New Lightning Lane System Launches Today at Walt Disney World: What You Need to Know

Jul 24, 2024 in "Disney Genie"

Posted: Wednesday July 24, 2024 6:45am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Starting today, Walt Disney World's updated Lightning Lane system is officially live, bringing significant changes to the way guests can plan and experience high-demand attractions.


Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass

The rebranded services, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass replace the old Genie+ and individual Lightning Lane services. This new system integrates elements from the former FastPass+ service, offering more flexibility and advance planning options.

Key Features of the New Lightning Lane Passes

Advance Planning: Resort guests can now make their Lightning Lane selections up to 7 days in advance, while non-resort guests can plan 3 days ahead. This change allows guests to secure their preferred experiences without the stress of last-minute decisions.

Multiple-Day Booking: Guests have the convenience of booking Lightning Lane passes for multiple days in one go, making vacation planning more streamlined.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass

With the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, guests can make up to three selections per day in advance from groups of attractions. These selections can be scheduled at specific times, adding a layer of predictability to the park visit. On the day of the visit, once a pass is used, guests can check the My Disney Experience app for additional availability.

Attractions by Tier

Lightning Lane Multi Pass will have 2 tiers of attractions at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT. There are no tiers at Disney's Animal Kingdom. You can choose one selection from the first tier, and two selections from the second tier.

Magic Kingdom:

  • Tier 1: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain, Tiana's Bayou Adventure
  • Tier 2: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, "it's a small world", Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Mad Tea Party, Mickey's Philharmagic, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club, The Barnstormer, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tomorrowland Speedway, Journey of the Little Mermaid

EPCOT:

  • Tier 1: Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Soarin' Around the World
  • Tier 2: Journey Into Imagination with Figment, Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Turtle Talk with Crush, Disney-Pixar Short Film Festival

Hollywood Studios:

  • Tier 1: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Rock' n' Roller Coaster, Slinky Dog Dash
  • Tier 2: The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania!, Alien Swirling Saucers, Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, Disney Junior Play and Dance!, Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, Muppet*Vision 3D

Disney's Animal Kingdom

At Disney's Animal Kingdom, all attractions are available under a single tier.

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Like the former Individual Attraction Purchase, this pass continues to offer access to the most sought-after rides, with the added benefit of advance booking. Attractions include TRON Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios, AVATAR Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT.

Planning Ahead

Disney Resort hotel guests and select hotel guests can plan Lightning Lane passes for their entire stay, up to 14 days, starting 7 days in advance. Other guests can plan up to 3 days in advance.

The My Disney Experience app has also been updated to facilitate quicker and easier planning, including a new option to purchase both Lightning Lane Single Pass and Lightning Lane Multi Pass in a single transaction.

Using Lightning Lane Passes

To use the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, guests can choose up to three attractions in advance for a particular park. Once they enter the park and use their pre-booked passes, they can check for additional availability on the app. This feature adds flexibility, allowing spontaneous plans based on real-time attraction availability.

For the Lightning Lane Single Pass, guests can book a time for high-demand attractions well before their visit, ensuring they don't miss out on must-see experiences. This advance booking option helps in better planning and managing park time.

The complimentary features of the Disney Genie service continue to be available in the My Disney Experience app. This includes personalized itineraries and real-time tips to optimize park visits.

For more details on how to make the most of the new Lightning Lane system, be sure to check out the latest Disney Genie news and our Lightning Lane Pass Guide and FAQ.

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Dranth12 days ago

He was asked about the past and not specifically FP or FP+ but in context, FP+ is my understanding and would match the reports of cast members on the ratios they would use to let guests through each line.

Laketravis12 days ago

Was the bolded referring to FP, FP+, or both? My point was that FP+ was prototyped and engineered to become a pay-for feature from the outset. They knew exactly what they were doing at each phase - increased availability and heightened awareness of the FP+ offering came at the expense of substantially increased SB wait times. Of course it was not sustainable but again, it was intentional. As well as eventually establishing consistent yet reasonable SB wait times regardlesss of current park load (yield management) while maintaining the perceived need to purchase an alternative. So here we are today, over ten years later where the majority of park attractions have consistent wait times no matter how lightly or heavily loaded the parks are yet the perception of needing to pay more for "quicker" access is maintained. Yup, it's been years since 4 hour wait times at WDW were featured on the national evening news. Quite the delicate balance, mission accomplished. Oh, but wait - where is that price point that causes pain and decline in revenue? Have they found it? Are they paying attention to the sacrificial revenue lambs that are suffering at the expense of LL sales? We shall see.

Dranth12 days ago

Operationally, it was a problem by the end. The vast majority of line capacity was coming through the FP lane. We had some information posted by Len just a few weeks back spelling this out: Current LL: When asked about FP era: 75-80% is ridiculous and not sustainable. I don't like an offering going from free to paid any more than anyone else but logically, it makes sense if you are a business and you need to reduce utilization. It reduces use through customer self-selection even before the tighter controls you can place on the product as well as makes stockholders happy with a new revenue stream. Paid line skips, revamping DAS access (not commenting on if this was right or wrong, just that it was done), and attendance levels more in a manageable range given park capacity have all combined to make a trip completely doable without needing a line skip on most days for most people.

Laketravis12 days ago

FP+ wasn't a problem, it actually served as the model for a revenue based system. I was given a Magic Band and a prototype app in 2012-2013 and told I could pick three rides a day in addition to pulling paper FP's over the course of several visits that year. At the last "meeting" of our focus group we were asked to rank FP+ over/under FP against various metrics and also to put a dollar amount (bracketed choices) on the value we thought FP+ brought. I of course put $0 but obviously my opinion didn't mean crap 😂.

Dranth12 days ago

Sure, technically they could have done anything but getting FP+ usage to drop to the current levels of LL would have required a massive reduction making it essentially useless without massive changes to how it worked (number of selections, re-rides, additional selections post using three, etc.). I would say it was both. FP+ was a problem that had to be fixed. It needed to change so that it wasn't eating so much capacity. Charging for a skip the line service is one way to accomplish that goal. That it also created a new revenue stream just made it the obvious best choice from a business point of view.

Purduevian14 days ago

I mean obviously Standby and Rope drop are options. However, the quantity/frequency that I am able to get on attractions will get worse if they move to a LLPP/Standby only system.

Disstevefan114 days ago

I have also see posts here saying families were able to get on attractions without having to purchase LLMP so there are ways.

Purduevian14 days ago

I sure hope not... I don't have the money for LLPP and I can typically do everything I want to do in a day with LLMP. And before someone comes in to tell me that the standby lines would be so short if they got rid of all the skip the lines I would still be able to do everything I wanted with a minimal wait... My "worst" trip to Disney was in October 2021 right before G+ launched and there was no skip the line (still had a great time, just not as good of a time). If the options were LLPP or standby online, I would visit a lot less.

Disgruntled Walt14 days ago

For sure. They've basically looked at all aspects of their parks and resorts and said, "Why aren't we profiting from _____?" Then they made it so they are.

nickys14 days ago

Hang on, is this why you think they introduced G+ rather than free FP+? That there were too many people using it that they decided it didn’t work. I think they simply decided this was a way to get some new revenue. Paid versions were already in place at DLP and at least one of Tokyo and Shanghai (possibly both) before WDW. When it was first rumoured the discussion included variations of all existing options. So they saw good sales in the other parks and wanted the revenue.

Jrb197914 days ago

I personally think they need to get rid of LLMP and just have the Premier Pass. Keep that limited.

Purduevian14 days ago

How would reducing the number of passes help the people buying LLMP? Wouldn't that just make rides sell out faster, causing people to get less lightning lanes per day, thus devaluing the upcharge? Disney for sure wants people to feel like LLMP is worth it so they buy it next time/tell their friends they should buy it.

CaptJackSparrow14 days ago

Huh? It would be better….

Purduevian15 days ago

Why would they make an upcharge worse to help people that didn't purchase the upcharge?