Hiya, Megan, and welcome to planDisney! I'm so happy you've found us here today with this awesome question about your upcoming Walt Disney World Resort vacation. You'll be arriving in just a couple of days, and you must be so excited! Have you packed your suitcases yet?
Megan, it's great that you've gotten familiar with the booking process for
Lightning Lane selections. I want to reassure you that it's totally fine to head to the parks without any Lightning Lanes booked. The value of Lightning Lanes is subjective based on your party's personal preferences and tolerance for waiting in lines. For my family, this changes from one vacation to the next. We have three young kids and often travel with a large party, which means we naturally move a little slower, but we're the type of family that wants to do it all.
In terms of experiencing all of the top rides, I can tell you that as the parks have expanded and the offerings have become better and better, my list of must-dos has gotten so long that it takes more than one day to do everything I want to do, even when using Lightning Lanes. Candidly, it's a good problem to have, and it's what keeps us coming back year after year.
We recently visited and only bought one Lightning Lane Single Pass because we knew that
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was a must-do. Happily, we were able to enjoy it twice because we got a spot in the
Virtual Queue! We used the traditional stand-by lines for all of the other attractions. Since we knew we'd be using stand-by queues, we arrived at the parks early to take advantage of lower crowds in the morning, and we kept an eye on wait times in the My Disney Experience Mobile App when deciding what attractions to visit next. You might find that queues are shorter as other Guests are watching fireworks or parades.
Keep in mind that the other attraction that doesn't offer a stand-by queue - only a Virtual Queue - is
Tiana's Bayou Adventure. You'll want to join that on the
My Disney Experience Mobile App at 7am or 1pm on the day you visit
Magic Kingdom Park to ensure you can hop in the line.
Megan, I hope this is helpful to you and encouraging as you continue to count down to your arrival at the Most Magical Place on Earth. Please stop back by planDisney with any other questions you have!
See you real soon!
Jennifer