Best Rides At Magic Kingdom For Fastpass+ (Lightning Lane)

If you are traveling to Walt Disney World in 2025 or 2026, you should be aware of the latest changes to the previous FastPass system. This includes understanding the best rides at Magic Kingdom for Fastpass (which is now Lightning Lane!).

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Between 2020 – 2025, the FastPass, now Lightning Lane (previously Genie +) process has changed multiple times. Which makes the planning of your Walt Disney World vacation a bit more stressful; however, this post will tell you everything you need to know about the best rides at Magic Kingdom for Lightning Lane (which is practically a paid-for FastPass+ system). 

Before diving into the rides themselves, I want to make sure there is a full understanding of “the how” and “the why” behind why having Lightning Lane in Magic Kingdom is practically a must, and how the process works in general. 

If you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World, mastering your Lightning Lane strategy for Magic Kingdom is key to skipping long wait times and getting the most out of your day. With a little planning and the My Disney Experience app, you can ride more and wait less – making your Disney day truly magical.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know: how to use Lightning Lane, how to buy Lightning Lane, the benefits of Lightning Lane, and how to choose the best rides for it. Let’s dive in!

What is Lightning Lane? 

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is Disney’s skip-the-line system that allows you to reserve a return time for select attractions, avoiding the standby queue. It’s accessed through the My Disney Experience app and is a paid service.

This option gives you the chance to book up to three experiences in advance. 

There is also an option to purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass (previously known as Individual Lightning Lane) to gain skip-the-line access for high-demand rides.

These passes are booked for individual rides for one-time access to Lightning Lanes. Single Passes can be purchased for up to two attractions per day, each with its own separate cost. 

Disney also recently announced the Lightning Lane Premier Pass. This is a more expensive experience but gives you the opportunity to gain one-time entry to the Lightning Lane line at every Lightning Lane experience once per day, including the most in-demand rides.

You don’t need to plan anything in advance besides buying the pass and then showing up to the rides. 

To use LightningLane, download the My Disney Experience app and link your my Disney Experience account, park tickets or your resort package. 

The Cost

• Lightning Lane Multi Pass costs between $15 – $40 per person, per day
• Lightning Lane Single Passes costs between $10 – $25 per person, per ride
• Lightning Lane Premier Passes cost between $129 – $449 per person, per day

Lightning Lane Summary

• MultiPass: entrance to select attractions, which can be booked in advance for up to 3 select rides. 
• Single Pass: entrance to individual, high-demand attractions, up to 2 per day
• Premier Pass: Lightning Lane entrance for all designated attractions once per day, without having to pre-schedule. 

How To Use Lightning Lane?

This process is really where the main changes happened between the first FastPass system > FastPass+ > Genie+ > Lightning Lane Multi Pass & Lightning Lane Single Pass. The evolution of this process is confusing, so basically, if you haven’t been to the parks since the beginning of 2025, you need to know about the current process, or you will end up paying for LL and still standing in standby lines all day. 

To buy LightningLane MultiPass or Single Pass, it’s helpful to know which type of vacation you are on. 

1- If staying at a Disney Resort, you can buy your passes up to seven days in advance of your check-in day for your entire vacation! This is a major perk because you get first pick of the rides. 

2- If you have tickets outside of a Disney Resort reservation, you can book your passes up to three days in advance of your first park day of your vacation. 

Once in the My Disney Experience App, navigate to the Lightning Lane section and start the process. 

• Select the date and park for your first LightingLane MultiPass or Single Pass selections. 
• You can make all reservations in one go, so be prepared with your top choices! 
• You will see an initial recommendation for specific rides at certain times, you can select from other times if they are available! 

Once inside the park, after you redeem your first Lightning Lane experience, you can begin booking additional return times for available attractions, one at a time throughout the day.

This is where your Lightning Lane strategy for Magic Kingdom becomes essential – planning ahead helps you hit top rides efficiently.

Benefits of Using Lightning Lane in Magic Kingdom

Using Lightning Lane in Magic Kingdom offers numerous benefits:

• Skip the Line: The most obvious perk – avoid the standby lines and save hours.
• Ride More Attractions: With efficient planning, you can experience 10+ rides in a single day.
• Plan Around Meals & Shows: Schedule your return windows to allow for breaks and entertainment.
• Flexible for Families: Shorter waits are especially helpful for families with young kids or grandparents.
• Advanced Planning: I like to get a head start on our vacations by planning in advance, which was a perk to the FastPass reservations system, so I am really glad this is back!

Pairing these advantages with a solid Lightning Lane strategy for Magic Kingdom makes your day less stressful and more fun.

How To Pick Which Lightning Lane to Book (And At What Time)

As mentioned earlier, this is going to be personal preference based on your family. Which style rides do you want to ride, which character meet and greets are most important, and how do you plan to schedule your day? 

A few things to consider:

• Are you willing to stay in Magic Kingdom all day? Do you plan to rope drop and stay until after the fireworks? If you are, you can spread things out and take advantage of the lower wait times each day. 
• Are you rope-dropping? Consider which ride you will head to first, you may not want to use a Lightning Lane pass on that ride (or even those few rides!) 
• Is meeting characters important? There are a few options for character meet-and-greets within the Lightning Lane tiers. Depending on the character (like the Princesses or Mickey Mouse) it may be totally worth it to use a pass for this experience. The lines can get very long depending on the time of day. However, if you can be flexible, you could also find these lines to be really short so strictly using your passes for rides could make the most sense. (not currently available via Lightning Lane)
• Can/will all of your family members or group members ride the rides? If not, you can use Rider Swap, OR you can book different rides for different members of your party. While two people ride Tiana’s Bayou, the other two could be on Pirates of the Caribbean, or something similar. You don’t all have to ride together. 
• Do your children meet the height requirement for all rides? This has happened countless times; We plan for our small children to ride specific rides because they say they are ready (and usually excited) only to find out they are not tall enough. It’s heartbreaking! Be sure to check heights before traveling! 
• Do you want to see the shows? The parades and fireworks in Magic Kingdom are amazing, but you do often need to plan time before to grab a good spot, keep this in mind as you plan the day. If you don’t care about the shows, there are always shorter lines for rides during the evening entertainment. 

Understanding Rides at Magic Kingdom for Lightning Lane by Tier & Single Pass 

When you have a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Magic Kingdom, you will be able to select up to three Multi Pass experiences in advance. These Magic Kingdom rides and experiences are limited to one from the Tier 1 experiences and two (or all three) from Tier 2 experiences. 

It’s wonderful to understand that once you are in the park and making same day Lightning Lane reservations, the tier system does not matter! 

Tier 1 Experiences at Magic Kingdom

• Jungle Cruise
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Space Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (new overlay over the previous Splash Mountain ride) 

Tier 2 Experiences at Magic Kingdom

• The Barnstormer
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Mad Tea Party
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
• Pirates of the Caribbean 
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid 

Single Pass Rides in Magic Kingdom

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• TRON Lightcycle / Run

It’s essential to check the daily calendar within My Disney Experience to view refurbishments and closures for rides and experiences for the day of your visit!

The Best Rides at Magic Kingdom For Lightning Lane 

Not all of the rides in tier 1 and tier 2 will have long wait times. I recommend starting with the longest wait times and the most popular rides first, and ensuring you have an advanced time scheduled for each of them. 

To avoid long lines, these are the ideal rides to score a Lightning Lane in advance and throughout the day: 

• Jungle Cruise
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Tiana’s Bayou 
• Space Moutain 
• Big Thunder Mountain 

Yes, all tier 1 rides are known for having the longest lines, which is why they are in a separate tier. 

Tier 2 is where you can really narrow down the choices (in my opinion)

• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Haunted Mansion
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Pirates of the Caribbean 
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid 

The above rides will be the best focus to save as much time as possible and use your Lightning Lanes effectively. The rides removed from the list usually have short waits at multiple times throughout the day. 

Looking for a printable list of all the rides in Walt Disney World? Check out the full list here!

My Recommended Lightning Lane Strategy for Magic Kingdom

Do all of this in advance: 

1. Download the My Disney Experience app far in advance. 
2. Connect everyone in your travel party via the My Friends & Family section. 
3. Talk as a family or group before it’s time to buy your MultiPass and SinglePasses. It’s helpful to know everyone’s priorities in advance.  
4. Book your vacation at a Disney resort (I recommend this for many reasons, 7-day advanced reservations is one of them!). 
5. Seven days prior to your check in day: Make your Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Pass reservations for the following rides
   • Tier 1: Jungle Cruise for first thing in the day
   • Tier 2: Haunted Mansion for earlier afternoon & Buzz Lightyear for mid-afternoon 
   • If you are interested in purchasing a Single Pass, and you enjoy thrill rides, buy one for TRON. 
6. Day of, I would follow this Magic Kingdom fastpass strategy as closely as possible: 

Be ready to rope drop! Which in Magic Kingdom means arriving as close to 1 hour before the park opening as possible. Depending on where you are staying, you may get a jump start on this one. Main Street will usually open 45 minutes earlier than the posted early entry time. 

• Head down Main St. to the “Early Entry” post, have someone in your party scan your group in, and go to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This line gets long earlier and will stay long for nearly the entire day. Which I understand, it’s the perfect family roller coaster! 
• After Seven Dwarfs, hop on the Mad Tea Party for a quick spin, it’s usually a walk on at this time. 
• Next, you want to head to rope drop #2- Frontierland! You will likely be held by the Haunted Mansion until the park officially opens. Once the rope is dropped, head for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The line will be short since this area of the park just opened. 
• Afterwards, you are hopefully somewhat dry, and ready for a more casual ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. 
• From Pirates, you will use your first Lightning Lane pass to ride Jungle Cruise. Remember to book your next Lightning Lane after scanning in, I recommend booking Peter Pan’s Flight for as soon after Haunted Mansion as possible. 
• If you want to go on another low-wait ride, it will be the perfect time to get on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. This is also a great time to grab a snack! 
• At this point you will be ready to ride Haunted Mansion, and potentially then “it’s a small world” via standby. Once you scan into Haunted Mansion, try to book Space Mountain. 
• Ride Peter Pan’s Flight if you were able to book it, and try to book The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. 
• There will likely be a lull in your afternoon at this time, perfect for seeing a show, having lunch, strolling Main Street or meeting characters. 
• Head towards Buzz Lightyear for a fun and competitive ride, and try to book Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid.  
• Then visit Mr. Tom Morrow on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, and maybe even go for a drive on the Tomorrowland Speedway. 
• Early evening is the perfect time for your ride on TRON, before making your way to the rides in Fantasyland. Ride Dumbo (and play in the playground), The Barnstormer (at least once!) and then hang out on The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. 
• This should put you at the fireworks time, which you can watch from Fantasyland for an amazing fireworks view, or from Main Street if you want to see the castle projections. 
• Then, ride some rides with lower wait times before your last Lightning Lane ride of the day on Space Mountain. 

The above list is focused on a busy day of rides, if you want to snack or meet more characters, keep that in mind as you plan your day a bit differently. There are many ways to spend a day in Magic Kingdom, so do what works for your family and their top picks! 

Important Notes About Lightning Lane in Magic Kingdom

• While you will always skip the longer standby line, you aren’t avoiding a line altogether. For most rides, there will be a shorter line to wait in, though you will likely experience a few walk-on attractions throughout the day.
• Attraction PhotoPass photos are included with Lightning Lanes which is a nice perk if you don’t have the PhotoPass service already! 
• You can purchase multiple days of LightningLane MultiPass access in advance.
• Check the “Tip Board” within the My Disney Experience app to see times available for additional rides throughout the day!   
• Use My Disney Experience Constantly. Check wait times, manage your bookings, and make adjustments on the fly.
• Use the “Stacking” Method. Book return times later in the day while using standby lines in the morning.
• Book Close Together Times. As the day goes on, update your return times to be closer together to use as many as possible. Times update all day long! 

With a well-planned Lightning Lane strategy for Magic Kingdom, you can easily experience shorter wait times and focus on fun.

Is Lightning Lane Worth It?

Absolutely – especially if you’re visiting during busy times, with kids, or only have one day at Magic Kingdom. The cost of Multi Pass and Individual Lightning Lanes can be easily justified by how much more you can see and do.

To get the most value, create a smart Lightning Lane strategy for Magic Kingdom, prioritize your favorite rides, and stay flexible throughout the day. With a bit of preparation, you’ll skip the line, ride more, and make the most of your magical experience.p