YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → NEW FOR 2026: Lightning Lane Guide to Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World

NEW FOR 2026: Lightning Lane Guide to Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World — Transcript

by Ear Scouts · 8,964 words · 1,295 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00If you're brand new to Lightning Lane
0:01Multi-Pass, Animal Kingdom is the
0:04perfect park to learn how to use this
0:06system. In today's video, we're going to
0:08show you how to have a roaring good time
0:11here at Disney's Animal Kingdom using
0:13Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. Let's go do
0:15it.
0:21Hi-ho, everybody. This is Rob with Ears
0:23Scouts coming to you bright and early
0:25from Disney's Animal Kingdom. We are
0:27here on President's Day weekend, which
0:30surprisingly is one of the busier
0:32weekends here at Walt Disney World. I
0:33like to film these videos on busier days
0:36because I think it gives you a better
0:38idea of how this system's going to work
0:40if you're here on a busy day. Now, a lot
0:42of the things you're going to see us
0:43doing in this video might be easier for
0:46you if you're here when it's not quite
0:48as busy. I have been noticing this
0:50morning that Lightning Lanes are pretty
0:52tough to grab, even for some of the less
0:55popular attractions. We are here right
0:57now at rope drop, so we're kind of
0:59walking in with the crowd. If you have
1:02early entry, I would recommend take
1:04advantage of early entry and maybe knock
1:07out one of those attractions that
1:09doesn't offer Lightning Lane Multi-Pass.
1:11Your best bet here at Animal Kingdom
1:13would probably be Flight of Passage.
1:16That attraction has a Lightning Lane,
1:18but it uses Lightning Lane single pass,
1:20which is the flavor of Lightning Lane
1:22where you pay for that one attraction
1:24only. Whenever you're not here for early
1:27entry, it's really important that you
1:29focus on the attractions first thing in
1:31the morning that the early entry folks
1:33are not focused on. Now, we went over
1:35and started with Flight of Passage,
1:37probably there's going to be an hour,
1:39possibly 2 hours worth of early entry
1:42folks already in that line, but if we
1:44head over here to meet Mickey and
1:45Minnie, it's probably going to be more
1:46or less a walk-on.
1:48I also love doing characters first thing
1:50in the morning because you're not all
1:52hot and sweaty and gross. So, not only
1:54do you have a shorter wait, you're
1:56probably going to get better photos of
1:57your character interaction. Let's go do
1:59it.
2:01>> [music]
2:08[music]
2:10>> So, good to see you. One of the great
2:12things about getting your photo with
2:13Mickey and Minnie here at Animal Kingdom
2:15is they're wearing those really cute
2:16safari outfits that you can't find
2:18anywhere else.
2:21A lot of people will tell you that you
2:23don't need to use Lightning Lane
2:24Multi-Pass here at Disney's Animal
2:26Kingdom because there really aren't that
2:28many attractions, and among [music]
2:30those attractions, there are even fewer
2:32that use the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass
2:34service. Here are the three different
2:36reasons that I think it can be a very
2:38good idea to use Lightning Lane
2:40Multi-Pass. The first is if you're
2:42planning to park hop. If you start your
2:45day at Animal Kingdom, you pay for the
2:47price for using Lightning Lane
2:49Multi-Pass at Animal Kingdom, which is
2:51generally speaking the least expensive
2:54you're going to find at any of the four
2:55parks.
2:57Now, the good news is once you pay for a
2:59Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at any one of
3:01the parks, once you tap in at your very
3:03first attraction of the day, you're free
3:06to book Lightning Lanes at any park here
3:08at Walt Disney World. So, you can see
3:10why starting at Animal Kingdom would be
3:12a great way to save a little bit of
3:13money. Also, Animal Kingdom tends to be
3:16the first park to open in the day. So,
3:18this is also a great place to start cuz
3:20you can get a jump on those rides before
3:23other parks have even gotten started.
3:25Now, the second reason I would recommend
3:26considering Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is
3:28probably the most obvious, and that is
3:30if you're just not a line person. You
3:32can't deal with long waits. Maybe you've
3:35got some kids in your group who just
3:37can't sit still that long. Those are
3:39reasons why Lightning Lane makes sense
3:41for any park, including Animal Kingdom.
3:44But for me, the most important reason to
3:46use Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, and the
3:48reason we're going to use it today, is
3:50because skipping the waits on those
3:52different attractions is going to give
3:54you time back in your day. And a lot of
3:57people tell you that Animal Kingdom is a
3:59half-day park or there's not much to do
4:01here, especially since DinoLand is
4:03closed. I'm going to show you in today's
4:06video, there is a ton of stuff to do
4:08here that can easily fill up a full day,
4:11and you're going to be really glad that
4:13you got some of that time back by using
4:15Lightning Lane Multi-Pass. One of those
4:17things that you might not have time for
4:19in your day if you're rushing from
4:20attraction to attraction and waiting in
4:22long lines is something like Winged
4:24Encounters. This is one of the smaller
4:27shows here at Animal Kingdom, but it's
4:28also one of the most magical. This is
4:31something that a lot of folks don't even
4:33realize exists. Sometimes they'll just
4:35stumble upon it, but if you're here
4:38early and you don't have any Lightning
4:39Lanes lined up, you can head over and
4:42catch the first showing of Winged
4:43Encounters, and that's what we're going
4:45to do right now. Trust me, it is
4:47definitely worth a little bit of time in
4:49your morning. Let's go check it out. Our
4:51hope is that one day we'll have some
4:52baby blue throated macaws that we can
4:54release back out into the wild one day
4:56so that we can save the blue throated
4:58macaw and skies that that are filled
5:01with macaws for generations to come.
5:03Skies that look just like this.
5:10>> [music]
5:31>> Isn't that show incredible?
5:33Those birds were like this close to my
5:36head at some point. So, if you're
5:38skittish about birds, that might not be
5:40the show for you, but if you're like me
5:42and you love those beautiful macaws and
5:45having those really close-up encounters
5:47with animals, that is one of the best
5:49ways to do it. We're going to do another
5:51show later today that is a must for bird
5:54lovers, but first, we're going to go
5:56over here and show you one other thing
5:58that you should definitely include in
5:59your day if you got littles. This is
6:02another one of those things that's not
6:03included with Lightning Lane Multi-Pass,
6:05but it is the kind of thing that you can
6:07include in your day when you have more
6:09time because you're using Lightning Lane
6:11Multi-Pass. It's the Wilderness
6:13Explorers program, and if you've got
6:15little Ears Scouts in your crew, this is
6:17definitely something you need to put at
6:19the top of your must-do list. We now
6:21have our Wilderness Explorer guidebook
6:24and our first sticker. Kids love
6:26collecting these stickers, and best of
6:29all, they're going to learn something
6:30every time they collect one. As we go
6:33through our day, we're going to keep our
6:34eyes peeled for those Wilderness
6:35Explorer checkpoints, but for right now,
6:38let's focus on our Lightning Lane
6:40sticker. And the first thing that I want
6:42to talk about is something that you
6:43don't have to worry about when you're in
6:45this park unless you're park hopping,
6:48but it's definitely something that you
6:49need to know about if you're visiting
6:51other parks. And that is that you cannot
6:54book more than one tier one attraction
6:57or book attractions in other parks until
7:00you've tapped in to your first Lightning
7:02Lane. Now, this means you have to
7:04physically be in the park. You have to
7:06tap in at the tap point, which we're
7:08going to show you when we tap in at our
7:09first Lightning Lane today, and at that
7:11point, you are magically unlocked, and
7:14you can book multiple tier one
7:16attractions or attractions in other
7:18parks. The great news about Animal
7:20Kingdom is that in this park, there are
7:23no tier one attractions. So, you don't
7:25need to worry so much about tapping in
7:28quickly unless, of course, you're
7:30planning to park hop, and then you'll
7:32need to tap in so that you can start
7:33booking for your second park of the day.
7:35For us, however, we're planning to spend
7:37the whole day here, so I wasn't as
7:39focused on getting an early Lightning
7:41Lane. I was more focused on getting
7:43Lightning Lanes that made sense for my
7:45plan for the day. For us, since we're
7:48here on a really busy weekend, we didn't
7:50actually have the best selection of
7:52initial Lightning Lanes for the day. The
7:54reason for that is we're not staying at
7:56one of those fancy Disney resort hotels,
7:59and that means that we book our
8:01Lightning Lanes 3 days before our park
8:04day. If you're staying at a Walt Disney
8:06World resort hotel, you can book your
8:08initial Lightning Lanes starting 7 days
8:11before your check-in day. Now, the
8:14reason this is a huge benefit is it
8:16means that you're going to have first
8:18dibs on those most popular Lightning
8:20Lanes, and [music] folks like us are
8:22going to have to wait four or more days
8:24later before we can even start booking.
8:27Now, if you have a multi-day park
8:29ticket, you do have a little bit of a
8:31jump because you can start booking for
8:34your entire trip starting 3 days before
8:38the first day your park ticket is
8:40active. So, let's say that your first
8:42day of eligibility was a Thursday, and
8:45you had a 4-day park ticket, [music] you
8:48could start booking 3 days ahead of that
8:51Thursday on Monday, and you could book
8:53for every single day that you're here on
8:56that first day, and I would definitely
8:58recommend doing that because the earlier
9:00you book, the better chance you have of
9:02getting great initial selections. For
9:05us, however, we're using annual passes.
9:08If you're using a ticket that is not a
9:10multi-day park ticket that's tied to a
9:13specific set of dates, you unfortunately
9:15can only book 3 days before your park
9:18day. Now, in all of these instances, you
9:21can start booking at 7:00 a.m. on that
9:24day of eligibility. For us,
9:25unfortunately, we forgot to book those
9:28Lightning Lanes right at 7:00 a.m. So,
9:30by the time we got around to it, there
9:32were not a lot of great times available.
9:35But don't worry, there are definitely
9:37ways that you can improve those times,
9:39and we've been doing that off and on
9:42leading up till today. I want to show
9:44you really quickly in advance of your
9:46trip, if you're not satisfied with the
9:47Lightning Lanes you're starting with,
9:49how you can make those, hopefully, a
9:51little bit better before you get here.
9:53All you got to do is fire up that My
9:55Disney Experience app, and then tap on
9:58that Lightning Lane button in the main
10:00menu. You'll see all of your Lightning
10:02Lanes listed there. If you want to
10:04improve the time on one of those
10:06Lightning Lanes, or maybe turn it into a
10:07different Lightning Lane altogether,
10:09just tap on it. A menu pops up, and
10:12you're going to choose to modify that
10:14Lightning Lane. On this next screen,
10:17you're going to see the Lightning Lane
10:19that you currently have along with the
10:20time that you have it for. Below that is
10:23the time that's available at that
10:26moment. If you were to scroll down,
10:28there are other attractions that you
10:30could choose to book instead. Now, if
10:32you're not happy with the times that you
10:34see here, you can use a method that we
10:36like to call playing the Disney slots.
10:39And that means you're going to take your
10:40finger, slide it down the screen, and
10:43refresh the view. I do think it's
10:45important to think [music] of this as a
10:47game, because if you think of using this
10:50Lightning Lane service as a tool to book
10:52rides, you're going to be pulling your
10:54hair out. You're going to find it is a
10:55very frustrating, because there are
10:58thousands and thousands of people who
11:00are all doing the same thing, especially
11:02on the day of your visit. They're all
11:04refreshing their screens, and if they
11:06see a time pop up that they want, they
11:08tap in really quickly and grab it. And
11:11if you didn't tap in quickly enough,
11:13that means that that Lightning Lane is
11:14already long gone and in someone else's
11:17pocket. Thinking of this as a game
11:20definitely lowers the stress level a
11:22little bit, and I talked to lots of
11:24families who have found that they love
11:27playing the Disney slots on their phone.
11:29It's become a competitive family sport
11:31to see who can grab the best Lightning
11:34Lanes of the day. Eric and I have been
11:36doing just that, and we've actually got
11:39a pretty good lineup for the day. I'm
11:41really happy with where we're starting,
11:43so we've got an early morning Lightning
11:45Lane for Zootopia. After that, we've got
11:48Kilimanjaro Safaris, also pretty early
11:50in the day. And then I have the most
11:53difficult Lightning Lane to grab in this
11:55park, Na'vi River Journey, and you'll
11:57notice I have that one for a lot later
11:59in the day. The reason for that is I
12:01plan to end my day over in Pandora, so
12:04I'm really happy with that late time,
12:06and I'm not going to try to back it up.
12:08It's right where I want it. The good
12:09news is since we have three different
12:11Lightning Lane slots, it's no problem to
12:13have one of them tied up with that ride,
12:15especially if it's a tough to grab ride
12:18like Na'vi River Journey. For right now
12:20though, we're going to open up one of
12:22those slots by tapping in at our first
12:24ride, because as you're going to see, as
12:26soon as we tap in over here at Zootopia,
12:29that's going to open that slot up and
12:30let us book our next Lightning Lane of
12:32the day. So, let's head over and spend
12:34some time this morning with Nick and
12:35Judy and enjoy the newest show here at
12:38Animal Kingdom, Zootopia: Better
12:41Together.
12:42>> [music]
12:47[music]
12:52[music]
12:57>> I definitely don't think you need to use
13:00a Lightning Lane for Better Together,
13:02especially if you're coming in the
13:03morning when the lines are shorter. The
13:06reason I wanted to book it though is
13:07because for those folks who are planning
13:09to park hop, they're going to need an
13:11attraction to tap into early. And if you
13:14can get an early time for Zootopia, this
13:16is a great one to do cuz it's right here
13:18at the park entrance. So, you can kind
13:20of tap in and immediately start [music]
13:22booking your next Lightning Lane in your
13:25next park, or of course if you're
13:26planning to continue here at Animal
13:27Kingdom, you can book your next
13:29Lightning Lane here as well. The other
13:30reason you might want this Lightning
13:32Lane is if you were planning to do this
13:34attraction a lot later in the day,
13:36because this line can get really long.
13:39This attraction is still relatively new,
13:42and that makes it one of the more
13:44popular attractions here at Animal
13:45Kingdom.
13:47>> [music]
13:51>> And what's your name?
13:55Benji, you have the best seat in the
13:57house to watch it all go down. Now, your
14:00job is to press that big red button.
14:04Responsible that's really standard,
14:06okay?
14:07Oh, no, no, no, careful.
14:10Nicho,
14:11we need to know if anyone saw anything.
14:13Okay.
14:24That is an adorable show, especially if
14:26you've got little ones who loved
14:28Zootopia too. And the Clawhauser
14:30animatronic is amazing. When you come
14:32out of the show, you're going to see
14:33most people are going to go to the
14:35right, but if you take a left, you can
14:37actually explore some of these trails
14:39that go behind the Tree of Life, and you
14:41can meet some of my favorite characters
14:43from the movie Up, Russell and Dug. I
14:45did go ahead and book our next Lightning
14:48Lane. I went ahead and got Expedition
14:50Everest. The reason I was aiming for
14:52that one is not because I want to do it
14:53next, but because that is one of the
14:56more difficult to book Lightning Lanes
14:57in this park, and since we're here on a
14:59busy day, I do want to make sure that I
15:02get that booked while I still can. If
15:04you're trying to do every attraction in
15:06the park, or you're just aiming for your
15:08favorite attractions, it's important to
15:10book the ones that are the most popular
15:12first, because those Lightning Lanes
15:14will run out earlier in the day. They're
15:16also going to be showing much later
15:18return times, meaning you'd have to wait
15:20a lot longer to ride them and free that
15:22slot up to book something else. I found
15:25that the easiest way to share with you
15:27which attractions are the most popular
15:29is to use kind of a card metaphor. If
15:32you think about Lightning Lanes as a
15:34deck of cards, the idea is you want to
15:36have the highest value cards in your
15:38hand early in the game, because those
15:41are going to be the cards that are going
15:42to be difficult to draw later in the
15:44day. Here in this park, the highest
15:46valued cards are Na'vi River Journey,
15:48which I consider the ace of the deck.
15:50The king of the deck is actually
15:52Zootopia: Better Together, the ride that
15:54we just did. Now, that's mainly because
15:57that attraction is brand new. I do
15:59expect that as the year goes on and it's
16:02not such a brand new attraction, it's
16:04probably going to fall, but for right
16:06now, it is the king in the deck. The
16:08queen of the deck is Expedition Everest,
16:11and that's why I went ahead and booked
16:12that one next. The jack is going to be
16:14Kilimanjaro Safaris, which we already
16:16have booked, and the 10 is Kali River
16:19Rapids. So, those are all the high-value
16:22cards in this deck. If you want to see
16:23the full deck of card values, just head
16:25on over to earscouts.com/deck.
16:28We keep an updated listing there. We're
16:31also going to refresh that deck
16:32throughout the year, because these
16:33rankings do change. Right now, Kali
16:36River Rapids is relatively low because
16:38it's February. A lot of people don't
16:40really want to ride a water ride when
16:42it's not too hot out. That's definitely
16:44going to become a much more popular
16:46attraction as we get into summer and
16:48fall. And as you can see, that's the
16:50only attraction we have left that's in
16:52this kind of face cards of the deck that
16:55we need to book. This is again why I
16:57think that this is the perfect park to
16:59learn how to use Lightning Lane Multi
17:01Pass with, because the stakes are really
17:03low. There's not a huge number of
17:05attractions you need to worry about, and
17:07it's easy to get all of your favorites
17:09done in the course of a day without too
17:11much stress. So, while we do have
17:13Expedition Everest booked now, I do want
17:16to try to back that time up a little
17:18bit. It's a little bit later than I
17:19would like. So, I'm going to play the
17:21slots while I'm in line here to meet
17:23Russell and Dug. Anytime that you're in
17:25a line like this where you got nothing
17:26better to do, that's the best time to
17:28play the slots, back up those Lightning
17:31Lanes so that you can tap in earlier,
17:33and book something else.
17:35Hey Russell, how's it going? I felt like
17:37I had to come say hello, because I'm
17:40being a Wilderness Explorer today.
17:42I'm so excited. I have never collected
17:44all the stickers, and today's the day.
17:45I'm going to do it.
17:48In addition to meeting Russell and Dug
17:50back here, you can also see some amazing
17:53animals. These I think are some of the
17:55best-kept secrets here at Animal
17:57Kingdom. A lot of folks don't even know
17:59that they can come back here behind the
18:01Tree of Life and see animals like the
18:03giant Galapagos tortoise. How amazing is
18:06that? They're actually tortoises from
18:09the Galapagos right here in Animal
18:11Kingdom. I think a lot of the reason
18:13that people don't notice that these
18:15things are back here is because they're
18:17rushing around from attraction to
18:18attraction, and I encourage you, if you
18:21are using Lightning Lane, you are
18:23getting so much time back in your day.
18:25And doing things like this is the
18:27benefit of saving that time. Today, my
18:30plan is to start here in Discovery
18:32Island, and then we're going to bypass
18:34Pandora cuz that's where we're going to
18:36end, and we're going to start in Africa.
18:39From there, we're going to basically
18:40work our way around the park, and then
18:42we'll end back at the beginning with
18:44Pandora.
18:45This is a pretty massive park, so it
18:48definitely helps to have a little bit of
18:49a plan of attack for your day, and to
18:52avoid crossing back as much as possible.
18:55But since we have a little bit more time
18:57before we need to be in Africa, I want
18:59to show you some more of the fun things
19:00that you can do right here on Discovery
19:02Island. We're going to explore some more
19:04of those Tree of Life trails, and we're
19:06going to earn a couple of Wilderness
19:07Explorer badges along the way. Let's go
19:10do it.
19:28>> [music]
19:31>> Nature walk goes based off of just
19:34things that we've collected on a little
19:35nature walk, right?
19:37A playground right in your backyard.
19:39[music]
19:45Wow, already the line for the Zootopia
19:49show is backed up almost [music] into
19:51Asia. As you can see, although it didn't
19:53save us a lot of time early in the
19:55morning, if you [music] had that
19:57Lightning Lane later in the day, it
19:59would save you a ton of time, and that's
20:01why it [music] is one of the most
20:03popular Lightning Lanes right now. It's
20:05almost time to head into our next land
20:07of the day, but we have one final stop
20:10here on Discovery [music] Island.
20:11Another thing you need to make time in
20:13your day for when you're using Lightning
20:15Lane is treats. And right now, everyone
20:18is talking about this ice cream
20:20sandwich. It's a layer of brownie topped
20:23with ice cream, and then [music] a layer
20:25of cookie dough, and the whole thing is
20:27topped with sea salt. We had, of course,
20:29give it a try. The line for this one is
20:32pretty long, so you might want [music]
20:33to do this early in the day to avoid the
20:36really long line. I got to say, it is
20:39[music] really good. For me,
20:41it's the sea salt that makes it,
20:44but a really good treat, especially on a
20:47hot [music] day.
20:56Our Lightning Lane for Kilimanjaro
20:57Safaris is at 10:40.
20:59>> [music]
20:59>> Right now, it's 10:35, but even though
21:02it isn't quite time yet, we can go ahead
21:05and tap [music] in. That's because you
21:07have a 5-minute grace period on [music]
21:10the front end of your Lightning Lanes.
21:12You also have at least a 15-minute grace
21:15period on the end, although in our
21:17experience, you actually have a whole
21:19lot more than 15 minutes. The last time
21:22[music] that we tested it out, you were
21:24actually able to tap into your Lightning
21:26Lane up to an hour and 59 minutes after
21:30it had expired. So, if your Lightning
21:32Lane was from 10:00 to 11:00, as long as
21:37you got there before 12:59 and 59
21:40seconds, you were able to tap in without
21:42a problem. Now, once you hit 2 hours, it
21:45does glow blue, which basically means
21:48that you're not free to pass. You'd
21:50[music] have to talk to the cast member.
21:52In some cases, though, they would still
21:54let you use a Lightning Lane that was
21:55even more expired than an hour and 59
21:58minutes. [music]
21:59For right now, though, let's go ahead
22:00and tap in a little bit early here at
22:02Kilimanjaro Safaris. We're approaching
22:0511:00, [music] and the crowds are
22:07definitely here now. This park is pretty
22:10packed. There is a posted wait of 75
22:13minutes for this attraction, and even
22:15the Lightning Lane is pretty backed up
22:17at this point. [music] Our wait's
22:18definitely going to be a whole lot less
22:20than 75 minutes, though, and from here
22:22on, you're going to see how much [music]
22:24time Lightning Lane saves you even in a
22:27park like Animal Kingdom, where there
22:29aren't that many attractions.
22:34>> [music]
22:39[music]
22:48[music]
22:54[music]
23:01>> Well, that was a delightful safari. We
23:03saw a lot of animals out in the open,
23:05just kind of hanging out, enjoying the
23:07afternoon. Our next stop, however, is
23:09going to be to get some lunch, because
23:11we've got a really early dinner
23:13reservation, so I want to eat lunch a
23:15little bit early. The other reason I
23:17like to eat lunch early is cuz if you go
23:19at prime meal time, like pretty much
23:21from noon until 1:32,
23:23you're going to find that the
23:25restaurants are mobbed with people, and
23:27even if you use mobile order, you're
23:30probably not going to be able to get
23:31your mobile order anytime soon uh if
23:34you're here on a busy day. Even though
23:36we're eating around 11:30, when I went
23:38in to place my mobile order for a
23:40restaurant nearby us here in Africa,
23:43the pickup time was showing pretty late,
23:45but I'm going to show you a little trick
23:46if that happens.
23:48All you need to do, go ahead and place
23:50your order with whatever's the best time
23:51available, and then while you're in that
23:54mobile order screen, go ahead and tap on
23:57that button that says change arrival
23:59time. Now, it's possible that there
24:02won't be any better times available, but
24:04you can basically keep going back and
24:06forth from one screen to the other, and
24:09eventually, with any luck, a better time
24:11will show up, and as luck would have it,
24:14a better time did show up. We're able to
24:15go pick up our lunch right now. So,
24:17let's head over to Harambe Market and
24:19have a healthy lunch here in Africa.
24:22While we were sitting here enjoying
24:23lunch, we did take the opportunity to
24:26play the slots a little bit and get our
24:28next Lightning Lanes all lined up the
24:30way that we wanted. Well, at least
24:31that's what we were trying to do. I have
24:33to say, today has been the toughest time
24:37I think we've maybe ever had here at
24:38Animal Kingdom trying to back up
24:41Lightning Lanes. We've been working on
24:43Expedition Everest for a very long time,
24:46off and on, whenever we've had down
24:48time, and it is just not budging. Right
24:51now, it is at 6:15. We still have Na'vi
24:55River Journey where we had it this
24:56morning, and that's where we want it.
24:58We're not going to mess with that one.
25:00For our third Lightning Lane, right now,
25:02we've got a 12:30 for Festival of the
25:05Lion King. Now, with most shows, I would
25:08not say it's absolutely essential that
25:10you have a Lightning Lane, but Festival
25:12of the Lion King, in my opinion, is the
25:15must-do show at this park. A lot of
25:18people consider it that as well, so it
25:20becomes a very popular show, especially
25:23on busy days like today. And if you
25:25don't have a Lightning Lane and you go
25:27during that busy time of the day, it's
25:29possible you might wait in the line
25:32through an entire showing of that show,
25:34and then have to wait until the next
25:36show to actually see it. That is a very
25:40long wait. So, that is the one show I
25:43think it's worth getting the Lightning
25:44Lane for. There's really only one
25:47Lightning Lane left that I'm even
25:48remotely worried about being able to
25:50get, and that's Kali River Rapids. I've
25:53been keeping an eye on it, and that's
25:55one thing I do recommend you do. If
25:57you're worried about a Lightning Lane,
25:59just keep an eye on what times are
26:01showing up, and as long as you're
26:02consistently able to see time show up,
26:05you can probably hold off and and use
26:08that slot for something else, like we
26:10are right now. We're going to use it for
26:11Lion King, but as soon as we tap in
26:13there, I'm definitely going to go ahead,
26:15and when that slot opens up, I'm going
26:17to book Kali River Rapids. But for right
26:19now, I think it's a great time for us to
26:21go enjoy one of the animal trails here
26:24at Animal Kingdom. There are two main
26:27animal trails, one here in Africa, which
26:30is Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail, and
26:32then over in Asia is the Maharaja Jungle
26:35Trek.
26:36I would say it's worth dedicating about
26:3820 to 30 minutes for each of these
26:40trails. So, we've got about that amount
26:43of time before we head over to Festival
26:45of the Lion King, so let's go check out
26:47Gorilla Falls.
26:51>> [music]
26:57[music]
27:03[music]
27:08[music]
27:18>> If you're doing that Wilderness
27:20Explorers program, you definitely want
27:22to do these trails because there are
27:24some badges you can only get back here.
27:26There's also some badges that you can
27:28get over at the [music] Conservation
27:30Station, which you have to take a train
27:32to get there from here in Harambe.
27:34Unfortunately, that's going to be
27:36closing down pretty soon, and when it
27:39comes back, it's temporarily going to be
27:41a meet and greet spot for Bluey and
27:43Bingo from the TV series Bluey. And
27:46since there's not going to be anything
27:47over there uh to show you that will
27:50still be here when you come to visit,
27:51we're going to go ahead and skip that.
27:53Plus, it's also time for us to go tap in
27:56for our Lightning Lane for Festival of
27:57the Lion King.
27:59You remember earlier when I was talking
28:00about grace periods, and I said you had
28:03up until an hour and 59 minutes after
28:05your Lightning Lane expired to use it,
28:08that's true of rides. That is not true
28:10of shows. So, with shows, it's really
28:14important that you get there within that
28:16window of your Lightning Lane,
28:18otherwise, the show's going to start,
28:20and you're not going to be able to get
28:21in to get a seat.
28:30>> [music]
28:38[music]
28:42[music]
28:52[music]
29:00[music]
29:12>> Well, that is a wrap on Africa, and man,
29:16what a way to finish that land. That
29:18show is incredible. If there is only one
29:21show that you're going to see in this
29:23entire park on your park day, make it
29:26Festival of the Lion King. It's so good.
29:29But,
29:30we're actually on our way right now to
29:31see another show.
29:34I think this middle time of the day,
29:36when it's the hottest and the most
29:38crowded, is the best time to get shows
29:41in, because it gives you a chance to sit
29:43down, away from the crowds, get a little
29:45bit of air conditioning,
29:47and for us at this particular moment, we
29:49actually don't have any lightning lanes
29:51lined up. Shows can also be a great
29:54opportunity to back up your lightning
29:56lanes because when you're sitting there
29:58waiting for the show to begin, there's
30:00really not anything better to do than go
30:02ahead and tidy up your lightning lanes,
30:04try to get earlier times or maybe swap
30:07them out for rides that are more
30:09important to you that you're worried
30:10about losing. Luckily, we have
30:12everything booked now. We have Kali
30:14River Rapids booked, we have Expedition
30:17Everest booked and of course we have
30:19Na'vi River Journey.
30:21The times still aren't what I would like
30:22them to be, but I'm not worried that we
30:25aren't going to be able to ride them and
30:27that's the most important thing. Two of
30:29the shows that we have left do offer
30:30lightning lane, but there's really no
30:33need for lightning lane even on the day
30:34like today for either of these shows.
30:37One is feathered friends in flight, the
30:39other one is Finding Nemo the Big Blue
30:42and Beyond. The other reason you want to
30:44get these shows done now though is
30:46because they're going to stop running
30:47long before the park day ends. It's a
30:50really great idea, especially when
30:52you're in the middle of your day, check
30:54on the times for the shows that you
30:55haven't seen yet and make sure that
30:57you're going to have time to see them
30:59before the day is done. For us, the best
31:01time to see them is going to be right
31:03now. So, let's go check out Feathered
31:05Friends in Flight.
31:43>> [applause]
31:44>> All right, time for me to catch you up
31:46really quickly because so many things
31:48have happened since we sat down for
31:50Feathered Friends in Flight. Pretty much
31:52as soon as we sat down, we started
31:54playing the slots a little bit and we
31:55were able to get a great return time for
31:58Kali River Rapids. Then of course we
32:01watched the show which was amazing. How
32:03cool is that singing parrot? So then as
32:06we came out of the show, we had the
32:08lightning lane all set to go for Kali
32:10River Rapids. We were walking over that
32:12way and
32:16Unfortunately, Kali River Rapids is down
32:19right now. But actually, that ends up
32:22being pretty good news for us because
32:24the lightning lane that we have not been
32:27able to back up all day, Expedition
32:29Everest, is still scheduled for way
32:32later in our day which is not ideal.
32:35When you have an attraction booked and
32:37that attraction goes down, you get what
32:40Disney calls an experience redemption. I
32:42like to call it a bonus lightning lane.
32:45But basically, when you tap on this guy,
32:47there's going to be a link in there that
32:49shows you everywhere you can go and
32:52voila, there in the list is Expedition
32:55Everest. So, what we're going to do
32:57right now, we're going to go to
32:59Expedition Everest and we're going to
33:01tap in as if we have a lightning lane
33:03for right now which of course we don't.
33:05We do have a lightning lane, but it's
33:07for way later today. But even though we
33:09don't have a lightning lane for right
33:11now, that experience redemption is going
33:13to kick in and it's going to glow green
33:15and we are going to get to ride that
33:17ride. My guess is it's going to be way
33:20easier for us to get Kali River Rapids
33:23again than it is going to be to back up
33:25Expedition Everest cuz man has that
33:28lightning lane been stubborn. But I'm
33:30also really glad this happened because
33:31it lets me show you how these experience
33:34redemptions work and how you can use
33:36these as you go through your day.
33:38Whenever you get one of these experience
33:40redemptions, just take a moment before
33:42you use it and think about what is the
33:45best use of that experience redemption.
33:48So now that we've formulated our plan,
33:49let's carry it out and to start, we're
33:52going to go find a yeti on Expedition
33:54Everest.
33:55>> [music]
34:02[music]
34:09[music]
34:26[screaming]
34:27>> Best ride in all of Walt Disney World
34:30and done. And it actually worked out
34:32perfectly as well cuz now we are right
34:34next door to Finding Nemo the Big Blue
34:37and Beyond which is the last of the big
34:39shows we need to see today. We've
34:42already rebooked Kali River Rapids.
34:44We've got that for 6, but I do think if
34:46we wanted to, we could probably back
34:48that up a little bit earlier. But
34:50really, we've got so much stuff lined up
34:53to do from now until the end of the day.
34:55If we had to do it at 6, it really
34:57wouldn't be that big of a deal. As soon
34:59as we get out of this show, it's going
35:00to be time to head over to a very
35:02special dinner that we have reservations
35:04for. I could have modified our existing
35:07Expedition Everest lightning lane into
35:09one for Finding Nemo. The reason I
35:12didn't know is because we don't actually
35:14need a lightning lane to get into this
35:16show. We're going to get in just fine.
35:18We're going to see the same show we
35:19would have seen with the lightning lane
35:21and even better, we still have a
35:23lightning lane for Everest. Meaning if
35:25we wanted to, we could ride my favorite
35:28ride in this park twice.
35:31And that's really the only way you can
35:32do that with lightning lane multi-pass.
35:35Typically, you can only book each
35:36attraction once. But if you ride an
35:39attraction with an experience redemption
35:42and you have it booked, that is the way
35:44that you can get to ride a ride twice. I
35:46don't know if we're going to have time
35:47today to do it, but I want to hold onto
35:49that lightning lane just in case.
35:51>> [music]
35:59[music]
36:14>> That show is just adorable and the
36:17performers are so incredibly talented.
36:19The puppets are amazing, the singing is
36:21amazing. It really is a great show and I
36:24think probably the most underrated show
36:27here at Animal Kingdom. It is now 4:00
36:29p.m. which means we have 4 hours of park
36:32time left. This is one of those magical
36:34days where Animal Kingdom stays open a
36:37little bit later than normal. Usually
36:39this park is closed by 6:00 or 7:00. So,
36:42the fact that it's open till 8:00 is a
36:43really great treat. Right now we're
36:45heading back into Asia. I have some very
36:47good news which is that we are done
36:49booking lightning lanes for the day. We
36:52were able to successfully move up our
36:54lightning lane for Kali River Rapids to
36:56be basically right after we're going to
36:58be done with dinner which is going to
36:59work out perfectly. So now that we
37:01finally have all of our lightning lanes
37:03squared away, I want to share with you
37:05my three biggest tips for grabbing
37:08difficult to book lightning lanes and
37:10backing them up. I do recommend if you
37:12haven't seen it yet, check out our
37:14lightning lane guide because we go into
37:16much greater detail in that video about
37:18these tips. But here's kind of a quick
37:21CliffsNotes version that'll help you on
37:23your Animal Kingdom day. First and
37:25foremost, when you're aiming for a
37:27really difficult to grab lightning lane,
37:30I don't recommend booking it right off
37:32the bat. Book something else that's easy
37:35to book and then modify that lightning
37:38lane into the lightning lane that you
37:40want. When you book a lightning lane
37:42initially, it's going to ask you who all
37:45is in your party as part of that
37:46process.
37:47In the time that it takes you to select
37:49your party members, you will often lose
37:52that lightning lane time that you're
37:54aiming for. Once you're modifying that
37:56lightning lane however, it's not going
37:58to ask you who's in your party because
38:00it's going to use the existing lightning
38:02lane's party to book the new one. By
38:04saving this couple of seconds of time,
38:07you are much more likely to get the
38:09lightning lane that you're aiming for.
38:11The second thing that I recommend is use
38:14the Genie. We go into this in a lot more
38:16detail in our regular lightning lane
38:18guide, but the gist of it is you can go
38:21into my plans and then you're going to
38:23set your preferences for the day. It's
38:26going to ask you what day you're going,
38:28which park you're going to and then
38:30ultimately, it's going to ask you which
38:33rides you're most interested in. Only
38:35choose the rides that you want pinned to
38:37the top of your view which makes it
38:39really easy if there is a time available
38:42to tap in quickly and grab it. And my
38:44third and final tip, and this one is
38:46probably the most important,
38:49even when you're really quick about
38:50tapping in, in many cases, it is just
38:53not fast enough. Instead of continually
38:56refreshing your view and waiting for the
38:58time that you want and then tapping into
39:01it, just go ahead and tap into whatever
39:04time is showing up there.
39:06It's going to look at that very moment
39:08to see if there are better times
39:10available and if there are, it's going
39:12to grab those better times instead. And
39:15so, if you're successful with this,
39:17you've already got the better time in
39:20your pocket. You don't have to worry
39:21about tapping in quickly, you just did
39:24the tap. Well, those are my CliffsNotes
39:26tips for getting tough to book lightning
39:28lanes. They definitely came in handy
39:30today because we are all set. We have a
39:32one last thing to do before dinner and
39:34that is to enjoy Maharaja Jungle Trek.
39:37These animal trails do close pretty
39:39early. So, we want to do this before we
39:42eat cuz by the time we get out, it might
39:44already be closed.
39:50>> [music]
39:57[music]
40:11[music]
40:18[music]
40:23>> What I love about Maharaja Jungle Trek
40:26is it has such amazing theme in inside.
40:29It involves three Maharajahs. The first
40:32Maharaja used this land as his hunting
40:34grounds and he would hunt big beasts
40:37like tigers. The second Maharaja who
40:40followed that Maharaja decided to learn
40:42from his mistakes [music] because that
40:44first Maharaja was actually killed by
40:46one of the tigers he was hunting for.
40:49So, this Maharaja decided to turn it
40:51into a sanctuary. But, it was his own
40:54private sanctuary and he built this
40:56beautiful palace inside to be a lovely
40:59place where he could hang out and
41:00commune with the animals. But, it was
41:02the third Maharaja who had the wisdom to
41:05open this sanctuary up to all and that's
41:08what we're visiting right now is what
41:10was created by that third Maharaja. I
41:12can spend all afternoon at Maharaja
41:15Jungle Trek. I just love the animals but
41:18also the environment. The architecture
41:21back there is stunning. The detail work
41:23that the Imagineers did. This is why I
41:25love Animal Kingdom so much and it's
41:27also why I love using Lightning Lane
41:30because it allows me to not sacrifice
41:32the rides I want to do or the shows I
41:35want to see but it still gives me the
41:37time to just kind of linger and enjoy
41:40moments like that. Sadly, we can't
41:42linger too much longer because we do
41:44have a dining reservation. The other
41:46great thing about using Lightning Lane
41:48is you can take some time to enjoy a
41:50special meal. Here at Animal Kingdom is
41:53one of my favorite restaurants in all of
41:55Walt Disney World. It's a signature
41:57restaurant which normally means you got
41:59to get dressed up a little bit but since
42:01this one is inside of a theme park
42:04you're allowed to come in wearing shorts
42:05and a t-shirt and that's my kind of
42:08signature dining. Best of all though,
42:10the food here is phenomenal. The service
42:13is amazing. The decor is beautiful.
42:15There's a reason why Joe Rohde, who was
42:17the lead Imagineer developing this park,
42:20once Tiffins opened up, he ate every
42:22single meal there according to legend.
42:25And when you eat there, they usually
42:27give you a little piece of his artwork
42:29to take home with you. It's like a
42:30little postcard. But, for me, I'm really
42:33just most excited about that delicious
42:35food. Let's head on over to Tiffins and
42:37enjoy a signature meal experience in the
42:40middle of our amazing Animal Kingdom
42:42day.
42:49>> [music]
42:54>> Y'all,
42:55I have had some pretty amazing theme
42:58park meals over the years. That is the
43:01best restaurant [music] you're going to
43:02find in any theme park, certainly in
43:05Orlando but quite possibly any theme
43:07park in the world. It is so good. The
43:10only restaurant I've had that I would
43:12say is better than Tiffins is Victoria
43:14and Albert's which is a Michelin starred
43:17restaurant at Grand Floridian that will
43:19literally cost you nearly 10 times the
43:22price and you got to get all dressed up
43:24for that. The fact that you can go enjoy
43:27that meal in the middle of a theme park
43:29day wearing a t-shirt and shorts,
43:33that is amazing and I'm so glad that
43:37Tiffins exists. I'm also so glad that
43:40because we were using Lightning Lanes
43:41today, we were able to enjoy that
43:44incredible meal at Tiffins and not
43:46sacrifice anything in this park. We're
43:49going to head on to our next Lightning
43:50Lane right now which is Kali River
43:52Rapids.
43:54And when that's done, all we have is one
43:57land left, the land of Pandora and
44:00you're going to see when we get there
44:01why I saved that land for last. Before
44:05we hop on Kali River Rapids, I do have a
44:07few tips to share that are very specific
44:10to this ride because it is very possible
44:13that you are not just going to get wet
44:15on Kali River Rapids. It's possible you
44:17are going to get completely drenched.
44:19And for that reason, it's helpful to
44:21know number one that there are lockers
44:24available here that are free. So, you
44:26may want to put your things in that
44:28locker so that they don't get soaking
44:30wet.
44:31The second thing you should know is that
44:33it is wise to bring a change of shoes. I
44:36like to bring a pair of really
44:38lightweight flip-flops in my bag and
44:41that way I can change into those
44:42flip-flops and even if I get drenched, I
44:45will still have dry socks and shoes when
44:47I get off of the ride. So, that's
44:49something else you might want to put
44:51into that locker. Another thing that's
44:53good to know, some folks in your party
44:55may not be willing to get completely
44:57drenched in which case it's helpful to
44:59know that you can cancel those folks
45:01from your Lightning Lane. All you got to
45:03do, tap on that Lightning Lane as if you
45:05were going to modify it but instead, tap
45:08on cancel. Don't worry, it's not going
45:10to cancel for everyone. It's going to
45:12let you choose who you want to cancel
45:14for. So, in this case,
45:16>> [music]
45:16>> we're canceling for Eric because he just
45:18doesn't dig getting soaking wet on Kali
45:20River Rapids. And finally, if you're
45:23here in February,
45:25it's usually best to try to do this ride
45:27at the hottest point of the day. We have
45:30clearly missed that mark. It's actually
45:31starting to get a little bit chilly. So,
45:34I'm going to get bundled up and prepared
45:36and I will meet you on the rapids.
45:55>> [music]
46:04[music]
46:17>> Nothing about Kali River Rapids has gone
46:20as planned today. As soon as I tapped
46:22in,
46:23it went down again. So,
46:26there was a posted 55-minute wait. The
46:29wait, even with a Lightning Lane because
46:31of that downtime, was 45 minutes.
46:34Now, to be sure,
46:36the folks who were in the standby line
46:38definitely waited a whole lot more than
46:4055 minutes for that ride.
46:43But,
46:44was not planning on 45 minutes.
46:46Also, was not planning on doing Kali
46:48River Rapids at night in February.
46:51Having said that,
46:53I kind of loved it. I don't think I've
46:56ever done Kali River Rapids at night and
46:59it was amazing. Everything is lit up
47:02really beautifully
47:03and you kind of feel a little bit more
47:06suspense. I think maybe I have a new
47:09favorite way of riding Kali River
47:11Rapids, although I don't recommend it in
47:12February. But, if you're in the summer,
47:15maybe consider doing Kali at night. But,
47:17finally on our itinerary is the one
47:20thing you should definitely plan on
47:22doing at night and that is the land of
47:25Pandora.
47:27Let's go tap in for our final Lightning
47:29Lane at Na'vi River Journey and then I'm
47:31going to show you why you should not get
47:34the single pass Lightning Lane for
47:35Flight of Passage because I've got a
47:38trick that's going to make the perfect
47:40ending to your Animal Kingdom adventure.
47:43Let's go do it.
47:48>> [music]
47:54[music]
48:00[music]
48:08[music]
48:20>> While Pandora is amazing at any time,
48:24day or night, this is just a beautiful
48:26land. I feel like it really gets kicked
48:29up a notch at night. We just rode Na'vi
48:32River Journey and it almost feels like
48:36that ride spills out into the land
48:39itself. All of the bioluminescent magic
48:42is just everywhere.
48:44I definitely think if you get the
48:45opportunity to come back here to Avatar
48:48at night, make sure you just plan to
48:50have a little bit of time to explore and
48:52that's exactly what we're going to do
48:53right now. We're just going to go check
48:55out all of the amazing waterfalls and
48:57bioluminescent plants and then we will
49:00meet you just before the park closes for
49:03our final ride of the night, Flight of
49:04Passage.
49:06I would argue that there are two perfect
49:08times to do Flight of Passage. The first
49:12perfect time is during early entry. If
49:14you're staying at a qualifying Disney
49:17resort hotel and you can get into the
49:19park 30 minutes before day guests, that
49:22is the attraction you should probably
49:23make a bee line for. If you are not able
49:26to have early entry, however, my
49:28favorite time to do it is just before
49:31the park closes because as long as you
49:34get in that attraction's queue at least
49:36seconds before park closed, they will
49:39let you stay in that Q as long as it
49:41takes to ride the ride. The only catch
49:44is if the ride were to go down, you
49:46wouldn't be able to ride it. So, there
49:48is some risk involved. But, the reason I
49:51like to do it at that time is because
49:53number one, you're not burning up any of
49:55your park time to do it. Even if it is a
49:58super long wait, you're getting that
50:00wait essentially as a bonus time in the
50:03park. Reason number two is if you're
50:05here during a time of year where it gets
50:07dark later in the day and the park
50:10closes early, the only way you can see
50:13any of this amazing stuff in Pandora
50:16after dark is to get in that Q right
50:19before it closes and hope that you have
50:21a long enough wait that when you get
50:23off, everything will be dark and
50:24illuminated. And then, the final reason
50:27to get in right before the end of the
50:29night is because you will often times
50:32see a really high posted wait. They
50:35leave the wait at a really high number
50:38to I think discourage people from
50:40getting in the Q at the last minute, but
50:43nine times out of 10, that wait will be
50:46much less than what's posted. In some
50:48cases, dramatically less. So, let's go
50:51put it to the test. Let's hop in line
50:53for our final ride of the night. It's
50:55posted at 80 minutes. We'll see how long
50:58it ends up being.
51:05>> [music]
51:11[music]
51:22>> What an incredible day we just had here
51:24at Animal Kingdom. We got so much done
51:27today. There were some things that we
51:29did that we didn't even have time to
51:30show you. Like, for example, we stopped
51:32and watched a little bit of the
51:33projection show here on the Tree of Life
51:35behind me on our way over to Pandora. We
51:39also did some PhotoPass stops to get
51:41some really cool magic shots. There's
51:43just so much you can do in your Animal
51:45Kingdom day and when you take advantage
51:47of Lightning Lane, it allows you to do
51:49even more. When you add up all of the
51:52time that we saved from not waiting in
51:54lines for those different attractions,
51:56it adds up to a lot of hours back in
51:58your day. And as you can see, even with
52:01DinoLand closed, there is so much to do,
52:04experience, and enjoy in this amazing
52:07park. The other thing I want you to know
52:09is that this was [music] probably the
52:11most challenging Lightning Lane day I've
52:14ever had here at Animal Kingdom. I think
52:17it was the combination of President's
52:18Day weekend and Valentine's Day weekend
52:21and the fact that a lot of folks
52:22actually around the world have this off
52:24because of Carnival in Brazil and Mardi
52:28Gras. So, this is just kind of a perfect
52:31storm of people having vacation and all
52:34coming to Walt Disney World. But, even
52:36though this was the most difficult day
52:39I've had at Animal Kingdom, we were
52:41still able to do everything that we
52:43wanted to do. We just had to be a little
52:45bit creative in how we did it. Well, I
52:47hope you enjoyed this video. If you did,
52:49help us out by giving it a like,
52:51subscribing to our channel, and ringing
52:53that bell. That way you'll be notified
52:55whenever new videos like this come out.
52:57Before we go, I want to give a huge
52:58thank you to our Patreon family. Thank
53:01you so much for making videos like this
53:02possible. [music] If you'd like to join
53:04them and get access to exclusive
53:06content, then head on over to
53:08patreon.com/earscouts.
53:11And of course, I want to thank all of
53:13you. Thank you so much for watching this
53:15video. We'll see you again real soon.
53:18Until then, don't forget to think happy
53:20thoughts, everybody.
53:28>> [whistles]

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of NEW FOR 2026: Lightning Lane Guide to Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World by Ear Scouts, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 8,964 words across 1,295 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.