With the Lightning Lane Multi Pass system starting to settle in (just before some big changes), we wanted to take an updated look at Lightning Lane refill times. In this article, we’ll cover what Lightning Lane Multi Pass refills are, what attractions typically have refills throughout the day, and what time the Lightning Lane Multi Pass & Single Pass refill drops happen. If you’ve found this article, chances are that you already have a basic to advanced knowledge of the Lightning Lane Pass system. If you don’t, check out our guide below to the new Lightning Lane Passes at Walt Disney World.
What is a Lightning Lane Multi Pass Availability Refill Drop?
We all know how Lightning Lane Passes function on the surface – there is a daily inventory that is bookable in advance, based on various factors. From there, availability will naturally dwindle down until the inventory disappears. It would stand to reason that when the inventory is gone, there’s nothing left. However, the operational reality of the theme parks is that Disney hedges bets a bit on attraction reliability and popularity. The most reliable hedge that Disney employs on a daily basis is holding back Lightning Lane inventory in case of unexpected attraction downtime.
If an attraction experiences downtime, guests with a Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservation will be given a “multiple experiences” pass. There are limitations on which attractions the pass can be used for, but there are two ways the pass can be used:
- The pass can be used for the attraction that was experiencing downtime when it resumes operation
- The pass can be used on a different qualifying attraction other than the attraction originally experiencing downtime
Either of those outcomes will put an unexpected strain on an attraction. But what if the strain isn’t unexpected? Disney has tons of data – including data about average downtime per attraction. To that end, Disney regularly holds back Lightning Lane inventory to either allow for unexpected downtime or to distribute throughout the day if an attraction is operating normally.
Thanks to data from thrill-data.com, we can visualize those “availability refill drops” when Disney releases new Lightning Lane times into the system throughout the day. As seen in the graph below, when there is a significant color change from darker to lighter, consistent across multiple days, we consider that to be a reliable Lightning Lane availability refill time. The example below is for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We can see two clear and obvious vertical lines where the color changes from a darker color to a lighter color, day after day.
Note that there could be a few-minute swing on either side of the times we note below, we recommend at least 5-10 minutes of refreshing for the best chance at success. We’ll expand on this very important caveat at the end of this article.
Lightning Lane Refill Times (Fall 2024)
We’ll start at the busiest theme park at Walt Disney World, and make our way down to the least busy theme park. For more on estimated attendance figures, check out our earlier article!
Magic Kingdom
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- 8:45am
- 1:40pm
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure*
The asterisk here is that same-day availability is not as good as many of the other attractions, and refill rates for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure are far less reliable because the attraction is far less reliable. As the attraction reliability improves, we should see a moderation of refill times. Here’s what appears to be observable right now.
- 6:55am
- 9:40am
- 10:40am
- 11:40am
- 12:40pm
- 1:40pm
- 2:40pm
- 3:40pm
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- 2:10pm
EPCOT
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
- 8:30am
- 1:40pm
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- 3:45pm
Slinky Dog Dash
- 1:10pm
- 3:40pm
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- 10:40am
- 3:40pm
Tower of Terror
- 1:10pm
- 3:40pm
Toy Story Mania
- 1:10pm
- 3:40pm
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Avatar Flight of Passage
- 7:40am
- 8:40am
- 9:40am
- 10:40am
- 11:40am
- 12:40pm
- 1:40pm
- 2:40pm
- 3:40pm
- 4:40pm
Expedition Everest
- 8:45am
- 12:45pm
Kali River Rapids
- 1:40pm
Kilimanjaro Safaris
- 8:45am
I want to close with a few important caveats. The first is that this data spans one of the slowest periods of the year. I’ll try to keep up with quarterly updates on Lightning Lane refill times moving forward to see if the trends hold true as crowds get larger into the upcoming holiday season. To that end, I may have missed some refill times if the availability was so good (due to low crowds) that it wasn’t easy to visualize. For example, Kilimanjaro Safaris typically has an afternoon refill time, but because there is so much availability right now due to lower crowds, it’s difficult to visualize on the graph.
Another caveat is that we’re working with averages here. Your mileage may vary. While having the knowledge of when certain attractions could drop new Lightning Lane return times is useful, it may not work perfectly on the day of your visit. I hear this a lot from readers who say that reporting of lower crowds isn’t true because they had to wait 30 minutes for a hot dog at Casey’s Corner in late August when it was only a five-minute wait during Spring Break. Other variables at play could be attraction downtime. Perhaps you visited Hollywood Studios when Toy Story Mania was down most of the morning. In that case, Disney may choose to skip the 1:10pm refill time.
A final caveat I wanted to add, and this is a CRITICAL caveat: refill times posted here are not exact to the minute. It’s very possible and even very likely that a 1:10pm refill time for Toy Story Mania could be at 1:17pm. How is this possible? The graph that we’re using is represented in 5-minute increments, but the data may be collected at a more frequent interval. Going back to Toy Story Mania, there is a clear refill line on the graph at 1:15pm. Because I don’t want you to miss the time, I said that the refill time is at 1:10pm. That means that you’ll be on your phone no later than 1:10pm and you’ll be refreshing. However, what if the data that fills in the 1:15pm line was collected at 1:17pm? We know that there was no availability at 1:10pm, but does a 1:15pm block mean that the data was collected between 1:11pm and 1:15pm or does it mean that the data was collected between 1:15pm and 1:19pm? I’m not sure, and without access to more granular data, I play it safe. This means that if you want to take advantage of the 1:1xpm refill time, you should probably start to refresh around the time I posted (1:10pm) and keep refreshing until you’re successful or until 10 minutes elapse. I hope that makes sense.
Overall, the fact that you’re reading this article at all puts you way ahead of the game when it comes to maximizing your time with Lightning Lane Passes at Walt Disney World. I will make one more observation and that is that with the new Lightning Lane Pass system (versus Genie+), most of your work is done ahead of time anyway with your initial three selections before you arrive. You’ll find the most success there (especially if you’re staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel), and same-day availability and refreshing is generally less exciting than it used to be with the old Genie+ system.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
