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 3/20/23)
Currently, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is one of the most popular attractions in MK, however with TRON Lightcycle /Run opening this will no doubt change. 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.
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.
Genie+ which includes Lightning Lane
As discussed in our post, How to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure we explored Individual Lightning Lane. We will go over the basics again here.
In order to utilize Lightning Lane, you need a cell phone with the “My Disney Experience” app, and also, purchase Genie+. To purchase Genie+ is to do it daily starting at midnight, and before 7am EST on the day of your visit to the parks. Very important that you purchase this before 7am or you will miss out on attractions that are fully booked at 7am.
To complicate things more, certain rides aren’t even included in the purchase of Genie+. You actually have five attractions, that you have to purchase separately. These are called “Individual Lightning Lane”, or Lightning Lane a la carte. These attractions are currently: Please note Disney opted to leave Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as a ILL making this the first park with two of those.
- 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 Individual Lightning Lane can be purchased at 7am by guests staying on property for any of the attractions above. Guests not staying on property can purchase them at each park’s respective opening times, however be warned, most 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.
Also, one more point of contention, if you are managing Genie + and also Individual Lightning Lane, you have a choice to make at 7am on what to do first. At Magic Kingdom you will want to grab the Virtual queue, or ILL for TRON Lightcycle /Run first at 7am. After that is secured, you can go back in for another Lightning Lane reservation. TRON is the first major addition at Magic Kingdom since Seven Dwarfs, and it is sure to be extremely popular for a long time. Your Magic Kingdom days should revolve around TRON strategies. If we were making a plan we would grab the free virtual queue at 7am for TRON and then go back into Genie + to reserve attractions. For Seven Dwarfs you can read our strategy here, but we would not purchase ILL for that.
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.
What do you think of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train? Have you been on it, or will you try to go on it next time you visit MK? Let us know in the comments.
Thanks for info. Very informative.