What We’ve Learned from Lightning Lane Multi Pass So Far at Disney World (Q&A)
Walt Disney World has rolled out the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, killing off the Genie+ service. This post answers a lot of frequently asked reader questions about the new pre-arrival ride reservation system based on our firsthand experiences in extensively field testing the line-skipping service. (Updated December 15, 2024.)
There are a lot of questions about the whole Lightning Lane Multi Pass system, and we’ve answered many of them in our regularly-updated Guide to Lightning Lane Multi Pass & Single Pass at Walt Disney World. This whole system is confusing and convoluted, especially for those who never used FastPass+. This post is best viewed as a supplement to that guide and FAQ.
In fact, that’s probably the better resource if you want a deep dive into Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) and Single Pass (LLSP). It’s much longer and more comprehensive, covering everything you need to know based on our extensive experiences using LLMP and LLSP throughout late summer, Halloween and Christmas. This is more like a supplement offering similarities and differences to the now-defunct Genie+ system. If you weren’t familiar with that, read the full FAQ instead…
Is refreshing and rebooking ride reservations possible with Lightning Lane Multi-Pass like it was with FastPass+ or Genie+?
Yes, and it’s easy thanks to the modify button. As before, you can play the ‘refresh game’ and get better or more convenient return times, and also search for availability at other attractions without losing your existing Lightning lane ride reservation.
You do not have to cancel and rebook. Between the modify button and the 5-minute cart, you can bounce between the “Modify Plan” button and the “Close” button to refresh and check for new times pretty easily without losing your existing selection–or committing to an inferior one.
Is more availability added to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass throughout the day?
Yes. This is no surprise whatsoever, as both FastPass+ and Genie+ had ride reservation refills, drops, or whatever you want to call them that occurred at consistent times. (See Ride Reservation Refill Rules at Walt Disney World.)
It’s tough to gauge the cadence of these under Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, but I’ve seen ride reservation refills for several attractions under LLMP. And I know they were refills and not cancellations, as a ton of times popped up–they had all of the hallmarks of a refill.
With the modify button, searching for ride reservation refills is easy. Combined, the two strategies can be leveraged to score several more Lightning Lane selections per day. Just be warned: it becomes addictive–just like a video game. Also like a game, it can mean losing a ton of ‘real world’ time as your face is glued to a screen.
Which Lightning Lane selections are the “best” ones from each tier?
We rank the best Lightning Lane Multi-Pass picks for each park based upon time saved and how quickly return times fill up and run out. This is incredibly helpful for choosing the order to book your ride reservations:
- Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Ride Ranks & Strategy
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Ranks & Strategy
- EPCOT Lightning Lane Ride Ranks & Strategy
- Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Ride Ranks & Strategy
One word of warning: those are very, ahem, “optimistic” about how many Lightning Lanes you’ll be able to book per day versus the on-the-ground reality we’re seeing on day one of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. But it’s still very early and a lot could–and will–change.
Does Park Hopping cost extra?
With Lightning Lane Multi Pass, there is no additional charge for Park Hopping, and you do not need to pay for the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass a second time. There’s a lot of confusion about this due to inaccurate reporting and assumptions based on Disney’s history of nickel and diming, but they’re inaccurate.
However, you must use your first Lightning Lane before making subsequent selections in different parks. The reason for this is that upfront pricing does differ. Meaning without this ‘tap in’ requirement for the first Lightning Lane, I could purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Animal Kingdom at $16, make my selections there at 7:00 am, and then modify them all to Magic Kingdom at 7:01 am. It would be a loophole to save $9 per person, without much cost since availability is still pretty good at 7 am.
But you can’t do that. If you try to modify Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections from one park to another before using any of them, you will have to pay the difference. Thus closing that loophole. However, if you use your Lightning Lane first (let’s say for Na’vi River Journey at 8:30 am), then you can start making Magic Kingdom Lightning Lanes at that point without paying anything extra. Availability won’t be as good and you probably won’t get Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, but that’s the tradeoff!
Should I book the default return times that Lightning Lane Multi-Pass spits back after selecting my rides?
Oddly and surprisingly: yes. Yes, you should most of the time.
The Lightning Lane Multi-Pass system is “smart” and will book the first available return time for each attraction, with a sufficient buffer between them so that you’re not double-booked. This is the ‘best practice’ because you typically should be making as early of arrival times as possible (for at least one attraction) in order to “unlock” that 4th ride faster.
In fact, you should consider changing your Group B selections in order to prioritize for a mixture of return time and ride priority. Don’t book Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, for example, if both have return times in the afternoon. Opt for the next highest priority with an early return to unlock that 4th pick.
What’s the best order of parks for making advance Lightning Lane Multi-Pass reservations?
From what we’re seeing in terms of availability (or lack thereof), you should book parks in the following priority:
- Magic Kingdom (Tiana’s Bayou Adventure)
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Slinky Dog Dash)
- EPCOT (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure)
- Animal Kingdom (Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids or Expedition Everest)
For the best attraction and return time options, you’ll want to backload your bookings with Magic Kingdom furthest out, then DHS, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom. This matters less if you have a longer trip and more for a shorter one.
For example, if I were visiting the parks January 12-15, 2025, I’d book in the following order:
- Magic Kingdom: January 15, 2025
- DHS: January 14, 2025
- EPCOT: January 13, 2025
- DAK: January 12, 2025
This will probably change once Tiana’s Bayou Adventure becomes more reliable. Its capacity will improve and thus so too will its Lightning Lane availability. I’d hope that this will occur in Winter 2025, but failing that, TBA’s popularity should drop slightly once winter arrives.
In the long term, I have a hard time seeing Slinky Dog Dash dethroned from its #1 spot. On the other hand, Magic Kingdom is going to have rotating refurbishments/reimaginings from Group A through 2025 and DHS does have a strong lineup in top tier. Not only that, but Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean were the fastest-booking Group B options of anything from any park. (Somewhat surprisingly.)
Are any attractions booking up beyond the 3-day window?
Yes. Here are attractions with limited Lightning Lane availability during the on-site booking window:
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Jungle Cruise
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- Frozen Ever After
- Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
I’d caution anyone against extrapolating trends based on current LLMP availability or lack thereof. As we saw firsthand with Genie, things changed frequently and repeatedly in the first 18 months after launch. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass already appears more stable (it’s certainly not as half-baked), but it’ll still evolve throughout 2025. That’ll be especially true with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure if/when it becomes more reliable and switches to standby.
Is it possible to see available attractions and return times before buying?
Yes. In fact, this is the only way to do it.
You select your first three attractions and return times with Lightning Lane Multi Pass before you pay–that’s the last step of the process. Once you make your selections, you’ll have a set amount of time during which your ‘cart’ is reserved in order to complete the transaction.
How much time are your choices locked in?
You have 5 minutes from the time you place Lightning Lanes in your “cart” to complete checkout.
This can mean there’s still a shifting of times right at the 7:00:00 am mad dash, but once you make the selections, they’re locked into place. (Error messages will occur before that, if at all.) This is a massive improvement from Genie+ when times were ‘blind’ for the first 30 minutes due to the massive shifting possible.
This also means you probably want to keep playing the ‘refresh game’ until around 7:30 am when booking your Lightning Lanes via Multi-Pass, as carts will expire and other guests will keep swapping around Lightning Lanes and “trading up” times as availability allows.
Do tiers apply same-day?
If you’re just booking ‘cold’ or for the first time, the Grouping A and B distinctions do apply with your first same-day Lightning Lane Multi-Pass selections.
Once you’ve entered a park and tapped into your first Lightning Lane, tiers no longer apply for subsequent selections.
What about tiers to modifications?
In our experience, tiers do not apply to modifications so long as you’ve already redeemed a Lightning Lane. Meaning that you could redeem a Lightning Lane for Pirates of the Caribbean at 9:05 am, and then modify pre-booked Lightning Lane from Haunted Mansion to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad while still also holding a Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Lightning Lane.
The question I cannot answer is whether you could tap into the park and then modify all of these Lightning Lanes to Group A selections before tapping into any of them.
Can Lightning Lane ride reservations overlap with one another?
Not completely. In the screenshot above, you can see that we have a Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Lightning Lane for 11:45 am to 12:45 pm and Haunted Mansion from 12:35 to 1:35 pm–an overlap of 10 minutes.
In doing a variety of testing, we were able to book partially overlapping Lightning Lanes by as much as 25 minutes. In other cases, we couldn’t do more than 20 minutes. It’s difficult to tell whether this was due to availability or a rule setting the buffer.
By default, it seems like there isn’t overlapping. It also appears that if you modify to create an overlap, the system will attempt to shift your other existing selections to reduce or eliminate the overlap. But you can still modify to create greater overlaps–at least, in some scenarios, and at certain attractions.
This is unlike the Genie+ system, which was “dumb” and thus didn’t check for conflicts with existing reservations. It is similar to the FastPass+ system, which prevented overlap. (To the best of my recollection, no overlap whatsoever was allowed.)
Can Lightning Lane ride reservations overlap with Advance Dining Reservations?
Again, not completely. Meaning that if you have an Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) at Cinderella’s Royal Table starting at 2:05 pm, you cannot have a Lightning Lane also starting at 2:05 pm. This is also unlike Genie+.
Weirdly, it does seem that you can have a Lightning Lane starting at 1:55 pm even if you have an ADR at 2:05 pm. It’s unclear how much buffer is necessary or if this is a glitch and will change–but it’s what we’re seeing so far.
Were Lightning Lanes removed from meet & greets and entertainment?
Yes. Walt Disney World made clear that this was happening in advance, but then oddly used the old attractions list from Genie+ in My Disney Experience, giving some hope that maybe characters were back.
As to the “why” of this and whether it could change…we’ll have a longer post in the coming days. But for now until probably at least early 2025, character meet & greets no longer offer Lightning Lanes, nor do parades and other entertainment.
What is the booking window for Annual Passholders who are staying on-site?
When it comes to the booking windows, staying on-site always takes precedence. Meaning that it doesn’t matter what your ticket type is if you have an on-site resort reservation that entitles you to the 7-day booking window takes priority. Or at least, it should.
There’s always the possibility of issues when it comes to Disney IT and systems determining which “status” to prioritize, but the official policy is that staying on-site supersedes ticket type. This means that all guests with their MDX profiles linked to an on-site resort reservation should be able to purchase and make Lightning Lane reservations pursuant to the 7-day on-site advantage booking window, for their entire stay (up to 14 days).
What about split stays?
Officially, resort split stays that are continuous (back-to-back bookings with no gaps between hotels) may purchase and book Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass selections for the entire length of their visit up to a maximum of 14 days. This should work, in theory, regardless of how many reservations you have. I could do single night stays for two weeks, and it should still work. (I wouldn’t want to, but I should be able to do so.)
In practice, we’re hearing this is more hit or miss and can require an override from Disney IT. That’s not completely surprising, as FastPass+ had similar issues from time to time. We don’t have any firsthand experience with this and LLMP yet, but it’s something to be aware of if you’re doing a split stay.
Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worse than Genie+?
(Say the line, Bart.)
Queueing is a zero-sum game that creates winners and losers in equal parts. What this means is that attraction capacity is fixed and finite. There is no more or less capacity than there was when Genie+ existed than there is today under Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Moreover, if someone receives an advantage, that means someone else is disadvantaged. There is no magical system where everyone gets to wait in shorter lines.
Line-skipping systems do not change capacity. No approach to lines changes the underlying capacity. It doesn’t matter if it’s all standby, paper FastPass, FastPass+ vs. Genie vs. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. The only meaningful way to actually alter the equation is by actually increasing capacity. The best way that’s done, in the long term, is building more attractions.
Other ways to increase capacity in the short or medium term are adding entertainment, extending operating hours, or just giving guests other things to do that either pull them away from rides or dilute the distribution of guests throughout the day. Everything else is a matter of rearranging the deck chairs, and having different guests or demographics come out ahead or behind.
From what I’ve heard over the course of the last year or so, Walt Disney World’s aim with its suite of queueing changes is better balance. Policies and systems that feel fairer to the majority of guests and don’t advantage or disadvantage anyone too much. From what we’ve heard, they’ve been trying to thread the needle with all of these changes. It’s an unenviable task and no-win proposition, but that’s the intent.
In other words, this is really a matter of asking better or worse for whom? It’s still very early, but current signs point to significantly less Lightning Lane availability under the Multi Pass and Single Pass systems. Whether that was intentional or not remains to be seen. Let’s assume it was, in which case this new paradigm will be worse for its buyers than the Genie+ service. But guess what? Queueing is ultimately a zero-sum game that creates winners and losers in equal parts. This means that the big winner of Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass would…guests not paying anything extra to use the standby line!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Have any questions we didn’t answer with the above FAQ? Still confused by how Lightning Lane MultiPass or Single Pass will work? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
For the multipass, is it a good strategy to book all 3 selections in the morning so that it opens up the opportunity to book the 4th, 5th etc rides as soon as possible? This would theoretically mean you are booking rides in a reasonable proximity to each other vs your priority rides. It makes the most sense if there are many opportunities to book throughout the day and the least sense if you’re unlikely to be able to book multiple additional rides after the first 3.
Maybe you answered this in your post, but can we still stack lighting lanes? You know after a certain time, the system let you make another selection because the window is far out? Or you can only hold three at a time?
We are traveling with an older group, been to Epcot a lot over the years but want to see the newer attraction changes: Guardians, Ratatouille and Frozen. Single Lightning Lane is a given for Guardians. We are visiting Epcot in just one day this time. Could we book Tier 1 Multi passes with no Tier 2 selections? We have set times for the processional dinner package etc. and can’t get around all that fast.
We know that our group must complete our first LL Multi pass reservation before we can choose another ride. Is that the rule for every one of our LL Multi pass reservations?
We have a group of 4 adults where some of them may need to leave the park for a while to work remotely. Since we would be booking everyone together the remote workers would miss some reserved rides. Will that prevent the rest of our group from choosing new attractions as we aren’t using all of the rides in our group reservation? If so, should we book those people on a different reservation?
Thanks for your help!
Tom have you been able to substantiate this AllEars.net loophole that brings stacking back on the tabke? Where the redemption grace period is actually 3 hours, not 15 min, but you can still book/stack a new LL once the original posted return window has expired?
Was at WDW 9/2-9/22 can confirm the tier system does NOT go away after first use. it remained in place all day at every park.
Hi everyone! Next week I am attemping the Every Ride and Parkeology Challenges with my dad. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge so we have early enty and extended evening hours at MK. Is it possible to book MP rides for Hollywood Studios then change my park reservation to get into the VQ for Tiana’s at 7am, then change back for early entry at HS? Another questition, how long is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure VQ on average? I am trying to ride it with the lowest wait time possible as every minute counts. Any comments, tips, tricks would be much appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Natalie – I’m attempting the same in early December and would love to hear how your challenges went. I was planning on doing AK first with early entry and not even using MPLL until our second park. We’re still waiting to see park hours to determine our ideal sequencing, but I’d love to chat and learn more about your adventure!
If I have a six day trip planned, staying at a Disney resort, and it is my time to book my multipass lightning lanes seven days in advance, can only one person be booking these lightning lanes at 7:00 am? Or can I and another person in my party be booking lightning lanes at the same time for different days? For example at 7:00 am can we both get on the app and I start booking for day 6 and the other person start booking for day 4 at the same time?
If you have both the multi pass and you want to book single pass as well, do you recommend booking single pass first when you window opens?
Wow I’m appreciating how lucky I got. When this was written there wasn’t any availability for Tianas but I just bought for tomorrow, July 31st right now at 930 pm the night before and got a 9am return!! Thank you for this post! It will be very helpful for tomorrow
So I didn’t see this one but find it an interesting thought/possible strategy I wanted to get your thoughts on. In combing though some questions on the disney park panel on multi-pass someone raised a question asking if they could modify their second two reservations to another park after scanning into their first ride. The response provided to them was “You will be happy to know that once you’ve used a Lightning Lane Multi Pass or the arrival window has passed, you can pick another Lightning Lane Multi Pass experience in a different theme park if you have Park Hopper benefits.”
What I found interesting in the response was the “or the arrival window has passed”. So if I’m not planning to be at a park lets say Epcot by 10am should I make my first LL for a ride like figment at 9am which would allow me at 10am to likely get another Tier 1 ride without me actually being in the park and needing to tap into a Tier 2 attraction first? Then in theory, I can also modify my second Tier 2 ride at 10am where if available I can perhaps get that third Tier 1 at Epcot?
Of course I take everything on the park panel with a grain of salt and maybe it’s just taken for granted here that in theory they assummed you would have already entered the park before missing the ride.
However if there is no validation that you actually entered the park first I feel it could be a possible strategy for Epcot and maybe even Hollywood Studios if you want to try for that additional tier 1 rides but don’t see yourself getting to a park before 10am and don’t mind “losing” one of your tier 2 selections.
Has anyone been able to try any of the above?
Interestingly today I had a 9:30-10:30 am barnstormer (because when booking window opened all of the good LL were 1 pm or later). Due to extenuating circumstances (tron back up) we did not make it to the LL at all. At 10:30 am the Barnstormer disappeared but I was NOT able to book a tier 1. Only another tier 2. After tapping into the 1 pm LL, then I was free of tiers and could book anything.
The 1 pm was a tier 1, so I guess that doesn’t say anything about what you can book after you tap in the first time. Other than an expired tier 2 does NOT let you book a tier 1.
I’m part of a massive Disney Facebook group, and everyone currently there says they are having to use their Tier one ride before being allowed to grab another Tier one ride, which is against everything Disney has said. Any insight? A glitch? Or a change? (If it were a few people, I would guess user error, but it is many experienced veterans who say they can see space Mountain and thunder Mountain times available, but because they are holding Tiana‘s Bayou, they are not allowed to pick one of those until they use Tiana.)
This was my experience–we’re APs and went the day after the new LL experience debuted. Accordingly, we couldn’t book until the day prior. Tiana was a priority for us, but the earliest return time was in the evening. Our first tier 2 return time was at 9am. Yet, after we scanned in to our first ride at 9am, it would not allow us to book another Tier 1 ride. We could only book Tier 2 rides. I’m hoping this was a glitch that will be worked out, as all documentation I’ve read by Disney says this should not be the case.
I’m staying off site so will only have the option to book 3 days in advance. What are the chances of their being little or no availability for tier 1 rides?
Hi Ashley,
I am staying off site too and I think we have a disadvantage now because we cannot get our multi-pass or individual lightning lane until 3 days before our park visits while on site guests can book 14 days in advance. Due to this, a lot of rides like Guardians, Tron, etc are unavailable and it’s not really fair to guests staying off property. Disney should make it fair for both on site and off site guests. I hope they figure this out sooner rather than later.
Hi: I’m wondering what your experience was with this. Were you able to book Tier 1 rides 3 days in advance or were they all sold out? Would love to hear how your experience was with booking rides.
What is the best strategy if I want to park hop with Multi-Pass? With genie plus, I would start my day at Epcot and ride the attractions early in the morning and at 7am start stacking genie plus reservations for Hollywood Studios later in the day, so that when I arrived at Hollywood Studios after lunch, I would be able to ride all the attractions there with genie plus. With the new Multi-Pass, using a park-hopper ticket, do I need to reserve all 3 advance LL reservations at the same park? Can I reserve at the 7-day mark prior to check-in for Disney Resort guests, the first LL at the park I plan to start at and reserve the other 2 LL’s at the second park?
I can’t find how I am able to modify a MLL ride reservation from a group of 4 to 3 and then select another ride for the individual. Seems like you’re all stuck together. I’m not a big thrill ride person (I’m not going on Everest!) but to select LL for my group it automatically includes me. Does anyone know how to modify for the individual in a group MLL purchase?
I feel like I just read a White Paper and I’m absolutely failing the Q&A afterwards .
We’re staying next week at AKL and considering buying LL this time cause of the advance purchase feature. I’m assuming we’re going to be at guest services a lot looking like tourists
You used FastPass+, right?
If so, you should be in pretty good shape. This is *very* similar to that (except $$$). All of the little quirks are mostly edge cases.
Can I pre purchase 2 INDIVIDUAL lightning lanes for 2 different parks if I have the park hopper?I will be going to Animal Kingdom in the morning and Epcot at night. Can I pre purchase an Individual lightning lane for Avatar and Cosmic Rewind AND still pre-select other lightning lanes at Animal Kingdom before being in the park?
yes, you can. next Friday I have individual passes for both flight of passage and guardians in the same day. it wasn’t a problem at all.
I did have a question I haven’t seen answered yet… How does modifying the length or dates of a stay impact existing LL Multipass reservations? It’s my understanding that bookings can be made for the entire stay, up to 14 days, starting 7 days from the first day. So let’s say I had an 8 day stay planned and made my initial LL Multipass reservations for each of the 8 days only to, shortly after, find out that I needed to shorten my stay by eliminating the first day or two… What would happen to my existing Multipass reservations for the remaining days? After all, I would not have been eligible to make those reservations when I did if my adjusted plans were my original plans. To take this to the extreme, what would happen if someone booked a 14 day stay, booked their LL Multipass tickets for the full 14 days, and then modified to cancel the first 7 days of their stay? (Setting aside the issue of potential cancelation fees.) The extreme example could be considered an unfair hack, but I imagine modifications that affect the length of a stay, or shift dates by a day or two, happen quite frequently for all sorts of reasons. Maybe there is an established policy from FastPass+ that might apply. If so, I’m not familiar with it.