Why We Stopped Buying Lightning Lanes (and What We Do Instead)

For a long time, we assumed Lightning Lane were the key to a better Disneyland day. After several trips, we realized it wasn’t actually improving our experience, and in some cases, they were making the day feel harder.

When we started regularly visiting Disneyland, we thought that Lightening Lanes would be the shortcut to a fun day. However, we soon noticed that when we them, it

• Pulled us back into our phones all day.
  Instead of enjoying the park, we were constantly checking return times, modifying plans, and watching the clock.
• Locked us into a pace that didn’t fit our family.
  Lightning Lane works best when you’re willing to move quickly and adjust constantly, which didn’t leave much room for breaks, snacks, or flexibility.

Even worse, we found that

• We still waited… just differently.
  We weren’t always skipping lines; we were often waiting for our return window or standing around between reservations.
• The cost didn’t consistently match the benefit.
  Lightening Lanes are a pretty significant investment for our family of seven. On some days it helped, but many days we found that the rides were all booked out by lunch. This left us standing in lines even we purchased Lightening Lanes.

What we do instead

We focus on:

• We arrive early. Rope dropping lets us ride the three or four rides that we care most about right away.
• Limiting wait times. We know how long we’re willing to wait. If a ride has a longer wait time, we skip it in favor of something that fits better for us and come back to it later when waits are shorter.
• Plan for breaks. Since we’re riding our favorite rides first, it takes the pressure off the rest of the day, and we can stop, take breaks, and enjoy our time more.

For our family, this led to calmer days, fewer rushed decisions, and a lot more time actually enjoying the park.

The bottom line

Lightning Lanes aren’t a bad option; it just isn’t necessary for every family or every trip. We found that we were able ride just as many rides by rope dropping, and we used the money we saved for other experiences.