Disney’s new Lightning Lane rules are live!

Cinderella Castle

After shocking the theme park world by announcing a massive overhaul to its skip-the-line system last month, the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass (updated Genie+ service) and Lightning Lane Single Pass (updated pay-per-ride Individual Lightning Lane system) options have gone live. We studied Disney’s detailed explanations about how the revamped system would work before the changes went live, but we still had several questions. One of our biggest questions: can Disney dining reservations overlap with Lightning Lane reservations? We found out!

Before we answer that major question, here’s a quick refresher on the new system since it is vastly different than what you’re used to: 

Lightning Lane Multi Pass will allow you to make three Lightning Lane selections in a specific Disney World theme park in advance of your visit, while Lightning Lane Single Pass purchases will allow you to secure a time to ride one of Disney’s most popular attractions for an additional charge in advance. Furthermore, if you’re staying at a Disney Resort hotel or other select hotel, you will be able to plan Lightning Lane passes (both Multi and Single) UP TO 7 days in advance for your entire stay (up to 14 days). All other guests can ONLY plan up to three days in advance.

Lightning Lanes!

Got it? Good.

With that out of the way, one of our biggest questions was how the new Lightning Lanes would work with dining reservations. 

This was our process of booking a week in advance for our Lightning Lanes in EPCOT! ⚡️Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is a separate price from the EPCOT Multipass for the day. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gldTjG8veP

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) July 24, 2024

On July 24th — the morning the new system debuted — we experimented with the system in numerous ways. One thing we noticed? When booking our Lightning Lanes, we were NOT able to book passes for the exact time of a preexisting dining reservation (IE: If we had a 12PM reservation, we could not book a 12PM Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Single Pass), but we were offered and able to book time slots that conflicted with preexisting advanced dining reservations. 

Oga’s Cantina

For example, we were able to book a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Living with the Land for an 11:10PM-12:10PM window, even though we had an advance dining reservation for Spice Road Table at 11:30AM. 

©Disney

The same was true of Lightning Lane Single Pass, as we were able to purchase one for Rise of the Resistance that was valid from 12:35PM to 1:35 PM even though we had an Oga’s Cantina advance dining reservation for 12:45PM. 

©Disney

As we made our Lightning Lane selections, the My Disney Experience app showed us all the plans we had going on that day. This way, you can see your dining reservations while choosing your Lightning Lane times.

So, when your seven or three-day booking window for Lightning Lane Multi and Single Passes opens, make sure you keep your previously booked dining reservations in mind and look over them when they’re presented on the My Disney Experience app to avoid creating conflicts between two reservations. Stay tuned to DFB for further coverage of Disney’s new skip-the-line system. 

CONFIRMED: These Attractions Are Missing From the New Lightning Lane System in Disney World

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Were you able to try the new Lightning Lane systems yet? What did you think of them? Let us know in the comments below.