Lightning Lane at Walt Disney World

[ToTBellHop]

That's kind of funny, because we think HS really bites under both G+ and now LLMP. It is by far our least favorite park. IMO, if you don't have a LL, then the queues of all the desired rides are a frustrating mess.

A big factor is that we usually skip Rise. If the ride was reliable, and had a short wait, I'd do it, but I do not feel it is worth $25, nor do I feel it is worth more than a 20min wait. I know others feel differently, and that's okay. It is just an important aspect of my park touring to mention here.

So we had LL's for TSM (9:20am), Slinky (noon), and ToT (12:55pm).
1. Getting in the front gate of HS is always chronically slow going back at 5+ years.
2. Used TSM right away, then had a big gap until our 2nd pass. It was only 9:20, on a relatively slow day, and Aliens already had a 30minute wait at around 9:30am.
3. With some refreshing, I was able to book MMRR for 11:30 and move ToT to 12:10. We rode RNRC standby while waiting.
4. Rode MMRR at 11:30-11:56. Arrived ToT 12:16.
5. By noon, there was not much available to book in HS, especially since we'd already booked most of the important rides. I booked ST.
6. By the time we got off ToT, there was a downpour that turned into a thunderstorm. We waited part of that in the gift shops.
7. LL for Slinky was changed to an anytime pass. At 1pm, it looked like the storm was nearly over, so we walked to Slinky.
9. Slinky reopened at 1:19pm. Even though we had a LL, we waited 19min for ride to re-open, plus 12min in the queue.
10. We got lunch about 1:45pm, did Muppets standby, and ST w/LL. Last year, ST was walk-on. this year it had (what looked like) a solid 20min standby/posted as 30min.
11. We left the park with 3 passes booked for Epcot, but Nemo and Imagination were both walk-on when we used them about 3:45-4pm.

That was also true the other day we went to Epcot. Much of the park was walk-on or near walk-on for much of the day, so the LL were somewhat useless. AND even with the rides nearly walk-on, I still wasn't able to move the LL's to earlier times. Under G+, I was.

Because DHS is all headliners and shows, having 3 of them pre-booked allowed us to go to the others starting at park open. It was easier than just showing up and trying to decide whether to go to SWGE, TSL, or RnRC first (often finding the first choice is down…).

 

[GoofGoof]

Because DHS is all headliners and shows, having 3 of them pre-booked allowed us to go to the others starting at park open. It was easier than just showing up and trying to decide whether to go to SWGE, TSL, or RnRC first (often finding the first choice is down…).

Yeah, for DHS getting there early is the way to go if you want to get most or all headliners in. SDD is the hardest to get but the other tier 1s were all bookable after using our first. RnRC was probably second hardest to get. Smugglers was possible to get still in the morning and Mickey Train as well. ToT was probably harder to get mid-day since it’s the best of the tier 2 rides so got pre-booked heavily.

 

[DisneyDreamer810]

Apologies if this has already been gone over.. but with 1316 pages, it's a bit hard to keep up. In regards to DHS, does anyone have any major feelings one way or another about which ride should be rope dropped vs. LL? For example - we pick our LLs on Wednesday, and for our DHS day - our main priorities are to get in TSM & MMRR. We plan on rope dropping that morning. Is there any argument that it's better to rope drop one over the other? We don't have any interest in SDD, but I know many do and the path over to that area may be heavier. I know I can book the other one once we scan into the first ride, but for arguments sake - I'm stuck between which one to grab the LL for this week. Thanks!

 

[GoofGoof]

Apologies if this has already been gone over.. but with 1316 pages, it's a bit hard to keep up. In regards to DHS, does anyone have any major feelings one way or another about which ride should be rope dropped vs. LL? For example - we pick our LLs on Wednesday, and for our DHS day - our main priorities are to get in TSM & MMRR. We plan on rope dropping that morning. Is there any argument that it's better to rope drop one over the other? We don't have any interest in SDD, but I know many do and the path over to that area may be heavier. I know I can book the other one once we scan into the first ride, but for arguments sake - I'm stuck between which one to grab the LL for this week. Thanks!

You can book both of those rides in advance. TSMM is tier 2. The tier 1 rides are Slinky, Smugglers Run, RnRC and Mickey train. Most people at rope drop seem to head to Slinky Dog or Rise if it’s open with RnRC popular too. In days we used LLMP once using our first LL I found that Mickey train and Smugglers Run had a lot of availability relatively early in the day. Slinky had the least and RnRC is tricky since it seems to break a lot (or maybe just while I was there ).

 

[DisneyDreamer810]

You can book both of those rides in advance. TSMM is tier 2. The tier 1 rides are Slinky, Smugglers Run, RnRC and Mickey train. Most people at rope drop seem to head to Slinky Dog or Rise if it’s open with RnRC popular too. In days we used LLMP once using our first LL I found that Mickey train and Smugglers Run had a lot of availability relatively early in the day. Slinky had the least and RnRC is tricky since it seems to break a lot (or maybe just while I was there ).

Wow - I totally thought they were both tier 1. Guess I should’ve verified before I asked. Thank you!!

 

[GoofGoof]

Wow - I totally thought they were both tier 1. Guess I should’ve verified before I asked. Thank you!!

TSMM and ToT seem to be the 2 most popular tier 2 rides at DHS so I found that they were actually harder to get on the “day of“ as a 4th LL then Mickey Train or Smugglers Run. They still had availability ”day of”, especially before noon, but they weren’t always available within an hour or 2.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the following holdover rules from Fastpass+ still exist with Lightning Lane?

• Non-resort guest booking LL with a resort guest can get 7+length of the resort guests stay for the booking window?
• AP holder with non-resort guest with length of stay ticket can get 3+length of the length of stay ticket provided they have the park reservation?

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Apologies if this has already been gone over.. but with 1316 pages, it's a bit hard to keep up. In regards to DHS, does anyone have any major feelings one way or another about which ride should be rope dropped vs. LL? For example - we pick our LLs on Wednesday, and for our DHS day - our main priorities are to get in TSM & MMRR. We plan on rope dropping that morning. Is there any argument that it's better to rope drop one over the other? We don't have any interest in SDD, but I know many do and the path over to that area may be heavier. I know I can book the other one once we scan into the first ride, but for arguments sake - I'm stuck between which one to grab the LL for this week. Thanks!

Mostly, you want your first LL to be as early as possible- assuming you will be in the park early enough to use it.

 

[Purduevian]

Apologies if this has already been gone over.. but with 1316 pages, it's a bit hard to keep up. In regards to DHS, does anyone have any major feelings one way or another about which ride should be rope dropped vs. LL? For example - we pick our LLs on Wednesday, and for our DHS day - our main priorities are to get in TSM & MMRR. We plan on rope dropping that morning. Is there any argument that it's better to rope drop one over the other? We don't have any interest in SDD, but I know many do and the path over to that area may be heavier. I know I can book the other one once we scan into the first ride, but for arguments sake - I'm stuck between which one to grab the LL for this week. Thanks!

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

I would prebook, MMRR, ToT, TSMM and rope drop RNRC(unless RISE is on your list and you don't want to pay for it, rope drop RISE)

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I would prebook, MMRR, ToT, TSMM and rope drop RNRC(unless RISE is on your list and you don't want to pay for it, rope drop RISE)

There is also a solid argument to avoid Rise, FoP, 7D, and Rat at rope drop.

If you aren't at the very front of the pack, then you'll wait to ride them.

Meanwhile, everything else in the park is walk-on.

 

[JD80]

There is also a solid argument to avoid Rise, FoP, 7D, and Rat at rope drop.

If you aren't at the very front of the pack, then you'll wait to ride them.

Meanwhile, everything else in the park is walk-on.

Rat is easy to rope drop but you have to be in the park 30m before early entry at least at the gateway.

 

[seabreezept813]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I pre-purchased Tron for my daughter and I at the 7 day mark. When we were in the park, ready to ride, my daughter was scared and decided not to ride. After the fact, I went to a guest services/ blue umbrella location and explained the situation. They refunded me for my daughter’s lightning lane without hesitation. They were very kind and understanding.

I should have done this.. threw away 20 bucks for my kiddo to skip FOP.

 

[dmc493]

The Tron standby news made me think about all the new attractions coming down the pipeline. I’m super curious what their strategy is going to be regarding how many ILL offerings they have per park. Are they willing to push the limit and offer 3 (or more) at MK? It sounds like so much of their decision making now is based upon whether new offerings drives LL sales, I’m curious if that means 1) solidifying LL value for guests (with or without a permanent price increase) which increases how many people buy it, 2) offering even more ILLs available for the marquee new attractions, or 3) both

 

[Purduevian]

The Tron standby news made me think about all the new attractions coming down the pipeline. I’m super curious what their strategy is going to be regarding how many ILL offerings they have per park. Are they willing to push the limit and offer 3 (or more) at MK? It sounds like so much of their decision making now is based upon whether new offerings drives LL sales, I’m curious if that means 1) solidifying LL value for guests (with or without a permanent price increase) which increases how many people buy it, 2) offering even more ILLs available for the marquee new attractions, or 3) both

Personal guess

• AK 2027 moves to tiers. ILL is one of Encanto/Indy. Tier 1 is FOP, the other new ride, the carousel, and Safari
• Carsland. E ticket moves to ILL, Tron off ILL and into tier 1. Family ride also on tier 1. Big thunder off tier 1
• Villians land. 7D finally moves off ILL and into tier 1, cars kids ride moves off tier 1. Biggest villain ride is ILL, second villians ride tier 1
• Monsters Inc. Monsters moves into tier 1 and boots MFSR into tier 2.

 

[Splash4eva]

Personal guess

• AK 2027 moves to tiers. ILL is one of Encanto/Indy. Tier 1 is FOP, the other new ride, the carousel, and Safari
• Carsland. E ticket moves to ILL, Tron off ILL and into tier 1. Family ride also on tier 1. Big thunder off tier 1
• Villians land. 7D finally moves off ILL and into tier 1, cars kids ride moves off tier 1. Biggest villain ride is ILL, second villians ride tier 1
• Monsters Inc. Monsters moves into tier 1 and boots MFSR into tier 2.

My guess is this by the time these all get built which most likely they will not there will be at least 2 “new” versions of whatever we are calling it these days

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I should have done this.. threw away 20 bucks for my kiddo to skip FOP.

You can still call. How long ago was it?

 

[nickys]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the following holdover rules from Fastpass+ still exist with Lightning Lane?

• Non-resort guest booking LL with a resort guest can get 7+length of the resort guests stay for the booking window?
• AP holder with non-resort guest with length of stay ticket can get 3+length of the length of stay ticket provided they have the park reservation?

Yes and yes. But the AP holder will still be limited according to which pass they have.

 

[SageOfTime]

Haven't kept up with this thread in about 50 pages or so, so excuse me if this has been covered before (and also remove this post if outside links aren't allowed), but does this rumor have any value to it? I personally like the idea, and hope it ends up coming to fruition.

RUMOR: Walt Disney World to Debut Universal Express-Style Skip-the-Line Offering

A new rumor that Walt Disney World will roll out its own Universal Express-style skip-the-line system called Lightning Lane Premier Pass

blogmickey.com

 

[Splash4eva]

Anyone still think Disney wanted to “fix” DAS for a better guest experience or simply find a way to upsell as many people as they can lol

 

[Disgruntled Walt]