How to Buy Disney's Lightning Lane Premier Pass Now Available to Everyone

Jan 21, 2025 in "Disney Genie"

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Lightning Lane Premier Pass logo

Posted: Tuesday January 21, 2025 8:27am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World has expanded access to the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, making it available to all guests starting today. Previously limited to resort guests and select hotel visitors, the Premier Pass is now open for purchase by anyone with valid theme park admission, offering another way to access Disney's most in-demand attractions.

Lightning Lane Entrance at Pirates of the Caribbean

How the Lightning Lane Premier Pass Works

The Lightning Lane Premier Pass provides one-time access to every available Lightning Lane attraction in a single park on a given day. Unlike other Lightning Lane options, the Premier Pass does not require guests to select arrival windows for attractions, allowing greater flexibility to explore the park at their own pace.

Key features of the pass include:

Attraction Access: Skip the standby lines for popular rides, including marquee attractions like TRON Lightcycle / Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Photo Perks: Includes digital downloads of select attraction photos and videos through Disney PhotoPass, along with access to Disney PhotoPass Lenses.
Track Your Usage: Use the My Disney Experience app to view which Lightning Lane experiences you've redeemed and which are still available.

How to Purchase

The Lightning Lane Premier Pass can be purchased through the My Disney Experience app starting at 7:00 am Eastern Time on the first day of your eligibility. Prices vary by park, date, and expected crowd levels, with peak periods like holidays typically commanding higher prices.

Here's an example of today's pricing:

Magic Kingdom: $379 (All-Time Range: $329–$449)
EPCOT: $229 (All-Time Range: $149–$249)
Hollywood Studios: $329 (All-Time Range: $249–$349)
Animal Kingdom: $129 (All-Time Range: $119–$199)

Lightning Lane Premier Pass Pricing - January 21, 2025

Eligibility and Booking Windows

Eligibility to purchase the Premier Pass depends on your ticket type and lodging arrangement:

Guests of Disney Resort Hotels and Select Hotels: Can purchase up to seven days before the first day of their stay for the entire length of their visit (up to 14 days).
Guests with Date-Based Theme Park Tickets: Can purchase three days before the start date of their ticket for all valid admission days.
Annual Passholders and Other Ticket Holders: Can purchase three days before their park visit.

Using the Premier Pass

Once purchased, guests can tap into Lightning Lane entrances using a MagicBand, MagicBand+, Disney MagicMobile pass, Key to the World Card, or ticket card linked to their admission. The pass automatically tracks redeemed attractions through the My Disney Experience app.

Planning Ahead

With the Premier Pass now available to all guests, here are some tips for making the most of your visit:

Book Early: Passes are limited and sell out, especially during peak periods like holidays.
Check the Pricing Calendar: Prices are available up to 21 days in advance, and pricing can vary significantly.
Plan for Popular Parks: Parks like Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios often see higher demand, so prioritize these for the Premier Pass on your trip.

Discuss on the Forums

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Splash4eva11 days ago

Dont give skinny jeans any new ideas

MickeyLuv'r11 days ago

I tried to post information about LL that I thought would be useful, and some of the complications I've encountered when using it, that's all. Like maybe you hadn't thought about people who need to visit GS for various touring complications. If what I shared wasn't of use to you, that's okay. The post where I briefly used the acronym "DAS", was about people who have medical limitations that are not covered by the pass. I should not have used that acronym. I can easily think up a list of medical and non-medical reasons why someone might not make the 3-hour time window. Flight delays, for example. (My heart goes out to those who experienced US airport travel delays/long lines this week.) Today's Remy LL were booked a week ago, and could not be modified once they were booked. That's a bit of a bummer in my opinion. Even if you knew your flight was delayed, there was no way to change your booked LL. That is maybe where LLPP has some value. Unless your flight is delayed one day or more. Wait, maybe that's WDW next upcharge. They could sell Lightning Lane insurance!

DisneyDad5511 days ago

These forums really need a “bickering” AI moderator…..

Splash4eva11 days ago

Who is gaslighting? Im having a discussion with you. Its a forum as you said. My 1st comment literally was “appreciate the input” sincere and not snarky at all. If anyone was gaslighting it was you bringing up DAS but whatever. As i said. Appreciate the input. I truly think people dont fully understand how DAS actually works and is NOT some magic system that gets you on any ride you want any time you want.

MickeyLuv'r11 days ago

The gaslighting on this forum is so sad. I shared my recent experiences in an effort to help everyone avoid some of the frustrations I experienced. I provided a lot of details, so hopefully your visits will all be a little bit easier.

Splash4eva11 days ago

Exactly. The 2 hour “loophole” if beyond fair where barring an extreme circumstance should have no issues being met and if that extreme does happen. Im pretty confident Disney/Blue team will handle appropriately

Chi8411 days ago

Any system with timed returns will depend on people meeting those times. If someone has an emergency they can tell a CM and expect it to be reasonably accommodated.

Splash4eva12 days ago

Tbh. Im not sure how DAS again has anything to do with this convo. If you have DaS there is no return window to worry about… i stand by my statement regarding a window of 3 hours… what do people expect Disney to do

DisneyDad5512 days ago

Life was very chill this trip….

MickeyLuv'r12 days ago

Huh? Not trying to be snarky, but I think you misread the main point of my earlier post.

Splash4eva12 days ago

SE and ME are the same if im understanding correctly. It was always tiered based on what ride went down… 2 no experience with this scenario 3 this is incorrect. I have been in line after a redemption and ride has gone down. Takes about 10 minutes for it to appear in MDE to get a LL for it or any equivalent ride

Splash4eva12 days ago

DAS has no window… you get a return time that is valid any time after

MickeyLuv'r12 days ago

I'm confused. Aren't you the poster who vehemently defends DAS as necessary for parkgoers who have a medical condition that makes the 1-hour time window of regular LL untenable? A great many medical conditions can impede someone's ability to make a 3-hour LL time window. For any medical flare-up that forces your party to take a mid-day break/nap: it usually takes at least 45 minutes in each direction just to get back to one's WDW hotel. Spend an hour at your hotel, and there goes 3 hours. I am surprised. Those of us who visit frequently know that we have little control over some of the LLMP pass times, like Slinky and Tiana's in summer. Parkgoers have to take what they are offered. (Unless they have DAS, of course.)

MickeyLuv'r12 days ago

1. No, that is no longer the case.If a ride goes down and you have not yet redeemed your LL, then you get what is now called a "Select Experiences" LL. The Select Experience passes are now more limited than they used to be. As the name now suggests, the pass only allows the user access to a selection of (lesser) LL. For example, if you had a pass for Dumbo, and Dumbo goes down, then the pass will exclude a number of rides. I think the excluded rides are: Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Space Mtn, TRON, 7D, Tiana's, and maybe Pooh. (I'm not 100% sure about Pooh.) The list of attractions it can be used to ride is mostly the rides that don't get long lines: Dumbo, Barnstormer, HM, iasw, teacups, Aladdin, Philarmagic, Monsters, PotC, Speedway, LM, and maybe Pooh. If your pass was for 1 of the excluded rides, say Peter Pan, then I think the "Select" pass will include Peter Pan, but not the rest of the above list. 2. It does have to do with LL. If your first LL pre-booked LL attraction goes down, then the system will not unlock until you redeem your 2nd LL. In this case, the Selest Pass puts you at a disadvantage because you will not be able to modify any of your other passes, EVEN if you REDEEM the Select pass. You also can't book any tier1 attractions. This happened to me on my Epcot day. My 9:30am pass was vacated, and my next pass wasn't until 10:35. If I had redeemed the original pass, I would have been able to book Remy. Even though I redeemed the Select Pass at 9:40am, I was not able to book any tier 1 attractions until after I redeemed my 2nd pre-booked pass. By then, Remy and all the other tier 1 attractions were long gone. 3. If you redeem a LL, and then the ride goes down WHILE you are in the queue. In the case of JC, EVERYONE had to leave the queue. I think people who had already redeemed their JC LL were just out of luck. In the case of other rides, people who were already in the LL were allowed to stay in the queue, but we were stuck there until the ride reopened. In the case of Space Mtn, this took over 45minutes to re-open. That was part of the snowball effect I mentioned earlier. The LL redemption took over an hour, which caused us to be very late for our next booking. Plus we missed out on booking another LL for that additional hour. 4. Another important thing to know is that usually if you have a LL for an attraction that goes down that you never redeemed, then the original LL stays in the system. You cannot rebook that attraction, even though you can no longer see the original pass. When the attraction comes back up, you might be able to redeem the original pass, but you might also get questioned as to why you are so late. (see my earlier post)