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

[DnA2010]

Friday in sept might be ok with just an FOP LLSP (lightening lane single pass) unless it’s Labor Day weekend. Everest has a single rider queue. Is your party ok waiting in the shaded line for the Safari and Navi ride? Our teen and 7 year old are ok and can find games or things to do while waiting. If so, you could probably just ride them during early entry (the bus line at AKL does back up so you do need to be at the stop early).

Thanks for the reply How long would you expect the lines to be? Not too bad if it's early entry I'd think? I'm guessing early entry would be 8:30-9, so any idea what time you'd suggest being there for the bus?

 

[tom1944]

Those are my plans too, except we are going to the parties as well. Early entry through the end of party, Tuesday and Friday. I have sit down meals booked at 430-ish both days for our "rest". I find travelling back and forth between resort & parks to be more tiring than restful.

We will be at MK Tuesday and Thursday with 2PM reservations for lunch. We have BB at 4 on Thursday. I think we will try to stay until 6 on Tuesday and decide Thursday while we are there.

I am thinking try to book Tiana for Tuesday afternoon around 3 or 4. We plan to do EE both days.

My concern is Slinky Dog since my granddaughter really wants to ride it this year. We are at HS on the 18th. That is also the only day we booked 2 meals. Hollywood and Vine to see Doc McStuffins and 50"s Prime Time so my granddaughter can get a laugh as the waitress gives me a lecture.

 

[closetmickey]

I think a lot of people are thinking back to the FP+ days for strategies for initial bookings. I've given this a lot of thought; of course we won't know for sure until the first wave of test cases, but I'm reasonably sure - assuming the number of slots allocated per LL per hour per ride remains the same (and I suppose they could safely raise that a bit, knowing the total number of people in those lines has gone down since the DAS overhaul) - that it will be easier to book what you want with this new system as opposed to FP+.

Why is that? It all comes down to how many people you're "competing" with. FP+ was free; not everyone used it, but cost was not a factor, so at your date (let's say 60 days out as a resort guest) you were competing with every resort guest interested. Now, at your date, you're competing with (at the moment) only the resort guests physically in the United States who are willing to pay for the service. That is going to weed out many, many people; as FP+ was free, scores of guests booked as many spots as they could, for every day of their stay, even if they weren't that interested in each experience. That simply will not happen when people have to pay for it; the folk willing to pay will be judicious with their selections, and skip days/parks when they don't think they'll need it.

Now, they may be planning on "holding back" enough spots to cancel this out, to release day of, but I still think charging for the service will drastically cut down the chaos of the FP+ windows. And they did hold back spots for day of release back then too.

Not saying this will be without challenges - or that it will be easier than Genie+ - just that I think (and hope) advance booking will be a lot less stressful than FP+.

I sure hope you are right! Because forcing people on the West Coast to PAY to book at 4 AM is ridiculous.

 

[andrewilley]

I sure hope you are right! Because forcing people on the West Coast to PAY to book at 4 AM is ridiculous.

To be fair, no one is being forced to do anything. That could potentially be the earliest time, but you are not forced to do it then - or indeed at all.

Andre

 

[tom1944]

To be fair, no one is being forced to do anything. That could potentially be the earliest time, but you are not forced to do it then - or indeed at all.

Andre

I wonder what percentage of people staying at a WDW resort are actually going to even consider purchasing this prior to getting to the park.

There has to be people unaware
People who are on a budget
People who will not do it because they think it is unreasonable
And I am sure a number of other reasons

 

[Disturbia]

Thanks for the reply How long would you expect the lines to be? Not too bad if it's early entry I'd think? I'm guessing early entry would be 8:30-9, so any idea what time you'd suggest being there for the bus?

I would check recent vlogger reports to make a final plan (probably in early Aug). AKL usually opens at 8 am (early entry would be 7:30 am). The bus drive from AKL is about 6 mins. I would be at the bus stop around 6:50 am to get to the park and be in the front of the line (CMs start letting people scan in around 7:20 am and line up for each lane inside). It will be hard to find coffee/snacks so have a light breakfast at your resort.

 

[Mouse Tracker]

no one is being forced to do anything

"May the forced be you!"

This has t-shirt potential

 

[Disturbia]

I wonder what percentage of people staying at a WDW resort are actually going to even consider purchasing this prior to getting to the park.

There has to be people unaware
People who are on a budget
People who will not do it because they think it is unreasonable
And I am sure a number of other reasons

WDW vacations for out of state guests with 4-5 family members are easily around 10k for a week (flights, hotel, tickets etc). So those guests will probably want to make the most of their trip even if it means adding another 1k+

75% of WDW visitors stay onsite. Onsite guests now have the 7 day priority booking vs competing with everyone at 7 am. Someone who may not have wanted to wake up early might want to book LLMP rides for the afternoon now. People might skip ADRs to budget for having a more relaxed day (and possibly rent a car or go offsite for dining). No one knows for sure until reports start coming in.

https://worldmetrics.org/disney-world-visitor-statistics/

Crowd calendar:

https://magicguides.com/wdw-crowd-calendar/

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I just roll with Disney changes and make the best of it but I am really going to miss evening stacking, especially at DHS, since I assume most good rides at DHS will be gone by mid morning. I will also miss the spontaneity we had with G+. If we wanted to change parks the day of we could since we had no FP we were afraid to lose and not get back (FOP, SDD, etc.) You knew if you switched parks that day you were more than likely not going to get those rides again. We did this a few times last trip. Decided the night before we wanted to change parks and it was so easy.

We used G+ in November 2022 when we paid $15pp a day to have it added to our length of stay tickets. We stacked in the evening at DHS twice and I believe MK twice. This was the best part of G+ for us. We walked into DHS or MK with 5-6 rides stacked up. We actually preferred G+ over FP+ (minus the paying part). My kids used it again in December 2023 and also stacked for DHS and had a great day!

We do longer trips. 8-9 days and mix it up with RD days and sleep in/late start days. In FP+ days I would usually do RD, midday break and then FP+ our 3 rides in our evening park since I went for quality over quantity. On late start days I would just start the FP in the evening. We rarely tried for extras. But that’s when it was “free.” Now I don’t know what to do. Do I book in the morning when wait times are low and hope for good evening rides or just go for the evening rides when I book and pay all that money for only 3 rides since getting more won’t be as likely.

I have time to see how this goes since we aren’t going until May 2025 but my DD18 is going with friends 7/21-7/26 so I hope she has success with it.

 

[SheSingsAlong]

I have no personal experience from the FP+ days. Scratch that, I have 1 days experience (February 2020 yeesh!) and I kind of hated it. I learned to live with (if not love) Genie+ and was kind of hoping the coming changes would be minimal - maybe first LL of the day could be pre-booked, but everything else stay the same. Alas, here we are, and I'm grateful my next trip to the World will be in 2025 and sans children so I can test this new Lelu Dallas Multi Pass thing under less pressure. A vision is beginning to form in my brain of how I might handle LLMP during a week long WDW trip:

1. Only use LLMP for the back end of the trip when our patience for ride queues and rope dropping has worn out
2. Use the pre-book 3 for AM park and refill as we use them with 4th, 5th, and 6th LL at PM park (we like hopping)
3. MK is best as a PM park for LLMP because it has the most rides (hopefully good day-of availability)

I'd like to think that I can use LLMP as a way to force us to slow down a bit during the second half of our trip; sleep in, enjoy more shows, and rest easy knowing we will definitely ride 6 rides. If day-of availability is there to book 4th, 5th, and 6th LL, then the cost may be worth it (for a few days). I am nervous about where the price point will be in 2025...

 

[Silvermist999]

Not just vloggers, Disney lists it as LLMP https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/lightning-lane-passes/?ef_id=CjwKCAjwyo60BhBiEiwAHmVLJcf3iCueNW2Xq8PS0D-e1rwnW6NrbAaqlg5zuRxgxhlZF4WehzhQixoCqD0QAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!5060!3!703842100753!b!!g!!disney lightning lane&CMP=KNC-FY24_WDW_TRA_DOM_W365_SCP_WGNIE_WDWGenie|G|5241213.RR.AM.01.01|MOOXVGB|BR|703842100753&keyword_id=kwd-1602800577118|dc|disney lightning lane|703842100753|b|5060:3|&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyo60BhBiEiwAHmVLJcf3iCueNW2Xq8PS0D-e1rwnW6NrbAaqlg5zuRxgxhlZF4WehzhQixoCqD0QAvD_BwE#drawer-card-drawerMagicKingdomPark

When I click on the link, I don’t see anything related to the new lightning lane instructions.

This is what I see as an example for Animal Kingdom. The other parks are similar, listing out the check in for the area resorts.

 

[Dave006]

When I click on the link, I don’t see anything related to the new lightning lane instructions.

The web "drawers" don't work well with some web browsers using direct links. Start with the base link and scroll down to click on Pictures for the individual parks to see the LLMP details:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/lightning-lane-passes/



Dave

 

[Cabius]

When I click on the link, I don’t see anything related to the new lightning lane instructions.

This is what I see as an example for Animal Kingdom. The other parks are similar, listing out the check in for the area resorts.

Here's what I see when I click that link:


And, if I scroll to the top, the entire page is instructions for the new LLMP/LLSP system.

 

[spewey]

As a fan of afternoon arrivals and stacking, I am not a fan of the end of the 120 minute rule. Since the rule to book a new LL in any tier is to use one or after the LL window expires, I could see the use of "throwaway" LLs becoming popular for afternoon arrivers. In other words, book Remy for 3pm and book two tier 2 rides for as early as possible that you don't plan on riding or don't really need a LL (i.e. Figment & Nemo). Then from the comfort of the hotel pool or water park, etc at 10-10:30, book Frozen and Soarin when these 2 "throwaways" expire. Then you can enter EPCOT at 3pm with 3 tier one LLs stacked. Same for MK or HS.

I just roll with Disney changes and make the best of it but I am really going to miss evening stacking, especially at DHS, since I assume most good rides at DHS will be gone by mid morning. I will also miss the spontaneity we had with G+. If we wanted to change parks the day of we could since we had no FP we were afraid to lose and not get back (FOP, SDD, etc.) You knew if you switched parks that day you were more than likely not going to get those rides again. We did this a few times last trip. Decided the night before we wanted to change parks and it was so easy.

We used G+ in November 2022 when we paid $15pp a day to have it added to our length of stay tickets. We stacked in the evening at DHS twice and I believe MK twice. This was the best part of G+ for us. We walked into DHS or MK with 5-6 rides stacked up. We actually preferred G+ over FP+ (minus the paying part). My kids used it again in December 2023 and also stacked for DHS and had a great day!

We do longer trips. 8-9 days and mix it up with RD days and sleep in/late start days. In FP+ days I would usually do RD, midday break and then FP+ our 3 rides in our evening park since I went for quality over quantity. On late start days I would just start the FP in the evening. We rarely tried for extras. But that’s when it was “free.” Now I don’t know what to do. Do I book in the morning when wait times are low and hope for good evening rides or just go for the evening rides when I book and pay all that money for only 3 rides since getting more won’t be as likely.

I have time to see how this goes since we aren’t going until May 2025 but my DD18 is going with friends 7/21-7/26 so I hope she has success with it.

The new system is being viewed as the End of Stacking, which was initially my fear as well. I've mentioned in a previous post that while Genie+ was flexible, and allowed for in some cases immediate re-rides, which this won't, I still plan on stacking on some days, mostly for HS.

For instance - our first day I plan to use LLMP for three rides at HS (say, SDD, ToT, and TSMM), plus a LLSP for RotR, all in the afternoon. Then we rope drop MK, with a LLSP for Tron and maybe a VQ for Tron or Tianna. That's potentially SIX rides booked before we leave the room.

Now, I get we can't add any LLs until we tap in to our first one at HS, but there's still three in hand when we park hop after lunch. Under Genie+, assuming a 3PM arrival, how many could we have had? The first at 7AM, and then another at 11, 1PM, and 3? So down maybe one?

The feeling is for some reason that with this system "by the time you get there" for the evening stacking strategy "there won't be any other rides left". Why would that be? Just because people get to book in advance doesn't mean MORE people will be taking spots; in fact, they're should be quite a few less, as it's now a paid service. So I fully expect plenty of options to be available - maybe not SDD, but MMRR was usually there late in the day, as were most of the "second tier" rides.

To me, the downside is no re-rides (we basically marathoned TSMM one after another one night) and a longer booking window - I've heard maybe a 45 minute gap between rides, as opposed to Genie+s, which could have been right after, IIRC.

Of course, much of this remains to be seen ...

 

[champagne&disney]

If we wanted to change parks the day of we could since we had no FP we were afraid to lose and not get back (FOP, SDD, etc.) You knew if you switched parks that day you were more than likely not going to get those rides again. We did this a few times last trip. Decided the night before we wanted to change parks and it was so easy.

Totally! Everyone wanted Disney to get rid of Theme Park Reservations but all this does is bring it back in a different way.

 

[BrianL]

Totally! Everyone wanted Disney to get rid of Theme Park Reservations but all this does is bring it back in a different way.

I get what you're saying, but don't really agree. Theme Park Reservations were required to visit a park on any given day but Lightning Lane reservations are not. You can still visit the park without it, even if it is sold out. You might say that a Dining ADR equated to a Park Reservation, but you had to have the Reservation AND the ADR, so it was just another layer - and, yes, it was annoying! If you do book LL reservations then, yeah, it's locking you into a park, but you still only need the one thing and, again, it's optional. That's a huge difference in my book.

 

[closetmickey]

To be fair, no one is being forced to do anything. That could potentially be the earliest time, but you are not forced to do it then - or indeed at all.

Andre

Of course but I’d guess my point was understood.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

The new system is being viewed as the End of Stacking, which was initially my fear as well. I've mentioned in a previous post that while Genie+ was flexible, and allowed for in some cases immediate re-rides, which this won't, I still plan on stacking on some days, mostly for HS.

For instance - our first day I plan to use LLMP for three rides at HS (say, SDD, ToT, and TSMM), plus a LLSP for RotR, all in the afternoon. Then we rope drop MK, with a LLSP for Tron and maybe a VQ for Tron or Tianna. That's potentially SIX rides booked before we leave the room.

Now, I get we can't add any LLs until we tap in to our first one at HS, but there's still three in hand when we park hop after lunch. Under Genie+, assuming a 3PM arrival, how many could we have had? The first at 7AM, and then another at 11, 1PM, and 3? So down maybe one?

The feeling is for some reason that with this system "by the time you get there" for the evening stacking strategy "there won't be any other rides left". Why would that be? Just because people get to book in advance doesn't mean MORE people will be taking spots; in fact, they're should be quite a few less, as it's now a paid service. So I fully expect plenty of options to be available - maybe not SDD, but MMRR was usually there late in the day, as were most of the "second tier" rides.

To me, the downside is no re-rides (we basically marathoned TSMM one after another one night) and a longer booking window - I've heard maybe a 45 minute gap between rides, as opposed to Genie+s, which could have been right after, IIRC.

Of course, much of this remains to be seen ...

This is a good approach.

I’m sure people will find a way to maximize the system as they’ve always done and will benefit those who read here. Our next trip isn’t until May 2025 so plenty of time for me to see what works best and get the most bang for my buck with G+.

ETA: I’m sure we will also see data on what rides are sell out, around what time and in what order just as there’s data for G+ now.

 

[maxiesmom]

Both Tron and Guardians utilize Lightning Lane Single Pass, and are not included in the Multi-Pass product, so they won't really compete with your LL selections (though they may compete with your wallet).

If those are really your priorities, I would purchase Single-Pass access for both TRON and Guardians, and then decide whether it was worth it to also purchase the Multi-Pass or if you can do everything you want with standby/evening hours/party.

Thanks for this. I didn't realize you could buy more than one single pass at a time.

 

[Cabius]

Thanks for this. I didn't realize you could buy more than one single pass at a time.

Sure thing!

It looks like there is a limit of 2 per day, but it's not limited to a single pass.