There is a Lightning Lane mistake that Disneyland guests make constantly, and it costs them both money and time on one of the most expensive days of their year. The mistake is simple. They spend their Multi Pass selections on rides with five-minute wait times, only to end up standing in standby for an hour at the attractions that actually need the upgrade. If you are budgeting for Lightning Lanes on an upcoming Disneyland trip, this is the information you need before you book anything.
How Lightning Lanes Work at Disneyland
There are three tiers to understand before you start spending. The Lightning Lane Single Pass is a separate purchase for a single attraction, and at Disneyland, there is currently only one ride available through this option: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This attraction is not included in any Multi Pass selection, so if you want to skip its standby line, the Single Pass is your only option.
The Lightning Lane Multi Pass lets you select up to 3 attractions in advance, each with a specific arrival window. After using your first selection, you may be able to add another depending on availability. The attractions currently available through Multi Pass at Disneyland include Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, it’s a small world, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Space Mountain, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
The Premier Pass sits above both options, allowing guests to tap into the Lightning Lane entrance for every participating attraction at any time during the day without managing return windows or booking in advance. It is the most flexible option and the most expensive.
The Three Disneyland Lightning Lanes Worth Buying
Indiana Jones Adventure has an average all-time wait time of 44 minutes and has hit 100 minutes on busy days. That range represents exactly the kind of standby situation where a Lightning Lane selection pays for itself in saved time. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure averages 40 minutes and has reached 120 minutes at recent peaks, making it one of the stronger Multi Pass targets on the list, given the ongoing demand for the reimagined attraction. Space Mountain averages 48 minutes in standby and has hit 130 minutes at its peak, putting it at the top of the list for potential time savings on a crowded day.
All three of these attractions have the combination of meaningful average waits and significant peak potential that makes Lightning Lane genuinely worth purchasing. If you have three Multi Pass selections and you are not using at least two of them on this group you are leaving real time savings on the table.
The Three Lightning Lanes Not Worth Buying
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue has an average wait time of approximately six minutes. Buying a Multi Pass selection for a ride with a six-minute standby line means spending money to skip a wait that would not have cost you anything meaningful in the first place. That selection would be significantly better spent on Indiana Jones or Space Mountain.
“it’s a small world” and Pirates of the Caribbean both average around five minutes in standby. These attractions have high guest capacity and boarding systems that move people through efficiently enough that the line rarely builds to a point that justifies a Lightning Lane purchase. Using Multi Pass selections on either of these rides is one of the most common ways Disneyland guests waste their Lightning Lane budget without realizing it.
The Simple Disneyland Rule
Check the posted wait times when you arrive at the park, and target your Multi Pass selections toward the attractions with the longest standby waits first. Avoid selecting anything with a posted wait time under 20 minutes. That one adjustment will get you significantly more value from your Lightning Lane budget on any Disneyland visit, regardless of the day or crowd level.
