A step-by-step guide for how to make Lightning Lane reservations in the My Disney Experience app. The new system can be confusing so I’ll hold your hand and help you use it for the first time. Let’s become Lightning Lane masters!
Every time Disney World introduces or updates their skip the line system, there is a process for learning the new system.
The newest system, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass is no exception!
In this post I will walk you through using the system for the first time. Once you get the hang of it, it will be easy – I promise! Let’s dive in…
What To Do BEFORE You Make Your Lightning Lane Reservations
If you aren’t familiar with the basics of how the Disney World Lightning Lane fastpasses work, definitely click here and learn the ground rules first.
The most important of the rules (and there are many) is WHEN you can begin making advance Lightning Lane selections. The essence is that if you have a Disney World resort reservation you can make selections at 7 am eastern time seven days before your check-in day, and if you don’t then it is three days before the first day of your park ticket.
However there are three things you have to make sure you do BEFORE you go to make your Lightning Lane selections at 7 am:
- If you have a Disney World Resort reservation, make sure it is linked and showing up in your account
- Make sure everyone in your party has valid admission (park tickets) for the days you want to visit the parks
- Add a payment method in My Disney Experience for a faster checkout
I’ll share resources to make sure you know how to do all of these in case you need help!
If you need help linking park tickets to your My Disney Experience account, click here.
And if you aren’t sure how to add a payment method to your account, first click on the three horizontal line menu at the bottom right corner of the home screen in the My Disney Experience app.
Scroll down until you see “Profile” then tap on that.
Then you’ll see where you can add or update your Payment Method in the app. Now you are all ready to make your Lightning Lane selections at 7 am!
How To Get Started With Purchasing Lightning Lane
Before 7 am on your designated day, head into the My Disney Experience app. At the very top of the home screen you will see where to click to get started with Lightning Lanes. Click on “Purchase” to get started.
Note that you can do all of this BEFORE 7 am in order to get a jump on making your selections.
Next, you will choose the first day you want to make Lightning Lane reservations for and then the park you will visit that day.
Note that it doesn’t have to be the first day you are in the parks for your trip.
In fact if your plans include Hollywood Studios and Slinky Dog Dash, I suggest you start with the day you will be visiting Hollywood Studios.
You can make selections for any day of your resort stay or park tickets, so start with the hardest reservation to get!
The most difficult reservation to get is Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios. The advance Lightning Lane reservations will be claimed within seconds of the window opening, so start there.
The next most difficult Lightning Lane reservation to get is for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom. If it’s possible, have another person in your party simultaneously making advance selections for Magic Kingdom at the same time! If not, then as soon as you are done at Hollywood Studios, start making reservations at Magic Kingdom immediately after that (I will show you how later in this post).
Epcot and Animal Kingdom (if you even decide to use Lighting Lanes at these parks) can wait until after you make selections at these two parks.
After you have selected your date and park, you can select what passes you want to buy at the park. You can select just Multi Pass or also buy Single Passes all in one go.
You will DEFINITELY want to know ahead of time what rides you want to select for your Multi Pass attractions and if you are going to buy any Single Passes. Fill out the form below and you’ll get my free Cheat Sheet delivered to your inbox that will make planning a breeze!
After you have selected what passes you want to buy for that day, I suggest waiting until the clock changes to 7 am and then clicking continue.
Everyone eligible to be included in the party should be selected automatically, so just give it a quick glance then click continue to keep going.
Now we are finally to where we can begin making selections!
How To Make Advance Lightning Lane Selections
First you will make your “Tier One” selection (unless you are in Animal Kingdom which doesn’t have tiers). If you need to read up on how the Lightning Lane tiers system works, click here for an explanation.
Then you can scroll down and make two additional selections from the Tier Two attractions. Do this as quickly as possible so have a plan in place!
My intial approach is to pick one of the most in-demand attractions from Tier Two (either Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean) and then pick an attraction with as close to a 9 am return time as possible.
This is to increase my chances of getting another Tier One selection on the day of my visit as soon as I check into my first reservation (ideally at 9 am). I picked “it’s a small world” since I always like to ride it at Magic Kingdom.
Then I click continue and am taken to a confirmation screen which shows the earliest return time possible for each attraction. My strategy is to go ahead and confirm these times and check out, then go back in after I’ve made all of my selections at the other parks to adjust the times if I don’t like them.
Now I confirm my payment method that I set up ahead of time, and click checkout as quickly as possible.
After you confirm and pay you will be taken to this screen. If you have to make reservations in another park, immediately select “Purchase for Another Day” and repeat the process in the next park!
Again here is the order you should go in if you are visiting all four parks:
- Hollywood Studios (if you want to ride Slinky Dog Dash)
- Magic Kingdom
- Epcot
- Animal Kingdom
How To Modify Lightning Lane Reservations
Now that you’ve made all of your Lightning Lane reservations for your trip, you may want to revisit the times and make some changes or tweaks.
You should see all of your upcoming reservations on the home screen in the My Disney Experience app. If you want to make changes to the selection, click on it to get started.
The app will only let you replace a Tier Two selection with another Tier Two selection. So if you decide you’d rather ride The Barnstormer instead of small world, you can change the selection there.
Or if you want to look for an earlier or later return time for the same attraction, just click “Change to This Time” (even if it’s not the time you want) then “Modify Time” where you can pick from any available times during the day!
I know that is a LOT to take in. There is a learning curve to any new system but I think that after you use this one time you will feel confident you can make and modify selections going forward.
Any questions about how to make Lighting Lane reservations in the My Disney Experience app? Leave a comment below and I will get right back to you!