I Made a Foolish Mistake with My Lightning Lanes in Disney World. Here's How I Solved It.

Lightning Lane is Disney World’s skip-the-line system available for a fee to all guests visiting the resort.

Slinky Dog Dash Lightning Lane

The Lightning Lane system can be confusing for everyone, but especially for anyone new to the parks. I’ve been going to Disney World for many years and am very familiar with the system, and I STILL make mistakes now and then. The system has changed several times in the past few years, so it’s totally reasonable that mistakes happen. Here’s what happened to me and how I solved it (and how you can solve any mistakes you make, too).

Since the Lightning Lane system is so complex, let’s first talk about how to use it before diving into my mistake.

There are three variations: Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass. When you buy Lightning Lane Premier Pass, you can use all the Lightning Lanes in one particular park at anytime the park is open — no reservations needed. You just show up to the ride and jump in the Lightning Lane. This is the most expensive Lightning Lane service — with prices often topping $400 per person in Magic Kingdom.

The Barnstormer Lightning Lane

When you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can make reservations for select rides available within the Multi Pass system. You pay for this service at the park where you plan to start your day, but as soon as you have used your first Lightning Lane reservation, you can make reservations for the rest of the day at any park (provided you have a ticket that allows you to Park Hop!).

Lightning Lane at Haunted Mansion

Lightning Lane Single Pass is ONLY for select rides. These individual ride Lightning Lanes have to be paid for separately from Multi Pass. Each park has at least one ride that is available for Lightning Lane Single Pass (Magic Kingdom currently has two).

Rise of the Resistance Lightning Lane

All three Lightning Lane tiers can be purchased in advance of your trip using the My Disney Experience app. People staying at a Disney World Resort Hotel or select other hotels can purchase and reserve Lightning Lane rides 7 days in advance of their check-in day, for up to 14 days. All other guests can book them 3 days in advance, for the number of days on their tickets. Prices vary by park and by the day.

Once you’re at the parks and you begin using your Lightning Lane Multi Passes, you can make new reservations for the remaining rides in the park that are still available. You can hold 3 Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations at the same time.

Mad Tea Party Lightning Lane

So here’s where my mistake comes into play. When you reserve Lightning Lanes, you select a certain time that you want to ride the ride. But many of the rides are VERY popular, and it’s not uncommon for some Lightning Lanes to sell out. So when I was booking my Lightning Lanes at 7 AM, 7 days in advance of my first day of my trip, my fingers were moving like lightning! I was tapping away, trying my best to get rides at certain times that didn’t overlap with other plans I had.

Lightning Lane at Expedition Everest

Unfortunately, in my haste, I clicked the wrong time on one. I realized too late that I had another reservation that fell over that same time frame, but I didn’t want to risk canceling it and trying for a new one. And every time I tried the modify it, the times were only showing up later. So instead, I went to the menu on the app (the three horizontal lines on the bottom right side of the screen). From there, I scrolled all the way down to the Help & Feedback section, and then I clicked “Chat With Us.”

©Disney

You can live chat with a Disney World Guest Relations Cast Member to help get your issues resolved. So, since I accidentally selected the wrong time and had another reservation over the same time frame, they were able to help me switch the time of my reservation, right from the app! This is a really neat feature that you have access to any time you need assistance from a Disney World Cast Member.

©Disney

This feature can be used for more than just Lightning Lanes, too. So, next time you need Cast Member assistance, give them a shout-out right from the app!

In the meantime, keep following DFB for more Disney news!

This HACK Lets You Use Lightning Lane Premier Pass on a Popular Disney Ride TWICE in One Day!

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