Prime 10 Ideas & Methods for Lightning Lanes at Disney World in 2025

Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World may be complicated. There are three separate methods for line-skipping at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Genie+ is gone, as is free FastPass. This information gives a crash course with our greatest ideas & tips that may prevent essentially the most time (and cash) when utilizing Lightning Lane Multi-Move at WDW in 2025.

Let’s begin by straightening issues out. Lightning Lane Multi-Move (LLMP) is the first line-skipping choice at Walt Disney World. Moreover, there’s Lightning Lane Single Move (LLSP), which is the a la carte choice that was referred to as Particular person Lightning Lanes. Lastly, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Move (LLPP), which is the highest tier of line-skipping meant for the highest 1-2% of friends and priced accordingly. Received all of that? Good. If not, see our Information to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.

Lightning Lane Multi-Move is actually the core product. It’s just about paid FastPass+, however minus the marquee attraction in every park (or 2 in Magic Kingdom), which has line-skipping entry bought a la carte by way of LLSP. We’ll solely be specializing in LLMP right here as a result of it’s the one one which’s actually “hackable.” The others are extra simple, so whereas we might provide restricted ideas & tips, they’re principally a matter of purchase them or don’t.

This can be a crash course supposed to make you a Lightning Lane professional, so we’re going to gloss over most fundamentals. It would take studying this a few instances for every thing to “click on,” however it ought to after this if you have already got a foundational understanding of how line-skipping works at Walt Disney World.

To that time, the primary tip is to realize some “free” firsthand expertise by taking part in round with the Lightning Lane Multi-Move characteristic in My Disney Expertise as soon as the window opens in your tickets. You’ll be able to undergo the motions of reserving your first 3 picks earlier than shopping for, which gives helpful hands-on experience for understanding the fundamentals. For those who’re a visible learner, spending ~half-hour within the app is the best approach to get a really feel for LLMP.

With that out of the way in which, let’s dig proper in with important recommendation and ideas & tips for getting essentially the most out of Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World…

These Are the Finest Parks for LLMP

Beneath the prior system, the perfect park for buying Lightning Lanes was Magic Kingdom. Our recommendation was to virtually all the time purchase there, and often at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We really helpful skipping it generally at EPCOT and more often than not at Animal Kingdom.

This roughly stays true, with the most important change that we’ve seen Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom flip-flop in our discipline testing. We’ve had the perfect success and saved essentially the most time with Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, making that our new #1 for LLMP.

Magic Kingdom is now #2. There are a number of causes for this. First, tiering at Magic Kingdom presents considerably extra friction, as in comparison with what was the “best” park. Second, the unreliability of Tiana’s Bayou Journey (TBA) makes that unpredictable (extra on technique for this particular journey beneath). Even in case you rating a LLMP for TBA, you will not be utilizing it. Lastly, rolling refurbishments of tier 1 points of interest–now with Huge Thunder Mountain Railroad closed by way of 2026–makes the highest tier sparse, and the second tier extra aggressive consequently.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios hasn’t actually gotten higher or worse. It’s the park with the best common wait instances, the #1 general Lightning Lane Multi-Move, and competitors for headliners. Nonetheless, it additionally has simpler availability for (objectively higher) tier two points of interest and journey reservation refills in case you leverage the rolling 3 rule and put just a little elbow grease into your refresh recreation. For these causes, we discover ourselves having the perfect expertise with Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and saving essentially the most time.

Park Hopping Saves Cash

There isn’t any extra cost for Park Hopping, and you do not want to pay for the Lightning Lane Multi-Move a second time. This implies you could possibly pay the bottom worth for Lightning Lane Multi-Move by beginning at Animal Kingdom, after which Park Hopping to Magic Kingdom (the costliest park). That’s a method unto itself for saving cash!

It’s not one which I’d essentially advocate, as you’re on the mercy of same-day availability and the luck of journey reservation refills, however it’s not essentially a nasty strategy. That’s doubly true in case you mix the entire ideas right here and get good at hacking LLMP.

Regardless, Park Hopping may be the difference-maker for whether or not Lightning Lane Multi-Move is “value it” at Animal Kingdom or EPCOT. For those who begin out at DAK early within the morning, use LLMP strategically for under a few key points of interest earlier than beginning to make subsequent picks in one of many different three parks, that may be a game-changer. Though we’re not huge followers of shopping for LLMP at Animal Kingdom or EPCOT, we do like shopping for it at Animal Kingdom and EPCOT (which means a single day for each).

Prioritize Early Return Instances

When you redeem your first Lightning Lane, you may e-book one other. Contemplate this the “rolling 3 rule,” which is to say you can all the time have 3 Lightning Lane picks (topic to availability). With the rolling 3 rule of Lightning Lane Multi-Move, you can also make your subsequent journey reservation as quickly as you’ve used one.

Furthermore, when you’ve tapped into your first Lightning Lane, tiers now not apply for subsequent picks. It thus behooves you to order at the very least one Lightning Lane earlier within the day to faucet into that and unlock subsequent picks sooner–and get rid of the tiers for future and present picks.

In follow, this may imply reserving an unpopular Lightning Lane very first thing within the morning with a brief journey period (so that you’re not committing a lot time to it) in case you can’t rating an early preliminary return time for a tier 1 attraction. We name these “burner” Lightning Lanes–rides just like the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Alien Swirling Saucers–or different spinners and flat rides. As quickly as you faucet into considered one of these, you can also make one other Lightning Lane choice and modify your different tier 2 choose to improve to tier 1. Once more, all topic to availability.

That is why you don’t need to merely prioritize the perfect rides–you might want to optimize for top precedence but in addition earlier return instances. This isn’t to say each choice must be within the morning–that’s additionally a poor strategy as a result of it’ll prevent the least time. However you don’t need all 3 of your pre-booked Lightning Lanes to be within the afternoon. Steadiness is the secret!

Prioritize Fashionable Rides

We rank the perfect Lightning Lane Multi-Move picks for every park based mostly upon time saved and the way shortly return instances replenish and run out. Listed below are complete lists of each main attraction in every park:

With that mentioned, it’s arguably overkill to fret about each Lightning Lane attraction in mild of the above ‘rule’ about optimizing for return instances.

The highest tier points of interest you need to completely e-book upfront in the event that they’re choices are Tiana’s Bayou Journey, Peter Pan’s Flight, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, Frozen Ever After, Slinky Canine Sprint, Na’vi River Journey and Kilimanjaro Safaris (no tiers at Animal Kingdom, however recommendation nonetheless stands).

It doesn’t matter in case you can solely get a 6 pm return time for Slinky Canine Sprint–you need to completely take that as a result of scoring a refill is unlikely. Simply ensure you have at the very least one different Lightning Lane choice earlier than 10 am (ideally) to unlock subsequent picks by way of the rolling 3 rule.

Keep On-Website

Company staying at an on-site Walt Disney World Resort resort and different choose resorts are capable of buy Lightning Lane passes as much as 7 days upfront, for his or her complete keep (as much as 14 days). Off-site friends can solely make journey reservations as much as 3 days upfront.

The top results of this is usually a vital on-site benefit, as numerous the “greatest” Lightning Lanes will likely be devoured up earlier than off-site friends may even e-book. On the very least, optimum return instances will likely be gone previous to off-site friends having an opportunity to e-book. For that reason, you actually ought to take into account staying on-site.

This shouldn’t be the one cause, in fact, however in case you’re debating between off-site and on-site, you need to completely ascribe worth to this and different perks, together with however not restricted to Early Entry, WDW transportation, ADR home windows, and so on. From a price calculus, we now discover it tough to beat the Worth Resorts. Despite the fact that their base worth is commonly increased than the most affordable off-site lodging, the worth of the perks and never having to pay for transportation or parking greater than closes the hole. See Off-Website vs. On-Website Lodges at Walt Disney World for an goal rundown of professionals & cons.

Guide Backwards

When pre-booking your Lightning Lanes picks, you achieve this sooner or later at a time beginning at 7 a.m. on the date that your window opens. You aren’t alone. You’ll be competing towards 1000’s of different rabid (not actually…hopefully) planners doing the very same factor.

I’ve been advised that I’m “too intense,” however I feel it’s all the time useful to view touring Walt Disney World as a aggressive recreation you’re taking part in towards your fellow friends. Like Squid Video games, minus the violence. (Though it doesn’t harm to sharpen your elbows, as our outdated pal easyWDW used to say, earlier than doing the Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare shuffle!) Or maybe an issue to be solved, in case you’re not the aggressive kind.

In any case, it makes essentially the most sense to e-book your most tough day first and backload the tough days on the finish of your journey with Disney’s Hollywood Studios furthest out, then Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom. This issues much less you probably have an extended journey and extra for a shorter one. It additionally issues much less in case you’re visiting throughout low to reasonable crowds, and extra throughout peak weeks.

For instance, if visiting the parks November 24-27, 2025 (Thanksgiving week), e-book within the following order:

1. Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Slinky Canine Sprint): November 27
2. Magic Kingdom (Tiana’s Bayou Journey): November 26
3. EPCOT (Remy’s Ratatouille Journey): November 25
4. Animal Kingdom (Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris & Expedition Everest): November 24

Hopefully Tiana’s Bayou Journey is extra dependable by then, wherein case Magic Kingdom would drop beneath EPCOT. Word that this isn’t a tough and quick rule, particularly throughout Celebration Season. You need to optimize this with the Finest & Worst Days of the Week in Every Park at Walt Disney World. Selecting the unsuitable day to go to every park is means worse than not backloading your picks when your LLMP window opens.

Fish for MEP

A number of Expertise Passes (MEP) are what you obtain an attraction for which you’ve an upcoming journey reservation is experiencing downtime. You’ll obtain a notification a few modification to your plans, together with an evidence that the attraction is briefly unavailable or one thing like that.

MEPs can be utilized on the Lightning Lane entrance of your alternative all through the day, with a lot of caveats. These floating journey reservations don’t have the restriction of solely being legitimate for every attraction as soon as per day–you should use MEPs to expertise your favourite rides repeatedly.

You’ll be able to ‘fish’ for Multi-Expertise Passes by reserving Lightning Lane Multi-Move upfront for points of interest which might be statistically vulnerable to delayed openings. Simpler and higher but, you may typically make day-of picks for points of interest which might be at the moment experiencing downtime. In the event that they’re nonetheless unavailable when your return window rolls round, the LLMP routinely converts to a MEP. It’s principally a bonus Lightning Lane! That is advanced-level technique, so for a extra thorough clarification, see: How one can Beat Lightning Lane Multi-Move Guidelines & Re-Experience Points of interest.

Know When to Skip

One of many issues we stress on this web site is that you need to NOT all the time purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Walt Disney World. On the contrary, most individuals ought to skip the line-skipping service at the very least a number of the time, at a number of the parks. In Finest Time-Saving Methods for Walt Disney World, we cowl the best approaches to every park, and Lightning Lanes don’t win in at the very least 2 of the 4 parks.

The pitfall some folks make is assuming Lightning Lane Multi-Move is a ‘golden ticket’ or simple approach to beat the crowds. Nevertheless it actually isn’t! That may lull planners right into a false sense of safety, to the purpose that they really are worse off as a result of they over relied on LLMP, mistakenly pondering it could provide a stress and strategy-free day.

If you’d like that, you’re going to must pay $129 to $449 per individual, per day for Lightning Lane Premier Move. What Lightning Lane Multi-Move gives stress free is barely 3-4 rides per day. Leveraging LLMP requires a little bit of homework and legwork, therefore the put up. And in case you’re prepared to do this, perhaps you’re higher off placing the trouble in the direction of Early Entry, rope drop, environment friendly itineraries that decrease strolling, staying late, Prolonged Night Hours, and so on.

Don’t merely succumb to FOMO and purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Move day-after-day of your journey. For those who’re buying since you’re frightened it’s the one approach to assure a superb day within the parks, you’re doing it unsuitable. It’s completely attainable you’ll find yourself wanting it day-after-day, which is ok! Everyone seems to be totally different! Simply don’t view LLMP because the default, and purchase out of concern of the unknown.

For our half, we seldom buy Lightning Lane Multi-Move for enjoyable. Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom are the one exceptions (we by no means purchase at EPCOT or Animal Kingdom), and solely once in a while. It helps that crowds are trending down, and in addition that standby traces are shifting sooner and wait instances are down at Walt Disney World consequently. That’s simply us, although, and our circumstances are distinctive in that we’re frequent guests.

It’s essential you assess your personal distinctive circumstances to find out when and the place Lightning Lane Multi-Move is best for you. Elements to think about are your finances, what number of days you’ve within the parks, whether or not you’re staying on-site, in case you’re an early riser or evening owl, whether or not you’ve been earlier than or it’s your first go to, tolerance for traces, and if there are must-do points of interest for you. For a deeper dive and extra complete recommendation, see When You Ought to Skip Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Walt Disney World.

Search for TBA Refills

Tiana’s Bayou Journey continues to be struggling reliability woes and downtime consequently. Some days, it’s down for a number of hours; different days, none in any respect. It’s unpredictable. It’s additionally the most recent attraction at Walt Disney World, and something new is in increased demand. On account of these two components, Tiana’s Bayou Journey is likely one of the most tough Lightning Lane Multi Passes, proper up there with Slinky Canine Sprint.

Tiana’s Bayou Journey is usually operating out of Lightning Lane Multi Move reservations earlier than the 7-day mark. (This varies based mostly on climate–it’s a lot simpler when day by day excessive temperatures are 60 levels!) There have been instances after I’ve had hassle reserving it over 10 days out, with restricted return instances that didn’t work for my schedule.

With that mentioned, same-day journey reservation refills for Tiana’s Bayou Journey is usually a totally different story. Attributable to 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 on days when the attraction is working effectively and doesn’t have downtime, there are Lightning Lane drops for Tiana’s Bayou Journey which might be occurring with almost-immediate return instances. A few of these situations when there was nothing on the 7-day mark, I’ve been capable of rating same-day availability for return instances ~half-hour into the long run.

The issue is that that is dependent upon Tiana’s Bayou Journey not breaking down. If it’s having a tough day, there won’t be any journey reservation refills for TBA. Suffice to say, there’s numerous luck concerned, however in case you’re visiting on the appropriate day, you need to actually preserve a detailed eye out for near-instant return instances for Tiana’s Bayou Journey. It’s essentially the most hit and miss excessive profile attraction for Lightning Lanes.

Have a Robust Refresh Recreation

As you’ve in all probability gathered from the entire above, extra attraction availability is added to Lightning Lane Multi-Move all through the day. That is no shock in any way, as each FastPass+ and Genie+ had journey reservation refills, drops, pop-up availability or no matter you need to name it. This happens each pursuant to a reasonably constant schedule, and in addition at random. (See Experience Reservation Refill Guidelines at Walt Disney World.)

Taking part in the refresh recreation is way and away the #1 tip & trick for Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Walt Disney World. For those who’re merely settling for no matter you see instantly, you’re doing it unsuitable. That’s a recipe for disappointment and solely getting 3-4 “good” Lightning Lanes per day.

Past this being the #1 tip, taking part in the refresh recreation additionally combines a number of of the above methods. It’s why you need to stability the perfect Lightning Lanes with earlier return instances, as which means extra time to play the refresh recreation, thereby bettering your odds of success.

Combining this with the rolling 3 rule, what you need to do is instantly select the perfect obtainable choice after you’ve tapped into Lightning Lane to unlock your subsequent choice. All the time e-book one thing–don’t refresh and look ahead to the “excellent” Lightning Lane. Reserving one other journey reservation is actually a hedge. The chicken in hand, and so forth.

From there, play the refresh recreation by modifying to one thing higher. Commerce up, so to talk. It’s a great way to hedge your bets. Simply be warned: it turns into addictive–similar to a online game. Additionally like a recreation, it might probably imply dropping a ton of ‘actual world’ time as your face is glued to a display.

My tried and true Lightning Lane refresh technique is tapping in, reserving the perfect obtainable choice, and modifying. There are a number of approaches for refreshing from right here, however I favor toggling the “shut” dropdown on the modify display to refresh instances. Evaluate the left and proper, the latter of which reveals pop-up availability for 4:25 pm that wasn’t there 2 minutes earlier. In my expertise, toggling this “shut” dropdown is essentially the most environment friendly approach to play the refresh recreation. YMMV.

Once more, this may grow to be addictive and you may waste numerous time taking part in the refresh recreation–therefore so many Walt Disney World followers complaining about Lightning Lanes “requiring” you to have your face glued to the telephone. My tough “rule” for enjoying the refresh recreation is limiting it to my time within the Lightning Lane return line after tapping in. This implies I’ve anyplace from 2 minutes to 10 minutes–all of it depends upon whether or not there are two faucet factors, the place merge happens, and so on. Similar goes for any time I’m ready–to select up a Cellular Order, for espresso, the remainder of my get together to get out of the restroom, and so on.

Frankly, you’ll be shocked at simply how a lot buying and selling up is feasible with just some minutes right here and there spent refreshing. Even in case you don’t get the perfect picks when pre-booking, you may often overcome that by taking part in the Lightning Lane refresh recreation for a couple of minutes right here and there. With that and the remainder of the following tips, you actually ought to have the ability to get essentially the most mileage out of Lightning Lane Multi-Move at Walt Disney World!

Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study resorts on our Walt Disney World Lodges Critiques web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Critiques. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas 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 perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for every thing you might want to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What are your greatest ideas & tips for leveraging LLMP at WDW? Do you stability return instances with journey priorities when making Lightning Lane Multi Move picks? Any guidelines of thumb when taking part in the Lightning Lane refresh recreation? Do you agree with our evaluation that getting earlier return instances issues rather a lot for the ‘rolling 3’ rule? The place/when do you purchase LLMP or skip it? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!