Hi Anastasia! Welcome to planDisney! I’m so glad you stopped by with this question because breaks during a Disney Day can be the difference between powering through until midnight or fizzling out before dinnertime. Staying at
Pixar Place Hotel makes it especially easy to pop back for a little rest, and I’d be happy to help you understand how Lightning Lane reservations work while you’re away from the parks.
The great news is that once you’ve purchased
Lightning Lane Multi Pass access and scanned into your first theme park of the day, you’ll be able to make Lightning Lane reservations from just about anywhere, including the comfort of your hotel room. The only rule to remember is that you can’t book your next return time until either you’ve used an existing reservation or two hours have passed since you made your last one. The Tip Board in the
Disneyland app is your best friend here, as it clearly shows both your upcoming reservations and the time when you’ll be eligible to make another.
Here’s a Lightning Lane Q-Tip: with a little planning, you can actually hold multiple reservations at the same time. Let’s say you book the Matterhorn at 9:00 a.m. for a 4:00 p.m. return time. At 11:00 a.m., two hours later, you’ll be able to grab another reservation (maybe for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway) without giving up your Matterhorn time. I like to set alarms on my phone or watch to remind me when the two-hour window is up, so I don’t miss a chance to stack more reservations.
Another strategy I recommend is reserving the most popular attractions early in the day. Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, and Haunted Mansion Holiday can all run out of return times by the afternoon. Booking those as soon as possible helps avoid the longer standby queues later on.
Wishing you a magical adventure filled with great rides, fun breaks, and plenty of Pixar spirit!
Happy adventuring,
David