Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass Touring Strategies

If you need to crisscross the park to save 10 minutes more with a “better” Lightning Lane reservation, did you really save time? One of my favorite things about choosing three selections in advance – as Lightning Lane Multi Pass lets you do – is that you can make a plan to tour the park that both saves time and also minimizes backtracking. If that sounds good to you, read on!

There are three sets of example advance picks for Lightning Lane Multi Pass at the Magic Kingdom below. Each comes with suggested touring strategies to minimize backtracking and ideas for additional choices to make throughout the day. But there are so many possibilities in the Magic Kingdom — don’t assume that if you don’t see something specifically suggested it isn’t a good idea!

These examples show that there are multiple ways to tour the Magic Kingdom with Lightning Lane Multi Pass.  No matter when you plan to arrive at the park or what’s available when you make your advance selections, hopefully you’ll see something that gives you some ideas. At the end, I’ll talk about how to fit these loose strategies into actual times for your selections.

When touring in the parks, you’ll still be trying to make picks that give you “clusters” of activity in the same Land, to avoid extra walking. But when same-day opportunities are in the same area and at have similar return times, now is the time to 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 select three attractions and times before pushing the “Buy Now” button. If you can’t find three that make you happy then you’re free to decide that Multi Pass has no value for you and walk away from it on that day. If you do buy, all three advance selections need to be in the same park. And in the Magic Kingdom, no more than one can be for a “Tier 1” attraction.

Once in the parks, you can pick a new Lightning Lane Multi Pass 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 Magic Kingdom 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 the Fastpass+ and Genie+ systems. They’re relative, so you might find great same-day availability for “poor” selections if crowds are low on the day of your visit. As data for Lightning Lane Multi Pass becomes available, we’ll update the same-day availability below.

• Tier 1
  • Peter Pan’s Flight – poor
  • Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – poor
  • Jungle Cruise – limited
  • Space Mountain – limited
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – good
• Tier 2
  • Haunted Mansion – limited
  • Winnie the Pooh – limited
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – limited
  • Pirates of the Caribbean – good
  • Tomorrowland Speedway – good
  • The Barnstormer – good
  • The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – good
  • Journey of the Little Mermaid – good
  • “it’s a small world” – good
  • Dumbo the Flying Elephant – good
  • Mad Tea Party – good
• Shows (Tier 2)
  • Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor – limited
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic – limited

Shows have been separated because using a Lightning Lane for shows rarely saves time, especially in the Magic Kingdom. At both of these shows, the theater is filled as soon as the audience for the previous show has departed. Most of the time, you will get into the next show whenever you show up. They are very poor choices for advance picks.

Quite a few attractions should have good same-day availability. Magic Kingdom had the best same-day availability with FastPass+ and with Genie+, and it should continue with Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Even the “limited” attractions should have a reasonable selection of times available through mid-morning or later.

Magic Kingdom Advance Picks Example #1

1. Peter Pan’s Flight
2. Winnie the Pooh
3. Haunted Mansion

How to work these selections:

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

• Ride Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear
• Head to Fantasyland and ride Winnie the Pooh. Try to get a reservation for another Tier 1 attraction in Adventureland or Frontierland.
• If the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train looks reasonable, ride now.
• Ride Peter Pan and look for a “ride now” Multi Pass in Fantasyland
  • a “ride now” time should be less than 15 minutes from the current time, and for an attraction that has a posted wait of more than 15 minutes.
• Continue with “ride now” times and other attractions until you are done in Fantasyland, then head to Haunted Mansion and continue around the park.

If Space Mountain isn’t for you, think about rope-dropping Seven Dwarfs Mine Train instead. Try to pick up a Buzz Lightyear return window for Tomorrowland later in the day.

On a similar note, if you head to Tomorrowland at park opening and you only want to do one attraction in addition to Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear, you’re probably better to do it while you’re already there. But otherwise, the rest of Tomorrowland’s attractions are not very sensitive to peak wait times. You should head out when Early Entry is over and return for them later in the day.

If you’re not using Early Entry, try replacing Haunted Mansion with Buzz Lightyear in this set so that you can start making same-day picks earlier. And you may still be able to pick up a return time for Haunted Mansion as you work your way around the park.

Option 2: arriving mid-morning or later

• Head straight to Fantasyland and begin turning over your pre-booked selections.
• Depending on availability, try to create a combo in either Frontierland/Adventureland, or Tomorrowland
  • If you end up with a Tomorrowland combo, try to shift your Haunted Mansion return time later (or modify it to Buzz Lightyear) so that you can head out of Fantasyland toward Tomorrowland
• Continue around the park in your chosen direction, returning to Fantasyland later in the day.

The majority of the rides in Fantasyland offer decent time savings, but also have good same-day availability. As you head back toward Fantasyland, it should be possible to put together a little stack of three Multi Pass reservations.

Don’t forget that you can modify your pre-books after you’re in the parks! If you find an early Space Mountain time when you redeem Peter Pan and a later Jungle Cruise time when you redeem Winnie the Pooh, take the Jungle Cruise return instead of aiming for Buzz Lightyear! Then try to create an efficient route through Tomorrowland by switching your Haunted Mansion reservation to Buzz Lightyear.

Magic Kingdom Advance Picks Example #2

1. Jungle Cruise
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Haunted Mansion

Option 1: arriving at park opening with Early Entry

• Rope Drop Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear
• Head to Frontierland and cash in your Lightning Lanes. Try to make same-day picks for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain, or both. If you need to, try to adjust your Haunted Mansion return time to avoid backtracking.
• Make your way around the park to Fantasyland, riding Haunted Mansion as you pass it.
• In Fantasyland, make and use Multi Pass reservations and mix in rides with shorter queues. If you’ll be staying late, you may wish to leave Peter Pan’s Flight and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to ride near park closing.
• Continue back around to Tomorrowland and finish the attractions that you skipped earlier.

Option 2: arriving at regular opening or later

• Head straight to Frontierland and begin redeeming your pre-booked reservations. Try to make same-day picks for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain, or both. If you need to, try to adjust your Haunted Mansion return to avoid backtracking.
• Make your way to around the park to Fantasyland, riding Haunted Mansion as you pass it.
• In Fantasyland, make and use Multi Pass reservations and mix in rides with shorter queues.
  • If you’ll be staying late, you may wish to leave Peter Pan’s Flight and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to ride near park closing.
• Continue to Tomorrowland

When you’re touring in Fantasyland, if a reasonable time for Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyear appears, take it. Unless same-day availability is thin because crowds are high, you should be able to tour Fantasyland effectively while “churning” only 1-2 Multi Pass slots.

If you’re arriving mid-morning, the Jungle Cruise pre-book here will serve you well. But if you plan to arrive at regular opening because you aren’t eligible for Early Entry, the wait at Jungle Cruise should still be short-ish when you get there. You may be better off getting a head-start on the strategy here by making your Tier 1 pre-book for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or Peter Pan’s Flight instead.

Magic Kingdom Advance Picks Example #3

1. Space Mountain
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Buzz Lightyear

Option 1: arriving at park opening with Early Entry

• Head straight to Fantasyland and rope drop either Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or Peter Pan’s Flight.
  • If you choose Peter Pan’s Flight, and wait times are not too high for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, it may be a good idea to do it now.
• Head to Tomorrowland and redeem your Lightning Lanes. Try to get new Multi Pass reservations for Jungle Cruise and one of the two Tier 1 attractions in Frontierland.
• Tour the rest of Tomorrowland, then head to Frontierland and begin working your way around the park clockwise.

If same-day availability for the remaining Tier 1 attractions looks good, you might want to leave Tomorrowland after Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. You can pass through again later for Monsters Inc., Laugh Floor, the Peoplemover, and Carousel of Progress.

Option 2: arriving at regular opening or later

• Head to Tomorrowland and redeem your Lightning Lanes. Try to get new Multi Pass reservations for Jungle Cruise and one of the two Tier 1 attractions in Frontierland.
• Tour the rest of Tomorrowland, then head to Frontierland and begin working your way around the park clockwise.

If same-day availability for the remaining Tier 1 attractions looks good, you might want to leave Tomorrowland after Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear, giving you a better chance to pick up more of the remaining Tier 1 picks. And if you see an early time for Peter Pan when you tap in for your first ride, don’t be afraid to call an audible! Try to pick up a time for Winnie the Pooh and head out of Tomorrowland toward Fantasyland instead.

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 available will impact what you can choose. Personal choices like when you plan to arrive at the parks will also influence your selections.

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. A return window at 10 am gives you flexibility to work other picks into your day, including other Tier 1 rides. That might even include attractions that you couldn’t find near 10 am when you made your advance selections! 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.

Here’s what I recommend. Start by making a custom touring plan built around one of these strategies. Include shows, meals, and other activities – there’s plenty to do in the Magic Kingdom that you don’t need to queue for. Make a TouringPlans custom plan to estimate where you’ll be when and get an idea of how to place your Multi Pass return windows. Don’t be afraid to put your grouped attractions together and use Evaluate to make sure they stay that way.

If you’re making your picks well before your park date, you’ll probably be able to get the rides and the times you want. Closer to your park date, you may find Lightning Lane Multi Pass times are limited for the attractions you planned to reserve. 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 be able to use your plan with the Lines app in the parks. You can add in new selections and adjust your plan as you tour. (Because sometimes even the best plans run into some unexpected attraction downtime in the parks.)

What to Take Away

Magic Kingdom should be the easiest park to tour with Lightning Lane Multi Pass. But the TL;DR below will help you out.

⭐ There might not be “one right way” to use Lightning Lane Multi Pass at the Magic Kingdom. 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 is about 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 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 the Magic Kingdom? Let us know in the comments!