Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass: Prioritizing Attractions for a Smoother Visit

Magic Kingdom has many attractions that are part of the Lightning Lane system.

Which Lightning Lanes should you choose?
Which rides should you make a lower priority?

Magic Kingdom offers the most attractions at the four Walt Disney World theme parks. Therefore, properly selecting your Lightning Lane Multi Pass attractions is more important to avoid longer wait times. Our previous blog post covered the basics of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass system. Please consult that resource for an overview of Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass allows guests to pay to enter a shorter attraction queue during a theme park day at the four Walt Disney World theme parks. Guests can make advanced bookings to access the shorter Lightning Lane queues for Walt Disney World attractions.

This resource will cover the Lightning Lane Multi Pass options regarding tiers at Magic Kingdom. In addition, suggestions for the best order to select your Lightning Lane attraction will be made.

Lightning Lane Single Pass Issue at Magic Kingdom

No matter how well you use the Walt Disney World Lightning Lane Multi Pass system, two major attractions at Magic Kingdom will still be out of your grasp. Those attractions, such as Tron Lightcycle / Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, are not part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Guests must purchase a separate Lightning Lane Single Pass to access those Lightning Lanes. The prices vary from $11-24 per person for those rides. Price varies depending on the time of year you visit.

Both attractions develop long wait times in the standard (or standby) queue. We cannot decide if paying that extra money is worth it for your day. However, buying Lightning Lane Single Passes will reduce your wait times and simplify scheduling your day. If you choose not to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass for those attractions and want to ride them, we suggest planning for a longer wait time of at least 45 minutes during your Magic Kingdom day. Still, if you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for the day and a few Lightning Lane Single Passes, this can add up quickly regarding vacation budget. Based on that, this resource focuses on pointing readers to the best Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections to make your day smoother.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass Getting Started

Using Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can make three advance attraction reservations. The booking windows vary depending on whether you are a guest of a Disney resort. The Magic Kingdom attractions that are part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass are divided into two tiers. Guests can only make one advance reservation from the Tier One rides when booking. The remaining two selections (or all three, if you choose) must be from Tier Two.

Tiers and park restrictions only apply to your initial bookings of three attractions. Once guests tap (or check in) into your first Lightning Lane attraction of the day, they can pick their next Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation for an attraction. Also, guests can modify existing reservations at this point. In addition, guests can start making Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations at one of the other three Walt Disney World theme parks if they desire. We suggest you book additional attraction reservations at Magic Kingdom if you use Lightning Lane Multi Pass to start your day there.

Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Tiers

Eighteen attractions are a part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Magic Kingdom. The Magic Kingdom Multi Pass Lightning Lanes are broken into two, so you should plan carefully when booking your attractions. Magic Kingdom has five Tier One attractions to choose from. They are:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Jungle Cruise
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Space Mountain
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Since guests can only pre-book one, this decision sounds easy initially but may depend on what is available. Guests staying off-site booking at three days out or less will have fewer attraction reservation timeslots to select. So, what should be your priority for Tier One Magic Kingdom attractions?

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Unless things change significantly at Magic Kingdom, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure remains the hardest Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation to acquire. At the time of writing, it was the only virtual queue attraction in Magic Kingdom. This means guests cannot simply enter a standard queue for this attraction, no matter how long they are willing to wait. With Tron Lightcycle / Run dropping the virtual queue, guests find riding Tiana’s Bayou Adventure harder. Also, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure still faces weather and technical challenges, causing it to shut down and reducing the number of people that can ride it in a day.

Based on that, guests who want to experience Tiana’s Bayou Adventure should attempt to book that as their Tier One selection. Depending on when you book this, you may find your timeslot late in the day. If that time does not work for your group, you can continue to modify it as the day and time gets closer.

Of course, you can try your luck with the virtual queue at 7:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. each day you visit Magic Kingdom. As long as it’s using a virtual queue, you should feel comfortable grabbing whatever time you can get for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. If you are lucky enough to acquire a boarding group via the virtual queue at 7:00 a.m., you might consider modifying your Tiana’s Bayou Adventure lightning lane to something else. Still, you could choose to ride twice that day. All groups visit Magic Kingdom with slightly different objectives, so keep yours in mind when selecting a Tier One attraction.

However, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure may not be an option when you book your Lightning Lane Multi Pass timeslots. What should you choose instead? Well, the answer depends on your group. Any of the four remaining options make a good choice. We will try to walk you through the various scenarios.

Peter Pan’s Flight

If you don’t have early theme park entry to Magic Kingdom or plan to “rope-drop” (be at the park very early lined up to ride a specific attraction) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, booking Peter Pan’s Flight makes a good choice. This attraction develops longer queues as the day progresses at Magic Kingdom. It makes a great early entry choice if skipping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, though, meaning you could select a different Tier One attraction. Assuming you do not want or cannot get Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or Peter Pan’s Flight, our next two prioritized Tier One attractions exist on the left side (as you enter) of Magic Kingdom.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Jungle Cruise

At the time of writing, Jungle Cruise is under refurbishment but should be back for the 2024 winter holiday season. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is rumored to experience a lengthy refurbishment in the near future. Whether it does or not, attractions closing for refurbishments can influence your Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections. If both are open and available in this scenario, we lean toward reserving Jungle Cruise since the waits tend to be longer here than at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

For optimum use of making one of these attractions your Tier One choice, it should be during the first few hours that Magic Kingdom is open. With the Lightning Lane timeslots covering an hour, the earlier reserved time you can book one of these attractions makes your day at Magic Kingdom easier to plan.

First Few Hours at Magic Kingdom

Why do you want to book Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Jungle Cruise in the first few hours of your theme park day? Suppose you book these early in the day. In that case, you can start your day “rope-dropping” the other major attractions in Frontierland and Adventureland, such as Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, along with whichever Tier One attractions you do not have a lightning lane for.

You can plan your trip around Magic Kingdom, focusing on these attractions and enjoying them with shorter wait times. Magic Kingdom does not open these areas for early theme park entry. If desired, your group can show up early and wait a while for Adventureland or Frontierland to open, allowing you to experience shorter wait times in the early morning before most guests.

If you cannot book these two attractions early, try other strategies. For example, you could book Jungle Cruise later in the day. Since it is a longer attraction than others at Magic Kingdom, it could give you a few valuable extra minutes off your feet in the middle of the day.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad still makes a good Lightning Lane choice. Having this as your Tier One option lets you focus on other theme park areas. This becomes even more valuable if you have a virtual queue boarding group for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure near Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Space Mountain as a Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Tier One Option

We have nothing against the classic roller coaster, Space Mountain, but it is not the best Tier One choice. If it is the only choice left or you do not want to ride the other options, you have a clear strategy.

If you choose Space Mountain as your Tier One option, we suggest you consider scheduling your two Tier Two attractions near Tomorrowland, where Space Mountain exists. You could then spend your morning focusing on the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland attractions.  Suppose you are staying at a Disney-owned or partner hotel that gives guests early theme park entry. This strategy can work very well in that case since you have an extra 30 minutes before other guests can enter Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.

With Tron Lightcycle / Run having a standard queue now, you could plan your wait in that attraction’s queue around the time of your Space Mountain Lightning Lane. This strategy allows you to complete your time in two lands on the right side of the park before tackling the excitement in the other lands.

Before We Move On…

Before moving on to the Magic Kingdom Tier Two attractions, we know discussions of the Lightning Lane system can feel overwhelming. Still, your Pixie Vacation travel advisor can help you fee-free with your Walt Disney World vacation. Having a travel advisor lets you know someone is there to help if you become confused or something becomes less than magical.

Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass Tier Two Attraction Planning Suggestions

Guests can pre-book two Tier Two attractions at Magic Kingdom with Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Of course, if guests do not want to book a Tier One attraction, they can then book three Tier Two attractions. The choices in this category will be far easier than the Tier One selections. The Tier Two attractions are:

• The Barnstormer
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Mad Tea Party
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

Though that list looks long, one should be able to weed through these choices to find the best options to save your group time in the attraction queues during your day at Magic Kingdom. Of note, several Magic Kingdom attractions do not offer Lightning Lanes. Those include Astro Orbiter, Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, Carousel of Progress, and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (The People Mover).

High Priority Tier Two Attractions

Based on expected wait times, these Magic Kingdom attractions make the best use of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, saving you time in the standby queue. This section focuses on better choices for attraction reservations to save time in the queues. Your choices depend on your group and other factors, like advanced dining reservations.

The best Tier Two selections are:

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Haunted Mansion
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Tomorrowland Speedway

All the other attractions available in Tier Two do not develop long wait times or at least as long as the five Magic Kingdom attractions listed above.  Using your Lightning Lane Multi Pass selection on these saves you time. This allows you to enjoy more of the theme park during your day.

Making The Best Choices Regarding Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Tier Two

Now, some of these make far better choices depending on your group. For example, Tomorrowland Speedway shows little appeal if your group contains no children. Magic Kingdom visitors will need to select based on their group’s preferences. Also, they should remember that you get to choose two in this category.

Most groups should select these in the order we listed above, with the  Winnie the Pooh attractions first and Tomorrowland Speedway fifth. This ranking is based on average standby wait times. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh draws the most extended wait by five or ten minutes on average over the Haunted Mansion and the Buzz Lightyear attractions. So, it makes sense to pre-book it first, if possible.

However, the Haunted Mansion makes another quality choice based on its more central location in the Magic Kingdom and average wait times. Still, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin or Pirates of the Caribbean serve as excellent Tier Two options for those getting an early time and planning to spend the morning in either Adventureland or Tomorrowland. This helps in two ways. One, you stay in the same area of Magic Kingdom for the morning, reducing your walking. Two, with an early morning time, you get a head start with selecting your fourth Lightning Lane attraction earlier in the day. Since you can hold three Lightning Lane attraction reservations at a time, the sooner you use one, the sooner you can acquire another one.

A Few More Words of Advice About Selecting Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom

A common criticism of depending on the Lightning Lane system to determine when you experience attractions relates to extra walking. If you simply pick the best attraction without considering the time slot, you may walk an extra mile or more during your Magic Kingdom day, going from one side of the theme park to the other.

In addition, a potential problem with simply selecting the best attraction is that you may find yourself with wait times much later in the day. This works fine if you do not plan to show up until later in the day. However, it does not allow you to maximize your Lightning Lane Multi Pass purchase. Many guests feel they must choose between the popular attractions and the ones with the best times when pre-booking Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom.

Ideally, guests at Magic Kingdom should have two (or at the bare minimum one) Lightning Lane time slots during the first few hours the theme park is open. The earlier you scan (or tap) in for your first Lightning Lane attraction of the day, the earlier you can book another one. Since, at that point, you can book any Tier One or Two attraction, this might enable you to get one or two more Tier One attractions with your Lightning Lane Multi Pass purchase.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass Example

For example, imagine you booked Tiana’s Bayou Adventure as your Tier One selection. This will save you time and effort. However, your return time is after 6:00 p.m. Based on that Tier One selection, you have limited options if you select Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean as your Tier Two attraction, with only available times later in the day.

In this case, your chance of getting a “good” Lightning Lane choice for your fourth one is slim. However, if you had selected less popular Tier Two attractions with early morning times, you would have a better chance of your fourth (and fifth) Lightning Lanes being “good” choices and maybe both Tier One.

As you can see, this requires some thought when booking your attractions via Lightning Lane Multi Pass. If your group only has a few “must-do” attractions like Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, you can prioritize those. If your group desires to experience as much of the Magic Kingdom theme park as possible (or it is your first visit), booking an earlier time for less popular rides might be the better plan.

Either way, research shows that a small percentage of people who purchase and book Lightning Lane Multi Pass do their research to maximize the product. This leads to many errors and a waste of money. Simply by reading this resource and following some of the advice, you will be way ahead of most guests during your Magic Kingdom experience.

 

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