Do you need a Lightning Lane strategy for Disney’s Animal Kingdom? I’ve got you covered!

We’ve used the various Lightning Lane systems in this park dozens of times (maybe even hundreds, at this point!), and we’ve got our strategy down to a SCIENCE. So here, I’m breaking down everything you need to know about Lightning Lanes in Animal Kingdom, and how to navigate your day with or without them.

Do You Need Lightning Lanes in Animal Kingdom?

The first question you’ve got to ask is “do you actually need to use Lightning Lanes in Animal Kingdom?” And unlike Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios, where there are a bunch of high wait times for popular attractions, this park is a bit easier to navigate. Honestly, in most cases, we tell people that they might not need to purchase a Lightning Lane option for Animal Kingdom.

This park doesn’t have very many rides, and several of them are easy to hop in line for during rope drop hours or at the end of the day. As long as you go into your park day with a strategy, you can probably conquer Animal Kingdom without Lightning Lane, given that it’s not the most crowded seasons of the year. However, if you want to use Lightning Lanes to make your day easier and your waits shorter, we’re here to break it all down.

50 Amazing Things You Never Knew Were in Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Starting out the list of Lightning Lane options, we have Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This option is one price to access all but one Lightning Lane in the park. The price typically ranges somewhere from $16-$32 per person, per day for Animal Kingdom (pre-tax). You can purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass up to 7 days before your trip if you’re staying at a Disney Resort, and you can purchase up to 3 days before your visit to the park if you’re staying off-property.

when and if you should use it, how much it typically costs, note that there are no tiers at this park, list all the Multi Pass options and which order you should choose them in

With Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you’ll be able to choose 3 selections at the time of booking, then as you scan into a Lightning Lane in the park, you “free up” that slot and can book another. Unlike the other parks, there is no “tier” system for booking Lightning Lanes at Animal Kingdom, so you’re free to select any 3 options from the list for your initial choices.

In Animal Kingdom, the following attractions are available to book through Lightning Lane Multi Pass:

• 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
• Zootopia: Better Zoogether!

Of these options, Na’vi River Journey is the clear first pick. It books up the fastest and has the longest wait of the attractions listed. Along with it, good options for your initial three picks include Kilimanjaro Safaris (the park’s flagship ride that often has a 30-60 minute wait), Zootopia: Better Zoogether! (the newest attraction on the list and fairly popular), or Kali River Rapids (if it’s hot outside, this one is BUSY).

After those, Festival of the Lion King is the best choice of the theater shows because its theater often fills up. Using Lightning Lane there means you’ll get a better seat and make it into that particular show. Just keep in mind that Lightning Lanes typically have 60 minute return windows, but for shows with dedicated showtimes, they’re often shorter than that.

Expedition Everest could also be a good second-round pick if you’re a thrill junkie. This ride, however, doesn’t usually get a super-long wait because it loads quickly, and it also has a fairly effective single rider queue.

Here’s the Full Guide to Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Disney World

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Moving on to the next option on our list, it’s time to talk about the most popular ride in the park! Lightning Lane Single Pass is a single-use Lightning Lane for each park’s most popular attraction(s), and in Animal Kingdom, you can use this to ride Avatar Flight of Passage. Yes, that’s the ride where you board a banshee and fly over Pandora. It’s VERY popular.

Flight of Passage often has waits of over an hour, and it can get a multi-hour wait on busy days. The queue is also fairly brutal because a large portion of it involves standing in the sun outdoors. Those things add up to make Single Pass a very popular purchase at Animal Kingdom.

Like Multi Pass, you can buy this one 7 days before your trip if you’re staying at a Disney Resort and 3 days before your park visit if you’re not. When you purchase, you’ll select a return window during which you’ll go to the ride entrance and scan in at the Lightning Lane. The price for this typically ranges from $16-$19 per person, per day (pre-tax).

Probably the most popular Lightning Lane strategy for Animal Kingdom is to skip purchasing Multi Pass and only purchase Single Pass. That alone could save you more than an hour of park time. If you’re planning to visit during a busy season, the Single Pass for Flight of Passage can sell out ahead of time, so know if you plan to purchase it when your booking opens.

See Our Guide to Using Single Pass in Disney World Here!

Lightning Lane Premier Pass

Finally, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Disney World’s fanciest Lightning Lane offering. This one will run you anywhere from $139-$199 per person, per day (pre-tax), and it allows access to ALL Lightning Lanes in the park, without having to reserve times to visit attractions.

The beauty of this system is that you simply purchase it (7 days in advance for Disney Resort guests, 3 days in advance for those who aren’t) and then use it. You can scan into any of the Lightning Lanes at any time the attraction is open with one Lightning Lane access per attraction, per day. It’s easy to use, but it’s very expensive.

Really the only times we’d recommend purchasing this is if you’re visiting Animal Kingdom during a particularly busy season, or if you have the space in your budget and want to have as smooth an experience as possible. Using Premier Pass would likely make it easy to do the entire park in half a day, so it could fit well for that purpose if you have the funds.

See Our Complete Guide to Premier Pass Here!

Tips for Doing Animal Kingdom Without Lightning Lanes

Now, on to the good stuff! If you’re not interested in spending the money on Lightning Lanes for Animal Kingdom, you definitely don’t have to! Here are my suggestions for navigating the park without it.

The main key here is maximizing your time in the park. Animal Kingdom is typically pretty quiet when it first opens in the morning (it opens earlier than the other parks) and it also tends to calm down quite a bit at the end of the day (since there aren’t many attractions in the park right now, people leave early). Therefore, you’ll want to concentrate the most popular rides during those times.

Pandora is the most popular part of the park right now, so you’ll either want to use Early Theme Park Entry and rope drop Flight of Passage, followed by Na’vi River Journey, or do them in the last two hours of the day when wait times drop. You can get in line for rides right up until park closing time, no matter the wait time.

Other popular attractions to knock out when wait times are low are Zootopia: Better Zoogether! and Kilimanjaro Safaris. The safari typically closes early, so that’s not one you’ll want to save until the very end of the day (check the day’s operating hours in the My Disney Experience app).

For Expedition Everest, I recommend using the single rider queue if your party is fine with splitting up, and Kali River Rapids isn’t usually too long of a wait unless it’s the hottest part of the day.

The theater shows are best saved for the middle of the day when attraction wait times are high. They have limited showtimes, so make sure to check the app for those as well. The middle of the day is also a great time to squeeze in some character meet-and-greets.

With those tips in mind, you can totally conquer Animal Kingdom without Lightning Lanes, but if you choose to use the system, make sure you use it wisely!

Everything You Need to Know About Lightning Lanes in Disney World

Do you buy Lightning Lanes when you go to Animal Kingdom? Tell us in the comments!