LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — As the noon sun bore down on Epcot, the line for one of its newest attractions, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, stretched around the block in the France pavilion with a posted wait time of 50 minutes. Meanwhile, other guests strolled into the ride’s Lightning Lane with no wait, boarding the swirling mouse adventure in less than 10 minutes.
On this recent afternoon, Kelly Urso, an ultrasound technician from Illinois, had ponied up $9 to check out the ride in the Lightning Lane, a new system Walt Disney World has implemented that charges for front-of-the-line access. It replaces FastPass+, the parks’ previous system of giving every ticket holder three free passes to reduce wait times.
Urso visits Disney World with her grandkids every few years and follows Facebook pages like Disney World Junkies for tips on the Genie+ trip planning system that includes Lightning Lane. For this trip, she decided to pay extra to avoid some lines, but not at every park.
