Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Multi Pass Touring Strategies

At Hollywood Studios, a good set of Lightning Lane Multi Pass advance picks can set you up to save an hour and a half (or more!) of time in line before you even set foot in the park. But if you need to cross the park to save 10 minutes more with a “preferred” Lightning Lane reservation, did you really win? Smart strategy when making Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations in advance is to make touring plans that save time and also let you tour efficiently.

There are three different example sets of Lightning Lane Multi Pass advance picks at Hollywood Studios below. (Because not everyone wants to ride Slinky Dog Dash. Yep, I said what I said.) Each comes with suggested touring strategies to minimize walking. Each also comes with suggestions for additional choices to make throughout the day. No matter when you plan to get to the park or what’s available when you make your advance selections, hopefully you’ll see an approach to using Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Hollywood Studios that gives you some ideas. Afterward, I’ll talk about how to fit these loose strategies into actual times for your selections.

When you’re in the parks redeeming your Lightning Lanes, you’ll be trying to make new picks that still give you a smooth route and avoid backtracking.  But when same-day opportunities don’t have an obvious winner based on location or return time, you can use the rankings in The Best Time-Saving Picks for Lightning Lane Multi Pass to break ties.

The Basics

Lightning Lane Multi Pass advance selection windows depend on your lodging and ticket type. Advance picks are available 7 days before arrival for those with onsite stays, for the length of the stay. Or, for those holding date-based tickets and staying offsite, picks can be made beginning three days in advance, for the length of the ticket. Most international guests won’t be able to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass until they arrive in the US.

No matter when you purchase, you’ll need to select three attractions and times before pushing the “Buy Now” button. All three of those picks need to be in the same park. And in Hollywood Studios, no more than one can be for a “Tier 1” attraction. Once in the parks, you can make a new Lightning Lane Multi Pass selection each time you use one. For these in-park selections, tiers and same-park restrictions no longer apply. However, you can only get one Multi Pass per attraction per day – no re-rides.

The tiers for Hollywood Studios advance Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections are shown below, along with predictions about what same-day availability will look like. These predictions are based on historical data from Fastpass+ and Genie+. They’re relative, meaning that you might find solid same-day availability for “poor” selections when crowds are low. And of course, we’ll update as data for Lightning Lane Multi Pass becomes available.

• Tier 1
  • Slinky Dog Dash – poor
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster – poor
  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway – limited
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run – limited
• Tier 2
  • Toy Story Mania – limited
  • Tower of Terror – limited
  • Alien Swirling Saucers – good
  • Star Tours – good
• Shows (Tier 2)
  • Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage – good
  • Disney Junior Play & Dance! – good
  • For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration – good
  • Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – good
  • Muppet*Vision 3D – good

Shows have been separated because using a Lightning Lane for shows rarely saves time. On rare occasions, they can help make sure you get into a specific show that aligns with your touring during the most crowded hours of the day. But most of the time, you will get into the next show whenever you show up. They are very poor choices for advance picks.

You can easily save 20 minutes or more with almost all of the rides that offer Lightning Lane at Hollywood Studios. For this reason, Hollywood Studios will be one of the parks where Lightning Lane Multi Pass has the most value. But it also doesn’t have that many rides, so it’s likely that same-day capacity will begin to run out later in the day, just as it did under Genie+. While you can tour effectively even if you don’t arrive at park opening, be aware that an afternoon arrival might limit your ability to make same-day selections.

Hollywood Studios Advance Picks Example #1

1. Slinky Dog Dash
2. Toy Story Mania
3. Alien Swirling Saucers

The Toy Story Land Trifecta! I know I said not everyone loves Slinky, but plenty of people do. How to work this plan:

Option 1: arriving at park opening (with or without Early Entry)

• Ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror
• Call an audible on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. You’ll either ride on your way to Toy Story Land (if the line is short, or if same-day selections seem unavailable) or try to grab a Multi Pass when you cash in your first advance pick.
• Later, try to get a return time for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Combine it with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

If the Sunset Boulevard attractions aren’t to your taste, you could:

• Head straight to Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
• Rope drop Rise of the Resistance followed by Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run instead.

Option 2: arriving mid-morning or later

• Head straight to Toy Story Land and begin turning over your pre-booked selections
• Depending on same-day availability, try to set up any of
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster & Tower of Terror (pair with a showing of Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage)
  • Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (pair with a showing of Disney Junior Play & Dance or the Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run to combine with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

Scheduling same-day selections as a cluster in the same land isn’t just about not backtracking. It also gives you some flexibility when you look at the available times. You can do the shows before or after your Lightning Lane return times, depending on what times you find.

Hollywood Studios Advance Picks Example #2

1. Rock ‘n Roller Coaster
2. Tower of Terror
3. Toy Story Mania

Option 1: arriving at park opening (with or without Early Entry)

• Head straight to Toy Story Land and ride Slinky Dog Dash and Toy Story Mania, followed by Alien Swirling Saucers
• Try to pick up Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway when you are eligible after Toy Story Mania
• See Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage when you are in Sunset Boulevard for Rock ‘n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror
• Later, try to get a return time for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. Combine it with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

When making your Runaway Railway selection, try to choose a time when you’ll be able to combine it with a showing of the Frozen Sing-Along.

You could also choose to spend your Early Entry in Galaxy’s Edge. then head directly into Toy Story Land. The rest of the approach remains the same, and you may still be able to get in line for Slinky with a wait that hasn’t built to its peak yet.

Option 2: arriving mid-morning or later

• Head straight to Sunset Boulevard. Combine your rides on Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with a showing of Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage.
• Try to pick up any of
  • Slinky Dog Dash or Alien Swirling Saucers to combine with Toy Story Mania
  • Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway to combine with a showing of the Frozen Sing-Along
  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run to combine with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

Don’t forget that you may be able to adjust the time of your pre-books when you’re in the parks! If you find a Slinky time but it isn’t close to your return window for Toy Story Mania, you may be able to adjust the Toy Story Mania return time to line them up better.

Hollywood Studios Advance Picks Example #3

1. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
2. Alien Swirling Saucers
3. Tower of Terror

These picks are all over the park, not in keeping with what we said about making clustered selections. But, they might represent the choices you make if you’re picking the day before and availability is thin. Geographically spread-out selections with earlier return times could be a better plan than making a group in the same area with return times beginning in mid-afternoon. The approach here will be to create combos as you redeem times and make same-day picks, so earlier return windows let you get started on that faster.

Option 1: arriving at park opening (with or without Early Entry)

• Rope drop Slinky Dog Dash and Toy Story Mania
• Ride Alien Swirling Saucers and try to collect a return time for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.
• Adjust the Tower of Terror return time as well as possible to combine Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster & Tower of Terror with a showing of Beauty & the Beast: Live on Stage
• When you can, try to select a time for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run that will allow you to combine it with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

Option 2: arriving at park opening (with or without Early Entry)

• Rope drop Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and try to put together:
  • Toy Story Mania or Slinky Dog Dash to match with Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster to match with Tower of Terror
• When you can, try to match your remaining advance pick with a return time for another attraction in that land

When making your first in-park pick, you may not have a huge selection of times to choose from for Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. But you’re likely to be able to adjust the times of your other Lightning Lane reservations for efficiency, because they will have better same-day availability.

Option 3: arriving mid-morning or later

• Ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and try to put together:
  • Toy Story Mania or Slinky Dog Dash to match with Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster to match with Tower of Terror
• When you can, do one of:
  • try to match your remaining advance pick with a return time for another attraction in that land
  • try to select a time for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run that will allow you to combine it with Star Tours and Muppet*Vision 3D

If you needed to make your first advance pick for Alien Swirling Saucers, then you’ll head there first. Adjust by trying to make your first in-park pick for Toy Story Mania or Slinky Dog Dash. Disney has grown skilled at holding back inventory for same-day release, and you may find some more times available than when you booked.

Working Your Advance Picks Into a Touring Plan

You probably noticed that none of these example sets have times on them. That’s because the times you select will depend on two things. First, they’ll depend on you – when you want to get to the park. But also, they’ll depend on what times are available when you make your picks.

It’s always true that placing your return times earlier in your park day gives you the best chance at getting more “valuable” selections as you use them in the parks. Toy Story Mania might save a bit more time than Alien Swirling Saucers. But between Toy Story Mania at 4 pm and the Saucers at 10 am, I’ll take the Saucers. That’s because at 10 am I’ll have more flexibility for other picks, including other Tier 1 rides.

It might even include Toy Story Mania at 10:30 am! Disney released capacity same-day for FastPass+, and they did it for Genie+, so there’s every reason to believe they’ll also do it for Lightning Lane Multi Pass. But as noted above, “ride now” availability at Hollywood Studios – with an almost immediate return time – was very limited under Genie+. You should expect that you’ll have the most flexibility if you start touring earlier in the day at this park.

Here’s what I recommend. Start by making a custom touring plan built around one of these strategies. Include shows, meals, and other activities that don’t offer Lightning Lanes. You can make a TouringPlans custom plan to see how much time everything will take and get an idea where to put your Multi Pass return windows. Don’t be afraid to Optimize once, then put your grouped attractions together and use Evaluate to make sure they stay that way.

If you have a strong advance booking advantage, you’ll probably be able to get the rides and the times you want. If you’re buying Lightning Lane Multi Pass closer to the date you plan to use it in the parks, then you may find the selections you want, but not at the times you want. You’ll have to decide whether to adjust your plan around what you can get, or change strategies to get picks that you can begin redeeming earlier. Don’t forget that you can continue adjusting your selections and times after you purchase and before you get to the parks.

Once you have your times, come back and put them in your touring plan to finalize it. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll even be able to use your plan with the Lines app in the parks. You can add in new selections and adjust your plan on the fly. (Because sometimes even the best plans run into some unexpected attraction downtime in the parks.)

What to Take Away

Welcome to the TL;DR section. 🙂

⭐ There might not be “one right way” to use Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Hollywood Studios. Strategic selections can help you to make a touring plan that includes what you want, and moves around the park with a minimum of backtracking.

⭐ Trying to create clusters of Multi Pass reservations that are near each other in the park needs flexibility. If you’ll be in the same area doing shows or other non-queued attractions, it will be easier to fit same-day return times into your plan based on what you find.

⭐ Try to plan your Lightning Lane touring so that you begin using your reservations early in the day. That gives you the best chances to make great same-day selections since tiers don’t apply once you are in the parks.

⭐ Don’t forget that you can adjust the times of selections you’ve already made. If you find low availability for one attraction in a Land where you have a Lightning Lane reservation, take what you find. Then try to adjust your other selection to make them line up better.

What’s your favorite way to use Lightning Lanes to tour Hollywood Studios? Let us know in the comments!