical as Magic Kingdom. This 12 months, the Park Hopping choice is included, that means whichever park you go to first is the price of Park Hopping. It might be $29 (a $10 theoretical drop!) for those who begin at Animal Kingdom. And beginning at Animal Kingdom isn’t a foul thought, because it opens earliest.
I might additionally argue that the typical on-site visitor goes to do higher with Lightning Lane Multi-Go this 12 months than they did final 12 months on the identical dates, due to a mixture of the on-site benefit and improved LLMP stock. That’s the larger win for perceived worth, particularly since not everybody has Park Hopper tickets.
The opposite “information” is that Lightning Lane Multi-Go has not bought out at any park for any dates between now and New Yr’s Eve. Or ever, for that matter. Clearly, that would nonetheless change–however Genie+ had already bought out by this level within the lead-up to Christmas final 12 months, and we’re assuming that many, if not most, company have already purchased and booked Lightning Lane Multi-Go for December 25 and past.
To make sure, there’s restricted or no availability for many headliners within the subsequent few days. However there is nonetheless availability for worthwhile Tier 1 trip reservations. If you happen to have been taking a visit to Walt Disney World between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve–the week when LLMP is most helpful–you may nonetheless make sturdy alternatives. With a little bit of effort refreshing, you may most likely do significantly better than what I’m seeing simply in glancing on the app.
That is fascinating and considerably shocking, and there’s most likely not only one purpose to clarify it. As famous above, utilization of the bodily Lightning Lanes is down, which gives extra bandwidth for Multi-Go (or Single Go and Premier Go!) gross sales earlier than Disney feels the “want” to drag the parks and mark LLMP as unavailable. It may be that crowds are down year-over-year, which wouldn’t be shocking on condition that final 12 months was the busiest Christmas to NYE since 2019. My guess is that it’s a mixture of those two components, amongst a couple of different less-significant ones.
Whatever the causes, that is all good to see. That Walt Disney World didn’t increase costs of Lightning Lane Multi-Go regardless of demand clearly indicating that they had pricing energy. That Lightning Lane Premier Go has been a non-factor for the circulate of strains and visitor expertise for everybody else. That the worth supplied by Lightning Lane Multi-Go has improved with the inclusion of Park Hopping and upfront certainty (we will quibble about advance reserving vs. similar day and which is best on stability, however for the following 3 weeks, the knowledge is unquestionably higher). That there’s nonetheless trip reservation availability within the close to future.
To make sure, these are largely small victories and never the kind of “huge” constructive information you may like to listen to. However we’ll take the wins the place we will get them, and any such factor is critically vital in combination. That’s particularly the case when Genie+ buckling or breaking below the load of peak season crowds was an enormous (unfavorable) information story presently for every of the final 3 years. For the alternative, primarily, to be true with Lightning Lane Multi-Go (and many others.) this 12 months is greater than only a small victory for the visitor expertise, for my part.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Lightning Lane Premier Go? Stunned that it’s promoting out between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve, or did you count on that? What concerning the lack of bought out dates and parks for Lightning Lane Multi-Go? Ideas on LLMP availability or the shortage of a value enhance? Agree or disagree with our evaluation? Different ideas or considerations? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
