How I FastPass+ at Walt Disney World
FastPass+ can be an intimidating system for the first-time visitor, so in this post, I'm going to share how I use the FastPass+ system. My actions may not make sense for your family... it's just what works for me. But my hope is that you can see how someone who understands the system uses it.
Last week, we provided the basics of FastPass+. If you are unfamiliar with what that is, go back and read that post first.
Done? Ok. So, there's a few things you should know about how I travel to Disney so you can understand whether these tips make sense for you.
1. I'm a planner.
2. I always stay on property.
3. I'm ok with getting up early while on vacation in order to take advantage of fewer lines.
4. I almost always take a mid-day break at the resort from noonish to late afternoonish.
As far as what kind of party you travel with, I've gone to Walt Disney World as a kid, as an adult with only other adults, solo, and with my own kid at various ages. I find these tips to be pretty universal, though the rides you choose will differ.
My Planning Starts at Least by the ADR Date (180 days before first day at Disney)
Knowing my plans, including my Advanced Dining Reservations is key to determining about where I am going to be each day. If I'm dining at EPCOT, for example, then I'm probably going to be at EPCOT for a good part of the day.
The key here is determining what parks I'm going to be in on what days, when I'm going to arrive, when I'm doing to leave, and when I might be tied up doing something (like dining). I often base what parks I'll be in on a good crowd calendar, combined with preference and Extra Magic Hours, if I plan to use those. In general, I like to avoid the most crowded park if I can. On the other hand, nothing is going to stop me from being in the Magic Kingdom on the last day of my vacation because it just feels right. I chart out which parks I'm going to be in on which days.
I also have always purchased the Park Hopper add-on. I like the option of deciding I don't like the way a park "feels" on a certain day and just leaving and going to a different park if I want to. Because I do this, though, I also have to factor in travel time to determine WHEN I'm going to arrive and need to leave each park. To get from park to park or resort to park, allow at least an hour travel time. Sometimes Disney transportation will surprise you, but other times, you'll be glad you have that hour.
For example:
I decide that I'm going to the Magic Kingdom on a Monday. I plan to arrive at 8 am, I'm doing Be Our Guest at 11:30 am, and then I'm going to go back to the resort for a while. I'll leave the resort again around 4pm to go to EPCOT and stay through Illuminations.
My possible times for FastPassing are:
8-10:30 at the Magic Kingdom (no FastPasses can overlap your ADR time) and 5-8ish at EPCOT, if Illuminations is at 9 (allowing an hour to get to EPCOT from resort).
After Determining Which Parks I'll Be In When, I Choose My Rides
At this point, I am just listing which attractions I consider "must do" at each park. If I want to ride something many times, I list that too.
For example:
For Magic Kingdom, I might say the following...
Splash Mountain (as many times as possible)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (in the night)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (as many times as possible)
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tomorrowland Transit Authority
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Happily Ever After (fireworks show)
There are more attractions, but these are the attractions I'll be disappointed if I don't get to.
Consider the FastPass Tiers of Each "Must Do" Attraction
If the park is any other than the Magic Kingdom, then attractions are grouped into tiers. For my initial 3 FastPasses, I can only choose one Tier 1 attraction, and two Tier 2 attractions, so it's important to know which of my "must do" rides are in Tier 1 and which are in Tier 2.
Consider Wait Times
I might be inclined to FastPass Monsters Inc Laugh Floor because it may be the thing I most want to do, but that doesn't mean it's always the best use of a FastPass. I want to use the FastPass where the Standby wait time would be too high for me to get in line if I had to wait that long.
The easiest way to get a feel for wait times is to watch the MyDisneyExperience app for a few weeks before my FastPass window opens. I observe the wait times of the attractions I want to see during the times I need to see them.
While considering wait times, I also consider capacity. A FastPass is not always a good idea to use in a large capacity theater-style attraction, like Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, or Frozen Sing Along at Disney Hollywood Studios.
Finally, some parks offer FastPasses for parades or nighttime shows. Consider what this gets you. Since fireworks are often accessible (the exception being Fantasmic) to everyone in the park, the FastPass usually allows you access to a "priority viewing area". It's a good idea to understand what these areas are and whether they are really worth it. Just because it's called "priority" doesn't mean it's the best view.
For example:
I watch the wait times on MyDisneyExperience between 8 and 10:30 and find that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is consistently at least a 60 minute wait, even at opening. Other rides remain 20-25 minute waits until about 9am when Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain begin posting 40-45 minutes. Haunted Mansion and Pirates remain under 40 minutes all morning.
Consider "Rope Drop"
When the parts of the park with major attractions are opened beyond the entrance plaza, we call this "rope drop" because quite literally Cast Members holding a rope create a barrier until official park opening time. At that time, they will "walk" you to points where you can get to attractions.
Let's be honest, at some point during this "walk", the park opens up and some people are running and others are doing the fastest walk they can possibly do with one goal in mind: to be first in line for an attraction.
And while you might not be first, you will have the wonderful experience of walking on to the first ride, if you are ready at rope drop, and are keeping up with the crowd. Rope drop is a great time to knock off one major attraction with minimal wait.
This only works if you are going to be inside the park at park opening. If a park opens at 8am, you better scan through the entrance no later than 7:40 and be at the rope by 7:55. If you arrive at at 8:05, I'm sorry, you missed it.
If I'm in a park that has tiered FastPasses and I want to ride two (or more) Tier 1 rides on the same day, the best way to do that with minimal wait is to "rope drop" one of them. I choose which it'll be.
Get Up and Get 'Em
By now, I have a list of attractions I must see and a good sense of what their standby wait times are. I may have decided Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor is not the best use of a FastPass because the theater has a large capacity and you can almost always get into the next show. I may have also decided I don't want to FastPass Happily Ever After on this day, because I won't be in the Magic Kingdom that evening, or I don't find the priority viewing area to be an extra benefit to me.
My list might now look like:
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (rope drop, no FastPass)
Splash Mountain (FastPass 1)
Big Thunder Mountain (FastPass 2)
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (second ride, FastPass 3)
Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc any time
Let's say Seven Dwarfs is a hard FastPass to get, meaning that there's a possibility I might not get it. If that's the case, I might have a backup plan that if I can't get Seven Dwarfs, I get Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm also going to want to book that ride as one of the first rides I book, no matter what day of my vacation that falls on. Always book the harder to get FastPasses first, not in chronological order.
One last thing I can try if I still can't get a FastPass on an earlier day of my trip is to see if it's available on a later day of my trip. If it's day 1 of my trip I'm booking for, some people have already been able to book it for 9 days. But if it's day 10 of my vacation I'm booking for, this is the first day I can book it.
Now that I know what I want and when, the last thing I have to do is set my alarm.
FastPass booking opens at 7am Eastern Time 60 days ahead of the first day of your vacation for your entire vacation up to 10 days if you are staying on property. Otherwise, it opens 30 days ahead of each day of your vacation (yes, you'll have to set your alarm several times in this case).
I want to be up and ready at 6:55am Eastern Time, with my list in front of my and my MyDisneyExperience app all fired up and ready to go, my priority attraction selected, and trying to book a FastPass. At the moment the booking window opens, you'll see the calendar dates for booking FastPasses become available to click on. That's your sign to start.
Because FastPass windows can't overlap, my booking ends up looking like:
8:00 - Splash Mountain
9:05 - Big Thunder Mountain
10:30 - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
But because this time is the beginning of an hour window with 5 minutes grace before and 15 minutes grace after, what I'm really going to do is:
8:00 - rope drop Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (no FastPass)
8:40 - make it over to Splash and use my FastPass
9:00 - use my 5 minute grace and get on Big Thunder Mountain since it's right next door
9:30 - Pirates. I might have to wait. I'm ok with that.
10:00 - Haunted Mansion. I might have to wait. I'm ok with that too.
10:45 - Arrive at Seven Dwarfs,use FastPass and ride
11:30 - Be Our Guest ADR.
(Jungle Cruise, TTA, etc will have to wait for another time)
But Wait - There' s More!
Just because you can book three FastPass+ selections ahead of time doesn't mean you can only ever have three FastPasses. The truth is, the minute you scan into your third FastPass attraction, you can book additional available FastPasses.
The big warning here is that not every attraction is going to be available anymore and maybe not at the times you want. Major examples of attractions that probably won't be avaialble anymore are any of the Pandora rides at Animal Kingdom, any Toy Story Land rides at Disney Hollywood Studios, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. But if you have the Park Hopper you may be able to get another FastPass for that evening at the other park. I've found this useful even with things like Soarin', which I like to ride as many times as possible.
So, on the day of, when I scan into Seven Dwarfs, I immediately check out FastPasses at EPCOT. I grab a Soarin' for 7:00 that night, which will be really nice since that ride also exceeds 70 minute wait times pretty frequently.
Some Final Rules I live By:
1. Because of the ability to book additional FastPass once your last one is used, booking them earlier in the day works better for me so that more attractions are available to book additional FastPasses in the evening. I'm also out of the park during the busiest time of day, so the other option championed by some to book yours between 11am-3pm is not the best option for me.
2. Some things are downright wastes of a FastPass. Theater style shows often are as well as some nighttime shows. Rivers of Light, for example, is a huge FastPass let-down. Because the window to arrive at the theater opens earlier than the rest of the theater, it just ends up resulting in you sitting in the theater longer than anyone with standby access. You still have to show up early to try to get a seat in front, it's just that you have a special section. The section you have is also by FAR not the best viewing section. I attended this once with FastPass and once with standby. Standby was by far the best experience. About a half hour before the show, our very pleasant shaded line was allowed into the theater where we could choose to sit anywhere. We got some seats in the second row, center. It was lovely.
3. Other things absolutely require a FastPass to avoid misery, and some of these are not based on wait time alone. A good example of this is Kilimanjaro Safari. If you aren't "rope dropping" this, then a FastPass is a must do because the waiting area is so long, boring, and stiflingly hot that you want to spend as little time in it as possible. It might be a good idea to read reviews of rides. Interactive, air-conditioned queues are much more tolerable than basic outdoor queues.
4. My husband says that next time he goes, he wants to FastPass Avatar:Flight of Passage every morning. He says it's the only ride worth FastPassing. Since we park hop, we can then go anywhere else we want. I'm not sure I 100% agree with him, but there is some merit to his thinking. This ride has posted by far the longest wait times consistently an is also in my opinion the best ride at Walt Disney World. The only downside is it means tolerating 80 min waits for things like Seven Dwarfs or Soarin' sometimes. But it would mean we ride FOP every day and save hours in line there.
5. Throw away FastPasses are a thing. Say you really want to ride a Tier 1 attraction but nothing else really screams at you at that park, but later you'll be in a different park. Get two Tier 2s as early as possible, and your Tier 1 as your third ride. The minute you scan into your Tier 1 and the other two windows have expired, you can book FastPasses in other parks.
FastPass+ can seem overwhelming, but when used to great effect, it can be a real timesaver and make your trip so much more enjoyable. I hope these examples help you when planning your own FastPasses. Do you have other tips or strategies? Share with us by commenting on our Facebook page, and if you like this blog, don't forget to share us with a friend. See you next week!
