07/25/2024
Lightning Lane Passes
Effective July 24, 2024.
WHAT IS THE LIGHTNING LANE?
→ Most of the attractions at Walt Disney World have two separate lines leading into the attraction. The Lightning Lane is typically the faster way of the two ways to get into the attraction. However, access to the Lightning Lane generally costs extra. Paying to use the Lightning Lane is optional. Each attraction has another entry, either the standby line or a line used by those who are part of a boarding group. (See our guide on Virtual Queues for information about entering an attraction as a member of a boarding group.)
HOW CAN I GET ACCESS TO THE LIGHTNING LANE?
→ To access the Lightning Lane, you need to purchase the appropriate Lightning Lane Pass. There are two types of passes: a Single Pass and a Multi Pass.
‣ Generally, to use the Lightning Lane for the top one or two attractions in a park you need to purchase a Single Pass for that specific attraction.
‣ To use the Lightning Lane for the other attractions in the park, you need to purchase a Multi Pass, which provides access to a number of the other attractions in the park.
→ A Multi Pass will not give you access to the Lightning Lane for any Single Pass attractions: No attraction is both a Multi Pass attraction and a Single Pass attraction; Lighting Lane attractions are one or the other.
→ You can purchase Lightning Lane Passes from within your My Disney Experience app, logged into your My Disney Experience account.
HOW MUCH DO LIGHTNING LANE PASSES COST?
→ Lighting Lane Pass pricing will vary based on date and which specific Pass you’re purchasing. A good guess is that each pass will cost about $25 on average. Some will cost less. Some may cost more.
This is true even though we’re talking about Single Passes and Multi Passes. Even though Single Passes provide Lightning Lane access to just one entry to one attraction, they cost roughly the same as Multi Passes, which provide Lightning Lane access to at least a few attractions during the day, and perhaps many more than a few. This is a reflection of how much higher demand there is for those attractions that are Single Pass attractions.
WHEN CAN I PURCHASE LIGHTNING LANE PASSES?
→ When you can purchase Lightning Lane Passes will depend on several factors: Where you’re staying overnight; what kind of admission you have; and the Start Date and expiration date of your admission, as applicable.
‣ If you’re staying overnight at one of Disney’s own hotels, or one of the three Swan and Dolphin hotels, or at Shades of Green, then you can purchase Lightning Lane Passes 7 days prior to your check-in date, for any of the days of that one hotel reservation within the first 14 days of that hotel reservation. Guests of Official Walt Disney World hotels, guests of Good Neighbor hotels, guests of other non-Disney hotels and accommodations, and local guests are not eligible at 7 days prior.
‣ If you aren’t eligible at 7 days prior (as outlined above), but you have a dated ticket (a ticket with a specific Start Date and a limited period of validity before it expires, typically a little bit longer than the number of days of admission on the ticket), then you can purchase Lightning Lane Passes 3 days prior to the Start Date of the ticket, for as many days as the ticket has theme park admission, but only for days that the ticket is valid (so, before it expires).
‣ If you aren’t eligible for either of the cases outlined above, then you can purchase Lightning Lane Passes 3 days prior to the date you want to use them, i.e., 3 days prior to the date of the specific park visit. You’ll likely need to make sure you have park reservations for those dates before proceeding.
→ Lightning Lane Passes can be purchased starting at 7AM Eastern Time, on the first day you’re eligible. Your most important and valuable Lightning Lane Pass selections will be the ones you make at that time – at 7AM sharp, on the first day you are able to make selections, based on your eligibility for advance selections. The longer you delay after that, the more likely that your options will be fewer and lesser.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I PURCHASE A LIGHTNING LANE PASS?
→ When you purchase Lighting Lane Passes, you’ll first select the date; then you’ll select the theme park; then you’ll select which type of Lightning Lane Pass.
‣ If you select a Single Pass, you’ll choose the attraction (if there is a choice) and then an arrival window from those remaining available.
‣ If you select a Multi Pass, you’ll be able to select up to 3 attractions (and on a subsequent page, arrival windows for each) in advance (and you will want to, since other guests will be doing so as well, leaving fewer and fewer options to choose from as we get closer to the date of your visit).
→ Once you’ve finished with one Lightning Lane Pass, you can add more of the Lightning Lane Passes that you’re eligible to purchase. Then you can check out to finalize the purchase of the Lightning Lane Passes you’ve selected.
→ You can purchase only the Lightning Lane Passes you wish to purchase, for the specific days you want to purchase them. You do not have to purchase Lighting Lane Passes for every day of your visit.
WHAT ARE THE LIGHTING LANE SINGLE PASS ATTRACTIONS?
→ Currently, the attractions offering a Lighting Lane Single Pass are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom), TRON Lightcycle\Run (Magic Kingdom), Guardians of the Galaxy – Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT), Rise of the Resistance (Hollywood Studios), and Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom).
WHAT ARE THE LIGHTING LANE MULTI PASS ATTRACTIONS?
→ For Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, the Lighting Lane Multi Pass attractions are separated into tiers. The top tier has some of the more popular attractions in the respective park. At the time you purchase the Multi Pass, you’ll be able to select only one of those attractions. (This helps improve the chances that everyone purchasing the Multi Pass in advance will be able to use the Multi Pass on at least one of the top tier attractions.) Your other two selections can be from the lower tier attractions. (You can, if you prefer, make all three selections from the lower tier.)
The current Multi Pass attractions are:
𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
‣ Top tier: Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
‣ Lower tier: The Barnstormer, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Haunted Mansion, “it’s a small world”, Mad Tea Party, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomorrowland Speedway, Under the Sea - Journey of The Little Mermaid.
𝗘𝗣𝗖𝗢𝗧
‣ Top tier: Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Soarin’ Around the World
‣ Lower tier: Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival, Journey into Imagination with Figment, Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Spaceship Earth, Turtle Talk with Crush
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘆'𝘀 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝘀
‣ Top tier: Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Slinky Dog Dash
‣ Lower tier: Alien Swirling Saucers, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, Disney Junior Play & Dance!, For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Muppet*Vision 3D, Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™, Toy Story Mania!
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘆'𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸
For Animal Kingdom Park, all the attractions are in one tier.
‣ DINOSAUR, Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, Feathered Friends in Flight!, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!, It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey
→ Not all attractions currently offer Lightning Lane. Attractions in each type, and in each tier, and under refurbishment, are subject to change.
CAN I MODIFY MY SELECTIONS LATER?
→ Once you’ve made your selections you will be able to modify them, switching to a different date, a different attraction (in the same type/tier) and/or other arrival windows, subject to what’s left available at the time you try to make the change. While you can make changes, you cannot cancel.
DOES EVERYONE IN MY PARTY HAVE TO MAKE THE SAME LIGHTNING LANE MULTI PASS SELECTIONS?
→ When purchasing Lightning Lane Passes, you make your initial selections for each Lightning Lane Pass you select. In doing so, those selections will apply to all guests in your party. There is no way, at the time of purchase, to make different initial selections for different members of your party. However, you can modify your selections immediately after your purchase, and when modifying selections you can specify the members of your party to be affected by the modification.
HOW DO I REDEEM MY LIGHTING LANE PASS SELECTIONS?
→ Each Lightning Lane Pass selection has a specific, hour-long arrival window. During the arrival window for each Lightning Lane Pass selection, you can enter that attraction through its Lightning Lane.
WITH LIGHTNING LANE MULTI PASS, WHEN CAN I SELECT ANOTHER ATTRACTION?
→ For Multi Passes, once you enter an attraction through its Lightning Lane, you can select another Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction. At this point, you can select any other attraction from either tier (as applicable). You can even select attractions in other parks, if you have park hopping privileges, no additional charge.
‣ If at any time after 7am on the day of your visit you have fewer than three Lightning Lane Multi Pass future arrival windows pending, then you can select another Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction. The selections you make after 7am on the day of your visit can be in any park, any tier.
‣ Lightning Lanes sometimes have two scan points, one at the entry to the Lightning Lane and one closer to the loading area. When there are two scan points, you cannot make your next selection until after you’ve scanned in at the second scan point. (The Lightning Lanes with two scan points are not the same every day. There will likely be no way to know there is a second scan point until you get there, other than to try after the first scan point and get an error.)
‣ There is no 120 minute rule with Lightning Lane Passes (as there was for Genie+). For Multi Passes, once you enter an attraction through its Lightning Lane and pass the one or two scan points, you can select another attraction, subject to remaining availability.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS ON LIGHTNING LANE PASSES?
‣ In total, you can purchase at most two Single Passes and one Multi Pass (for the same guest[s]) for the same day. (With one Multi Pass, you can select multiple attractions.) You cannot use Lightning Lane Passes to access any attraction through its Lightning Lane twice on the same day.
‣ Lightning Lane Pass selection arrival windows are limited to regular park operating hours. They are not offered for early entry, extended evening hours, after hours events, or parties.
‣ If you leveraged a hotel guest privilege to make selections earlier than 3 days prior, your selections are subject to cancellation if you cancel your hotel reservation after making your selections. In that case, there will be no refunds; you’ll just have to make new selections from that which remains available.
‣ Lightning Lane Passes are nonrefundable and nontransferable.
WHAT ARE THE PHOTO BENEFITS OF LIGHTNING LANE MULTI PASSES?
→ In addition to access to the Lightning Lane, the Multi Pass, specifically, includes clear digital downloads of attraction photos and videos (but not any other PhotoPass photos or videos). It also provides access to PhotoPass Lenses, a fun tool that lets you augment your own photos with overlays or other creative magic.
Frequently Asked Questions
→ It is early, so none of these questions are necessarily “frequently” asked, at least not yet, but they are the questions that members asked first and perhaps several times, over the first days after the announcement.
AREN’T LIGHTING LANE PASSES JUST LIKE FASTPASS+?
→ Lighting Lane Passes are not exactly like FastPass+, but there are elements of Lightning Lane Passes that definitely resemble elements of FastPass+. That’s deliberate: Disney, in their announcement said, “Lightning Lane passes will blend features from our current services and the previously offered FastPass+ service.”
WILL VIRTUAL QUEUES/BOARDING GROUPS BE GOING AWAY?
→ Virtual Queues/Boarding Groups are not going away, and will be wholly unaffected by the introduction of Lightning Lane Passes, which affects only the Lightning Lane, and therefore only affects that which is currently related to Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane Selections. The “other” line going into attractions (whether it be a regular standby line or a line controlled by way of the virtual queue) is not affected by this change.
CAN WE STILL DO STACKING?
→ Stacking will be limited with Lighting Lane Multi Pass. Modification (a fundamental part of Stacking) is supported, but the way Multi Pass works, the greatest number of Multi Pass arrival windows that you can have at any one time is limited to three. So you can have a Stack of three, at most.
CAN WE USE LIGHTNING LANE PASSES FOR CHARACTER MEET & GREETS?
→ There are currently Lightning Lanes for some character greetings, but they’ve been left out of the lists for Lightning Lane Passes. For now, we need to assume that those will not be included, until we see differently.
IF WE DON’T LIKE THE SELECTIONS THAT ARE LEFT WHEN WE PURCHASE LIGHTNING LANE MULTI PASS, CAN WE GET A REFUND?
→ Lightning Lane Passes are nonrefundable. If you purchased the service but didn’t use it at any attractions, then it probably is worth asking for a special exception, but no guarantees.
WHICH GUESTS ARE BETTER OFF WITH LIGHTING LANE PASSES? WHICH GUESTS WERE BETTER OFF WITH GENIE+/ILL?
→ Which guests are better off with Lightning Lane Passes and which guests were better off with Genie+/ILL is subjective, and there’s no good way to come up with a consensus that can be constructively used to make future Walt Disney World vacations better.
Having said that, Lightning Lane Multi Passes provide a very substantial Disney hotel advantage while Genie+ provided none. Also, since Lightning Lane Passes provide some advantages to those who can successfully make their selections 3-21 days prior, those who cannot do so (for whatever reason) will be at a disadvantage.
WHAT IF MY TRIP STARTS BEFORE JULY 24?
→ From now until July 24, Lightning Lane access will remain as it is currently, by way of Individual Lightning Lane selections and Genie+ selections. See the Genie+/ILL guide for more details.
→ If your visit straddles July 24, it now appears that you will not be afforded the advance selection capability prior to July 24, to which you may have otherwise been entitled. There are already guests whose check-in date for their upcoming Disney hotel stay is less than 7 days away, and whose stay will extend to July 24 and beyond, and there's no way for them to purchase Lightning Lane Passes. As we’ve indicated here previously, there is likely to be a transition period of a week or two during which guests wouldn’t have the advance purchase benefits that they will have eventually. Guests should be prepared for this, and factor it into their decision as to whether or not to purchase Lightning Lane Passes prior to the end of the transition period.
→ Disney sent out email indicating that they would be opening up the ability to purchase Lightning Lane Passes earlier than the 24th. Those emails were inaccurate.
DO I HAVE TO HAVE LIGHTNING LANE PASSES FOR EVERYONE IN MY PARTY? DO I HAVE TO HAVE LIGHTNING LANE PASSES FOR MY INFANT?
Lightning Lane Passes are required for any guests age 3 or older who you would want to enter the Lightning Lane for an attraction. Infants up to 2 years old don't have admission tickets, and so they also don't need Lightning Lane to accompany you when you have a Lightning Lane Pass.
I AM NOT AMERICAN. HOW DO I PURCHASE LIGHTING LANE PASSES?
→ Guests outside of the United States and Canada experience the same kind of obstacles purchasing Lightning Lane Passes prior to entering the United States that they currently encounter with regard to some other online systems, i.e., they aren’t able to do so unless they utilize a secure VPN (with location services disabled) or otherwise spoof their currently location so as to appear to the Internet that they are in the United States.
OPEN QUESTIONS
→ There currently isn’t enough information available to know how the system will handle the case if you choose fewer than three advance selections.
‣ Does that allow you to select additional selections later?
‣ Before or after the beginning of the day (7am?) of the park visit?
‣ Can the second and third selection you make, in that scenario, be in other theme parks, or must your first three selections always be in one theme park?
→ It is not clear, yet, whether modification of one of the advance selections/one of the first three selections, from the lower tier of attractions at a park, can be modified to a top tier attraction. (If so, that would be an exploit that Disney will probably, eventually, close.)
→ It is a fair assumption, based on what Disney has written, that those guests who are required to have park reservations will be required to have them before purchasing Lightning Lane Passes, and as such it is a fair assumption based on logic that the advance/first three (as applicable) selections will be limited to that park. However, that's still just an assumption. Disney has not said so explicitly.
Comments? Corrections?
If you see any problems in this guide, if any information is incorrect or missing, or have suggestions for additional "Open Questions", please post them in this thread:
