How Much Does Paid FastPass Cost at Disney World & Disneyland?
Previously free, FastPass is now paid at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and all of the international parks. This offers a rundown of the line-skipping costs at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, plus California, Tokyo, Paris, and the other international parks. We’ll offer quick tips for how you can minimize your wait times and save hours in line.
If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation for 2026, you need to know that free FastPass+ has been permanently retired and replaced by Lightning Lanes. There are currently three different tiers of Lightning Lane line-skipping products at Walt Disney World.
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) replaced Genie+ as the primary paid FastPass option at Walt Disney World. With the switch, there’s once again the addition of an on-site advantage, ability to make 3 selections in advance, making this almost identical to the old FastPass+ (except paid).
Additionally, there’s Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP), which is the a la carte option that used to be called Individual Lightning Lanes. That’s all bookable in advance. The reason LLMP is “almost” identical to FastPass+ is because 1-2 attractions are excluded from LLMP in each park, and those can be purchased separately via LLSP.
Finally, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP), which is the top tier of line-skipping meant for the top 1-2% of guests and priced accordingly. It’s like Universal’s Express Pass. LLPP offers line-skipping access to every LLMP and LLSP attraction in each park at the guest’s leisure–no advance booking required.
There’s a lot more to know about Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Multi-Pass and Single Pass, all of which is beyond the scope of this post. If you don’t already know about these line-skipping services, we’d encourage you to read our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World instead of this post.
With all of that in mind, here are the maximum prices for Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World…
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Peak Prices
- Magic Kingdom: $45 per person
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $39 per person
- EPCOT: $37 per person
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $35 per person
Lightning Lane Single Pass Peak Prices
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: $15
- TRON Lightcycle Run: $23
- Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind: $22
- Star Wars Rise of the Resistance: $25
- Avatar Flight of Passage: $19
Lightning Lane Premier Pass Peak Prices
- Magic Kingdom: $449 per person
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $349 per person
- EPCOT: $249 per person
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $199 per person
It’s the same story at Disneyland, which did away with paper FastPass and the paid digital MaxPass system in favor of Lightning Lanes. See our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and California Adventure for everything you need to know about paid line-skipping at Disneyland Resort.
From now through early October 2026, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ticket add-on will now cost $34 per day for pre-arrival purchases, which is up from the previous cost of $32 per day. As a reminder, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass includes PhotoPass at Disneyland, which is one reason why it costs more.
As with Walt Disney World, same-day Lightning Lane Multi-Pass purchases will be variably priced based on date and demand and now will start at $37 per day. We’ve already seen several $40 days at Disneyland. It’s only a matter of time before Disneyland breaks the $50 barrier. Perhaps as soon as the upcoming holiday weekend, but probably more likely on one of those upcoming Tier 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Disneyland Paris has replaced free FastPass with paid Premier Access line-skipping.
Disney Premier Access can be purchased via the Disneyland Paris App and costs between €7 and €20 for one-time access to skip the regular queue line for popular attractions, including Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours: the Adventures Continue, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
From anywhere inside the parks, guests can use the Disneyland Paris App to purchase an assigned time slot for the aforementioned attractions. Pricing for Disney Premier Access will be per ride, and is dynamic. It depends upon the attraction and crowds on the day of visit. Think of it like Express Lanes on toll roads, Uber’s surge pricing, or to a lesser degree, Walt Disney World’s date-based ticket and hotel prices.
There’s also Disney Premier Access Ultimate, which is like Lightning Lane Premier Pass at the US parks. This offers one-time access to all eligible rides, costs between €90 and €190 per person depending on the season.
Disney Premier Access is a new digital paid FastPass service that allows guests to reserve certain theme park attractions by using the app at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. With Disney Premier Access at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, guests will have the ability to select their preferred time and make reservations to experience attractions.
Several attractions offer Premier Access, including but not limited to the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, The Happy Ride with Baymax, and Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland, plus Soaring: Fantastic Flight, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, and Toy Story Mania at Tokyo DisneySea. Each cost 2,000 yen, or approximately $15.50 per person per attraction.
There’s also Priority Pass, which is available free of charge at select attractions, and allows guests of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea the ability to enjoy a reduced wait time. Priority Pass is available for eligible experiences using the Tokyo Disney Resort App as soon as guests enter the park; it’s basically FastPass by a different name. It is not available at any rides with Premier Pass.
See our Guide to Paid Premier Access & Free Priority Pass at Tokyo Disney Resort for more info and tips.
At Shanghai Disneyland, the upgraded Disney Premier Access offers priority access to popular attractions from the designated starting time to the closing time or reserved viewing area of the entertainment venue anytime during the designated return window of your selected entertainment show.
The upgraded Disney Premier Access is available in a wider range of price options and is available on the Shanghai Disney Resort Official App. The price of Disney Premier Access varies by date, attractions and entertainment shows and is subject to availability.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, paid FastPass is available in various bundles and can be purchased with tickets or as a day-of add-on option. Choose either 8 designated attractions or 3 from a list of 5, and enjoy priority access on arrival. Get ahead of the queues with the Disney Premier Access starting from HK$159.
Premier Access at Hong Kong Disneyland gives you priority access to some of the park’s most popular attractions, including Iron Man Experience, Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, saving you time and allowing you to enjoy more rides during your visit.
The good news is that the more things change, the more things stay the same. The most popular and hard-to-score Lightning Lane reservations at Walt Disney World are still Slinky Dog Dash and Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run in Hollywood Studios, Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot, and Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom.
The bad news is that a ton has changed. Jungle Cruise is now incredibly popular as a Lightning Lane reservation, and many attractions are now sold on an a la carte basis as Lightning Lane Single Pass. These include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and TRON Lightcycle Run. Most of the FastPass advice that follows isn’t relevant to the Lightning Lane system.
Above all else, we strongly recommend buying tickets as early as possible in our Tips for Saving Money on Disney Tickets post. Many of the parks offer paid FastPass as a ticket add-on, and it’s usually a good idea to purchase that. It’s a guard against future price increases, which are common.
Our detailed guide for using FastPass at Walt Disney World has been tweaked numerous times to better help you plan as changes have been made to the line-skipping systems. In addition to recommending the attractions you should prioritize attractions, we cover a variety of different approaches (including the “refresh strategy” and Park Hopping), and other ways to save time by avoiding waiting in standby lines. (Again, Lightning Lanes have replaced FastPass queues. A lot of this works similarly, but what follows is outdated and only preserved for the sake of posterity.)
Before we get to those specific tips, a bit of background is in order. You might be wondering, just what exactly is FastPass? Well, it’s essentially ride reservations. You make a FastPass reservation, and go to the attraction at which you booked the reservation during your allotted timeframe (say, 1:20 – 2:20 pm), enter through the FastPass line, and have a minimal wait in line. It’s like a VIP line, but there is no charge to use FastPass.
FastPass+ is the second generation of FastPass at Walt Disney World, replacing paper FastPass ride reservations. The idea then was to get people out of lines and allow them to do other things while waiting for their ride reservation window. The original FastPass system had its strengths and weaknesses, and could be leveraged to allow those who did their homework a strategic advantage.
There was trepidation about FastPass+ existed when it officially launched a few years ago by those who mastered the old system, but FastPass+ has its own advantages. While FastPass+ can’t be exploited to the same degree as regular paper FastPass, guests who are “in the know” can still save a ton of time. All it takes is a little patience and spending the time to understand how FastPass+ works.
While we can’t grant you patience, we will help you understand the system in this post…
Step by Step FastPass+ Booking Process
There are two ways FastPass+ can be obtained: via the My Disney Experience app or website in advance of visits, or via in-park kiosks for guests who don’t have smart phones or who don’t purchase tickets in advance. The FastPass+ is then stored on the MagicBand or your park tickets. (Note that Magic Bands are not required to use FastPass+.)
FastPass+ can be booked for any hour window during the park’s normal operating hours. FastPass+ cannot be booked during Extra Magic Hours or hard ticket events such as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Additionally, FastPass+ times cannot overlap.
Guests “redeem” FastPass+ by swiping the MagicBand or park ticket against an RFID “Mickey Head” reader outside FastPass+ attractions. Guests are able to book 3 FastPass+ tickets in advance of their vacation. You can be 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late to use your FastPass+ reservation and the RFID readers will allow you to enter. So really, your “hour” window is 1 hour 20 minutes long.
After these initial FastPass+ selections are redeemed, guests can book additional same-day selections, as available. This is now possible with the app in addition to the in-park kiosks.
The advance booking process for FastPass+ is relatively straightforward once you understand it, but it’s one of those things that’s much easier to understand when you can look at something to help you visualize the process, so I’m going to walk you through it and explain some additional things to know.
For this walk-through, I’m using the My Disney Experience website, but it’s virtually the same on the app. Before starting, you’ll want to download the My Disney Experience app, or sign onto your DisneyWorld.com account. While our explanation covers what you need to know, it’s easiest if you just play around with the app and see for yourself. Learn by doing.
When you purchase Walt Disney World tickets in advance and stay at a Walt Disney World resort hotel, you can make your FastPass+ selections up to 60 days prior to check-in for the entire length of your stay. These booking windows open up at 7 a.m. on the 30 or 60 day mark, so don’t wait around until 8 a.m. to do this like you would Advance Dining Reservations! Okay, now time for the steps…
The first step is being up bright and early before your booking window opens at 7 a.m. on your 30 or 60 day mark. Make sure you’re logged into My Disney Experience on your computer or phone, pull up the My Disney Experience menu, click FastPass+, and be ready to go at exactly 7 a.m. Once the clock hits 7, click the “Get Started” button on the FastPass+ page, and select the date and park you plan on attending.
Next, you make your individual selections.
This works differently for the Magic Kingdom than it does Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as Magic Kingdom does not use tiering and the other three parks do. We’ll cover this in the strategy section below.
After choosing my time, I’m given a confirmation screen…
…After hitting confirm, I receive confirmation, and am asked whether I want another FastPass+. Rinse and repeat. The system via My Disney Experience is pretty easy. (So long as the app doesn’t crash!)
When you return to the FastPass+ screen, you’ll see your reservations, have the ability to modify, etc. It’s all very intuitive. If you can use Facebook, you can use this system. Chances are that any question you have about the functionality of the site will answer themselves after playing around with it for 5 minutes.
With all of that said, don’t be afraid to ask questions below, but since the basics of booking FastPass+ are ridiculously easy to understand, I’m going to move onto strategy, which is where the fun begins…
Best FastPass+ By Park
We’ll keep it short and sweet here, in case all you care about is the best choices, and don’t want to read a long explanation as to why (that’s in the strategy below). You can also find more strategy in our Disney Attraction & Ride Guides for Walt Disney World each contain thorough recommendations concerning the best uses of FastPass+ for each park.
Here are the choices that will save you the most time in each park:
Magic Kingdom
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Splash Mountain
- Space Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Epcot
- Frozen Ever After (Tier 1)
- Soarin’ Around the World (Tier 1)
- Test Track (Tier 1) – single rider recommended instead
- Spaceship Earth (Tier 2)
- Mission: Space (Tier 2)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Flight of Passage (Tier 1)
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Expedition Everest
- Dinosaur
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (Tier 1)
- Slinky Dog Dash (Tier 1)
- Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster (Tier 2)
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Tier 2)
- Toy Story Mania (Tier 2)
These are objectively the best choices, but they may not be the best selections for you, depending upon which attractions interest you (also note that some of the above have height restrictions, so they may not be the best options for families). The best thing you can do prior to your FastPass+ booking windows opening is looking at Walt Disney World wait times for a little while before your trip, and pinpointing the most appealing high-wait attractions to you.
FastPass+ Strategy
If should come as no surprise that not all FastPass+ attractions are created equally. Some are really difficult to score, and others are seemingly always available (think of them as the “participant award” FastPass+). Let’s start with the difficult ones.
Currently, the most coveted FastPass+ is for Avatar Flight of Passage in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Along with Na’vi River Journey, these are the two new attractions in the Pandora – World of Avatar land.
For these two attractions, Animal Kingdom has gone to a quasi-tiered approach. In this context, you cannot hold FastPasses for both Pandora attractions simultaneously. While both attractions are sure to have long waits, the more popular FastPass+ is Avatar Flight of Passage.
Since this is the E-Ticket thrill ride (whereas Na’vi River Journey is a slow-moving boat ride), it’s likely going to have longer wait times. As such, we recommend trying to score a FastPass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage and doing Na’vi River Journey via the standby line. You can read more about strategy for this new land in our Ultimate Guide to Pandora – World of Avatar.
Many days, FastPass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage will be “sold out” 60 or more days in advance. This is possible because hotel guests have 60 days from the date of check-in. So, if you’re taking a 10-day on-site Walt Disney World vacation, you effectively have a 70-day window for that last day of the trip.
This makes booking FastPass+ for the later days of any long trip easier than the early days. Because of this, always book FastPass+ in order of difficulty. Meaning, if you’re going to Animal Kingdom on day 3 of your trip, start by booking your Avatar Flight of Passage FastPass+ before booking days 1 and 2. It is the most difficult FastPass+ to book, so that means booking your Animal Kingdom day first.
If you want Frozen Ever After, you’ll need to be up bright and early, because Frozen Ever After is still among the most difficult FastPass+ reservations to score in all of Walt Disney World. Standby waits still regularly exceed 60 minutes, and can hit 90-120 minutes on busy days.
A big part of this is because Frozen Ever After is a low-capacity boat ride and demand for it remains high since it’s a family-friendly attraction featuring a movie that is still popular. This is all a recipe for wait times that tend to eclipse an hour, you will want to be up bright and early when your window opens in order to book a Frozen Ever After FastPass+.
The same is true with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway or Slinky Dog Dash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is open, these are the best options at DHS. Long term, it’s difficult to say which will emerge as the victor, but for now, we’re recommending Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway or Slinky Dog Dash as tied for the #2 FastPass+ in all of Walt Disney World.
If you can’t get either of these, Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run is an okay alternative. It has very long lines early in the day, but these fad as the day goes on, and the ride often has a short wait in the evening hours. In fact, there’s more fall off in wait times at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at night than any other park, so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t get your most-coveted FastPass+ at DHS.
FastPass+ Last Minute Refresh Strategy
One final tip for these super-popular FastPass+ attractions: if there’s something that’s an absolute must-do for you, refresh the app regularly, particularly on the day of your visit.
This is done by simply selecting a time for FastPasses in a particular park, quickly scanning what’s available, and if there’s nothing to your liking, selecting another time. The key part of this is toggling between different times–it doesn’t matter what times you choose, as My Disney Experience will show anything that becomes available for previously sold-out attractions.
It can take 10-15 minutes of refreshing (we recommend doing this while you’re standing in line for something else), but you can often score same-day FastPasses for headliner attractions simply with a bit of diligence and persistence in the app.
People cancel FastPass+ reservations all the time, and if you are diligent, getting a Frozen Ever After FastPass+ is possible (particularly for parties of 1-2). We’ve gotten lucky with same-day FastPass+ for Frozen Ever After, Slinky Dog Dash, Avatar Flight of Passage, and numerous other attractions.
This is also a strong approach for your fourth, fifth, sixth (and so on) FastPasses of the day after you’ve used your initial allotment of FastPass+ selections. Even on busy days, you can often keep scoring tough-to-acquire FastPass+ reservations for popular attractions with long lines.
The one caveat here that’s worth reiterating is that this approach works best for smaller parties with more flexible plans. If you’re a party of 6-8 or you can only do a particular attraction at a certain time, you’re probably going to be out of luck.
FastPasses to Avoid
At the other end of the spectrum from highly coveted FastPass+ like Frozen Ever After, Avatar Flight of Passage, and Slinky Dog Dash are the “Participant FastPass+”, Walt Disney World added FastPass+ to many attractions that never had (and never needed) FastPass to make sure there was sufficient capacity in the system so that each guest can book 3 per day without all popular attractions “selling out” of FastPass+ in advance, causing guests to become irritated.
This means that some attractions offering FastPass+ are essentially red herrings, offering FastPass+ not because they will save you time, but so people have something to book in advance if other attractions are sold out. These are typically for shows, for which FastPass+ is almost never necessary.
The idea behind this is that guest satisfaction will be higher if people are able to book FastPass+ (even if those selections save them no time) than they would be if all FastPass+ during their trip are “sold out.” Guests with FastPass+ may get better seats at these shows, but there’s no guarantee of that.
To reiterate: FastPass+ for a show is almost always a waste of a FastPass selection. Don’t do it. These selections are only offered so people don’t feel discouraged when the good FastPass+ options aren’t available. Think of them as the “Participant Award” of Walt Disney World touring.
FastPass+ Timing
We recommend making FastPass+ selections starting about an hour after park opening. Ideally, make your first 3 FastPass+ selections between 10 am and 1 pm, if not slightly earlier. This is because midday is when the wait times are the longest, the weather is the hottest, and you’re going to want to spend the least time waiting in line.
The first advantage to this is that it gives you roughly an hour from rope drop until 10 a.m. to do attractions via the standby line before the crowds really hit, and lines start getting longer. If you’re redeeming FastPass+ first thing in the morning, you aren’t taking advantage of these short standby waits.
Conversely, if you book FastPass+ too late in the day, your options are limited once you redeem your FastPasses and can start making additional selections. Instead, you want to find the right balance between early and not too early, and I think that is around 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Since many guests have no clue what FastPass+ even is until they show up at the park that day (I’d say this describes most guests), you essentially are in a “race” with other guests to use your FastPass+ and start making additional selections before other guests select remaining “good” FastPass+ run out for the day. Think of it as the Hunger Games, except with Disney rides.
In the Magic Kingdom, it is worth noting that many of the attractions that will have high wait times later in the day are located nearby one another, have short ride durations, and can be quickly knocked-out with minimal wait first thing in the morning. So, if park opening is at 9 am, you might be best served by racing to Peter Pan’s Flight, then Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid, and ‘it’s a small world’ first thing. After Fantasyland lines start getting bad, use your FastPass+ for the “Magic Kingdom Mountain Range” after 10 a.m.
This is especially important in the Magic Kingdom, where there are 15+ attractions for which FastPass+ is useful to help avoid waits. For this reason, an ideal strategy in the Magic Kingdom is spending the first hour or so of the day doing popular, short attractions via standby, then using FastPass+ for different attractions, then getting and redeeming more FastPass+ as soon as possible.
Continue that strategy for as long as you’re able, and then do unpopular attractions and/or redeeming additional FastPass+ in the middle of the day. Finally, at the end of the night, you’ll be using standby again at as the crowds and wait times die down. (We always jump into line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 1 minute before the park closes!)
FastPass+ Park Hopper Strategy
An alternate strategy to this if you’re going to be Park Hopping is to not book any FastPass+ for the first park you’re visiting (you can only book FastPass+ for one park per day), staying there until standby lines build, and then hopping to a different park where you have FastPass+ scheduled once things start getting busy.
This strategy works really well for doing a second park in the late-afternoon after some other park in the morning. Now that Disney’s Hollywood Studios has changed its FastPass+ tiers, we’d strongly recommend not using this strategy to hop to DHS. You’ll be at a huge disadvantage if you do, as you can only hold a FastPass for one of its headliners, and you won’t be able to do Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at all.
I know this is a lot to digest about line-skipping and the costs at each Disney theme park, especially considering how intuitive and easy to use the system really is, so I’m going to cut this paid FastPass guide off here. Like so many things related to Walt Disney World, it’s intimidating at first, with a lot of superficial complexity. However, also like a lot of Walt Disney World trip planning, it’s surprisingly simple to understand. There are some complexities that do make it difficult to master, and I think I’ve covered most of those.
If you have specific questions or are interested in park-by-park guides for FastPass+, please feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to answer in the comments below. Also, keep in mind that, although much of the dust has settled, the Lightning Lane paid FastPass system is still very much in flux. I’ll do my best to keep this guide updated, but some things may change…please let me know if you notice any outdated info!
If you need help booking your Walt Disney World vacation and would like the assistance from a professional, click here to get a quote from a recommended, no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. They get their commission from Disney, so there is no charge to you for them to book your trip, help you plan, and even book your FastPass+ ride reservations for you!
If you are planning a first trip to Walt Disney World or your first trip since all of this My Disney Experience stuff launched, make sure to check out our Disney Tips & Tricks page for a lot of helpful tips to outsmart the masses. Also check out our dining reviews to find the best restaurants and our trip planning posts to figure out what to pack, where to buy Walt Disney World tickets to save money, which discounts to look for, and all the other ins and outs of a trip to Walt Disney World, all of which are covered extensively in our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide.
Your Thoughts
Have you used paid FastPass at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or beyond? What did you think? Was it worth the money? Which Lightning Lanes did you find the most difficult to score? How much did you spend in total to buy line-skipping access? Have you had luck securing ride reservations for popular attractions? Any tips of your own to add? Any questions you have about paid FastPass that this guide didn’t answer? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
Hey Tom. Love the blog! Have you or anyone else heard whether they were going to add the park hopper option with FP+? To better describe this, you go to Magic Kingdom in the morning and use 3 fast passes there. You park hop to Epcot, now do you have another 3 fast passes to use?
I went to Walt Disney World in January 2014 and I had this issue when park hopping. I asked one of the Cast Members about this issue and she said it was to be fixed by 2015. Anyone try this yet?? Thanks.
If they were going to add it, I think they would have by now. This is another instance of an intentional handicap, and I think there’s no park hopping so that guests can’t leverage the system too much.
I’d love to see the option added, but I’m not holding my breath.
You will not be able to get 3 additional reservations when you park hop but after using the 3 fastpass+ reservations for your first park and you can go to the next park and make a reservation at the kiosks, which seems more reasonable
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/04/mymagic-adding-even-more-magic-to-fastpass/
Your travel hacking Tokyo & HK Disneyland post made me suspect you were the most intelligent Disney blogger out there. Now I know it for sure. This is an extremely informative post. My husband and I go regularly to Disneyland, where have learned to beat the system with all the usual Fastpass tricks. We have been dreading our first trip to Disney World under the new Fastpass+ system, but I now feel totally equipped to employ some similarly smart hacking strategies there. Just have to work within the parameters Disney deals us! Thanks.
Let’s not play too fast and loose with the word “intelligent.” After all, I am the same blogger who wrote a bizarre tribute to Baby Sinclair: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/baby-sinclair-dinosaurs-osborne-lights/ 😉
We visited DisneyWorld (from Australia) in December and the whole Fast Pass system was difficult to work out. I spent many hours researching it before we left home and I wish your guide had been available then. I couldn’t link my entry tickets and resort reservation and, therefore, couldn’t make Fast Pass bookings. It was a very steep learning curve once we actually arrived at the resort but, all in all, we felt the Fast Pass system was a great way to maximise park time, especially for the thrill rides. As you said, it is easy to understand once you know the basics! Thanks for your great blog and beautiful photos.
It sounds like you experienced one of the lingering hiccups. They are fewer and farther between now, but the system definitely still isn’t perfect. I think once you experience it *without* any issues, it will be much easier!
Thanks for this helpful guide! My family were original FP veterans and really loved the system; the new FP, not so much. I am lucky enough to have a brother who works for Disney in Orlando, so I get in for free on his main entrance pass and haven’t yet had to ‘book’ FP+ ahead of time, as the current system for cast members doesn’t allow for that. We have to wait until we get to the park and then find a kiosk and take whatever’s available – in September, somehow, Anna + Elsa were available, but on the whole it’s not much availability. The new system doesn’t really allow us to just visit whenever we want anymore, which is a little sad. My brother says they may be changing it in the future to allow for advanced reservations for cast members & family, but who knows for sure. I do realize we’re very lucky to get in for free and have half-priced hotel rooms, so you take the good with the not-so-good, but we were really worried for a bit there when they were testing FP+ only for Toy Story Mania…
We visited Disneyland in August this year and having just regular FP was such a delight… I do miss it!
I liked the old fast pass system. As an annual passholder this past year, it was extremely difficult to get fastpass+. We would make day trips and plan them maybe a week or less in advance. We had blackout dates so it’s not like we went last minute during peak seasons. When we went to make reservations, almost everything was gone.
My question is, if people make their reservation 60 days in advance, their plans could change. What if that group didn’t even go to the park that day? I feel like this must happen a lot because we would visit on days with very moderate to low crowds and there would be virtually no passes for anything left. Do those passes just get wasted?
I suppose they get “wasted” in the sense that someone else can’t book them, but they aren’t wasted in the same sense that a dining reservation would be wasted with a table (or ride vehicle) sitting empty. The standby queue would just move (ever so slightly) faster.
I’m sure the system has a certain percentage of no-shows built into it, and accounts for that in terms of how many FP+ are distributed for the day. I’d hazard a guess that there would be MORE problems if everyone showed up than there would be if they didn’t. Sort of like how someone airlines overbook flights with the expectation that a percentage of seats will be no-shows.
Great Post Tom and extremely useful even for a park veteran. I really like your advice re: not wasting FP+ during the first hour of park opening. We went to MK for early magic hours one morning and the entire crowd filed their way back to Anna & Elsa and 7 Dwarves. We literally hd tomorrowland to ourselves for the first hour (the kids rode Astro Orbiter 3 times without having to get off the ride). Thanks again for the post. I will bookmark this one for my next trip.
Anna & Elsa and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train DEFINITELY has made the rest of the park somewhat of a ghost town when the park first opens.
If I were looking to be efficient but also wanted a little solitude, I’d definitely head to Tomorrowland or Frontierland first thing. You can always jump in line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at the end of the night.
Thanks for the guide im finding it very useful for planning our visit in may of this year 2015 traveling from u.k staying at animal kingdom lodge.We have a party of seven including a 1 year old so will have to juggle the fast passes around so somebody is always minding the baby while others ride.Do you have any tips on this? and is it possible to switch fast passes between the party ?
Excellent page
You can account for this yourselves by showing up early in the FP+ window for the first 4 (or 3, however you want to split up) and then the second half of your group can use the later part of the FP+ window after the first part of your group is done. Even though you all book the FP+ together, you don’t all have to redeem them at the same time.
Alternatively, you can use Rider Switch: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/rider-switch/
On the website when choosing your fastpass+ it will bring you to a screen where you can add friends. As long as you have invited those people who are traveling with you to share in the planning you should be able to check off as many or as few friends as you like. I know I had to call guest relations as some of my traveling companions were not showing up, but they were super helpful and got it fixed relatively quickly. Hope that helps!
This post was suppose to reply to Wendy’s original post…not sure what happened there.
I would love to hear more about the Fp+ arm bands. I’ve seen photos of decorated/personalized versions on Instagram. Where do those come from, and why can you keep reusing them for subsequent trips? The photo of them here in your blog post with each guests names assigned to them, is that what one would receive when the trip is booked, , do they mail them to you or are they given at check-in? I’ve heard they can be used in the Wii Infinity game but am wondering if that’s just hype or actually fun? One of my teens showed me Instagram pics of people wearing them on the flight to WDW, why?? Any reason other than getting the excitement started early? There is even a YouTube post of a guy warning us all that these armbands signify the end of the world as we know it. I may be the only person intrigued and mystified by all this, in which case, nevermind 🙂
People decorate them on their own, but there are also limited editions ones that Disney sells.
You receive normal ones in the mail when you book a trip at a Disney hotel.
As for your other questions, it’s all about hype and marketing. I’ve seen photos of people’s Disney Magical Express tags on Instagram. Disney fans get excited about all sorts of odd things! 🙂
Just a quick addition to Tom’s post – if you live outside of the US, Magic Bands will be waiting for you at your Disney resort! Hailing from Canada, I need to wait until my arrival date to get my MagicBand 🙂
If I understand this all correctly, the people wearing them on the plane were likely going to be using the free transportation to resort from airport (MagicExpress?). You have to scan your band or Key to the World to use the service.
Thank you so much for this extremely helpful post! This is our first going with the Fastpass+ system, so reading your post gives me a little more confidence as I prepare to make my FP+ rezzies in March. My question is there are 8 of us going on our trip. Is it difficult to be able to get everyone a pass for the same time? From what I can tell it looks like you do one guest at a time, so I am concerned we will not be able to have any passes at the same time. Not that our whole group wants to ride every ride together but definitely some.
If you have everyone linked into you “my Disney experiece” then you can book everyone’s fastpasses at the same time. And you can change them all as a group or just cange a few of them if everyone doesn’t want to do the ssme things.
I used FP+ back in October and it worked really well for our group. We stayed on site, so I made sure to book at 12am 60 days out and was able to get the exact times I was looking for.
We are thinking about a quick trip around Labor Day, but may stay off site. My question is, at 30 days prior, are FP’s normally still available for 7 Dwarfs and Toy Story?
Yes and no. As far as holidays go, Labor Day isn’t *that* busy, but it might be busy enough that 7DMT and TSM are sold out. Really tough to say at this point.
Great post! (as always :))
Admittedly when MyMagic+ debuted, I was one of the naysayers. However, after 3 trips using Fastpass+, I have become quite the advocate, actually preferring it to the original Fastpass system. I do agree there are some shortcomings, however the system has worked well for my family (anecdotal, I know!) and I would be comfortable saying I really love the new system. Just an example, I recently returned from a two-week trip, which started Jan. 1st. It goes without saying, but WDW is a little busy on Jan. 1st! Still, with Fastpass+, we were able to do the Magic Kingdom Mountain Range, something I know we would have never been able to do with the old system and wait times for Space Mountain exceeding 150 minutes.
I’ve never had the best luck with Be Our Guest Lunch Fastpass+ reservations. However, I’ve found the “magic” formula for obtaining them is to log in to the site Tom has provided 27 days before you’d like to visit (even better around 4am). Remember, you do have to have an on-site resort confirmation number, which does not include the Swan and Dolphin. Again, all anecdotal evidence, but that formula has worked for me several times! Hope it maybe helps a few of you if you’re having trouble!
Thanks again Tom! (And congratulations on your WDW Marathon finish!)
I’ll admit that I was also a naysayer of the whole MyMagic+ initiative. A big part of this was the initial rollout, and I think there is no denying that it was handled incredibly poorly (understatement of the century) and it sounds like the whole project cost a TON of money that arguably could have been better spent updating attractions and adding new ones. We had 3 consecutive trips with terrible MyMagic+ experiences during the test and adjust period. One of those was particularly bad, and if it were my first visit to Walt Disney World, it might have been enough to sour me on returning.
I recall reading reports on Disboards and WDWMagic from normally positive people who their vacations were ruined or they would never think of Disney the same way. I think a lot of fans had damage done that can’t be undone…or will take some time to forget.
To me, that whole rollout felt like a mandate from someone high up. Almost as if they said, “this project is already over-budget and behind schedule, it’s time to just roll it out to guests” even though it wasn’t even close to being ready. For a company that prides itself on guest service, the whole MyMagic+ launch was completely unacceptable.
Lots of great stuff here…especially the midnight tip. Didn’t know that!! Man this blog sucks!!!
The suckiest!
We are avid readers of your site since we discovered it last year.
One very important correction: “Guests are able to book 3 FastPass+ tickets in advance of their vacation.” should read as “Guests are able to book 3 FastPass+ tickets in advance of their vacation PER DAY.”
I find the FP+ booking system rather irritating when it forces you to have three FP+ reservations even though you may only want one FP+. If you don’t select three, then the system will assign you the rest on random (presumably low popularity) attractions that you will never go on.
The system does not currently have the intelligence to figure out that you don’t want to book an FP+ at the same time or close to the time when you already have a dining ADR. In some cases, the ADR is at a location in a different part or at a resort.
I had never used the old FP system and never had a need to. I only use the new FP+ system in certain circumstances. For many attractions we like, we find it simpler to go on the rides during the nighttime Extra Magic Hours.
Your explanation relating to the Anna and Elsa meet and greet explains why I couldn’t get a FP+ in the first 3 or 4 days of our most recent 7 day trip when I tried to book it 60 days out. I could never figure it out before. I easily got one for each of the remaining days but ended up only going once because the Anna did not look anything like the Anna I had seen in several YouTube videos before I went on that trip.
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On a separate note, I use EXIF Viewer which is a Firefox add-in to look at your EXIF data to partly learn about your photography techniques. I am finding that recently taken photos in many of your newer posts have extremely limited EXIF data available when compared with your older photos. It seems that this generally seems to be an issue with your photo uploads to WordPress but not an issue when you had uploaded the photos to a different site. Alternatively, perhaps there has been a change in your post processing that strips out the EXIF data. Any ideas?
Thanks for clarifying. I thought the per day thing was obvious, but perhaps I should edit the article to make that clear.
As for the EXIF info…I have no clue. I have not changed my workflow or how I edit photos, and I don’t strip out the EXIF data. I wonder if it’s how WordPress processes them? Maybe there was a change to that.
One advantage to being a Californian is that I got to book my FP+ at 9pm. We stayed off property, but even with 5 day tickets I could only book one day at a time. I was hoping to be able to book all 5 days at the 30 day mark of day 1.
Thank you for this post!! We just missed out on FP+ on our last visit and are really looking forward to using this system on our next trip. My husband took running all over the parks for the next possible FP as a source of pride so I’m not really sure what he’s going to do with himself with this new system when that service is no longer needed?! Maybe he’ll have to do a Dole Whip run instead?
One question about the new system though, since we haven’t been since 2013, after we have used our first 3 FP+’s, and we can now request another one at the kiosk, do we still have to go to a kiosk in the general vicinity of the ride we want the FP for, or do all kiosks now reserve any ride that’s still available?
Any of the kiosks will work. They aren’t tied to any particular attractions.
Are Fast Passes transferable?
Excellent write-up Tom! I think the only other thing I could think of would be that if a ride happens to be broken down or has something else wrong with it and you have it scheduled for your FastPass, they will give you a choice of other attractions to substitute for it. At least that’s what happened to me last year in Magic Kingdom. Probably not a very likely occurrence so I doubt it needs to be in this post, just figured I’d mention it.
Great point! That actually happened to us once, too. Another thing that might be applicable in rare circumstances is if you have to go to Guest Relations for something and their “remedy” is a FastPass+, it will be good for ANYTHING, and that includes the Anna & Elsa meet & greet (at least it did when we had an issue last year…although we used it for 7DMT instead of Anna & Elsa).
I was at Animal Kingdom last week and Dinosaur was down during my Fast Pass+ window. I immediately received an e-mail indicating that I now had an “open” FP+ to use on any attraction at any time. I didn’t have to make a selection or pick a new time, just scan my Magic Band whenever and wherever I chose. Ultimately, I used the FP on Dinosaur once it was back up and running (I already had the FP that I really wanted: Kilamanjaro Safari right before park close), but it was great to be given open options.
We had some trepidation with the switch to FP+, but it has really worked well for us. (We slept in until 11 on New Year’s Eve and still rode 3 rides – that’s 3 more than we would have had with the old system.) Although I probably get at least a mile less walking/running in a day than with the old system!
I do really wish you could add addition FP’s from the app.
I have to think the functionality of adding more FP+ with the app is coming soon, but I’ve been thinking that since last May or so, and with each app update, it’s still not there.
It has to be a really simple fix given that you CAN make or change FP+ on the day of your visit via the app, so I’m starting to suspect they have made this an intentional handicap for some reason.
Perhaps it’s to prevent the uninformed guest who rolls out of bed, shows up at the front gate, and buys a ticket without any prior knowledge from being too disadvantaged? I really don’t know what else it would be…
Just wanted to say that I have been waiting for you to do a post on this; your posts are always really helpful. So I was very excited to see it pop up on facebook! Now to read it… if it sucks I will want my commnt back.
Most of the posts here suck. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!! 😉
Turns out this was a good one! Most informative one I’ve read. I’m bummed about the fp for BOG possibly going away, we are going in September and were really counting on scoring a fp so we wouldn’t have to line up 30 min before hand just to eat. Ah well. I wish that I could play around with the system before my window opens up. I’m sure its as easy as you say, but I don’t want minutes of me fumbling to cost me Anna and Elsa. I’ll do what you mentioned above and plan them first on one of my last days. I think I’m as ready as I can be… thanks!
We planned our Tokyo disney resort trip based on Tom’s sucky blog…so our trip sucked big time!! In two months we’ll be able to book our FP+ and I plan on using this guide so our upcoming WDW trip will suck as much as tokyo sucked. Boo yeah. 😉
so muppet-like a comment!!
Thanks for this! We are vets of the old system but our upcoming trip will be our first since Fastpass+ launched and I want to make sure we make the most of it. We are taking our daughter, who will be almost 4, for her first WDW trip so our FP selections will skew heavily to the preschool side. Good to know they open things up to register at midnight of the 60 days – I may have to stay up late just to make sure we get in to meet Elsa and Anna the day I want!
My advice with Anna & Elsa would be to work backwards as soon as the window opens. In other words, if your trip is 7 days, look first at day 5-7. That’s going to be the quickest way to lock that coveted FP+ in. From there, you can try for earlier days, and move things around as necessary.
I would agree with Tom- start with your furthest out. I was up at midnight 60 days before, signed in, ready to go, and still didn’t get Anna and Elsa for ANY of the days we were in the park. 🙁 I also kept checking back periodically to see if new slots opened up… I wasn’t able to snag one.
We just went to Disney in Sept. 2014. In regards to Anna and Elsa, we did a FP+ for the last day we where there, howeverm, the 1st day we were there was also at MK. We got there early when the park opended and and at the rope drop walk at a moderate pace to Anna and Elsa. We only waited 20 minutes which is acceptable for my family. Done! Then when we swapped out the Anna and Elsa FP+ for something else on our last day. So if you can do something like that it works like a charm.
We did something similar with Epcot and Test Trackl / Soarin. We had FP+ for each of them on seperate days. Day 1…FP+ for Soarin and did Test Track first thing (wait was 15 min) then did Soarin. Day 2 we reveresed the process had a FP+ for Test Track and did Soarin right in the beggining. Both days we had both attractions done in less than an hour…just have to be creative.