Hello Melissa, and welcome to planDisney! Thanks for visiting us with your question. Your magical vacation is just around the river bend... how exciting! And you are on point with your planning timing.
You're going to love using
Lightning Lane Passes. My family typically purchases a Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and feel they really help us maximize our time in the parks! So I love your plan, and your eligibility window is coming up soon. Let's talk about a strategy.
If you’ll be staying at a Disney Resort, you’ll enjoy the advantage of purchasing Lightning Lane passes for your entire stay beginning 7 days before check-in, starting at 7:00 AM Eastern. Through the
My Disney Experience app, you can purchase up to one Multi Pass and two Single Passes per day. Each park date is a transaction, so you’ll complete the purchase process separately for each day—for example, once for 10/5 and again for 10/6.
Guests staying off-site may purchase Lightning Lane passes beginning 3 days prior to their park visit. In this case, you’d be able to secure passes for 10/5 three days in advance, and then make a separate purchase the following day for 10/6.
One tip I share with friends for making the best use of your Lightning Lane Multi Pass, is to select an early return time for at least one of your initial three attractions. As soon as you tap in to that experience, you can immediately hop on to the My Disney Experience app and select another Lightning Lane pass (based on availability)! And the best part is, those additional same day passes are not restricted to any categories. Because you have the park hopper option added to your tickets... you could even pick a Lightning Lane selection at another park where you plan to hop. Since Disney’s Animal Kingdom tends to close earlier than the other Disney parks, I’d recommend trying to make an additional Lightning Lane selection for the park you’ll be heading to afterward.
Melissa, I hope this helps and that you score Lightning Lane reservations for all of your "must-do" attractions. Please send me any other questions
here at planDisney. And enjoy every magical moment!
Sending pixie-dust,
Tami