Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is reopening at Magic Kingdom on May 3rd. This comes after a 15 month refurbishment that replaced the track and added some new effects. With the return of Big Thunder just around the corner, Disney has also updated the information on where the wild ride will fall in terms of Lightning Lanes. In this post, we’ll explore how Big Thunder fits into your Lightning Lane Multi Pass strategy once it reopens.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will be a tier 1 Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction starting on May 3rd. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise since that’s exactly where it was before closing. There was some thought that Big Thunder could jump to the Single Pass for a short time but that wasn’t to be, as Magic Kingdom already has two attractions that are in the category – Tron Lightcycle Run and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Here are the attractions on Magic Kingdom’s Lightning Lane Multi Pass:

Tier 1. Choose up to one experience from this group:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad — Opening May 3
• Jungle Cruise
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Space Mountain
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Tier 2. Choose your other 2 experiences—or all 3—from this group:

• The Barnstormer
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Haunted Mansion
• “it’s a small world”
• Mad Tea Party
• The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Tomorrowland Speedway
• Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid

That’s a very strong list and Magic Kingdom remains the best park to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass at. Arguably, the list is too strong. There’s not a great reason for some of these attractions to be involved with Lightning Lane at all and that clogs up Magic Kingdom. I’d love to see 3 or 4 dropped off the list completely from tier 2 and then an attraction or two move from tier 1 to tier 2.

All of that is a different rabbit hole though and just my personal preference on how I think the park could operate in a more guest friendly manner. You came here for Lightning Lane strategy, not to see me climb on top of a soapbox! Not that I have a soapbox, Melissa mainly sticks to Amazon orders and I do not advise trying to stand on those boxes.

Prior to closing, Big Thunder wasn’t our top choice for a tier 1 Lightning Lane at Magic Kingdom. The coaster has a strong capacity and grabbing a spot in the standby line in the last hour of park opening was the way to go for maximum fun and decent efficiency. That will change for the summer of 2026.

While we don’t think the changes done at Big Thunder will be as drastic as Test Track’s overhaul last summer (we don’t know this for sure, but everything points to more cosmetic changes than complete reimagining), I think there are lessons to be learned from that re-debut. When Test Track 3.0 resurfaced at Epcot, the attraction became one of the most popular in all of Walt Disney World. For a few weeks, the ride’s wait times matched, if not surpassed, Cosmic Rewind.

While that development stands to reason because people like new things, it also took me by surprise. I like Test Track 3.0 pretty well but this wasn’t all of a sudden the best ride in Disney World. There is something to be said about Epcot not having many thrill rides so the park adding another boosted some of that popularity. But it felt like a multi-generational ride got a facelift and people were excited about it. That’s very similar to what is happening with Big Thunder, except the Magic Kingdom attraction is more iconic.

That makes Big Thunder Mountain Railroad our top pick for Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Magic Kingdom at least through the summer and, most likely, for the duration of 2026. If you’ve read this far and aren’t using Multi Pass (thanks for your support!) then Big Thunder will be our top pick for rope dropping come May 3rd. In other words, we expect the ride to be the most popular in Magic Kingdom for the next few months, if not a year.

What comes after Big Thunder if you’re using Multi Pass? Well, having to select 2 attractions from Tier 2 means that we’d go with Haunted Mansion and the reopened Buzz. The former is an easy choice, the best attraction in that tier and the most popular on any given day. The latter is more of a wildcard. Buzz just reopened a few weeks ago and has drawn fairly long lines so far. We’re guessing that will last throughout the summer, as well.

As usual, when you complete all 3 of your pre-reserved Lightning Lanes then grab any Tier 1 attractions that are still available on the day of. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Peter Pan’s Flight and Space Mountain are close to even in that race for next Lightning Lane, with Jungle Cruise falling behind.

In terms of other tier 2 rides, Pirates of the Caribbean is at the top in terms of quality while a few Fantasyland dark rides are also savvy plays. We’ll be updating our usual Lightning Lane post in the next few weeks as more data comes out about wait times for Big Thunder and Buzz but it still has our recommendations sans those two.

For now, we expect Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’s reopening to be the most popular attraction in Magic Kingdom this summer. That gives it top priority in Lightning Lane Multi Pass reservations and means it will be a popular rope dropping pick as well!

Will you use a Lightning Lane on Big Thunder at Magic Kingdom? 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!