Let me start out by saying I messed up with Lightning Lanes. I misread, or didn’t read at all, when the purchase window opened for purchases. By the time I remembered, TWO DAYS LATE, most everything was booked up early in the day and the good rides were all booked. Maybe take this review with a grain of salt?

Another contributing factor to this was the trip dates. We were there over Thanksgiving which is arguably one of the busiest weeks of the year. Not really arguably. I can confirm. It is. I cannot imagine it at Christmas or New Years when it is the busiest week(s) of the year.

For future reference, as of today, if you’re staying on property, you can book Lightning Lanes starting 7 days before your first day of your resort stay at 7:00 am EST. I missed the 7:00 am memo and tried to book them at midnight EST which is 11:00 pm CST. Quickly realized the err of my ways, reset my calendar block but forgot to reset the reminder. 7:00 am on Monday morning came and went, so did Tuesday and most of Wednesday. The moment I realized, words were said.

I booked a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We didn’t think we would need it for Animal Kingdom. We assumed that wouldn’t be a very popular park on Thanksgiving day. I also booked a few of the single pass rides. I was able to get one for Tron and Guardians for Nick and Anniston. Roller Coasters are a no-go for me.

By the time I booked these, most of the experiences were booked solid for the morning hours, and while we were able to get some of our favorites, others were already fully booked. I would love to give you a breakdown of what we were able to book. Unfortunately, you can’t look up your past plans in the Disney app or online. Trust me. I just spent the last 10 minutes googling.

I randomly would check the app to see if I could move a few things forward and as we got closer, I was able to switch some around. Still wasn’t great though. When we got into the parks, I kept checking and was able to still make changes, but just moving the rides earlier, but not necessarily “better” rides.

Each day, when we would use a pass, I would book the next one. After about two or three bookings, it would get to the point where there wasn’t really anything else we wanted to book or it was so late it wasn’t worth waiting for. And with all of the people, lines were very long. I’m talking 30 minutes for the tea cups long. Winnie the Pooh was often over an hour. Even with a lightning lane pass, we waited for Soarin for like 30 minutes.

Nick’s sister lives in Florida and one of her kids has a DAS pass. this pass allows her kid and three others to go on rides with her. If they hadn’t been with us, and they were gracious and allowed us to go with them on rides, we would have missed out on a lot of new rides or things we really wanted to do. So I’m so thankful for that.

After seeing how crowded it was, we knew we’d need to get a pass for Animal Kingdom. News flash: good decision. We rope dropped Flight of Passage with early entry for resort guests. We booked a few other rides after our initial ones and then was able to use it the rest of the afternoon at Magic Kingdom.

I’m going to give you my real, true, honest opinion. Was the Lightning Pass Multi Lane worth it? No. Absolutely not. Now was that because I missed the best time to book? Maybe. Was it because it was so busy? Maybe. But if we go back that week in the future, I will not even attempt those. If it’s a super busy week, I’m going with the Lightning Lane Premier Pass. It allows you one ride on every Lightning Lane ride in one park on one day. No booking times required. You walk up, scan and you’re in. Even on the popular rides. Next time I’m booking that.

What’s the moral of the story? If you’re going at a busy time of the year, read instructions, book on time, and be willing to spend the money or be willing to wait in lines. Temper expectations and know that even if you wait, or there is toe-to-toe crowds, you’re going to have a good time.

Until next time: Stay curious, stay caffeinated, and stay a little LindSwept.