No one likes to wait. And for the last few decades, Disney Parks have been experimenting with not just how to get guests to do less of it, but who those lucky few should be… Once upon a time, Disney’s patented FastPass system gave all guests the chance to gain priority boarding at popular rides… and at no additional cost! Though it now seems like a folksy throwback to a simpler time, the idea that skipping the line could be available to all – and “free” – was a defining factor of a day at Disney Parks… until it wasn’t.
Today, we’ll take a whirlwind tour of the six Disney Resorts on Earth to see the unique line-skipping system at each. Balancing guest service, operations, and – of course – revenue, each Disney Resort has developed its own system for skipping the line… From pay-one-price, one-time-anytime-access to ride bundles, virtual queues, and a la carte upcharges, it turns out that if you’ve been to one Disney Park, you really haven’t seen ‘em all… Which line-skipping system do you think is best? We’ll leave you to debate in the comments below…
As for where to start, though we might often attribute the end of Disney’s equal-access, included line-skipping to an unexpected “tabula rasa” post-COVID, don’t misunderstand: Disney was dabbling with paid-for line-skipping long before 2020…
1. Shanghai Disneyland
When Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016, Disney quickly learned that adapting to Chinese culture would take some trial and error. Much of the built infrastructure of the resort looked like every other Disney park, but hadn’t taken into account how China’s emerging middle class and their evolving customs would actually use it. Social media quickly picked up on guest behaviors Westerners generally wouldn’t expect – like guests selling knock-off merchandise in the park, children using planters as toilets, and continuous instances of blatant line-cutting.
Another issue? FastPass. Though the park initially offered the same paper FastPass system you could find in every other park, reports quickly surfaced of guests reselling their unused FastPass tickets for around $15 a pop. Though the “fine print” of FastPass expressly forbid reselling, there was clearly a market for “selling” each ride’s priority access capacity slots… But if anyone was going to make money off of FastPass access, it was going to be Disney.
In 2017, Shanghai Disney launched Disney Premier Access. Rather than securing a return time, Premier Access allowed guests to purchase a la carte, one-time entry through the FastPass queue for $17 to $21 per ride, or to recieve one-time access to seven of the park’s FastPass-equipped rides for a $70 – $85 bundle.
Given that the “anytime” entry – with no need for rolling reservations or return windows – was Premier Access’ perk, it makes sense that the system could co-exist with FastPass (see first screenshot, above), and for once-in-a-lifetime visitors, it was arguably even worth the price. (Imagine how much better you’d sleep the night before a Shanghai Disneyland visit knowing you had basically guarunteed yourself one FastPass access to TRON, Pirates, Peter Pan, Roaring Rapids, and more, anytime you were ready to ride them.)
Shanghai Disneyland re-opened in May 2020 after a multi-month closure due to COVID-19. In the months that followed, operational changes came and went. Among them, FastPass quietly disappeared in July 2020, leaving only the Premier Access system to bypass Standby waits. Shanghai Disneyland is about to emerge from its most recent multi-month closure. So far, Disney hasn’t released any information about tickets or add-ons… but it seems pretty certain that free FastPass won’t be on the menu.
So think about it: how would you like it if this idea – “Premier Access” offering a la carte, one-time access to a single ride for a variable price, or a high-cost bundle for one-time, anytime access – was the norm at your home park? Hmm… And we’re not done yet.
2. Disneyland Paris
In 2018 – back when FastPass was FastPass, and there appeared to be 0% chance of that changing – Disneyland Paris introduced a very unusual test…
Disney Access One. Using Dash from The Incredibles as its mascot, this service cost a flat €15 (about $16) for one person to gain one anytime-access entry to one ride’s FastPass queue. It was an interesting test… But one thing it clearly got wrong was that every ride was offered a la carte for $16 per person – whether a headliner like Big Thunder Mountain or a B-Ticket like the Magic Carpets of Aladdin – with no variable pricing and no bundles. (What family of 4 would drop $64 on a single line-skip on Autopia, especially with free FastPass still available?)
In retrospect, it’s easy to see that Access One would eventually evolve into Individual Lightning Lane back in the states, but in 2018, Paris’ Access One only lasted a few months. It wasn’t the end of upcharge priority boarding, though. A few months later, the next iteration debuted.
While still offering regular ole paper return ticket FastPasses, the resort launched Super FastPass – a paid bundle with one-time, anytime access to three pre-selected rides. For $30 to $50 (depending on the time of year), guests could pick either the Family bundle (Ratatouille, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Buzz Lightyear) or the Big Thrill bundle (Space Mountain, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror) – 3 rides, essentially breaking down to $10 to $16 each.
For $70 to $100 per person, you could opt for the Ultimate FastPass bundle, providing one-time or unlimited access to all six of the Super rides, plus Big Thunder Mountain, Star Tours, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril – basically breaking down to $7 to $11 per ride. As a counterpart to the regular FastPass system, Paris’ upcharge packages made sense. Unlike Disneyland and Walt Disney World – which can command multi-day visits – most guests to Disneyland Paris tend to be tourists focused on the City of Lights who merely take the train to Marne la Vallee for a day trip. So getting everything done in one day is an attractive offer.
Like all Disney Parks, FastPass disappeared post-COVID. In June 2021, its replacement was announced: Disney Premier Access. Essentially reverting to a la carte, one-time, anytime access to the former FastPass rides, Premier Access at least offered variable pricing: €8-€15 depending on the ride.
All things old became new again when, in 2022, Disney announced Disney Premier Access Ultimate, with one-time, anytime access to the nine rides that FastPass Ultimate included, plus Cars Road Trip, Phantom Manor, and Crush’s Coaster. Starting at €90 ($93), the bundle isn’t cheap. Though the sticker price is the highest yet, technically each ride works out to less than $8.
So stop and think about it: Here’s another Disney Park offering “Premier Access” with each ride’s former-FastPass queue bought separately (or as part of a high-cost bundle) and again, no return times needed – just one-time, anytime access.
More to the point, for that price, you get the comfort of knowing you’ve got one-time priority access to all 12 major attractions at the resort with no pesky return windows, early wakeups, exceptions, or upcharges… And not every resort can say that… Which leads us to…
3. Walt Disney World’s Genie+
Walt Disney World was the first resort to debut FastPass when, in 1999, the free priority-boarding virtual queue system was tested at the then-new Animal Kingdom’s Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was also the first to get rid of it.
As part of a vast reimagining of technology’s role in planning a trip to Walt Disney World, the resort launched FastPass+ in 2013. Factoring virtual queue reservations into the larger hub of vacation planning, FastPass+ allowed guests to make selections up to 60 days in advance of a visit, with perks for on-site guests and tiered choices… but of course, it was still “free” (read: included with park admission).
As with a whole lot of other guest perks, that disappeared when the parks reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic. For a year, the parks simply operated with no priority boarding queues, returning to the days of one, fast-moving line. But in October 2021 – just after the resort’s 50th Anniversary celebration launched, a whole new (and rather complex) suite of line-skipping options were introduced… and unsurprisingly, none of them were included with park admission.
Across the resort, FastPass queues were relabeled “Lightning Lanes.” But how you get into them isn’t so straightforward. Most attractions’ Lightning Lanes can be accessed by buying Disney Genie+, a ticket-add on that costs $15 per person, per day.
Clearly built on the bones of FastPass+, Genie+ Lightning Lanes are booked virtually via the Disney World app, but day-of and one-at-a-time with rolling availability windows like legacy, paper FastPass. (In Disney World’s typical, exhaustingly procedural complexity, the first Lightning Lanes must be booked at 7 AM, and if you miss that first minute, you’re likely to miss out on expedited access to each park’s most in-demand ride.)
But that’s not all! Each park’s most popular ride (and sometimes rides) has a Lightning Lane that cannot be booked through the runic processes of Genie+. Instead, skipping the Stand-by line at the most in-demand ride(s) requires the completely separate purchase of Individual Lightning Lane access.
In short, most rides can be booked one-at-a-time while-supplies-last with rolling return windows after the daily $15 purchase of Genie+, but some rides require one-off, a la carte, demand-based pricing purchases of single-time return-window entry that every other resort would call “Premier Access.” Individual Lightning Lanes can theoretically vary in price from $7 to $18 per person depending on the ride and the day… and of course, it has its own layers of rules – like on-site guests getting first dibs at 7 AM while all others have to wait until park opening, by which time “ILL” rides may have completely sold out of priority boarding slots.
So yes, Disney essentially managed to sell guests the formerly-free FastPass attractions twice, separating it into two distinct products. If you want to access both the Genie+ Lightning Lanes and a single Individual Lightning Lane at a park, expect to pay $33 per person.
That’s still a far-cry from the $100 “Premier Access” bundles other resorts sell, but there is a difference: Genie+ doesn’t guarantee you priority access to anything, and certainly not “anytime” access! Instead, buying into the system merely gives you the opportunity to book a return time, subject to availability. (Disney itself advises that “on average,” Walt Disney World guests who purchase Genie+ can access “two or three” Lightning Lanes, if their first selection is made immediately at 7 AM.)
There’s no question that Genie+ is a very different system than Premier Access… Its lower entry cost makes it more accessible (and easier to apply to multi-day visits). Separating out each park’s most popular ride as an a la carte “Individual Lightning Lane” at least theoretically raises it to a higher tier of priority access, reducing demand (and yes, earning Disney more free money). But the system’s ridiculously convoluted rules, reliance on technology, and lack of guaranteed access hasn’t made many fans…
4. Disneyland’s Genie+
Unlike Disney World, Disneyland never made the switch from legacy, day-of, paper FastPass to digital, pre-booked FastPass+. That makes sense since pre-booking ride access a month or two in advance wouldn’t jive with Disneyland’s lower-key, locals-focused audience versus Disney World’s master-planned, week-long, walled garden vibe.
However, in 2017, Disneyland did launch MaxPass. “MaxPass” wasn’t so much a new system as a new, convenient way of accessing FastPass. For $10 per person per day, guests essentially paid for the convenience of being able to snag FastPass return times via the Disneyland mobile app instead of having to walk all the way to a ride’s distribution kiosk to scan a ticket and get a paper print-out. (The $10 upcharge also gave guests access to their PhotoPass downloads for the day, and let guests book their next ride after 90 minutes instead of 2 hours.)
Of course, the price for MaxPass was elevated to $15 per person per day after just a few months, but largely, it seemed worth it given the “plussed” access – a true service of convenience. And so, it seemed that free FastPass and optional MaxPass add-on would coexist, happily ever after.
Of course, the chance to start from scratch post-COVID was too good to be true for Disney executives. In late 2021, Disneyland’s own Disney Genie+ service launched, as did Individual Lightning Lanes (for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Radiator Springs Racers, and Web-Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure).
In classic Californian fashion, Genie+ at Disneyland cost slightly more than at Disney World ($20 per day). But given that Disneyland’s two parks have more rides than all four of Disney World’s and it still includes PhotoPass like MaxPass did, you do get more for the price. Disneyland’s “rules” are also slightly altered, so guests must enter the park before making their first selections – for most of us, preferable to 7AM wakeups. Given that (and how closely it sticks to MaxPass precedent), Genie+ has been better received at Disneyland, but it’s still not exactly a beloved fan-favorite.
Meanwhile, back overseas…
5. Hong Kong Disneyland
Opened in 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland is pretty inarguably the “red-headed stepchild” of Disney Parks. Like its sister parks (Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios), the park was underfunded and creatively starved, opened during the last, desperate, cost-cutting years of Michael Eisner’s dark period, with literally zero one-of-a-kind rides, one certifiable E-Ticket (Space Mountain), and nothing to draw international tourists at all. Though the park had FastPass, guests would rarely find the need to use it.
After the park’s first round of renovation (adding Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point, and Toy Story Land, and the Iron Man Experience), the park introduced Priority Special admission passes. Costing HK$199 (the equivalent of about $25), the pass basically let guests select any three rides out of the park’s “big five” (Big Grizzly Mountain, Mystic Manor, Iron Man Experience, Space Mountain, or – weirdly – Mickey’s Philharmagic) for one-time, anytime access. Priority Special+ (HK$299, or $35) gave guests one-time, anytime access to eight rides – all five from the Priority package, plus Winnie the Pooh and Toy Story Land’s two low-capacity flat rides – Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, and Slinky Dog Spin.
When Hong Kong Disneyland reopened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Priority Special passes had become Premier Access by name, but the same general packages exist: Disney Premier Access – 3 Attractions (choosing three out of Grizzly Mountain, Mystic Manor, Iron Man Experience, Ant-Man: Nano Battle, and Philharmagic) and of course, Disney Premier Access – 8 Attractions (again with all five choices from the lower tier, plus Pooh, Parachute Drop, and Slinky Dog Spin). Compared to its pre-pandemic, “Priority Special” pricing, the latter package has increased to HK$329 ($42), but the former has actually decreased to HK$159 (about $20).
It’s interesting to think of how Hong Kong’s unique bundles-with-choices program could apply to Disney World… For example, imagine if you could pay $25 for one-time, anytime access to three rides at Hollywood Studios, but had to pick from five less-demanded options, while access to Rise of the Resistance, Runaway Railway, and Tower of Terror were only included with a $60 package? Would Disney World’s theme parks buckle under the pressure of “anytime” access? Is Disney World right to use the mathematical infrastructure of FastPass to keep that from happening?
6. Tokyo Disney Resort
Like Disney’s other Asian parks that have gotten the brunt of COVID’s continuous closing and re-opening, Tokyo Disney has been put through the wringer with ticketing, policy, and procedural changes as it’s returned to full operation. Along with limited attendance, the parks reopened with a Standby Pass system – virtual queues that handed out each of the resort’s most popular rides’ capacity digitally to keep guests out of cramped lines.
By spring of 2022, Standby Pass began to disappear from the resort’s rides, returning to good ole fashioned, regular lines. (And without FastPass, that means that queues move quickly and continuously rather than stand-by guests being stuck in a swampy, slow-moving line as FastPass guests race past.) It was a good thing for the resort.
But in May 2022, the Oriental Land Company (owners and operators of the resort) announced that a new service (called – you guessed it – Disney Premier Access) would let guests skip the wait on the resort’s two newest and most in-demand attractions – Soaring: Fantastic Flight and The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. It costs ¥2,000 ($15) for one-time, reserved access to either ride. A month later, in June 2022, the old FastPass line for Toy Story Mania was re-activated for Premier Access, too. For now, those are the only three rides at the resort with paid line-skipping (or really, any line-skipping at all). The equivalent would be if Disney World kept its Individual Lightning Lanes, but did not offer Genie+ or regular Lightning Lanes on any other rides.
And in its own way, that makes Tokyo’s version of Premier Access an entirely different system in its own right. And really, would it be so bad if, stateside, only each park’s one, signature ride had an “Individual Lightning Lane” while every other ride had just one, fast-moving line with no “Lightning Lane” guests leaping ahead?
Your Way Ahead
If you’ve been keeping track, every Disney Resort outside of the United States has transformed their FastPass systems into Premier Access – be it a la carte, bundled, or both. But even among the four “Premier Access” systems, there’s a whole lot of difference.
- In Shanghai and Paris, you can buy “Premier Access” to rides “a la carte,” or in a packaged bundle that includes one time or unlimited access to everything.
- In Hong Kong, you can choose a 3 Attraction package (presented with five rides as choices) or an 8 Attraction package that unlocks all five, plus rides exclusive to the higher tier.
- In Tokyo, Premier Access is “a la carte,” but offered only for the resort’s three hottest E-Tickets, while every other ride is blissfully without “priority” guests clogging its capacity.
- And of course, back at Disneyland and Disney World, Genie+ incorporates the best and worst of them all, with digital, rolling ride reservations, no guaranteed attractions, hour-long return windows, and some rides that are excluded entirely and offered up only as a la carte “Individual Lightning Lanes.” Phew!
So think about Disneyland (with its local crowds) and Disney World (where multi-day stays are the norm) and think… what’s the best paid-for system for each? Have your say by voting in our poll below.
