Disney World Lightning Lane Review: Single, Multi and Premier Pass Tips
- Single Pass was very satisfying, Multi Pass was a hassle to rebook, and Premier Pass was easy but pricey
- Each Lightning Lane gives you a 1-hour return window, so you can plan your day a little tighter
- Link your party in the app ahead of time and book Multi Pass rides in order of earliest sell-out time
Show contents (7)
In this post I’m sharing my review of Lightning Lane and the tips I picked up using it. I bought Premier Pass at Hollywood Studios, and both Multi Pass and Single Pass at the other parks (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom).
The short version:
👉 Single Pass was very satisfying. 👉 Multi Pass left me a little disappointed. 👉 Premier Pass was definitely convenient, but the price was hard to swallow.
My overall Lightning Lane review
The biggest advantage of Lightning Lane is, of course, cutting your wait time. Popular attractions often have standby waits of 60 minutes and sometimes up to 110 minutes, and with Lightning Lane I was able to save energy and use my time efficiently.
There’s a downside, though. With Lightning Lane you skip the regular standby queue and enter through a “shortcut” entrance, so you miss most of the themed areas built into the standby line (props, displays and atmosphere). Disney designs even its queues as part of the story, so that’s something you can miss out on with Lightning Lane. Weigh the pros and cons before you buy.
Single Pass review
Single Pass really gives you the thrill of skipping the line 😂 These are the most popular rides, so the standby line was always long — walking past all those people to board made it very much worth the money.
Multi Pass review
Multi Pass, on the other hand, was a bit of a hassle. Every time you ride one attraction you have to book the next one in the app, and the time slots I wanted were already gone, leaving only late ones. As a result I had to keep changing my route on the fly, which made the day less efficient.
On top of that, the popular attractions were completely booked up by around 3 PM, so sometimes I ended up in the standby line anyway. And some Multi Pass attractions only had a 10-minute or so standby wait, so using Lightning Lane on them made almost no real difference.
Premier Pass review
Hollywood Studios has so many popular attractions that I thought, “I want to do this park properly,” so I bought Premier Pass. Its biggest advantage is that you don’t need any reservations. You don’t have to keep staring at the app trying to move times like with Multi Pass — I could just follow the plan I’d made at the start, and it felt much more relaxed. The high price is the downside, of course.
If Lightning Lane prices feel like too much, buy only the Single Pass rides you really want, and tackle the rest when standby waits get shorter. You can still have a full, rewarding day :)
Now for the tips I picked up from actually using Lightning Lane.
1. Your return window
You can use a Lightning Lane for 1 hour from your booked time. For example, a 10:00 booking lets you enter between 10:00 and 11:00. When I used Multi Pass I left about 30 minutes of buffer per ride, but in practice I had more slack than expected, so I’d recommend planning a little tighter.
2. Link your party in advance!
If you’re traveling with others, link everyone in the app ahead of time. That way you can book the same attraction for everyone in one go.
👉 How to do it: My Disney Experience app > My Account > Family & Friends List > +Add a Guest
3. Multi Pass booking order
Popular attractions book up very fast. You can check the sell-out ranking (Sell-Out Time) for the past week here:
→ I recommend booking in order of earliest sell-out time!
That wraps up my Disney World Lightning Lane review and tips. Thanks for reading all the way through — I hope it helps a little with your trip planning 😊
Dreamer
I've loved Disney and theme parks since I was a kid. Questions? Reach out through the contact page. Contact →
