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!
What’s your suggestion for the best FP at HS now that TOT and Rock n Rollercoaster are Tier 1? Still Slinky Dog?
Don’t know if anyone mentioned this before but what time zone were you referring to for the 7am fastpass+ booking time?
Eastern Standard Time
I apologize if this was already asked. There are a lot of posts. Lets say i’m checking in August 22nd and I choose August 23rd on my DHS tix. My FP+ window starts June 22 or 23?
If I am traveling as a group of 4 (mom, dad, 5 year old and 2 year old), do we each get a 3 fast passes per day (so dad and 5 year can do one but mom and 2 year something else?) or 3 passes for all of us to share for the day?
Also, I had read your other section on restaurants. Making a reservation at a restaurant is one of your fast passes or different all together? Thanks!
My family is similar to yours and I was able to book different fast passes for all of us. Some I ride with my daughter while my husband goes on another ride alone and vice versa. Restaurant reservations do not count as fast passes. They are separate.
I’m new to fastpass+ but when I was choosing my fastpasses, I was able to chose which guests I wanted for what passes so you should be able to pick one ride for mom and 2 year old and a different one for dad and 5 year old. . Booking restaurant times is totally separate from fastpasses. I hope this helps. Let me know if I’m misinformed.
This is really important!! If you have a young child who won’t do something like Seven Dwarves Mine Train but an older child who wants to do this, then book the fast pass for all 4 of you. Then when you enter the fast pass line as a family of 4, you can ask for a rider swap. This means that mom OR dad will do the ride with the older child, while the other parent goes to ride something else with the younger child. Then when they finish the ride, the OTHER parent can do the fast pass with the older child AGAIN so that both parents get to fast pass the line and the older child gets to ride it twice!
But to answer the question, if one parent didn’t want to do Seven Dwarves (then he or she may be crazy 😉 but then they can schedule a fast pass for the parent that wants to do it with the child at seven dwarves for only those 2 people, and then they can schedule something else like Winnie the Pooh for the other child and themelf. Just be careful with times, you want to try to overlap the times as close as possible so that you can get back on the fast pass schedule at the same time, which allows you to register for another fast pass later all at the same time.
If staying off property, will we be able to get worthwhile Fadtpasses since they can only be reserved 30 days in advance? We haven’t been since the paper days. Thanks for your help.
You probably won’t get any of the very top attractions like let’s say Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Slinky Dog Dash, or Flight of Passage, but in my mind any fast passes are always worth while! And it does help to keep checking back in. A couple years ago I was able to get the Epcot Frozen ride about 2 weeks ahead of time. Check in as people do change their plans!
Do you choose the ride then the date you want the Fast Pass? Or do you reserve your 3 for Day 1 then move onto Day 2?
Choose the date, then which fast pass you want, then the time. Then move to FP 2 for the same date, choose the ride, then the time. Then move to FP 3 for the same date, choose the ride, then the time. 🙂
Awesome blog! I just “completed” my FastPass reservations for our five-day Disney trip, but I will definitely make some changes after learning about and reading this!
So my issue is this: currently I have FastPass reservations for most of the night shows (IlliumiNations at Epcot, Avatar at Animal Kingdom, and Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios) but that also means I won’t be able to make the most out of FastPass privileges since we’re only allowed to make additional reservations once the three initial reservations have been used.
I guess I need to remove my reservations for IllumiNations and Fantasmic (since I only want to secure choice viewing spots but that’s something I’m willing to compromise), but probably I should stick with the Avatar reservation, based on what I gather from this article. (Note: There were no earlier time slots available for that show when I started planning! The earliest one I got was at 7:15pm.)
Would this be a smart strategy? Any other FastPass tips you might recommend to make the most out of FastPass?
Thanks! I’ll be following this blog from now on!
I would recommend sacrificing your show fast passes for earlier ride fast passes. Most of the shows are fantastic from almost any spot, so unless being front & center without the hassle of the crowd is SUPER important to you, you’ll definitely get more value out of the fast pass by cancelling the shows & reserving a ride earlier in the day, when you can then schedule a 4th (5th, 6th, etc) fast pass once you complete your first 3.
As for Avatar – if you mean Flight of Passage, then YES you should keep it even though it’s 7:15pm. The lines for FoP are insane, I’ve seen over 4 hours, and any FP on FoP are absolutely worth keeping. If it’s for the Avatar river ride, you’ll be far less impressed with this ride I think, and you might consider giving up the late FP for something else earlier.
Ok – I have a SERIOUS FastPass+ question!! We’ve been to DW several times, I’ve sort of mastered the advanced dining reservations, the “flexible” schedule of which rides to hit & the right times, how to offset meals, and where to see the great entertainment. But there’s one question that I’ve always struggled with…
When booking fast passes at 7am on the day my window opens, should I start with my LAST day first, or my FIRST day first?
I mean you could make an argument either way – you’re more likely to still have good selections for your last day even by 8am because there’s a smaller audience overall, still, for that day. But also the likelihood of the getting the best schedule of rides on your first day is smaller because the audience for that day is already larger, so you better scoop up any good rides ASAP before the person that hit snooze wakes up and beats you to it. But if you start with day 1, then you might have trouble by the time you get to day 4 or 5 or whenever your last day will be, if you’re trying to hit Seven Dwarves Mine Train or Pandora…
This should be called the BIG DISNEY FP+ TRADEOFF! Which strategy is best???
Not an expert, but I booked fast passes based on popularity–i.e. avatar FoP we’re gone for the first day of our trip (when I had originally planned for us to go to AK). I took my travel agent’s advice and booked that for the last day of our trip instead, managing to get 3-4pm as our earliest time. Then I backtracked and went for HS fastpasses as our next choice–wasn’t able to get slinky dog at all, but Avatar was more important to us. Then I skipped to our MK day to get seven dwarfs mine train, and finally our Epcot day to get Frozen for our daughter. So basically I did day 4 (AK)–>day 3 (MK)–>day 2 (Epcot)—>day 1 (HS). Then I went back and filled in our other FP reservations for less in demand rides. Basically trying to work around our meal reservations and the main FP we wanted. Overall I think we scored 90% of the ones we wanted and I’ve been continuing to check for any we couldn’t get. Using that method, I was able to move up a 6pm Tower or Terror FP to 4pm. Hope this helps! Good luck!
Awesome advice, this is exactly what I was wondering. Thanks for the tips!
So you are able to jump around to different days when reserving your FP in advance?
First of all this blog is fantastic! Thanks for putting together such an informative blog.
We are planning on visiting in April 2020 and i have not used the fastpass+ service before.
If i book my rides 60 day in advance of the day i plan to visit say Magic Kingdom and i book all my 3 ride allocations for that day does it mean that i cannot pre-book 3 rides in say Epcot for the next day 60 days before if you see what i mean?
Hope it makes sense..
Thanks again
My husband and I have done the FastPass+ every time we go and it’s is very easy to do. I would highly suggest that you do all the homework ahead of time so you know which rides appeal to you most and book them ASAP. To answer your question, you can book all the fast passes for your entire trip in one day at home and then go back to adjust later. Meaning you can pick all 3 rides per park per day of your trip. So you need to have a game plan on which days your going to each park. I would get passes for the hardest rides first and then assign them to the day you’ll attend that park because if you try to get that coveted pass for “Avatar” on a day YOU think you want to go you may miss out on a day it was actually available. Hope this helps ! P.S. ….. once you use all 3 passes for the day go back to your Disney’ account and book 3 more for that same day /park. You may find other rides that are available
How do FastPass+ work when traveling with kids (right under 3 yo and 1.5)? Do the kids also need fast passes?
Yes if they have park tickets, (i.e. maybe the 3 yo, but not your 1.5 yo).
We have been to DW many times over the last 20 years. We live in Idaho and own a timeshare in Orlando. We used to always
purchase hopper passes, but with the new system where people who stay on property can book Fast Pass+ 60 days in advance, we have found it is very difficult to hop. By the time we can start booking our Fast Pass+ tickets (30 days in advance from the day you will enter into the Park) it becomes difficult to get any of the favorite rides and you have to get your three Fast Pass+ for the same park before you can hop. By then, Fast Pass+’s are gone at other parks. It is very frustrating. Any tips?
I’m planning on going to Disney multiple days in a row. Am I able to book all my FastPasses 30 days ou(staying off property) from the 1st day my park ticket is valid or do I have to book each day as it hits the 30 day mark?
You can only select fast pass 30 days in advance for each day you plan to visit.
I have a group of 8. Within that group are my son, his wife and their 3 children. I have my tickets already. Am I better off loading all 8 sets of tickets on my MDE and booking FastPasses for all 8 together, or should I give my son their tickets and have him book FastPasses for 5 and I will book for 3 adults. Assume we all want the same FastPasses.
Many times 60 days out the high value rides are not available .. people that check in b4 you or stay at certain levels get 90 days out to book.
Hi there – do you know if I’d be able to book FastPass+ reservations myself 60 days in advance if I rent points for the Polynesian through a DVC member and buy tickets through an authorized 3rd party seller? Thank you!
I was able to do this for our Dec 2017 trip. I rented points through DVCRentalstore (for Poly Studio, LOVES IT THERE!) Everything (resort, tickets, ADRs) was linked in MDE. 60 days out you’ll be able to secure your FPs.
Hi, I wanted to know if it will be possible to book FastPass+ if i’m not staying into a disneyland hotel. I will buy my tickets in andvance of course, so I will be able to book FastPass+ with the app or not?
Thank you in advance, this blog is great!
Yes ,but you are only able to make selections 30 days before the day you visit park. If you stay at Disneyland or Disneyworld hotel you can select fast pass 60 days before visit.
What if I go to MK on days 2 and 6 of my trip? Can I book FP for both days or only 1?
What’s the best restaurants for a 10 year old boy at Animal kindgom, magic kindgom and Hollywood studios ?
HOW DOES IT WORK IF YOU WANT TO CANCEL A FAST PASS+? DO YOU GET PENALIZED IF YOU DON’T SHOW UP
JUST WONDERING AS MY SON IS VERY CLOSE TO THE HEIGHT AND I MAY WANT TO BOOK BUT IF HE’S SHORTER THAN SIGN HE WON’T BE ABLE TO GO ON.
ALSO MY MOTHER DOESN’T LIKE ALL RIDES AND SHE IS WORRIED ONCE SHE SEES SOME OF THEM SHE MAY NOT FEEL UP TO IT.
Do you know if Disney holds fast pass availability and then releases some throughout the day? Or is it completely first come first serve till they’re gone?
Hi, do you have any tips for people trying to book for a larger group (9 people) through fastpass. I am getting the impression from the comments and your article that this might be near on impossible and we might be better off breaking into smaller groups?