How Much Does Paid FastPass Cost at Disney World & Disneyland?

Previously free, FastPass is now paid at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and all of the international parks. This offers a rundown of the line-skipping costs at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, plus California, Tokyo, Paris, and the other international parks. We’ll offer quick tips for how you can minimize your wait times and save hours in line.
If you’re planning a Walt Disney World vacation for 2026, you need to know that free FastPass+ has been permanently retired and replaced by Lightning Lanes. There are currently three different tiers of Lightning Lane line-skipping products at Walt Disney World.
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) replaced Genie+ as the primary paid FastPass option at Walt Disney World. With the switch, there’s once again the addition of an on-site advantage, ability to make 3 selections in advance, making this almost identical to the old FastPass+ (except paid).
Additionally, there’s Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP), which is the a la carte option that used to be called Individual Lightning Lanes. That’s all bookable in advance. The reason LLMP is “almost” identical to FastPass+ is because 1-2 attractions are excluded from LLMP in each park, and those can be purchased separately via LLSP.
Finally, there’s Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP), which is the top tier of line-skipping meant for the top 1-2% of guests and priced accordingly. It’s like Universal’s Express Pass. LLPP offers line-skipping access to every LLMP and LLSP attraction in each park at the guest’s leisure–no advance booking required.
There’s a lot more to know about Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Multi-Pass and Single Pass, all of which is beyond the scope of this post. If you don’t already know about these line-skipping services, we’d encourage you to read our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World instead of this post.
With all of that in mind, here are the maximum prices for Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World…

Lightning Lane Multi-Pass Peak Prices
- Magic Kingdom: $45 per person
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $39 per person
- EPCOT: $37 per person
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $35 per person
Lightning Lane Single Pass Peak Prices
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train: $15
- TRON Lightcycle Run: $23
- Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind: $22
- Star Wars Rise of the Resistance: $25
- Avatar Flight of Passage: $19
Lightning Lane Premier Pass Peak Prices
- Magic Kingdom: $449 per person
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $349 per person
- EPCOT: $249 per person
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $199 per person

It’s the same story at Disneyland, which did away with paper FastPass and the paid digital MaxPass system in favor of Lightning Lanes. See our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and California Adventure for everything you need to know about paid line-skipping at Disneyland Resort.
From now through early October 2026, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ticket add-on will now cost $34 per day for pre-arrival purchases, which is up from the previous cost of $32 per day. As a reminder, Lightning Lane Multi-Pass includes PhotoPass at Disneyland, which is one reason why it costs more.
As with Walt Disney World, same-day Lightning Lane Multi-Pass purchases will be variably priced based on date and demand and now will start at $37 per day. We’ve already seen several $40 days at Disneyland. It’s only a matter of time before Disneyland breaks the $50 barrier. Perhaps as soon as the upcoming holiday weekend, but probably more likely on one of those upcoming Tier 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Disneyland Paris has replaced free FastPass with paid Premier Access line-skipping.
Disney Premier Access can be purchased via the Disneyland Paris App and costs between €7 and €20 for one-time access to skip the regular queue line for popular attractions, including Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours: the Adventures Continue, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
From anywhere inside the parks, guests can use the Disneyland Paris App to purchase an assigned time slot for the aforementioned attractions. Pricing for Disney Premier Access will be per ride, and is dynamic. It depends upon the attraction and crowds on the day of visit. Think of it like Express Lanes on toll roads, Uber’s surge pricing, or to a lesser degree, Walt Disney World’s date-based ticket and hotel prices.
There’s also Disney Premier Access Ultimate, which is like Lightning Lane Premier Pass at the US parks. This offers one-time access to all eligible rides, costs between €90 and €190 per person depending on the season.

Disney Premier Access is a new digital paid FastPass service that allows guests to reserve certain theme park attractions by using the app at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. With Disney Premier Access at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, guests will have the ability to select their preferred time and make reservations to experience attractions.
Several attractions offer Premier Access, including but not limited to the Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, The Happy Ride with Baymax, and Splash Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland, plus Soaring: Fantastic Flight, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival, and Toy Story Mania at Tokyo DisneySea. Each cost 2,000 yen, or approximately $15.50 per person per attraction.
There’s also Priority Pass, which is available free of charge at select attractions, and allows guests of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea the ability to enjoy a reduced wait time. Priority Pass is available for eligible experiences using the Tokyo Disney Resort App as soon as guests enter the park; it’s basically FastPass by a different name. It is not available at any rides with Premier Pass.
See our Guide to Paid Premier Access & Free Priority Pass at Tokyo Disney Resort for more info and tips.

At Shanghai Disneyland, the upgraded Disney Premier Access offers priority access to popular attractions from the designated starting time to the closing time or reserved viewing area of the entertainment venue anytime during the designated return window of your selected entertainment show.
The upgraded Disney Premier Access is available in a wider range of price options and is available on the Shanghai Disney Resort Official App. The price of Disney Premier Access varies by date, attractions and entertainment shows and is subject to availability.

At Hong Kong Disneyland, paid FastPass is available in various bundles and can be purchased with tickets or as a day-of add-on option. Choose either 8 designated attractions or 3 from a list of 5, and enjoy priority access on arrival. Get ahead of the queues with the Disney Premier Access starting from HK$159.
Premier Access at Hong Kong Disneyland gives you priority access to some of the park’s most popular attractions, including Iron Man Experience, Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, saving you time and allowing you to enjoy more rides during your visit.

The good news is that the more things change, the more things stay the same. The most popular and hard-to-score Lightning Lane reservations at Walt Disney World are still Slinky Dog Dash and Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run in Hollywood Studios, Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot, and Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom.
The bad news is that a ton has changed. Jungle Cruise is now incredibly popular as a Lightning Lane reservation, and many attractions are now sold on an a la carte basis as Lightning Lane Single Pass. These include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and TRON Lightcycle Run. Most of the FastPass advice that follows isn’t relevant to the Lightning Lane system.

Above all else, we strongly recommend buying tickets as early as possible in our Tips for Saving Money on Disney Tickets post. Many of the parks offer paid FastPass as a ticket add-on, and it’s usually a good idea to purchase that. It’s a guard against future price increases, which are common.
Our detailed guide for using FastPass at Walt Disney World has been tweaked numerous times to better help you plan as changes have been made to the line-skipping systems. In addition to recommending the attractions you should prioritize attractions, we cover a variety of different approaches (including the “refresh strategy” and Park Hopping), and other ways to save time by avoiding waiting in standby lines. (Again, Lightning Lanes have replaced FastPass queues. A lot of this works similarly, but what follows is outdated and only preserved for the sake of posterity.)

Before we get to those specific tips, a bit of background is in order. You might be wondering, just what exactly is FastPass? Well, it’s essentially ride reservations. You make a FastPass reservation, and go to the attraction at which you booked the reservation during your allotted timeframe (say, 1:20 – 2:20 pm), enter through the FastPass line, and have a minimal wait in line. It’s like a VIP line, but there is no charge to use FastPass.
FastPass+ is the second generation of FastPass at Walt Disney World, replacing paper FastPass ride reservations. The idea then was to get people out of lines and allow them to do other things while waiting for their ride reservation window. The original FastPass system had its strengths and weaknesses, and could be leveraged to allow those who did their homework a strategic advantage.

There was trepidation about FastPass+ existed when it officially launched a few years ago by those who mastered the old system, but FastPass+ has its own advantages. While FastPass+ can’t be exploited to the same degree as regular paper FastPass, guests who are “in the know” can still save a ton of time. All it takes is a little patience and spending the time to understand how FastPass+ works.
While we can’t grant you patience, we will help you understand the system in this post…
Step by Step FastPass+ Booking Process

There are two ways FastPass+ can be obtained: via the My Disney Experience app or website in advance of visits, or via in-park kiosks for guests who don’t have smart phones or who don’t purchase tickets in advance. The FastPass+ is then stored on the MagicBand or your park tickets. (Note that Magic Bands are not required to use FastPass+.)
FastPass+ can be booked for any hour window during the park’s normal operating hours. FastPass+ cannot be booked during Extra Magic Hours or hard ticket events such as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party or Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Additionally, FastPass+ times cannot overlap.
Guests “redeem” FastPass+ by swiping the MagicBand or park ticket against an RFID “Mickey Head” reader outside FastPass+ attractions. Guests are able to book 3 FastPass+ tickets in advance of their vacation. You can be 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late to use your FastPass+ reservation and the RFID readers will allow you to enter. So really, your “hour” window is 1 hour 20 minutes long.
After these initial FastPass+ selections are redeemed, guests can book additional same-day selections, as available. This is now possible with the app in addition to the in-park kiosks.
The advance booking process for FastPass+ is relatively straightforward once you understand it, but it’s one of those things that’s much easier to understand when you can look at something to help you visualize the process, so I’m going to walk you through it and explain some additional things to know.
For this walk-through, I’m using the My Disney Experience website, but it’s virtually the same on the app. Before starting, you’ll want to download the My Disney Experience app, or sign onto your DisneyWorld.com account. While our explanation covers what you need to know, it’s easiest if you just play around with the app and see for yourself. Learn by doing.

When you purchase Walt Disney World tickets in advance and stay at a Walt Disney World resort hotel, you can make your FastPass+ selections up to 60 days prior to check-in for the entire length of your stay. These booking windows open up at 7 a.m. on the 30 or 60 day mark, so don’t wait around until 8 a.m. to do this like you would Advance Dining Reservations! Okay, now time for the steps…
The first step is being up bright and early before your booking window opens at 7 a.m. on your 30 or 60 day mark. Make sure you’re logged into My Disney Experience on your computer or phone, pull up the My Disney Experience menu, click FastPass+, and be ready to go at exactly 7 a.m. Once the clock hits 7, click the “Get Started” button on the FastPass+ page, and select the date and park you plan on attending.

Next, you make your individual selections.
This works differently for the Magic Kingdom than it does Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as Magic Kingdom does not use tiering and the other three parks do. We’ll cover this in the strategy section below.

After choosing my time, I’m given a confirmation screen…
…After hitting confirm, I receive confirmation, and am asked whether I want another FastPass+. Rinse and repeat. The system via My Disney Experience is pretty easy. (So long as the app doesn’t crash!)

When you return to the FastPass+ screen, you’ll see your reservations, have the ability to modify, etc. It’s all very intuitive. If you can use Facebook, you can use this system. Chances are that any question you have about the functionality of the site will answer themselves after playing around with it for 5 minutes.
With all of that said, don’t be afraid to ask questions below, but since the basics of booking FastPass+ are ridiculously easy to understand, I’m going to move onto strategy, which is where the fun begins…
Best FastPass+ By Park

We’ll keep it short and sweet here, in case all you care about is the best choices, and don’t want to read a long explanation as to why (that’s in the strategy below). You can also find more strategy in our Disney Attraction & Ride Guides for Walt Disney World each contain thorough recommendations concerning the best uses of FastPass+ for each park.
Here are the choices that will save you the most time in each park:
Magic Kingdom
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Splash Mountain
- Space Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Epcot
- Frozen Ever After (Tier 1)
- Soarin’ Around the World (Tier 1)
- Test Track (Tier 1) – single rider recommended instead
- Spaceship Earth (Tier 2)
- Mission: Space (Tier 2)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Avatar Flight of Passage (Tier 1)
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Expedition Everest
- Dinosaur
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway (Tier 1)
- Slinky Dog Dash (Tier 1)
- Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster (Tier 2)
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Tier 2)
- Toy Story Mania (Tier 2)
These are objectively the best choices, but they may not be the best selections for you, depending upon which attractions interest you (also note that some of the above have height restrictions, so they may not be the best options for families). The best thing you can do prior to your FastPass+ booking windows opening is looking at Walt Disney World wait times for a little while before your trip, and pinpointing the most appealing high-wait attractions to you.
FastPass+ Strategy
If should come as no surprise that not all FastPass+ attractions are created equally. Some are really difficult to score, and others are seemingly always available (think of them as the “participant award” FastPass+). Let’s start with the difficult ones.
Currently, the most coveted FastPass+ is for Avatar Flight of Passage in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Along with Na’vi River Journey, these are the two new attractions in the Pandora – World of Avatar land.
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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.
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I know this is a lot to digest about line-skipping and the costs at each Disney theme park, especially considering how intuitive and easy to use the system really is, so I’m going to cut this paid FastPass guide off here. Like so many things related to Walt Disney World, it’s intimidating at first, with a lot of superficial complexity. However, also like a lot of Walt Disney World trip planning, it’s surprisingly simple to understand. There are some complexities that do make it difficult to master, and I think I’ve covered most of those.
If you have specific questions or are interested in park-by-park guides for FastPass+, please feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to answer in the comments below. Also, keep in mind that, although much of the dust has settled, the Lightning Lane paid FastPass system is still very much in flux. I’ll do my best to keep this guide updated, but some things may change…please let me know if you notice any outdated info!
If you need help booking your Walt Disney World vacation and would like the assistance from a professional, click here to get a quote from a recommended, no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. They get their commission from Disney, so there is no charge to you for them to book your trip, help you plan, and even book your FastPass+ ride reservations for you!
If you are planning a first trip to Walt Disney World or your first trip since all of this My Disney Experience stuff launched, make sure to check out our Disney Tips & Tricks page for a lot of helpful tips to outsmart the masses. Also check out our dining reviews to find the best restaurants and our trip planning posts to figure out what to pack, where to buy Walt Disney World tickets to save money, which discounts to look for, and all the other ins and outs of a trip to Walt Disney World, all of which are covered extensively in our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide.
Your Thoughts
Have you used paid FastPass at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or beyond? What did you think? Was it worth the money? Which Lightning Lanes did you find the most difficult to score? How much did you spend in total to buy line-skipping access? Have you had luck securing ride reservations for popular attractions? Any tips of your own to add? Any questions you have about paid FastPass that this guide didn’t answer? Please share your thoughts in the comments!



Do you have strategies for a party of 8 which includes 1 infant? How does rider Swap change the fast pass+ strategy?
Curious if the 7am start time means 4am for those of us in the West Coast?
I’m expecting it means 7am Orlando time. I am in Australia so that means 9pm for me (on the same day) 🙂
Regarding Pandora-we are going in June and because my husband can get motion sick, (and we don’t know if he will be able to ride), we choose to pick the Navi River ride as our fast pass, and are going to try to use EMH or rope drop the banshee ride. I was watching a video of the que and there is a single rider option that now that our children are grown, we always choose to use at all parks, unless the standby line is short.
Sorry! I hit send without some basic editing, (queue)!
And chose, good grief.
They were testing this the last time I went to WDW. Just seems like it’s gonna be stressful to be able to do everything. We used to go at rope drop and be able to do all big attractions by 11. Don’t think that’s happening now
It’s still very possible to knock out some of the major rides within the first few hours. For example, at Epcot the strategy should be to FP+ Frozen, Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth, then at rope drop do Soarin first then single rider at Test Track. You spend very little time in line and have the entire rest of the day to do the smaller rides and World Showcase.
what is rope drop?
Can you only book 3 passes in advance for your entire trip, or 3 per day for your trip?
3 per day. Pay close attention to Hollywood Studios and EPCOT- they have a tier system that only allows you one top-tier Fast Pass at a time. It’s hard at EPCOT, where all the good rides seem to be Tier 1- who can choose between Frozen Ever After, Soarin’, and Test Track? It’s Sophie’s Choice!
Sophie’s Choice? Really? The one where you choose which child will live and which will die at the hands of the Nazis?
One thing that might help with the choice is that Test Track has a single-rider line, which, by all accounts, is very effective and usually cuts waits down drastically, as long as you don’t mind being separated from any people you’re visiting with.
I’ve never used it because my daughter wants to do the “design your car” pre-show activity, which I think the single-rider line usually skips. (But you do get another chance to play with it at an extra kiosk in the post-show area, as long as you don’t care about your design being scored during the ride.)
If you don’t care about that, I’d suggest using the single-rider line to do Test Track and using your Tier 1 FastPass on one of the others.
…Expedition Everest also has a really effective single-rider line, which might come in handy once the Pandora stuff opens: maybe book Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Kali River Rapids (which is a huge draw at midday), and leave Everest for the single-rider line.
(I did Dinosaur on standby on my last visit with a listed 30-minute wait, which seemed shorter in reality; it seems to be one of the most overlooked major attractions at WDW, and Pandora will probably lower the pressure on it still more.)
I’m confused… can you use FastPass+ for more than 3 attractions per day?
You can book your 3 fast pass + in advance but must use all 3 before you can book more (one at a time) on the spot either through the my disney experience app, or the FP+ kiosks. In other words, after you have use your 3 allotted fast passes, you can reserve one on the spot, use it, then reserve another, use it and so on.
Will we be getting an update for Pandora? Planning a trip in October 2017 – your blog and newsletter have become my obsession! So much great info 🙂
We are going to WDW November 10-19th and we will not be staying on-site.
Purchasing tickets from ParkSavers with a first day in the park of November 11th means I can start looking at FASTPASS reservations on October 11th, correct? Pick my 3 choices for the first park then on October 12th I would pick 3 more, etc?
And…the 7am start time is EST, right? I’m only asking because I’m in California and that equates to 4am – just making sure I have to be awake AND alert at that hour only if necessary (haha)
Also, thank you so very much for all the work you’ve put into this! Reading through your blog has been a definite highlight for me – I can’t wait to continue planning our trip!
When we went last year, I booked all our fast passes at one time 60 days from check-in date. That’s why he gives the advice to book the hardest fast passes for days later in your trip. Since your trip is a long one, you have a great chance to get difficult fast passes at the end, since you’ll actually be booking them almost 70 days in advance instead of 60. it’s a great advantage! (if the system still works that way, it appears the last update was in November 2016)
Oh, I just noticed that you’re staying off-site. Sorry, I missed that. Yes, in that case, you are bound to the 30 days for each day.
Yes, it’s 7am EST so for you that makes it a 4 am start time. I’d wake up 30 minutes early so you can get signed in and be ready to go. I’d advise writing down a list of rides in the priority of importance so if you don’t get your first choice, you can go right to the next choice. I did this with advance dining reservations, and while I didn’t get the time I wanted, I at least got the reservations to our top 2 choices. This stuff gets reserved fast! I’ve never seen anything get booked like this, except for tickets to the Adel concert! Also, it’s exactly 30 days, and October has 31 days, so I think you could start booking on Nov 9th. Good luck!
Hi, we’re going to Disney world at the end of July, not staying on Disney property. In your experience do you think I’ll be able to get fast passes for the bigger rides (space mountain, rock n roller coaster) at the 30 day mark? Thanks!
I don’t stay at Disney Resprt. So I only have 30-day window to book the FP+. My ticket is a 5 day, 1 day a park ticket. My first date is 4/14. But I can only book 4/14 FP on 3/15 morning. I couldn’t book any further days like 4/15-18 on 3/15? Thanks!
Disney mentions this on their site. ‘Staying at a non-Disney resort: You will be able to make your FastPass+ reservations 30 days in advance. Note that non-Disney resort visitors do not have the 10 day grace period. If you’re staying off site, you’ll have to make each day’s FP+ selections 30 days prior; you can’t do it in a batch all in one day.’
So you could do it in a batch after 30 days have passed for all of the dates, or just do one a day.
Can you book Fast Passes for all/most of your party with one choosing? I’m a family of 6 so do i have to book Fast Passes separately for each person? bc by the time I’m done with 1 ride, there will be none left even if i start at 7:00 am!
Also, i read a hack about the parent swap for younger kids that can’t ride. To conserve fast passes. so i have 2 young kids (that cant do the height rides) and 2 older ones. So parent A gets Fast Pass for Ride X, along with the 2 older kids; once done, Parent B can do the ride swap w/o the use of Fast Pass, and the 2 older ones can ride again!
We are planning a trip in October of this year with 6-8 of us going. 2 of the guest will be our 2 and 1 year old sons…since they obviously won’t be able to ride sone of the rides my question is…Can you book a fast pass for the 4-6 older riders and utilize the rider switch program.
If you buy your tickets on parksavers and will stay at a Disney world resort, can you still book fastpass+ 60 days ahead of time?
Thanks
We are planning to going to Disney World in January and/or February 2018. I am trying to gather as much info as I can, but a lot of the 2018 information as not come out yet. I assume, that with the opening of Avatar, our FastPass+ strategy might change. Do you have any advice for 2018 travel? Are you planning to visit after Avatar opens and add a blog update with Avatar?
Thank you for all of your posts. I find them extremely helpful.
I am so happy to have found this page. I desperately need some guidance. I at the beginning stages of planning ..I haven’t got the travel agent yet but within the next week. Few questions…Our family will have 6 adults and 4 children (under 8) all light eaters. We were hoping to come around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Is the free meal plan available at this time? What is best resort for us to stay at to make it affordable BUT STILL get breakfast with the princesses?
Thank you
Hi, Thanks for all your great posts. This will be our family’s first time to WDW (2 adults, 7 yo and 2 yo), and I’ve read MANY of your posts. I finally understand the fastpass+ and your tips are clear, but I am still unclear about this tier system you speak off and how that works. For example, can I book for my 3 FP in advance that are all tier 1? How exactly do the tiers effect FP+ advance booking? Thanks for your help!
Is 7am my local time? Or Disney world time?
If I live in the Pacific timezone, do I need to wake up at 4am to book fast passes?
Hello, I am taking my lil one (19 months) and big one (hubby lol) on a surprise trip to Orlando – Magic Kingdom only, because our lil one will be 2 (going there for his birthday) so he won’t be interested in much…any special rides for the tiny people? :o)
also if I get fast pass, would it be for an adult only? I think my son would be free since he will be turning 2.
thx!!
You mention several times that you hop on Mine Train before the park closes. Is there time to do this AFTER watching the nighttime fireworks?
This might be obvious but what is the typical time you’d be done with a ride after you check in with a FastPass? i.e. Do you get on the ride immediately or should we expect a line even with the FastPass? If a line, how long would those usually be?
Expect a line even after FastPass. How long is hit or miss, but usually about 5-10 minutes. Soarin’ Around the World is notoriously longer (~15-20).
The park opens at 8 and my FastPass is at 8. What time will I be able to enter the park?