It’s no secret, a trip to Disney World can be pretty pricy. But here’s why you might want to spend even more money during your time in the parks.
Rise of the Resistance
The costs of a Disney World trip can add up FAST. By the time you’ve paid for your park tickets, hotel room, transportation, food, and souvenirs, there’s a good chance that your budget may already be super tight. So, after all that, why would you want to pay even MORE money to ride an attraction? As wild as it may seem, there is a mathematical reason you might actually want to shell out more for that must-do ride.
What Are Individual Lightning Lanes?
Let’s start with a few Disney World attractions basics before we dive into the mathematical breakdown of why you might want to pay extra to experience a particular ride.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Technically, all of the rides at each of the Disney World parks are included in the cost of a ticket. This means that, in theory, there is an option to ride each attraction through a standby line without paying extra on top of your park ticket. But, in October 2021, Disney World launched several new planning tools that gave guests the option to bypass standby lines for select attractions at an additional cost.
Lightning Lane Sign
The basic version of the planning tool — called Disney Genie — is a complimentary service within Disney World’s My Disney Experience app that provides planning tools and customized itineraries to help guests maximize their time in the parks. In addition to the free planning tool, there are also two optional add-ons available through Disney Genie, each of which can be used for a fee.
Disney Genie
First, there’s the Disney Genie+ base-price option, which allows guests to select the next available time to arrive at an attraction (similar to the previous FastPass+ time windows) and enter that attraction’s Lightning Lane. Disney Genie+ includes access to the Lightning Lanes of over 40 attractions across Disney World. The pricing for Genie+ varies by date, but we’ve seen the cost per person range from $15 per day to $22 per day.
Lightning Lane
But, each of the Disney World parks also includes one ultra-popular attraction that is NOT included as a Lightning Lane option with the purchase of Disney Genie+. In order to access the Lightning Lane for these attractions, guests must purchase an Individual Attraction Lightning Lane Selection.
Pandora
The attractions that require the purchase of an Individual Lightning Lane to bypass the standby line are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom), Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT), Avatar Flight of Passage (Disney’s Animal Kingdom), and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Disney’s Hollywood Studios).
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
The pricing for each attraction varies by day, but so far, we’ve seen Seven Dwarfs Mine Train range from $10-$12 per person, Guardians of the Galaxy range from $14-17 per person, Flight of Passage range from $11-$14 per person, and Rise of the Resistance range from $15-$22 per person.
Pandora
Why would you consider paying extra to bypass the standby line for just one of those rides? Let’s dive into the math!
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When Does an Individual Lightning Lane Make Sense?
As mentioned before, there is a standby line available for each Disney World attraction (with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is still using a Virtual Queue system that requires guests to get a Boarding Group in order to ride).
Tower of Terror
But even though you could experience each attraction without paying extra in theory, there is one super important reason why buying an Individual Lightning Lane might be worth it — time is money in Disney World.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Entrance
Let’s run through an example to see this concept in action. If, for example, Hollywood Studios is open for 12.5 hours, and you paid $109 for your park ticket, that ticket is costing you $8.72 per hour ($109/12.5 hours) — and that’s assuming you are there from rope drop to closing. If you wait in a 3-hour standby line for Rise of the Resistance, the cost of that time equals $26.16 ($8.72 x 3 hours).
©Disney
So from that perspective, you would have saved money by paying for an Individual Attraction Selection for Rise of the Resistance, even if the cost for that day was at the highest pricing we’ve seen so far of $22.
Rise of the Resistance
Let’s do the same thing over at Magic Kingdom. The park has been open for 14 hours lately, so you’re essentially paying $7.79 per hour. We see Seven Dwarfs Mine Train get to a two hour wait nearly every day, so it would cost you $15.58 to wait in that two hour line. We mostly see the Individual Lightning Lane at $11, so again, you would save money by saving time here.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
This same logic can be applied to the purchase of Genie+, which includes access to Lightning Lanes for multiple attractions across the parks.
You can find Lightning Lanes at many attractions within the parks!
By purchasing Genie+, Individual Lightning Lanes, or both, you can save a significant amount of time waiting in standby lines. This allows you to get the most out of your day in the park, maximizing the value of your ticket.
Tower of Terror Lightning Lane
Of course, spending even more money on a day in Disney World might not be in every family’s budget. If you can’t swing the extra cost of Genie+ or Individual Lighting Lanes, there are still options to help you get the most out of your time!
Lightning Lane at Kilimanjaro Safaris
First, be strategic about your time in the park. Lines for attractions tend to be the shortest right after the park opens and in the few hours before the park closes. To bypass some of the longest lines, try to arrive in time for rope drop in the morning, or plan to stay all the way up until the park closes.
A Light Crowd on a Magic Kingdom Morning!
If you’re staying at a Disney-owned hotel, you may also be eligible for extra time in the parks through Early Theme Park Entry or Extended Evening Hours. Be sure to check on any extra park hours included for your hotel for another opportunity to take advantage of shorter standby lines!
Select resort guests can enter the parks EARLY!
We know that a trip to Disney World can be wildly expensive. And that can make it hard to justify shelling out even MORE money to experience an attraction. But if you’re trying to maximize the value of your park ticket and accomplish as much as you can on your vacation, it may be worth splurging on Genie+ or Individual Lightning Lanes to bypass some of those standby lines! After all, when it comes to Disney World, time is definitely money.
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I suspect the next thing that Chapek will do in addition to charging a park fee is to buy tickets for attractions, including shows. Chapek may start everyone buying a pk of tickets, each ride costing 1 ticket, until people start accepting this, much as many did purchasing Geni+ and Lighting Lane tickets because parks were OVERLY PACKED and couldn’t get on a ride without standing in line for an hour or two. Next in ADDITION to paying to enter a park and buy a Pack of tickets for rides and shows, most popular rides may take 4 tickets and so on. You-all understand where I am going with this. Truely SAD!!!
I guess you can make logic work to support any case. That being said, paying extra to get on rides that are already included in the price of admission is gouging. It appears to me that Disney is out to limit the everyday family with kids from attending Disney World. Costs are way to high already and continue to increase on everything almost daily. It is too bad that they have lost the vision that Walt Disney had when he started out.
That’s an interesting premise on “time is money” and of course we all have heard that and don’t even question that idea. Equating a non-tangible , time, to a tangible, money, however, does not account for the bottom line of how much one spends. That would not fly in accounting, statistics or with the IRS. BUT, having experienced the ILL and LL and Disney World lines I find the extra money worth it for my time (can get to more experiences) and I hate long lines. So for whatever the reason, most will find Genie+ LL and ILL worth it in some form or fashion.
I came to Disney World with my family in June 2019 and June 2022. The crowds were the same. In 2019 we all had 3 fast passes each. We went on ALL THE RIDES that we wanted to go on each and every day in all of the parks. Disney has created a non existing problem and corrected that non existing problem by CHANGING MANY PROCEDURES THAT WERE IN PLACE IN 2019 and RAISING PRICES ON EVERYTHING OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I hope in 2022 the revenge vacationers complete their last visit to Disney and the Disney Vacation Club Members use up their points or lose them. When Disney sees the slowdown in hotel room bookings for 2023 then and only then will they offer reasonable room discounts and maybe just maybe consider the return of the free Fast Pass. Disney, you are not the only company that lost profit due to the Pandemic but you are the only greedy company that made it back and then some in two years. A million people lost their lives and countless people lost their jobs, their homes, their savings and their retirement. NEVER TO GET IT BACK, BUT NOT YOU DISNEY. Give them and all of us a BREAK. Roll back some of your selfish policy changes over the last two years. Disney, do something for us, PLEASE
Bob Chapek is a money-grubbing corporate hack who will continue to take and raise prices as long as the sheep continue to flock to slaughter. It is time to put our foot down and say no more and back it up by not showing up to be fleeced. I wonder what Walt would say if he could see what his dream has become.
When the world r my husband and me going to pay to go on rides we already pay plenty to fly there and stay n the resorts and pay to go n the hallowed grounds and pay a gate fee just to walk n the gate and then when we could have extra hours n the parks and now only the ones staying n the super expensive resorts r allowed to do that and isn’t that called separating the classes as if we aren’t good enough Irs a disgrace and all that go there and treated that way should b very angry about that and bob chapek and all the others that caused that have taken the magic out of it and my husband and me have been going there for over 35 years and we live out of state so we don’t have the luxury of living there so we have spent thousands of dollars going there and a lot of people can’t take their kids there because they can’t afford the prices and that is such a shame and a disgrace and it’s all over pure greed
Scott my husband agree as long as people keep being sheep herded by the greed that is running Disney it will not stop that’s why we r done with Disney the only way this will stop is for people to take stand and refuse to give n such GREED omg we already pay for a gate fee to walk n wake up people
To the comment about buying a book of tickets that has already been done n the 70s when my husband and myself started going there that was what Disney and they had extra booths if u wanted to purchase more r could trade off with other park guest if they wanted to trade with u for attraction they wanted and they had what u wanted don’t go giving that jerk and his co-harts ideas and still charge a outrages gate fee
The Lightning Lane can be a huge help … if you can get it. If you’re there at the rope drop, it’s likely you can get one. But for those coming from the other coast, it can be very hard getting to the park early enough to grab a LL before they are gone or available before 9 pm! But the LL doesn’t always work either. We went to Small World at our given time. The LL was queue was backed up a good 40-50 feet outside, and that doesn’t count the queue inside.
And then the other thing one needs to consider: We couldn’t get the LL for the Runaway Train, so we thought we’d brave the 90- minute standby queue. It actually took us 165 minutes! They weren’t letting us through as long as the LL riders were through. Had we known the queue would be nearly three hours, we wouldn’t have done it, because we almost missed our lunch reservation.
Finally: the week of Nov. 7 has been insane. We’ve been to WDW twice this time of year and it has never been so crowded. And it’s the first time we’ve heard of the “Jersey” factor.
I wish we had an EPCOT on the West Coast. Our experience this week hasn’t met our expectations.
We need fast passes again instead of paying to go on attractions we don’t care how it’s suppose to get on them faster it’s the fact it’s a money grabbing scheme and Disney doesn’t care where so think people r suppose to have the money for all that when a lot of people worry about buying food and has to get to those jobs let’s b for real the fat cats at that r running Disney don’t care by all means let’s keep the stock holders happy nothing but pure greed
This article was extremely helpful !!! Thank you for putting the time and effort into providing the information. You can choose to complain over the current conditions or enjoy the magic that is right in front of you !! It’s a choice ! Disney = $$ thankfully or we have less than the best !
I have two comments. First, waiting in line for popular rides has been normal in Disney for decades. All the way back to my first visit in 1977, and especially during my visits in the ’90s and 2000. So, although he has messed up a lot, I don’t blame Chapek for this.
Second, thank you for this article. When first announced, I misunderstood the changes to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Avatar Flight of Passage, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. I thought buying the Lightning Lane was mandatory and there would no longer be a stand-by lane for these rides! I LOVE Flight of Passage, so I thought I would have ended up paying just to get on the ride. So, thanks for this article. Actually, thanks for all your articles. This blog has provided tons of information on how to maximize my visits.
Oh, also, I am a Floridian with a Sorcerer’s pass. I lucked out and bought my annual pass last year when they became available again in August. I wish they would open up all tiers to new members. My sister has moved to Florida and we were only able to get her the Pixie Pass. So my options are now limited to the non-block out dates for that pass. My boyfriend and I do not have that limitation when we go alone, but going with her is not as simple.
Oops, I guess that was three comments.