Animal Kingdom Park Hopping Strategy with Lightning Lanes

This guide provides our strategy for using Lightning Lanes at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and park-hopping to another park. In our example, we park-hop to Magic Kingdom to enjoy additional rides, nighttime entertainment, and ride Tron Lightcycle Run before the park’s close. We anticipate this strategy working well until the new Tropical Americas-themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom opens in the Fall of 2027.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the park where guests are least likely to use Lightning Lanes, and I get it. At this time, there are only a couple of rides where the skip-the-line pass will come in handy. That said, there’s one caveat: park-hopping. If you have a ticket with the park-hopper option, you might consider starting a couple of days at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and hopping elsewhere when you’re finished.

For this example, I will walk you through our experience parking hopping from Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom while using Lightning Lane Multi Pass. This strategy can be used at any time of the day. For our group, this was our first day of a week-long vacation. Since I’m at Disney World often, I spent a good bit of the day recording times, refreshing for Lightning Lanes, and taking notes while my family members enjoyed their time.

It turned out to be one of two exceptionally smooth days where we toured pretty hard and got a lot done. Now, before you balk, I have to tell you–we didn’t even get to the park until 11:34 a.m. Arriving a little later was a key part of our strategy. Our primary goals for the evening were to see the nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom and to ride Tron Lightcycle Run in standby before the park closed at 11:00 p.m. So even though we started late, we still had a complete 12-hour day.

It’s also worth mentioning that we were staying off-site. For us, starting late was a way to compensate for not taking a resort break in the afternoon. That morning, we still got up early, and my sister and nephew went for a swim while I got a little work done. I remember the words being uttered early on…..”this feels like a vacation.”

Okay, now that you have a little backstory, we’ll discuss how our park-hopping strategy worked and how you might implement this method to make the most of your next vacation.

First Park: Disney’s Animal Kingdom with Lightning Lanes

We had plans to arrive at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at about 11:00, but we didn’t end up getting there until 11:34 a.m. Here’s what we were looking at as far as our Lightning Lane schedule, which I had purchased two days before:

• Kilimanjaro Safaris 11:25 a.m. to 12:25 p.m.
• Expedition Everest 12:25 p.m. to 1:25 p.m.
• Na’vi River Journey 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.*

*At the time of our arrival, our Navi River Journey window was from 4:50 to 5:50 p.m., but we were able to adjust it to an earlier time. As off-site guests, we couldn’t purchase Lightning Lanes as early as on-site guests. So we didn’t have as much flexibility on timing for Na’vi River Journey.

We planned to ride Flight of Passage in standby later in the day and begin refreshing for Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom as soon as we could. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that we were riding Expedition Everest first. So we got in line at 11:56 a.m. and were soon told our time hadn’t started yet. What a rookie mistake! Anyway, we walked onward to Kilimanjaro Safari to cash in the correct Lightning Lane.

We were on Kilimanjaro Safaris by 12:10, and I immediately opened the My Disney Experience app and refreshed for ride options at Magic Kingdom. The first thing that popped up was Tiana’s Bayou Adventure from 7:50 p.m. to 8:50 p.m. I was really glad to see this option and get it secured first.

After the safari, we walked through Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail before making our way back to Expedition Everest by a little after 1:00 p.m. My family rode with their Lightning Lane Multi Pass while I compared the single rider line. They ended up about two ride cars ahead of me. I waited for approximately 15 minutes. Once I exited, we all joined the single rider line and rode it again. We have a detailed guide about the single rider line at Expedition Everest that discusses how long we usually wait and how it all works.

I forgot to mention, but when I joined the single rider line for Expedition Everest, I immediately opened the My Disney Experience app and refreshed for our next Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane. This time, I was able to secure Space Mountain from 8:35 p.m. to 9:35 p.m. This was perfect, because my 10-year-old nephew was on a mission to ride all the mountains.

After a couple of rides on Expedition Everest, we decided to grab a bite to eat. We stopped at Yak and Yeti Quick Service and enjoyed a carton of their delicious chicken fried rice. It’s always such a tasty and filling treat. After our late lunch, we ran into Kevin wandering Discovery Island and took a few photos. Then we walked the Tree of Life Trail and found a rare Mr. Fredricksen meeting with Russell. It was a beautiful day, and it was nice to stop and enjoy things without feeling rushed.

We continued toward Pandora, World of Avatar. We still had about 45 minutes to our Na’vi River Journey Lightning Lane. Avatar Flight of Passage has a 65-minute posted wait. We got in line at 2:45 p.m., and by 3:06 p.m., we were already at the area where you see the Avatar in the tank. Our entire experience took about 40 minutes! We were all happy with this and glad we hadn’t splurged on the Lightning Lane Single Pass. Another positive is that we took advantage of the interior wait here during the hotter portion of the day.

By the time we exited the ride and browsed the gift shop, our next Lightning Lane had opened. So we headed that way. Soon after, I opened the app and refreshed for our next Lightning Lane at Magic Kingdom. This time we got Haunted Mansion from 9:55 p.m to 10:55 p.m.

At this point, it was almost 4:00 p.m., and I wanted to surprise my family with a few unplanned re-rides. So we headed back to Africa and rode Kilimanjaro Safaris again with no wait. Then we went back and rode Expedition Everest in the standby line with less than a 15-minute wait.

Of course, we didn’t do any of the incredible shows, and we even missed Zootopia: Better Zoogether. But this trip was planned with my nephew in mind, and he’s at an age where he wants to be brave and ride all the big rides. These were our priorities, and we got a lot done without wearing ourselves out.

Second Park: Hopped to Magic Kingdom

At this point, it was time to leave Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Since we were staying out late, I had made a 6:05 p.m. reservation for Kona Cafe at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. So we headed that way and enjoyed a leisurely meal. We even enjoyed cappuccinos for dessert to get a little extra caffeine since we planned to stay at Magic Kingdom until closing.

After dinner, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and spent a little time on Main Street before heading to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Once we got in line, we refreshed for another Lightning Lane and got the Tomorrowland Speedway, which overlapped our time for Space Mountain. This worked well since they are immediately next to each other.

After Tiana’s, we found a spot in the front row for the nighttime parade at the end of the route in Frontierland. With only about 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time, I was surprised we were able to get a spot. This might not always work depending on crowd levels and timing. We watched the parade and considered getting a spot for the fireworks, but my nephew was ready for more rides, so we pushed on to Tomorrowland.

We rode Space Mountain at 9:10 p.m. and then decided to take a spin on the Peoplemover. Happily Ever After started while we were on the ride. It was scheduled for 9:30 p.m. this evening. After the Peoplemover, we cashed in our Lightning Lane for the Tomorrowland Speedway. This Lightning Lane saved us about 10 minutes, but it was the least needed for the day. We were exiting the Speedway at 9:43 p.m., and it was getting close to time for the fireworks to end.

While we planned to do a few more Lightning Lanes, I decided last-minute that we should get in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. The posted wait was 45 minutes at 9:50 p.m., and the firework crowds were almost immediately behind us. So we hopped in line and waited for our turn. We were back outside the entrance at 10:30 p.m. Like Flight of Passage, we were very happy that we didn’t feel the need to purchase the Single Pass Lightning Lane later in the week.

At this point, we felt it was too risky to walk to the Haunted Mansion and use our Lightning Lane for the evening. So we dropped it in the app and headed to get in line for Tron Lightcycle Run. Our goal had always been to ride Tron at night. We had purchased a single-pass Lightning Lane to ride it later in the week, but our time was during daylight hours. So we knew this was going to be the night to do it.

We got in line for Tron at approximately 10:40 p.m. We rode it and were back in front of Cinderella Castle at 11:39 p.m. I’ll be the first to admit, the line was daunting when we arrived. It extended all the way down the platform, past the restrooms. But it moved swiftly. From the time we arrived, we got in line, took turns using the restrooms while we waited, got to the locker area, boarded the ride, rode it, retrieved our items, and were back at the front of the park in just under an hour. It was incredible, and my sister and nephew loved it. They were also happy that they purchased the single pass to ride it again later in the week.

A Quick Recap of our Park-Hopping Strategy

Here’s a quick look at everything we did in a day while park-hopping from Disney’s Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom using Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

• Park Arrival: 11:34 a.m.
• Kilimanjaro Safaris (LL)
• Gorilla Falls Trail
• Expedition Everest (LL)
• Expedition Everest (Single Rider)
• Lunch
• Characters
• Flight of Passage (Standby)
• Na’vi River Journey (LL)
• Kilimanjaro Safaris (Standby)
• Expedition Everest (Standby)
• Dinner at the Polynesian
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (LL)
• Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away Parade
• Space Mountain (LL)
• Peoplemover
• Tomorrowland Speedway (LL)
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Standby)
• Tron Lightcycle Run (Standby)

What I Love About this Animal Kingdom Park-Hopping Strategy

As someone who visits the parks and resorts regularly, I have the advantage of knowing my way around. But there are still some big reasons that I love this park-hopping strategy.

1. We started our day much later than the average guest. This allowed us to take advantage of afternoon lulls at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and lower crowds in the evening at Magic Kingdom. Since we were staying off-site, we were not privy to early entry. So I planned our day in a way that worked for us and prioritized the things that we wanted to do.
2. We enjoyed nighttime touring. As you likely know, the Florida sun is relentless. Staying out late is an incredible way to enjoy cooler temperatures, shorter waits, and nighttime entertainment.
3. This is a big one. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is cheaper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Now, if you look at the list above, we only used six Lightning Lanes. However, our total for the day was 12 rides, and 3 of those were major headliners that aren’t included in the Multi Pass option. If we hadn’t incorporated those Lightning Lanes into our plan, we would have come up significantly shorter.

On the day of this visit, the Lightning Lane Multi Pass was $25.00 per person for Disney’s Animal Kingdom versus $39.00 for Magic Kingdom. Since our tickets included the park hopper option, we were able to refresh for Lightning Lanes at Magic Kingdom immediately after we used our first pass for Kilimanjaro Safaris.

No, we didn’t use our Multi Pass to ride everything. We used it to accommodate our day and paid less for it since we started at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Again, you must have the park hopper entitlement to use the Lightning Lane Multi Pass in multiple parks. If you would like to learn more about how the process works, see our guide to Lightning Lanes at Disney World.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we had a great day, and our touring strategy worked well. I hope our itinerary will provide some insight into planning the things that are most important to your family. My best advice is to form a loose plan, have an idea of the layout of the park before your visit, and roll with the punches. Some of our favorite moments are when we stop for an ice cream treat (or fried rice) or run into a favorite character. These little moments are always unexpected and are to be just as cherished as anything else!

In the Comments

What do you think of our touring plan? Would you be happy with these results or nervous to start later? Let us know your thoughts below in the comments. If you get a chance, try out our Animal Kingdom Park Hopping Strategy and let us know how it worked for you.