Lightning Lane

Lightning Lane is a service that Disney offers that lets you experience certain attractions with minimal wait -- it largely mirrors other services you may have heard of like FastPass and FastPass+.  Lighting Lane Multi Pass is an add-on service that you pay for on a per day basis that allows you to make Lightning Lane reservations. You can also purchase Lightning Lane access to certain very popular attractions a la carte.   

It's honestly all pretty confusing these days. There are now 4 ways to queue up for attractions:

• Standby: this is basically just standing in the regular line.  You get in line, and wait until it's your turn. Simple, straightforward.

• Lightning Lane Multi Pass: paying for Disney's Lightning Lane Multi Pass service allows you to reserve up to 3 attractions up to 7 days in advance (for guests staying at Disney resorts, 3 days for all others) to ride via a special, shorter queue.  Once you are in the park and have used your first reservation, you can make additional reservations for that day on a rolling basis.  Purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass through the My Disney Experience app.  You'll also use the MDE app to make all Lightning Lane reservations.

• Individual Lightning Lane (ILL): separate from the Lightning Lane Multi Pass service, you can purchase the ability to skip the standby line for certain high demand attractions.  This is in addition to Lightning Lane Multi Pass service reservations, and having one does not affect the other.  You need not have paid for Lightning Lane Multi Pass service to be able to purchase ILL access to attractions.  These can also be purchased up to 7 days in advance, and you can purchase up to two per day.

• Boarding Groups: When new attractions are opened, Disney will sometimes use Boarding Groups to distribute access.  That morning, at 7 a.m., you'll use the app to request the ability to ride the attraction and (if you're lucky) you'll be provided with a boarding group.  The groups will be allowed to ride in order, so you can do whatever you want to do until your number is called, at which time you can go ride the attraction. You may also hear this described as a Virtual Queue.  

To obtain your Lightning Lane reservations, you'll do the following:

• You can begin making reservations at 7:00 a.m. the first day of eligibility.  

• If you intend to use the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you will need to purchase that first.  

• Shortly before 7 am, go to the main tab on the MDE app, and you should see the Lightning Lane section.   

• The MOMENT it becomes 7 am, refresh the page and navigate to the Lightning Lane reservation you'd like to make.  Click through, select a time, and confirm as quickly as possible. 

Lightning Lane Booking Tips

• Do not dawdle.  When looking at the tip board, you'll see a time for the next available Lightning Lane times, but these are subject to change as other people book. Once you click through, you'll be presented with another time, and once you actually confirm, you may have yet another time. To ensure that your actual reservation time is as close to the time you see, move quickly through the screens.

• If you don't get what you want right away, try again.  Disney does release additional Lightning Lane reservations over the course of the day.  There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to when, and it's not something you can rely upon, but if you do your best at 7 am and come up empty, it's worth continuing to check periodically, and in the days that follow. 

• If you're going for both a regular Lightning Lane and ILL at 7 am, consider using multiple devices if you have the option. I go for one on my phone, while my wife goes for the other on my iPad.

• Note that the regular Lightning Lane and ILL systems are essentially separate, and you can hold Lightning Lane reservations and ILL reservations at the same time.  

Which Lightning Lanes To Target?

While which rides to taget is to some extent a matter of personal preference, it is undeniable that some Lightning Lane reservations will save you more time than others.  Headliner attractions generally benefit the most from Lightning Lane, and shows generally benefit the least, as you can typically walk into the next show whether you have a Lightning Lane pass or not.  If you have to pay extra for an Individual Lightning Lane, you can generally expect it to save you significant time.  This includes:

• TRON Lightcycle / Run

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

• Avatar Flight of Passage

Here's some more per-park guidance for the Multi-Pass Attractions:

• Magic Kingdom:

  • Target: Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Tiana's Bayou Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

  • Skip: Dumbo, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor

• Epcot

  • Target: Frozen Ever After, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Soarin' Around the World, Spaceship Earth

  • Skip: Short Film Festival, Journey Into Imagination, Turtle Talk with Crush, The Seas with Nemo & Friends

• Hollywood Studios

  • Target: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Slinky Dog Dash, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Millennium Falcon

  • Skip: Beauty & The Beast, Disney Junior, Frozen Sing-a-Long, Indiana Jones Stunt Show, Muppet*Vision 3D

• Animal Kingdom

  • Target: Kilamanjaro Safari, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, Na'Vi River Journey

  • Skip: Feathered Friends in Flight, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo, It's Tough to Be a Bug

Attractions that are available for Lightning Lane that aren't mentioned here fall somewhere in the middle.  They will save you a fair amount of time versus using the standby line, so if it's something you'd like to do and you're already booked all of the "target" attractions you'd like to do, there's no downside to booking a Lightning Lane.  I would not recommend purchasing the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass just to access them, however, as they do not generate the same demand as other attractions and have manageable waits except on the busiest days.