Plan Ahead with Lightning Lane Entry at Walt Disney World Starting July 24

[run_Disney]

For laughs, I just checked LL availability. Not bad - it's about 2PM and there are spots left (some later than others, of course) for just about every ride across the parks. Only things I see sold out are GotG, SDD and Remy (TBA is down, but I assume that'd be booked solid as well). Rise, FOP, SDD and Tron all still have LLSP available.

Augurs well for our trip in a few weeks.

This post is confusing. It says that SDD is both sold out and available. What am I missing?

 

[123SA]

Just making sure I am correct. If my check in day is on a Sunday, then my day to select LLMP would be the previous Sunday at 7 am EST?

Yes.

If you go into MDE right now and try to book a LL for tomorrow, when you get to the confirm your party stage, it will tell you you are not eligible and at this point, it will also tell you the date you are eligible. AL least, it did for me. I had a resort stay booked.

 

[Morgol]

I can't find the answer in the thread. I believe AllEars said you can book a new LL if your first LL has expired and you've tapped into the park. Has anyone tried this? Can you book a new LL even if you haven't tapped in? Alternatively can you book 2 LLs and save the 3rd for the day of? We usually close the park so get up late and to the park late morning so trying to figure out how to get a second tier 1 ride for the day.

 

[spewey]

This post is confusing. It says that SDD is both sold out and available. What am I missing?

Oops - meant to say 7DMT was still available. Too many similar acronyms!

 

[traveler9]

If you have a 4-day ticket and are planning to go 4 consecutive days, what would stop you from selecting an earlier start date than your actual first day? Do you just lose the ticket if you don’t enter a park that day?

A 4 day ticket has a 7 day validity period. Couldn’t you select it to start 3 days before your actual first day and book 6 days ahead instead of 3?

 

[tbre1982]

I did try to book this day last; its our last MK day so I booked my other MK days first, then jumped to the second half the of the trip to book epcot/HS/AK, then came back to do this day last. So yes, it could be that they are not letting me book the 10th day total because perhaps it thinks I have already booked all 4 of the days from the first half of the split stay.

Interestingly I just went and tried to book a multipass for the day AFTER our trip ends (when we wont even be there anymore) and it let me do it. So, I CAN book a 10th day, just not on day #3 when I want it. The system must be locking me out of the first half of my split stay.

I guess I'll have to call to fix it. But this is an interesting nuance that is likely related to the split stay.

Update. I went online to the chat today and they were able to fix it. They definitely said there was some glitch where it was recognizing the multipass allotment for the first 4 days of the trip as booked even and not able to book more days, though it was a split stay. They were able to reinstate access for me to book on day #3.

But it took about 45 min and they had to put me on pause for a while escalating to the supervisor.

Next time I do a split stay I will book the first half entirely, before moving onto the second half.

 

[Tom_E_D]

Yes.

If you go into MDE right now and try to book a LL for tomorrow, when you get to the confirm your party stage, it will tell you you are not eligible and at this point, it will also tell you the date you are eligible. AL least, it did for me. I had a resort stay booked.

I think I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you phrased it well. Anyone trying to book a LL for tomorrow that has a dated ticket, or has a ticket that requires a park reservation and has the park reservation for tomorrow, or is staying onsite can buy/book it today. We are within both the 3- and 7-day-before eligibility windows. What I think you meant to say is that anyone whose first day they can book is tomorrow (or any future date) tries to book an LLMP/LLSP today, then MDE will point out on the page for selecting those you are buying for what day(s) they are eligible to book. Am I right?

 

[123SA]

I think I understand what you are saying, but I don't think you phrased it well. Anyone trying to book a LL for tomorrow that has a dated ticket, or has a ticket that requires a park reservation and has the park reservation for tomorrow, or is staying onsite can buy/book it today. We are within both the 3- and 7-day-before eligibility windows. What I think you meant to say is that anyone whose first day they can book is tomorrow (or any future date) tries to book an LLMP/LLSP today, then MDE will point out on the page for selecting those you are buying for what day(s) they are eligible to book. Am I right?

I'm not following the first part of this comment, but yes to this "MDE will point out on the page for selecting those you are buying for what day(s) they are eligible to book"


At some point the "Who's included?" page started telling me what date I was eligible. This was how I was sure Aug 4 was my date and not Aug 3 or 5.

 

[Tom_E_D]

I'm not following the first part of this comment, but yes to this "MDE will point out on the page for selecting those you are buying for what day(s) they are eligible to book"


At some point the "Who's included?" page started telling me what date I was eligible. This was how I was sure Aug 4 was my date and not Aug 3 or 5.

I guess that was a bad assumption on my part. I thought you were saying that if you try to book a day you actually want to buy, but are too early to book it yet, it will let you know when you can book. But I now realize you are saying that you can try to book a day even well before your trip, and it will let you know when you can book. Interesting. I would have expected it to say you don't have a ticket for that day.

 

[Dave006]

AllEars said you can book a new LL if your first LL has expired and you've tapped into the park. Has anyone tried this? Can you book a new LL even if you haven't tapped in? Alternatively can you book 2 LLs and save the 3rd for the day of?

Yes once you tap in to the park. No if your LL return time expires and you have not entered a park your LL is expired but you can't replace it.

Not sure why you would only book 2 in advance and leave 1 hanging. Just book all 3 in advance. You can always modify anything you have once you enter a park.

Dave

 

[Morgol]

Yes once you tap in to the park. No if your LL return time expires and you have not entered a park your LL is expired but you can't replace it.

Not sure why you would only book 2 in advance and leave 1 hanging. Just book all 3 in advance. You can always modify anything you have once you enter a park.

Dave

Thank you. So do you have to tap into the park before your first LL expires? Or can the LL expire and then you tap into the park and add a 3rd ride?

 

[Disturbia]

Just saw a good video of day of availability. I would grab a tier 1 (after riding the first ride) like Big Thunder and then keep refreshing for an earlier time. Also keep LLs to one land (eg Adventureland or Tomorrowland) in the morning and not zig zag (keep a different land for pm. In her case, I would have booked the 4th BTM (and modify) and 5th anything in Fantasyland and have SDMT SPLL for before fireworks:

Also would book MMRR before hitting Toy Story rides at HS:

 

[Disturbia]

Day of availability is sparse. If you plan on arriving later in the morning I would book your first LL starting 10-11 am. You can overlap slightly (but not by much).

Just as with Genie+, availability is not great in park after 11 am even if park hopping. Reports are that availability was better after the first few days. I would not count on that during peak times like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The standby waits are pretty low for several tier2 rides so you still benefit by being in the parks earlier.

 

[Dave006]

Thank you. So do you have to tap into the park before your first LL expires? Or can the LL expire and then you tap into the park and add a 3rd ride?

No you don't have to tap into the park. Your LL that expires is just a Ghost. You can't replace it or modify it. Once you are in the park you can replace it with another attraction. I don't know why you want to add your third LL after you tap into the park but you can add it before or after you tap into the park.

If you have a park hopper entitlement you will not be able to unlock the Tier limit or book for another park until you enter the park and tap into one of your advanced purchased LLs.

Dave

 

[papaof3]

If you have a 4-day ticket and are planning to go 4 consecutive days, what would stop you from selecting an earlier start date than your actual first day? Do you just lose the ticket if you don’t enter a park that day?

A 4 day ticket has a 7 day validity period. Couldn’t you select it to start 3 days before your actual first day and book 6 days ahead instead of 3?

I just did the same thing just so I could book my MPLL selections earlier.
One thing to note is ticket prices are based on dates. When I checked and called to change I noticed a minor price increase. Was 21 bucks total for five tickets.
Secondly, you do lose ability to take a day off if bad weather or ill. So if you wanted to you could extend trip by a day and take a day off, going a day later. If your dates are firm as in getting on an airplane then this is a moot point.
Let me tell you. Even changing a day earlier helps with getting ll. They are selling like hotcakes and this plan helped me.

 

[Miffy]

No. No refunds.

They are expected to refund if they shut down the park, they haven't had the scenario yet though.

Just double- checking on this. Does anyone have personal experience to report?

I'm asking because back in the old FP+ days I was fine making my selections ahead of time, but FP+ was free. Now if I, say, purchase MPLLs for several days and end up not being able to go to the parks one of those days, I'm just out of luck and it's money down the drain?

Also, I've been at a park where I had an ILL$ booked and the ride was down and didn't come back up for hours and I was able to get a refund for it.

I have to book my MPLLs at the beginning of September and I've started getting concerned about this since life is unpredictable.

 

[Threehearts]

This all occurred yesterday. It was late and I forgot to push send.


A couple of tips.

I was in MK, Epcot and AK today. I deleted one ride and changed to another. After I tapped into the next ride, I expected to be able to book the next to keep my total of 3 running LL rides. I kept getting a message saying that I wasn't eligible(meaning I still had 3 rides booked). I went to the "hamburger" page and looked at my lightning lanes and it showed just 2 left. I found a CM who pointed out that sometimes there is a glitch and instead of looking at LL rides, look at My Day which gives a fuller picture. On that page it showed that I had booked a 3rd LL ride which I didn't believe I had confirmed but apparently I did. SO check My Day if you are not seeing all of your choices on the lightning lanes list.

Next, the Blue Umbrella customer service CMs do not stand out in inclement weather under their blue umbrella which makes total sense. Look for them wearing a blue vest and carrying their clipboard. The will be standing against the walls of the buildings in each park(ex: Underneath the overhang at Col. Harbor Hse.).


I was able to massively overlap rides once I tapped into my first LL. I even had some rides for the exact same times. I took those if the ride was very close to the next one and I didn't expect the first to take that long. You will get a warning on the app that you are overlapping but just go ahead and confirm. At home when I was selecting my lightning lanes, I could not overlap times. By the way, I asked several CMs at the tapstyles what the grace period was for LL and ILL.I got the same answer from everyone- 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after the stated time.

I did not have the ease that others reported in getting the headliners later in the day. I could not get FOP or Remi from 11am on. I did standby for Remi tonight because I love the ride. I got in line at 7:15 when the standby said 80 minutes(ugh!). I got on the ride 90 minutes later. It was not pleasant.

I was parkhopping and so trying to fill my later afternoon with decent rides(obviously very personal) meant that I was in MK until 1, then over to Epcot where I had Soarin', The Land another that I forget. Then I had to bus over to AK for my ILL, FOP at 3pm.. I was able to do Kali RR after. Then it was back to Epcot for Frozen at 6pm

 

[Mambo Junkie]

To see eligibility, I went to Wait times and Show times on my app. Then went from Tip Board to My Day and set up my top picks for my first day. (click button under Start here to plan your day), and the calendar will pop up for eligible days. I selected my park for the first day (DHS) and hit continue. All my party is checked off so hit continue. It pops up showing my selections that I pre selected so I hit continue - and hit continue through the next screen (Disney Favorites) Finally get to the View My Day button and after tapping it, it shows my resort reservation, my lunch reservation, my park selection, then keep scrolling and it says, On August 22, 2024 at 7:00 and you can (preselect ride and shows to get them faster) Scroll a little further and it says In 23 days... (Disney genie will be able to find the best way...) and then it shows my selections.
Just saying for those who might be confused as to when they can select.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just double- checking on this. Does anyone have personal experience to report?

I'm asking because back in the old FP+ days I was fine making my selections ahead of time, but FP+ was free. Now if I, say, purchase MPLLs for several days and end up not being able to go to the parks one of those days, I'm just out of luck and it's money down the drain?

Also, I've been at a park where I had an ILL$ booked and the ride was down and didn't come back up for hours and I was able to get a refund for it.

I have to book my MPLLs at the beginning of September and I've started getting concerned about this since life is unpredictable.

The fine print- the only thing you can count on- says no refunds. Maybe Disney will make an exception under extenuating circumstances like they did under G+/ILL that also had no refund language but anyone buying needs to plan on every purchased LL being non refundable.

 

[Miffy]

The fine print- the only thing you can count on- says no refunds. Maybe Disney will make an exception under extenuating circumstances like they did under G+/ILL that also had no refund language but anyone buying needs to plan on every purchased LL being non refundable.

Thanks! I appreciate this. I'm still hoping for reports from anyone who's actually tried.

For a week-long trip, making a lot of not-inexpensive nonrefundable reservations in advance concerns me.