Toy Story Land FastPass+ Strategy
FastPass+ is now available for the two new attractions in Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. Walt Disney World fans planning summer vacations might be debating the right FastPass+ and touring strategy for Disney’s Hollywood Studios once this land opens, and the idea of this post is to try to help you not be flat-footed when preparing for your summer trip to DHS.
Before we start talking strategy and how this will alter our 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary, let’s cover basics. Beginning today, FastPass+ reservations are available for all three attractions in Toy Story Land: Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, and the existing Toy Story Mania! Guests can choose one FastPass+ reservation for one of the Toy Story Land attractions, plus two other attractions in the park such as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Tower of Terror, Star Tours, etc.
Additionally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will operate from 8 a.m until 10:30 p.m. for a limited time this summer, starting July 1, 2018. Beyond that, Extra Magic Hours will be available every morning and one evening per week. This will likely make DHS the park with the longest daily operating hours on average this summer, with a schedule somewhat comparable to Disney’s Animal Kingdom last summer for the opening of Pandora – World of Avatar…
Now, some strategy. First and foremost, you’ll want to use your Toy Story Land FastPass+ allocation on Slinky Dog Dash. Even without delving into ride capacity and height restrictions, there’s very little question about Slinky Dog Dash having by far the longest waits of the Toy Story Land attractions. It’s a roller coaster and the most marketable addition in Toy Story Land, and it will have the longest standby waits of the new attractions.
Whatever wait times Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers average this summer, you can expect Slinky Dog Dash to be about triple those numbers. So, if Toy Story Mania and Alien Swirling Saucers are each at around 60 minute waits, we’d anticipate Slinky Dog Dash having about a 180-minute wait.
As for the other FastPass+ you should reserve for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we’d recommend Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. We’ll be updating our FastPass+ Guide to Walt Disney World very soon with new details for DHS, so stay tuned for that.
Next, we turn to park touring strategy and how to approach Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Presumably, you’ll want to do other attractions in Toy Story Land in addition to Slinky Dog Dash. If so, then your best bet is going to be arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios before the start of morning Extra Magic Hours.
Assuming that Extra Magic Hours officially starts at 7 a.m., this means we’d recommend arriving at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at around 6:15 a.m. This might seem ridiculously early (it is), but this will give you adequate time to make it through security and line up for the turnstiles before the bulk of the crowd arrives.
Our initial take is that doing Alien Swirling Saucers first will make the most sense, both because it’s new and because it will be the shorter experience, meaning you can quickly do it and then bounce to Toy Story Mania before the wave of the crowd finishes Slinky Dog Dash. (If you’re not able to score a Slinky Dog Dash FastPass+, you should join the crowd and do that first.)
If you don’t have access to morning Extra Magic Hours, staying late and doing the other Toy Story Land attractions at the end of the night (or during Fantasmic) is likely to be the best approach. As with every attraction at Walt Disney World, you can save a lot of time by jumping into line right before the park closes. If Pandora’s opening was any indication, crowds during evening Extra Magic Hours might be bad to the point that you’re better off doing DHS at night on a non-EMH evening.
In the event that you still are not particularly keen on Disney’s Hollywood Studios and aren’t on the Toy Story Land hype train (don’t feel bad–we aren’t, either), another option is a late afternoon arrival, similar to what we recommend in our Half-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Itinerary.
If you score a Slinky Dog Dash FastPass+ and don’t mind skipping Alien Swirling Saucers and Toy Story Mania, we think this is an ideal scenario. It avoids the rope drop chaos, gets you onto the only (in our estimation) attraction that’s a must-do in Toy Story Land, and allows you to spend an enjoyable evening at DHS.
If Alien Swirling Saucers is anything like Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in Cars Land (and it is given that the ride systems are the same), it’ll be just as enjoyable of an attraction to watch as it is to ride. Part of the appeal of Mater’s is its quirkiness and funny soundtrack, and we anticipate Alien Swirling Saucers having similar appeal.
Neither are attractions we’d wait an hour or more to experience, but watching from the viewing area (a la Mad Tea Party, for those unfamiliar with Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree) is a good substitute. As for Toy Story Mania, we assume most people reading this have done that previously. If not, it’s a fun attraction–that is beloved by many–but we wouldn’t wait an hour for it, either.
Ultimately, how you approach Disney’s Hollywood Studios this summer depends a lot on your interest level in Toy Story Land. To be perfectly honest, the new land does not really excite us. We’ve done Toy Story Lands in Paris and Hong Kong, and although this features different attractions, we’ve been less than impressed by those incarnations of this land. We’ll be there to ride the new attractions, but if not for this blog, the only one we’d make any effort to do would be Slinky Dog Dash. For us, the main course and dessert are Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge next year, and Toy Story Land is like the appetizer (or perhaps just the bread service) until then.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our FastPass+ speculation and tips for Toy Story Land? Do you think Disney’s Hollywood Studios is going to be swamped with people this summer? What’s your strategy for avoiding the crowds at DHS? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
I just returned from Disney World last Sunday. I had no problem getting slinky, frozen, or Flights of Passage fast passes. I’m not sure why so many are saying they are having issues.
Also – there is no line just to get into Toy Story Land. We just walked right in multiple times.
One time we rope dropped Slinky, rode Alien Swirl with like 5 minute wait, and than did Toy Story Mania with like a 15 minute wait. And still hit Tower and Rockin’ with fastpasses.
Lastly – Andy’s lunch box was great for breakfast and lunch.
I am staying on property and could not get a Slinky Dog FP or a Pandora FP at 60 day out opening right at 7am ET. I am traveling the Sunday after Thanksgiving, cruising Mon-Thursday and back at the parks Friday the 30th through Dec 2nd. I was really surprised given I went two days after Christmas in 2016 for a week and had no issues getting any FPasses, including Frozen. Really disappointing but will now change my ride strategy for my trip. Just be prepared, because I wasn’t.
I just tried (7am) to find FP times for Slinky Dog for August 1st and there are none for the day. I am not staying on property so I had to wait 30 days out. I’m guessing if you’re off property then you’re out of luck for the ride unless you want to stand in line for hours.
I tried 60 days out – ready and waiting at 7am – and still couldn’t get Slinky.
Me too and I was on at 7 am eastern. None available for the day 60 days out! I don’t understand honestly.
Do people with toy story land fastpasses need to stand in line just to get into the land as well?
How can I subscribe for emails?
I think they may have taken away the ability of the FP till toystory land opens since they are reconfiguring the entrance for toy story mania to toy story land
I just went on to Mydisneyexperience to select the fast pass as we are headed there the first week of June and these new rides are not available. Thoughts?
They don’t open until 6/30
Is anyone able to get a FP for Toy Story Mania on June 5th? I tried right at 7am on the 60th day out and it was not available. I keep trying, but I am having no luck.
They’ve limited TSM fastpasses to day of only for right now. They release them in the mornings. I would think they want to be able to close it for soft openings once they are ready for those.
We scheduled FP+ 60 days out for a trip beginning April 28 and there were no fast passes available for Toy Story Mania for any time during our 10 day trip.
Any word of AP previews? We are definitely going to WDW some point in June but haven’t decided when… depends on AP previews and soft openings. Going to try to avoid grand opening June 30th.
So Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be moving down to the second tier? Also I’m curious about getting in a ride line right before closing… when we were at AK in January the wait times for Avatar were still hovering 4+ hours 20 minutes before closing. Do they really keep the park open for 4 more hours just so people still in line can ride Avatar?? Thank you!
We did Toy Story Mania in November 2017. We waited (standby) about 45-50 minutes to get on the ride. When it ended, about 15 minutes prior to park close, we got back on line, and were on in about 5 minutes. When ride #2 ended, it was now 7:00 (park close). We asked if we could go on, and we were able to walk right on. After ride #3, we asked if it was still possible to ride again when we got to the ride exit. The cast member said sure, so the 5 of us (my party of three, and another couple) took ride #4 (even though cast members were putting away the 3D glasses). After our 4th ride, my wife and kid both said their arms hurt to much, so we didn’t ask for another ride.
Fun experience! I can’t imagine how much my arm would hurt after 4 consecutive rides.
Completely agree with the sentiment that it is hard to get excited about this land. While the number of new attractions (2) is the same as Pandora, at least Pandora had a really beautiful immersive alien environment that everyone could enjoy without fastpasses, with an exciting new and creative counter service restaurant to enjoy. Toy Story land looks very cartoonish, and its new food option is an outdoor stall that sells turkey sandwiches and tater tots. Then again, Hollywood Studios has always suffered from less impressive Imagineering than the other parks in my view. We are leaving tomorrow for what I expect will be our last WDW trip before Star Wars opens , and I can’t say I’m too disappointed to be missing Toy Story land before then.
I don’t know, an outdoor stall that sells turkey sandwiches and tater tots might be the best counter service restaurant in DHS.
I’m comfortable being optimistic about Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
I completely agree with you, Laila. From the moment I saw the scale of it in One Man’s Dream, I just thought it looked… cheap. Like an amusement park you can find anywhere. However, the huge “toys” and theming seems fun and any new ride is welcome.
i have a reservation from June 15-29 and the FP are available to choose, but none of the new rides are showing up on the 28th or 30th
How will Mickey’s ride fit in the FP system?? Will it go directly to the second tier?? Not really excited about Star Wars land, so planning to travel in September before the opening, but excited about that ride.
So by “Fast Passes Now Available” you mean starting July 1st, correct? Or has Disney quietly pushed up the opening date?
Thanks 🙂 I was wondering if I had missed something.
No. You can make your fast pass reservations now. You just can’t use them until July 1 🙂
Okay. So the only people who can actually make them now are people booked for a two week trip starting June 16th. My trip is over by June 24th, so I have nothing to fret over missing
No. That’s not correct. You can’t make fast pass reservations now for July 1st. If you are staying on Disney property, you can make them 60 days prior to your checkin date.
So 60 days from now is about June 16th or so. So if you are checking in on June 16th – you can make FP’s now for your whole trip. If your whole trip is 6/16 – 7/1, then you can make FP’s for all those dates.
We are going in August and will be staying on site. I planned on going early to sign up for the Jedi training for my kids. If i get there for 7 do you think i have a chance of still getting a time slot for the jedi training or will i be behind all the people lining up at 6 am for Toy story land?
Thanks
If it’s anything like Pandora.. that entire crowd is going to Slinky. Period. You don’t deviate unless you want the absolute longest wait time of the day. So if you’re only going to the Jedi training… I’d still get there early, but I don’t think the crowd will effect you too much. I could absolutely be wrong on this, but even the Navi ride takes about 30 minutes to get a wait time up and it’s right at Pandora.
Thank you!!
You should be fine. The Jedi training signup is on the opposite end of the park from Toy Story Land so once you are inside the park, you’ll be going in a different direction than the Toy Story crowd.
Great!! Thank you!!
I will make a suggestion that worked for us for Jedi training. We got pre-park breakfast reservations and were able to sign up for our jedi training slot before breakfast. As that was our most important thing (last summer) we prioritized it. However…we were still able to get on Star Tours as a CD walk on 5 minutes beforr park open as we were already done with breakfast by then.
I got the pre park ressie also but now they are having EMH at 7 am lol
We are going May 14-19…. any word on if they will release fast passes for the period up to the park opening for toy story mania?
Who are the fastpasses open to? We check in on July 1 and MDE says we are to early to book FP…. Is that for Annual Pass holders or guest checking in in mid june and staying through the opening of Toy story Land on June 30th ?
If my math is correct, you’d need an arrival date of June 16 and a two-week on-site stay in order to be eligible to book FastPass+ for Toy Story Land today.
If you are staying on Disney property – FP will open 60 days from July 1. So like May 1st or 2nd. Do the math 60 days back from July 1.
If you are staying off property, its 30 days prior to check in.
And don’t forget, you can do your whole trip FP’s on that date. You don’t have to go in each day to do them.
Curious to it says available today we arrive June 27 states not available
If you arrive June 27, and are staying on Disney property, you can sign up for your Fast Passes starting April 28.
Tom, we are going in early June, di you think that you story land will be doing a soft open, and if so what could we expect?
That would be an atypically long soft opening period, but I wouldn’t rule it out. I think the safer bet is soft openings 1-2 weeks in advance.
Have there been any rumblings of passholder previews or soft openings? We booked a June vacation with the hope that this land would be open. It would be nice if we could get to see it, but not the end of the world if we don’t.
I have not heard anything yet. If AP/DVC previews aren’t announced within the next week or two, I suspect they’ll just go the standard soft opening route.
I feel that a 1-2 hour wait for a ride that last only 7 minutes is not worth the wait. I have waited ONCE in the Flight of Passage for 2 hrs and the ride only lasted 5-7 minutes maybe. It was not a pleasent wait as there were no bathrooms or beverages to drink and when you are with children that’s is too long to wait. It does not make the park a happy place to be and then all the other rides have also got a very long wait. The fast pass is of no help as you still have a very long wait even if your lucky enough to get a fast pass.
For the money we pay as pass holders for the season or even a one time purchase Disney needs to come up with a MUCH BETTER plan to cut the wait time down. After all this is a place for family’s to have fun and it is not possible when everyone is grouchy due to long wait times for such a short ride.
Not sure I will renew my pass next year because not only did the price increase the wait time has just gotten worse.
Peggy,
What do you want them to do? You can’t complain about it without offering an alternative. With the number of people in the parks, I don’t see what else they can do other than let less people in the park, or give out less FP’s. ??
I do agree though, standing in line for 2 hours is absolutely no fun.
They need more rides, less stores. For every new ride, it seems like a huge hike to get there, at least 2 shops and a place to eat. MK is great. More rides and a train if you get tired. The other parks should take this on, but its such a money grab (the stores) and trying to fit a ton of people in a park for a few rides. I like HS, but it needs more rides and fewer shops. Imho.
Yea. I agree with that totally. Studios def need more rides. Almost not worth going there at this point.
I just returned from WDW, and had FPs for Avatar for 2 different days and at very different times. Both times our actual wait time was less than 5 minutes for a ride that we thought was awesome. FP is DEFINITELY worth it. Sorry your experience was so bad.
So in other words, you had a short wait for Flight of Passage. 😉 {We saw a 4 hour standby wait listed 30 minutes after park opening our last visit to WDW, August 2018}.
Just a thought, and my own personal preference, but if a wait is 1-2 hours, find another attraction. You may not get to do all the rides you want, but isn’t it better to experience a number of attractions, and not just a few attractions?
I understand but I really feel Disney is doing all it can to add attractions right now. While not all are at DHS, that park is in the process of building 5 new attractions, MK 1 that I can think of plus 2 at Epcot. If I want to stretch things I can even add in the new Gondola system as another ride.
The major theme park near where I live opens 1 new attraction per year, if that! I really feel Disney is doing their best to try and add to their theme parks.
I’m wondering where Disney is finding all the trades people to build the attractions, complete resort renovations, etc. There is SO much construction going on at Disney and even though we go at least once a year, there is ALWAYS something new for us to try!
You complain that Disney needs to open more rides, but they just opened two new rides at DAK and the whole park has been busy ever since. Adding attractions doesn’t spread crowds out anymore. So many more people have the disposable incone to spend on theme park admission that new attractions just cause huge attendance surges that make all the other lines long, as well.
When Toy Story, Runaway, and Star Wars are finally open at DHS, do not expect that park to have any short waits for years. The additional four attractions will not bring wait times down, but rather draw massive crowds to the park. When people see a 300-minute wait for the rides in Galaxy’s Edge, they will go to Tower of Terror and cause that wait time to go up.
I’d say it’s unfair to downplay Toy Story Mania and say it isn’t worth the time. I mean I draw the line before 60 minutes for any ride but it is my favorite ride in DHS (and all the parks after Flight of Passage) and I wouldn’t even bother going to the park unless I was planning on riding it at least twice in a day.
To be fair, you said “I draw the line before 60 minutes for any ride” while Tom said “it’s fun attraction—that is beloved by many—but we wouldn’t wait an hour for it”. I didn’t read anything approaching “it isn’t worth the time” into Tom’s comments.