Disney World changing from FastPass to Genie+ to Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass has certainly been a trip, and we know how confusing it can all be when you’re planning a trip.
Lightning Lanes!
However, once you get the hang of it, you really can skip tons of lines during the day (depending on crowd levels and Lightning Lane availability, which often go hand in hand with each other), BUT we’re also the first ones to admit that in certain situations, Lightning Lanes is our complete and total enemy.
When You’re Going with The Flow
Listen, we love that non-Disney World hotel guests can plan up to 3 Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations (and up to two Lightning Lane Single Pass reservations) up to three days in advance of their trip, and it’s even better than Disney World hotel guests can make those same reservations up to seven days in advance.
Lightning Lane at Peter Pan’s Flight
However, if you’re semi-local to the parks, or you’re in town and hopping into the park for a quick visit one day and want to skip some lines, Lightning Lane is often NOT friendly to those looking to make last-minute reservations, ESPECIALLY on busier days/times of year. While you’ll likely be able to find reservations for filler attractions like Magic Carpets of Aladdin or Kali River Rapids, those more popular attractions around the parks? Yep, during busy times of year, those sometimes book up 24 hours before your trip even begins.
Pirates of the Caribbean Lightning Lane
Additionally, maybe you’re stepping into the parks for the first time at noon and only THEN realize how busy it is, and that you’d like to skip some lines. By that point, the park may have already been open for 2-3 hours, and other guests who didn’t purchase Lightning Lane ahead of time but got to the park at rope drop and decided to get it then? Yeah, they’re part of the reason your only time for Toy Story Mania isn’t until 7PM.
Kali River Rapids Lightning Lane sign in Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Bottom line, it’s a system that really prioritizes planning ahead of time, and if that fits with your vacation, amazing! If it doesn’t, however…you’ll likely be very frustrated.
Zig Zagging
If you’re trying to get the BEST Lightning Lane return times, no matter what park you’re in, you’re likely in for some pretty serious zig-zagging all over the park. The more attractions there are to visit (ahem, Magic Kingdom), the more you’ll likely have to jump around IF you’re trying to get the soonest times.
Mad Tea Party Lightning Lane
Now, if you’d prefer to not zig zag all over and move through the park in a circle, you totally can, but just know you may be walking into Fantasyland with a Lightning Lane for “it’s a small world” in 5 minutes, but then you don’t have Dumbo for another hour, and Peter Pan’s Flight is four hours away at 8 PM. A lot of backtracking may be in your future as well, so keep that in mind when you’re booking those options throughout the day.
Cushioning Around Dining Reservations
If you’ve gotten yourself any Advanced Dining Reservations during your day, it’s important to know that the My Disney Experience app won’t let you book any Lightning Lanes at your reservation time, and we’ve found that they give you WAY too large of a cushion time.
Tower of Terror
We get it, they don’t want us to miss our dining reservation, and we appreciate that! But the window of time is a little too large for our liking, and we wish Disney would trust us to manage our time without them needing to prevent us from booking what we’d like.
We’ve found that if we have a 12 PM reservation, we can’t book a 12 PM Lightning Lane (although you do have an hour to return…plus a 15ish minute grace period…and we’ve tested the unspoken rule that SOMETIMES you can actually be just under three hours late to a Lightning Lane return time and still be let in, but that’s VERY risky!), but we can book one for 12:20 or 12:30.
Haunted Mansion
Looking for more recent Lightning Lane news? Check out our posts below!
More Recent Lightning Lane News!
Be sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest tips, tricks, and news to help you plan your Disney World vacation!
I’ve Tried Every Lightning Lane Hack in Disney World and I’m Sharing the 2 That Work Every Time
Planning a Trip to Disney World? We’ve Got Everything You Need to Know
Tips, Hints, Lists, and Videos for Planning the BEST Disney World Trip
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Oh, i agree LL are the enemy and we should do away with them. Everyone the same, Standby lane move fast people happy. Lets start a complain to end LL all together. Add 5$ to the day ticket and let us go have fun. No worry missing a time block, not getting on phone at the right time to make appointment. Just fun, fun, fun.