In this post we discuss how to use Lightning Lanes successfully at Epcot in 2024 under the Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass systems. This includes our Epcot Lightning Lane priorities and the best rides for Multi Pass at Epcot. We also discuss Lightning Lane Single Pass access and how to balance your use of Lightning Lanes, standby lines, and virtual queues at Epcot.
REMINDER: GENIE+ IS GONE
Disney World’s Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lane systems had their last day of operation on July 23. Genie+ has been replaced by Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Individual Lightning Lanes have been replaced by Lightning Lane Single Pass. This post focuses entirely on the new systems.
Related Posts
We also suggest reading our Walt Disney World Lightning Lane guide for a complete understanding of the Multi Pass and Single Pass systems.
To hear more about specific rides, check out our Epcot rides guide. We also have a one-day Epcot itinerary.
Finally, your Lightning Lane strategy should always complement your rope drop (or Early Entry) strategy—if you won’t be getting a Lightning Lane for a ride, it makes sense to go to it early when it has a short wait. Our Epcot rope drop guide covers your options in more depth. (Note: The balance of rope drop and Lightning Lanes is more complicated at Epcot than other parks!)
THE BASICS OF Epcot Lightning Lanes
Again, you’ll want to check out our Walt Disney World Lightning Lanes Strategy Guide to make sure you really understand Lightning Lanes, but we want to give those of you who are just looking for the basics a quick intro.
Lightning Lanes Allow You To “Skip The Lines” At Walt Disney World
“Lightning Lanes” are the way to “skip the line” at Disney World, and there are two paid services to access them—Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass (sometimes just “Multi Pass”) is a paid (roughly $15 to $35 per person, plus tax, depending on the day) skip-the-line system at Walt Disney World. By purchasing Multi Pass for the day of your visit to a Disney World park, you’ll be able to make bookings to access “Lightning Lanes” which are shorter lines than the regular “standby” lines that most rides have.
We’ve put “skip the lines” in quotes because you’ll usually still have some wait in a Lightning Lane, it’s just much shorter than the regular wait. A typical wait in a Lightning Lane is 5 to 10 minutes. A long wait in a Lightning Lane might be a 20 minute wait for a ride that has standby waits of 100+ minutes.
Not all attractions are included in Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Some attractions don’t have Lightning Lanes and some attractions with Lightning Lanes aren’t included in Multi Pass.
At Epcot, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind has a Lightning Lane but is not part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass. To access that individual Lightning Lane you’ll have to make a separate Lightning Lane Single Pass purchase. We discuss the included attractions at Epcot later in this post.
You can make three advance reservations in Multi Pass. The advance booking windows vary based on whether you are a guest of a Disney resort (or select partner resort) or not. Guests of Disney resorts and select partner resorts can purchase Multi Pass for any day of trip (up to the first 14 days) beginning 7 days in advance of their check-in date at 7AM. Other guests can book 3 days in advance of their park visit at 7AM.
Advance reservations are “tiered” at three parks, including Epcot. At Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot, you can only make one advance reservation from the “tier 1” rides. The remaining two (or all three, if you so choose) will have to be from the “tier 2” group. Animal Kingdom will not have tiers when the system debuts.
You can make new Lightning Lane reservations as you use them. Once you start to use the initial bookings, you can make new reservations. You have three Lightning Lane slots to keep filled, so any time you use one you can replace it.
Moreover, once you use four first Multi Pass Lightning Lane for the day, you are freed from tier and park restrictions. That is, once you tap into your first Lightning Lane you can make a new reservation in any park and at any tier, and you can modify your remaining reservations to be at any park and in any tier.
You can choose / modify your Lightning Lane time. When you make a new reservation, the system will give you the soonest time by default. You can modify it before completing the booking if other times are available, or you can modify it after you’ve confirmed the booking.
Lightning Lanes Not Available During Special Events
Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass are only available during regular park hours at Epcot. They are not available for special events held before or after regular park hours, like After Hours events. They also aren’t available during Early Theme Park Entry of Extended Evening Hours.
Park Hopping With Lightning Lane Multi Pass
Your advance reservations have to be in a single park. Once you use a Lightning Lane on the day of your visit, you can make your next pick (and modify your remaining initial picks) in any other park.
We have posts on two-day Disney World trips and three-day Disney World trips.
Purchasing Lightning Lanes for Epcot
Before we get to strategy, let’s talk about how you get Lightning Lanes to begin with.
When can I purchase Multi Pass?
Guests of Disney resorts and select partner resorts can purchase Multi Pass for any day of trip (up to the first 14 days) beginning 7 days in advance of their check-in at 7AM. Other guests can book 3 days in advance of their park visit at 7AM. (Note there is an exception for international guests.)
How much does Multi Pass Cost?
Pricing for Multi Pass varies by day and park and is pretty similar to old Genie+ pricing. Expect Epcot to range from about $15 to $30, with a typical day being around $20.
Everyone in your group needs to have Multi Pass if they plan to use the Lightning Lanes for the Multi Pass attractions. If someone in your party isn’t going on the rides via Multi Pass, they don’t need Multi Pass.
Is Multi Pass at Epcot Worth It?
Our feelings on Multi Pass at Epcot are maybe a bit surprising—we think it’s worth it if you have small children. Particularly, if Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After are on your “must do” list, then we think Multi Pass is worth it.
While Epcot isn’t known for being the best park for kids (the title undeniably goes to Magic Kingdom), it actually has a good ride lineup for the little ones, and Remy’s and Frozen are among its most popular rides. If you’re looking forward to something else—like eating or drinking or shopping or just strolling around the world—you don’t want to spend time standing in line for rides.
Little kids don’t like to wait in line, either, and they might not want to be awake and at the park early for rope drop. Freeing up some time for them to enjoy the pavilions makes sense, too. Our kid loves browsing the stores, and Epcot offers a kid-centric Kidcot activity throughout the park.
Another factor to highlight here is extra hours access—Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours. If you have access to those perks (and will use them), you’re less likely to need Multi Pass. I’m willing to skip Multi Pass at Epcot when I have Early Entry assuming I’m comfortable with either skipping or waiting over an hour for one of Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
If you can stay for Extended Evening Hours at Epcot, you likely won’t need any Lightning Lanes.
Finally, because it is connected to Magic Kingdom by monorail and Hollywood Studios by boat, walking path, and Skyliner, EPCOT is a good park for park hopping. This means that even if you don’t think Epcot alone is worth purchasing Multi Pass for, you might pair the park with one of those two parks on a day you purchase Multi Pass.
Lightning Lane Single Pass Purchases
In case you forgot, there are some rides in the parks that are not a part of Multi Pass and require you to buy access to their Lightning Lanes Individually. At Epcot, the only such ride right now is Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, which also has a virtual queue.
If you decide to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass access for Cosmic Rewind, you’ll make your purchase at the same time you can purchase Multi Pass.
Is it worth it to buy a Lightning Lane for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind?
Cosmic Rewind does not have a standby queue. You can either buy the Lightning Lane Single Pass in advance or try your luck at the 7AM and 1PM virtual queues.
The Lightning Lane Single Pass for Cosmic Rewind has been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of same-day availability, and we can see in the first few days that this one will sell out in advance some days.
At a cost of around $15, we’re pretty much forced to say it’s worth buying the Lightning Lane. You can go to Thrill Data and check out recent Lightning Lane and virtual queue availability as your booking date gets closer, but the bottom line is that this is one the best rides at Walt Disney World and we don’t think it’s worth risking missing out on both the Lightning Lane and the virtual queue.
Epcot Lightning Lane Multi Pass Tiers
There are eleven attractions that are a part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Epcot. The Epcot Multi Pass Lightning Lanes are broken into two tiers (Tier 1 and Tier 2). When making your three advance bookings, you can book up to 1 ride from Tier 1 and the remaining 2 (or all 3) from Tier 2. Here are the Epcot Multi Pass Lightning Lanes (by Tier, in alphabetical order):
Epcot Tier 1 Lightning Lane Group (up to 1 advance booking)
Frozen Ever After
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Soarin' Around the World
Test Track
Epcot Tier 2 Lightning Lane Group (other 2, or all 3 advance bookings)
Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land
Mission: SPACE
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Spaceship Earth
Turtle Talk with Crush
Notably missing from these lists is Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which instead has the Lightning Lane Single Pass option.
Epcot Lightning Lane Multi Pass Planning
Now that we’ve covered the Epcot Multi Pass Tiers, we need to talk about how to actually put together a day at the park.
This is a good time to remind you to check the height requirements at Disney World when booking Lightning Lanes to make sure your strategy keeps in mind who can go on which rides. While you’re at it, read about visiting Epcot with a toddler if it applies to you.
Low Priorities for Multi Pass at Epcot
Let’s start with some rides that are low priority most days—putting these rides in the back of your mind should simplify your analysis for the time being. The Film Festival, Journey Into Imagination, Living With The Land, The Seas With Nemo & Friends, and Turtle Talk are low priority. That’s five of the eleven attractions. Perhaps more importantly, it’s five of the seven Tier 2 attractions, leaving only Spaceship Earth and Mission: SPACE as “not always low priority” in our book.
Best Tier 1 Lightning Lane to Book at Epcot
When it comes to popularity, the ranking of Tier 1 attractions at Epcot is pretty clear:
1. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
2. Frozen Ever After
(Honorable Mention) Soarin’
(Under Refurbishment until sometime 2025) Test Track
But the analysis doesn’t really end there. One of the keys of any good Lightning Lane strategy is to make sure it works in tandem with your rope drop / Early Entry strategy, and Epcot Rope Drop Strategy is complicated by the fact that the park has two entrances—the International Gateway and the Main Entrance.
First of all, if you don’t have or won’t be using Early Entry, you’ll prefer to book the most popular option—Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, but Frozen Ever After is a fine alternative.
For guests who plan to use Early Entry, the best option will depend on which entrance you’re using…
Guests using the International Gateway entrance (those arriving by Skyliner or from the hotels around the Boardwalk) will be in a good position to start their morning at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (if they arrive early enough). This makes Frozen Ever After a good Tier 1 pick for these people.
In the past, these guests could also opt to book a Lightning Lane for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, arrive a little later for rope drop, and still get a good spot on Frozen Ever After. Due to the Test Track refurbishment, Frozen Ever After has seen a surge in rope droppers from the front of the park, and we now think guests entering from the International Gateway should try to stick to going to Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Guests using the Main Entrance cannot feasibly rope drop Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. They’ll be way back in line by the time they get there. Instead, these guests should book Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure with their Tier 1 pick and instead rope drop Frozen Ever After. (Once Test Track reopens it becomes a viable rope drop candidate. And whenever Cosmic Rewind loses its virtual queue, it will be the top rope drop candidate.)
Finally, it’s worth specifying—Frozen and Remy’s are worth getting for any time of day. It doesn’t matter if you get it for the last hour of the day (unless you were planning to hop out of the park, of course). Your other two Lightning Lane slots will be enough for you to work with the rest of the day.
Best Tier 2 Lightning Lanes to Book at Epcot
We already noted that the bulk of the Tier 2 rides are “low priority” in our book. We left Mission: SPACE and Spaceship Earth as the Tier 2 rides that are “not always low priority.” So it makes sense to book those as your Tier 2 advance bookings.
As for timing, I actually think that it’s more important that you have two Lightning Lanes booked for before about 11AM. You want to use these so that you can book at least two Lightning Lanes at a time, saving you from going back and forth between the World Showcase and other parts of the park for one Lightning Lane at a time.
So while you want to target Mission: SPACE and Spaceship Earth, it’s more important that you two rides locked in for before 11AM. This might mean you have a little bit of a tough time fitting Mission: SPACE into your day, but it’ll make the overall day easier.
What Lightning Lane reservation should I grab Fourth, Fifth, etc. at Epcot?
Hopefully you booking one of Frozen Ever After and Remy’s and rope dropped the other. But if you missed out on one or two of those, you should definitely be trying to grab them ASAP in the parks. At Epcot, it’s honestly worth holding these for whatever time you can get them, even if you wind up with both of them at the end of the day.
Besides those, Mission: SPACE is the other tough grab, with Spaceship Earth a little tough some days, too.
Beyond that, I just try and book things that make sense geographically, because Epcot is a large park with rides clustered together. This is also why we highly recommend making sure you had at least two slots to work with—you want to be able to pair together rides in the front of the park, rather than walking back and forth between that area and the World Showcase every hour.
Living with the Land is in the same building as Soarin’ (The Land pavilion), so it makes sense to try and ride those close together. The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Journey Into Imagination are in that same area (different buildings, opposite directions from The Land, but neither too far).
Spaceship Earth is located near the front of the park, so if you’re leaving early, or not watching the nighttime show, or the park is open after the nighttime show, it’s easiest to stop there on your way out (assuming you’d using that exit and not the World Showcase exit). Alternatively, Spaceship Earth is relatively close to The Seas pavilion.
Mission: SPACE is located near Test Track, which isn’t too far—relative to everything else—from Frozen Ever After.
Finally, remember that Test Track has a height requirement—if your party is going to use rider swap or skip it altogether, it might not be the best use of a Lightning Lane. Test Track also has a single rider line, which can be a good way to get a short wait if your party is willing to be separated.
Example Day at Epcot with Genie+
Note: Example day with Multi Pass will be posted sometime in August.
6:30AM Purchase Genie+
7AM Book 10AM Remy Lightning Lane
8:18 At Epcot
8:30 Early Entry Begins
8:39 Board Frozen Ever After
8:53 Gran Fiesta Tour (walk on)
9AM Park Opens
9:38 Meet Donald Duck
10:30 Grab Soarin’ LL (10:35AM)
10:37 Remy (posted 80, 7 via LL)
11:25 Soarin’ (posted 70, 20 via LL)
11:30 Grab Test Track LL (8:20PM)
Club Cool / Creations Shop / Lunch
1PM Get spot in Guardians Virtual Queue
1:45 Grab Living with the Land LL (1:50PM)
1:52 Living With The Land (posted 10, 1 via LL)
Relax in Seas Pavilion
3:12 Grab The Seas LL (3:20-4:20)
3:24 The Seas w/ Nemo (posted 5, 2 via LL)
3:25 Grab Journey Into Imagination LL (3:30-4:30)
3:36 Journey into Imagination (posted 5, 3 via LL)
World Showcase
5PM Grab Spaceship Earth LL (5:40-6:40)
5:48 Spaceship Earth (posted 5, 1 via LL)
6:44 Guardians of the Galaxy (22 min in virtual queue)
7PM Dinner
8:01 Mission: SPACE (posted 20, actual 16)
8:35 Test Track (posted 45, 15 via LL)
You can see most of our Lightning Lane bookings were shortly before their return windows, which isn’t uncommon at Epcot.
How To Spend One Full Day At Epcot
We have a full post dedicated to our one-day Epcot itinerary.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.