Unpopular Opinion: Disney Should Raise Price of this Lightning Lane Attraction -

Hold on to those seats, Disney fans! It’s about to get real! Disney Genie has arrived and we’re all doing our best to understand the differences between the complimentary Disney Genie in the My Disney Experience App to optimize your Park day, the Disney Genie+ upcharge (much like a paid FastPass service), and of course the eight individual Lightning Lane attractions which Guests can purchase a-la-carte to skip the standby line. Alas, the three parts of Disney Genie are not going anywhere anytime soon. While I’ll be the first to say having to pay to skip the line on Disney attractions is stomach-churning, we aren’t sure Disney has the pricing right. In fact, unpopular opinion here, Disney should raise the price of this popular Lightning Lane attraction.

You don't have to buy Genie to skip the line!! — Credit: ITM

Lightning Lane Attractions

Walt Disney World has a total of eight a-la-carte Lightning Lane attractions. At Magic Kingdom, you can pay individually to skip the standby line on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain. At EPCOT, Frozen Ever After is one Lightning Lane, along with Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (but try first to snag a virtual queue for this attraction!). At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you can pay to skip Expedition Everest and Avatar Flight of Passage. Lastly, at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are Lightning Lane options. Have you checked out the pricing?

lightning lane signage frozen — Frozen Ever After Lightning Lane Signage (Credit: Inside the Magic)

Current Pricing

Take a look back at this past week and Walt Disney World’s first launch of the Disney Genie beginning October 19. Magic Kingdom’s Seven Dwarfs Mine Train pricing ranged from $10 to $12. Space Mountain ranged from $7 to $9. Over at EPCOT, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After both ranged between $9 to $11. Expedition Everest price stuck right at $7 while Avatar Flight of Passage was between $11 and $14 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. And last but not least, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ranged from $8 to $10 with Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance holding at $15. We hate to say it, but which one do we think deserves a price increase? Yep, you guessed it, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is the one attraction Disney should raise the price of when it comes to Lightning Lane.

rise of the resistance stormtrooper room with r5 unit in foreground — *Star Wars*: Rise of the Resistance (Credit: Disney)

But, WHY Increase?

We have a family of four, and we too can’t stand the thought of paying $15 per person to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance… or any of the Lightning Lane attractions for that matter! While we personally don’t think we could stomach the money to pay $60 for our family of four to ride Rise of the Resistance (on top of the already expensive ticket price), we must say this past week indicates Disney fans’ love for the popular attraction… and just how much they are willing to pay to ride it.

Text — My Disney Experience Screenshot – Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane Unavailable

Currently, Walt Disney World Resort hotel Guests have the ability to purchase Lightning Lane attractions at 7:00 am. At Park opening (9:00 am), non-resort Guests are allowed to purchase Lightning Lane attractions. Remember when Rise of the Resistance was a virtual queue and would fill up within seconds of that first boarding pass launch? Well, Lightning Lane passes are flying within minutes of Disney’s Hollywood Studios opening. It seems like of all the Lightning Lane attractions, Disney fans aren’t thinking twice about paying their $15 per person to enjoy Rise of the Resistance without the wait.

While no, we too don’t want to see less money in our pockets, and more in Disney’s – it seems rather evident the way to alleviate Lightning Lane selling out so fast for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance would be to increase the $15 current Lightning Lane fee. With a price increase, fewer Guests will be interested in buying the Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane pass and would likely be more willing to wait the two-plus hours to ride the attraction. Fewer Guests making Lightning Lane purchases would alleviate the initial few minutes of sell-out and open up the option for Guests to make the decision to buy (or not to buy) Lightning Lane access for Rise of the Resistance as the day goes on.

That said, what’s your pay threshold to Lightning Lane Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?