In our opinion, one of the best innovations to come out of the house of mouse is the company’s line-skipping service for the Disney World park system. While FastPass+ was arguably one of the better iterations of this offering, Hollywood Studios Multi Pass is a good contender, as long as you can get past the daily access price.
If you aren’t familiar with the terminology, FastPass+ allowed guests to skip the queue on rides by entering a separate FastPass line. Ride times would be booked in advance, providing guests with a one-hour window to enter the expedited queue and enjoy the attraction. Best of all, FastPass+ allowed visitors to the theme parks a chance to book 3 FastPass+ experiences up to 60 days in advance of arrival.
Unfortunately, FastPass+ disappeared in 2020 and never returned. Instead, Disney released a new version of FastPass with a new name and a new ticket price. Hollywood Studios Genie+, now Lightning Lane Multi Pass, is part of the new rollout and works in a similar way to the old FastPass+ system.
Guests still book a one-hour window to enter an expedited queue, only now, it’s called the Lightning Lane. Sounds familiar right? Best of all for some guests, is the newly announced ability to prebook up to 3 Multi Pass selections, per guest per day, in advance of your trip.
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What You Need to Know About Multi Pass
First off, Lightning Lane Multi Pass comes with a daily ticket price. We can’t really tell you what that is, because it changes from day to day depending on magical background processes known only to the Multi Pass gurus at Disney. However, you can expect the price to start around $18.00 per person, per day plus tax and top out around $30.00 by most accounts. On our last trip, we averaged around $22 a day per person.
Second, Multi Pass allows guests to pre-book ride experiences. Guests of Disney World resorts can rise bright and early at 7:00 am 7 days prior to the start of their trip to snag their first 3 Hollywood Studios Multi Pass reservations.
If you’re staying offsite, you’ll need to wait until 3 days prior to arrival before booking your first 3 Multi Pass reservations of the day. Since reservations for Slinky Dog Dash can disappear by then, it’s a good idea to stay onsite if you want to skip the long line for this very popular ride.
Third, not all rides are included in Multi Pass. Some rides fall under the category of “Lightning Lane Single Pass.” When booking rides enabled with Lightning Lane Single Pass, guests will pay a separate fee to select a one-hour return time to experience the attraction using an expedited queue.
If you’d like more detailed information, feel free to read our complete guide on Lightning Lane Multi Pass or the Lightning Lane Single Pass. For now, we’ll move forward to using Mult Pass at Hollywood Studios.
Disney Hollywood Studios Multi Pass Rides
Before you can develop your Hollywood Studios Multi Pass plan, there’s one thing you need to know. Not all attractions are Lightning Lane enabled, meaning there is no Multi Pass offering.
The rides that currently support Multi Pass at Hollywood Studios include:
Tier One Rides
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
Tier Two Rides
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Play & Dance!
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Muppet*Vision 3D
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
- Toy Story Mania!
In addition, entrance to a Lightning Lane for the following ride is available for individual purchase through Ligthning Lane Single Pass (not included in Multi Pas):
Keep in mind, you can purchase a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Star Wars Rise of the Resistance without purchasing a Hollywood Studios Multi Pass for the day.
You may have also noticed that Hollywood Studios Multi Pass rides are Tiered. This is solely for the purpose of preselecting your ride experiences at the 3 or 7 day mark. Guests who opt to pre-book their 3 selections prior to arrival, may only choose one ride from tier one a day. They can then fill out the remainder of their schedule from Tier 2 or book all Tier 2 rides.
After entering the park, you may then make a new selection from any tier each time you utilize an existing Multi Pass selection.
Do I Need to Use Multi Pass at Disney Hollywood Studios?
One question people frequently ask is whether Multi Pass at Hollywood Studios is really necessary. In our opinion, if you can swing the daily cost, this would be the park to use it.
Hollywood Studios is home to some of Disney’s biggest headliner attractions, including Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith, Tower of Terror, Slinky Dog Dash, Micky and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. You could easily spend an hour or more waiting to ride each of these attractions, particularly if you don’t arrive early or take advantage of Early Theme Park Entry.
By purchasing a Hollywood Studios Multi Pass, you’ll spend a lot less time in line. It makes for a more relaxing day and less stress about cramming everything into the available park hours. However, to make the most of the service, you’ll need a Disney Hollywood Studios Multi Pass plan.
Disney Hollywood Studios Multi Pass Plan and Strategy
If you do decide to purchase a Hollywood Studios Multi Pass, you’ll need a solid plan to get the most enjoyment and justify the added cost. To create a strategy, it’s important that you continue to utilize Multi Pass once you have entered the parks, consistently booking a new reservation every time you use one.
Hollywood Studios Multi Pass Plan, Selecting Rides
With so much to see and do at Hollywood Studios, deciding where it’s best to use Multi Pass can be a challenge. Generally, you’ll want to select the attractions that stack up the longest lines throughout the day. These include:
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
- Toy Story Mania!
However, since these are the most popular rides, it’s possible that Multi Pass reservations will book out before the end of the day, and possibly before you arrive, especially if you’re visiting during a busy time of year. That’s because the number of people who can book any given Multi Pass return window is limited, to keep the queue flowing fast.
For that reason, you’ll also want to add another variable to your Hollywood Studios Multi Pass plan: the order in which you book each Multi Pass experience.
To do this, you’ll need to understand which rides run out of Multi Pass availability earliest in the day. In our experience Genie+ reservations for Slinky Dog Dash were the first to go. Second was often a toss-up between Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Tower of Tower. Next up was Minnie’s Runaway Railway followed by Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania.
We anticipate demand for Multi Pass reservations to be the same, so to facilitate your Hollywood Studios Multi Pass planning, you’ll generally want to book reservations in this order:
Preselection from Tier one (choose one)
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Mickey Minnie Runaway Railway
Choose 2 of the following as your next 2 preselections
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
Your very last Hollywood Studios Multi Pass selections should be used on the following attractions in the order listed. Your goal should be to first select thaoseTier one and Tier Two attractions you were unable to preselect. You’ll find those in green below.
Move through the attractions in the order listed, booking a new one everytime you use one of your existing Multi Pass reservations. If you are unable to get a Multi Pass for any of the rides in blue on this list, it should not impact your day much, as these rides typically have short wait times or are scheduled performances in theaters that can accommodate a large number of guests.
Book missed Tier One and Tier Two attractions in the order listed below. If you were able to prebook a selection, skip it and move to the next.
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™
- Toy Story Mania!
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
- Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Play & Dance
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Muppet Vision 3D
One thing to note about the recommendations above is the fact that individual crowd conditions and demographics could alter how fast Multi Pass reservations for one attraction sell out compared to another. For instance, if there are a high number of families with young children purchasing Multi Pass on the day you visit, Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway might actually sell out before Millennium Falcon or Tower of Terror.
A good rule of thumb is to always book the ride with the earliest return window, provided it is an attraction you want to experience. You’ll see return times in the app when you go to book your Hollywood Studios Genie+ reservation.
If the next available return time for Tower of Terror is 4:00 pm, and the earliest return time for Alien Swirling Saucers is 3:00 pm, it’s advisable to book Alien Swirling Saucers first. The rationale behind this decision is simple. By booking the earlier return time, you can be checked in through the queue and booking another Multi Pass reservation before the return window for the later ride even opens.
There is one caveat to this suggestion, however. If you find that the only return times available for an attraction are very late in the day, and it is something you really want to experience, you’re better off to book it first. When the only return times are near closing, you know that ride is about to book out of Multi Pass spots for the day. Check the standby wait times, and if they are long, book it.
Experiencing the Best Hollywood Studios Day
While Multi Pass is a great tool in your arsenal for visiting Disney Hollywood Studios, it isn’t the only thing that makes a trip to Disney World so memorable. In fact, if you’re spending too much time on your phone trying to grab a Multi Pass reservation, you’re bound to miss a lot of the magic happening around you.
Disney World is full of rich thematic details, and immersing yourself in the elements is part of what makes a trip to Disney so special. In the end, these are things you’ll take home in memories, along with special moments with family and friends, and not how much time you spend in line.
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