Walt Disney World has a way to reserve attractions you’d like to ride ahead of a park visit called Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This was previously known as Genie+ but without being able to reserve ahead. Before that and a worldwide pandemic, this was known as FastPass+ but it was free. In this post, we’ll breakdown the best use of Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Hollywood Studios. To read our strategy for other parks, click here!

Hollywood Studios is the second best park at Walt Disney World to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass at. You could make the argument that it’s even better than Magic Kingdom but I’m not willing to go that far. Seeing how the park is very ride focused, a Lightning Lane Multi Pass might expedite that process and make Hollywood Studios far less frustrating. There are 11 attractions offered in total – 3 in tier 1 and 8 in tier 2. That number will go up to 12 in a few months when Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets debuts.

If you can get the top attractions in tier 2 with your reservations then the day at Hollywood Studios is setting up to be very fun and efficient! The park itself isn’t our favorite so I’m inclined to fully recommend a multi pass if you have the means.

Assuming you did decide to get it (if you didn’t and are still reading, thank you for your support!), purchasing the pass can happen 7 days in advance of your hotel stay if you’re staying on-site, 3 days ahead of your park visit if not. Guests can purchase Lightning Lane passes for days they have valid theme park admission starting at 7:00 AM Eastern Time on their first day of eligibility. That’s 4 AM(!) on the west coast, but I do recommend waking up for it. If you’re going to splurge on this then you might as well make it worth your while. The way to do that is right when they go on sale. Make sure all of your group’s tickets are linked in the app before purchasing.

Once purchased and the park day has rolled around, guests will have 3 reserved Lightning Lanes. Once one of those attraction windows come up (or you’ve checked into the ride) a new reservation can be made for whatever is available. Hollywood Studios has a few good thrills so there may be some decent options left on the actual day, depending on crowd levels. To accomplish as much as possible, keep reserving as soon as you check in for a ride. One of the biggest plusses of this new system is that it’s a rolling 3 attractions to reserve and you don’t have to complete all 3 pre-reserved passes first. You can also hop to another park if you have an applicable ticket, which maybe isn’t as necessary at Hollywood Studios but is worth considering.

Like the rest of the Walt Disney World Multi Passes, Hollywood Studios has split the attractions into tiers. In advance, guests can reserve a single tier 1 attraction and 2 attractions from tier 2. Once the park day comes and you’ve completed one attraction then whatever’s left can be reserved. With that in mind, we recommend scheduling at least 2 of the Lightning Lanes early in the day.

In this post, we’ll rank the tiers separately. A general rule of thumb is that if there’s a tier 1 attraction available to you as the park day goes along then book that over any tier 2 attraction. Hollywood Studios does have some excellent tier 2 attractions, namely Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania, so that’s not always the case. One other note to keep in mind is that you can only use Lightning Lane once per attraction. Just a reminder: Rise of the Resistance is not included with any tier of Multi Pass, but is instead a Lightning Lane Single Pass.

We’ll start with the tier 1 Lightning Lane rankings before moving to tier 2. Keep in mind, these are not in order of what our favorites are but instead what is the best use of a Lightning Lane. More than anything, this is to help you stay out of line. Naturally, these rankings do follow some of our attraction rankings but they are being judged off of popularity and what attractions run out the fastest. If you have questions about how Multi Pass works or our rankings, let us know in the comments below!

Tier 1 Lightning Lane Attractions

1. Slinky Dog Dash – Unlike Epcot where it was a close race between the first and second place options, Slinky Dog Dash is the clear choice here. It’s the most popular attraction in Hollywood Studios and maybe all of Walt Disney World. The earlier you can get, the better but this is one to grab no matter when the return time is! Even after the new-ness of the coaster has worn off, Slinky Dog Dash zips along.

3. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway – This remains Hollywood Studios newest attraction but it is not nearly as popular these days. Thanks to a high capacity and being less of a thrill ride, this ends up well below Slinky Dog. We’ve had good luck riding this via standby, as it loads quickly. Goofy can’t drive a train but he sure knows how to get people on one! There’s also a strong chance this Lightning Lane will have availability on the day of.

2. Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run – I’m a little surprised this ended up in tier 1. Smuggler’s Run can attract long lines but it doesn’t have the same popularity as it used to. It’s also less popular than our top pick in the tier 2 category. Whatever the reason, this works to your benefit! Grab this if it’s available day of, after you’ve completed your first Lightning Lane. If not, then riding via standby or single rider is easy, especially in the hour before park closing.

Tier 2 Lightning Lane Attractions

1. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – Hey, what’s this doing here?! It’s very nice that they’ve kept Tower of Terror in tier 2 like it used to be with FastPass+. This is an easy choice for the number 1 spot, being one of the best attractions in Walt Disney World. The wait times here can get really bad so we’ll skip that with the Lightning Lane.

2. Toy Story Mania – While these Lightning Lanes seem readily available throughout the day, Toy Story Mania often draws long standby waits. We’ll keep it as the number 2 pick with that in mind but make this one as early as possible. Then you can quickly book more as the day goes along.

3. Alien Swirling Saucers – An unfortunate acronym and far from our favorite ride, Alien Swirling Saucers still ranks high because it draws the family crowd. You should be able to grab this on the day of though.

4. Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure – Hollywood Studios has a new, excellent show that has proven to be popular. That popularity has extended into 2026 for The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure. The Lightning Lane here would be a nice add on the day of. I do think the show will still have some decent walk-up availability too so it’s not the end of the world if you miss it.

5. Star Tours – The last of the ride options here. Everything else is a movie or show. Star Tours doesn’t draw long waits anymore except on busy days, as Star Wars fans gravitate to the other two IP attractions in the park. Still, this is easily a better option than everything else on the list.

6. Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular – The rest of the list isn’t worth Lightning Lanes. Jump to another park if that’s applicable. If not, then Indy is the show that fills up the most so it comes in 6th.

7. For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration – I have nothing nice to say about this show but am not the target audience. You could maybe move this above Indy if you fit the target audience. Either way, a Lightning Lane isn’t necessary.

8. Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage – I’ve walked into this show as it’s going on before. Lightning Lanes will probably get you better seats though? At over 30 years old, I don’t advise seeing this in the first place unless you’re out of things to do.

Hollywood Studios has 8 or 9 attractions that are worthy of a Lightning Lane. That puts it close to Magic Kingdom in terms of usefulness and would make for a really fun day at the park if you’re able to get through those. Chances are that you’ll have to ride a couple of them via standby though. After those, you’re better off park hopping than booking one of the non Little Mermaid shows. All in all, it makes Hollywood Studios a good, if not great, park to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for!

Will you use Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Hollywood Studios? Let us know your thoughts or any questions you might have in the comments below. Planning a trip to Walt Disney World? Check out our Disney World Trip Planning Guide to help you out. Looking for Disney World discount tickets? You can find them here! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!