As of today, July 24, Walt Disney World has rolled out the new Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, effectively killing off the Genie+ service. This post takes an early look at ride reservation availability following the changes, with the goal of determining whether it’s now more or less difficult to score the best selections in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
Before we get going, it is worth noting that Walt Disney World is not launching Lightning Lane Multi Pass in a vacuum. It’s been a slow summer throughout Orlando’s theme parks, as we discuss at length in Summer (Still) Is NOT High Crowds Season at Walt Disney World.
This has actually been the busiest week of July 2024, with average wait times of 32 minutes for a crowd level of 3/10. That’s not particularly surprising, as this ‘twin peaks’ trend has become normal and we expected a last hurrah for summer travel at the end of July. Nevertheless, we’d expect a slowdown by the middle of next week, and significantly lower crowds starting around August 12, for the reasons discussed in our 2024-2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars.
You might think that a conversation about crowds is beside the point, but it’s precisely the point. More people purchase Lightning Lanes when crowds are higher. This is something we’ve seen time and time again in the last two years. There’s a reason that demand for Lightning Lanes is higher when prices are higher–it’s because the date-based surcharge over the low or regular seasons is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Intuitively, this makes complete sense. Worse wait times creates a higher incentive for bypassing lines, meaning higher uptake of Lightning Lanes even when it costs more. The rationale is simple–people are willing to pay more to skip lines when they’re worse. Even at a higher price, Lightning Lane Multi Pass offers greater utility and value for money on a 9/10 crowd level day than it does a 3/10 day.
Moreover, those visiting during peak weeks are already paying more for their vacations. The difference between $27 (current pricing for Magic Kingdom) and $39 (peak pricing) is relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and won’t cause many guests who are already choosing to book the most expensive days of the year to balk at pricing. Another few hundred dollars on top of a multi-thousand dollar trip will be “worth it” to a large percentage of guests if it offers a competitive advantage–and Lightning Lanes do!
More to the point, I mention all of this because we’ve been around the block with the launch of new line-skipping services during the off-season. Genie+ launched back on October 19, 2021 at Walt Disney World at a time that was shockingly uncrowded for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this post.
Before the end of October, we had extensively tested Genie+ in every single park at Walt Disney World and aside from some bellyaching about paying $16 (ah, the good ole days) per park for what used to be free and the buggy nature of the app feature, our conclusion was that Genie+ was glorious. We were able to book every single Lightning Lane in every park with ease (well, minus the app glitches). Availability was plentiful, demand was low.
Crowd levels were also in the 1/10 to 2/10 range. Fast-forward about a month, and the paid FastPass replacement absolutely melted down in Thanksgiving crowds. So we tested and retested. Then Walt Disney World made a bunch of changes to fix problems and help with the supply vs. demand imbalance. More testing and retesting. Frankly, I feel like Bob Chapek should’ve given me a shoutout on the earnings calls for buying Genie+ so many times and helping pump up their numbers.
The moral of the story is that I easily tested Genie+ over a dozen times in 3 of the 4 parks (it quickly became clear that Animal Kingdom was a waste of time–even as the system changed, DAK demand dynamics did not) during its first year of existence. Field testing results from one month were often obsolete by the next.
By my count, there were 16 official changes to Genie+ that we reported on during its existence, and many more unofficial tweaks. I’d expect a very similar story here with Lightning Lane Multi-Pass as Walt Disney World figures out the demand dynamic and listens to guest feedback.
At the very least, we’re not going to be able to glean the advance booking dynamic from launch, as it’s happening in a condensed timeframe. Accordingly, this should all be viewed as a just for fun or exercise in futility, whichever is your preference.
In any case, I’ll be checking Lightning Lane availability regularly and sharing the results here for those who care. Commentary follows in case you can’t make sense of the screenshots, or just want an interpretation…
7:00 am Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Availability
Admittedly, this is a bit of a firehose of information–screenshots captured in a sleep-deprived and uncaffeinated state.
You’ll notice that the same few attractions–Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Slinky Dog Dash, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure–appear throughout. That’s because these are the #1 priorities that are in the highest demand in their respective parks. So availability for these will be the most limited, and their available time slots the most instructive.
Since the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass system is smart, earlier hours are going to be gone first–meaning that what you see in most cases is the earliest possible return time. Even though guests have the option of modifying (as illustrated in some screenshots) and adjusting their time slots to occur later, there isn’t much incentive for doing so. I would hazard a guess that the majority of guests will stick with the default–or at least enough that earlier times are always gone first at the 7:00 am mark. (Ride reservation refills won’t follow this rule of thumb.)
If you’re going to be trying for any of these headliners, we’d reiterate that speed strategy still works! (although that post needs an update for the changeover to LLMP, the animating idea remains true). Moreover, from what we’re seeing, you should book parks in the following priority:
- Magic Kingdom (Tiana’s Bayou Adventure)
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Slinky Dog Dash)
- EPCOT (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure)
- Animal Kingdom (Na’vi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids or Expedition Everest)
After having coffee, I decided it’d probably be worthwhile to make a full slate of selections by day. Here those are, from the 8 am hour:
These are my picks for dates outside of the 3-day window, made in reverse chronological order–which is exactly what you should do for, theoretically, the best availability. Meaning that for the best attraction and return time options, you’ll want to backload your bookings with Magic Kingdom furthest out, then DHS, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom. This matters less if you have a longer trip and more for a shorter one–like mine here.
In actuality, I can’t really say my selections improved for dates further out. Most notably, the only day that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was not available was July 31–the last day of my trip. I’d imagine that if I were willing to play the refresh game for ~20 minutes, I’d be able to find availability. Or had I, you know, done this at 7 am, I would’ve been just fine. It’s kind of a weird play to be up and doing pre-arrival planning a week in advance, but not doing it right at 7 am.
Another thing to note is the return times on the Group B attractions at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In some of these scenarios, my earliest return time would not be until afternoon. This is a mistake. Do not let ride rankings take precedence over return times! I cannot emphasize this enough (hence the bolding.)
I would’ve been better off selecting my #3 attraction priority from the Group B options (so #4 overall) with an earlier return time as opposed to some of these options. A perfect example of this would be July 28 at Magic Kingdom. Under no circumstances should I be booking PotC and HM with mid-afternoon returns–I could’ve picked “it’s a small world” or Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin for 9:05 am returns and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh for a 10:05 am return.
I am completely confident same-day ride reservation refills–or just later-day availability since there are no re-rides and PotC and HM have almost never run out of LLs–would’ve allowed me to ride the higher priority Group B attractions. That’s the tricky thing to remember with Lightning Lane Multi Pass and something you have to “unlearn” if you used Genie+ extensively.
Since the 120 minute rule is gone, it is imperative that you’re getting earlier return times in order to unlock the 4th and subsequent selections. Your highest Group A ride can be later in the day–that’s fine. All you really need is a rolling Group B ride that’s earlier. Personally, I think having both of them earlier is best practice for maximum flexibility, but if you just keep booking the earliest option and redeeming, you should be fine.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting (to me, at least!) to follow the evolving dynamics of Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World in the coming weeks and–more so–once fall break in October and the holiday season rolls around. I don’t think we’re going to learn any lessons in July or August 2024 that are relevant to those planning 2025 Walt Disney World vacations.
Between the lower crowds and likelihood of adjustments, how the next few weeks play out has little value to anyone visiting for the Christmas season or next year. But it’s still interesting (again, to me!) to watch this all play out in real-time. Thus far, it’s going much better than expected. One likely change is that Magic Kingdom won’t be the #1 park once November rolls around, as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will hopefully be more reliable by then–or at the very least, the temperatures will be colder.
An even bigger ‘evolution’ that I suspect we’ve already seen is the expansion of ride reservation inventory under Lightning Lane Multi-Pass as compared to the Genie+ system. This is something that we’ve been discussing for a while–that there were necessary prerequisites prior to the launch of LLMP that would help free up inventory.
Those things happened, and the results should be evident in Lightning Lane Multi-Pass availability over time. That’s not going to be clear immediately, as Walt Disney World doesn’t release all ride reservations right at 7 am on the dot. But I’m fairly confident we’ll see it over time, especially during the upcoming holiday season. (Guests should get more rides, on average, than last year and sellouts should be less common.)
We’ll continue monitoring Lightning Lane availability and all other changes in the coming weeks. As for more on-the-ground testing of Lightning Lane Multi Pass, that’ll also be coming relatively soon, but I’m less inclined to make the same mistake as October 2021 when I spent several consecutive weeks in the parks…only to have all of those efforts be rendered totally pointless by Thanksgiving. Between a new baby, new wisdom and the weather, the bulk of my field testing this time won’t come until Christmas-time.
If you have questions about the basics of using–or not using–the paid FastPass service, see our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World for all of the foundational need-to-know info. This whole system is confusing and convoluted, so you might have a question or two-dozen. That answers all of the most common ones we’ve been receiving from readers.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve been booking Lightning Lane Multi-Pass for your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation, what’s been your experience thus far with availability? (I’m particularly interested in dates starting July 28 and beyond.) Have you noticed any discernible differences versus the Genie+ service? Any success or failures making multiple high-priority Lightning Lane selections? Would you recommend LLMP to others, or just advise sticking to standby? Other problems or thoughts to share? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
