We recently got back from an incredible whirlwind trip to Disneyland Resort and D23 Expo in Anaheim and Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan. Of course, we had to try out their flavors of Lightning Lane while we were there and we were surprised by how different the service was in Anaheim compared to here at Walt Disney World, even though they share the same name and branding.
1. It's basically still Genie Plus.
If you really miss the old Genie Plus system at Walt DIsney World, I have some good news for you. The Lightning Lane Multi Pass system is a lot more like the old Genie Plus system at WDW than it is the new sevice that shares its name and logo. You don't book three Lightning Lanes at a time. You can book your next Lightning Lane either after you use your current one or after you wait two hours. Sounds familiar, right? While there are some key differences from the old Genie Plus service at Walt Disney World, they are the same differences that were always in place at Disneyland, even back in the Genie Plus days. While the system got a complete overhaul in Orlando, all they really did was change the name and branding at Disneyland and California Adventure.
2. You can't pre-book Lightning Lanes – even if you're staying at a Disney resort.
As with their old Genie Plus system, you can't start booking any Lightning Lanes until you physically enter the park. The good news is that you don't have to wake up at 7:00 AM to book your first Lightning Lane. The bad news is that you're probably still getting up at 7:00 AM or earlier to get to the park as soon as it opens if you want the best shot at the most popular Lightning Lanes. After covering all the changes to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, we were excited to get the chance to pre-book some attractions for our Disneyland trip since we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel. Surprise, surprise! The only Lightning Lane Multi Pass benefit you get as a Disney hotel guest is that you can enter the parks early for Early Entry, which means that you can start booking your first Lightning Lane before everyone else – as long as you make it into the park during early entry. So much for sleeping in!
3. You still have a grace period on your Lightning Lanes, but it's a lot more strict.
If you're used to the laissez-faire attitude a lot of folks have about their Lightning Lane return times in Orlando – with some people posting about how they show up hours late to their Multi Pass reservation – we have some bad news for you. While you can still tap in 5 minutes early for your Lightning Lane on the west coast, you might not have as much luck after it expires. According to Cast Members we spoke with when we were running a little late to our Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin reservation, the grace period there is 15 minutes at the end of your Lightning Lane, and even then it is up to the discretion of Cast Member. If their Lightning Lane queue is really backed up (which happens a lot more often there), they may not allow you to use your Lightning Lane after it expires. Thankfully, they did let us use ours, but it was a good lesson learned on the first day of our trip.
4. You have more control over how you use your "bonus" Lightning Lanes.
If you've ever gotten more than one "bonus" Lightning Lanes from attractions going down during your Lightning Lane reservation return window, you may have noticed that not all "Experience Redemptions," as Disney calls them, are equal. If you get a bonus Lightning Lane from Big Thunder going down, it will let you use it on a lot more attractions than one you get from Dumbo getting grounded. At Disney World and Disneyland, the system is supposed to use whichever is the most restrictive Experience Redemption that has access to the attraction you are uisng it for. So if you have those two bonus Lightning Lanes for Big Thunder and Dumbo and you use one of them at Mad Tea Party, it should use the Dumbo one and leave you the better Big Thunder Experience Redemption to use at a more popular ride.
As with all things tech-related at the Disney Parks, sometimes a gremlin pops up and ruins the fun, which is why we recommend being extra cautious with how you redeem your Lightning Lanes in this situation. At Walt Disney World, you can go to one of the Cast Members at the blue Guest Experience umbrellas stationed around the park and have them turn your "better" Lightning Lane into an Experience Redemption that will only work at the ride you want to use it at. That way, it won't get accidentally eaten like a delicious crumpet during your tea time with Alice. At Disneyland, however, you have a lot more control without needing to speak to anyone – you can do it all yoursef. When you open up that Experience Redemption, you'll see a button that says "Redeem." Tap on that and a bar code will show up. This is because MagicBands are still very new to Disneyland, so all of their touch points at the different rides also include a barcode scanner that works with barcodes on the app or your park ticket. Just scan the barcode from the bonus Lightning Lane you'd prefer to use and that's the one that will get gobbled up.
5. There are a LOT more attractions that don't use Lightning Lanes (but it's still easier to book the ones that do).
If you're used to pretty much every ride at Walt Disney World having a Lightning Lane queue, you may be shocked by how many rides at Disneyland Resort don't - including Lightning Lane must-haves like Peter Pan's Flight. Heck, even Pirates of the Caribbean just recently had a Lightning Lane queue added – it was standby only until they closed Haunted Mansion for an extended refurbishment and decided they needed to add another Lightning Lane to take its place in that area of the park. The reason for this is typically due to the size and scale of the attractions in Disneyland. There just isn't enough room to add the physical Lightning Lane queue, especially in Fantasyland where the attraction queues are adorably tiny. One of the most charming things about the original Disneyland park is how it retains much of the feel of how the park was when Walt was still spending the night in his apartment above the fire station. That means they're not bulldozing Pinocchio's Daring Journey to make a Lightning Lane queue for Snow White's Enchanted Wish next door. Of course, the preservation of that origial tcharm is what we love about Disneyland, so we are happy to wait in more standby queues during our visit.
The good news is, this doesn't seem to make it harder to grab Lightning Lanes for the other attractions. Even on the busiest days that we have visited the parks, it has been a lot easier to grab great return times for Lightning Lanes than it is at Walt Disney World. You wouldn't expect this to be the case since there are a lot fewer attractions with Lightning Lanes available, but we think it likely has a lot to do with the guests who are typically in the park. At Disneyland, there are a LOT more locals visiting the park than at Walt DIsney World. In Orlando, you'll find a lot more guests who are on their once-in-a-lifetime vacation and they want to pack everything they can into their trip. That means Lightning Lane is a must. When we chatted with locals about using Lightning Lanes in Anaheim, most of them said they rarely used it and those who did typically only used it to skip the line on a few key rides like Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT. This means that while there are a few rides you'll want to get done early like Guardians and Indiana Jones, most of your day is going to be smooth sailing compared to the Lightning Lane rat race at Walt Disney World.
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