How to Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

We’re back to continue our series of “How-to-Ride articles” that surround the Individual Lightning Lane attractions. Our first two articles tackled, Star War: Rise of the Resistance, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Now we bring you a strategy for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom (MK). (Updated 7/18/24)

Currently, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is one of the most popular attractions in MK, however since TRON Lightcycle /Run opened this changed a bit. It carries huge waits throughout the day, but it doesn’t mean you should skip it. We will arm you with a couple of ways to get on this fun attraction.

**On Ride Photo for Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster**

First, a bit of information on what Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is. This attraction is a family friendly roller coaster. The cars are unique as they can sway from side to side, thus making turns a little more dramatic than they really are.

We love this attraction and you can find us on it anytime we set foot in the MK. From the thrill of the coaster part to the little bit of story they have in the middle, it really hits a lot of the right notes with us. We encourage everyone reading this to utilize one of the two strategies we lay out. First one we will talk about is Individual Lightning Lane.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass & Lightning Lane Single Pass

In order to utilize Lightning Lane, you need a cell phone with the “My Disney Experience” app, and also, purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass. To purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass you can purchase this 7 days before you arrive if you are staying at a Disney Resort, or 3 days for all other guests. You can purchase this at 7am EST on your first day of eligibility.

To complicate things more, certain rides aren’t even included in the purchase of Lightning Lane Multi Pass. You actually have five attractions, that you have to purchase separately. These are called “Lightning Lane Single Pass”, or Lightning Lane a la carte. These attractions are currently: Please note Disney opted to leave Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as a Lightning Lane Single Pass making this the first park with two Lightning Lane Singe Passes.

Magic Kingdom: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train & TRON Lightcycle /Run
EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Avatar Flight of Passage

Each Lightning Lane Single Pass can be purchased 7 days by guests staying on property for any of the attractions above. Guests not staying on property can purchase them 3 days in advanced, however be warned of the attractions above are gone within the first couple minutes or even seconds in the case of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and we are sure TRON will even be faster for a while. So be ready for your timing based on your travel plans.

Also, one more point of contention, if you are managing Lightning Lane Multi Pass and also Lightning Lane Single Pass, you have a choice to make during your scheduling. The positive change for this new system is that you aren’t trying to do this all at 7am while also trying for a virtual queue.

Waiting in Line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster

The second way to experience Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster is to simply wait in line, however the time of day you pick matters a lot. Average wait of Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster is 45 mins, but that includes early morning and later evening times. If you watch the line throughout midday, you will see 60 minutes to 90 minutes, and especially on weekends, holidays etc.

If you are staying on property and at a hotel that participates in early entry, you can get a head start on the general guests. This is beneficial, but comes at a cost of sleep. You will need to get to MK very early as it is the most popular theme park on property, and most visited in the world, to that point keep in mind everyone will be heading towards Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster.

If you have a rental car, plan on leaving your hotel 90 minutes before MK opens to get in the parking lot. Parking lots often open 60 minutes before the gates.

If you leave your fate in the horrible Disney bus service, find out from your resort when the first bus leaves for MK. Make sure you get on that first bus to have your best chance at beating everyone else in the morning.

If you do not want to deal with all of that in the morning, you can go with the closing time strategy. This is where you get in line 5 minutes before the park closes. This typically is how we ride this attraction, and unlike Star Wars Rise of the Resistance, this attraction is more reliable. It is worth noting that any time in the last hour, or even during fireworks the line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Coaster is ideal vs the early morning when everyone is rushing it.

Conclusion

We suggest you make an effort to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, not only is it a great attraction, but really fun. The whole family will enjoy this one, but I will caution people who are prone to motion sickness may need to skip. While Seven Dwarfs Mine Train isn’t very rough like, Space Mountain, or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, it does sway back and forth.