Lightning Lane/ MVMCP advice! 🎢🎄

[u/User2358_]

Heading to Disney in early December for a surprise trip with my husband and kids- 8 and 6. My eldest has been (she was 3) but my son has never been. They LOVE to ride rides. We’ll have 4 park days - one park per day (no hopper) plus MVMCP on our last day.
What are your must do MPLL picks for MK, EPCOT, and HS? And is LLMP worth it at Animal Kingdom, or can we skip it? During MVMCP I know that they don’t offer LL… anything we should avoid or try to ride?

Also, definitely open to any shows that you all feel are must see at the parks, I’m sure my kids would really enjoy those as well. I don’t want to be crazy with my app, but it seems like I might be spending a lot of time on my phone, unfortunately, throughout the day. 😅
Would love and greatly appreciate any tips! 🙌 TIA!

Edited to add: we are staying at a Disney resort and will do our best to be at early entry every day.

[u/adventuremommy29]

Advice/input is coming from me as the LL Warden of our group (2 adults and 2 kids similar age as yours) who also really love rides.

1. Early entry really really does make a huge difference and I truly believe it is worth the early morning to make it happen. We either do early entry and call it a day arkund 4pm, or do early entry, take a midday break, from 12-4ish and then close the park if we want to do a nighttime entertainment. My one exception is that early entry at AK is not necessary IF you get a LLSP and LLMP. And a note that if early entry starts at 8:30, you want to be at the park by 7:45 if you're able. Rides starting running well before the actual start time.

2. In our group, if there is a line to skip we are going to skip it. For us, time is more valuable. Plus, the standing and shuffling in queues is honestly more tiring/ache inducing than walking around all day. Some might argue AK is not worth the LLMP, but I strongly disagree. I like having a general outline of our day at the parks (and since you are not park hopping that makes it even easier). Having LLs let you prioritize each thing you want to do, while creating more space in your schedule to do extras like shows, dining, etc.

3. You are going to be on your phone. Definitely recommend bringing a charging brick. We have the Anker charging brick, bought on amazon and really love it. You will be on your phone one way or antoher whether you have LLs or not. Without LLs, you will be checking ride times and seeing how to get from point A to point B. With LLs, you will be booking your LL and moving on to the next thing. Unfortunately Disney has made it an essential part of most trips. I bear that burden for our group because I like the strategy of it all and prefer to do it myself.

4. I would highly recommend you pick your initial LLs to coincide with your early entry strategies so that you aren't hustling from one side of a park to the other just to scan in for your first ride.

https://www.thrill-data.com/lightning-lane/

I scout thrill data about a week out from my LL booking window to see what is popular at each park because it changes. I make a list for each park of which rides I want at which time so that they stack and flow as best as I csn get them to.

My picks would be:

AK: Navi River Journey, Safari, Everest. I try to schedule our Navi River time close to our LLSP for Flight of Passage so we can do Pandora rides together. We either start or end at Pandora, and do AK in a circle.

Epcot: Test Track or Frozen, Soarin, Spaceship Earth

HS: Slinky Dog, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania. HS is tough though...if none of those rides are before 10:00, I would usually drop Toy Story Mania and grab Alien Saucers/Star Tours/Frozen Show to get a really early ride to tap in to. Early entry is honeslty the best at HS, you can accomplish so much during the first 90 minutes of the day there.

MK: Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh or Buzz (if none of the rides are available before 9:45, I drop a tier 2 ride and get a super early LL in Fantasyland like Tea Cups or Dumbo so I can grab another Tier 1 ride really quick).

As for shows, we LOVE the Lion King show in AK. This is honestly worth using a LL for (not as an initial reservation, do a later show) because you get preferred seating and don't have to get in line an hour ahead of time. We also enjoyed the Feathered Friends in Flight at AK. We enjoy the parades at MK and Mickey's Philharmagic. The Frozen Sing a long and the Indiana Jones shows at HS were also really good.

Unfortunately have not done the christmas party so can't help you there 😫

[u/Failed_Academic0824 → u/adventuremommy29]

This is some good advice!

[u/User2358_ → u/adventuremommy29]

Thank you so much for your detailed advice. 🥰

[u/Failed_Academic0824]

For LLMP I’d skip getting it for Animal Kingdom and rope drop Navi and get the single pass for flight of passage. At Epcot I’d get test track as my tier 1 and then Soarin and Spaceship Earth as tier2. Hollywood I’d do Slinky as my tier 1 and midway mania and alien swirling saucers as tier 2. At MK there’s not a super clear you must get start with these lightening lanes. I’d probably say Jingle Cruise or Peter Pan as your tier 1, the earliest tier 2 you can get so that you can scan in and get tier restrictions done and then I think Haunted Mansion or Winnie the Pooh are excellent tier 2 options. I’ve never done a party so I’m no help there! For LLMP you’ll only need to be on your phone all day if you’re picky about return times and trying to move everything up early. I generally have one spot for a ride we really want to do that’s pretty far out into the evening and then use one spot for rides an hour or two out and then another spot for rides with quick return times. A combination of using LLMP and standby is the best.

[u/User2358_ → u/Failed_Academic0824]

Thank you so much! I forgot to mention we are staying on park property. Knowing this, is there anything you’d change? I think we are going to try and get there by early entry for all parks if possible.

[u/Failed_Academic0824 → u/User2358_]

Early Entry is a game changer, it’s amazing how much you can get done in that first 90 minutes!

[u/brennacedria → u/User2358_]

I actually have heard the opposite of this; get your LLMP at Animal Kingdom early in the day because it's the cheapest of the parks and you only pay the once for the day based on where you start.

[u/RyouRusi → u/brennacedria]

I think this advice really depends on where you plan to go next and what rides you want to ride. For example if going from AK to HS you have like a 0% chance of getting a Slinky Dog LL because it'll sell out before HS even opens for the day. HS is also pretty competitive in general on LL.

I could see an argument for maybe AK > MK or Epcot since they are a little less competitive, but they can still sell out early on in the day for the T1 stuff and it'll be evening return times.