By If you haven’t visited Walt Disney World during the 2020s, you’ve likely heard about a boogeyman.
I’m referencing Lightning Lane, or as you know it, “the Thing That Killed FastPass.”
Technically, that’s not true, as there was another Thing called Disney Genie+, not to be confused with Disney Genie… I’m not making this sound less scary, am I?
Look, Disney made some mistakes in replacing FastPass. We can all agree on that.
Thankfully, I CAN explain the new system to you in terms you’ll understand.
Let’s understand what Lightning Lanes are and how they work.
A Brief History of FastPass
In order to do that, I should quickly remind you what FastPass did.
In 1999, the Walt Disney Company revolutionized theme park crowd management with the introduction of FastPass.
This unprecedented new system empowered guests with a kind of in-park personal assistant.
Disney kiosks printed out FastPasses, paper tickets that served a purpose.
When you had a FastPass, you could sidestep the standard attraction line, entering the FastPass queue instead.
As the name implies, the FastPass line granted quick access to Disney’s best attractions.
A wait in the FastPass line took a fraction of the time of the Standby queue.
Everyone loved the system from the start, and it became a 20-year success story for Disney.
Eventually, the company modernized its attraction queueing system with My Magic+.
This system worked the same as FastPass, but you booked your FastPasses via the My Disney Experience app rather than using physical passes.
I often say it’s like having a personal assistant at the parks.
You could be standing in line at one attraction while your FastPass basically did the same thing for you in a different queue.
If you ever played backyard sports, it’s also somewhat similar to the imaginary runner rule.
When you can’t stand on second base, you’d call imaginary runner while you bat.
At Disney, the imaginary runner stands in line at Space Mountain for you.
The Competition Forces Disney’s Hand
Other theme parks noticed Disney’s idea and gleefully duplicated it with one demonic twist.
They charge for their FastPass variants, whereas Disney offered it as a free service as recently as 2020.
The signs were already plentiful that Disney would switch to some form of paid FastPass, but the pandemic accelerated the process.
Disney found itself short on cash and needed to monetize its theme parks as much as possible.
So, the company introduced Disney Genie+, the closest thing the company has had to a New Coke product.
Find me the person who says they liked Disney Genie+ and I’ll show you a liar.
Eventually, Disney accepted its defeat, rebranding and improving the former FastPass service into its current version.
Welcome to the modern Disney FastPass equivalent, which we now call Lightning Lane.
I’ll level with you that Lightning Lane has a bit of complexity because it comes in three forms, which we’ll explain separately.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass closely mirrors the final version of FastPass.
It’s a digital queueing system where you book up to three Lightning Lane reservations for Disney World attractions.
Basically, you book paid FastPasses.
That’s all Lightning Lane is at its core, so please keep that in mind throughout this discussion.
All these Lightning Lanes are merely different levels of the previously NON-paid FastPass.
How Lightning Lane Works
If you are not staying at an official Disney resort, Disney World allows you to book your three Lightning Lanes three days early.
Tourists staying onsite at Disney World can book Lightning Lane up to seven days in advance, which is a massive competitive advantage.
The most popular attractions available via Lightning Lane Multi Pass typically sell out several days before your park visit.
So, if you don’t reserve early, you likely won’t get your preferred Lightning Lane even if you are paying for the service.
You should stay in an official Disney resort, and you must remember to book your Lightning Lanes as soon as the window opens.
In a companion article, I’ll provide suggestions about the parks where you should and should not purchase Lightning Lane.
Obviously, you must decide for yourself.
I’m basing our suggestions on several years of tracking theme park attraction wait times.
How to Use Lightning Lane
Once you reach the park, Lightning Lane Multi Pass is very easy to use.
Since you’ve already booked your reservations, you walk to an attraction’s Lightning Lane queue.
These areas are clearly marked, so you just use your MagicBand or phone to scan in and enter the Lightning Lane.
That’s what Disney calls the faster line queue. Think of it as Lightning Lane = FAST!
Once you’ve used your first Lightning Lane, you can begin shopping for additional Lightning Lanes.
While the most popular attractions sell out ahead of time, parks like EPCOT and Magic Kingdom typically have several available attractions where you can book Lightning Lanes.
Disney’s legalese suggests that you should only expect to be able to use two or three Lightning Lanes per day.
In our experience, we can usually grab at least six attractions.
That’s the equivalent of saving you four to six hours in line, presuming you can book several in-demand attractions.
Theoretically, there’s no upper limit to the number of Lightning Lanes you can book.
In execution, a lot depends on the crowds at the parks on the days you visit.
About Lightning Lane Single Pass
Lightning Lane Single Pass provides you with quick access to one of Disney’s most popular attractions.
You pay one time for a Lightning Lane. In exchange, you gain quick access to one Disney attraction.
In other words, you buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Avatar Flight of Passage.
For an average cost of between $11 and $19 per person, you can ride the most popular attraction at Animal Kingdom quite quickly.
I’d describe Lightning Lane Single Pass as pay-to-play.
While you can stand in the Standby line for all these attractions, you can shave your wait time by 80 percent on average by purchasing a Lightning Lane Single Pass.
That’s a high price, but since Disney vacations aren’t cheap, you may perceive it as worth the cost to save you time.
Here are the Disney World attractions that participate in Lightning Lane Single Pass:
- Avatar Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom)
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT)
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom)
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Hollywood Studios)
- TRON Lightcycle / Run (Magic Kingdom)
Depending on time of year, Lightning Lane can cost as little as $10 or as much as $25.
We can’t predict the future, but we have a feeling the magic word is “up” when it comes to this pricing.
About Lightning Lane Premier Pass
The third and most exclusive form of Lightning Lane probably won’t be something you use often if at all.
Still, I want to make you aware of the service known as Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
This is Disney’s most premium Lightning Lane offering, as you’ll quickly realize from the pricing.
The CHEAPEST Lightning Lane Premier Pass costs $129 plus tax per person.
Also, that $129 price is on less-trafficked days at Animal Kingdom.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Magic Kingdom can cost as much as $449 plus tax per person.
You should be happy if you can ever buy it for $329 plus tax per person. That’s the least it will ever cost.
So, you’re probably wondering what the big deal is that Disney thinks it’s okay to charge these prices. That’s totally fair.
I just discussed the benefits of Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass.
With Lightning Lane Premier Pass, you gain access to ALL those attractions.
You’ll feel like Walt Disney himself when you head to the front of the line everywhere.
Since virtually all of Disney’s best attractions offer Lightning Lane, this service is a cheaper variant of Disney VIP Tours.
Since those cost thousands of dollars for seven hours, Lightning Lane Premier Pass suddenly looks like a pretty decent deal.
You’ll quickly notice one glaring difference, though.
Lightning Lane Premier Pass only works at the theme park where you buy it.
So, you cannot park hop and use your Premier Pass at other parks.
That same statement obviously applies to Lightning Lane Single Pass as well.
However, Lightning Lane Multi Pass can be used with a Park Hopper ticket.
That’s the current rule, anyway. Disney could always change it at some point.
When to Buy Premier Pass
Lightning Lane Premier Pass works best for special occasions.
Many people use it for birthdays, anniversaries, honeymoons, babymoons, and graduations.
I’m talking about unforgettable life events that don’t come around often and justify a massive splurge.
Disney only sells a few hundred Lightning Lane Premier Passes at each park, protecting the value of your purchase.
You will definitely feel like you have the run of the park when you buy this.
Then again, someone skilled with using Lightning Lane Multi Pass will feel the same way.
Oh, and After Hours tickets provide better bang for the buck, in my opinion.
Lightning Lane Info and Tips
When Disney fans mention the theme park changes over the past few years, Lightning Lane comes up the most. It’s the sticking point for longtime Disney tourists.
For whatever reason, the change from FastPass to Lightning Lane has proven the most challenging for guests, especially those who have only used paper FastPasses.
So, here are a few Lightning Lane tips that should help you utilize the digital service most effectively.
Before Disney switched this system to digital bookings, it was easy to understand.
You’d have a piece of paper that indicated you were entitled to enter the expedited attraction queue.
Once you rode that attraction, you’d grab another piece of paper, an authorization to skip (most of) the line at a different attraction.
At its core, Lightning Lane works the same. It’s just digital now, which means you make all your reservations via My Disney Experience.
Once you have a Lightning Lane booked, you enter the shorter attraction line queue.
Disney conveniently calls it the Lightning Lane. So, that should reduce your confusion.
You reserve a Lightning Lane on Disney’s park app. Then, you enter the Lightning Lane at the applicable attraction at the park. It makes sense, right?
One Lightning Lane means one attraction you speedrun. Sometimes, that can save you as much as an hour on a single ride.
When you use several Lightning Lanes during a single park visit, you can achieve a remarkable amount. And that’s why you need these tips.
Unlike FastPasses, Lightning Lanes aren’t free. You’re wasting your money when you use Lightning Lanes poorly. So, let’s quickly discuss the best tactics for Lightning Lanes.
Be Prepared to Book Early
When you stay at an official Walt Disney World resort, you gain early Lightning Lane access as an amenity.
Specifically, you can purchase Lightning Lane and start making reservations seven days before your visit.
You absolutely should do that because the most popular Lightning Lanes will book quickly, some almost immediately.
So, please be prepared to use My Disney Experience at 7 a.m. a week before your trip. That’s the first time you can schedule Lightning Lanes.
When you’re not staying at an official Disney resort, your booking window will open three days before your park visit.
You’re playing the game on a higher difficulty setting this way and won’t be able to speedrun as much.
Some attractions likely will be sold out by the time you can purchase Lightning Lane and make reservations.
That’s why I recommend staying at an official Disney resort. The amenities are priceless.
Before you begin the Lightning Lane process, please make sure that you have linked your admission tickets and/or Annual Passes. Otherwise, the system won’t let you buy Lightning Lane.
When staying onsite, you’ll obviously need to link your hotel reservations as well. Until you do that, your seven-day booking window won’t open.
The system has no way of knowing that you’re staying unless you’ve linked the reservations.
To save yourself some aggravation, you should verify these things the day before your booking window opens. That way, you won’t be fighting the system first thing at 7 a.m.
We’ve done that, and it’s the absolute worst. Our sister-in-law calls it The 7 A.M. Struggle, and we can confirm that the struggle is real.
More Lightning Lane Tips
One other important tip: Make sure you connect with everyone in your traveling party via My Disney Experience’s Friends and Family.
Once that’s done, one person can schedule everyone’s Lightning Lanes.
Please believe me when I say that it can be nightmarish trying to line up the Lightning Lane times of two or three different groups.
So, the above step reduces stress by approximately ten thousand percent.
Once you’ve done all this, you can attempt to book Lightning Lanes based on our recommendations in the other section.
Here’s where we introduce another crucial tip. You should try to schedule your Lightning Lanes to start in the morning.
The way that Lightning Lanes work, you can start adding new Lightning Lanes as soon as you reach a certain checkpoint in your first Lightning Lane line queue.
Until you arrive at that checkpoint, you cannot schedule additional Lightning Lanes. Why does this matter?
Well, let’s say that you make Lightning Lane reservations at 4 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m.
Even if you arrive at the park at Rope Drop, you cannot book new Lightning Lanes until 4 p.m. or possibly later.
The booking window opens when you enter the attraction queue.
So, you could be at the park for seven or hours without being able to use your Lightning Lane Multi Pass any, thereby defeating its purpose.
You want to have access immediately.
Thus, you should always book a Lightning Lane as close to the park’s opening as possible. Then, you need to get in line for the attraction quickly.
By doing so, you can start the clock on new Lightning Lane reservations.
Now, you’re booking new ones within minutes of the park’s opening rather than waiting until after 4 p.m.
What does that mean to you during your park visit?
Even More Lightning Lane Tips
You can book several more attractions via Lightning Lane, thereby reducing the amount of time you spend standing in line.
That brings us to another important tip. You cannot overlap your Lightning Lane times when you pre-book, but there’s a vital caveat.
By overlapping, we mean something like having two Lightning Lanes within the same hour. When your booking window opens before your trip, you must select attractions at three different hours.
So, should you book one at 10:00 a.m., you cannot do another one after 11 a.m. That rule only applies during pre-booking, though!
Once you’re at the park, the system no longer blocks you from overlapping your Lightning Lanes. You book reservations accordingly, at least when they’re in the same general vicinity.
Let’s say that you’re visiting The Land pavilion and have a Lightning Lane for Soarin’ Around the World at 1 p.m. You should try to book a Lightning Lane for Living with the Land as close to that time as possible.
Each Lightning Lane includes a one-hour booking window, giving you plenty of time to do both attractions, even if you overlap their time.
How does this help you? Well, you can book a Lightning Lane as soon as you are near the front of the line at Soarin’. Then, you can reserve another one once you check in at Living with the Land.
You should be aware of one caveat to this strategy. Under the current Lightning Lane system, you can never hold more than three reservations.
Still Yet More Lightning Lane Tips!
Basically, you cannot book a new Lightning Lane until your My Disney Experience shows either one two. If you’re at three, you’re stuck for the time being.
However, the Disney system updates as soon as you check in at an attraction. Once you use your MagicBand or phone at the final Lightning Lane kiosk, you can book another one.
We don’t want to gloss over the “same general vicinity” part, though. That’s another essential tip.
Disney theme parks are quite large, especially Disney’s Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. We recommend that you check the park map before you select a Lightning Lane.
That way, you can avoid crisscrossing the park and thereby needlessly fatiguing yourself.
Otherwise, you run the risk of doing something like scheduling Lightning Lanes at Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain within a few minutes of each other. Your feet would resent you for that.
You should also know that Disney updates Lightning Lane availability in real time. What does this mean for you? Well, you should refresh your screen regularly.
Just pull down on your phone. That will reload the page. More importantly, My Disney Experience will check the updated data, possibly finding you a better Lightning Lane.
About Lightning Lane Tiers
So, you should keep searching throughout your visit, especially because of our final tip.
Three Disney World theme parks employ a tiered Lightning Lane system. We’ve discussed the specifics elsewhere, but the gist is that you may only choose one selection from the top tier.
That rule only applies to pre-booking, though. Once you’re at the park and searching for new Lightning Lanes, you can reserve anything available!
By stacking several of these tips together, you can possibly book multiple Lightning Lanes in the top tier during your visit! It’ll make all the difference in the world in your park visit.
The TL:DR about Lightning Lanes
So, let’s quickly review what we’ve learned. When you do your pre-booking, aim for attractions earlier in the day, preferably first thing in the morning. Remember to avoid booking attractions far apart, though.
Please refer to our prior recommendations about which Lightning Lanes to book. Then, you should show up as early as possible for your park visit.
Once you’re there, make a beeline to your first Lightning Lane. Once you’re standing in line, you’re looking for the check-in spot, remembering that there may be two of them.
If you’re unsure, ask a Cast Member. Once you’re sure you’ve checked in at the attraction, you can and should begin searching for your next Lightning Lane.
We’d encourage you to prioritize the ones from the top tier of Lightning Lane. You should always aim for the attractions from the top tier, even if you need to wait until later in the day for them.
Should you not like any of your Lightning Lane options, remember to refresh your screen. We’re obsessive about this and will refresh 20 times if needed to find something good.
Finally, we’ll leave you with another tip that could help you. Lightning Lane Multi Passes will work with Park Hopping. So, you can book Multi Passes for your next park while you’re still at your current one.
When you adopt this approach, you can have a head start at the park where you’re hopping. It can make a huge difference anywhere but Disney’s Animal Kingdom.