Lightning Lane Multi Pass Priorities at Animal Kingdom

Welcome to the new world, fans of Disney data! What’s that world? The world of Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP). Gone are the days of Genie+, and therefore gone are the days of those old priority lists. Suddenly we have things like tiers and advance booking that impact availability and time savings. And that means we need to refresh our priorities.

Thankfully, Animal Kingdom is the park with the fewest changes compared to the era of Genie+ because there are no attraction tiers at Animal Kingdom. You can book any of the available attractions for your three advance selections. And it’s also the cheapest park for purchasing LLMP too. So which attractions are the “best” uses of LLMP at Animal Kingdom? Let’s find out!

This post was last updated on September 28, 2024.

Explain the Math

We can rank the LLMP attractions in each park in multiple ways. In this post, we are aggregating three of those measures by doing a simple average.

1. Rank by average availability, ascending – the attraction in each park that typically sells out first (including in advance) will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park that maintains book now/ride now availability the most through the day receives the lowest rank.
2. Rank by average time savings, descending – the attraction in each park where LLMP typically saves the most time compared to standby will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park where LLMP typically saves the least time compared to standby will receive the lowest rank.
3. Rank by attraction satisfaction, descending – the attraction in each park with the highest overall average satisfaction from the past two years will receive rank 1, and the attraction in each park with the lowest overall average satisfaction from 2023 will receive the lowest rank.

Once I calculated all three ranks, then I averaged the three results and sorted from score that was closest to one all the way to the highest number. I used those averages to come up with the following prioritized list! Phew.

Prioritized List of Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Multi Pass Attractions

1. Kilimanjaro Safaris

Availability Score = 3 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 1 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 1 out of 6

At Animal Kingdom, Kilimanjaro Safaris has the third-worst availability of all LLMP attractions (but it still doesn’t usually book up for the day until 5 pm, and is the option with the highest satisfaction – and the only other attraction that is even close is Expedition Everest. Its time savings are currently the best in the park, with an average of 20 minutes saved. That’s lower than what you can expect to save this fall, because it’s all from the low end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall season. Hard to have great time savings when standby waits are generally low anyway!

2. Na’vi River Journey

Availability Score = 1 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 2 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 4 out of 6

Na’vi River Journey is the obvious choice for LLMP priorities – if you only care about what might book up the fastest. It typically sells out around noon each day. That’s 4 hours earlier than any other attraction at Animal Kingdom. Still … it’s not hard to get and use every LLMP reservation in the park in a single day, so maybe availability shouldn’t be the deciding factor. Time savings are decent – coming in right behind Safaris with a 19-minute average wait time savings since the beginning of the LLMP system.

When you factor in satisfaction, the decision to prioritize Na’vi River Journey doesn’t hold true. River Journey ranks 4th out of the 6 LLMP attractions in average satisfaction. But I’m going to go ahead and say it’s worth trying, especially without much of a wait.

3. Expedition Everest

Availability Score = 4 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 3 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 2 out of 6

Ohhhhhhh … Expedition Everest. As of the inaugural rankings, this fan favorite was in 2nd place. Surprisingly, Everest keeps pretty good availability all throughout the day, only booked out an hour or two in advance. And its 12-minute average time savings with LLMP is good enough for 3rd place, even if it’s not astounding on its own. As far as satisfaction goes, you’re better off not making any other reservations further down on this list and exploring the animal trails or watching the shows. Or playing Wilderness Explorers!

4. Kali River Rapids

Availability Score = 2 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 5 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 3 out of 6

Kali River Rapids is pretty low on the list, although its availability has been pretty poor – it’s been a hot summer and early fall, so Kali books up earlier than any attraction other than Na’vi River Journey. But its time savings aren’t great and its satisfaction doesn’t come close to touching Everest or the Safari. Kali River Rapids does experience a much more volatile availability than any other attraction on this list. If it’s a hot day, it will sell out much more quickly!

5. DINOSAUR

Availability Score = 5 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 3 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 5 out of 6

DINOSAUR ranks in 5th place for availability (frequently not even selling out for the day) but tied for 3rd place for time savings compared to standby (12 minutes so far with LLMP).

And out of the six Genie+ attractions we’re ranking, DINOSAUR has the second-worst overall satisfaction from this year. That’s all bad enough news to keep it solidly on the low end of our list.

7. It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Availability Score = 6 out of 6
Time Savings Score = 6 out of 6
Satisfaction Score = 6 out of 6

It’s tough to recommend It’s Tough to Be a Bug (see what I did there?). At all. Ever. To anyone. LLMP reservations have almost immediate availability all day every day, and the cost savings are close to zero on all except the very most crowded days of the year. It also has really low overall satisfaction, performing especially poorly with the young kids set who tend to be scared of all of the in-theater elements. I’d say don’t ever waste your time on this one unless you’re not park-hopping, have already purchased LLMP for the day, and have already used reservations at basically every other eligible attraction or show.

What Does This Mean For You?

1. I’d generally not recommend using LLMP at Animal Kingdom. But on high crowd level days later this fall and winter, and especially if you tend to miss rope drop, it could be worth it even if you only get reservations for Kilimanjaro Safaris and Na’vi River Journey.
2. There are so many other things to do in Animal Kingdom that have higher overall satisfaction than the LLMP attractions that I’m tempted to just say forget LLMP in all circumstances and go hit the trails or watch Flights of Wonder and spend your time getting Wilderness Explorer badges. You’ll have a full and informative day without the hassle of long queues and booking reservations.
3. The one caveat to this is that LLMP is least expensive at Animal Kingdom, and always includes park hopping. If you’re confident in your ability to get same-day reservations, you could make your three advance reservations at Animal Kingdom, use one or two in the morning, and then start booking at another park. You’d save yourself some money if that was your park-hopping plan anyway.

Have you used Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Animal Kingdom? Do you agree with these rankings or would yours be different? Let me know in the comments!