Guide to Lightning Lanes at Disney World
Long lines are a familiar foe at Disney World, particularly during peak seasons. School and work schedules often dictate travel dates, and the allure of Christmas magic is undeniable. The answer to minimizing wait times? Line-skipping solutions, known by various names across theme parks. Universal Studios offers Express Pass, SeaWorld utilizes Quick Queue, and Disney employs Lightning Lanes. To avoid confusion, this article will use the general term "fast pass" for any system allowing you to bypass lines, while specifying the official names for each park's program.
Note: This article describes the Lightning Lane Passes that go into effect July 24, 2024. If your trip is happening before then, visit our article on Genie+ here.
Disney World’s Fast Pass Terminology
Explaining the terminology used for Disney World’s fast pass system.
Lightning Lane or LL
Lightning lane is the word Disney uses to describe their fast pass.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass
This paid service lets you reserve Lightning Lane access for select attractions, allowing you to book up to three experiences in advance. Once you use a reservation, you can book another for a seamless park experience.
Lightning Lane Single Pass
The most popular attractions at each park are not included with the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and must be booked separately. For instance, to enter the Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane, you must pay an individual amount per person that varies by day.
How LL Multi Pass Works
The big thing to note is that LL Multi Pass is not a fast pass where you pay one fee and can hop into any lightning lane you want all day. Experiences are limited and must be booked from the app.
You can begin signing up for the LL Multi Pass up to 7 days (for resort guests) or 3 days (for off-site guests) before your first park day. You must purchase it from the My Disney Experience (MDE) app, and you must be in the United States when you make your purchase. You can purchase LL Multi Passes for the length of your stay.
You’re allowed to book up to 3 attractions when you purchase your pass. The process looks like this:
Ahead of your park day, make sure you are friends in the My Disney Experience app with everyone in your group you’d like to book Lightning Lanes for and have permission to manage their plans.
Make sure your resort reservations are linked in MDE if you have them.
Log into the MDE app anytime after 7am and purchase LL Multi Pass for every member of your group.
Book your first three experiences.
You are allowed to book one “Group One” level experience, and two “Group Two” level experiences, or all three can be “Group Two” level experiences. Group One level experiences are obviously the more popular and hard-to-get Lightning Lanes. Animal Kingdom does not have group levels, with the exception of their one Lightning Lane Single Pass Experience (Avatar Flight of Passage), all the rides are the same level.
Don’t forget that you can book another Lightning Lane the second you scan in for the ride. So use that time you’re waiting (hopefully a short time!) to book your next Lightning Lane quickly.
How LL Single Pass Works
Now that you’re an expert at LL Multi Pass, let’s talk about the LL Single Pass. This is the ability to purchase a Lightning Lane entry to the most popular ride at every park.
Rides included in LL Single Pass:
As of the time of this post (July 2024), the attractions included in Single Pass are:
Seven Dwarves Mine Train (Magic Kingdom)
TRON Lightcycle Run (Magic Kingdom)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT)
Avatar Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom)
Rise of the Resistance (Hollywood Studios)
It’s important to note that none of these attractions are included with the LL Multi Pass service. The only way to access the Lightning Lane queues for these rides is to buy a LL Single Pass for them.
Tip: Often, certain rides will also have a Virtual Queue. That can be another great way to ride these rides (for free!) without having to wait in a long line. I’ll write a post about those soon.
Lightning Lane FAQs
Limits to how many LL Single Pass attractions you can book per day
Disney has a limit of two LL Single Pass attractions per day. Unless you’re a champion park-hopper, I think this seems reasonable. Managing multiple parks and all the Lightning Lane times would be difficult.
Do you need to buy LL Multi Pass to purchase a LL Single Pass?
You do not need to purchase LL Multi Pass to purchase a LL Single Pass.
When can I purchase Lightning Lane Passes?
If you are staying at a Disney Resort (or Swan And Dolphin or Shades of Green)
You can purchase all of your Lightning Lane passes at 7 am, 7 days before the first day of your trip.
If you are not staying at a Disney Resort
You can purchase all of your Lightning Lane passes at 7 am, 3 days before the first day of your trip.
If you are an Annual Passholder
The 3-day rule applies to any day that you have a park reservation. If it’s a day where no reservation is required, it’s three days before that as well. If you are planning to enter the park without a reservation but after the 2 pm limitation, you can only book rides in time slots after 2 pm.
How Much Do Lightning Lane Passes Cost?
That’s an important question, and I will respond with a vague answer: it varies. Disney changes the pricing daily based on anticipated crowd levels for that day. That being said, I’m happy to save you a Google search and offer you a range based on data I found for you on the internet.
Note: This is the pricing for Genie+, the system that was in place before it was changed to Lightning Lane Passes in July 2024. I will update this post with newer data as it becomes available.
Genie+ Pricing
It’s important to note that each park will have a different price daily. Magic Kingdom is nearly always the highest, as it has the most attractions and is the most popular park. Also, there is a 5th option to purchase a park hopper Genie+. You must purchase the park hopper option if you want to use your Genie+ in more than one park per day. Don’t forget that in order to park hop, you must have a park hopper (not base) theme park ticket.
So far, the daily range for Genie+ has been between $15-35 per person.
Park Hopper and Magic Kingdom - $23-$29
Hollywood Studios - $21-$24, with a few $26 days
EPCOT - $17-19, with a few $21 days
Animal Kingdom - $15-17
Individual Lightning Lane Pricing
For Individual Lightning Lane attractions, the minimum to maximum price ranges have been:
TRON Lightcycle / Run - $20
Rise of the Resistance - $15 to $25
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - $14 to $17
Avatar Flight of Passage - $11 to $16
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - $10 to $12
These numbers were taken from Thril Data, my favorite place to find reliable theme park-related data, and worth a click if you want to check it out.
What if I Want to Park Hop?
Disney does not sell park-hopping Lightning Lane Multi Passes- you need to choose one park to start with. You’ll be able to make your first three selections. After using your first Lightning Lane, you’ll be able to make Lightning Lane selections in other parks.
What if I Change My Mind?
You’ll be able to make changes to your selections after booking using the MDE app.
Extra Perks With Lightning Lane Multi Pass
LL Multi Pass comes with some extra benefits, on top of being able to book Lightning Lanes.
Disney lets you receive digital downloads of some of your ride photos without having to pay for their Memory Maker
Special PhotoPass lenses in the app, which work kind of like a Disney-themed Snapchat filter
A feature called Audio Tales, which gives you behind-the-scenes facts about the Disney theme parks
Do You Need Lightning Lane Access To Have A Good Time At Disney World?
This decision can depend on many factors, but I have a few rules of thumb.
YOU SHOULD GET LIGHTNING LANE PASSES IF:
You only have one day at that theme park, and you want to do as much as possible
You have a generous budget and believe trading money for your time saved is a good value
It’s imperative to you to ride certain rides, like Rise of the Resistance
You have younger kids or hate waiting in lines
YOU CAN PROBABLY SKIP LIGHTNING LANE PASSES IF:
You can visit that park multiple times or have scheduled a catch-up day to hit anything you missed
You’re on a tight budget, especially if you have a large group.
If you are happy to go in with the attitude that you’ll soak up everything you can, and it’s okay if you don’t get to do everything
You hate being on your phone for a good part of the day in a theme park
You’re an annual pass holder
You’re going to EPCOT or Animal Kingdom- they don’t have as many rides, so it’s much more likely that you can hit all the rides you want without LL
Lightning Lane Options For Those With Disabilities
If you or someone in your party has a medical reason why they cannot wait in lines, Disney offers a DAS pass system for those with Autism or similar developmental disabilities that allows you a form of Lightning Lane access, though the rules are not the same. I’m not a representative of Disney and cannot speak for their policies, but here is some information based on what I have learned from my experience and the experience of others I know.
You need to sign up beforehand on their website through a video chat. DAS is no longer available at the parks through Guest Services. You’re not required to give a doctor’s note, but they do ask you some questions, and it’s up to the cast member whether they grant you DAS access. This is generally a painless process, so please don’t let this step intimidate you.
They do not grant DAS access if you’re in a wheelchair or other mobility scooter. They accommodate for this in other ways.
The DAS pass does not work like Lightning Lane Passes, and is not designed to give you quicker ride access but to alleviate the pain of standing in line. So when you open the app to book your experience, the return time will be based on the current wait time. If you want to book the Tower of Terror and the wait time is 45 minutes, it will give you a return time 45 minutes from now. You may book another ride 10 minutes after you scan in for Tower of Terror. You can only book one ride at a time.
The DAS pass extends to your immediate family, up to 4 guests besides yourself, so your group can stay together. The person with the DAS pass must ride the ride with you. You can’t book Rock n Roller Coaster, for example, if the DAS user is a young child who isn’t able to ride that ride.
When your time for the ride comes, there is no expiration time for when you can get in line- it’s good anytime from the time your window opens until the park closes. Just remember you can only book one ride at a time. When you get to the ride, everyone in your party, beginning with the DAS pass user, will scan your MagicBand, app or park ticket and enter the Lightning Lane.
If you don’t qualify for DAS but still find difficulties waiting in line due to other disabilities, Disney has other options for you as well.
Conclusion And More Resources
I hope this helped explain the terminology and how the different services work. I would recommend looking up some YouTube videos to see how the service works ahead of your trip, so you can familiarize yourself with where everything is. Disney also gives a lot of information on their website and will be the most up-to-date source for news and pricing.