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!
I have 2 girls aged 9 and 11.
Visiting one day (mid March break) with park hopper. Our plan originally was visiting open to close, first magic kingdom, then Epcot. I’m wondering if you suggest Epcot then magic kingdom? I found out a few things today.
1) the closing shows are an hour apart (but Epcot’s seems Better than MK’s). EC’s starts at park close but MK’s starts an hour before close
2) I didn’t realize you’re not allowed to buy FP+ for more than 1 park.
This changes everything. What do you suggest? First timers. And want to definitely do the classics and soarin around the world. I thought I had this all figured out but now I’m not so sure.
For what it’s worth on the fast passes – your initial three must be in. one park. But subsequent fast passes can be in any park. But you won’t be able to make these in advance.
We are a family of 6 staying off site. This is our family’s first trip to Disney. We are planning to spend one day in each park.Our youngest has Down syndrome who is not able to go on roller coaster rides. Any advice on using a das card in conjunction with fast pass? Are there specific rides that we should use das? Thank you for any suggestions.
Have an extended stay booked in October for 19 nights total 3 different on-site properties. Will have a 10 day ticket. I’m very familiar with fastpasses but not sure when my booking window actually opens, since I know the ticket is only good for 14 days (my park plans only encompass those 14 days). Does my window open 60 days before first check-in or 60 days from date I plan to use my ticket for the first time?
As long as they’re all on-property and all linked to your account (along with tickets) you should be able to start booking 60 days before the first date, but for the duration of your stay. Therefore, a good strategy is to first book the difficult-to-obtain FP+ for later days in your stay, which most other guests are not yet able to access. Try working backward, and fill in with whatever ends up being available on the earlier days of your stay. ‘Hope that helps!
I know that the first three FPs must be used in the same park – but can you switch parks after that? For instance, if we used up our three at HS and then park-hopped to Epcot, could we use our subsequent day-of fast passes there?
After making 3 fast pass reservations at Wild Kingdom on a given day, it won’t let me search for other available passes without dropping one I have reserved. Am I doing something wrong? I’m willing to drop one if something else comes available but don’t want to lose one if nothing better comes available.
Are you on the app? Click on one of your already book FastPass reservations. Once you are in the reservation, there are going to be two spots where “Change” is located, one under the name of the ride and one next to the time you have it booked for. Click on the one by the name of the ride. It will take you to your guests, click Continue. That will show what’s all available. Hopefully that helps. It is a little confusing.
If you don’t see one you want to change to, just back out of it (upper lefthand corner arrow) and it won’t change anything
Can you stack Fastpasses for the evening if your family takes a midday break? We plan to use our 3 advance reservation Fastpasses in the morning and head to the resort in the afternoon. If available, will I be able to collect a few more Fastpasses with evening return times over the course of the afternoon? Or do we have to use the 4th Fastpass to get a 5th Fastpass, etc.
You would have to use the 4th fast pass before getting a 5th one unfortunately. After the first 3 you can only book one at a time per person
If we have 3 people in our group, can I book a different Faspass per person and hopefully utilize the change party feature to grab 3 different Fastpasses for all of us to use?
Adrienne, are you referring to 3 different FP’s for the 4th FP for each of you? I’d say that’s a bit of a gamble. You can try it, but don’t be surprised when the cast member recognizes your trick and shuts you down. People that go all the time have thought about every possible trick multiple times over before any of us who only go once have a chance to think about them. I’m sure most shortcuts get flushed out quick by the CM’s.
That being said, when we went, and I added a 4th FP for the teacups, I accidentally just selected my wife and I leaving off our 4 year old. Since we’d be the only ones in the tea cup, they let us all through, but if you’re thinking about doing that with 3 adults and only 1 having the FP, I don’t see them allowing everyone access. Best strategy is once you scan your ticket/magicband and you’re standing in line waiting to get on the ride, go back to your MDE app and look for the next FP.
Is it 3 fast passes total you can book in advanced ? Or 3 passes per the amount of days you have on ticket ? Thank you!
It’s 3 passes per day. When booking passes for every park except Magic Kingdom make sure you remember to pay attention to the tiers of the passes you’re booking. At the other three you can only book one tier one and two tier twos
Hi Tom, love your blog–thanks so much for providing these details! We will be travelling with a 2 year old who does not have a ticket. Do we just book the fast pass for the two ticketed adults and bring her along? Also, do you have a list of rides that accept single riders? Thanks so much! Jen
Hi Jennifer, according to this post, you just take your child on the rides they’re tall enough for and they get right on with you when you check in for your fastpass reservation – https://disneyparksmomspanel.disney.go.com/question/fastpass-children-not-require-ticket-325820/
And the single rider attractions are:
Test Track — Epcot.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster — Hollywood Studios.
Millennium Falcon — Smugglers Run — Hollywood Studios.
Expedition Everest — Animal Kingdom.
Hope you have a great trip!
Hi Tom,
For our trip in February we are club level and are thinking about upgrading so we can book 6 fast passes a day. With two days at MK and 1 day at each other park, what would you suggest? Should I just grab our most wanted rides? Try to get them all in the morning? Should I try and follow a path through the park? Any direction would be greatly appreciated . Thanks!
Hi Tawny,
6 FP’s per day would be amazing for the Magic Kingdom, since there’s so many attractions there, plus doing 2 days, so you get 12 total, score! I’m not an expert like Tom, but i’ve been doing tons of research for my own trips, so here’s how I’d let this play out:
To start, I’m not sure if your club FP’s would work the same, but typically, the first set of FP’s you book cannot overlap, therefore, with 6 FP’s, you can book for 9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, and 2pm time slots (each ride FP has an hour to use window). Or adjust as necessary 🙂 Once you use your 6th, you can book for whatever is available, use it, then book another for whats available and so on, no longer being bound by the overlap rule. I ignore Tom’s advice for booking FP’s in the afternoon for 3 FP’s (with a kid, ya gotta rest in the afternoon) so I would definitely ignore with 6 as well.
If I were you, I’d get my 9/10 slots near each other, 11/12 and 1/2 near each other and do those back to back at the end of the hour for the first and beginning of the hour for the second, then fill the rest of your time with things that are in the vicinity. For example, if you have a Peter Pan FP for 9 and 7 dwarfs mine train for 10, do other things around the castle first like winnie the pooh, mickey’s philharmagic, carousel, etc, then at 10 minutes before the end of your first FP time, head over to that attraction (I’d do Peter Pan at 9, 7DMT at 10). When done there, head over to the 10am FP and it’ll be just after 10am when you get done with that ride. The next FP you’d use would be close to noon for the 11am slot, so spend the next 2 hours getting snacks and doing dumbo, teacups, etc in the circus area, then have FP’s set up for Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid for 11/12. Then it’ll be time for lunch after you do the 12pm FP. If you have a lunch reservation for the Beast castle, you’ll be right there. Then after lunch, head to tomorrowland and have FP’s for space mountain and Buzz lightyear and fill your time doing the rest – Speedway, Astro Orbiter, Monster’s Inc, Carousel of Progress, People mover – whatever your interests are.
For day 2, you would be able to do the other mountain ranges / water rides in Adventureland/Frontierland like Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Splash and Thunder Mountains. (FP’ing those 4 would set you up for a very leisurely morning as they’re all really close to each other, so check out the shops and Tom Sawyer island and other places in Liberty Square) then maybe go back to Peter Pan and 7 DMT. Or if meeting characters is important, use on one of the princess or Mickey/Tinkerbell greets. Also, spend time on the parades and castle shows on this day, if those interest you, while waiting for your next FP time to open up.
Good luck and remember to have fun! 🙂
My family of 4 is traveling to Disney in January. Surprising the kids at Christmas!! When booking FastPass can we book separately or does it have to be all 4 together in the group for a FastPass. I’m specifically interested in booking a FastPass for my daughter and I for frozen Ever After and Test Track for my husband and son.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
You can definitely book the fast passes separately you don’t all have to have the same ones. When you’re booking them just make sure the fast passes are linked to the right ticket and you’ll be fine.
I would assume Disney would announce Star Wars FP+ going live a minimum of 90 days in advance. Otherwise how do you reconcile the benefits between Club Level 90 day, 60 day hotel and 30 day guests?
What if you book a Disney hotel for 1 night and buy a 2-day park ticket, starting on day of arrival. Would you get 60-day FP+ adv res for both days? I would assume to get the 60-day you have to book park tickets and hotel together in one transaction, but do they prevent you from buying a park ticket for more days than nights you are staying (I would guess they would allow +1 day so guests could go on day of arrival and day of checkout?)
Hi Jeff,
You can actually purchase both separately, then link the tickets to your reservation once everything is purchased, it’s just more convenient to do it all at once. And yes, you can book 1 night hotel and 2 day tickets and book your FP’s 60 days from your 1 night stay, so the FP’s you book for the second day would be 61 days out – as you can book them all at the same time.
Hi Tom! I booked my fast passes this morning. I chose Avatar FOP as my second fast pass to book after SDD and man I only got a 6:35 time which I guess is better than not. I am holding out hope that I can find something earlier. What’s my best strategy? Do I book a “red herring” and move all others to earlier so I can use them faster and then find FOP as a 4th on the day of…OR….keep checking in an effort to modify my existing. We have other plans for the evening so 6:35 won’t work at all. Thanks for any advice!
I need some help with Animal Kingdom fast passes, please. I currently have FP for Kilimanjaro Safari at 9:30am, Tusker House dining reservation at 10:20am, FP for Flight of Passage at 12:30pm, and Expedition Everest at 6:30pm. Is this a good plan or should I make my Everest fastpass earlier??
If you want to utilize same day fast passes I would definitely change your Everest fast pas to a couple hours earlier. If you can something around 2pm would be a good choice to help utilize the same day passes.
Hello Tom and Sara, Thank you for the fantastic job you do on your blog. I follow you even when I don’t have a trip planned. It was because of your information, I rented DVC points and are staying at AK this March. In regards to Fast Passes, do you get Fast Passes to use from 7 -9 at the After Dark events? We purchased the tickets and I was hoping to FP the safari before the event officially starts at 9. I’m hoping you have the answer.
Thank you again for all your work, I don’t think our trip would be as well planned if it wasn’t for your Blog.
We are not completely decided on where we will stay during our Disney trip. We have an on site resort booked, but may cancel it. If I book fast passes at the 60 day mark but then cancel that Disney resort reservation, will those fast passes be cancelled? Thank you!
I’m sorry I double posted! Computer problems
We are not completely settled on where we will stay during our Disney vacation. We have a Disney resort booked, but may cancel it and stay off site. If I sign-up for fast passes at the 60 day window and then cancel our on-site reservation, will that also cancel my fast pass reservations?
Interesting no one has responded to your question. Maybe it’s a secret loophole no one wants to give away? I wouldn’t be surprised if the FP+ isn’t “smart” enough to cancel your reservations. Especially if you canceled them at the latest date possible? But it might be considered “unethical”
From https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/fast-pass-plus/product-description/
“Please be aware that if you cancel your Disney Resort hotel reservation, any FastPass+ selections that were booked more than 30 days prior to your planned arrival are subject to cancellation.”
I’d recommend calling the reservation line to switch reservations, rather than doing it all online. The person on the line should be able to help you keep your FP’s if you’re setting up a new reservation. IE, they’d probably reserve the new room first, then cancel the original room after so you’d always have the reservation, regardless.
You could probably do that yourself online, but be prepared to dash back to FP portal to pick up the ones that were dropped. If you do it at an odd time, like 2am, what’s the likelyhood that someone else going at the same time as you would be looking for the exact same parks the days you had booked at the exact same time you’re changing your reservations? oh the nightmares! Although, some travel agents probably have bots set up to continuously search for FP’s for their clients, so it could happen and probably does happen more frequently than we know.
When you say you can reserve fastpasses starting at 7am, is that eastern time? I am in mountain time. Thanks for all your help.
Just checked My Disney Experience and it’s prompting me to start at 7am ET.
I think the info regarding the availability of the Fast Pass for Frozen is outdated.
This is a great resource, https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=835236, where you can see the availability for popular attractions (i.e. what’s available at 30/60 days).
Frozen doesn’t seem to sell our far in advance anymore.
Love your site.
Question on fast passes. I am NOT a thrill rider but my other half is. To take advantage of this, and help him do as many rides as possible, can i book a fast pass for a ride on my band, book one on his band, and then switch bands so he can do both rides? Or are the magic bands non-transferable?
You should definitely be able to do this. When you tap in with fast pass you just tap the band you don’t have to use your fingerprint like with entrance to the park. Last time we went we used a couple of my 3 year old cousins fast passes for some of the thrill rides for the adults since most of her preferred rides that day we rope dropped.
Do they know the age of the children? I’m going with my 9 month old neice- can I book her a fast pass and then let an adult use or is that totally misusing the system?
Equally if we are doing a ride with the 9 month old so they need a fast pass even if sat on a lap- thanks
It may have changed, but anyone under 3 years old does not require a ticket – no ticket would mean no fast pass, so this wouldn’t be an option for 9 month olds.
We have used fast pass but as I am looking at our upcoming trip I noticed that a few fast passes were assigned to the wrong person in are group. I was looking on how to change it but I didn’t want to mess up and lose that fast pass. How do you change the fp to another person in our group? Thanks and great information you have to share.
Were you able to resolve the issue? Would be curious what, if anything you did. I probably would have called or chatted with someone at Disney to get the FP’s updated to the right guest.