If you visited the Walt Disney World Resort during the year of 2014 and on you've most likely heard of FastPass+. For some this can be one of the most confusing parts of your booking process where for others it’s a walk in the park! In this post I’m going to go over what FastPass+ is, how it works and how to use it!
First here’s a little history lesson on the FastPass system itself. In 1999 Disney introduced its FastPass Ride Reservation system. With this system guests could go up to a kiosk place their key to the world card inside and receive a paper ticket with a time slot on it. This time slot represented a time in which the guest could come back to the specific ride and skip the line. This function could only be done while inside the park. The new system that is currently active today called FastPass+ became active in January 2014 and has completely replaced the old system.
The best way to explain how FastPass+ works is by comparing it to making a reservation at a restaurant. When you want to make a reservation you call ahead of time and reserve a table for you and your family for a certain time, right? Well, with FastPass+ you will be able to choose which ride you want to ride, select a time that works for you and save you spot in line 60 Days before you go on your vacation! When it’s your time to ride, you’ll be directed to a separate smaller line for the ride in order to have a short wait time. Just like dinner reservation, you show up at the restaurant for the time you reserved so you don’t have to wait in the line for a table.
So to answer the question what is FastPass+? It is Disney’s Ride Reservations system that allows you to reserve a spot in line for Disney’s rides, attractions and shows.
Okay, so How does it work?
If you are staying onsite at a Walt Disney World Resort you will be able to select your FastPass+ reservations 60 days before your arrival date. There is no extra charge to use FastPass+; it is included with your park admission to everyone including the guests not staying on property and single day tickets. You are allotted to 3 passes per day per person and they all have to be in the same park. Meaning that you can’t book two for EPCOT and then one for Magic Kingdom, all three passes have to be in one park.
Each FastPass+ reservation for rides and attractions has an hour window for you to use them. For instance, if you make a reservation for a 1:00 to 2:00 time slot you have the full hour to get to that attraction to use your FastPass. So don’t think you have to be there right at 1:00 to use it. Sometimes you may even be able to arrive 5 minutes before or 15 minutes after your reserved time. It just depends on the system and the cast member.
Also, while selecting your FastPasses for EPCOT and Hollywood Studios you may come across a thing called tier levels. What this means is that you are only allowed to pick one attraction from the first tier and two attractions from the second tier. Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom do not have a tier level system for FastPass+.
Here are the attractions that are available for FastPass+ at the Magic Kingdom!
Ariel’s Grotto, The Barnstormer, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Enchanted Tales with Belle, The Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Jungle Cruise, Mad Tea Party, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monsters INC. Laugh Floor, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Princess Fairytale Hall Meet and Greet with Cinderella and Aurora, Fairytale Hall Meet and Greet with Rapunzel and Tiana, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway, Town Square Theater Mickey Mouse Meet and Greet and Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid.
The FastPass+ Options for Animal Kingdom are:
Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo – The Musical, It’s Tough to be a Bug, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Adventurers Outpost Mickey and Minnie Meet and Greet, and Primeval Whirl.
Here are the FastPass+ options for EPCOT. Remember that the FastPass+ selections for EPCOT and Hollywood Studios use a tier level system.
EPCOT Tier 1 FastPass+ attractions: IllumiNations nighttime show viewing area, Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ and Test Track. Remember that you can only choose one of those attractions.
EPCOT Tier 2 FastPass+ attractions: Disney/Pixar Short Film Festival, Journey into Imagination with Figment, Epcot Character Spot, Living with the Land, the Seas with Nemo and Friends, Spaceship Earth, Turtle Talk with Crush and Mission Space Green or Orange. Remember that with the Tier 2 selections you can pick two of the attractions as a FastPass selection.
And for Hollywood Studios, the Tier 1 FastPass+ attractions are: Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage, The Great Movie Ride, Fantasmic, Rock’n’Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania. Again you can only choose one of those attractions.
The Tier 2 FastPass+ attractions are: Disney Junior Live on Stage, Frozen Sing Along, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours, Tower of Terror and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Once again you can choose two of these attractions for your FastPass+ selection.
So now that you know what FastPass is and how it works this is how you use it! Let’s say you have a FastPass for Toy Story Midway Mania for 11:00-12:00. It’s 10:50, so you and your family start heading over to where Toy Story Midway Mania is located at Hollywood Studios. When you get to the ride you’ll see a sign for stand by and FastPass+; go to the FastPass+ line. Before you enter the line there will be a cast member stationed at a touch point. You will then touch your Magic Band to the touch point and wait for the touch point to light up green. Kind of like how it does when you enter the parks. Once it turns green you are good to go and can enter the FastPass line.
There will be a Stand by and FastPass line with a touch point for each ride that has the FastPass option. If you miss your hour window for your FastPass unfortunately you will lose your FastPass. Like I said it really all depends on the cast member and if the system allows you to use your FastPass, but I wouldn’t try and use it after 15 minutes out of your window.
Now, I would like to share couple of tips with you before I end the video. If you are park hoping and using FastPass+. My advice to you would be to go to your first park at rope drop and do as many rides as you can before the crowds get too big. Break for lunch and then go to the evening park and do all of the attractions that you have reserved with your FastPass+.
It is best to schedule your FastPasses for the early afternoon and evening hours because this is usually the busiest times in the parks.
Also, the one thing that many people don’t know is that after you use your three FastPasses you can add a fourth. You have to use all three of your passes before you can add the fourth. There are two ways to add your fourth FastPass. The easiest is to open your my Disney Experience app on your phone and add it there or you can find a FastPass kiosk inside the park and add it there.
Speaking of the My Disney Experience app, you can make any changes to your FastPasses by using the app. If you need to change the time of a FastPass, cancel one and change it to a different attraction or add one. It can all be done within the app!