Welcome, Hadley! We're so happy to have you here at planDisney.
You're going to love having that
Lightning Lane Multi Pass in your "pocket"! Skipping the standby queue on select attractions easily helps you to maximize the magic during your park day. What I love about Lightning Lanes at Disneyland is that you can make your first selection of the day as soon as you scan into the Main Entrance Gates. There is no advanced planning needed, other than to ensure your
Disneyland App is downloaded with the latest version and that all of the theme park tickets for your party are linked together.
Once you enter the parks, head into the app and tap the "+" along the bottom navigation bar followed by "Book Lightning Lane Entry". This will take you directly to the Tip Board where you can see all attraction wait times as well as the earliest return windows available for attractions that offer Lightning Lanes. You can use the toggle at the top to "Show Only Lightning Lane Experiences" to make this process even more efficient. Tap your selection, select the Guests you are booking for from the list, and off you go! One thing to note is that only Guests who have tickets for that day, have already scanned into the parks, and have Lightning Lane Multi Pass will be eligible for selection.
When it comes to Lightning Lane strategy, this can be a very personal decision based on the priorities of your group. My suggestion would be to have a chat with everyone and come up with 3-5 must-dos for the day. This will help you prioritize making your selections. Generally speaking, I try to start with a Lightning Lane for the most popular attraction on my priority list, usually Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, or Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Disneyland or WEB SLINGERS, Toy Story Midway Mania! or the Incredicoaster at California Adventure.
Depending on when and where your first Lightning Lane is, I usually try to knock out a different area of the park. You have a full hour from the start of your return time to arrive at your Lightning Lane attraction, which helps provide some flexibility. You can make your next selection either as soon as you tap into your Lightning Lane OR two hours after you made the selection if your return time is later in the day.
When it's time for that second selection, take a look at the return times for your priority list. The more popular rides will start to have later and later return times as the day goes on. You can continue to book Lightning Lanes for your priority list and "stack" them for later in the day as your two-hour booking windows arrive or you can choose an attraction that has a sooner arrival time to speed through attractions with lesser wait times. This is where the personal preference comes in!
One thing to keep in mind is that Guests are always changing their plans. While I don't recommend being glued to your phone, if you have a later-than-desired return window, you can keep checking to see if something earlier opens up. You would simply head into the Lightning Lane selection itself in your app and select "Modify" to see the next return time. If you keep refreshing that page, you will see this shift and change as Guests are updating their plans. I will say, your fingers will need to move quickly if an earlier time pops up because another Guest may grab it quickly as well!
Hadley, I hope this is helpful! We are always here at
planDisney with a friendly tip or two or ten if you have any more questions about your planning.
Wishing you a magical visit!
Tara