Disneyland Lightning Lane: How to use, tips, and is it worth it?

Planning to go to Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, California, for the first time or after many years?

Being a California resident, I have been to Disneyland and California Adventure several times with my family. We visit every year and sometimes twice a year!

You must have come across the terms Genie, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (previously Genie Plus), Lightning Lane Single Pass (previously Individual Lightning Lane), and Virtual queues. It can all be very confusing, especially if you are hearing about them for the first time. After reading this article, all of these Disney terms will become clear to you!

From July 2024 onwards, the add-on Genie Plus has been renamed Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This makes sense to me because the faster lane at the ride attractions is called Lightning Lane.

Lightning Lane is a paid add-on service to your existing ticket. If you are wondering – if Disney Lightning Lane is worth it at Disneyland or California Adventure, then it really depends on the number of days you are visiting the parks and the age group of kids and adults in your group.

We usually opt to buy the Disney Lightning Lane service to maximize the number of rides we can do in our Disneyland itinerary.

Read on to find out more details, and you will be able to decide if the Lightning Lane add-on is worth it for your group.

Is Lightning Lane worth it at Disneyland? My Quick Answer

Without getting into all the important details, my quick answer to your question of whether Lightning Lane is worth it at Disneyland would be, ‘It depends.’

Lightning Lane is worth it at Disneyland if –

• You have only one day in Disneyland and want to maximize your time. In this case, time is more important than money, and you would want to make sure you do not miss out on the top rides.
• If you have multiple days in Disneyland, I would recommend getting Lightning Lane for the first day in each theme park and focusing on finishing the Lightning Lane rides first on that day.
• On busy park days like on weekends and around the holidays, Lightning Lane will really save you time and allow you to ride more attractions than without it.
• You plan to ride all or most attractions offered in Lightning Lane. Most of the rides included in Lightning Lane are thrill rides, so getting Lightning Lane for toddlers or seniors might not be worth it.
• You hate standing in lines for hours (I do!). I would get Lightning Lane just to avoid standing in ride wait lines for hours.
• You plan to take a lot of photos with characters at photo ops or want your ride photos. You get unlimited Dinsey Photopass downloads with Lightning Lane, which is a great value in itself.

If this all sounds confusing, I recommend reading the entire article to understand how Lightning Lane works, which rides are included in it, tips on how to use it efficiently to maximize rides, and when it is worth it (or not worth it) at both Disneyland and California Adventure.

What is Disney Genie Service?

Disney Genie Service is a complimentary tool included in the Disneyland Resort app on your phone. Once you reserve a theme park entrance ticket, you can use the service to plan your daily itinerary and make dining reservations in advance.

Note that the Disney Genie service is free and different from the Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Genie service is available to everyone and is mainly used for booking dining reservations and placing mobile food orders at the restaurants at California Adventure and Disneyland.

Lightning Lane is a paid service, and you must pay extra for it. More on Lightning Lane is coming up below!

What is Lightning Lane Multi Pass?

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is a paid add-on service to your Disneyland tickets and replaces the previous Fast Pass system, which was free.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass was previously called Genie+. All purchase and redemption rules are the same. Nothing has changed except the name from July 2024 onwards.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass allows you to book a ride time window for some popular attractions so that you can avoid the long regular standby lines and use the faster Lingthing Lane entrance.

Please note that you do not need Lightning Lane Multi Pass to use the regular standby lines for all rides. You can still go on all the rides by waiting in the regular stand-by lines.

If you purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass, then you have the option to use the fast lanes at the attractions and reduce your wait time for rides.

While purchasing your Disneyland tickets, you have the option of adding Lightning Lane Multi Pass service to your ticket. You can also add the Lightning Lane Multi Pass service later on from the Disneyland app on your phone once you enter the theme park on the day of your reservation.

How much does Lightning Lane Multi Pass cost?

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is currently offered starting at $30 per person per day. Prices vary by date. Some examples of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass cost for a group of 2 or 4:

• Group of 2, one day in Disneyland = $30 * 2 people= $60 extra per day
• Group of 2, one day in Disneyland and one day in California Adventure = ($30 * 2 people) * 2 days = $120 extra for two days.
• Group of 4, one day in Disneyland = $30 * 4 people = $120 extra cost per day
• Group of 4, one day in Disneyland and one day in California Adventure = ($30 * 4 people) * 2 days = $240 extra cost for two days.

There are no Lightning Lane Multi Pass discounts for kids or seniors.

How does Lightning Lane Multi Pass work?

Popular rides have two paths at the entrance – Regular standby lanes and Lightning Lanes. Lightning Lanes are much faster than regular lines.

For some popular rides, regular standby lanes can have wait times of up to 2 hours, while with Lightning Lanes, you can ride the attraction with only 10 to 20 minutes of wait time.

You need either Lightning Lane Multi Pass or Lightning Lane Single Pass purchases (more on Single Pass later) to use the faster Lightning Lane path.

Booking the Lightning Lane Multi Pass Experience

Once you purchase the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can go on the Disneyland app on your phone and book a LL Multi Pass experience for an eligible ride. You do this by going to the Tip Board section of the Disney Genie Service app.

The app shows you the next available Lightning Lane window for all the rides that offer faster Lightning Lane Multi Pass, shown as LL Multi Pass Experience in the app screenshot above.

You can book the experience for your group by clicking on “Select,” and it gives you a one-hour time window to redeem.

You can select which members of your group want to ride for that booking and confirm. You have now booked your first Lightning Lane Multi Pass experience! Till your booking time window, you can do other standby rides.

Note that you cannot book anotherLightning Lane Multi Pass experience till 2 hours after your last booking or till you redeem your booking, whichever happens first. The app shows when you can book the next LL Multi Pass Expereince and makes it easy.

Redeeming the Lightning Lane Multi Pass experience

Once your redemption time window arrives, you go to the Lightning Lane entrance of the ride and redeem your booking. You find the Redeem feature by going to the “My Day” section of the Disney Genie Service app.

There will be barcode readers at the Lightning Lane entrance. You will hold your phone under the reader, which will read the barcode for each member of your group. You can now enjoy Lightning Lane and shorter wait times!

As soon as you redeem your Lightning Lane booking, you are eligible to book your next Lightning Lane experience. Do that while you are waiting in line for your ride.

Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it at Disneyland?

The rides at Disneyland range from thrill rides to family-friendly rides, as well as several amazing brand-new rides.

Disneyland when compared to California Adventure, offers much more value for Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Disneyland has 13 Lightning Lane Multi Pass rides, while California Adventure only offers 9 Lightning Lane Multi Pass rides.

Rides included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Disneyland

• Autopia
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Haunted Mansion
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• It’s a small world
• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Space Mountain
• Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
• Pirates of the Caribbean (temporarily available as LL)

Most of the popular thrill rides like Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Space Mountain, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and Indiana Jones Adventure offer LL Multi Pass. Multi Pass is also offered for classic popular attractions like Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass purchase makes it possible to visit all of the above popular attractions in 1 day. On weekends and school break days, the standby lines are between 60 to 120 minutes for each ride, and you can only do at most 5-6 of the popular rides in a day using regular standby lanes.

Not to forget that there are a lot of other rides in Disneyland, like all the rides in Fantasyland (Except It’s a Small World) that will take at least another 2-4 hours of your day.

If you have only one day in Disneyland Park or you do not like waiting in lines for hours, the Lightning Lane Multi Pass is definitely worth it for Disneyland. The parks have been really crowded in recent years, and wait times have gone considerably up.

Be strategic about it. If you are planning to spend two days in Disneyland, take the Lightning Lane Multi Pass for one day and sit on all the rides that offer Lightning Lane expereince. Then the next day, go on all the other rides that offer only standby lanes.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is worth it at Disneyland if –

• You have only one day in Disneyland and want to maximize your time.
• You plan to ride all or most attractions offered in Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
• You hate standing in lines for hours (I do!).
• You plan to take a lot of photos with characters at photo ops or want your ride photos.

Unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads with Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Lightning Lane Multi Pass also offers unlimited PhotoPass downloads, which include photos taken by photographers throughout the park at photo op places or character meet and greets. It also includes photos of you taken during rides.

Previously, each ride photo was $10 to $15 per picture. Seriously, just for the PhotoPass downloads alone, I think Lightning Lane Multi Pass is totally worth it.

Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it at Disney California Adventure?

There are several amazing rides at Disney California Adventure, both thrill and family rides. Disney California Adventure is popular for Cars Land and the new Avengers Campus.

California Adventure only offers 9 rides with Lightning Lane Multi Pass, thus providing lesser value for the cost compared to Disneyland, which offers 13 attractions with Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

Rides included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass at California Adventure

• Web Slingers: Spiderman Adventure
• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Incredicoaster
• Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
• Soarin’ Over California
• Toy Story Midway Mania!
• The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure

The most popular ride – Radiator Spring Racers, is not included in the Lightning Lane Multi Pass service. To use the Lightning Lane for this most popular ride, you have to pay extra irrespective of whether you have Lightning Lane Multi Pass or not.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Disney California Adventure is worth it only if you plan to do all or at least most of the rides listed above and if you only have one day in California Adventure Park.

If you have very young kids in the group who might not sit in thrill rides like Incredicoaster or Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, then, you can choose not to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass for them.

The free PhotoPass downloads with Lightning Lane Multi Pass also work at Disney California Adventure similarly to Disneyland.

To Summarize: Lightning Lane Multi Pass is worth it at Disney California Adventure if –

• You have only one day in Disney California Adventure and want to maximize your time.
• You plan to ride all or most attractions offered in Lightning Lane Multi Pass.
• You hate standing in lines for hours (I do!)
• You plan to take a lot of photos with characters at photo ops, or want your ride photos.

When is Lightning Lane Multi Pass not worth it?

There might be some situations in which purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass might not be totally worth it. Remember, you can pick and choose who you want the Lightning Lane Multi Pass for in your group. You do not need to buy it for everyone for all days.

Younger kids – If you have toddlers or kids under five, purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass for them might not be worth it as most of the rides offered under Lightning Lane Multi Pass are thrill rides that might not be for the youngest kids.

Seniors – Same for seniors in your group who are not going to sit on the thrill rides. Lightning Lane Multi Pass for them might not be worth it.

If you or someone in your group are not planning to sit on most of the rides offered by Lightning Lane Multi Pass, then buying it for them is not worth it.

Multiple days in the park – If you are planning to spend more than one day in Disneyland and California Adventure, then buying Lightning Lane Multi Pass for all days might not be worth it. Buy a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for one day in each park and ride the attractions included in the Lightning Lane Multi Pass that day. For the remaining days, ride the attractions that only offer standby lines.

Visiting in the off-season – If you are visiting the parks in the off-season when schools are in session or middle of the weekdays, like on a Wednesday, then the standby lines are not so bad, and buying Lightning Lane Multi Pass might not be worth it, as you can still accomplish all the thrill rides using standby lanes.

What is Lightning Lane Single Pass?

The Lightning Lanes for a few of the most popular attractions are offered as a paid service irrespective of whether you have purchased the Lightning Lane Multi Pass or not.

These a la carte paid lightning lanes are Lightning Lane Single Pass (previously called Individual lightning lanes). Anyone can pay extra for these rides and get in the Lightning Lanes. This can come in handy if the standby lines are 2+ hours and you are short on time.

Disneyland offers Lightning Lane Single Pass for one ride, currently priced at $20-$30 per person depending on the day:

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney California Adventure offers Lightning Lane Single Pass for one ride, currently priced at $15-$30 per person, depending on the day:

• Radiator Springs Racers

What are Virtual Queues at Disneyland?

Wait, there’s more? Just one more thing to be aware of before you are all familiar with Disney terms.

There is currently one attraction in Disney California Adventure, ‘World of Color’ that offers Virtual Queues. ‘World of Color’ is the night show at California Adventure, which is a spectacular water, light, and music experience.

Virtual Queue is free and can be booked through the Genie service in the app. You do not need Lightning Lane Multi Pass to book Virtual queues. Anyone with a theme park reservation can book it through the Disneyland app starting at 12 PM after entering the park.

If you have a Park Hopper ticket, you can also book it while you are in Disneyland Park.

World of Color occurs at 9 PM and 10:30 PM above the waters on Paradise Pier in California Adventure and gets very crowded. The frontline areas near the Pier are blocked for people who have reserved spots in Virtual Queue.

Every day around 12 PM, you can go into the app and request to Join Virtual Queue. You will be allotted one of the two showtimes – 1 (9 PM) or 2(10:30 PM).

This gets filled really fast! I had kept an alarm for 11:55 AM, submitted a request to join exactly at noon, and at 12:01 PM, I got allotted the second showtime. It was crazy! It got filled up in a minute! And this was on a Monday during a regular school week! Talk about crazy crowds at Disneyland!

Disneyland Lightning Lane tips and tricks

Below are some tried and tested tips to make the most out of Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Disneyland and California Adventure.

Tip #1. Strategize your morning and do stand-by lines in the first hour of park opening.

If you are at the park at Disneyland rope drop time, that is right when the Disneyland park opens; the stand-by lines have really short wait times, like 5-10 minutes. Don’t block your Lightning Lane Multi Pass window in that morning’s first hour. Use that time to quickly finish as many rides that do not offer Lightning Lane first.

Tip #2. Choose Lightning Lane Multi Pass rides with the closest time window first.

An example to explain this – is if Pirates of the Caribbean has a time of 11 AM and Haunted Mansion has a return time of 10 AM, book Haunted Mansion first.

Then, as soon as you redeem Haunted Mansion, you can book Pirates of the Caribbean next. This way, you will be able to book more LL Multi Pass rides during the day.

The app shows when you can book the next LL Multi Pass experience, so you won’t have to do the math!

Tip #3. You can redeem Lightning Lane Multi Pass before the allotted time windows

You can redeem your Lightning Lane experience 5 minutes before your time window starts and up to 5 minutes after the window ends.

This is great because then you can enter early and book the next one immediately.

Tip #4. Buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass only for people who will ride the thrill attractions.

You can pick and choose who you want the Lightning Lane Multi Pass for in your group. You do not need to buy it for everyone in your group. For example, toddlers and very young kids might not sit on most of the thrill rides offered with Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

Tip #5. You can choose which days to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

You do not need to buy it for everyone for all days. You can buy it for the day you are planning to do most rides that offer Lightning Lane experiences. Rest of the days, you can use the standby lines.

FAQs about Disneyland Lightning Lane

My answers to frequently asked questions below will help you make the most of your Lightning Lane pass at Disneyland and California Adventure.

Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it for toddlers?

Most of the rides offered by Lightning Lane Multi Pass are thrill rides not suitable for toddlers and young kids, so it is not worth buying Lightning Lane Multi Pass for kids under five.

You can still buy it for the older kids in your group and for the adults. When you book the LL Multi Pass experience on the app, it will only show the people who you have purchased the Lightning Lane Multi Pass for.

Tip: Get Lightning Lane Multi Pass for at least one adult in your group so that you can get free PhotoPass downloads for everyone in your group. With younger kids, you will be taking a lot of photos with characters. If you have one Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can link everyone’s photos to that and download them for free!

Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it for adults?

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is totally worth it for adults who love thrill rides, who have only one day in the park, or for people like me who hate standing in lines for hours.

Is it better to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass in advance?

For the Disneyland Resort in California, you can buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass when you buy your Disneyland Tickets.

If you are visiting on the weekend or major holidays, like Christmas or Halloween at Disneyland, when the park is going to be crowded, or if you only have one day in the park, I highly recommend buying Lightning Lane Multi Pass in advance when you buy your ticket, as they can get sold out for very crowded days.

Where to stay for Disneyland

Staying within walking distance of the Disneyland theme parks will save you at least 30 minutes to an hour in the morning as you do not have to worry about parking and then taking the tram to the park gates.

Disney Pixar Place Hotel is part of Disneyland Resorts and offers all the amenities that you would expect from a Disneyland Resort. The hotel has a children’s pool with a waterslide, and you can see Disneyland fireworks from the hotel rooftop! Disneyland Park is only a 10-minute walk, and Downtown Disney is only 5 minutes for shopping and restaurants. We stayed here once when the kids were young, and they enjoyed the pool area.

Disneyland Hotel is another Disneyland Resort hotel and is a 10-minute walk from Disneyland Park and Downtown Disney.

Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa is a luxury Disneyland Resort hotel right next to California Adventure Park. Guests of this hotel can walk out the door and be inside California Adventure Park! This is the place to be! But also the most expensive!

Fairfield by Marriott Anaheim Resort is an excellent brand-name hotel with a pool and just a 5-minute walk from Disneyland Park! We stayed here most recently and loved it!

Best Western Plus Park Place Inn is the closest you can get to Disneyland. It is literally right across the street from the park and has a great hot breakfast and a pool. We have stayed here once, too, and it’s decent, considering you will be at the park for most of the time.

In Conclusion: Lightning Lane Passes at Disneyland and California Adventure

So, Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass worth it? Absolutely, if you have less time and if you must ride all the top attractions!

We spent one day in Disneyland and one day in California Adventure, and everyone in my group was able to ride all the attractions offered by Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

That would not have been possible without Lightning Lane Multi Pass as the lines were crazy long with 60-90-minute wait times for the popular rides.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is so worth it and a great add-on to maximize your time in the park. Buy it for your first day in each park and have fun!

Check out my other Disneyland travel guides

• Best hotels that are truly within walking distance to Disneyland
• Rope drop strategy for Disneyland and Calfornia Adventure
• Disneyland vs California Adventure: 11 main differences
• Is Disney California Adventure Park worth visiting? Find out top reasons to visit.
• Disney California Adventure rides ranked!
• Best rides at Disneyland ranked!