Lightning Lane vs. Disney FastPass+: What’s the Difference? [2025]

If you’re confused about which line to get into at a Disney park nowadays, you’re not alone.

In 2020, we saw the pause and eventual retirement of the Walt Disney World FastPass+ and Disneyland FastPass and MaxPass line-skipping programs. In October 2021, the replacement, Disney Genie, launched with mixed reviews. It was later replaced by an improved version of Lightning Lane passes. Currently, there are 3 versions of Lightning Lane passes available for guests to purchase.

The good news? The current Lightning Lane passes are the closest version to the beloved FastPass+ we have seen in years.

But you may still have questions: What are Lightning Lanes? Is it a new FastPass+? How much does it cost?

Don’t worry, we will cover all of that and more below.

Disney FastPass+

Before getting into the whole new world of Lightning Lanes, let’s take a look at its heritage: FastPass+, FastPass, and MaxPass.

Launched in 1999, the FastPass program was introduced at Disneyland and helped guests skip lines by giving them tickets to come back at certain times and get on the ride through a special entrance.

In 2014, FastPass+ rolled out at Walt Disney World and was a big hit. FastPass+ allowed guests to make ride reservations online and via the mobile app up to 60 days in advance. Although it was arguably a lot of work before even entering the park, at least families could guarantee themselves a ride on their favorite attraction.

In 2017, Disneyland introduced MaxPass, which was similar to FastPass+ but was a paid add-on with more limitations.

Up until 2020, these options were well-liked, though not perfect, and gave guests plenty of chances to skip the lines at their favorite rides — and were even free at Walt Disney World.

However, 2020 brought many changes to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, including capacity limits, reservation requirements, and the opportunity to roll out a new ride reservation system.

Disney Genie

Disney Genie is a planning tool that is free to all guests and found inside the My Disney Experience and Disneyland apps. The tool helps guests plan out their visits to the parks. Guests enter their preferred rides, attractions, meals, and experiences, and the Genie algorithm lays out a suggested itinerary to maximize their time in the park and minimize waiting in lines.

For a few years, there was a paid version called Disney Genie+ that allowed guests to reserve a time to skip the line at select attractions for a fee. That program has now been replaced by Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass.

The Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass can be purchased up to 7 days in advance for Disney Resort Hotel guests and up to 3 days in advance for other guests.

For the Multi Pass, guests can make 3 Lightning Lane selections at a time via the My Disney Experience app. Lightning Lane Multi Passes cost between $18 and $38 at Walt Disney World and are $32 at Disneyland.

Participating attractions include:

Lightning Lane Multi Pass Attractions at Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom

Guests can select 1 attraction from the Tier 1 group and 2 (or all 3) from the main group.

EPCOT

Hollywood Studios

Animal Kingdom

Hot Tip:

As soon as you have used 1 of your 3 Lightning Lane passes, you can then select an attraction from either the Tier 1 group or the main group.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass Attractions at Disneyland

Disneyland Park

Disney California Adventure Park

In addition to the audio and augmented reality experiences with Disney Genie and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World, guests at Disneyland Resort also have unlimited Disney PhotoPass downloads from their day at the park, which is a valuable perk.

Lightning Lane Single Pass

Once they’ve secured a Lightning Lane reservation, guests can use the Lightning Lanes at their assigned times to skip the line at each attraction. These are the same lines that were previously reserved for FastPass+ and Genie+, so the physical aspect should feel familiar.

However, there is another queue for you ….

Depending on occupancy levels, some high-demand attractions may have a virtual queue as a way to allow guests to guarantee a ride without having to wait in hourslong lines.

To score a (hard-to-get) virtual queue boarding group, you have 2 options:

• Try to get one via a virtual rope drop at 7 a.m. the day of your park visit or again at 1 p.m.
• Purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass

If you noticed that your favorite ride wasn’t part of the Lightning Lane Multi Pass list, that is because it is part of the Lightning Lane Single Pass group. If you aren’t lucky enough to score a free boarding group during the virtual rope drop (if available) and don’t want to wait in line, you can pay your way on.

Each ride has its own price, and there is a maximum of 2 Lightning Lane Single Pass attractions per person, per day. You can’t book the same attraction twice.

Below are the rides that currently have a Lightning Lane Single Pass:

Lightning Lane Single Pass at Walt Disney World

Magic Kingdom

• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• TRON Lightcycle / Run

EPCOT

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

Hollywood Studios

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Animal Kingdom

• Avatar Flight of Passage

Lightning Lane Single Pass at Disneyland

Disneyland Park

• Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Disney California Adventure Park

• Radiator Springs Racers

Prices vary between $7 and $35 for Lightning Lane Single Pass access depending on demand.

Hot Tip:

If you are staying at a Disney hotel, you can get early theme park entry. Check out our review of Disney’s All-Star Movie Resort at Walt Disney World. 

Which Is Better?

Which is best: FastPass+, Disney Genie+, or Lightning Lane Multi Pass? That’s a good question and one that certainly sparks debate.

On one hand, FastPass+ allowed guests to secure their favorite rides up to 60 days in advance, which was great for some but not for all. It was stressful and created extra work months in advance of a Disney vacation, with many checking ride availability daily up until arrival.

However, being able to book 3 rides at a time and having a less complicated system worked well for many.

Disney Genie+ was no doubt more complicated, but with so many new, travel-worthy attractions, we’re not sure that the old FastPass+ system would be able to keep up with demand. The virtual queue is a good idea on paper (because nobody likes waiting for 5 hours in line), but having to be ready at 6:59 a.m. on your park day or having to pay even more money on top of your admission ticket rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

However, Genie+ was far from perfect, and Disney realized that, hence Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass. Lightning Lane Multi Pass feels like a compromise between Genie+ and the old FastPass+ system, and guests seem to enjoy it more.

Final Thoughts

FastPass+ and Disney Genie+ are gone, and Lightning Lane Multi Pass is the current successor.

At their core, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass offer the same service as the classic FastPass+ but at a cost. While not ideal, it’s better than waiting in line and a vast improvement over Genie+.

Now, if guests want to skip the line at their favorite attractions, they can book them before arriving at the parks. If they want to add on a Lightning Lane Single Pass for the most in-demand rides, they can do that for up to an additional $35 per attraction.

As much as we hate spending even more money on a visit to Disney, at least there are options for making visits more efficient.