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!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
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!
This post answers one of the questions I had about split stays. Split stays are such a good way to add some flexibility and variety to a WDW vacation, and a good tool too, that it’s less than ideal if pre-arrival booking of LL Multipass is in conflict with split stays. So I’m glad to hear the LL Multipass booking window should carry over between a contiguous split stay, if that’s the case. It’s not totally clear to me from the article if that’s official policy or just something that they are likely to accommodate.
This brings up a bit of a sore spot for me based on previous experiences with split stays. In the past I’ve booked a split stay with Monday through Wednesday at a deluxe resort to take advantage of Extended Evenings. My understanding was, and still is, that I could participate in Extended Evenings on the day I checked out of the deluxe resort, Wednesday at Magic Kingdom. What happened was that every time we tried to get on a ride, they’d scan our MagicBands and see that we were checked in at a Moderate hotel (the 2nd 1/2 of our split stay) and so not eligible. I’d then explain the situation to the cast member at the ride entrance and they let us on every time. But it happened at literally every ride, and that was not a pleasant experience. This seems LL Multipass window issue seems similar, although granted it can be resolved ahead of time, not as a visitor is trying to enjoy their time in the parks. If this should work as a matter of policy, there’s no reason why Disney should be treating it as an exception.
One thing that seems clear is that the sum total of planning a Disney trip is getting more complicated, with overlapping at least partially incompatible strategies. As one example, there are best and worst days of the week to attend each park, but now parks should be arranged so that parks with more competitive LL Multipass bookings are placed at the end of a stay to maximize the chance of availability and earlier prearrival return times. That advice won’t always line up together. So now guests have to decide if they want to prioritize LL Multipass line skipping or shorter standby lines and less crowded parks the rest of their day in the park. There is also the fact that Disney is now giving the advantage, with the LL Multipass booking window, to guests booking longer stays. That’s a bit of a shame I think.
Can anyone answer how additional reservations work with the tiers now? I assume as long as I hold a Tier 1 ride reservation, I wouldn’t be able to select from the list again until my first Tier 1 is used.
For example, if I book Tiana for 12pm, then book Haunted Mansion and Pirates for 9:00am and 10:00am, once I’ve used my HM reservation, I wouldn’t be able to book, say, Peter Pan or Space Mountain, because those are Tier 1 rides and HM is Tier 2. I’d have to wait until after I used my Tiana reservation at 12pm to try to get a reservation for a ride like Peter Pan or Space Mountain. Is that the case?
Just trying to wrap my head around the system as I start vacation planning!
I thought it might be helpful to hear some of our experience yesterday at MK in case on the ground stuff helps answer questions.
We booked for 7/25 on 7/24 (we were at Epcot that day and didn’t use lightning lane and there was absolutely no need to do so). We missed a Tiana LL but managed the VQ and got lucky enough to get on, despite it being down most of the day.
Booked our LLs and day before there was decent availability. We had Barnstormer at 910 just to get something early and start the rolling, as our other reservations were 1140 and 8 pm. Use was pretty easy and much more like the old FP system in a lot of ways. The system was very quick to update when I could book something new. As I noted elsewhere, I mistakenly bought an ILL for Tron for my too short kiddo, but the refund process was easy.
I did notice that availability wasn’t amazing mid afternoon. Jungle Cruise LLs were gone fairly early and I never caught a refresh. Big Thunder we got for mid morning and never saw times pop up otherwise so I think that’s another one you’ll want to focus on. Pirates was available most of the day. Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain ran out too and I only think I managed HM because of luck (being on when someone dropped it). The only one other than Tiana that we didn’t manage was Jungle Cruise, and we just made that our last attraction of the day at park close. I found that the system did let me overlap passes significantly over the course of the day. So maybe it doesn’t do that when you initially set it up but in the park I had some big overlaps (like, half an hour or more).
Overall I wasn’t super excited by the amount of money I paid for it but it was our only day in MK and it felt more crowded than I’d been anticipating based on crowd calendars (we’ve been on Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day before and it definitely wasn’t that but also felt higher than a 3/10 day). So I didn’t really regret the purchase despite my husband and I reminiscing about the free FP ticket system. Availability wasn’t amazing but wasn’t terrible mid afternoon and we made it work for us.
Also, fwiw, I didn’t feel like I was on a screen very much. Scan in, find a new reservation, book it, phone in pocket. Took 1-2 minutes each time. I don’t play the refresh game though, so I could see how you could be on a lot if that’s what you’re going to do. We just pick from what’s there and on we go.
Thank you for all your work Tom! Has it been tested yet about leaving one of the selections empty. So booking a tier A and one tier B, and then tapping into your first attraction and seeing if you can book another after? I know once you get to the park and tap in to an attraction, the tiers “disappear” so I’m just wondering if there’s any advantage to leaving any slots empty to book another tier A. Also, somebody may have asked already, but if you book 2 tier B, once you tap into your first ride, can you modify one of those to a tier A? Going in early August so trying to nail down any advantage I can! Thank you again!
This system is so disappointing in terms of leaving ANY spontaneity to your trip. This effectively locks you back into park reservations. Especially for first timers who don’t know what they’ll enjoy most, there’s no room to play around with park days unless you give up using this system. Many will get towards the end of their trip and think “oh, we’d really like to revisit Epcot in the AM, but we can’t because now almost 2 weeks ago that’s when I booked all of the “good” rides for MK so we have to go there.” And, imagine explaining this system to first timers, or families with small kids. There’s no room to “wait and see” what rides we like, what kids are willing to try to ride, etc because, again, we had to book this a week ago and now we can’t change much unless we give up our advantage in having that booking window in the first place. I know I’m in the minority, but Genie+ was far superior in allowing vacations to flow day by day and even as the day progresses. This is a huge disappointment.
Have either of the following scenarios been tested?
1. If you modify a ride to another ride, is the original ride “used” and no longer bookable for the day? You book Barnstormer for 10:00-11:00, and once in park, modify it to Space Mountain. Later in the day, your kids want to ride Barnstormer. Can you book it?
2. Officially, all 3 of your first selections must be used in your 1st park. In reality, once you use the 1st return time, can rides 2 and 3 be modified to your second park?
To your first point: yes. We booked Haunted Mansion yesterday, dropped it for an earlier Pirates reservation, and then picked up a Haunted Mansion one later in the day. I don’t know about if you miss a reservation (if you’re too late) but at least changing the attraction on a reservation doesn’t lock you out later on for the original thing you’d booked.
We didn’t have Park Hopper so can’t speak to that!
Edit to my question: so the latest in the above scenario that you would be able to slot in an additional ride would be 10:35 or 10:40?
Regarding the restriction on overlapping times, does that apply to refills or just pre-booked (first 3) LL selections? E.g., Say I book The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh for 10:00 am and Peter Pan for 11:00 am, once I get in line for Winnie the Pooh, theoretically will I be able to book Dumbo for before my Peter Pan reservation? Will I only be able to book Dumbo, assuming I can get a slot for 10:20/10:25 or earlier, based on what you wrote above (20-25 minute max overlap)? Does this essentially mean that it would be very difficult to be able to get more than one LL refill, if any at all, in between 2 booked rides, booked an hour apart? This scenario assumes a high crowd day. Of course, the best thing to do is likely to refill with Buzz Lightyear and not waste a LL on Dumbo, but this is just for illustrative purposes.
Can you get a Lightning Lane for the same ride multiple times in one day now? Meaning can you book 3 LLs, one of which is say Jungle Cruise, and then after using all 3, can you get a 4th Lightning Lane for Jungle Cruise again later that day (if available)?
In the Canadian fan groups I’m in on Facebook it seemed like people in Ontario could book in advance, and people in Quebec could not. Idk about the rest of the country.
Ughh…I have been saying the whole time that Genie plus was a much better value than paid Fastpass+!! (Which this is essentially a version of) Now the spotentaity is out especially with those single LLs
Four of us are going in August. One child does not make the height requirements for a couple of the attractions. An adult will have to remain out with the child. How do I eliminate two persons while the other two go on the attraction that we can’t go on? And can I book a different attraction to go on why the two tall people go on the other attraction?
I’m not sure about booking only some members of the group for some LLs but it was possible in previous versions of the app. But i wanted to make sure you knew about rideshare! It allows the member of your group waiting with the non-riding person to ride without having to wait in the line again which could be very useful for your group. talk to the cast members at the rides with height restrictions to do this!
i meant rider swap lol!
AP holder with hotel reservations later in Aug. Since AP holder has to make park reservations- can I make LLMP selections from another park (I.e. not the one I have park reservation for). For example, even though I have DAK reservation can I book LLMPs for MK.
This sounds a total and complete nightmare. Really. Go back, Tom, and try to read your post like someone who just wants to visit Disney and enjoy the attractions. Do you get how pricey, convoluted and cringe this entire process is? A WDW pass is basically a ridiculously pricey cover charge to theme parks that don’t offer enough attractions or entertainment. What’s the FL resident deal now? $59 a day? That is what these parks are worth. Tops.
With Universal just up the road as well as Sea World, Busch Gardens and Legoland close by (just as an aside, but is there some specific reason you ignore the existence of these parks? Same in SoCal with the addition of Knott’s. Seriously. Been wondering this for a decade plus now.) Because, to me, these other parks are just much better values and a whole lot less stressful to visit. You said it yourself high up in the post … on your screen all the time. Isn’t that the opposite of what a theme park visit should be?
Hi! I’m from Brazil and was testing some options today and… it is possible to international guests to buy Lightning Lanes! At least from Brazil, it is. Just change your default country to United States inside the MDX app. After that, you gotta turn off the app “location”, and that’s it! : )
I just hope Disney doesn’t change that!
How do you change the app location ?
No worries – I found how ! Seems to work indeed, thank you !
This works from the UK as well.
It’s so easy to do that I suspect Disney have deliberately left it in as a workaround for the power users/superfans who would otherwise be rightfully peeved about getting locked out of good ride reservations even when staying on site.
Question: Even after Disney quits throttling some of the availability as they roll like the new system, it seems like on the whole, MultiPass purchasers will not be able to ride nearly as many rides as they could as genie+ power users.
Do you think standby lines will become more bearable? I’m not expecting a miracle but they had gotten downright nightmarish at times in the past year or so with not moving, so there is a part of me that hopes this new (ahem, return to old) system will help with that.
(We were only at Disney once under old FastPass system so no real frame of reference for how standby lines performed under it.)
I agree power users are going to get a lot less lightning lane reservations in the new system, for two big reasons. The first is 3 in advance levels the field quite a bit, but I think the overlap rules are a bigger deal than most people realize.
I was consistently getting near-term return times with Genie+ on top tier rides by playing the refresh game. That will be drastically more difficult if you have to catch something that doesn’t overlap with your other existing reservations.
I doubt the extra capacity goes to standby riders though- I think it goes to lower-knowledge purchasers of Genie+. The type of people you’d see buying it at 10:30AM outside a ride with a long line will buy it for days 2-4 of their trip at the same time, and end up getting way more reservations than previously. That’s great for them (and probably for Disney as there’s a lot of first-timers in that group) at the expense of power users.
I’m curious to see if reducing the number of LL “slots” by eliminating meet-and-greets is going to cause guests to take up other slots using their MP them elsewhere. Over the next few months, I think the only way that standby lines become more bearable is if WDW continues to reduce the number of slots (throttling) or users (lower limits).
Anecdotally, it seems like cast members are using the same guidelines to slow down or practically stop the standby lines for the FP/LL as they were twenty-five years ago. If so, the problem is that there’s thousands more guests in the parks, which makes it a lot more likely that a standby line will come to a halt at any given time.
Just to update on this, I can confirm that the Disney app is using GPS location to validate purchases of LLMP/LLSP, although per the previous post there were no issues getting to the payment screen from a UK IP address.
So the workaround will likely need to involve gps spoofing but not a vpn.
I can report from extensive discussion in a UK WDW forum that it is very easy to book multi pass from the UK regardless of geo locking. The app is delightfully stupid so if you close the app, turn off gps services (some people also find they have to put your phone into airplane mode), and then relaunch the app and change your profile setting (in the app) to say that you live in the US, the app will happily assume you must be there now. No vpn or geo spoofing needed.
Good morning!
Just wondering if anyone was able to confirm if we can use empty slots to book tier 1 rides at 7am on the morning of our visit. After reading in the comments that you can not re-book expired rides until you check into the park I am a bit worried this will not be the case.
Thanks!
Seems like most of the negatives of FP+ are back:
Some rides already unavailable before booking window even starts. Limited same day availability. Tier system making it harder to get multiple high tier attractions. No “stacking” more than the 3 reservations.
Ironically, it’s many of these negatives that led to Genie+ replacing FP+.
But the FP+ lovers should be relatively happy.
Can you buy individual lightning lanes in advance without buying multipass? We are staying at deluxe resort or is that only available at 7am?
Per all of the images I have seen of users purchasing LLMP the option to purchase the LLSP is also available 7 days out for resort guests.
Lori- thank you. I hope u r right 🙂