October Disney Trip Report - Were Lightning Lanes Worth It?
I get a lot of questions about whether Lightning Lanes are worth it or not. I nearly always purchase them because I’d rather pay to wait less and get more done, but let’s see how much time I saved and how much I spent to help you decide if it’s worth it.
Day 1 - Wednesday, October 2 - EPCOT
We boarded the Skyliner at Pop Century at 9:44am and arrived at EPCOT just after 10am. We only got to Pop at 1am the night before, so we took our morning a bit slower than normal and started the day with breakfast at Akershus located in the Norway pavilion. This restaurant is a great option for families looking to meet princesses. From start to finish, breakfast was about 50 minutes even though we met Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Snow White, and Tiana. It’s a great way to guarantee multiple princess meetings, and they do a great job of interacting with each table.
After breakfast we started hitting attractions using Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP):
11:45am Living with the Land
Posted wait time 15 minutes
Actual wait time 13 minutes
Saved 2 minutes over the standby queue - not a good start.
12:15pm Soarin’
Posted wait time 35 minutes
Actual wait time 15 minutes
Saved 20 minutes
12:44pm The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Posted wait time 15 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 15 minutes
1:25pm Journey Into Imagination with Figment
Posted wait time 5 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 5 minutes
We were altered that our room was ready at 1:50pm, so we headed to Yacht Club to take a break, unpack, and jump in the pool. We then returned to EPCOT in the evening.
6:37pm Three Caballeros (no LLMP)
Posted wait time 5 minutes
Actual walk on
6:54pm Mission Space Orange
Posted wait time 10 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 10 minutes
7:43pm Frozen Ever After
Posted wait time 40 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 40 minutes
8:45pm Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Posted wait time 45 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 45 minutes
Some of these rides like Imagination likely had a walk on standby queue as well with a 5 minute posted wait time, but we are counting this as saved time to keep everything equal. The total saved for day 1 at EPCOT was 137 minutes or almost 2 and a half hours. We spent $80.96 or $0.59 for every minute we saved not waiting in lines.
Day 2 - Thursday, October 3 - Magic Kingdom
We only purchased Lightning Lanes for this day to get on Tiana’s and Tron without depending on the virtual queues. We had tickets for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, so we only went to the park around 3pm. There aren’t a lot of dinner options once the party starts which is why we had a reservation at 3:30pm for Be Our Guest.
Once dinner was over, we had LLMP and Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) lined up before 6pm when the party started and Lightning Lanes were no longer offered, but things didn’t end up working out as well as day 1.
5:06pm Tron LLSP
Posted wait time 65 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 65 minutes
4:20pm-5:20pm Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, but the ride stayed down the whole time. I didn’t want to use the any experience LLMP on another attraction hoping it would come back up before the party started. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and it was a wasted LLMP.
5pm-6pm Space Mountain, but this ride stayed down most of the night. It didn’t come back up until we were heading out of the park. Another missed LLMP.
5:58pm Pirates of the Caribbean
Posted wait time 5
Actual walk on
Saved 5 minutes
During the party, we rode Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. We met Jack Sparrow, watched the Cadaver Dans as well as Rusty Cutlass, danced with Powerline Max before the parade, and hit lots of trick or treating spots. We came home with 4 bags of candy!
We spent $123.56 on LLMP, but only saved 5 minutes. We ended up spending $24.71 per minute - not so good. For Tron LLSP, we spent $42.60 which ended up being $0.65 per minute.
With Tiana’s and Space going down for most of the day, LLMP wasn’t a good use of money unfortunately.
Day 3 - Friday, October 4 - Hollywood Studios
We had a great rope drop today! Before using LLMP or LLSP, we rode Slinky Dog, Toy Story Mania, and Smugglers Run, and that was all before 9am.
9:51am Star Tours
Posted 10 minutes
Actual wait 14 minutes
Lost 4 minutes
10:15am Indiana Jones
Posted 5 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 5 minutes
11:28am Lighting McQueen Racing Academy (half the group did this with no LLMP)
Posted 15 minutes
Actual 15 minutes
No savings
11:25am Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster (Other half of the group used LLMP)
Posted 45 minutes
Actual 10
Saved 35 minutes
12:14pm Rise of the Resistance LLSP
Posted 85 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 85 minutes
12:50pm Muppets 3D
Posted 10 minutes
Actual 10 minutes
No savings
1:15pm Tower of Terror
Posted 35 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 35 minutes
We spent $208.56 for both LLMP and LLSP on day 3 and saved 156 minutes. We ended up spending $0.75 per minute which is pretty good.
Day 4 - Saturday, October 5 - Animal Kingdom and EPCOT
Animal Kingdom opens the earliest of all the parks. We were on the first bus out of the Yacht Club at 6:43am and were at the gates at 7:04am for a 7:30am early entry. We were able to ride Flight of Passage during early entry and only waited 21 minutes. Before we started using LLMP and LLSP, we had a quick breakfast snack and Pongu Pongu in Pandora.
Flight of Passage (again) with LLSP
Posted 60 minutes
Actual 10 minutes
Saved 50 minutes
9:05am Kilamanjaro Safaris
Posted 25 minutes
Actual 5 minutes
Saved 20 minutes
9:44am Na’vi River Journey
Posted 40 minutes
Actual 5 minutes
Saved 35 minutes
10:19am Dinosaur (no LLMP)
Posted 25 minutes
Actual 13 minutes
10:55am Expedition Everest
Posted 50 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 50 minutes
We then enjoyed lunch at Tusker House and headed back to the resort for a much needed nap before heading to EPCOT to finish the day.
6:20pm Cosmic Rewind LLSP
No standby queue
Waited 30 minutes
7pm Mission Space Orange
Posted 10 minutes
Actual walk on
Saved 10 minutes
7:30pm Soarin’
Posted 25 minutes
Actual 10 minutes
Saved 15 minutes
We spent $144.84 for LLMP and LLSP for day 4 and saved 180 minutes. This ended up being $0.80 for every minute saved not waiting in lines.
Conclusion
Other than the debacle before the Halloween party, we spent less than a dollar a minute for the time we saved not waiting in lines which is a plus in my book. On the other hand, we ended up spending a total of $600.72. That can be a lot to spend before even getting to the parks. You’ll need to decide if the time saved in lines each day is worth the upfront cost. Other than our Magic Kingdom day, I was really happy with how much time we saved not waiting in lines, but this is a personal choice you’ll have to make.
