Walt Disney World’s recently-launched Lightning Lane Premier Move has bought out for a number of dates throughout the peak vacation week between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Extra apparently, Multi-Move 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-Move. It’s a feel-good Festivus Miracle!
For starters, we need to reiterate as soon as once more that Lightning Lane Premier Move will not be Walt Disney World’s core line-skipping product providing. Fairly, Lightning Lane Premier Move (LLPP) is a 3rd tier of line-skipping along with Lightning Lane Multi-Move (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Move (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 through 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 Move to all on-site visitors. This might clarify the elevated promote outs, however we doubt it. Friends of Deluxe Resorts are far and away the demographic almost certainly to buy Lightning Lane Premier Move. Though there are different use instances for downgrading lodging to splurge on LLPP, these are seemingly outliers somewhat than core clients.
The way more lifelike clarification is just that Lightning Lane Premier Move is promoting out throughout the busiest week of the 12 months as a result of that’s when it’s most helpful and there’s the biggest 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 visitors solely need to pay extra for line-skipping, it’s that they’re rational actors and the costliest days are that method for a cause.
Up to now, Lightning Lane Premier Move 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 obtainable, and that would change at any second as potential purchasers swap up their plans to go to Magic Kingdom on the lone date throughout that chaotic week when Lightning Lane Premier Move is offered.
By way of pricing, Lightning Lane Premier Move can be at its peak worth of $449 plus tax for all of these dates. The subsequent date it’s obtainable is January 1, 2025, on which date it drops to the cut price basement price of $429 (nonetheless plus tax). Costs step by step 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 Move 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 fee 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 Move 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 Move 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 as we speak, December 23, 2024, hasn’t bought out wherever. The Monday earlier than Christmas is often 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 Move with “very restricted portions.” When the brand new tier of line-skipping first went reside, our largest query was: simply how restricted could 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 Move will make the visitor expertise worse for everybody else. All the pieces 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 target market for LLPP is exceedingly restricted–it’s my understanding that fewer than 1% of visitors have been buying from the day after launch by current. At the same time as that adjustments between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve with larger crowds and natural demand, but it surely’s nonetheless unlikely to eclipse 2% of all visitors. The caps and demand for this are fairly low.
For our half, we’ve noticed completely no influence in any way on Lightning Lane utilization because of Premier Move. I’ve finished in depth testing of Lightning Lane Multi-Move and standby strains this vacation season, together with Veterans Day Weekend and Jersey Week. There have been no points even on busier days. In truth, fairly the other.
My largest commentary is that Lightning Lanes are much less busy than on the similar level one 12 months in the past, and standby strains are transferring way more effectively. Clearly, this isn’t resulting from Lightning Lane Premier Move–and possibly additionally has nothing to do with the swap from Genie+ to Multi-Move. But it surely’s what we discovered to be the case fairly persistently over the course of the final a number of months.
We defined this just lately in Right here’s Why Standby Strains and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Quicker at Walt Disney World. The underside line is that Lightning Lanes and standby strains are typically transferring effectively, or a minimum of way 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 Move, even on bought out days. It’s nonetheless a really, very small variety of visitors utilizing it–and most can be shopping for Lightning Lane Multi-Move 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-Move, this can be a “no information is nice information” state of affairs.
As we beforehand reported, Lightning Lane Multi-Move 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 least stunning. What was stunning is that there weren’t worth will increase, bucking a development from the final two years. Keep in mind, from 2021 to 2023, peak costs shot up from $15 to $39 plus tax.
Provided that, we had been bracing ourselves for Lightning Lane Multi-Move breaking the $50 barrier. In truth, 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 throughout the week main as much as Christmas 2024, and though that is belated “information” (since costs have been obtainable 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 would even conceivably argue that this can be a worth lower when it comes to worth provided. Final 12 months, the price of the Park Hopping possibility was $39–the identical as Magic Kingdom. This 12 months, the Park Hopping possibility is included, which means whichever park you go to first is the price of Park Hopping. It could possibly be $29 (a $10 theoretical drop!) in the event you begin at Animal Kingdom. And beginning at Animal Kingdom isn’t a nasty concept, because it opens earliest.
I’d additionally argue that the typical on-site visitor goes to do higher with Lightning Lane Multi-Move this 12 months than they did final 12 months on the identical dates, because of 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-Move 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, visitors have already purchased and booked Lightning Lane Multi-Move 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. For those who 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 robust choices. With a little bit of effort refreshing, you may in all probability do a lot better than what I’m seeing simply in glancing on the app.
That is fascinating and considerably stunning, and there’s in all probability not only one cause to clarify it. As famous above, utilization of the bodily Lightning Lanes is down, which gives extra bandwidth for Multi-Move (or Single Move and Premier Move!) 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 stunning on condition that final 12 months was the busiest Christmas to NYE since 2019. My guess is that it’s a mix of those two elements, amongst a number 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-Move regardless of demand clearly indicating they’d pricing energy. That Lightning Lane Premier Move has been a non-factor for the move of strains and visitor expertise for everybody else. That the worth provided by Lightning Lane Multi-Move has improved with the inclusion of Park Hopping and upfront certainty (we are able to quibble about advance reserving vs. similar day and which is best on steadiness, however for the subsequent 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” optimistic information you would possibly like to listen to. However we’ll take the wins the place we are able to get them, and this kind of factor is critically essential in combination. That’s particularly the case when Genie+ buckling or breaking beneath the load of peak season crowds was an enormous (detrimental) information story right now for every of the final 3 years. For the other, primarily, to be true with Lightning Lane Multi-Move (and so on.) 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 Move? Stunned that it’s promoting out between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve, or did you anticipate that? What concerning the lack of bought out dates and parks for Lightning Lane Multi-Move? Ideas on LLMP availability or the shortage of a worth improve? Agree or disagree with our evaluation? Different ideas or issues? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
