The Walt Disney Co. is set to pilot a new pass for guests to get on rides faster at its domestic theme parks, but the cost might be a bit out of reach for some people.
Disney said Wednesday that its Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which will be available in limited quantities, is set to debut at Disneyland on Oct. 23 and Disney World on Oct. 30. The pass is for one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane experience at the theme parks, and guests will still need to purchase a separate admission ticket to enter the parks.
The pass is similar to Disney's existing Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass in that it lets guests skip the standby line and use the Lightning Lane entrance to join what is typically a shorter line. Many guests like to use such passes to try to save time so that they can attempt to ride more attractions and partake in more park experiences, like shows and character meet and greets. The new pass, which is similar to offerings at other rival theme parks, is meant to provide a convenience that some guests have been requesting.
One of the perks for guests who purchase the Lightning Lane Premier Pass is that they will not have to choose a specific arrival time for an attraction. This is different from Disney's Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass options, which require guests to select a specific arrival time.
At Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the Lightning Lane Premier Pass will cost $400 per person, per day for visits to both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure through the end of the year as long as the guest also has a valid admission ticket with a Park Hopper benefit. Starting next year, pricing will vary by date and demand within a $300 to $400 range, the company said. Guests will be able to see pricing in the Disneyland app up to two days before a park visit.
At Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the Lightning Lane Premier Pass will be available to guests staying at its deluxe resorts, deluxe villa resorts and certain other hotels. Pricing will vary, depending on the date and which theme park is being visited (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios). Disney said that prices will range from $129 to $449 per pass at launch, with the highest prices occurring on a limited number of days over peak travel periods.
The Lightning Lane Premier Pass for Disney World will give guests one-time entry to each available Lightning Lane entrance in one park for one day. There is currently no option to use the pass at multiple Disney World parks on the same day.
Aside from the various passes that Disney offers, guests will still be able to use standby lines at most of its attractions and experiences. A virtual queue is also available for a limited number of rides, and those rides don't have standby lines.
FILE - Guests pass a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World on July 14, 2023, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female coworker.
A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Robert Telles guilty of first-degree murder.
“The judge couldn't sentence him to any more time," Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after telling reporters the sentence represented justice for the community. “She gave him the maximum.”
Telles, 47, testified in his defense at trial, denying he stabbed Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But evidence against him was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails.
Telles was the administrator of a county office that handles unclaimed estate and probate cases when he was arrested and jailed without bail several days after German's murder. He was stripped of his elected position weeks later.
Standing in shackles before the judge on Wednesday, Telles offered “deepest condolences” to German's family but again denied responsibility for the reporter's death.
“I understand the desire to seek justice and hold somebody accountable for this,” he said. “But I did not kill Mr. German.”
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the judge that evidence showed Telles killed German because “he didn't like what Mr. German had written about him. He felt that Mr. German had cost him an elected position."
“This type of violence, this sort of political violence,” the prosecutor said, “is unacceptable and dangerous for a community as a whole.”
Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, asked for leniency for Telles and told the judge that Telles intends to appeal his conviction. After sentence was pronounced, Draskovich withdrew as Telles' defense lawyer.
“The sentence was not surprising,” Draskovich said outside court. “We fulfilled our defense obligation. We parted on good terms. (Telles) preserved all his rights for appeal.”
German was 69. He was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Telles lost his primary for a second term in office after German’s stories in May and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.
Police sought public help to identify a person captured on neighborhood security video driving a maroon SUV and walking while wearing a broad straw hat that hid his face and an oversized orange long-sleeve shirt. Weckerly showed the jury footage of the person wearing orange slipping into the side yard where German was stabbed, slashed and left dead.
At Telles’ house, police found a maroon SUV and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and a gray athletic shoe that looked like those worn by the person seen on video. Authorities did not find the orange shirt or a murder weapon.
Telles testified for several rambling hours at his trial, admitting for the first time that reports of the office romance were true. He said he was “framed” for the crime by a broad conspiracy involving a real estate company, police, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others. He told the jury he was victimized for crusading to root out corruption.
Wolfson and prosecutors at trial dismissed those claims as unbelievable.
“The jury squarely and soundly rejected all of that,” Weckerly said at sentencing. She called Telles' accounts ”hollow claims."
Other evidence against Telles was strong. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told the jury that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Telles told the jury he took a walk and went to a gym at the time German was killed. But evidence showed Telles’ wife sent text messages to him about the same time killed asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked.
The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over three days before finding Telles guilty. The panel heard pained sentencing hearing testimony from German's brother and two sisters, along with emotional pleas for leniency from Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother, before deciding that Telles could be eligible for parole.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt was able to consider sentencing enhancements adding up to eight years to Telles' sentence for using a deadly weapon in a willful, deliberate, premeditated killing because German was older than 60 years old.
“This defendant has shown absolutely no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility," said Wolfson, the Democratic elected regional prosecutor. "And in fact, his behavior is such that I believe he is an extreme danger to the community if he is ever released.”
German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.
“The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a significant milestone in the quest for justice," Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the committee, said Wednesday in a statement to The Associated Press. "Although the jailing of Telles cannot undo Jeff German’s murder, it can act as an important deterrent to would-be assailants of journalists.”
FILE - District Judge Michelle Leavitt speaks during a hearing for a juror question during deliberations for murder trial for Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, right, talks to Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in his Las Vegas office, May 11, 2022. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
FILE - Robert Telles, right, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. With Telles are his attorneys Robert Draskovich, left, and Michael Horvath. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)
