One of the greatest pressures and unknowns when visiting Walt Disney World is getting on your must-do attractions and cutting down on wait times. While there are lots of strategies to avoid long lines, the best is utilizing Disney’s paid FastPass system, Lightning Lanes. Lightning Lanes offer a way to skip the standby queues and spend more time enjoying the magic and whether you’re a first-time visitor or a seasoned Disney pro, knowing how to use Lightning Lanes effectively can make a huge difference in your park day. In this post, I’m sharing essential tips to help you make the most of Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, so you can maximize your time, minimize your wait, and experience more of the fun.
Download a FREE Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
What are Lightning Lanes?
Lightning Lane Multi Passes were previously known as Genie+ but have changed a bit (for the better!). You are now able to purchase your Lightning Lane Passes in advance of your trip and make up to 3 Lightning Lane Multi Pass and 2 Lightning Lane Single Pass reservations each day with valid admission. There are over 40 experiences available across Walt Disney World to book as part of Multi Pass and you’re able to select a return window that spans one hour.
There are three types of Lightning Lane passes that can be purchased 7 days prior to check-in for Walt Disney World Resort Guests and Guests staying at the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green. Guests staying off-site will be able to make their Lightning Lane reservations 3 days prior to their ticket start date.
- Lighting Lane Multi Pass: Previously known as Genie+, allows you to secure a time to ride up to 3 attractions at 1 theme park available on the Multi Pass in advance of your visit. Once in the park, you are able to reserve additional times once you have redeemed a reservation. Lightning Lane Multi Pass can be used at over 40 attractions at Walt Disney World. At Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there are two tiers when making your advanced reservations. You will be able to select 1 Tier A and 2 Tier B attractions when selecting your advanced reservations. Once you enter the park and redeem your first Lightning Lane, tiers no longer matter and you can make a reservation for any valid attractions. If you have a Park Hopper ticket you will be able to make Lightning Lane reservations at any of the 4 parks once redeeming your first reservation. Available attractions are noted below.
- Magic Kingdom
- Tier A
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Jungle Cruise
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Space Mountain
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Tier B
- The Barnstormer
- Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Haunted Mansion
- “it’s a small world”
- Mad Tea Party
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic
- Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid
- EPCOT
- Tier A
- Frozen Ever After
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Test Track
- Tier B
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey into Imagination with Figment
- Living with the Land
- Mission: SPACE
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Spaceship Earth
- Turtle Talk with Crush
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Tier A
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Tier B
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Play & Dance!
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Muppet*Vision 3D
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
- Toy Story Mania!
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- DINOSAUR
- Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- Feathered Friends in Flight!
- Festival of the Lion King
- Finding Nemo: The Big Blue… and Beyond!
- Kali River Rapids
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Naʻvi River Journey
- Tier A
- Lightning Lane Single Pass: Previously known as Individual Lightning Lane/Individual Attraction Selections, allows you to secure a time to ride the most highly demanded attractions in advance of your visit. You may purchase and reserve up to 2 Lightning Lane Single Pass reservations per day and you can purchase them at multiple parks (i.e. TRON Lightcycle/Run at Magic Kingdom and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios). Please note you will need to complete two separate transactions in order to purchase multiple Single Passes. Available attractions are noted below.
- Magic Kingdom
- TRON Lightcycle / Run
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- EPCOT
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Avatar: Flight of Passage
- Magic Kingdom
- Lighting Lane Premier Pass: Lightning Lane Premier Pass allows guests to purchase a pass that provides access to ride each Lightning Lane attraction available on Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass one time at the selected park. No reservations are required to enter a Lightning Lane, giving you more freedom to ride when you want when you want.
Download a FREE Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
Tips to Make the Most of Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World
1. Be Ready to Purchase Lightning Lanes when Your Booking Window Opens
Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort and those staying at the Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin, and Swan Reserve, and Shades of Green can purchase and reserve Lightning Lanes beginning 7 days prior to check-in at 7 AM EST through the My Disney Experience mobile app. Guests staying off-site will be able to make their Lightning Lane reservations 3 days prior to their ticket start date at 7 AM EST through the app. Reservations CANNOT be made on the Walt Disney World website, so be sure you are utilizing the app.
Be sure you have your alarm set so you’re ready to make your reservations at 7 AM EST and I recommend confirming a few things before that morning:
- Is your Vacation Package/Room/Tickets linked to your My Disney Experience account?
- To confirm, open and log into your My Disney Experience app. For hotel reservations, click the hamburger menu and then select “Hotel Reservations” under “My Visit.” For tickets, click the hamburger menu and then select “My Tickets and Passes.” You make swipe through to see your tickets as well as anyone who is linked to you.
- Are you linked to all guests who you will be purchasing Lightning Lanes for?
- In order to purchase Lightning Lanes for other guests, they need to either be a Managed Guest on your account or linked to be able to plan together. To ensure they are linked to your account, open and log into your My Disney Experience app. Click on the hamburger menu and scroll down to “Account;” select “Profile.” Click the “Family & Friends List” tab. You If you don’t see someone on your Family & Friends List, you can find individuals through your connected Guests, create a Managed Guest, or scan their linking code (found in “My Profile”). If you are not near the individual to scan their linking code, ask them to provide the Manual Code that is noted under the QR code. This code will expire in 30 minutes so be sure to do this when you both have time to connect.
- Have you confirmed that everyone is eligible to make reservations?
- You may view Lightning Lane pricing beginning 21 days prior to the date on the My Disney Experience app by clicking “Purchase” on the Lightning Lane Multi Pass/Single Pass banner on the homepage. When you click “Purchase” you will be brought to a calendar and then can select the date you will be purchasing Lightning Lanes for. If you click on a date before your booking window opens (Reminder: 7 days prior to check in for Disney Resort Guests and 3 days prior to the start of your tickets for non-Resort Guests), select the park and pass you’d like to purchase, and click “Continue,” you will see a list of people who are “Not Eligible.” Next to each person, you will see the date and time which they are eligible to make reservations for that date. This is my favorite way to calm my nerves before booking Lightning Lanes because I can confirm in the app the date and time that my window will open and that all guests I’m planning with have the same opening date.
- Do you have your credit card linked to your account?
- In order to complete the purchase of your Lightning Lane passes, you will need to enter payment information. To avoid wasting time when booking, add your payment information in advance by logging onto your My Disney Experience app and clicking on the hamburger menu. Then scroll down to “Account” and select “Profile” before clicking on “Payment Method.” You can view any cards that are loaded into your account and add new cards.
2. Have a Plan
Before your Lightning Lane booking window opens, be sure you have a game plan set so you know what attractions you are going to try to get Lightning Lanes for. I recommend having your dining reservations and any other plans in front of you so you can take them into mind as you’re reserving your Lightning Lanes.
3. Book by Popularity
If you’re purchasing Lightning Lanes for multiple days of your trip, plan to book them by popularity rather than by what park you’re visiting first. For example, Slinky Dog Dash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is one of the most popular attractions on Lightning Lane Multi Pass. If you’re planning to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom on your first day, EPCOT on your second, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on your third, I would recommend purchasing Lightning Lanes for Disney’s Hollywood Studios first, then EPCOT, and finally Disney’s Animal Kingdom due to the popularity of attractions in each park.
Below is a list of attractions to prioritize at each park. Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are typically the busiest parks, so always book those first and consider planning to visit them later in your trip so you have a leg up on guests checking in later.
Magic Kingdom
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Jungle Cruise
EPCOT
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Soarin’
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Na’vi River Journey
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
4. Select Early Return Times
In order to make the most of your Lightning Lane reservations, you want to be able to make additional in-park reservations as early as possible. Because you’re able to hold 3 Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations at a time, once you redeem your first reservation, you can make another Lightning Lane reservation through the app. Availability will diminish throughout the day, so getting to make your first in-park reservation early is the best way to ensure you’ll be able to take full advantage of the system.
Consider booking an attraction that may not be top of your list to get an early morning return time. For example, if Dumbo has a 9:05 AM – 10:05 AM return time available, reserve this just so you can get onto the attraction early in the morning and make your next Lightning Lane reservation. Remember that once you enter the park and use your first Lightning Lane reservation, attraction tiers no longer matter, so you can grab that reservation for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure you weren’t able to snag because you got Peter Pan’s Flight on Tier A.
5. Modify Times to Tighten Schedule
When you book your Lightning Lanes, the return times provided will be the first available return time with no overlapping reservations (i.e. Na’vi River Journey for 9:05 AM – 10:05 AM and Kilimanjaro Safari for 10:10 AM – 11:10 AM). However, you can have overlapping Lightning Lane reservations, so I recommend going back into your reservations once you’re booked and seeing if you can tighten up the schedule at all.
The below video outlines how to modify a Lightning Lane through the app.
6. Take Advantage of the Grace Period
While your Lightning Lane return time is for an hour, you actually have a “buffer” on both ends that you can take advantage of. Guests can enter the Lightning Lane starting 5 minutes prior to the start of their redemption window and 15 minutes after. I always recommend getting to your Lightning Lanes as early as possible because the sooner you redeem, the sooner you can make your next reservation.
7. Be Ready to Make Your Next Reservation
Once you have redeemed a Lightning Lane reservation, you can make another through the My Disney Experience app via the “Tip Board” which you can navigate to by clicking on the “+” and then selecting “View My Genie Day and Tip Board.” The Tip Board will show you all attractions in a park (to see other parks, click “Change Park” under the park name and date), the wait times, and the earliest available Lightning Lane return time. Keep an eye on the Tip Board and know what the next attraction is that you’re going to try to get a Lightning Lane for before entering the Lightning Lane queue for you attraction. Once everyone in your party has redeemed their Lightning Lane, you can quickly grab the next reservation.
8. Don’t Skip or Cancel Lightning Lanes (Especially Before Redeeming Your First)
If a member of your party is not able to ride the first attraction that you’re experiencing, DO NOT cancel the Lighting Lane or not redeem it. Instead, scan them into the attraction and let the Cast Member know they would like to exit before the loading area. Due to the tiered attraction system at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, if you or a member of your party does not ride the first attraction or cancels an attraction, the Lightning Lane Pass will require you to select an attraction from that tier. This can turn into a big issue if your whole party plans to get your next Lightning Lane for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Grandma isn’t eligible because she never redeemed her Lightning Lane for Alien Swirling Saucers.
9. Monitor for Earlier Return Times
If you get a Lightning Lane return time that doesn’t work with your schedule, monitor the available return times to see if you can get an earlier time. In order to do this, go about the same process of modifying a reservation but continue to refresh the page until you see an earlier return time. There aren’t always earlier return times available but with a little persistence you usually can grab a reservation that another guest dropped.
With these tips and our FREE Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, you’ll be well prepared to get the Lightning Lanes you want!
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