Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[C33Mom]

But I thought I would never get more than one T1 ride!

I don’t think anybody suggested it wouldn’t be possible to get a few good rides at DHS under any circumstances.

Starting at 11AM (for practical purposes) is much later than I would have thought you could knock out all headliner rides, though I seriously doubt this strategy would work during a more crowded period, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. @TheMaxRebo — how far out did you have to book your LLMP to line up those 3 rides before noon?

Would like to hear how the day at MK went if you have time.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I don’t think anybody suggested it wouldn’t be possible to get a few good rides at DHS under any circumstances.

Starting at 11AM (for practical purposes) is much later than I would have thought you could knock out all headliner rides, though I seriously doubt this strategy would work during a more crowded period, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. @TheMaxRebo — how far out did you have to book your LLMP to line up those 3 rides before noon?

Would like to hear how the day at MK went if you have time.

Should have mentioned that, staying on property and booked at 7am 7 days out from my check in date. This was day 6 of our trip and MK was day 5, so total of 12 and 13 days out

 

[djlaosc]

Looks like they may be adding something to Disneyland, possibly pre-booking?

 

[Purduevian]

Looks like they may be adding something to Disneyland, possibly pre-booking?

DLR G+/LLMP discussion is here: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...r-way-to-anaheim.974531/page-41#post-11032299

I'm guessing they are thinking of going to the Paris system.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

For our MK day, which was last Wed

Did our rebooking at 12 days out (MK was day 5 of onsite stay) and had Pirates at 9:35, Tiana's at 10:35, and HM at 11:35

Also, group is myself and two kids (ages 10 and 12)

Summary:
- 11 attractions using Lightning Lane
- 9 attractions standby (plus the rafts and TSI, which we spent ~hour on) - 4 of which were in extra hours
- 3 attractions via VQ: Tiana's once and Tron twice
13.5 hours of park time

Details:
- at 7am got BG 3 for Tiana's
- arrived at park at 9:35
- scanned into Pirates at 9:45, booked Big Thunder for 1:55 (did check JC but earliest was 7:50, definitely proved hardest to get for us that day)
- scanned into Tiana's VQ at 10:04, on ride at 10:09
- got some Beignets (they were tasty but not long not and fluffy like I prefer)
- scanned into Tiana's LL at 10:41 (got on ride at 10:49), got LL for Small World for 11:50.
- more food
- scanned into HM LL at 11:46, booked Speedway for 2:50
- scanned into Small World LL at 12:12, got Space Mtn for 6:05
- Took rafter over to TSI - while on raft got BG 82 for Tron at 1pm drop
- spent nearly and hour on TSI
- back over and scanned into BTMRR LL at 1:58, got LL for Buzz for 6:40
- was going to rain over to Tomorrowland and do speedway but train was down so pushed Speedway back to 5:40 to set up nice after noon in Tomorrowland (definitely feel like you can organize in one area better with this system)

- left just before 3pm for afternoon rest, back in park at 5:10
- on line for Tron VQ at 5:20, off ride at 6:11. While on line got VQ 182 for Tron at 6pm drop)
- scanned in for Speedway LL at 6:18, got LL for Mermaid at 8:50 (was currently 30min posted wait time)
- Space went down so LL turned into multi-attraction. Got some food to see if it would come back up and booked Barnstormer for 9:30 as once one goes to multi-attraction that frees up one of your 3 LLMP slots, so technically we're holding 4 at this point
- scanned into Buzz LL at 7:10, booked LL for tea party at 8
- rode peoplemover (posted 20min wait, was about 13)
- decided to use multiattraction pass for Jungle Cruise as Space still not up, and figured could get on it during after hours if it does come up - scanned into JC at 7:52
- Magic Carpets standby at 8:09
- in line for speedway at 8:58 standby to watch Happily Ever After while driving
- Rode speedway standby again (3 times today, it is my son's favorite ride), in line at 9:19
- Carousel of Progress at 9:43
- scanned into tea cups LL at 10:12
- scanned into Barnstormer LL at 10:22
- scanned into Mermaid LL at 10:38
Bathroom break and then extra hours started
- Country Bears at 11:02
- Philharmagic at 11:23
- Mine Train, in line at 11:45 and was 23min wait
- Space Mountain at 12:17
- Tron again at 12:37
- walked out of park at 1:05

-

 

[GoofGoof]

My first day using the new system was yesterday. I booked my LLs 7 days in advance for whole trip. For 8/19 had:
Magic Carpets 9-10
Jungle Cruise 9:55-10:55
and Pirates 11:15-12:15

Got to MK around 9:15am and went left into Adventure Land. Used Carpets first then booked Big Thunder for 10:30-11:30. Since we were waiting for JC anyway did Tiki Birds (6 people in theater - only disappointment was my singing along did not embarrass my kids at all since empty ). We also did tree house. Then tapped in at JC at 9:50 and booked Tiana for 11-12. Must have been from the 9:47 drop. We then made our way over and did BTMRR, country Bears, Tiana and Pirates. We also did Hall of Presidents and the river boat (took a ton of pictures since may be gone next time I’m back ).

At this point we knew we were leaving MK after lunch for a break so switched to booking EPCOT for the evening. Booked Soarin, SSE and Living with the Land. For after 7pm returns. Could have also booked anything else but Rat and Frozen. EMHs from 9-11 were a complete bust. Lines were way longer than they were at 7pm when we got to EPCOT so glad we had the LLs booked. Rat was 80 mins at 9:30 and Soarin hit 50 mins.

So to recap rides and Lightning Lanes used:
LLMP:

1. JC (tier 1)
2. BTMRR (tier 1)
3. Tiana (tier 1
4. Soarin (tier 1)
5. Pirates
6. Magic Carpets
7. SSE
8. Living with the Land.

Without LL:

1. Tiki Birds
2. Country Bears (didn’t really want to like new show as much as I did)
3. HoP
4. Big boat
5. American Adventure
6. Mexico Boat

Only disappointment with system was there did not appear to be a Remy drop at 1:47PM so did not end up with that for the evening too. I also did notice that when I switched to EPCOT around noon there were still a bunch of things open at MK we could have booked if we were staying or coming back. Longest I waited all day was for my mobile order pickup at Regal Eagle - took about 15 mins.

 

[Purduevian]

I'm

My first day using the new system was yesterday. I booked my LLs 7 days in advance for whole trip. For 8/19 had:
Magic Carpets 9-10
Jungle Cruise 9:55-10:55
and Pirates 11:15-12:15

Got to MK around 9:15am and went left into Adventure Land. Used Carpets first then booked Big Thunder for 10:30-11:30. Since we were waiting for JC anyway did Tiki Birds (6 people in theater - only disappointment was my singing along did not embarrass my kids at all since empty ). We also did tree house. Then tapped in at JC at 9:50 and booked Tiana for 11-12. Must have been from the 9:47 drop. We then made our way over and did BTMRR, country Bears, Tiana and Pirates. We also did Hall of Presidents and the river boat (took a ton of pictures since may be gone next time I’m back ).

At this point we knew we were leaving MK after lunch for a break so switched to booking EPCOT for the evening. Booked Soarin, SSE and Living with the Land. For after 7pm returns. Could have also booked anything else but Rat and Frozen. EMHs from 9-11 were a complete bust. Lines were way longer than they were at 7pm when we got to EPCOT so glad we had the LLs booked. Rat was 80 mins at 9:30 and Soarin hit 50 mins.

So to recap rides and Lightning Lanes used:
LLMP:
JC (tier 1)
BTMRR (tier 1)
Tiana (tier 1)
Soarin (tier 1)
Pirates
Magic Carpets
SSE
Living with the Land
without LL:
Tiki Birds
Country Bears (didn’t really want to like new show as much as I did)
HoP
Big boat
American Adventure
Mexico Boat

Only disappointment with system was there did not appear to be a Remy drop at 1:47PM so did not end up with that for the evening too. I also did notice that when I switched to EPCOT around noon there were still a bunch of things open at MK we could have booked if we were staying or coming back. Longest I waited all day was for my mobile order pickup at Regal Eagle - took about 15 mins.

I'm going to bet this was either 8/12, 8/15/, or 8/16 since Remy didn't drop anything on those days. Also, I think it's 1:48pm not 1:47pm

 

[GoofGoof]

I'm

I'm going to bet this was either 8/12, 8/15/, or 8/16 since Remy didn't drop anything on those days. Also, I think it's 1:48pm not 1:47pm

It was yesterday. I refreshed from 1:47 to 1:50 but got nothing. EPCOT was packed last night so maybe just sold out fast.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It was yesterday. I refreshed from 1:47 to 1:50 but got nothing. EPCOT was packed last night so maybe just sold out fast.

We were at Epcot last Monday and it was packed. I think all the Deluxe folks go there with the other Xtra hours. Nemo line was literally out the door.

Agree with your above statement that Epcot deluxe hours are a bit of a bust. All the big rides had super long lines (60min+). Only good thing is can get a another VQ BG for Guardians. We did that and Gran Fiesta and Mission Space and that is it

 

[GoofGoof]

We were at Epcot last Monday and it was packed. I think all the Deluxe folks go there with the other Xtra hours. Nemo line was literally out the door.

Agree with your above statement that Epcot deluxe hours are a bit of a bust. All the big rides had super long lines (60min+). Only good thing is can get an another VQ BG for Guardians. We did that and Gran Fiesta and Mission Space and that is it

I tried to get BG for guardians and even that sold out in seconds like the 7am. We did Guardians this morning. Then I found a quiet corner of the park to rid myself of breakfast . All I kept thinking is this would be whole lot worse after eating BBQ at Regal Eagle last night. Thank god the BGs sold out. Getting old sucks. I’ve always had motion sickness but used to be able to handle rides like that.

Today we had MS, SSE and Remy plus we rode Guardians . After using MS I added frozen this evening. We also booked Imagination for right away (some strange reason it had a 25 min wait). We also did Seas and Disney/Pixar shorts with no wait and checked out some of the new middle of the park. This evening will be go back for dinner and countries with Frozen, Mexico Boat ride and I booked Soarin for 8:15-9:00 to stop in on the way out of the park. I will definitely get less value from LLMP today vs yesterday. Expected ride count:

1. Remy (tier 1)
2. Frozen (tier 1)
3. Soarin (tier 1)
4. MS
5. SSE
6. Imagination

Without LL:

1. Seas
2. pixar shorts
3. Mexico Boat ride

There were still plenty of slots available for Soarin and Land so it would have been possible to do all of the available rides in EPCOT in a day with LL. I think until TT returns Remy is the priority and then as long as you arrive before noon or so you should be able to get Frozen. The rest are easy to get during the day. Right now Soarin and everything other than Rat and Frozen is available within the hour.

 

[JD80]

I don’t think anybody suggested it wouldn’t be possible to get a few good rides at DHS under any circumstances.

Starting at 11AM (for practical purposes) is much later than I would have thought you could knock out all headliner rides, though I seriously doubt this strategy would work during a more crowded period, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. @TheMaxRebo — how far out did you have to book your LLMP to line up those 3 rides before noon?

Would like to hear how the day at MK went if you have time.

A bunch of people were.

 

[C33Mom]

I tried to get BG for guardians and even that sold out in seconds like the 7am. We did Guardians this morning. Then I found a quiet corner of the park to rid myself of breakfast . All I kept thinking is this would be whole lot worse after eating BBQ at Regal Eagle last night. Thank god the BGs sold out. Getting old sucks. I’ve always had motion sickness but used to be able to handle rides like that.

Today we had MS, SSE and Remy plus we rode Guardians . After using MS I added frozen this evening. We also booked Imagination for right away (some strange reason it had a 25 min wait). We also did Seas and Disney/Pixar shorts with no wait and checked out some of the new middle of the park. This evening will be go back for dinner and countries with Frozen, Mexico Boat ride and I booked Soarin for 8:15-9:00 to stop in on the way out of the park. I will definitely get less value from LLMP today vs yesterday. Expected ride count:

1. Remy (tier 1)
2. Frozen (tier 1)
3. Soarin (tier 1)
4. MS
5. SSE
6. Imagination

Without LL:

1. Seas
2. pixar shorts
3. Mexico Boat ride

There were still plenty of slots available for Soarin and Land so it would have been possible to do all of the available rides in EPCOT in a day with LL. I think until TT returns Remy is the priority and then as long as you arrive before noon or so you should be able to get Frozen. The rest are easy to get during the day. Right now Soarin and everything other than Rat and Frozen is available within the hour.

Maybe it’s changed but when we were there ~10 days ago it was surprisingly hard to get Mission Space after noon. I think everything else besides Remy and Frozen (and GotG) had reasonable availability all day.

 

[dmc493]

Mission space is going fast and has not great availability because it’s the “best” of the second tier in my opinion. Even tho there’s an argument against that, that’s how people are booking. Regardless, wait times are rarely over 10-15 minutes at any point in the day so it’s not even necessary

 

[C33Mom]

Mission space is going fast and has not great availability because it’s the “best” of the second tier in my opinion. Even tho there’s an argument against that, that’s how people are booking. Regardless, wait times are rarely over 10-15 minutes at any point in the day so it’s not even necessary

I agree and should have noted that despite there being extremely limited LL availability, when we redeemed it (admittedly in the middle of a rain/electrical storm day) I don’t think there was any wait on either side of the LL merge.

 

[GoofGoof]

Maybe it’s changed but when we were there ~10 days ago it was surprisingly hard to get Mission Space after noon. I think everything else besides Remy and Frozen (and GotG) had reasonable availability all day.

Didn’t try to add MS today since we used it first thing, but on Momday we were able to add after we finished morning at MK, probably around noon or 1PM. We wanted late evening so it may have been 7 or 8PM we had booked. I ended up changing it to SSE which oddly had a 25 min wait that night.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I was able to do my lightning lanes this morning so I wanted to share my experience. I am checking in to CBR next Saturday 8/17 with my daughter. We have 4 park days, a Typhoon Lagoon & Disney Springs day, and a party day, planning to enter MK at 4pm.

I did not purchase anything for our AK day. We are planning to go to FoP at early entry and I’m confident standby will be fine for everything else.

For our Epcot day, I only purchased single pass for Guardians. I am also hoping to get the VQ so we can ride twice. There were plenty of times available and I got exactly what I wanted.
We are entering from the International Gateway for early entry and heading to Remy first. The only possible long wait I am anticipating is Frozen but I couldn’t justify purchasing multi pass for that. Since the queue is indoors, we will just suck it up and wait.

My first purchase this morning was our MK day. I purchased both multi pass and single pass for Tron. I was able to get what I wanted but it took a lot of fiddle faddling to get the times I wanted. I initially accepted the times that were offered as I didn’t want to lose my selections and then modified for several minutes after completing all my other purchases. My only complaint is that it chooses the order for the initial bookings. I wish you could choose how you wanted them lined up for the day. More on this in a bit.
We are planning to start at Space Mountain at early entry. Early entry is at 7:30. After some fiddling, here is what I ended up with:
8:05 Buzz
8:45 Tron
9:50 Tiana
11:10 Haunted Mansion

Buzz is essentially a throw away. Yes we want to ride, yes I realize I won’t need a LL this early. Once we tap in, I’m hoping it’s early enough in the day to get a decent time for Jungle Cruise or Big Thunder.
Pan is closed for refurb on this day.

For my second booking, I went to our DHS day. This is where things got dicey. We are planning to do Rise at early entry then I wanted to go to Toy Story Land and knock out all 3 things there. I chose Slinky, Mania and ToT. It gave me automatic times in the order of Slinky, Tower, Mania. I should have modified right then but was afraid I’d lose the selections so I accepted. After, it wouldn’t let me modify Mania to an earlier time because it overlapped with Tower. I had to first push Tower out to the afternoon, then modify Mania, then go back and push Tower closer to the morning. It was risky but thankfully it worked out. My final times are:
Slinky 9:25
Mania 10:30
Tower 11:10

I am definitely going to fiddle with the first two and see if I can get them even closer to the 9am opening.

So overall, I’m happy. My advice is to attempt to modify as much as you can in the initial 5 minutes. I accepted what was given and modified after which was risky.

Sorry this is long but I hope it’s helpful as people navigate the new system

I'm glad you got some favorable times, but how is this better than showing up and being handed a slip of paper or a similar system but digitized? Having to quickly juggle things ahead of the trip adds a ridiculous amount of unnecessary activity and stress. Then, you fast forward to the day of and your child has an ear infection so you're at Urgent Care all morning.

Have I mentioned that I hate this system?

 

[Purduevian]

It was yesterday. I refreshed from 1:47 to 1:50 but got nothing. EPCOT was packed last night so maybe just sold out fast.

Looking into Thrill data, looks like there was at least a small drop on 8/19 at 1:48pm for a 6:50pm return time, but it didn't last long (no way to tell from thrill data other than less than a minute).

Usually, it hangs around for at least a minute so either it was extremely busy on 8/19 or they just didn't drop as many as usual.

I'll probably do another dive into LL drop times sometime in mid to late October since I am going in November.

 

[Purduevian]

Mission space is going fast and has not great availability because it’s the “best” of the second tier in my opinion. Even tho there’s an argument against that, that’s how people are booking. Regardless, wait times are rarely over 10-15 minutes at any point in the day so it’s not even necessary

If we are Tiering things on how fast they sell out (Based on Thrill Data sell out times in the last Month)

	Magic Kingdom	Epcot	Hollywood Studios	Animal Kingdom
S (Sells out before 9am)	Tiana	Remy	Slinky Dog, TSMM
A (Sells out before 1pm)	Jungle Cruise	Frozen	Tower of Terror	Navi, Kali
B (Sells out before 4pm)	Pooh, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion	Mission Space	Rock N Rollercoaster, MMRR, Indy	FotLK, Feathered
C (Sells out before 6 pm)	Space		BatB, Disney Jr. Alien	Nemo, Dinosaur, Everest, Safari
D (Sells out before 8pm)	Speedway, Philharmagaic, Pan (only been on for 2 days)		Frozen, MFSR	Bug
E (Sells out before 9pm)	Pirates, Buzz, Monsters Inc, Mermaid, Barnstormer, Carpets, Small World	Turtle Talk, SSE, Soarin, Figment, Pixar, Land, Seas	Star Tours
F (Sells out at/after 9pm)	Tea Party, Dumbo

Source: https://www.thrill-data.com/lightning-lane/wdw

 

[GoofGoof]

Looking into Thrill data, looks like there was at least a small drop on 8/19 at 1:48pm for a 6:50pm return time, but it didn't last long (no way to tell from thrill data other than less than a minute).

Usually, it hangs around for at least a minute so either it was extremely busy on 8/19 or they just didn't drop as many as usual.

I'll probably do another dive into LL drop times sometime in mid to late October since I am going in November.

It was crazy busy at EPCOT that day, I think because of the EMHs. I’d probably advise anyone going to avoid any park that has the evening hours if you want to maximize use of LL.

 

[GoofGoof]

So today was a DHS day using LL. Started with MFSR, Star Tours and TSMM. Got to park around 9ish. Went to Star Tours first and swiped in and then added Mickey Train for 11:30-12:30. Did Muppets, Rise, Smugglers Run and walked around SW land before swiping in at Mickey Train. After swiping in booked ToT for 8-9 to use before we hit Fantasmic. We went to Ogas for drinks then rode TSMM. After swiping in I added RnRC for 7:15-8:15 to also use before Fantasmic. We hit Walt Disney Presents then had lunch and went back to hotel for break. I just added a Slinky Dog for 4:50-5:50 (will see how late I can return and still use later) and could have gotten Alien Saucers for 7-8 plus all of the shows. MFSR is also available almost immediately along with Star Tours, TSMM and any show. Only thing sold out right now is Mickey Train. Will likely hit Pixar shorts and Muppets again this evening before heading towards Fantasmic.

Ride count and LL used:

1. MFSR (tier 1)
2. Mickey Train (Tier 1)
3. RnRC (tier 1)
4. Slinky Dog (tier 1)
5. Star Tours
6. ToT
7. Walt Disney Presents (no LL)
8. Muppets (did not use LL)
9. Fantasmic (no LL)
10. Pixar Shorts (no LL)
11. Muppets (no LL)

I would say that with a little planning and playing around I could have done every ride using LL and still worked in most of the shows.