2024 Disney's Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategies

Walt Disney World has revamped Disney Genie+. The service has officially become Lightning Lane Multi Pass, while individual Lightning Lane will now be known as Lightning Lane Single Pass.

Here are the changes that have taken place:

Guests can make plans before you visit
Choose experiences and times prior to purchasing, so you know what you’re getting
Book passes for multiple vacation days, all in a single day

How Does Lightning Lane Work?

Lightning Lane Multi Pass 

When you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you will have the ability to make up to 3 attraction selections in a theme park, in advance of your visit. You’ll also be able to choose available times as you make your selections.

On the day of your visit, once you use a selection, you’ll be able to check the My Disney Experience app for availability to make an additional attraction selections.

Lightning Lane Single Pass 

Lightning Lane Single Pass works much like it already does. Guests can secure a time to ride the park’s most popular attractions, but you’ll now be able to make your purchase and plan in advance.  

How Can You Plan Ahead?

By having the opportunity to pre-plan your selections, it allows Guests the chance to choose times that work best for your schedule, like working with dining reservations or any other plans that have been pre-planned.

Guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel and other select hotels are able to plan their attractions up to 7 days in advance beginning at 7:00 a.m., for their entire stay (up to 14 days). All other Guests have the opportunity to plan up to 3 days in advance beginning at 7:00 a.m.

Pricing

Lightning Lane Multi Pass varies in pricing, based on the date the Guest is visiting. Pricing will be cheaper on less busy days and it will cost you more to use the Lightning Lane service on busier, peak days. Example pricing is $15 per Guest, per day on less busy dates, $35 on busier dates, and somewhere in between on other dates (plus tax.)

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Attractions

Multi Pass Experiences

Choose up to one experience from this group:

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Slinky Dog Dash

Choose your other 2 experiences—or all 3—from this group:

Alien Swirling Saucers
Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
Disney Junior Play & Dance!
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
Muppet*Vision 3D
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Toy Story Mania!

Single Pass Attractions (Not Available with the Multi Pass)

A Lightning Lane Single Pass can be purchased for the following attraction:

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney Lightning Lane Tips for Disney’s Hollywood Studios

General Strategy

If your group wants to experience all that the park has to offer, you will want to make a Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run or Slinky Dog Dash. This park has a lot of popular attractions as part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass. But you have to think about which ones to consider standing in line for. All of the Tier 1 options will have incredibly long standby lines.

If possible, our suggestion is to get the Lightning Lane reservation for Slinky Dog Dash and then if Lightning Lane reservations are not open later, ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in the standby line. One thing to keep in mind is that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run does have a single rider line, so that COULD be an option, if your party is willing to be separated. As far as Tier 2 Lightning Lane options, you may want to consider Toy Story Mania! and Tower of Terror.

You will definitely also want to make sure that you purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, as well.

Groups with Small Children

When visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios with small children, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway should be your first priority. After that, consider Toy Story Mania. Then, you have a few choices, mostly involving shows. These decisions will depend based on the interests of your family. As far as shows are concerned, you are likely to save the most time by using Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Disney Junior Dance Party! and For the First Time in Forever – A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.

Thrill Seekers

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a park that is small, but mighty, especially for Thrill Seekers! To maximize your time you should use Multi Pass for Slinky Dog Dash instead of Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. (We suggest using the Single Rider Line for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in this instance.) Of course, you’ll want to make sure you’ve purchased the Individual Lightning Lane option for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, as well.

For your thrill seeking additional selections, the choices should include Star Tours – The Adventures Continue (though as the day goes on, you can often catch Star Tours with a 5 minute wait) and Tower of Terror.

Rock n’ Roller Coaster should be ridden either in the standby line or if you can get a Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation later, that would be ideal. The attraction also offers the option of riding in the Single Rider Line.

But now, I want to know your thoughts. Do I have the strategy right or am I missing something that you think is super important? You can share with me in the comments or on social! Find me on Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok.

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