We did the thing. When Disney launched Lightning Lane Premier Pass months ago, it was met with skepticism, some ire, and, in some corners, a bit of hope. Well, we finally took the plunge and spent a day at Magic Kingdom using Lightning Lane Premier Pass. From my initial thoughts on the product to what I expect from future visits, here’s what I thought about Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom!

Twelve Thoughts I Had Using Premier Pass

I’m going to take you through twelve key thoughts I had using Premier Pass. These start with my thoughts when the product launched and go through the end of the day in the park. Then I’ll close with some conclusions including everyone’s favorite question: “Is it worth it?”

Just try not to think about it

My initial thought when Premier Pass launched was that most of us just shouldn’t think about it. Whatever the reasonable discussion to be had about the cost of a Disney vacation, Premier Pass is never a necessity for a good trip. It’s also priced reasonably similar to competitor offerings.

I saw some people violently obsessing over the cost of Premier Pass. This is unnecessary upward counterfactual thinking—comparing the world to some idyllic one where you could have Premier Pass for a lower price. (When done by content creators, it’s clickbait at best, ragebait at worst.) Don’t do that. While Premier Pass obviously impacts wait times for standby users and Multi Pass users in some slight amount, we’re mostly not worse off because Premier Pass exists. My initial thought was, “let it do its thing, we focus on our thing.”

I want to try to have the perfect day

I’ve lost a lot more time than I care to admit planning travel that never happened. I love browsing travel ideas, but I’m the kind of person who needs the exact right bit of inspiration to actually book a trip. I need to see all the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly together.

In this case, we were actually in Florida for the time before and after a Disney Cruise. Altogether, we’d have two full park days plus a half day, and I immediately knew how I’d allocate that time: one full Magic Kingdom day, one day split between Hollywood Studios and Epcot, and the half day at Animal Kingdom.

I also wanted to do the Magic Kingdom Dessert Party, and I booked that for before the single day we had before the cruise. Seeing one day, fully dedicated to Magic Kingdom, with a dessert party, the day before we were set to get on the Disney Fantasy…I just got the feeling that I wanted to have the perfect day. (You can read our standard one day Magic Kingdom itinerary here.)

To that end, there was a specific reason Premier Pass entered my mind after I dismissed it entirely on release. Premier Pass has the potential to decrease screen time and stress. My mind has been on reducing screen time at Disney World a lot recently (I do a pretty good job at home), but getting good value out of Lightning Lane Multi Pass inevitably requires a lot of screen time. Getting maximum value out of Multi Pass often requires near 100% screen time between rides. It’s also overall a very stressful experience. You promise your kid they’ll make it on some ride, and then you spend all day trying to book that ride for them.

Since Premier Pass doesn’t require you to book Lightning Lanes, you theoretically will avoid a lot of screen time and stress. As part of my “perfect day”, I thought this would be a good time to really try and immerse myself in the day with the family, rather than refreshing my screen for Lightning Lanes all day long.

Wow. This is Expensive.

At a pre-tax rate of $379 each for three people, I wound up spending $1,210.92 for one day of Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom. Here are a few ways to think about this cost.

First, that $1,210.92 is astronomical compared to the sub-$100 I could have spent on Lightning Lane Multi Pass. It’s also astronomical compared to the $200-ish I would have spent on the three of us to have Multi Pass and Single Pass.

My “baseline” Disney World trip costs $5,646 for a family of three. Adding Premier Pass raises that cost by about 20%.

If I head over to Undercover Tourist, I find 4-day park hopper tickets for just over $700. Which means on a per-person basis, buying Premier Pass for a single day at Magic Kingdom is adding more than 50% to the ticket cost. If you had the time for a 5th day, that 5th day costs only about $60 per person more, plus the cost of the extra night in a hotel. This will usually be much less than the cost of a single day of Premier Pass.

However much I enjoyed some aspects of Premier Pass, I would take the extra day of the trip over Premier Pass ten out of ten times. But it isn’t always an option. We had exactly one day for Magic Kingdom on this trip.

Glad I Booked Early

I did not expect Premier Pass to sell out as much as it does. I definitely did not expect Premier Pass to sell out as quickly as it sometimes does. We visited on February 15, and Premier Pass for Magic Kingdom was sold out by 3PM on February 7, eight days in advance of our visit.

Presumably there were a lot of people like us who were flying in on Friday and visiting Magic Kingdom on Saturday. As a guest of a Disney hotel, you can buy Premier Pass seven days before your check-in date.

At least during busy periods, you need to be prepared to buy Premier Pass ASAP. This is something of a departure from Multi Pass. While you won’t get the best initial picks with Multi Pass if you book closer to your visit, you’ll still be able to buy the service itself and work to maximize your picks once you’re inside the park.

While you still should be ready to buy Single Pass ASAP, it’s not uncommon for me to miss the 7AM time to book Multi Pass. But for Premier Pass, going forward, I definitely advise you to be prepared to buy it ASAP.

I’m Still Gonna Rope Drop

Rope drop is part of my job. But it’s also just a part of who I am when I tour the parks. I think a more advisable approach would be to spend the the time around Early Entry getting Photopass photos taken on Main Street or in front of the castle, for example.

While we opted for rope drop, we at least weren’t stressed when a 20-minute wait for the bus at Port Orleans French Quarter meant we weren’t inside the park until 8:17AM. Emily and Zoe confronted high crowds at Peter Pan’s Flight when Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was down. I tested the “pre-queue” approach for TRON. Emily used her Lightning Lane for TRON later in the day. We all rode Peter Pan’s Flight together later in the day, too.

For what it’s worth, there are ride-forward uses for this time if you have Premier Pass, too. We fit in two rides on the carrousel, which doesn’t have a Lightning Lane. Usually, I’d prioritize Astro Orbiter, which lacks a Lightning Lane and can carry hefty waits most of the day, but it was under refurbishment during our visit.

You can read all about Early Entry and rope drop at Magic Kingdom here.

I Get to Say ‘Yes’

After rope drop, I met Emily and Zoe at the carousel. Zoe loves the carousel, and the two of them had just finished riding it. Zoe asked if I wanted to go on it together…and I felt immediately compelled to say “yes!”

Now, this is a situation where I’d say yes 9/10 times anyways. But still, the immediate sense that I didn’t even have to think twice, that I didn’t have to recall our next few Lightning Lane times and how this would impact them, that was a hugely positive moment for me.

But I Still Have to Say ‘No’ Sometimes

As the day went on, I started to realize that despite Premier Pass inviting a sort of “auto-pilot” mentality, I actually didn’t want to fall asleep at the wheel. The first instance of this came in Tomorrowland. Emily and Zoe had just ridden Tomorrowland Speedway, and we’d finished a family ride on PeopleMover (no Lightning Lane, but usually no wait early in the day). Zoe asked to go on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, one of the big favorites in our household…and I said “No.”

I explained that we should save it later because, while we enjoy a lot of rides at Magic Kingdom, our list of favorites is still limited. Space Ranger Spin is relatively centrally located, and I felt like saving it for later in the day gave us a little extra something to look forward to. We’d inevitably be back in the area for the dessert party that night, too. (Don’t worry, this isn’t a story that ends tragically, we made it onto the ride later just fine.)

There’s Still Work to Be Done

The second part of not falling asleep at the wheel is that I was surprised how much work still had to be done putting together our day. Without a scheduled set of Lightning Lanes to work around, my mind had to run through a lot more permutations in putting together the day. Instead of knowing I had to be in Adventureland between 2PM and 3PM to ride Jungle Cruise, I could be anywhere at any time.

Usually I’d eat lunch wherever it made sense relative to our Lightning Lanes. Same with picking a spot to watch the parade. I don’t usually plan on catching the stage show, Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, figuring we’ll just watch if we happen to be near the castle when it’s going.

Premier Pass gave us more freedom, but that meant more moving parts. We wound up watching the 11:10AM Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, then having a quick lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (Sonny Eclipse is a family favorite), then coming back to the hub for the 12PM Festival of Fantasy Parade.

I Was Glad to Have Less, but not no, Screen Time

As discussed above, part of my motivation for using Premier Pass was to reduce screen time. While some of this still falls on me, I was overall disappointed with the amount of time I spent on my phone. (Unfortunately neither of my screen time trackers seems to have captured this day accurately.)

The bulk of the time on my phone was in the morning. This was during rope drop when we still had the chance to grab some short waits. I had to keep my eye on the PeopleMover wait (no Lightning Lane), for example.

But then I also had to check in on showtimes, parade times, and closing hours for things like the Liberty Square Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island. And I had to mobile order food.

I was grateful to have multi-hour chunks of time where I just deliberately did not touch my phone. Overall, I think Premier Pass provides a great option for reducing screen time. But I still struggled to shut down my “plan everything, do everything” mentality that required some screen-focused time.

Our Step Count Actually Wasn’t Lower

I was a little surprised by this one. Excluding my morning run, I took 25,000 steps during both our full day at Magic Kingdom and during the day we split between Hollywood Studios and Epcot the following weekend.

This figure is more or less typical for us when we visit with Zoe. Based on occasional pedometer usage, we estimate Zoe takes probably about 30% more steps than us, so we don’t like to push much beyond that 25,000 figure (part of the function of my morning run is to make sure I’m walking on tired legs—if I start to feel tired, it reminds me to have some extra empathy for Zoe).

You expect to be able to cut down on your step count using Premier Pass because you’re able to batch rides more effectively than when using Multi Pass or responding to live wait times. You’re not booking Lightning Lanes in a way that has you going from Barnstormer to Pirates of the Caribbean to Dumbo.

I suspect most people would cut down on their step count, at least as compared to a day using Multi Pass to get on every ride. I suspect I do a better-than-average job of keeping step counts under control when using Multi Pass. I focus heavily on batching the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland rides, for example. Nine times out of ten, I’m riding Barnstormer and Dumbo back to back. The tenth time, I’m riding Dumbo, then Mad Tea Party, then Barnstormer.

We Did Some Different Things, But We Still Didn’t Do Everything

Our day included some things we don’t usually do, like getting Zoe’s silhouette done (a longtime bucket list thing for Emily) and the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Dessert Party. We felt free to take the time for both Dole Whip and a Mickey Bar. We filled out our Scrapvenger book.

But we didn’t make it to Tom Sawyer Island or the Liberty Square Riverboat. We didn’t get a family photo on Photopass. We didn’t even make it onto every ride with a Lightning Lane—skipping Space Mountain and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. We did our preferred animatronic shows—Enchanted Tiki Room and Country Bear Musical Jamboree—but skipped the others.

Magic Kingdom closed at 11PM and we left at a respectable 9PM. We certainly weren’t quick on our feet or actually trying to do “everything” (we would have gotten much closer were that the case, no doubt). But it’s still pretty remarkable how much didn’t make it into our day. One way to think about it is this—if I were solo and put this day together with Multi Pass and Single Pass, I’d consider it a big failure. But for a family visit where it was about the time we spent together making memories, it was nice to avoid some of the big stress of planning everything.

Magic Kingdom Is The Best? The Worst? For Premier Pass

Building off the previous point, when Premier Pass debuted I was reasonably certain that Magic Kingdom was the best park for it, with Hollywood Studios maybe making sense, sometimes.

And I’m still not sure if I was right or wrong. I’d say I’m still confident Premier Pass makes the most sense at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios—far more than the other two parks. But as between Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, or whether it’s ever actually worth it at Magic Kingdom, I’m a bit unsure (“worth it” is the next section, BTW).

Before I go on I want to just flag example pricing. On one date in March 2025, I see Premier Pass priced at:

Magic Kingdom - $429
Hollywood Studios - $289

I don’t want to get into the weeds on this difference. Rather, I just want to make sure you recognize that we’re not comparing equally priced apples to apples. These parks are different. Premier Pass offers different value at each. And it’s accordingly priced different. So, keep that in the back of your mind.

What’s challenging about analyzing Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom is that the park has so much to do that you don’t need Premier Pass to keep busy. You could spend less than $100 on Multi Pass and both Single Passes, limit your Multi Pass usage to just picking the best option available (not constantly refreshing), and probably fill a day pretty comfortably.

Now, without “power using” Multi Pass, you won’t get on all of Peter Pan’s Flight, Jungle Cruise, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. You might only get on one. But, subject to some prioritization, you’ll usually be able to get on every other ride in the park if you want. And since Magic Kingdom offers so much besides rides, you probably can fill a day without waiting in substantial standby lines.

The situation is the opposite with Premier Pass over at Hollywood Studios. You can do everything (not literally, but close enough) at Hollywood Studios in a single day. Premier Pass is going to easily enable you to see every show and ride every ride in a day at that park.

But with only nine rides with Lightning Lanes at Hollywood Studios to work with, it’s not as if you’ll be stretched to your limits just relying on the combination Multi Pass and Single Pass, either. Multi Pass isn’t fun at Hollywood Studios, but most of the time I’m stressed at that park it’s because I have less than a full day.

The final wrinkle I want to add is that Premier Pass is only good for a single park. Multi Pass can be used at multiple parks in a single day. A week after our Premier Pass day at Magic Kingdom, we used Multi Pass on our split day between Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We didn’t tear through the Epcot rides, but between Multi Pass and single rider I had little trouble getting through the bulk of the Hollywood Studios rides in the morning.

I think Hollywood Studios is deserving of a full day for most families. But we almost always wind up splitting time between Hollywood Studios and Epcot. This makes Premier Pass a little less valuable at that park for us than for many other families. My dedication to a single, full day at Magic Kingdom conversely makes Premier Pass more palatable…but again, is it necessary?

Was Premier Pass Worth It at Magic Kingdom?

A good place to start is with the truth. I expect to buy Premier Pass again for a single, full day at Magic Kingdom. Probably I’ll next do it when Zoe hits 44 inches, probably after Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopens. (Think in terms of height requirements, not ages, when planning your trip.)

But that won’t be our next trip. Instead, I expect our next visit to Magic Kingdom to involve a less “power” approach to using Multi Pass. If Premier Pass, at over $400 per person, and not doing everything, feels like it can sometimes be worth it, then maybe I should start with the sub-$100 per person on Multi Pass and both Single Pass lanes and throttle back my own obsession with “doing everything” and refreshing the Lightning Lane screen all day long.

The bottom line is that Premier Pass taught me something that was obvious to everyone outside the Disney World bubble: “it’s the rides, stupid.” If the rides are worth it for you, then the product might be worth it. If you have to go on every ride, then the work Multi Pass will require for you to do that makes Premier Pass an appealing option.

That’s why our next visit with Premier Pass won’t be about having the “perfect” Magic Kingdom day. It’ll be about the rides. We’ll have leftover time, of course, and I’ll fill that time. But I’ll put to the side the stress of fitting in parades and shows.

But if riding everything is not totally important…if it’s the stress of Multi Pass that’s on the top of your mind, as it always is with me, then I think the Premier Pass question offers a chance to rethink our priorities and our impulses, maybe saving $300 per person along the way.

I wound up turning down the stress of my day with Premier Pass because I had to, there was no other way for me to find value in the product. I deliberately put my phone away and told myself it would all work out. But then I didn’t even ride every ride that was included. Zoe and Emily wound up riding Peter Pan’s Flight twice, and we did the carousel twice, too. We enjoyed the parade and the aforementioned extras, like the dessert party and our scrapvenger hunt.

So the day I’m most looking forward to isn’t my next day with Premier Pass. That will be a glorious, ride-filled day, no doubt. But what I’m most looking forward to is my next day with Multi Pass and Single Pass, where I’ll try to remember that when Premier Pass gave me the chance to have a “perfect” day, I didn’t do everything. I’ll use Multi Pass more sparingly than I usually would. I’ll focus on being present and on all the Magic the park has to offer that isn’t every single ride. I think it’ll be a great day.

Maybe the perfect Magic Kingdom day was inside us, all along…plus the cost of Multi Pass and Single Pass, because those are still necessary. Bring money.

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.

Related Posts and Introduction