Walt Disney World’s recently-launched Lightning Lane Premier Cross has offered out for a number of dates in the course of the peak vacation week between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Extra curiously, Multi-Cross has not. This publish covers offered 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-Cross. It’s a feel-good Festivus Miracle!
For starters, we need to reiterate as soon as once more that Lightning Lane Premier Cross isn’t Walt Disney World’s core line-skipping product providing. Reasonably, Lightning Lane Premier Cross (LLPP) is a 3rd tier of line-skipping along with Lightning Lane Multi-Cross (LLMP) and Lightning Lane Single Cross (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 offered a la carte by way of LLSP. That’s it within the easiest phrases attainable. 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 Cross 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 Cross. Though there are different use instances for downgrading lodging to splurge on LLPP, these are doubtless outliers somewhat than core clients.
The far more life like clarification is just that Lightning Lane Premier Cross is promoting out in the course of 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. greater occupancy and attendance). That is exactly why Genie+ used to promote out on the dates when it was most costly. It’s not that company 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 Cross is now offered 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 offered out–solely December 26 stays accessible, 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 Cross is out there.
When it comes to pricing, Lightning Lane Premier Cross can also be at its peak worth of $449 plus tax for all of these dates. The following date it’s accessible is January 1, 2025, on which date it drops to the discount basement value of $429 (nonetheless plus tax). Costs progressively lower within the two weeks after that, with a low of $329 on January 6 and most winter days by means of January 13, 2025 costing $359 or $379.
Lightning Lane Premier Cross 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 Cross 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 Cross ought to be promoting out primarily based on crowd expectations. (See our newest Walt Disney World crowd forecast, encompassing Christmas week by means of Winter 2025.) If something, I’m barely stunned that in the present day, December 23, 2024, hasn’t offered out wherever. 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 Cross with “very restricted portions.” When the brand new tier of line-skipping first went dwell, 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 frightened that Lightning Lane Premier Cross will make the visitor expertise worse for everybody else. The whole lot we’ve seen up to now 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 means of current. At the same time as that modifications between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve with greater 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 in anyway on Lightning Lane utilization because of Premier Cross. I’ve carried out in depth testing of Lightning Lane Multi-Cross and standby strains this vacation season, together with Veterans Day Weekend and Jersey Week. There have been no points even on busier days. In actual fact, fairly the other.
My largest statement 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 as a consequence of Lightning Lane Premier Cross–and possibly additionally has nothing to do with the swap from Genie+ to Multi-Cross. But it surely’s what we discovered to be the case fairly constantly 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 Transferring Quicker at Walt Disney World. The underside line is that Lightning Lanes and standby strains are usually transferring effectively, or at the least far more so than the final couple of years. (Disneyland is a distinct matter–we’re nonetheless observing loads of issues and logjams there.)
So nothing to fret about with Lightning Lane Premier Cross, even on offered out days. It’s nonetheless a really, very small variety of company utilizing it–and most could be shopping for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross 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-Cross, this can be a “no information is sweet information” situation.
As we beforehand reported, Lightning Lane Multi-Cross 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 stunning. What was stunning is that there weren’t worth 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-Cross breaking the $50 barrier. In actual fact, that’s exactly what we predicted final Christmas primarily based on simply what number of dates and parks offered out. It appeared inevitable. And we totally anticipated it to proceed promoting out at $50!
Value will increase on LLMP didn’t occur in the course of the week main as much as Christmas 2024, and though that is belated “information” (since costs have been accessible 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 by way of 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, that means whichever park you go to first is the price of Park Hopping. It may very well be $29 (a $10 theoretical drop!) should you begin at Animal Kingdom. And beginning at Animal Kingdom isn’t a foul concept, because it opens earliest.
I might additionally argue that the common on-site visitor goes to do higher with Lightning Lane Multi-Cross 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-Cross has not offered 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 offered 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-Cross 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 experience reservations. For those who had been taking a visit to Walt Disney World between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve–the week when LLMP is most helpful–you can nonetheless make sturdy alternatives. With a little bit of effort refreshing, you can most likely do a lot better than what I’m seeing simply in glancing on the app.
That is attention-grabbing and considerably stunning, and there’s most likely not only one cause to elucidate it. As famous above, utilization of the bodily Lightning Lanes is down, which supplies extra bandwidth for Multi-Cross (or Single Cross and Premier Cross!) gross sales earlier than Disney feels the “want” to tug the parks and mark LLMP as unavailable. It may be that crowds are down year-over-year, which wouldn’t be stunning provided that final 12 months was the busiest Christmas to NYE since 2019. My guess is that it’s a mix 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-Cross regardless of demand clearly indicating they’d pricing energy. That Lightning Lane Premier Cross has been a non-factor for the move of strains and visitor expertise for everybody else. That the worth provided by Lightning Lane Multi-Cross 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 experience reservation availability within the close to future.
To make sure, these are principally small victories and never the kind of “huge” optimistic information you may like to listen to. However we’ll take the wins the place we are able to get them, and any such factor is critically essential in combination. That’s particularly the case when Genie+ buckling or breaking below the burden of peak season crowds was an enormous (unfavorable) information story presently for every of the final 3 years. For the other, primarily, to be true with Lightning Lane Multi-Cross (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 concentrate on Lightning Lane Premier Cross? Stunned that it’s promoting out between Christmas and New Yr’s Eve, or did you anticipate that? What in regards to the lack of offered out dates and parks for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross? Ideas on LLMP availability or the shortage of a worth enhance? Agree or disagree with our evaluation? Different ideas or considerations? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
