How Much Does 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. (Updated October 24, 2022.)
If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation for late 2022 or 2023, you need to know that free FastPass+ has been permanently retired and replaced by Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. See our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for everything you need to about the new paid ride reservation system.
Currently, the cost of Genie+ ranges from $16 to $22 per day at Walt Disney World, which is the bundled service that allows for line-skipping reservations to be made one at a time over the course of the day. It’s similar to the old FastPass+ or MaxPass systems, but excludes the biggest attractions in each park. Individual Lightning Lanes for the most popular rides priced at up to $22 each.
It’s the same story at Disneyland, which did away with paper FastPass and the paid digital MaxPass system in favor of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. See our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and California Adventure for everything you need to know about paid line-skipping at Disneyland Resort.
There, the cost of Genie+ starts at $25 per day…and we don’t yet know the maximum. Disney just introduced dynamic pricing in Late 2022, and so far, the highest daily price has been $30. Our expectation is that peak dates around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are even more expensive.
Disneyland Paris has replaced free FastPass with a hybrid system for attraction access. In addition to the paid Premier Access line-skipping, there’s also the Disney Standby Pass that combines a virtual queue with a physical standby line. It allows guests to spend the first part of their wait time for select attractions outside of the queue, and then joining the line for the home stretch. In essence, Standby Pass is a mix of (same-day) FastPass+ and traditional queues.
Standby Pass is offered when Disneyland Paris is running out of physical queue space, which is more likely to happen when the priority queues are not in use or are underutilized. (That’s why there are extended queues spilling out into walkways all over Walt Disney World right now, even though physical distancing is long gone.) When available, guests can use the Disneyland Paris app to book the next available Standby Pass time slot to enter the physical queue line of an attraction, return within the allocated 30-minute time slot, present the QR code, and stand in the queue for the remainder of that time.
Disney Premier Access can be purchased via the Disneyland Paris App and costs between €8 and €15 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.
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.
As of Late 2022, three attractions offer Premier Access: The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast at Tokyo Disneyland, plus Soaring: Fantastic Flight and Toy Story Mania at Tokyo DisneySea. Each cost 2,000 yen, or approximately $15.50 per person per attraction. For the two attractions eligible for Disney Premier Access, Standby Pass is now suspended. However, guests can still experience these attractions as usual by waiting in line.
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 “Individual Lightning Lanes.” These include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Again, you’ll really want to read our Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World as a lot has changed. Most of the FastPass advice that follows isn’t relevant to the Genie+ 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 Genie+ paid FastPass system is still in its infancy, and 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!
On your infor on fastpast. What do mean tier 1 and tier 2 on those rides you listed?
In parks with a tiering system, guests may only book 1 of their initial 3 FPs for the day from tier 1. So, at Epcot, you may choose Test Track, OR Soarin’, OR Frozen Ever After, but you can’t book 2 or 3 of them. However, you are always free to book all three FPs from tier 2.
After you use your initial 3 FPs, you can book additional fast passes from whichever same-day fast passes are left, regardless of tier. So, back to the Epcot example, if you rode Test Track (tier 1), Mission Space (tier 2), and Journey into the Imagination with Figment (tier 2), you can book Soarin’ or Frozen Ever After for a 4th FP, though there’s a good chance there won’t be much/any availability.
Basically, this is Disney’s way of making sure the people who can book their FPs early don’t take all the good rides.
Question re: fast pass + and park hopping
If we are park hopping say Hollywood studios am and Epcot pm and have lunch reservations in Epcot-am I better to only book 2 fast pass plus reservations for am so that when I get to second park I am free to start getting them in that park?
As I understand it the 3 reservations are limited to one park so I probably can’t do all 3 if they don’t start until 9 am and get to my lunch at Epcot on time.
Also do I need to physically enter Epcot to start getting the next fads pass plus, or can I start working thru the app on the ride over?
Thanks for any help.
You can only pre-book fast passes at one park. However, once you “tap-in” at your first fast pass, you are free to make additional fast passes at any park. You can even start making your next park reservations while you are walking through the fast pass queue for your first ride.
thank you! 🙂
We had the absolute worse time trying to get our fast passes today. The website crashed all the time, spent over 1 hour, finally getting a rude agent, who half way through stopped because her computer locked up. Kept refreshing the website and got it partially completed, phone help took another hour and with this agent finally got most of what we wanted.
If my party wants to split up – how hard is it to book FP for different attractions at the same time?
It shouldn’t be too hard, depending on when you’re booking your selections and which attractions you want. I just made mine this week for our trip in November, and had to do that exact thing to split our party of 8 people. Our two reservations have start times only five minutes apart from each other.
If you are staying at a good neighbor hotel can you still book fast pass 60 days out?
Hello, I understand that staying in a Disney Resort will allow me to book fast passes 60 days in advance from the date of my first night. However, what if I were to plan to go to the parks BEFORE the first night of my stay at the resort? For example, my stay is 5-10 December. And I would like to go to the parks on 3,4,5 and 6 Dec. How long in advance could I book FP for these?
Off site dates preceding your on-site stay can be booked 30 days in advance.
You can book both December 5 and 6 at 60 days before Dec 5 (I think that would be October 6).
For December 3, you can book on November 3, and for December 4, you can book on November 4.
We’re 60 days out from arrival, I got on promptly at 7. Every fast pass at every park is booked? How can that be?
As a follow-up: I kept clicking and refreshing. There were problems with pages loading and an error message would continue to appear with cute little Olaf on the page. Eventually, a page would load and options would appear. A couple of times, the fast past was selected, but when “confirm” was clicked, Olaf would appear and the fast past was lost. I kept at it for over an hour. I signed out and signed back in and started over. Kept refreshing and trying again. Eventually everything worked out as we had hoped. The moral of the story is “Don’t give up”. Keep at it and you may get everything you want.
Hi! One thing to note is that it’s 7am EAST COAST TIME. So, if you’re on the West Coast, you have to log on at 4am local time.
I’ve just returned from 4 days in the parks of WDW. They’ve significantly changed the procedure for Rider Switch since my visit at the same time last year. I wasn’t able to find any details on Rider Switch on your blog when I searched. Maybe I missed it. But if I didn’t miss it and it’s indeed not there, I’d be happy to do a guest post on it. Let me know while it’s still fresh in my mind.
Please do share your experience and advice. Thanks!
Hi, this will be a first time visit for us and we plan to utilize rider Switch. Please share yout advice! Thanks.
Hi I am 60 days out from my holiday, we are staying at a WDW resort. We will be at WDW for 10 days. I have tried to book fastpass for the Avatar ride everyday we are there and cannot get on one day. There are 5 of us. This seems crazy! We are coming from Australia and don’t want to miss out on the special rides or have to wait 2-3 hrs in a line. I am finding this whole experience stressful when it should be something to look forward to. Can you suggest anything? Thank you.
Hi! This may be a dumb question but are dining reservations and fastpasses linked? like will we be able to book a fastpass same time as a dining reservation? I booked dining reservations first but might change them depending on fastpasses but i’m afraid dining will affect booking the fastpass reservations? First time going to disneyworld love your website!! thank you for all the info!!!
If you are rider swapping, does everyone have to have a FP or just the first person entering the attraction to receive the rider swap pass?
This was very useful info and a good guide for our trip. I would say, however, that the first priority for your tier1 FastPass in Epcot should be Test Track. Frozen Ever After is no longer the line monster of legend anymore. Test Track consistently had the longest standby times of any Epcot Ride when we were there in late May, early June, and it’s had that same distinction whenever we’ve checked the My Disney Experience App since we’ve gotten home. Right now, at 12:00 EDT, there’s a 120 minute wait for Test Track, a 50 minute wait for Soarin’ and a 40 minute wait for Frozen Ever After. The other big wait? Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot is 90 minutes right now. Your mileage may vary, of course, but Test Track also has consistently regular shutdowns as well, due to rain closures. Soarin’ can spike up, but that crowd usually becomes manageable once they open the additional ride capacity, and Frozen Ever After doesn’t seem to be the obsession it was when it first arrived.
I’m confused. Your article initially says 3 per day, then later says you only can reserve 1 ride/park/day. The Disney site says you can book 3 per day per park. Is it 3 per day for all parks? Thanks!
You can reserve 3 in ONE park ahead of time. You can’t split up your reserved Fast Pass’s between two different parks. Once you use 3, you can attempt to get a same day FPP in the same park or any park that you want. Then when you use that one, you can book another one that same day and so on. How many you can get/use will depend on how early you use your first 3 & crowd levels.
Also – if you don’t reserve all 3 and for example book a Tier 1 FPP in Epcot – say Test Track. You would still need to use two tier 2 FPP before you could attempt to get an additional same day Tier 1 – say for FEA. Although depending on the size of your party, there are a number of Tier 1’s will have no same day availability.
Thanks Amanda! Are there limits to how many of your 3 reservations are “Tier 1”?
Hi Tom – I have a question: I’ll be in Disneyworld Dec. 9-21. I’m aware that Fast Pass+ can be booked 60 days prior to my arrival. You mentioned reservations can be made starting at 7:00 am. I’m in Oregon (PST); is it 7:00 am my time or east coast time? Thanks, Linda
I have the same question! Is it 7 am Eastern?
EST
Yes, 7am EST
You can make your Fast Pass+ choices starting at 4:00 AM (PST) ( Oregon) your time at the 60 day mark.
593 Hollandale Road
I believe this is the answer to the 2019 question: “Can you tell me where to find the end of the line for Galaxy’s Edge?”
Tom! We’re planning our first trip to WDW and your info is the best! Your midday FP+ strategy is great. We’re going to use it to maximize our trip!
can I reserved fast pass not only for me but for my husbands and 2 kids also?
So we can have the same time?
You can reserve for anyone linked into your My Disney Experience account, as long as they have tickets. I’m guessing you have figured this out by now though. 🙂
What if other linked visitors have different check-in dates? I.e. I’m checking in on Saturday, but another room linked to my account is checking in Monday. Can I make fastpass reservations 60 days out for all linked visitors in my Disney account?
Hi Tom, thank you so much for all your very helpful guides about Disney World. I read your guide about buying discounted tickets using Park Savers and Get Away Today which are indeed cheaper than buying direct from Disney website. However, both of them only offer multiday tickets starting with 3-day tickets. We only need 2-day tickets for Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Can you recommend a discounter for 2-day tickets? Thank you so much.
Unfortunately, there are no good discount offers for 1-2 day tickets. You should buy those directly from Disney! 🙂
Tom, I just booked overlapping FastPasses at Animal Kingdom on 5/26 for an upcoming visit. I thought the system must be making a mistake. I’ve never been able to pick FastPasses at concurrent times. Do you know if this is new, or maybe just for Animal Kingdom? I have a screen print if you are interested.
We were going to keep our vacation on hold so we could budget for it and pay in full 30 days out from check in. Do we need to pay before the 60 day mark and get our bracelets in order to book fast passes? Or are our tickets/package that are technically on hold able to book fast passes as well?
I have a vacation booked in September and I have booked my fast passes even though I won’t pay until the last minute.