Here’s How International Guests Can Book Lightning Lanes Before Arriving at Disney World
Good news for international guests, as it's possible for visitors located all around the world–including Europe and the United Kingdom–to buy and book Lightning Lane Multi-Pass before arriving on United States soil. Here's an update
Good news for international guests, as it’s possible for visitors located all around the world–including Europe and the United Kingdom–to buy and book Lightning Lane Multi-Pass before arriving on United States soil. Here’s an update on how this should work, Walt Disney World’s official policy, and our commentary.
For those who are unfamiliar with this ‘saga,’ Walt Disney World previously announced that the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass system was only available for purchase and use inside the United States or Canada, meaning that international guests would not be able to make pre-arrival selections until arriving into the United States.
That policy wrinkle wasn’t mentioned in the official announcement or website, but it was in supplementary information–and Cast Members confirmed it to international guests via chat and elsewhere. This meant that, even if international guests would be staying on-site, they would not have an on-site advantage. Well, at least not until arrival in the United States. I’d hazard a guess that around half of the initial wave of comments on our Guide to Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at Walt Disney World pertain to this rule.
Understandably so. Excluding international guests was one of most controversial and outrage-inducing aspects of the change from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and seemed like an unforced error. After all, why prevent one of Walt Disney World’s most lucrative demographics–guests who typically stay longer and spend more–from doing precisely that, spending more?! Why give them an excuse not to stay on-site and instead check out Universal Orlando’s resorts? It made no sense.
Subsequent to that official announcement, a Walt Disney World representative confirmed to us that Canadian guests may continue to use the My Disney Experience app after the launch of pre-arrival purchasing and planning for Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass, just as they do today for Genie, Advance Dining Reservations, and everything else.
Officially, this means that Canadian guests who are staying on-site at Walt Disney World are able to reserve Lightning Lane passes up to 7 days in advance for their entire stay (up to 14 days). Off-site guests from Canada will be able to plan up to 3 days in advance. All of this while in Canada–no need to drive into a border town in the United States as some readers indicated that they were debating doing.
Lightning Lane Multi Pass has since launched, and officially, nothing has changed for all other international guests from the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. But then again, I don’t believe that Walt Disney World ever published this info anywhere in the first place–it was simply circulated internally and distributed to third party intermediaries like us.
So you could argue that Walt Disney World has not really released an official guest-facing policy one way or the other. I don’t think this is a meaningful distinction, but it might make some of you feel better about the following if you’re strict rule-followers.
That’s because multiple readers have brought to our attention that it’s possible for all international guests to buy and book Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass from the comfort of their homes, before leaving and arriving into the United States. Since we’ve also heard from other still-disgruntled international readers who are still having problems, we figured we’d share this in a standalone post. Please note that what follows has not been tested by us. We reside in the United States and have not been abroad recently to even test this. However, it has been corroborated by 5 different readers, so it should work.
Start by force-closing your My Disney Experience app.
Following this, go into your phone’s settings and turn off location services.
Here’s how to turn off location services on an iPhone:
- Open Settings
- Tap Privacy & Security
- Tap Location Services
- Toggle Location Services off at the top of the screen
You can also turn off location services for specific apps by scrolling down and tapping on each app. For example, you can tap “Disney World,” then select Never to stop sharing your location with that app. This should prevent you from having to toggle the high level setting on and off whenever you want to buy Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass.
Following that, relaunch the My Disney Experience/Walt Disney World app. It should go through the full load process display the splash screen. (If it doesn’t, you probably didn’t properly close it, which could be an issue.)
You might need to go into your account settings in My Disney Experience and set your country to the United States. (The “Country/Region of Residence” field–below Birthdate–is what needs to be changed. You do not need to alter your Address Book or your phone numbers.)
At this point, assuming all steps were followed properly and no other issues exist, you should see and be able to click the “Purchase” button for Lightning Lanes on the home screen.
You can go through the whole process at this point to test if you want to make sure this works–stopping short of actually paying for Lightning Lanes (unless you have an upcoming trip).
Unfortunately, if this does not work for you, there’s not really any troubleshooting assistance I can offer beyond the basic “restart your phone” or “log out and log back into My Disney Experience.” But my hope in making this a standalone post is that other international readers might be able to share their experience and troubleshooting tips based on firsthand experience–which I obviously do not have.
This all might seem a little too easy.
By extension, it also might strike you as very odd.
After all, why would Walt Disney World make a “rule” to officially exclude international guests from the pre-arrival Lightning Lane on-site advantage…only to make that rule incredibly easy to circumvent? We expected this to be theoretically possible, but we were anticipating having to use a combination of VPNs and GPS spoofers that would’ve presented an insurmountable barrier to entry to all but the most tech-savvy guests.
Instead, this is so simple that anyone is able to do it. (At least, anyone capable of handling other hurdles poised by Disney IT!) So what was the whole point in the first place? Did Walt Disney World think they simply had too much goodwill among international guests, and wanted to burn a bit of that in short order? Seriously, why inflict so much brand damage and quickly alienate a key demo for absolutely nothing?
As we’ve said before, the why of this is probably not because Walt Disney World hates international guests. Although it might seem that way on this one particular issue, Walt Disney World actually loves guests from outside the United States. They’re more of a captive audience, have higher per guest spending metrics, and typically do longer stays. This is why we routinely refer to British guests as Walt Disney World’s “whales” (non-derogatory).
It’s our understanding that this relates to regulatory issues and laws outside of the United States (particularly in Europe), and it’s easier for Walt Disney World to ‘opt out’ of those by not offering the app than it is complying with a variety of local laws. That may annoy you, but Disney isn’t the only American company weighing whether it’s worth having a presence in certain foreign markets due to these added costs of doing business.
In any case, it also makes sense for Walt Disney World to make this “rule” as easy as possible to side-step, with an easy solution and wink-and-nod type attitude towards guests who break the “rule” (air quotes all around). All Disney is going for is ostensible regulatory compliance–they couldn’t care less what guests do (to the contrary, they want people spending as much money as possible), so long as Disney doesn’t draw undo legal scrutiny in international markets.
The best comparison I can give is when you’re a parent and there are certain rules you set for your kids that you think are stupid, but society doesn’t. So you’re not really upset when your kids break said rules, but you kinda have to pretend you are, or at least pay face to the notion with a nominal punishment. Maybe you’re even secretly proud of them for breaking the rule, even if you can never admit it. (I certainly have specific examples in mind, but I’ll save myself the judgment and scorn from other parents.)
Anyway, Walt Disney World is kinda like the secretly proud parent in this scenario. Congratulations, you’ve found a way to break the rule–the company is quietly pleased with you. You win because you have the on-site advantage again. They win because you’re spending more money and staying on-site instead of at Universal. Basically, everyone wins except European regulators, who don’t know why or what they’re losing in the first place, making it a victimless crime.
Speaking of which, it’s always possible that this loophole is closed. If so, it won’t be because Walt Disney World “discovered” it and implements a fix. This being so easy to circumvent is a feature, not a bug. No matter how low your opinion of Disney IT (and it actually should be improving–this new Lightning Lane system works well!), they absolutely knew what they were doing.
Rather, if this changes, it’ll be due to Disney Legal. It’s possible they will determine the current protocol is insufficient for passing legal muster and maintaining regulatory compliance with Europe or wherever. I’m not saying this is the case or will happen. I truly do not know–calling my understanding of this area of law “minimal” would be an overstatement. I just know how this type of thing works, and that would be the underlying reason for a change, if one does occur down the road.
Even if that does happen and it becomes more difficult or impossible for international guests to book pre-arrival Lightning Lanes, there should be other workarounds. Using U.S. based Authorized Disney Vacation Planners is one option. Another possibility is calling Walt Disney World and attempting to have a Cast Member make your selections. (Honestly, this might be the best route, as higher labor costs might force Disney’s hand to create a web-based version.)
Another conceivable option is discussed above–using a more ‘elaborate’ combination of VPNs, GPS spoofers, and other technology to side-step the rule. Once again, it’s not like Walt Disney World will care if you do this, since they’re only restricting access to avoid regulatory compliance, themselves. Or if you vote with your wallet and take your business to Universal because you don’t feel valued by Disney, I don’t think anyone would blame you.
Just as Genie+ evolved over its first year-plus based on guest use and demand dynamics, so too can you expect Lightning Lane MultiPass and Single Pass to change throughout the rest of this year and into 2025–meaning that everything above is subject to change. In other words, the “rules” and how Lightning Lanes work will continue to evolve and we will update our recommendations accordingly.
We’ll continue to keep you posted, as more changes are likely on the horizon. We’ll also continue updating this FAQ as we learn more and we receive more reader questions. For now, this should answer most of the questions that readers have been asking about Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World. There have been a lot of questions, so if we didn’t address yours, we apologize. Please post in the comments below and we’ll answer more as they’re asked!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’re an international guest, were you able to follow the above steps and enter the purchase and booking flow for Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass outside of the United States? Any problems? Troubleshooting tips & tricks or clarifying advice for those having problems? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
