Top 10 Tips & Tricks for Lightning Lanes at Disney World
Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World can be confusing. There are three separate systems for line-skipping at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Genie+ is gone, as is free FastPass. This guide offers a crash course with our best tips & tricks that will save you the most time (and money) when using Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.
Let’s start by straightening things out. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) is the primary line-skipping option at Walt Disney World. Additionally, there’s Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP), which is the a la carte option that used to be called Individual Lightning Lanes. Finally, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP), which is the top tier of line-skipping meant for the top 1-2% of guests and priced accordingly. Got all of that? Good. If not, see our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is essentially the core product. It’s pretty much paid FastPass+, but minus the marquee attraction in each park (or 2 in Magic Kingdom), which has line-skipping access sold a la carte via LLSP. We’ll only be focusing on LLMP here because it’s the only one that’s really “hackable.” The others are more straightforward, so while we could offer limited tips & tricks, they’re basically a matter of buy them or don’t.
This is a crash course intended to make you a Lightning Lane pro, so we’re going to gloss over most basics. It might take reading this a couple of times for everything to “click,” but it should after this if you already have a foundational understanding of how line-skipping works at Walt Disney World.
To that point, the first tip is to gain some “free” firsthand experience by playing around with the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass feature in My Disney Experience once the window opens on your tickets. You can go through the motions of booking your first 3 selections before buying, which provides valuable hands-on expertise for understanding the basics. If you’re a visual learner, spending ~30 minutes in the app is the easiest way to get a feel for LLMP.
With that out of the way, let’s dig right in with essential advice and tips & tricks for getting the most out of Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World…
These Are the Best Parks for LLMP
Under the prior system, the best park for purchasing Lightning Lanes was Magic Kingdom. Our advice was to almost always buy there, and usually at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We recommended skipping it sometimes at EPCOT and most of the time at Animal Kingdom.
This more or less remains true, with the biggest change that we’ve seen Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom flip-flop in our field testing. We’ve had the best success and saved the most time with Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, making that our new #1 for LLMP.
Magic Kingdom is now #2. There are a few reasons for this. First, tiering at Magic Kingdom presents significantly more friction, as compared to what used to be the “easiest” park. Second, the unreliability of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (TBA) makes that unpredictable (more on strategy for this specific ride below). Even if you score a LLMP for TBA, you may not be using it. Finally, rolling refurbishments of tier 1 attractions–now with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closed through 2026–makes the top tier sparse, and the second tier more competitive as a result.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios hasn’t really gotten better or worse. It’s the park with the highest average wait times, the #1 overall Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, and competition for headliners. However, it also has easier availability for (objectively better) tier two attractions and ride reservation refills if you leverage the rolling 3 rule and put a little elbow grease into your refresh game. For these reasons, we find ourselves having the best experience with Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and saving the most time.
Park Hopping Saves Money
There is no additional charge for Park Hopping, and you do not need to pay for the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass a second time. This means you could pay the lowest price for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass by starting at Animal Kingdom, and then Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom (the most expensive park). That’s a strategy unto itself for saving money!
It’s not one that I’d necessarily recommend, as you’re at the mercy of same-day availability and the luck of ride reservation refills, but it’s not necessarily a bad approach. That’s doubly true if you combine all of the tips here and get good at hacking LLMP.
Regardless, Park Hopping can be the difference-maker for whether Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is “worth it” at Animal Kingdom or EPCOT. If you start out at DAK early in the morning, use LLMP strategically for only a couple of key attractions before starting to make subsequent selections in one of the other three parks, that can be a game-changer. Although we’re not big fans of buying LLMP at Animal Kingdom or EPCOT, we do like buying it at Animal Kingdom and EPCOT (meaning a single day for both).
Prioritize Early Return Times
Once you redeem your first Lightning Lane, you can book another. Consider this the “rolling 3 rule,” which is to say that you can always have 3 Lightning Lane selections (subject to availability). With the rolling 3 rule of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, you can make your next ride reservation as soon as you’ve used one.
Moreover, once you’ve tapped into your first Lightning Lane, tiers no longer apply for subsequent selections. It thus behooves you to reserve at least one Lightning Lane earlier in the day to tap into that and unlock subsequent selections sooner–and eliminate the tiers for future and current selections.
In practice, this might mean booking an unpopular Lightning Lane first thing in the morning with a short ride duration (so you’re not committing much time to it) if you can’t score an early initial return time for a tier 1 attraction. We call these “burner” Lightning Lanes–rides like the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Alien Swirling Saucers–or other spinners and flat rides. As soon as you tap into one of these, you can make another Lightning Lane selection and modify your other tier 2 pick to upgrade to tier 1. Again, all subject to availability.
This is why you don’t want to simply prioritize the best rides–you need to optimize for high priority but also earlier return times. This isn’t to say every selection needs to be in the morning–that’s also a poor approach because it’ll save you the least time. But you don’t want all 3 of your pre-booked Lightning Lanes to be in the afternoon. Balance is the name of the game!
Prioritize Popular Rides
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. Here are comprehensive lists of every major attraction in each park:
- 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
With that said, it is arguably overkill to worry about every Lightning Lane attraction in light of the above ‘rule’ about optimizing for return times.
The top tier attractions you should absolutely book in advance if they’re options are Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Peter Pan’s Flight, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Slinky Dog Dash, Na’vi River Journey and Kilimanjaro Safaris (no tiers at Animal Kingdom, but advice still stands).
It doesn’t matter if you can only get a 6 pm return time for Slinky Dog Dash–you should absolutely take that because scoring a refill is unlikely. Just make sure you have at least one other Lightning Lane selection before 10 am (ideally) to unlock subsequent selections via the rolling 3 rule.
Stay On-Site
Guests staying at an on-site Walt Disney World Resort hotel and other select hotels are able to purchase Lightning Lane passes up to 7 days in advance, for their entire stay (up to 14 days). Off-site guests can only make ride reservations up to 3 days in advance.
The end result of this can be a significant on-site advantage, as a lot of the “best” Lightning Lanes will be gobbled up before off-site guests can even book. At the very least, optimal return times will be gone prior to off-site guests having a chance to book. For this reason, you really should consider staying on-site.
This shouldn’t be the only reason, of course, but if you’re debating between off-site and on-site, you should absolutely ascribe value to this and other perks, including but not limited to Early Entry, WDW transportation, ADR windows, etc. From a cost calculus, we now find it difficult to beat the Value Resorts. Even though their base price is often higher than the cheapest off-site accommodations, the value of the perks and not having to pay for transportation or parking more than closes the gap. See Off-Site vs. On-Site Hotels at Walt Disney World for an objective rundown of pros & cons.
Book Backwards
When pre-booking your Lightning Lanes selections, you do so one day at a time starting at 7 a.m. on the date that your window opens. You aren’t alone. You’ll be competing against thousands of other rabid (not literally…hopefully) planners doing the exact same thing.
I’ve been told that I’m “too intense,” but I think it’s always helpful to view touring Walt Disney World as a competitive game you’re playing against your fellow guests. Like Squid Games, minus the violence. (Although it doesn’t hurt to sharpen your elbows, as our old pal easyWDW used to say, before doing the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train shuffle!) Or perhaps a problem to be solved, if you’re not the competitive type.
In any case, it makes the most sense to book your most difficult day first and backload the difficult days at the end of your trip with Disney’s Hollywood Studios furthest out, then Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom. This matters less if you have a longer trip and more for a shorter one. It also matters less if you’re visiting during low to moderate crowds, and more during peak weeks.
For example, if visiting the parks Thanksgiving week, book in the following order:
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Slinky Dog Dash): November 27
- Magic Kingdom (Tiana’s Bayou Adventure): November 26
- EPCOT (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure): November 25
- Animal Kingdom (Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris & Expedition Everest): November 24
Hopefully Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is more reliable by then, in which case Magic Kingdom would drop below EPCOT. Note that this isn’t a hard and fast rule, especially during Party Season. You should optimize this with the Best & Worst Days of the Week in Each Park at Walt Disney World. Choosing the wrong day to visit each park is way worse than not backloading your picks when your LLMP window opens.
Fish for MEP
Multiple Experience Passes (MEP) are what you receive an attraction for which you have an upcoming ride reservation is experiencing downtime. You’ll receive a notification about a modification to your plans, along with an explanation that the attraction is temporarily unavailable or something like that.
MEPs can be used at the Lightning Lane entrance of your choice throughout the day, with a number of caveats. These floating ride reservations don’t have the restriction of only being valid for each attraction once per day–you can use MEPs to experience your favorite rides again and again.
You can ‘fish’ for Multi-Experience Passes by booking Lightning Lane Multi-Pass in advance for attractions that are statistically prone to delayed openings. Easier and better yet, you can often make day-of selections for attractions that are currently experiencing downtime. If they’re still unavailable when your return window rolls around, the LLMP automatically converts to a MEP. It’s basically a bonus Lightning Lane! This is advanced-level strategy, so for a more thorough explanation, see: How to Beat Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Rules & Re-Ride Attractions.
Know When to Skip
One of the things we stress on this site is that you should NOT always buy Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World. To the contrary, most people should skip the line-skipping service at least some of the time, at some of the parks. In Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World, we cover the ideal approaches to each park, and Lightning Lanes do not win in at least 2 of the 4 parks.
The pitfall some people make is assuming Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is a ‘golden ticket’ or easy way to beat the crowds. But it really isn’t! That can lull planners into a false sense of security, to the point that they actually are worse off because they over relied on LLMP, mistakenly thinking it would offer a stress and strategy-free day.
If you want that, you’re going to have to pay $129 to $449 per person, per day for Lightning Lane Premier Pass. What Lightning Lane Multi-Pass offers stress free is only 3-4 rides per day. Leveraging LLMP requires a bit of homework and legwork, hence the post. And if you’re willing to do that, maybe you’re better off putting the effort towards Early Entry, rope drop, efficient itineraries that minimize walking, staying late, Extended Evening Hours, etc.
Do not simply succumb to FOMO and buy Lightning Lane Multi-Pass every day of your trip. If you’re purchasing because you’re worried it’s the only way to guarantee a good day in the parks, you’re doing it wrong. It’s entirely possible you’ll end up wanting it every day, which is fine! Everyone is different! Just don’t view LLMP as the default, and buy out of fear of the unknown.
For our part, we seldom purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass for fun. Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom are the only exceptions (we never buy at EPCOT or Animal Kingdom), and only on occasion. It helps that crowds are trending down, and also that standby lines are moving faster and wait times are down at Walt Disney World as a result. That’s just us, though, and our circumstances are unique in that we’re frequent visitors.
It’s important you assess your own unique circumstances to determine when and where Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is right for you. Factors to consider are your budget, how many days you have in the parks, whether you’re staying on-site, if you’re an early riser or night owl, whether you’ve been before or it’s your first visit, tolerance for lines, and if there are must-do attractions for you. For a deeper dive and more comprehensive advice, see When You Should Skip Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World.
Look for TBA Refills
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still suffering reliability woes and downtime as a result. Some days, it’s down for several hours; other days, none at all. It’s unpredictable. It’s also the newest attraction at Walt Disney World, and anything new is in higher demand. As a result of these two factors, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is one of the most difficult Lightning Lane Multi Passes, right up there with Slinky Dog Dash.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is regularly running out of Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations before the 7-day mark. (This varies based on weather–it’s much easier when daily high temperatures are 60 degrees!) There have been times when I’ve had trouble booking it over 10 days out, with limited return times that didn’t work for my schedule.
With that said, same-day ride reservation refills for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure can be a different story. Due to its unpredictability and problems, Disney is clearly setting aside most Lightning Lanes for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and releasing them day-of based on uptime and downtime.
Meaning that on days when the attraction is operating efficiently and doesn’t have downtime, there are Lightning Lane drops for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that are occurring with almost-immediate return times. Some of those instances when there was nothing at the 7-day mark, I’ve been able to score same-day availability for return times ~30 minutes into the future.
The problem is that this is dependent upon Tiana’s Bayou Adventure not breaking down. If it’s having a rough day, there might not be any ride reservation refills for TBA. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of luck involved, but if you’re visiting on the right day, you should really keep a close eye out for near-instant return times for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. It’s the most hit or miss high profile attraction for Lightning Lanes.
Have a Strong Refresh Game
As you’ve probably gathered from all of the above, more attraction availability is added to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass throughout the day. This is no surprise whatsoever, as both FastPass+ and Genie+ had ride reservation refills, drops, pop-up availability or whatever you want to call it. This occurs both pursuant to a fairly consistent schedule, and also at random. (See Ride Reservation Refill Rules at Walt Disney World.)
Playing the refresh game is far and away the #1 tip & trick for Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World. If you’re simply settling for whatever you see immediately, you’re doing it wrong. That’s a recipe for disappointment and only getting 3-4 “good” Lightning Lanes per day.
Beyond this being the #1 tip, playing the refresh game also combines several of the above strategies. It’s why you want to balance the best Lightning Lanes with earlier return times, as that means more time to play the refresh game, thereby improving your odds of success.
Combining this with the rolling 3 rule, what you should do is immediately choose the best available option after you’ve tapped into Lightning Lane to unlock your next selection. Always book something–do not refresh and wait for the “perfect” Lightning Lane. Booking another ride reservation is essentially a hedge. The bird in hand, and so forth.
From there, play the refresh game by modifying to something better. Trade up, so to speak. It’s a good way to hedge your bets. 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.
My tried and true Lightning Lane refresh strategy is tapping in, booking the best available option, and modifying. There are a few approaches for refreshing from here, but I favor toggling the “close” dropdown on the modify screen to refresh times. Compare the left and right, the latter of which shows pop-up availability for 4:25 pm that wasn’t there 2 minutes earlier. In my experience, toggling this “close” dropdown is the most efficient way to play the refresh game. YMMV.
Again, this can become addictive and you can waste a lot of time playing the refresh game–hence so many Walt Disney World fans complaining about Lightning Lanes “requiring” you to have your face glued to the phone. My rough “rule” for playing the refresh game is limiting it to my time in the Lightning Lane return line after tapping in. This means I have anywhere from 2 minutes to 10 minutes–it all depends on whether there are two tap points, where merge occurs, etc. Same goes for any time I’m waiting–to pick up a Mobile Order, for coffee, the rest of my party to get out of the restroom, etc.
Frankly, you’ll be surprised at just how much trading up is possible with just a few minutes here and there spent refreshing. Even if you don’t get the best selections when pre-booking, you can usually overcome that by playing the Lightning Lane refresh game for a few minutes here and there. With that and the rest of these tips, you really should be able to get the most mileage out of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World!
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
What are your best tips & tricks for leveraging LLMP at WDW? Do you balance return times with ride priorities when making Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections? Any rules of thumb when playing the Lightning Lane refresh game? Do you agree with our assessment that getting earlier return times matters a lot for the ‘rolling 3’ rule? Where/when do you buy LLMP or skip it? 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!
Do you have to check into your “burner” reservation? If I made a 9AM reservation for the Film Festival, could I just wait until when the period ends at 10AM to make another Lightning Lane selection and modify my other Tier 2 pick to Tier 1 (subject to availability, particularly the week before Easter)?
On the one hand, even if this works you still can’t change your LL until an hour later. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be spending good rope drop time at the Film Festival.
I’m wondering about the same things in your first paragraph. Can I just let a “burner” LL from 9-10am expire and then add another and modify my 2nd level to a 1st level?
How does the refresh game work if you’re booking for a whole group and want to ride together? Between my sister and I who will be the team leads, we have 9 ppl between us.
So if a better time pops up, is it even possible for all of us to capture that, or would it only be available for 1 person?
I want to purchase LLMP for all of my party of 4, and buy LLSP for only 2 of the party. How can I do this in one transaction? If I select all 4 for LLMP, won’t it also buy the LLSP for all 4? Is there a time before check out to remove 2 guests from the LLSP?
Thanks for the tips! I’m wondering if it’s possible (and advisable) to do all LLMP at MK if we’re doing an AK/MK day. Do we have to use the LLMP at our first park or just book the first 3 at one park, even if it’s our 2nd one? Thanks for any advice.
I an trying desperately to avoid the FOMO you speak about. We are going end of August, first week of September, slow season I know. There were still park reservations our last trip so you were pretty locked in on where you were going to start your day. We only got to ride Guardians twice, once with VQ and immediately after by purchasing an ILL. This trip, with no park reservations needed, I would like to ty to get Guardians VQ every morning if we can. I am hesitant to buy LL Multi Pass for each day of our trip and then have to spend my days modifying my selections if we get a Guardians VQ. In my mind I know it’s slow season and I don’t want to waste the money but again, if i dont buy the LL, once you’re there and lines are long it’s too late to wish you could have made your selections seven days ago
I’m headed to Disneyland in June 2025
During week of Vidcon, June 17 & 18
Is there a ticket strategy?
Appreciate the nod to Josh – bless him.
I cannot believe I am saying this but bring back Genie+! You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. I appreciate the branding was toxic but we’d found a new way of touring the parks with it (which we loved) which we can no longer do. We’d stack LL for the late afternoon and evening. Often rope drop our preferred rides then either enjoy the anytime attractions (another Josh reference I use), the park atmosphere or back to the resort for overpriced tea and buns. We’d often have 5 LLs stacked from 4-7. Eat and then on the refresh game. Low/no queue at park close = good day. Can’t do that now. Pooey!
You mentioned it’s a good use to use LLMP at AK and Epcot the same day but which park would you go to first ? AK has early entry but I would miss out of the LL on remy or frozen for Epcot if I don’t purchase that for the morning at Epcot. I will be staying at a skyliner resort. Thanks!
Tom, I’m headed to Disney World on February 1 and I’m completely lost without you revising your lightning pass strategy for Magic Kingdom with Tron standby line with a ride opening at rope drop. I read everything you send out, and I think that you will say that we should head for the seven dwarfs mine train at Early entry, Peter Pan if there’s time after that, and then jungle Cruise for a rope drop – working in lightning passes around that. I think you’ll say to avoid waiting in line for Tron at Early entry while it’s not open until drop. Would your advice change when it was open for early entry? Until then, should we Tron for dark when it’s the most beautiful and maybe for the very last ride of the night getting in line before the park closes. Please, help us!
All of your assumptions are correct!
I think the advice would probably or at least possibly change once TRON opens for Early Entry, but that’s something we’ll have to test. Regardless, TRON is better at night, so the current approach will remain the best approach, subjectively speaking.
Saw your post and couldn’t agree more…Tom is awesome and it sounds like you’re going to have an amazing time at Disney World! I just got back…much needed break from the frigid weather and wanted to pass on advice I got before I left…and believe me, I’m all about strategically thinking about your time at Magic Kingdom. Let’s break it down and make sure your plan is optimized for both fun and efficiency, especially with Tron now in the mix. Rope Drop Strategy—you’re on the right track with your plan! For Early Entry (30 minutes before the park opens to resort guests), I recommend Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This is still one of the highest-demand attractions in the park, and it often builds up a long line quickly. Getting there early is key to minimizing your wait—then off to Peter Pan’s Flight. If you’ve got time after Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan is a good option—again, a classic that sees long waits later in the day, and it’s a lot easier to knock out early. Then you can head to the Jungle Cruise. If it’s available during Early Entry (which it may not be, since Jungle Cruise isn’t typically open during that time), this is a great one to hit next. If not, consider using your Lightning Lane for it later. Now for my secret Tron Strategy…let’s get into it, especially since it’s a bit of a game changer. Since you mentioned you’re wondering whether to go for it during Early Entry, Tron won’t be open at this time (since it’s not open until the official park opening), so it’s definitely better to wait and go for it closer to rope drop. Now, if you’re not using the Lightning Lane for Tron, my advice is to head for the standby line around park opening. The lines tend to get longer quickly, so if you’re trying to maximize your day, it’s a good idea to ride Tron first thing when the park opens. Even if you’re not an Early Entry guest, arriving right at park opening can minimize the wait time in the regular standby queue. However, with the new Lightning Lane options (especially for newer attractions like Tron), here’s how to work it in…book Lightning Lane for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train or Big Thunder Mountain—these can have some of the longest lines throughout the day. If you’re able to snag a Lightning Lane for one of these, you’ll save a ton of time. If you’re looking to ride Tron later in the day (like at night), I agree that the ride experience is beautiful in the dark, and the visuals at night are stunning. The lines for Tron often reduce as the day winds down, especially closer to closing time, so if you’re okay with staying in the park later, it’s a good opportunity for a more relaxed ride without as much of a wait. Overall, you’ll definitely want to use your Lightning Lane reservations to avoid long waits for popular rides like Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean. I’d suggest booking those as early as possible through the app. Also, since Magic Kingdom can get crowded in the afternoon, you might want to plan a mid-day break to relax or take in shows like the Festival of the Lion King or Hall of Presidents—they’re a nice way to recharge, and the crowds tend to thin out for a bit. And if Tron gets added to Early Entry in the future, it would be worth considering riding it as one of your first choices. Right now, though, it’s best to head straight for it at park opening or save it for the evening. Okay that was a lot, bottom line, stick with your original strategy of hitting Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Peter Pan early for rope drop. For Tron, go straight to it when the park officially opens or at night if you want the scenic dark ride experience. Use Lightning Lane for the biggest crowd pullers like Seven Dwarfs and Splash Mountain. Keep an eye on wait times and adjust your plan accordingly, but your strategy is solid! Hope you have a blast!
Interesting!
So if I use your park-hopping LLMP strategy (which was clever, BTW) to buy passes for AK, how EXACTLY does the reservation screen work at different points in time?
Does it somehow only initially show attractions at AK, but then will start showing attractions at the other parks after I tap into my first ride at AK?
That would seem to imply the LLMP reservation system knows if you are using a Park Hopper ticket that day (or not). I.e. what happens if you DON’T tap in to your first attraction at AK – say, maybe because you were really at DHS, and the return time window at AK expires… Could you then start reserving attractions at the other parks?
In other words, I am wondering if the LLMP system is currently smart enough to prevent simply buying AK LLMP passes and using it at another park after your first time window at AK expires – even if you don’t have Park Hopper that day. Hmmm.
Thanks!
It’s smart enough to not allow that–it’s already been tested. 😉
You have to pay the difference if you try to modify your first LLMP to a different park. You’ve gotta tap in to one attraction at DAK (or wherever you buy) first.
We’re considering a trip for a group of 8 this October around the week of Columbus Day (Thanksgiving for us up here in Canada). We would be staying offsite as my Aunt owns a vacation rental that fits all of us which we can secure at a family rate.
My question is… will LLMP be worth it for us that week if our window only opens 3 days in advance? I’m concerned it’s going to put us at a serious disadvantage and render the whole thing useless.
That’s a good question. We have a timeshare we stay at in Orlando and with these new changes that resort guests can book so much earlier, are there enough good fastpasses left if you only book 3 days in advance? these posts usually address resort guests and the 7 day booking window.
Are MEPs a new thing? In 2023 Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway closed when I had a Lightning Lane reservation, and I got a “wildcard” reservation as compensation, but I wasn’t allowed to use it at Rise of the Resistance because I had already redeemed a reservation for that ride that day. But it sounds like MEPs don’t have the same restriction.
Your “wildcard” was an MEP. Different terms for the same thing. I’ve also seen them called Experience Redemptions and Anytime passes. MEPs are not eligible for every ride in the park. There have always been limits. Back in the Fastpass+ days, I remember getting an MEP when Splash Mountain broke down that was not eligible for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Peter Pan. You were not eligible to use your wildcard from Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway for Rise of the Resistance because it was an ineligible ride, not because you had already ridden it. Rise of the Resistance is an LLSP, not an LLMP. Previously, it was an ILL, not Genie+. An MEP for an LLMP ride going down does not let you ride an LLSP ride. An LLMP for a Tier 2 LLMP ride will usually, if not always, not let you ride a Tier 1 LLMP ride. An LLMP for a less-popular Tier 1 may not let you ride the most popular Tier 1 ride. For example, an LLMP for Soarin’ may not let you ride Remy, even though they are both Tier 1. (I’m not sure about that particular example, but you get the idea.) MEPs for less popular rides are often ineligible for the most popular dies.
rides, not dies (typo)
First reaction on reading this post is that it’s really gotten pretty bad. I admit that at one time I felt a bit of pride in beating the crowds and finding the ways to make the most of my time and money at WDW, in large part owed to this blog and other resources. But it’s gotten to the point that simply playing the game, regardless of the outcome, feels like losing. Everything feels like a competition, and whatever that feeling is, it isn’t what I would call good. An example… I’ve always stayed on property. But now that combining LLMP with an off-property stay makes really makes the former much less valuable, but not any less expensive, just feels objectively wrong. Is it any different than extended evenings for people staying at Deluxe resorts? That’s arguable. What’s not arguable is that it’s more of something that was pretty nasty in the first place.
I was never bothered by the expense of a WDW trip. I found the cost compared not unfavorably to other things I might want to do. Even today, it’s not the price increases that bother me, it’s the manipulation and the pitting visitor against visitor that I find increasingly… unacceptable. And yes I realize people seem to be voting in favor of what Disney is doing with their time and money. But I think we all know that’s not how any of this works.
Related directly to this post, after wrestling with every version of line skipping Disney’s ever implemented, LLMP seems to work pretty well, if you can bend to it, and also it’s pretty terrible. There is the requirement to plan days before the trip starts, making a trip a whole lot less flexible (and more non-refundable). But that doesn’t eliminate the need to ‘play the refresh game’ and navigate an endlessly shifting landscape in the parks. After all, “If you’re simply settling for whatever you see immediately, you’re doing it wrong.”
The advice only gets more complicated, so much so that it seems to have gotten to the point that it’s starting to conflict, such as the idea of better days of the week to visit each of the parks and “booking backwards”. It often won’t be possible to do both.
Of course it’s easier if you take a 14 day trip, stay in a Deluxe hotel for extended evenings, get up early, zig when others zag, … fish for MEP, look for TBA refills, and all of the rest. All while paying more for the privilege, and paying more in an increasing number of ways. I’m well versed in American Capitalism, technology as it is applied today, and modern business practices. Still, suggesting what Disney is doing is only good business is giving them way, way too much credit.
I understood the costs and knew there’d be a decent amount of planning/strategy involved before we booked our WDW trip. What I didn’t realize was how openly hostile a lot of things would feel. Needing to be up at 11pm 60+ days in advance to book an experience, needing to be up at 5am 60+ days in advance to book a popular restaurant, needing to decide a week+ in advance if you want lightning lanes, on and on… If you need any semblance of flexibility – which we do, as we are taking young kids (4 & 6) for the first time and quite frankly have no idea how they’ll handle things – you either have to sit out the game and settle for not having access to everything or be prepared to possibly light your money on fire. I intend to try to use “hacks” Tom offers, but no idea if it’ll actually be realistic for us to use early entry, extra hours, etc. It just generally sucks to feel like jumping through hoops is necessary and like Disney set up systems very much designed to take advantage of people. Even the free waterpark admission on day of arrival “perk” feels irritating when you realize how wildly impractical it is for most families from out of state to actually use it. If the waterpark is only open until 5pm, we’d have to get to the airport at 4:30am to have enough time in the day to go. Sounds like a recipe for meltdowns.
I have a couple of questions. I will be purchasing for a party of 10 and was wondering 2 things. First if I am the one who does the initial purchase and sets up the first 3 passes, once we are in the park and redeem the first pass can only I make additional passes or can one of the other members in the party make them on their account if all of us are linked in our family and friends list?
Second when I purchase for the 10 people can I split up the rides I book, like book 8 for Space Mtn and 2 for Peter Pan or do I need to do all 10 for the same rides?
Anyone in your Family and Friends group can make changes. That’s true not only on the day you enter the park, but at any time after you complete the purchase. When you make the purchase, everyone you are purchasing for will need to have the same ride selections. You cannot have two people with one ride and the other eight people with a different one. But once the purchase is completed, any of you can make changes affecting all or some of the group. You can make the change of eight people from Peter Pan to Space Mountain within minutes after buying Peter Pan for all ten.
My question is that if I have park hopping tickets and I’m going to DHS in the morning and MK in the evening, which LLMp do I get or am I required to purchase it for each park?
Thanks!
Joanne
If you want to use it at both parks, buy for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There’s no fee for Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom–at least, not with LLMP.
In regards to “You can go through the motions of booking your first 3 selections before buying, which provides valuable hands-on expertise for understanding the basics.” I can’t get to the selections when I try this. It says that I and other members of my party are “Not eligible” Maybe you can only do this with a annual passholder ticket.
Have you purchased tickets? If so, are they normal tickets that don’t require reservations?
Unless there’s a recent change I’m unaware of, anyone with valid admission (and reservations, if necessary) should be able to walk through the process up until purchase. Hopefully this is still possible!
I’ve had the same experience as Trish. I am unable to view the lighting lane options because it’s too early. I have a 4-day ticket & had to choose a start date for my ticket. It allows for 4 days of admission during a specific 7 day period. I chose the earliest possible start date for my ticket, so my actual park days will be the last 4 days of the 7 day window. I will be able to start booking LLMP & LLSP 3 days before the start of my ticket window (staying offsite) but that will actually be 6 days before my trip starts. I’m hoping this strategy for choosing an early start date will help with lightning lane availability!
I am having the same problem as Trish. I never used this system before, so it would be great to play around with it to check availability, but I get the message that nobody in my party is eligible. I have tickets, but they are for a few months in the future. They are regular tickets, so I don’t need a park reservation, but they are date-based tickets, so I can’t play around with tomorrow or 7 days from now since my tickets aren’t valid yet.
Ah yeah, sorry. I overlooked that–I’ll update that section of the post.
Sometimes it can be difficult to keep all of the moving parts straight, even for me. (It also doesn’t help that I’m using an AP and never deal with regular park tickets myself.)
This makes me want to upgrade to an AP just to play check availability, or at least move my tickets forward and then move them back later… looks like there would be a small charge for that though, I guess because the different dates are different prices. Is there any way around this?
I can’t get through to the selections step either. We have the regular date-based tickets and they’re loaded into the app, but it won’t let me proceed any further since our admission is not valid on any of the dates I can currently pick for purchasing LLMP.
How does this work with a split stay? Can we book all of the park days 7 days out or do we have to split it up?
I have heard with a split stay, you should be able to book all of your lightning lanes on the first day of booking for the entirety of your trip. I have a split stay too, so I am looking forward to this working.
I went just last Aug and did a split stay. I was not able to book all my days out for LLMP, I could do the first half and then had to wait 3 days and could do the second half. Super annoying.
Solid advice!
I do have a bit of a question as to Fishing for the MEP. It’s a nice idea, but apart from Tiana and weather related downtime, I can’t think of another ride that commonly goes down. Maybe Remi? RotR would qualify but I’m pretty sure it’s not an option for this.
Just curious!
I put off getting LLMP for so long out of pure stubbornness of not wanting to pay for something that used to be free. I used it in September, and I have to admit it works great. One day we did AK in the morning, and after using our Navi LL, we were able to snag Ratatouille for Epcot that evening, and later we got Frozen.
We leave tomorrow for another trip, and I booked LLMP for several days 6 days ago. Maybe it’s the time of year we go, but both this time and in September it was incredibly easy to get exactly what I wanted when I wanted it. As an intense, competitive person myself, I have to admit that I’m loving this system.
Based on my firsthand testing, there was a bit of a turning point with LLMP around mid-August or so that made it much, much easier. I figured it was an off-season thing, and it’d be difficult again for the holidays, but that wasn’t my experience. I can’t speak to the peak weeks between Christmas and NYE, but even on the busier days I tested it in November and December, LLMP worked really well.
It’s a shame so many vloggers and bloggers only tested it on day/week one, as that’s no longer representative of how LLMP works. (With that said, neither is much of September thanks to super low crowds!)
So I have a multi-park question. I have a one-park ticket i’ll be using at DHS the same day I have an after hours ticket at MK. I’m planning on getting LLMP for DHS, but will I be able to use it for the mix-in time once I hop over to MK even though I don’t actually have park hopper tickets?
My best understanding is that it won’t unlock the other parks for me but i’m hoping the blue umbrellas will be able to work some magic to allow it that day. Or maybe it’ll unlock but only after I’m actually in MK? if you know anything about how this has worked for AH or other parties, I’d be very interested.
Excellent question! I think it’s possible they could help you with that but I wouldn’t get my hopes up
That’s a really good question, and you’ve stumped me.
In theory, the system should recognize your After Hours ticket and it should work automatically. But I wouldn’t count on that actually happening, and I have no firsthand experience with this particular use case. The blue umbrellas will definitely be able to assist, though, if it does require a manual override.
Please report back, because now I’m curious!
for posterity, no the app will not let you make selections for the other park and no, the blue umbrellas will not be able to help you make that happen. you’re locked into your first park
Addendum! Once I had scanned in with my party ticket, I was allowed to grab LLs inside Magic Kingdom, but as it was almost 7pm, there were not many options left. I was able to get Pirates and Buzz Lightyear. (I could have gotten others like little mermaid, barnstormer, etc. but wasn’t interested in riding them) I saw a couple other desirable LLs pop up that must have been cancellations, but wasn’t fast enough to grab them. According to someone I was waiting with at some point, this was enabled as of the most recent app update.