Lightning Lane: Changes and a Big Leak

Lightning Lane: Changes and a Big Leak

Back in 2015, Wired Magazine published an article about Disney's then-unprecedented $1 billion investment in technology for Walt Disney World (1). While the focus then was on magicbands, the core of the technology was integrating attractions, dining, character meet-and-greets, shopping, and more. The article describes how "People spend less time in line. They're doing more, which means they're spending more and remembering more." Back then Disney was not yet monetizing the convenience, but perhaps the vision was already in place.

Fast forward to 2021, and Disney rolled out a new service called "Disney Genie", which included "Lightning Lane" (2). While the core service was free, if guests wanted to skip the line, they needed to pay $15 per person per day to get faster access to rides. The change was not popular, "On social media, many have pointed out that charging extra for what once was a free perk makes the Disney experience inaccessible to those who can’t afford it. Others have argued that the FastPass system is actually the reason for the backed up lines and that getting rid of it may help streamline the waiting process." But then-CEO Bob Chapek said up to 50% of guests were purchasing it anyway (3).

Skip ahead to July 2024, and Disney rolled out another series of changes, introducing "Lightning Lane Multi Pass" and "Lightning Lane Single Pass" (4). These changes took place while I am in the college program, and took effect during the week my family was in town to visit with me. They were minimally disruptive to cast members, since from the cast member perspective, the entrance and queuing system worked exactly the same way. But it was a rough transition for guests, many of whom didn't realize that to skip the line, they needed to purchase and plan 3, 7, or more days ahead of their trip. Many were very frustrated to find out that all the lightning lane passes for the most popular rides were already sold out before the parks even opened.

So why did Disney make the change? There are likely several reasons. The appreciative reason is that it gives guests more flexibility and the chance to make sure that they can ride the attractions most important to them. The less appreciative reason is revenue. According to a massive leak this week, "the passes generated more than $724 million in pretax revenue between October 2021 and June 2024 at Walt Disney World alone" (5). So across their parks, charging guests to skip the line has already generated over $1 billion in revenue. Since there is basically no marginal cost to Disney for the program, that's almost exclusively profit. It's no surprise then that there are already rumors of a much more expensive, "unlimited" Lightning Lane service in the works (6)!

Topic: Integration of Technology

References

(1) https://www.wired.com/2015/03/disney-magicband/

(2) https://www.polygon.com/22632224/disney-genie-plus-cost-disneyland-disney-world-app-fastpass

(3) https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/disney-genie/news/09feb2022-up-to-50-percent-of-walt-disney-world-park-guests-are-upgrading-to-disney-genie-according-to-bob-chapek.htm

(4) https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/lightning-lane-passes/

(5) https://www.wsj.com/business/media/leaked-disney-data-reveals-financial-and-strategy-secrets-56573020?st=RSono8&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

(6) https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lane-premier-pass-rumor-disney-world-disneyland-universal-express-pass-competitor/ (also source of image above)

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