This listing ranks the hardest Lightning Lane Multi Passes at Walt Disney World to e book–the #1 LLMPs in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Plus, subjective technique for the pre-arrival trip reservation service past reserving the “finest” trip reservations to be able to maximize your time saved and reduce encountering ‘bought out’ trip reservations.
We lately checked out What’s Up with Lightning Lane Multi Cross Availability at Walt Disney World? Or relatively, why there’s a lack of trip reservations, with attraction time slots filling up sooner than ever. The plain rationalization is that as an alternative of everybody reserving same-day, and thus it taking longer for sights to e book up, Lightning Lane choices can now be made as many as 21 days upfront.
Relying upon whether or not staying off-site or on-site, visitors can now e book upfront, with 3-day or 7-day (plus as much as 14 days–therefore as many as 21 days) home windows for making trip reservations. With that stated, Lightning Lane Multi Cross has additionally modified considerably on account of variations within the attraction roster, elimination of stacking guidelines, and introduction of tiers. The results of that is that many time slots are filling up sooner–together with for sights you wouldn’t essentially count on.
As earlier than, Magic Kingdom is much and away the very best park for purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Cross at Walt Disney World. It isn’t actually even shut. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the second-best choice, nevertheless it has fewer LLMP sights. On the plus facet, we’ve been happy with availability at DHS and on-site visitors ought to be capable of do properly in scoring a number of Lightning Lanes that’ll save a ton of time.
Lightning Lane Multi Cross at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom are extra blended luggage. The previous as a result of it may be difficult to attain a number of worthwhile trip reservations, particularly in average crowds or above. The latter for nearly the alternative cause–as a result of Lightning Lanes aren’t all that essential until crowds are above-average. (The silver lining, a minimum of, is that even the “hardest” LLMPs are Animal Kingdom are comparatively straightforward.)
As earlier than, crowds are the largest consider each Lightning Lane Multi Cross problem and usefulness. On common, October via December might be busier than August and September. Identical goes for many of January via March 2025. (See our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars.) Larger standby wait instances means Lightning Lanes provide a larger benefit, but additionally, that extra persons are buying Lightning Lane Multi Cross, which means extra “competitors” for essentially the most tough and finest ones.
To that time, reserving Lightning Lane Multi Cross trip reservations isn’t just a matter of availability. In the event you’re staying on-site and making choices 4 or extra days upfront, you’re prone to have choices at each trip on this listing however one or two. It’s additionally a matter of return instances. As I’ve been doing on-the-ground area testing of LLMP at Walt Disney World over the course of the final week, I’ve observed that return instances are sometimes extra essential than trip precedence.
Whereas you can also make attraction choices upfront with Lightning Lane Multi Cross, you may as well make subsequent choices on the day of your park go to. When you redeem a variety, you should use the My Disney Expertise app to examine availability for one more Lightning Lane Multi Cross expertise—and add to your plans.
Think about this the “rolling 3 rule,” which is to say you could all the time have 3 Lightning Lane choices (topic to availability). With the rolling 3 rule of Lightning Lane Multi-Cross, you can also make your subsequent trip reservation as quickly as you’ve used one. As might be apparent, which means it behooves you to make LLMP choices as early within the day as potential to present you extra runway for subsequent choices.
The perfect apply is making as early of arrival instances as potential (for a minimum of one attraction) to be able to “unlock” that 4th trip sooner. In reality, if you happen to’re solely getting late morning or afternoon return instances, you must take into account altering your Group B choices to be able to prioritize for a mix of return time and trip precedence. Don’t e book Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, for instance, if each have return instances within the afternoon. Go for the following highest precedence with an early return to unlock that 4th decide.
Therefore a number of the non-headliners or secondary sights which have made this listing of essentially the most tough Lightning Lane Multi Passes at Walt Disney World. Right here’s what we advocate reserving to get essentially the most mileage out of Lightning Lane Multi Cross service…
10. Na’vi River Journey – That is the target #1 Lightning Lane Multi Cross choice at Animal Kingdom. On common, it will prevent essentially the most time, particularly on average or excessive crowd days when it means skipping a triple-digit wait time for Na’vi River Journey.
Strategically, we’re additionally followers of getting the earliest potential return time for Na’vi River Journey and doing Avatar Flight of Passage by way of the standby line throughout Early Entry. By the point you’re achieved, you must be capable of hit Na’vi River Journey by way of the Lightning Lane after which proceed on to different sights–most of which is able to nonetheless have brief waits.
Personally, I is perhaps inclined to make this my solely Lightning Lane choice in Animal Kingdom (plus perhaps the following entry relying upon crowds). After tapping into Na’vi River Journey, you’ll be able to e book all subsequent choices in a distinct park after which use these throughout the center of the day when standby strains are longer (assuming you need to Park Hop).
9. Kilimanjaro Safaris – If this had been a purely data-driven listing, Kilimanjaro Safaris wouldn’t be on it. Nevertheless, I needed two choices from every park. Moreover, we haven’t but seen the gang ranges that may stress-test the Lightning Lane Multi Cross system, and as soon as that occurs, I’m assured Kilimanjaro Safaris will make the reduce.
Lastly, Kilimanjaro Safaris deserves recognition from a subjective perspective. It’s essential to get a super time slot for Kilimanjaro Safaris as a result of wildlife on the safari is most lively very first thing within the morning, making an earlier return time subjectively preferrable. Due to that, we like Kilimanjaro Safaris and N’avi River Journey within the earliest time slots.
It’s additionally true that the standby line for Kilimanjaro Safaris is often brief early within the morning, so utilizing the Lightning Lane then is usually pointless. That isn’t true on 8/10 or above crowd degree days, although, there’s that. There’s additionally one thing to be stated for knocking out a number of Lightning Lanes at Animal Kingdom earlier than 10:30 am and beginning to make subsequent choices at a completely different park.
8. Peter Pan’s Flight – Not an enormous shock for many who booked FastPass+ or Genie+ reservations prior to now! What is perhaps extra of a shock is that Peter Pan’s Flight barely makes this listing. In reality, the information reveals solely a slight benefit for it over Pirates of the Caribbean, which actually speaks to the ‘tier 2 troubles’ at Magic Kingdom (extra on this within the Haunted Mansion entry, which is subsequent up).
Nevertheless, we’re giving Peter Pan’s Flight the sting right here as a result of it’s a very shut name and that is the clearly higher Lightning Lane from a time-saving perspective. Peter Pan’s Flight is much and away the most well-liked of Magic Kingdom’s iconic Fantasyland darkish rides, with wait instances frequently exceeding 90 minutes.
Peter Pan’s Flight additionally makes the listing as a result of it’s going to be the default Group A range in Magic Kingdom for just about anybody staying off-site and even some on-site visitors. The excellent news is that there’s ample advance and same-day availability for Peter Pan’s Flight, so although it’s a great #1 decide at Magic Kingdom, you aren’t in poor form if you happen to e book it #2.
7. Haunted Mansion – Since Hatbox Ghost debuted, Haunted Mansion now has one of many high 5 common wait instances in Magic Kingdom. However, you may not expect to see Haunted Mansion on this listing. In spite of everything, it beforehand had perpetual Lightning Lane availability–till park closing on most days–underneath the previous Genie+ system.
Whereas headliners are the main target of this listing for apparent causes, there’s additionally restricted availability for a lot of Group B/Tier 2 sights. This has been occurring at each Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom, and is particularly noticeable with Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. The pondering is that, since everybody can choose upfront and these are the apparent tier 2 priorities, they’re merely filling up manner sooner.
There’s in all probability extra to it than that, with throttling or diminished Lightning Lane stock being one other rationalization. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear’s House Ranger Spin even have points–in actual fact, I’ve had extra issues with Pooh when area testing LLMP, however the information doesn’t corroborate my anecdotal on-the-ground experiences.
Regardless, Haunted Mansion makes the listing–together with the large caveat that you simply want a minimum of one Group B attraction in Magic Kingdom with a return time earlier than 10 am to take full benefit of the ‘rolling 3’ rule. So take into account not reserving Haunted Mansion if you happen to can’t get a decently early slot.
6. Toy Story Mania – Each of the following two picks make this listing for a similar cause as Haunted Mansion–they’re the “apparent” Group B/Tier 2 choices at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. What’s interested by Toy Story Mania is that it had an abundance of availability for Lightning Lanes all through the day underneath the Genie+ service.
Beneath Lightning Lane Multi Cross, Toy Story Mania is restricted between 3-days and 7-days with regularity. To make certain, there’s nonetheless availability more often than not, nevertheless it’s usually with time slots after 11 am. This can be a drawback for a similar cause as defined with Haunted Mansion–since you need an earlier time to make the most of the ‘rolling 3’ rule.
Nevertheless, it’s an excellent larger challenge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as a result of Slinky Canine Sprint routinely has return instances within the second half of the day. On high of that, Toy Story Mania isn’t even essentially the most tough Tier 2 LLMP. Which means that you simply may need hassle getting any trip reservations at DHS with a return time earlier than 10 am, which may actually restrict your availability to leverage the ‘rolling 3’ rule.
5. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – The straightforward #1 decide from Tier/Group B. Like Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, that is an attraction that may proceed to function even when there’s downtime/protein spills in a part of the attraction, relatively than closing utterly. That’s good for visitors–nevertheless it additionally causes wait instances to skyrocket and Lightning Lane availability to be diminished.
Suffice to say, when Tower of Terror has one elevator shaft down, it’s a high 3 wait time in all of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. (This additionally makes same-day Lightning Lane availability/refills far much less doubtless.) When working at full-capacity, its rating drops–nevertheless it’s nonetheless high 5 and firmly the #1 choice of the Group B Lightning Lane Multi-Passes.
For all of those causes, we advocate reserving Tower of Terror along with your pre-arrival Lightning Lane Multi Cross choices. Even when the return time isn’t superb, it’s simply too dangerous for our tastes to depend on a same-day trip reservation refill. You’ll have a lot better luck with that at Toy Story Mania.
4. Frozen Ever After – The clear #2 Lightning Lane at EPCOT. In relation to common wait instances, there truly isn’t that a lot distinction between Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Journey. The hole is way bigger in relation to Lightning Lane availability.
Because of the hole between #1-2 and Soarin’ Across the World at #3, there’s additionally an affordable likelihood that Lightning Lane Multi-Passes for Frozen Ever After will additionally be absolutely booked at and even earlier than the 7-day mark. It actually will depend on crowd ranges and pricing. (Technically, Frozen Ever After is definitely “simpler” to e book than Spaceship Earth or Mission House from Tier 2, however since we’re mixing information with subjective sensibility, we’re not together with these on this listing. Getting these with early morning returns will price you extra time than it saves!)
Actually, I wouldn’t purchase LLMP at EPCOT if I couldn’t Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Journey. Simply considered one of many circumstances that will make me inclined to cross on the paid FastPass service. EPCOT’s headliners are additionally very unfold out throughout the park, so losing time backtracking is one other concern.
3. Remy’s Ratatouille Journey – With Take a look at Observe closed till 2025, that is no longer simply the #1 Lightning Lane Multi-Cross at EPCOT–it’s additionally the #3 choice in all of Walt Disney World. That is the latest trip in EPCOT by way of LLMP, it has the best common wait time, and essentially the most demand for line-skipping.
Given all of that, there’s an excellent likelihood that pre-arrival availability for Remy’s Ratatouille Journey might be gone at and even earlier than the 3-day mark. It’ll undoubtedly be restricted when it comes to return instances. This may solely worsen throughout peak season, particularly till the Take a look at Observe refurbishment is completed, as that headliner helps ‘cut up’ demand.
In the event you’re staying off-site, you’ll doubtless be reliant upon trip reservation refills or cancellations. With that stated, if you happen to’re staying at a Crescent Lake or Skyliner Resort, you would possibly as an alternative go for doing this throughout Early Entry. Comparatively talking, it’s simpler.
2. Slinky Canine Sprint – For the final a number of years, Slinky Canine Sprint was the #1 Lightning Lane underneath the Genie system. Not simply in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, however all of Walt Disney World. Beneath the identical day system, it will be gone inside seconds or minutes of seven am. In the event you didn’t have quick fingers, you would possibly find yourself with a return time late within the day even when reserving at 7:00:00 am. Now with Lightning Lane Multi Cross, it’s one of many only a few rides that generally has no availability exterior of the 3-day window.
This is smart. When it comes to common wait instances, Slinky Canine Sprint is arguably the LLMP most “deserving” of being a Lightning Lane Single Cross. It’s newer and extra fashionable than Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare, and is the Multi Cross attraction that outperforms the remainder. In reality, it comes fairly near Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance many days/weeks/months when it comes to common wait time.
Not like a number of the different sights on this listing, take no matter return time you will get with Slinky Canine Sprint–even when it’s later within the day. You should utilize your Group B choices at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the ‘rolling 3’ rule. It’s too tough and dangerous to attain trip reservation refills for Slinky Canine Sprint, so we’d advise in opposition to playing on that.
1. Tiana’s Bayou Journey – That is the reimagined trip that replaces Splash Mountain, which was often a high 3 Lightning Lane in Magic Kingdom, however by no means the #1 precedence. The variations are two-fold. The primary being that Tiana’s Bayou Journey is the latest trip at Walt Disney World, and something new or redone is fashionable. The brand new trip odor will ultimately put on off, however in all probability not till someday in 2025 (or on a short lived foundation when it will get chilly).
Second, Tiana’s Bayou Journey is struggling main reliability woes and in depth every day downtime consequently. That is definitely the larger challenge, and exacerbates the aforementioned elevated reputation with decreased every day capability. Because of these two components, Tiana’s Bayou Journey is much and away the #1 most tough Lightning Lane Multi Cross, simply surpassing Slinky Canine Sprint.
Tiana’s Bayou Journey is frequently working out of Lightning Lane Multi Cross reservations earlier than the 7-day mark. In reality, I lately had hassle reserving it 11 days out, with restricted return instances that didn’t work for my schedule. It’s the solely attraction in all of Walt Disney World that routinely has zero LL stock past 7-days. It rating #1 isn’t even a remotely shut name.
With that stated, same-day trip reservation refills for Tiana’s Bayou Journey generally is a completely different story. As a result of its unpredictability and issues, Disney is clearly setting apart most Lightning Lanes for Tiana’s Bayou Journey and releasing them day-of based mostly on uptime and downtime. Which means that there are Lightning Lane “drops” for Tiana’s Bayou Journey which are occurring with almost-immediate return instances.
Due to this, I’ve truly opted in opposition to reserving Tiana’s Bayou Journey upfront, as an alternative choosing an early morning window for Peter Pan’s Flight and rolling the cube on TBA. It’s of venture, however a threat that would repay huge time. Up to now, that has not been the case with my in-park area testing. I’ve had horrible outcomes with Tiana’s, to the purpose that it’s virtually derailed my day on two completely different events. However that’s one other story for one more put up.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study lodges on our Walt Disney World Inns Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To economize on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the very best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
How would you rank your trip priorities with Lightning Lane Multi Cross at Walt Disney World? Shocked to see Tiana’s Bayou Journey at #1? Anticipate Slinky Canine Sprint to reclaim the throne within the coming months? Do you agree with our evaluation that getting earlier return instances issues so much for the ‘rolling 3’ rule? Are you planning on shopping for LLMP or skipping it? Do you agree or disagree with our rankings? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
