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Don't Use Lightning Lane Until You Watch This: Our Complete Guide for Disney World in 2026 — Transcript

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0:00In today's video, we're going to take
0:01you through the basics of all three
0:03flavors of Lightning Lane, and then
0:06we're going to bring you along with us
0:07for a full day in the parks where we'll
0:09show you step-by-step, screen-by-screen,
0:12how to make the most of these different
0:14Lightning Lane services on your day in
0:16the parks. We're going to show you which
0:18attractions you should book first and
0:20what things you should be thinking about
0:21as you decide what you want to book next
0:24so that you can build the perfect Disney
0:25World day for your crew.
0:27>> Excuse me, pardon me, coming through.
0:29Aren't you forgetting something rather
0:31important? Well, of course, Genie. We're
0:34also going to show people how you can
0:36help them book even more Lightning Lanes
0:37in their day and have a great time doing
0:40it.
0:40>> Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. If
0:42you need me, I'll be in the lamp.
0:45>> [music]
0:50>> Hi-ho, everybody. This is Rob with Ears
0:52Scouts. Over the years, we have made a
0:55ton of different Lightning Lane videos
0:57on a range of topics, but today's video
1:00is the most comprehensive Lightning Lane
1:03video we've ever made. We've got a ton
1:05of information to share, plus we've got
1:07a whole day of fun adventures ahead of
1:09us, so let's get to it.
1:21I find it's always best to begin at the
1:24beginning. So, let's start with the
1:26basics of Lightning Lane for those
1:28who've never used the service before. A
1:30Lightning Lane is a special queue that
1:33is separate from the main standby queue,
1:35and it's available at most attractions
1:37at Walt Disney World. Now, this queue is
1:39going to offer you a much shorter wait,
1:41typically about 10 minutes, but the
1:43catch is you're going to need to
1:45typically pay for one of the different
1:47Lightning Lane services if you want to
1:49access those queues. Once you've gotten
1:52access to the Lightning Lane, you're
1:53just going to use your Magic Band, park
1:56ticket, hotel key card if you're staying
1:58at a Disney World Resort, or your
2:00MagicMobile enabled device to tap in at
2:02the touch point that you'll find at the
2:04entrance to the Lightning Lane. This is
2:06going to let the cast member there know
2:08that you have access to the Lightning
2:10Lane, and they'll let you on through.
2:12Now, it's important to note you do not
2:15need to purchase Lightning Lane to ride
2:17all of the different rides at Walt
2:18Disney World. Those are all included at
2:21no additional charge with your park
2:23ticket. However, if you want to use the
2:25Lightning Lane service, that is going to
2:27be an additional charge, and you're
2:29going to have to pay [music] for it for
2:30every person who wants to use the
2:32service in your group for every day that
2:35you want to use it. The only exception
2:36to that are little ones who are under
2:38the age of 3 years old. They don't even
2:41need a park ticket to enter the park,
2:42and they can accompany you into the
2:44Lightning Lane as long as you've paid
2:46for Lightning Lane at no additional
2:48charge. As I mentioned before, there are
2:50three flavors of Lightning Lane. There's
2:53single pass, which lets you book access
2:55to a specific attraction for a specific
2:58window of time, and it's available
3:01currently at the five most popular rides
3:04here at Walt Disney World. Next, there's
3:06multi pass. Now, this allows you to book
3:09pretty much all of the other attractions
3:12at Walt Disney World other than those
3:13five that offer Lightning Lane, but the
3:16catch is you're going to really need to
3:18know how to use this service if you want
3:20to get the most out of it, and that's
3:23what we're going to be showing you
3:24primarily in this video. Finally, there
3:27is Lightning Lane Premier Pass. This is
3:30by far the most expensive form of
3:32Lightning Lane, but it's also the most
3:34powerful, the easiest to understand, and
3:37the simplest to use when you're here at
3:38the parks. Since it's the easiest to
3:40understand, let's go ahead and start
3:42with Premier Pass. You do need to
3:45purchase Premier Pass for each park that
3:47you wish to use it in. The price of
3:50Premier Pass is going to change
3:51depending on which park you purchase it
3:54for and how busy the park is that day.
3:57Once you purchase this service for one
3:59of the four parks, you are allowed
4:01entrance into all of the attractions in
4:03that park that offer Lightning Lane. And
4:06that includes the attractions that are
4:08usually limited to single pass Lightning
4:11Lanes. The catch is you can only access
4:14each of those Lightning Lanes once in
4:16your day and you're limited to just
4:20Lanes in that one park that you've
4:22purchased it for. So, if you purchase it
4:24for Magic Kingdom and then you decide to
4:26hop to Epcot, you would need to purchase
4:29Premier Pass again for Epcot if you
4:32wanted to use the service in that park.
4:34Now, the biggest benefit of Lightning
4:36Lane Premier Pass is you don't need to
4:38bother with booking each of the rides
4:40using the My Disney Experience app. When
4:43you come upon an attraction with a
4:45Lightning Lane, as long as you haven't
4:46entered it yet, you can just tap in and
4:49ride that ride without fiddling with the
4:52app at all. Now, this is obviously a
4:55huge advantage over the other forms of
4:57Lightning Lane and it's also most
4:59similar to how the ride skipping
5:01services work at most other theme parks.
5:10Next, let's talk about Lightning Lane
5:12Single Pass. Currently, prices range
5:15from $10 to $25
5:18depending on which ride you're booking
5:20and how busy it is in the park that day.
5:23When you purchase Lightning Lane Single
5:25Pass, you'll purchase it for a specific
5:27window of time for that attraction. It's
5:30a 1-hour window and you would need to
5:32experience the attraction during that
5:34hour. The good news is you can go in and
5:39swap this time for a different time
5:41assuming that there are other times
5:43available in the app. It's also helpful
5:45to know that there usually is a little
5:47bit of a grace period in case you're
5:49running late to that single pass
5:50lightning lane. You can only purchase
5:53two single pass lightning lanes per
5:55person per day. And you can only book
5:58each of the attractions that are
6:00available through single pass lightning
6:01lane once per day. So, for example,
6:04[music]
6:04you could purchase it for both Tron and
6:07Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in a single day,
6:10but you wouldn't be able to then add on
6:12Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind in
6:14the same day. Finally, there is the most
6:17popular flavor of lightning lane, and
6:19this is the one you are most likely to
6:21use on your next trip to Walt Disney
6:23World. It is, of course, lightning lane
6:26multi pass. Lightning lane multi pass
6:28allows you to use the My Disney
6:30Experience app to book specific windows
6:32of time where you can access the
6:34lightning lane for an eligible
6:36attraction. This includes every ride and
6:39show at Walt Disney World that has a
6:41lightning lane available other than
6:43those five that are reserved for
6:45lightning lane single pass.
6:46>> [music]
6:46>> Like premier pass, lightning lane multi
6:49pass's price is going to vary depending
6:51on the day and depending on which park
6:54you're starting your day in. But, unlike
6:57lightning lane premier pass, with a
6:59multi [music] pass, once you use that
7:01lightning lane in your first park of the
7:03day, you're free to then use it in all
7:06four parks provided that you have a
7:08ticket that gives you access to those
7:10parks like an annual [music] pass or a
7:12park hopper ticket. Prices currently
7:14range from $20 to $45 per day at Magic
7:19Kingdom. Hollywood Studios ranges from
7:21$20 to $39. Epcot is currently $15 to
7:26$37. And Animal Kingdom is the least
7:29expensive, currently $15 to $35 per
7:33person per day. As with all the
7:35different lightning lane services, these
7:37prices are subject to change and they
7:39may be a little higher when you come to
7:41visit the park. That said, even on the
7:43most expensive days at the most
7:46expensive park, $45 is a huge bargain
7:49when you compare it to the cost of
7:52Lightning Lane Premiere Pass. And it
7:54could potentially allow you to skip the
7:56standby queue for a whole bunch of rides
7:58across all four parks at Walt Disney
8:01World. The catch for this one is you
8:03definitely have to know how to use the
8:05service to get the most out of it. So,
8:07let's go ahead and go over the basics.
8:09You'll start with three slots that will
8:11allow you to book times for different
8:14attractions. Initially, all three of
8:16those attractions must be in your first
8:19park of the day, but you'll be allowed
8:21to book rides and shows in the other
8:23parks once you tap in at your first
8:25attraction.
8:27All of the parks other than Animal
8:28Kingdom will have their attractions
8:30grouped into two tiers. In your first
8:32slot, you can book any attraction you
8:34want no matter which tier it's in, but
8:37in your other two slots, you will
8:38initially be limited to attractions that
8:41are in that second lower tier. The good
8:43news is just like with park hopping,
8:45this limitation goes away as soon as you
8:48tap in at your first attraction. Once
8:50you use a Lightning Lane in your first
8:52park, you are unlocked and all three
8:55slots can be used at any park and for
8:57any ride in any tier. Whenever you
9:00redeem a Lightning Lane by tapping in at
9:02an attraction, that slot opens up and
9:05you can then book a new Lightning Lane
9:07in that slot. Also, whenever a Lightning
9:10Lane expires, meaning that you're past
9:12that window of time that you booked, you
9:15can then book another Lightning Lane in
9:17that slot. Later in this video, we'll
9:20show you how you can maybe still use
9:22that expired Lightning Lane, so stick
9:24around for that. And finally, you can
9:26choose to modify or cancel any of your
9:29existing Lightning Lanes, which would
9:31allow you to have a different ride
9:33booked into that slot or a different
9:36time slot for the ride that you already
9:38have booked. That last point is really
9:41important and it's the key to getting
9:43the most out of Lightning Lane Multi
9:45Pass because the earlier your time slot
9:48is, the sooner you can tap in and use
9:50that Lightning Lane and that then opens
9:53up that slot for you to book something
9:55else. This is what allows you to get
9:57more things done in your Disney World
9:59day. Just like all the other forms of
10:01Lightning Lane, however, you can only
10:04book each attraction once per day using
10:07Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
10:11>> [music]
10:18>> Finally, let's move on to the app
10:20because no matter which form of
10:21Lightning Lane you choose, the My Disney
10:23Experience app is where you're going to
10:26start. Now, the date that you're first
10:28eligible to purchase your Lightning Lane
10:30service is going to depend on the type
10:32of ticket you have and whether you're
10:34staying at one of these qualifying
10:36resort hotels. Now, if you're staying at
10:38one of these hotels, it doesn't matter
10:40what kind of ticket you have. You're
10:42going to be able to start purchasing
10:44Lightning Lane and booking your
10:45attractions 7 days before your check-in
10:49day starting at 7:00 a.m. And best of
10:52all, you can book for the entire
10:54duration of your hotel stay up to a
10:57maximum of 2 weeks. So, that means if
11:00you were here on a 2-week vacation, you
11:02could actually start booking your final
11:05day of Lightning Lanes 3 weeks early and
11:09that means that you're going to get a
11:10huge jump on folks who are not able to
11:13purchase those Lightning Lanes until
11:15much closer to the day. Now, if you're
11:17not staying at one of those qualifying
11:19resort hotels, but you have a multi-day
11:22park ticket that is tied to a specific
11:24date, you would be able to start booking
11:27Lightning Lanes for the entire duration
11:29of that ticket starting at 7:00 a.m. 3
11:33days before the first day you're
11:35eligible to enter the park. If you have
11:37an annual pass or a different kind of
11:39ticket, say a single day ticket or one
11:41that's not tied to a date, for those
11:44tickets you typically need to make
11:45what's called park pass reservations in
11:47the app and then you'd be able to
11:49purchase lightning lane at 7:00 a.m. 3
11:52days before your park pass. But, that
11:55means you're going to have to do that
11:56for every day that you visit one day at
11:59a time. Once you're eligible to
12:00purchase, just fire up the My Disney
12:03Experience app and right there in the
12:05main menu, you're going to see a button
12:07for Lightning Lane passes. Go ahead and
12:10tap on that. First, it's going to ask
12:12you which flavor of Lightning Lane you
12:14want to purchase. Now, we're going to go
12:15ahead and tap on Lightning Lane
12:17multi-pass, but they all work more or
12:19less the same way. It's going to start
12:22by asking you what date you're
12:23purchasing Lightning Lane for and then
12:26it's going to ask you which park you're
12:27planning to visit. On the next screen,
12:30it's going to show you what your options
12:32are. If you're doing Lightning Lane
12:34multi-pass or single pass, it'll show
12:35you what's available to you. If you were
12:38doing premier pass, however, it would
12:40just show you the four parks and let you
12:42see which one still have premier pass
12:44available. So, let's say we're choosing
12:47Lightning Lane multi-pass for Hollywood
12:50Studios. The next thing it's going to
12:51ask you is who all you want to purchase
12:54it for. Now, if you don't see someone in
12:57your party that you were planning to
12:58purchase it for in this list, it could
13:00mean that they don't yet have an
13:02eligible ticket. It could also mean that
13:04they're not linked to your account. In
13:07order to do that, you just head over to
13:08the main menu and you look for your
13:10profile in that list. Once you tap on
13:13your profile, you would edit them using
13:15the family and friends tab. Once you
13:17select everyone who you want to purchase
13:19Lightning Lane for, the next screen is
13:22going to show you the attractions that
13:23are currently available to book. You'll
13:26notice that if you're in a park other
13:28than Animal Kingdom, there's going to be
13:30a list of Tier One attractions at the
13:32top where you can choose one, and then
13:34below that are going to be your list of
13:36Tier Two attractions. You could actually
13:38choose all Tier Two attractions if you
13:40wanted, but you're of course limited to
13:42just one Tier One initially. Now, you
13:45might find that some attractions aren't
13:48currently available. There's no times
13:50available for them. The good news is
13:53these will likely come back into play
13:55before the date of your visit or on the
13:57date of your visit. So, don't worry if
14:00the ride you're most excited about
14:02riding is showing as not available.
14:04There's a very good chance, in fact,
14:06it's almost a certainty, it will come
14:08available again before you visit. Once
14:10you've selected your initial three
14:12attractions, it's going to propose some
14:14different times for those attractions.
14:17Now, you may notice that these times
14:20will pretty much never overlap. You'll
14:22also see potentially some other things
14:24that you have planned in your day there,
14:26and it won't overlap with those either.
14:28So, if you see a time that seems to be
14:31available, but you tap on it and it
14:33won't let you get it, there's a good
14:34chance that it's overlapping with
14:36something you already have in your
14:37plans. Now, the good news is this
14:40overlapping restriction is going to go
14:42away on the day of your park visit
14:44starting at midnight. So, if you did
14:46want to layer things up a little bit
14:48more, midnight the day of your visit is
14:50the moment you're going to be able to
14:51start doing that. If you don't see the
14:54times that you really want for the
14:55attractions you have picked, you can
14:57always tap back and choose some
14:59different attractions and hopefully find
15:01better times. Keep in mind, your goal is
15:04always to have at least something booked
15:06as soon as you're planning to visit the
15:08park because the sooner you tap in at
15:10something, the sooner you're going to
15:11unlock yourself and have the ability to
15:13have multiple Tier One attractions, or
15:16if you're planning to park hop, the
15:18ability to book attractions in other
15:20parks. Once you're happy with the
15:22attractions you have and the times you
15:24have for them, just go ahead and
15:25continue. From here on, it's pretty
15:27straightforward. You're just going to
15:29put in your credit card information,
15:30you're going to pay for the service, and
15:32then you're all set. If you're able to
15:34purchase Lightning Lane for multiple
15:36days of your visit, say you're using one
15:38of those date-based multi-day tickets or
15:41you're staying at a resort hotel, the
15:43rule of thumb is you're going to want to
15:44start with the earliest days first. The
15:47reason for this is those days are going
15:49to be the most competitive, so you want
15:51to book those quickly.
15:53The closer you are to a day, the more
15:55people have access to book on that day,
15:58but the further you get out, fewer and
16:00fewer people are eligible to purchase
16:02Lightning Lane, so you'll have an easier
16:04time getting the attractions you're
16:06aiming for on those later days, so save
16:08those until last. You should also note
16:11that you can, theoretically, purchase
16:13multiple forms of Lightning Lane in the
16:15same day. You could have, for example,
16:18Lightning Lane multi-pass at Magic
16:20Kingdom, have Lightning Lane single pass
16:23at Animal Kingdom for Flight of Passage,
16:25and over at Hollywood Studios for Rise
16:27of the Resistance, and you could even
16:29add in, if you wanted to get crazy,
16:31Lightning Lane Premier Pass over at
16:34Epcot, and then you'd have access to
16:36every attraction in that park, plus
16:38Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, this
16:40would, of course, be a really huge
16:42investment of money, and I'm not sure
16:44you would have time in a day to take
16:45advantage of all of those things, but if
16:48you wanted to, Disney will let you do
16:50it. For us, however, we're just going to
16:52aim to use both Lightning Lane single
16:54pass and Lightning Lane multi-pass in
16:57our park day. Right now, unfortunately,
16:59there are no single pass Lightning Lanes
17:02available. I'm actually booking this
17:04pretty close to the day of our visit,
17:06and those have already all sold out. I'm
17:08not too worried that those attractions
17:10aren't available right now, though,
17:11because I know some tricks that are
17:12going to allow our old friend the Genie
17:15to help us book those attractions at the
17:17last minute. The way you're still able
17:19to grab those lightning lanes is because
17:21the people who currently have them
17:22booked sometimes will change their
17:24plans. This usually happens at the last
17:26minute, say the night before or the
17:27morning of. They'll decide maybe they're
17:29going to a different park that day or
17:31they want to sleep in. And when they
17:33modify their lightning lanes and choose
17:35something different, those initial
17:37lightning lanes come back into play. And
17:39if you're watching and you know the
17:41tricks to grab those lightning lanes,
17:43you can still manage to set up the
17:44perfect start to your day even if you're
17:47purchasing lightning lane at the last
17:49minute. So for right now, I'm just going
17:50to go ahead and book the best stuff that
17:52I can get and then we will use the magic
17:55of editing to take you forward through
17:57space and time to the night before our
17:59big park day. And that is where we're
18:01going to make our final refinements and
18:03get set up for the perfect Disney day.
18:07Let's
18:08go.
18:12One of my favorite things about
18:14lightning lane is even if you wait until
18:16the last minute to grab it, you can
18:19still manage to book some of the most
18:21popular rides in Walt Disney World. I
18:23can't tell you how many times I have
18:25been able to book Slinky Dog Dash, which
18:27is the most difficult to book lightning
18:30lane, I think in all of Disney World, on
18:32the night before or the morning of my
18:35trip. But if you want the very best
18:37chance of booking those really difficult
18:39to grab rides, it helps to have a little
18:42bit of magic on your side [music] and
18:44that is where my old friend the Genie
18:47comes in. And as luck would have it,
18:49Genie is here visiting Epcot at this
18:51very moment. His magic lamp is right
18:54there, so let's [music] go drop in on
18:56the Genie, say hello, and we'll share
18:58with you how you can use the Genie to
19:00make the most of your lightning lane
19:02day.
19:04Hello.
19:05Anybody home? I guess the Genie's not
19:07home right now. Maybe he's out enjoying
19:09Epcot at the moment, but I do have some
19:11good news. And that is that I know a
19:13different way that you can summon the
19:15Genie, no matter where you are, from
19:18right within the app. We're going to
19:20start out on the main menu, and we're
19:22going to tap that button that says "My
19:24Plans". Once we're inside, we're looking
19:27for a button that says "Add
19:28Preferences". This is what's going to
19:30summon our old friend, the Genie.
19:33Once he arrives, we're going to hit that
19:35big start now button, and then we're
19:38going to see a calendar. From there,
19:40we'll choose the date we're visiting the
19:41park, and we'll choose which park we're
19:44visiting.
19:46Next up, you're going to choose the
19:48people that you're planning for. These
19:50are the folks that you want to include
19:52in your Lightning Lanes for the day. And
19:55after that, it's going to ask you what
19:57attractions you're most interested in.
19:59So, the traditional way of using this
20:01system is you just pick all the rides
20:03that you're interested in, and then the
20:04Genie would help you out by giving you
20:06suggestions of when you might want to do
20:08those attractions during your day.
20:10>> [music]
20:10>> However, we're going to use the Genie's
20:12magic in a slightly different way. And
20:15for what we're going to do, we only want
20:17to pick the top two or three rides we're
20:20most interested in, because one of the
20:23magical things that the Genie can do is
20:26pin those rides to the top of your view
20:28when you're booking Lightning Lanes. And
20:30there are certain attractions that are
20:32extremely difficult to grab if you don't
20:35have them pinned up there to the top of
20:37your view. By the time you scroll down
20:39and find them and tap through, someone
20:41else is going to have already grabbed
20:43that Lightning Lane. So, this little
20:45magical trick that the Genie can do of
20:47pinning rides to the top is huge, but it
20:51only helps you if there's only a few
20:53rides pinned up there, cuz once you got
20:55a whole list of rides, you're still
20:57scrolling through, and you're going to
20:58miss out on those rides that you really
21:00want. Once you've selected those few
21:02attractions that you're most interested
21:04in, go ahead and scroll to the bottom to
21:07continue. It's then going to ask you if
21:09you're interested in other things like
21:10princesses and such. Don't select
21:13anything here because this would add
21:15more things to the top of your view, pin
21:18more attractions, and that's not what we
21:20want. We just want those ones that we
21:22picked to be pinned to the top. And now,
21:24my friends, we are all set to play a
21:26game that I like to call the Disney
21:29slots.
21:34If you only get one piece of information
21:36from this video, this is the one piece
21:39of information you want to have cuz it
21:41is going to make the biggest difference
21:43>> [music]
21:43>> in your Lightning Lane day. If you think
21:46of the Lightning Lane system as a tool
21:48for booking rides, very specifically a
21:50tool for booking rides at the time that
21:52you want to ride them, you are going to
21:54find it to be a very frustrating system.
21:57But, if you instead change your
21:59thinking, and instead of thinking of
22:01this as a tool, you think of it as a
22:04game. Let's say a slot machine game that
22:07you have on your phone. That simple
22:09change in your mindset, the change to
22:12how you approach Lightning Lane, is not
22:14only going to make you more successful
22:16at booking the rides you want, [music]
22:18it's going to make the process a whole
22:20lot more fun. I talk to so many families
22:23who think of the Disney slots as like
22:26[music] their favorite sport when
22:27they're here at Walt Disney World. It
22:29becomes like a competitive game to see
22:32who can book the most difficult to book
22:34[music] rides when they're here on their
22:36vacation. So, right now, I want to show
22:38you how that game is played, and more
22:40importantly, how you can win [music]
22:42that game and have your best Disney
22:44World day ever. So, let's start with how
22:47you would play the slots when you're not
22:49yet in your Disney day. So, right now,
22:50[music] we're preparing for our day
22:52tomorrow. So, let's go ahead and start
22:54with the Lightning Lanes that we have
22:56booked. You can view these from the My
22:58Plans section, or you can view them from
23:01the lightning lane section. Both work.
23:04Tap on one of those lightning lanes and
23:06then a menu pops up [music] and you're
23:08going to choose modify.
23:10At this point, you're going to see a
23:12screen where you have the ride that you
23:14have booked pinned there up at the top
23:16and under that are the different rides
23:19that you could book instead. Now that
23:21you've used the magic of the genie,
23:23those rides that you picked are pinned
23:26right there to the top of your view. So
23:28if you don't see any times popping up
23:30for the rides that you want, all you
23:32have to do is take your finger, slide it
23:35down the screen, and spin the reels on
23:37that Disney slot machine. What it's
23:40doing now, it's going to go back and
23:41look and see what's available at that
23:44moment. And every time you spin the
23:46reels, there's a chance that the ride
23:49you're looking for is going to pop up.
23:51And if it does, you want to tap in as
23:54quickly as you can so that you can book
23:56it. It's important that you tap quickly
23:58though because you're not the only one
24:00playing the Disney slots. There're going
24:01to be lots of people doing it and for
24:03rides like Slinky Dog Dash, you
24:06definitely have to be quick on the
24:07trigger. One thing that is really
24:10important to think about when you're
24:11still on the night before your visit, if
24:14you have already booked one tier one
24:16attraction and the attraction you're
24:19aiming for, in our case Slinky Dog Dash,
24:21is also a tier one attraction, it's
24:24important that you do not modify a tier
24:27two. The reason is you are locked right
24:30now. You can only have one tier one
24:31attraction. So let's say we were
24:33successful. Let's say we found Slinky
24:36Dog Dash while we were modifying one of
24:38our tier twos. Unfortunately, what it
24:40would tell you if you tapped through
24:42quick enough is, "Sorry, you already
24:44have a tier one booked. You're limited
24:46to one tier one. You're out of luck." So
24:49what you want to make sure you're doing,
24:51you want to make sure you're modifying a
24:53tier one if what you're aiming for is a
24:56tier one. Now once you're on the day of
24:58your visit and you've unlocked yourself,
25:00this won't be a concern, but it is
25:02something you definitely want to think
25:04about if you haven't unlocked. If you're
25:06still on the night before your visit,
25:08cuz it can make the difference between
25:10getting the ride and getting super
25:11frustrated. Next, I want to show you how
25:14you're going to change the way you play
25:15this game a little bit when you're here
25:17on the day of your visit. The biggest
25:19change is once you've booked an
25:21attraction, you're no longer going to
25:22want that one pinned up there at the
25:24top. So, you're going to want to choose
25:26something else. Thankfully, there's a
25:28really easy way to do that. You're going
25:30to see a little button up there at the
25:31top that says edit selections. When you
25:34tap on that, it's going to let you
25:36change the attractions that you have
25:38pinned to the top, and you can repeat
25:40this process throughout the day to make
25:42sure you always have the most
25:43competitive things pinned right there to
25:45the top of your view. So, now that I've
25:47showed you how to play the Disney slots,
25:49I'm going to try my luck and see what
25:51rides I can win for our big Lightning
25:53Lane day tomorrow. I'll see you in the
25:56park.
26:00The big day is finally here. We have
26:03arrived at Disney's Hollywood Studios
26:05right as the park is opening. [music]
26:11We had pretty good luck with our initial
26:13Lightning Lane selections, mainly
26:15because we got the one ride I was most
26:17concerned about booking today, and
26:19[music] that is Slinky Dog Dash. Let's
26:22take a look at what we've got right now.
26:24So, I like to think of Lightning Lanes
26:26as a hand of cards. You essentially have
26:29three cards in your hand,
26:31>> [snorts]
26:31>> and your goal is to always have the best
26:33three cards for whatever your plan is
26:35for the day. Now, one of the things you
26:38need to think about though, as you put
26:40those cards in your hand, are which
26:43Lightning [music] Lanes should you be
26:44booking first. If a ride is on your
26:47must-do list, and it also happens to be
26:49one of the more popular Lightning Lanes,
26:52you're going to want to book that one
26:53first because as the day goes on, those
26:56popular lightning lanes are going to be
26:58harder and harder to get. In some cases
27:01with rides like Slinky Dog Dash, they're
27:04hard to get right from the very
27:05beginning.
27:06>> [music]
27:06>> So, if you have the opportunity to book
27:09a ride like Slinky Dog Dash, you should
27:11go ahead and book it [music] as quickly
27:12as possible. Even if it's for much later
27:15in the day, it's worth holding that card
27:17in your hand all day just because you
27:20don't know if you'll be able to get it
27:21otherwise. But if you don't come to
27:23Disney World all the time, how do you
27:25know which lightning lanes are going to
27:27be the ones that are difficult to grab?
27:29Well, we've got you covered with that
27:31because we've done a lot of research on
27:34this. In addition to our experiences in
27:36the park, we also look at real-world
27:38data from sites like thrill-data.com,
27:41and we can see on those sites when
27:44lightning lanes run out for the day. We
27:46can also see when they come back into
27:49play and when they're pretty much gone
27:51for good. And that gives us an idea of
27:53which lightning lanes we should probably
27:55be booking first cuz it's going to be a
27:57lot harder to get them later. In order
27:59to make all this data easy to understand
28:01though, we came up [music] with this
28:03cards analogy cuz like I said, I think
28:05of lightning lanes as being a hand of
28:07cards. So, we use the card values to
28:10show you how difficult a ride is to
28:12book. In this park, the ace of the deck
28:15is Slinky Dog Dash. That's the hardest
28:18ride to book. We were also able to get a
28:20good early time for the queen in the
28:22deck, which is the new Little Mermaid
28:24show. It's not typical that you'll find
28:27shows that are face cards in the deck,
28:29but the exceptions to that are going to
28:31be shows that are brand new like the
28:33Little Mermaid show. You'll also see
28:36over at Animal Kingdom, Zootopia is
28:38pretty high in the deck right now cuz
28:39that's a new show. The other lightning
28:42lane I booked is also a show, but you
28:44can see that one is a pretty low value
28:47card. It's not something that's
28:48difficult to book. The reason I booked
28:50this one is because I'm using it as what
28:53some people like [music] to call a
28:54burner attraction. I don't love the name
28:57burner. I think of it more as like a low
28:59hanging fruit, but it's essentially an
29:01attraction that's easy for you to book
29:03right when the park opens. So, it's not
29:05a super popular lightning lane, and so
29:08it's easier to grab it. And by tapping
29:11in right when the park opens, that is of
29:14course the thing that unlocks you, that
29:16lets you book multiple tier one
29:18attractions, that also lets you book in
29:20multiple parks. So, it's really
29:22important that you tap in somewhere as
29:24quickly as possible, and that's where
29:26people came up with this idea of a
29:28burner attraction. In some cases, people
29:31won't even ride the burner attraction.
29:33They'll just tap in and move on with
29:35their day. I don't love that personally.
29:38I like to use every lightning lane that
29:40I book, but I will admit there are
29:42certain scenarios in which, because of
29:44my plans for the day, it does make more
29:46sense to just tap and go. In this case,
29:49however, I love this show. It's
29:52definitely on my must do list for the
29:54day. I don't really have anything else I
29:56want to do first thing. So, let's go tap
29:58in at our very first lightning lane of
29:59the day. For the first time in forever,
30:01a Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. DEAD
30:04PARENTS, WHAT IS THIS? Bambi or The Lion
30:07King or Tarzan or Snow White or
30:10Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast or
30:12Lilo and Stitch or Big Hero 6 or The
30:14Little Mermaid or Aladdin or The
30:15Princess and the Frog or Raya and the
30:16Last Dragon or Encanto or maybe not
30:18Encanto. I haven't seen it. A BEAR
30:20PROBABLY DIES ALL OF THOSE. YOU DON'T
30:21TALK ABOUT BRUNO.
30:24HE LIKES THAT STUFF.
30:26Let me tell you about my childhood.
30:27>> WHAT
30:28A MAN, WHAT A MAN, WHAT A MAN, WHAT A
30:30MAN, WHAT A MIGHTY GOOD MAN
30:32is he.
30:34Yes,
30:45>> I'm uncomfortable. It happens. They lose
30:47Kristaps Porzingis in the process.
30:51NOTHING BEATS A JET2 HOLIDAY.
30:58I am so glad we started our day with the
31:00Frozen Sing-Along. That show is just
31:02adorable. The other thing I love about
31:04that show, it has an element of improv
31:07to it. So, even if you've seen it
31:09before, you're going to see brand new
31:11jokes almost every time you go. That was
31:13a great way to start the day. We've also
31:15timed things pretty well because it's
31:17almost time for me to go tap into my
31:18next Lightning Lane, which incidentally
31:20is another show. It's the Little Mermaid
31:23show. I do have a little bit of time
31:24before we head over there though to talk
31:26to you about what I did when I was
31:28inside the theater for Frozen
31:30Sing-Along. Whenever you're seeing a
31:32show, you're going to have some downtime
31:34there before the show starts. [music]
31:35And that's a great time to go ahead and
31:38book your next Lightning Lane. I hate
31:41having to stare at my app when I'm
31:43enjoying the park. So, I look for
31:45moments when I'm going to have some
31:47downtime anyway, and I use those moments
31:50to book my next Lightning Lanes. So,
31:52what are the things that you need to
31:53think about when you're choosing what to
31:55book next? Obviously, you want to start
31:58with those more popular attractions like
32:00we talked about, but there's another
32:01thing you want to think about too, and
32:03that is the flow of your day. If you're
32:06going to be in a certain area of the
32:08park, you probably want to try to book
32:10things that are near that so you don't
32:12spend your whole day crisscrossing. So,
32:14even though Millennium Falcon Smugglers
32:16Run isn't really a high-value card, it
32:18is a ride that I want to ride today. It
32:21probably will have a pretty long wait,
32:23and it's not too far from Slinky Dog
32:26Dash, which is something that I have
32:28already booked a little bit later. So, I
32:30went ahead and grabbed a pretty good
32:31time for Smugglers Run. We'll be able to
32:33do that pretty much right after we we
32:35the Little Mermaid show, but I also want
32:37to point out you can see right now that
32:39we have Smugglers Run, which is a tier
32:41one attraction, and we also have Slinky
32:43Dog Dash. So, we currently now have the
32:45ability to have two tier one attractions
32:48because we tapped in somewhere. So, now
32:50let's go check out one of the newest
32:52shows here at Hollywood Studios, The
32:54Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure.
32:58>> [music]
33:03>> Ariel, oh
33:04Flounder,
33:05have you ever [music] seen anything so
33:07wonderful in your entire life?
33:14>> [music]
33:16>> That was a very cool little show. I can
33:18see why it's a popular Lightning Lane.
33:20The singing is amazing. You got the
33:23puppets. Everything blends beautifully
33:25with the animation. It's a very cool
33:27experience, especially if you're a big
33:29fan of The Little Mermaid. It's a
33:30must-do. As I mentioned, these shows are
33:33great opportunities to go ahead and book
33:35your next Lightning Lane cuz you really
33:36got nothing else to do while you're
33:37waiting for it to start.
33:39I took the opportunity to book my next
33:41Lightning Lane, and it also gives me the
33:43opportunity to show you a little bit
33:45about booking in other parks because my
33:48plan today is actually to park hop over
33:51to Magic Kingdom. Once you unlock the
33:54ability to park hop, a few things
33:56change. The first thing you're going to
33:58notice is that when you're booking or
34:00modifying Lightning Lanes, all of a
34:02sudden, there's this row of park icons
34:05that appears on your screen. So, this is
34:08where you will tap if you want to book
34:10an attraction in another park.
34:13The thing that's a little bit annoying
34:14about this, though, is if you're in any
34:16park other than Magic Kingdom, every
34:18time you refresh your view, it is going
34:21to then default to Magic Kingdom. I
34:23don't know why it does this, but it does
34:25this. It's still not been fixed. So,
34:27even though we're still in Hollywood
34:29Studios and we're modifying a Lightning
34:32lane that's in Hollywood Studios. When
34:35we refresh the view, it's going to hop
34:37to Magic Kingdom. Now, the way that I
34:39like to play the slots when I'm in this
34:42mode is instead of swiping my finger
34:44down the screen, I'll just tap back and
34:46forth between a couple of parks.
34:49But, let me show you another little
34:51trick that can make this tap back and
34:53forth even more useful. If you're
34:56planning to hop to a different park, as
34:58we are, we're going to plan to hop to
35:00Magic Kingdom, you can use the Genie to
35:03go ahead and plan for that park as well,
35:07and it will retain your selections for
35:09your current park and the park you're
35:11going to. This is how you do it. You're
35:14going to go into the main menu, and then
35:16you're going to tap on my plans. Scroll
35:19down past your current plans, and you'll
35:21see a button there to plan for your next
35:23park. Now, I went ahead and put in the
35:27rides that I'm most interested in
35:29grabbing in our next park, but for right
35:31now, I want to show you that once you
35:33make these selections, they are now
35:35pinned to the top of your view in Magic
35:37Kingdom. So, now when we tap on
35:39Hollywood Studios, we see our rides
35:42there pinned to the top, and when we tap
35:43on Magic Kingdom, the rides we're
35:45interested in there pinned to the top.
35:47So, essentially, each time we tap, we
35:49are successfully checking to see if one
35:52of the rides we're looking for has a
35:53good time right there at the top of the
35:55list. So, earlier I mentioned the
35:57attractions that are most difficult to
35:59book here in Hollywood Studios, but we
36:02haven't really covered those other
36:03parks. If you'd like to see the complete
36:06deck for each park, we keep those
36:08updated quarterly. Just visit
36:10earscouts.com/deck,
36:13and you'll be able to see the full
36:15listings for the current season. Now,
36:17the reason it's important that these
36:18things get updated seasonally is because
36:20things do change a lot. Let's take a
36:23look at the current deck for Magic
36:25Kingdom. You're going to be shocked to
36:28see that right now, and I triple checked
36:30this cuz I couldn't believe it either,
36:33The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
36:35is the ace in that deck right now. Now,
36:38there's a couple of different reasons
36:39for this. One, I think there's just not
36:41as many Lightning Lanes available for
36:43that attraction right now. It's
36:45certainly not the most popular
36:46attraction in the park, but it does seem
36:48to have a shortage of Lightning Lanes.
36:51The other thing that's happening is the
36:52season. Normally, Tiana's Bayou
36:55Adventure is the ace in this park, but
36:57guess what? It's cold in Orlando right
36:59now, so people don't want to run the
37:01risk of getting wet. That means that
37:03Tiana's Bayou Adventure has slipped down
37:05the rankings a bit. Also, you've got Big
37:08Thunder Mountain closed for renovation,
37:11so that one's probably going to rise up
37:13higher in the list once it reopens,
37:15especially since it's going to have new
37:17features on that attraction. So, while
37:19this is the current rankings of the
37:21rides in Magic Kingdom right now, you
37:23will want to visit your scouts.com/deck
37:27before your visit, just so you can see
37:29what the latest card values are looking
37:31like. So, given this information, I
37:33decided that the next ride I wanted to
37:35book was one for our next park. So, even
37:38though I'm not planning to park hop
37:39until much later in the day, I want to
37:42ride those really popular attractions,
37:44like at the moment Winnie the Pooh, I do
37:47need to book those rides now, early in
37:49the day while they're still available.
37:51So, I've decided to set aside one of my
37:54cards in my hand for Magic Kingdom, and
37:57I went ahead and grabbed The Many
37:58Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Now, the
38:00other thing that I wanted to go ahead
38:02and book was that single pass Lightning
38:04Lane. We've been talking about
38:05multi-pass Lightning Lanes all day, but
38:08I do want to ride a single pass
38:09attraction, which is Rise of the
38:11Resistance in this park. The good news
38:13is I was successful. The bad news is I'm
38:16running a little bit late for our
38:17Lightning Lane over at Millennium Falcon
38:19Smugglers Run. So, we're going to head
38:21over there. As soon as I ride that ride,
38:23I'm going to show you how I was able to
38:25grab Rise of the Resistance and how I
38:28was able to back that time up to fit
38:30better with my plans. But, for right
38:32now, let's hop aboard the fastest hunk
38:33of junk in the galaxy and take a spin on
38:36the Millennium Falcon.
38:50>> [music]
38:57[music]
39:00>> I know there's a successful mission on
39:01the Millennium Falcon, but I'm starting
39:03to get a little bit nervous about the
39:05success of our next mission because the
39:08wind is definitely picking up and we've
39:10got Slinky Dog Dash next up in our list.
39:13Here's the thing about weather and
39:16outdoor rides
39:17like Slinky Dog.
39:20If there is lightning within a certain
39:22radius of the park they will close down
39:25outdoor attractions that it's dangerous
39:28to ride with lightning like Slinky Dog
39:30Dash. Now, the good news is if you have
39:32a lightning lane for that attraction and
39:34it goes down during your return window
39:37your lightning lane will turn into
39:38what's called an experience redemption.
39:41And that means that you can use it on a
39:43list of rides including the ride that
39:46you got it for
39:48later in the day. That can oftentimes be
39:51really helpful cuz it gives you more
39:52flexibility with the time that you want
39:54to ride that ride. But, for us, it's not
39:57going to be helpful because we got a lot
39:59to do today including hop to another
40:01park and I definitely want to ride
40:02Slinky.
40:09>> [music]
40:15[music]
40:24>> Slinky Dog was a success. We were able
40:27to ride it before the lightning and rain
40:29and thunder started. So, I am so happy
40:31we got to work that into our day. I also
40:34need to catch you up on the lightning
40:36lanes that I've been booking in the
40:37interim because as soon as I tapped in
40:40back at Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run,
40:42that opened up a slot for me to book
40:44something else.
40:46I did see that the weather was starting
40:48to turn. So, I played the slots a little
40:50bit and I was able to grab Mickey and
40:52Minnie's runaway railway. And then once
40:55I rode Slinky Dog Dash, I was able to
40:57book another lightning lane because that
40:59freed up a slot as well. At that moment,
41:01I decided to go ahead and book another
41:03attraction over at Magic Kingdom. Right
41:05now, I've got Haunted Mansion, but I'm
41:07going to try to turn that into something
41:09else. Maybe Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan's
41:12Flight cuz I would like to get some of
41:15those higher value cards checked off my
41:17list if I'm able to. Now, before we hop
41:20on Mickey and Minnie, I do have one
41:21other thing I wanted to share and that
41:23was of course how I was able to get Star
41:25Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That has
41:27been showing as unavailable since I
41:29started looking. So, I was really glad
41:31to see it come available earlier. But
41:34when I tapped in to grab it, by the time
41:36I specified my party, which was just me,
41:39and continued to the next screen, that
41:41time was already snatched up. So,
41:43unfortunately, that meant I had to try
41:46again. But persistence paid off because
41:48eventually I was able to get through to
41:51the confirmation screen. And this is
41:53important. Even if you don't love the
41:56time that you see on this confirmation
41:58screen, stay here because if you look at
42:01the top, there's a timer. That's how
42:03much time you have this particular time
42:06slot locked in for. And if you look
42:08down, there's a little modify time
42:10button there. So, you can use that
42:12modify time button to repeatedly check
42:15to see if better times are available.
42:18And that's exactly what I did. I was
42:20able to get a perfect time for Rise of
42:22the Resistance. And then, once I secured
42:24that new time, I completed the purchase
42:27and I had my lightning lane. Now, with
42:29single pass lightning lanes, when you
42:31modify them, it's a little bit
42:33different. So, let's go ahead and tap on
42:35it that single pass lightning lane and
42:37tap on modify. You can see here that
42:40with single pass, you can change the
42:42person that the lightning lane is for.
42:44So, I could transfer it to someone else
42:46in my party if I wanted. I can also
42:48change the date. I could choose to ride
42:50Rise on a different day on my trip if it
42:53was available. And finally, I could
42:55choose to change the time or even select
42:58a different single pass lightning lane
43:00attraction at one of the other parks.
43:02Now, keep in mind, you will lose money
43:05if you get a cheaper lightning lane than
43:07the one you have booked. So, it's
43:08probably better to stick with the one
43:09you have if it's one of the more
43:11expensive ones like Rise. Now, with all
43:13the single pass lightning lane stuff
43:14covered, I'm going to head indoors to
43:16ride Mickey and Minnie before it starts
43:18pouring down rain, and I'll meet you
43:20after the ride.
43:28>> [music]
43:38[music]
43:46>> Sometimes art imitates life. I was
43:48inside Mickey and Minnie's in in the
43:50middle of a tornado, and then I came
43:52outside and literally the palm fronds
43:55were blowing off of the trees.
43:57Thankfully, we actually prepared for
43:59that. I had seen in the weather forecast
44:01the middle of the day today was looking
44:03a little bit rough. So, I decided had
44:05make a dining reservation during that
44:07period, and I chose to do a character
44:10dining meal. Now, the reason I did that
44:12is because you can no longer book
44:14lightning lanes for character meet and
44:16greet. So, if characters are important
44:18to you, a character dining meal can be a
44:20good chance to have some really good
44:22interactions, especially if you got kids
44:24who love Minnie. This is a great place
44:26to meet Minnie, and we just got called
44:28in for our table, so we're going to head
44:30inside and eat.
44:37I actually always love having a meal in
44:40the middle of the day. If you're going
44:41to do table service dining, I think
44:44lunch is the best time. If you're here
44:46in the summer, this is usually the
44:47hottest part of the day, so you're
44:49grateful for the AC, and for us today,
44:51we are grateful to be out of the rain.
44:53As soon as I tapped in back at Mickey
44:55and Minnie's, I did go ahead and book my
44:58next lightning lane. I just went ahead
45:00and grabbed Star Tours, cuz it was super
45:02easy to get. But, my plan, of course, is
45:04going to be to modify that into
45:05something better if I can. We timed that
45:08perfectly. Right as I was coming out,
45:10the sun started shining. I was trying to
45:13change that lightning lane that we had
45:15booked into Toy Story Mania, and I
45:17wasn't having any luck. And then I
45:19realized, Toy [music] Story Mania is
45:22down, and it's been down for much of the
45:24day. And that's an important thing to
45:26think about when you're trying to grab a
45:28tough to grab lightning lane.
45:30If that attraction is down, Disney is
45:33not likely to release more lightning
45:35lanes for it, because they don't know
45:36when it's going to come back up,
45:38especially if it's down for an extended
45:40period of time.
45:41If the attraction's running smoothly,
45:43Disney will sprinkle in some more
45:45lightning lanes throughout the day, so
45:47you have a much better chance of booking
45:49those rides that are running smoothly
45:51than you do the ones that are down. So,
45:53I just gave up on trying to get Toy
45:55Story Mania. Since it's down, I didn't
45:57think I was going to be able to get it,
45:58and I switched gears and aimed for Tower
46:01of Terror. I was able to book that about
46:03an hour from now, so not too bad. I
46:06tried backing it up, but I really wasn't
46:08having any luck. I think the fact that
46:10we're here on a holiday weekend is
46:12making it even more difficult than usual
46:14to book those [music] harder to grab
46:16rides. And now that we're approaching
46:182:00, that's going to kind of be the
46:20rest of our day. Top tier rides [music]
46:22are going to be really tough to get.
46:24It'll be pretty easy to get the four,
46:26fives, and sixes in our deck, but those
46:28aces, kings, and queens are going to get
46:31super hard to grab. I will show you some
46:33tricks in just a little bit that'll help
46:35you grab [music] those tough to book
46:36rides, especially as it gets later in
46:38the day. But for right now, what I want
46:40to do is get in a standby queue. Since
46:43I've got an hour before my next
46:45Lightning Lane, I've got some time to
46:47kill, and I always recommend do a blend
46:50of Lightning Lanes and standby queues.
46:52Just because you're using Lightning Lane
46:54doesn't mean you always need to use
46:56Lightning Lane. In fact, the time that
46:58you spend in the standby queue will be a
47:00great opportunity to modify the
47:02Lightning Lanes that you have and try to
47:04get better times for them. So, I'm going
47:06to head on over and jump on a Rock 'n'
47:08Roller Coaster. It's got a pretty long
47:10wait right now, but the timing is going
47:12to be perfect so that when I come off of
47:14that attraction, Tower of Terror is
47:16going to be right next door, and I'll be
47:18able to jump right into my next
47:19Lightning Lane.
47:22>> [music]
47:31[music]
47:36>> Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, always a jam
47:39good time.
47:41And I'm really sad cuz that's probably
47:42the last time I'm going to get to use
47:44that really terrible dad joke in a
47:46video. I guess it'll probably still be
47:47called Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, but it's
47:49the Muppets. It's I don't know. I don't
47:52know if it's still going to be a jam
47:53good time. It's probably going to be a
47:54different kind of good time. Either way,
47:57it was a lot of fun and definitely worth
47:59the wait. It was actually perfect though
48:00because I used that time in the line to
48:03refine all of my lightning lanes and
48:05even add in another one. I was able to
48:07grab our second single pass lightning
48:10lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train over at
48:13Magic Kingdom. So, we've got Tower of
48:15Terror right now. Immediately following
48:17that, we do Rise of the Resistance.
48:19Then, we're going to hop over to Magic
48:21Kingdom and there we've got three
48:23attractions all grouped together right
48:25there in Fantasyland. We've got Winnie
48:27the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, and Seven
48:29Dwarfs Mine Train, all ready to go. So,
48:31I'm feeling pretty good about the time
48:33we spent in that line, but right now
48:35it's time to check in at my favorite
48:37hotel here at Walt Disney World, the
48:39Hollywood Tower Hotel, also known as the
48:42Tower of Terror.
48:55>> [music]
49:01[cheering]
49:07>> I am so glad we were able to work in
49:09Tower of Terror. I'm a thrill junkie and
49:11that is one of my favorite thrill rides
49:13in all of Walt Disney World. But,
49:15speaking of things that are a little bit
49:16scary, right now when we look at the
49:19lightning lanes that are available,
49:20especially when we look at those most
49:22popular ones that we're aiming for,
49:24things are definitely starting to look
49:25scary on the lightning lane front as
49:27well. And that's why right now in this
49:30section of the video, we're going to
49:31move on to some more advanced lightning
49:33lane tips. So, everything that we've
49:35covered up until now it's kind of been
49:37basics of using the service, but from
49:39here forward, I want to talk about some
49:41things that give you a little bit of an
49:43edge when you're trying to book those
49:45more difficult to book rides and these
49:47are things that maybe aren't quite as
49:48obvious. For this first tip, I'm going
49:50to show you what I did as soon as I
49:52tapped in here at Tower of Terror
49:53because that, of course, opened up a
49:55slot for us to be able to book our next
49:57Lightning Lane. And I went over to Magic
50:01Kingdom. I edited my selections to put
50:03the rides that I was most interested in
50:05having pinned to the top there. But when
50:07I looked, none of them were immediately
50:09available. Now, I could just go ahead
50:12and play the slots like we've done for
50:14other rides in this view. I could keep
50:16refreshing and hope that I would find a
50:19time pop up for one of those
50:21attractions.
50:22Here's the reason I don't recommend
50:24doing that, especially at this point in
50:26the day. If one does pop up, you're
50:28going to tap in and it's going to ask
50:30you who all is in your party. And this
50:32step, when you're selecting your party,
50:35it takes up precious milliseconds. And
50:38I'm telling you, at this point in the
50:39day, milliseconds matter. And you will
50:42find, more often than not, that you've
50:43probably lost that Lightning Lane by the
50:46time you've done this step. But there is
50:49a workaround. What you want to do
50:51instead, book something else. Book
50:53anything else that's available with the
50:55party that you want to ride the more
50:58difficult to book ride.
50:59Then, you're going to modify that
51:02Lightning Lane that you've booked
51:03because, guess what? If you find a time
51:06that you like and you tap through, it's
51:08going to skip that step of selecting
51:11your party. It's going to go ahead and
51:13use the party that's already attached to
51:15the existing Lightning Lane. And I'm
51:17telling you, those milliseconds are
51:19going to be the difference between
51:21getting that tough to book ride and
51:22having it tell you it's no longer
51:24available. So, we used that trick and we
51:26were able to snag the king in the deck
51:28at our next park. We now have Jungle
51:30Cruise lined up and ready to go. I'm
51:32also pleased to report that Rise of the
51:34Resistance is back online. I was a
51:37little bit worried before cuz it's been
51:38down pretty much all day, but it looks
51:40like it's running right now. So, we're
51:41going to be able to head over there and
51:43use that single pass Lightning Lane. And
51:45then, we're off to Magic Kingdom. Let's
51:48go do it.
51:53>> [music]
52:17[music]
52:22>> Your escape pods came in a little off
52:24target.
52:26>> [music]
52:35[music]
52:38>> We have arrived at the Magic Kingdom,
52:40and I feel like we've come full circle
52:42now. We started this video here at the
52:44Magic Kingdom, and now we're going to
52:46finish it. And I'm really excited about
52:48all the things we're going to be able to
52:49get done tonight. I feel really good
52:52that we're going to be able to book a
52:53lot of lightning lanes and do a lot more
52:55before this night is finished. But
52:57before we can do any of that, we got to
52:59head into Fantasyland [music] and tap
53:01into our first ride because, as I'm sure
53:04you were aware, when we tapped in back
53:06at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance,
53:08that didn't open up any slot for us to
53:10book something else. It's a single pass
53:12lightning lane, which means it's
53:13completely separate from a multi-pass.
53:16Tapping in there does us no good. It
53:17doesn't allow us to book anything new.
53:19But Peter [music] Pan's Flight and The
53:22Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh are
53:23both multi-pass attractions. So, as soon
53:26as we tap in there, we're going to open
53:28up a slot and be able to book something
53:29else. So, let's go do [music] it.
53:58>> Peter Pan's Flight, one of the most
54:00challenging lightning lanes to book, is
54:02now in the bag. And we're about to go
54:05tap in at what is, strangely enough, the
54:07most challenging lightning lane to book
54:09in this park. Right now, Winnie the
54:11Pooh, the family I was talking to in
54:13line behind me was struggling all day to
54:16get Winnie the Pooh. So, the struggle is
54:19real. We're going to go tap in right
54:21now. It's a little bit early, but that's
54:23okay because we're going to use the
54:255-minute grace period that we have at
54:28the beginning of our lightning lane.
54:31And voila, even though we were a few
54:34minutes early, it glowed green, which
54:36meant we were free to go ahead. If you
54:38had been more than 5 minutes early, it
54:41would have glowed blue, which would have
54:43told the cast member that you needed to
54:45hold off and come back a little bit
54:47later. My favorite thing about grace
54:49periods, though, is not so much the one
54:50at the beginning, although that's nice,
54:52it's really the one at the end that
54:54matters because as soon as your
54:56lightning lane expires, it frees you up
54:59to book another lightning lane in that
55:01slot, but it still sticks around because
55:04of that grace period. Officially,
55:06according to Disney, you have 15 minutes
55:09to use that lightning lane after it
55:11expires. Having said that, we have found
55:15that as long as you are within an hour
55:17and 59 minutes of the expiration of your
55:20lightning lane, it still glows green.
55:23So, you could be holding on to that
55:25lightning lane that's expired for right
55:28under 2 hours and it would still work.
55:31Now, of course, this is unofficial. This
55:33is not officially the the
55:35but it has been working that way ever
55:37since the system changed over from Genie
55:40plus to lightning lane multi-pass. And
55:43best of all, once it expires, you can
55:45even use that slot to book something
55:47else.
56:01I'm glad to see that Winnie the Pooh is
56:03getting the love he deserves and getting
56:05his moment in the spotlight as the ace
56:07of our deck cuz that really is a
56:09delightful dark ride. But now we're
56:11going to move on to what is probably the
56:13most popular lightning lane in
56:15Fantasyland and that's the single pass
56:17lightning lane for Seven Dwarfs Mine
56:19Train. But before we do, I want to share
56:21with you one last really important tip.
56:25If you're here on a busy day and you're
56:27trying to back things up, especially at
56:30the end of the night. Now when I say the
56:31term back things up, what I mean is
56:34booking a ride and then moving the
56:36return time earlier so that you can tap
56:39in sooner and then of course book
56:41something else. As the night goes on,
56:43it's going to get harder to do, but
56:45these two strategies are going to help
56:47you a lot to get those last-minute
56:49lightning lanes. The first one is when a
56:52lightning lane is out of times and you
56:54just got really lucky and you were able
56:56to tap in on a time that showed up. If
56:59you want to get an earlier time for that
57:01lightning lane, I wouldn't recommend
57:03backing out of that screen because right
57:05now you've got that particular time
57:08secured. There's a little timer there at
57:10the top. As long as that timer is
57:12counting down, you still have this
57:15lightning lane that you're holding on to
57:17in your hand. You're not losing it, but
57:18if you back out, you're going to lose
57:21the time that you have. So if you want
57:22to get an earlier time at this point, I
57:24would recommend using the modify time
57:27feature. There's a little button there.
57:29You just tap on it and probably there's
57:32not going to be other times available,
57:34but you just keep tapping, and if one
57:36comes available, it will show up there,
57:38and you'll have to, again, tap in very
57:40quickly to grab it, but that's how I
57:42would do it in that scenario. If,
57:44however, you're just trying to back up a
57:45time for a Lightning Lane that still has
57:48time showing up, there's a much easier
57:51way to do it. For this one, what you're
57:53going to do, go ahead and tap on the
57:55time that's there. Sometimes when you
57:57tap in, you'll see a little note letting
57:59you know time is changed. Oftentimes,
58:02this means that it's going to show a
58:03later time than what you tapped in on,
58:06but not always. Sometimes it shows an
58:09earlier time than what you tapped in on,
58:11cuz what it does, when you tap through,
58:13it looks for the best available time,
58:15and that's what it shows you. If you
58:17don't like the time that you're seeing
58:19here, just tap back out, and then don't
58:21do anything, don't refresh, just tap in
58:24again, and it's going to go and look
58:26again to see what is the best available
58:29time. Sometimes, that time is going to
58:31change, and it's going to be better than
58:33the one you tapped in on, and it might
58:34very well be the time you're looking
58:36for. Best of all, if you like the time
58:39you're seeing there, you don't have to
58:40do anything else. You don't have to
58:42worry about tapping in quickly, you've
58:44already done the tap. You are on the
58:47confirmation screen, and that time is
58:49yours to keep. So, now that I've shared
58:51that tip for getting these last-minute
58:53Lightning Lanes, I'm going to see how
58:54many more of those I can grab, because
58:57Magic Kingdom's actually closing really
58:59early tonight. It closes at 9:00, which
59:00is unusual, especially for a holiday
59:03weekend like this weekend. The other
59:05thing that's important to know is that
59:07the last 30 minutes of park time, you
59:09cannot book Lightning Lanes. The
59:11Lightning Lane system essentially goes
59:13to sleep for those last 30 minutes. Now,
59:16if you have a Lightning Lane that you
59:17booked, you can still use it until the
59:20park closes, but you won't be able to
59:22book new ones in those last 30 minutes.
59:24So, right now, it's just after 7:00.
59:27That means we have an hour and a half
59:29left to see how many more lightning
59:31lanes we can book. I'm feeling good. I
59:33think we can get a bunch in, but there's
59:35only one way to find out. Let's go do
59:37it.
1:00:09>> [music]
1:00:18[music]
1:00:24[music]
1:00:35[music]
1:00:57>> What an amazing day we just had here at
1:01:00Walt Disney World and the perfect
1:01:02ending. I would love to say that I
1:01:04completely planned it so that we would
1:01:06end with fireworks on our last ride and
1:01:09then still have time to make it over to
1:01:11Main Street for the grand finale, but it
1:01:14just kind of worked out that way. But,
1:01:16we had an incredible day today. It
1:01:18really does go to show that once you
1:01:20learn how to master this system, once
1:01:23you know how to use these different
1:01:25lightning lane services, they really can
1:01:28turbocharge your day and help you get a
1:01:30lot done. Now, if you'd like to know
1:01:32more about how to use lightning lane
1:01:34specifically in each park and get a more
1:01:37detailed strategy for each park, we have
1:01:40those videos from the previous year and
1:01:42we're going to be remaking them all
1:01:43again this year. So, be sure to
1:01:46subscribe to the channel. Also, check
1:01:48out our podcast cuz we're going to be
1:01:49doing some strategy episodes there as
1:01:52well. This year on the main channel for
1:01:54Earscouts, we're going to be refocusing
1:01:56on these strategy videos. You can still
1:01:58find fun videos like our coverage of the
1:02:00different Epcot festivals over in our
1:02:03Patreon community, but our goal for 2026
1:02:06is to put out some really high-quality
1:02:08strategy guides from lightning lane to
1:02:11early entry to how to tackle the parks
1:02:13without lightning lane. We got a lot of
1:02:15big plans for the year. So, if you want
1:02:17to see those videos, be sure to
1:02:19subscribe. Before we go, I do want to
1:02:22give a huge thank you to our Patreon
1:02:24family. Thank you so much for making
1:02:26videos like this possible. If you'd like
1:02:28to join them and get access to exclusive
1:02:31bonus content, including those fun
1:02:33videos I was talking about earlier, head
1:02:35on over to patreon.com/earscouts.
1:02:39And of course, I want to thank all of
1:02:40you. Thank you so much for watching this
1:02:42video. I hope it helped you to feel more
1:02:44confident using lightning lane the next
1:02:47time you're here at Walt Disney World.
1:02:48If you did find it helpful, help us out
1:02:50by giving this video a like, subscribing
1:02:52to our channel, and then ringing that
1:02:54bell. That way you'll be notified
1:02:55whenever new videos like this come out.
1:02:57Until next time, don't forget to think
1:02:59happy thoughts, everybody. We'll see you
1:03:01again real soon.

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