{2025} 8+ Secrets You Need to Know About Disney World's New Lightning Lane System

Planning a 2025 trip to Disney World? Check out everything I learned from my first experience using Disney's new Lightning Lane system!

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Planning a 2025 trip to Disney World and feeling overwhelmed by the new Lightning Lane system?

The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure (JSB)

In late 2024, Disney premiered its new Lightning Lane system, which is essentially the updated "Fast Pass" system, but with the significant, added caveat that it's never free/included with your stay or ticket.

There are three different "types" of Lightning Lane options you can purchase, though the first two could be used together:

• Lightning Lane Multi Pass (what we did): You get 3 Lightning Lane passes per day, per person, for the park. You schedule them in the app. Once you use one, another one becomes available to schedule right away. 
• Lightning Lane Single Pass: Some rides are so high-demand that you have to buy an ADDITIONAL Lightning Lane pass for them. For example, my husband used this to ride Avatar Flight of Passage, whereas Na'avi River Journey was included on our Multi Pass.
• Lightning Lane Premiere Pass: The most expensive. The Premiere Pass gives you a LL once on each ride in the park, per day.  One significant different with the Premiere Pass is that, unlike with the two aforementioned passes, you don't have to schedule specific times in the app. The Premiere Pass is being "rolled out in very limited quantities," so I wouldn't count on this, unless you have special access (and quite deep pockets).     

Wondering what to pack for your Disney World trip? Check out {2025} A Mom's Guide to Practical Disney World Outfits

During our February 2025 stay, we used the Lightning Lane Multi Pass everyday, and the Single Pass just once, for my husband's aforementioned Flight of Passage ride.

Cinderella's Castle (JSB)

Here's what I learned about the Lightning Lane on our 2025 trip:

• You can't can't use Lightning Lanes on the same ride in the same day. This was a bit difficult for us, since we were traveling with a toddler who can only ride a limited number of rides. For example, I can't just use LL on Small World over and over (which she would gladly have done all day). 
• You do sometimes still wait in a short line when you're using a LL, while they merge you into the front of the standby line.
• You don't have to use all 3 Lightning Lanes that you've reserved for that day before you can start scheduling more. A few minutes after you use your first one, the app allows you to book the next.
• You can "cancel" a LL you scheduled without "losing" it - you cancel that booked ride and then the LL pass reappears and the app prompts you to book another ride (phew!)
• Everyone is constantly moving their day around, so keep checking the app and things open up. We were almost always able to get onto the rides we wanted, even with the toddler timing restraints.
• Ride availability changes a lot just after 9 AM, after the resort guests with 8:30 AM entry times have rope dropped rides and open the app to change their schedules for the rest of the day. This is when I shifted most of our rides around, both because we rope dropped and because I saw openings.
• When booking in advance, the app won't let you cram your day full. It generally won't let you book rides more tightly than an hour apart. But, day-off, it will allow you to schedule your rides much more tightly together. So don't stress too much if your initial schedule looks a bit strange. You can switch around the times of the lower demand rides to make your day more logical.
• The LL Multi Pass does not cover all rides. The high demand rides may require a LL Single Pass.
• You can use Lightning Lane Multi Pass with the Park Hopper. The app will recognize that you have a Park Hopper ticket and allow you to start booking LLs in a second park, after you use your first LL in the original park.
• You pay different rates for LL for different parks, but just once per day. For example, if you visit Magic Kingdom in the morning, you'll pay more for your LL Multi Pass than in Animal Kingdom, though the privileges it gives you throughout the day are the same.

Do I need Lightning Lane Multi Pass for every park?

Lightening Lanes are worth every penny in Magic Kingdom and Epcot. We appreciated the LL in Animal Kingdom as well. There aren't as many rides in Animal Kingdom, which can lead to long wait times. We used it for Na'avi River Journey and Kilimanjaro Safaris to bypass very long standby lines. Similarly, though only one of the popular Star Wars rides is covered, and many of the "show" experiences in Hollywood Studios simply don't require a LL, we did think it was "worth it" to skip the lines we did skip.

Short answer: Yes.

Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it?

All-in-all, I'd strongly recommend Lightning Lane Multi Pass and will definitely buy it again for our next trip. We used it consistently throughout the day and only used standby lines for rides with little to no line. For people who use the more high-demand rides, it would be even more valuable.

Thanks for stopping by!

I so appreciate you taking time to stop by the blog to learn about Disney's new Lightning Lane system! This is the second post in the new series I'm doing about our winter, 2025 trip to Disney! Stay tuned for many more!