The #1 Issue people have coming to Disney is getting the most out of their time at the parks, and for some we know that a trip to Disney can be as rare as once in a lifetime!
To state the obvious, Disney is huge, crowded, and expensive. And just buying tickets and booking your accommodations won’t give you the most bang for your buck.
With each passing day more and more people are drawn to the parks (for obvious reasons) so having a bigger game plan in mind and doing some research can really make all the difference, especially when it comes to the attractions you really want to get to.
As we’ve seen recently with the opening of the Hagrid’s Motorbike ride at Universal and the very anticipated opening of Galaxy Edge at Hollywood Studios – demand is massive. You can expect to wait a majority of your day just waiting in line’s to experience those “wow” attractions.
Luckily, in order to make the most of your time, there is the fast pass system, which everyone can use to their advantage.
How does the Fast Pass System work?
So – here’s the easy part. You download the app and sign in, make accounts for everyone in your party and connect their tickets, this set up can also be done via the web on a computer.
You navigate to the “Get FastPass” Section, pick a day, and a park and you’ll get a bunch of choices.
Once you see all of the available options for your party you can select a ride and pick the time, and there you have it. All that’s left is to show up during your one hour window, scan your card or wrist band and you’ve just entered the fast pass line, which usually isn’t much of a line at all.
Easy, right?
Now for the hard part: Planning, and planning effectively.
Each guest is allowed to select 3 fast passes per day to start off, once those initial three passes are used, guests may get unlimited additional passes, one at a time.
Because of the way the fast pass system is set up, we always find 3 back to back attractions to fast pass bright and early, so we can take advantage of a larger amount of fast passes throughout the day.
If you are planning to be at the parks from open to close, this will give you the opportunity to snag more of those desired fast passes, or even repeat one you already did!
We our proud to say that our record is 11 fast passes in one day at the Magic Kingdom. And that isn’t even from open to close, we left way before the fireworks.
Since the times are in 1 hour blocks that can’t overlap, try and make your pass windows as close together as possible, 8-9, 9-10, 10-11. This will minimize your waiting around time between fast passes and get you to your unlimited single fast pass options sooner.
Anyone staying at a Disney resort should definitely take advantage of the 60 day before check-in booking window. Booking your fast passes as soon as you are allowed can be the difference between snagging the 7 dwarfs mine train ride, or getting big thunder mountain, and trust us, there’s a big difference.
That means, if you’re arriving on December 1st and staying at a Disney Resort through December 31st. On October 2nd, you’ll have access to make fast passes for each and every one of those days for that entire month.
Though, most people won’t be staying a month, and that’s fine too. Even if you’re staying 2 days, at 60 days before, you’ll be able to make passes for the 60th and 61st day from then.
Everyone else with a valid ticket can only make reservations at 30 days.
This is a huge perk for staying at Disney. This essentially means, you’re practically guaranteed the high value fast passes. The ones that will save you hours of waiting in line.
The days become available up at 7:00 AM Eastern time. Try and be online and ready to book around those time to try for high value, good time slot rides.
If you aren’t lucky enough to get a high value ride, don’t worry. You can check back frequently, especially as the date gets closer. The day of and day before are great times to snag a last minute ride from someone else changing their plans. Luck and time investment are what matters here.
Other FastPass Tips
We’ve found that taking a pass we likely don’t want, and modifying it seems to help better rides show up. This is purely anecdotal, but taking a pass for Toy Story Mania and spamming Modify until a Slinky Dog Dash pass opens up has worked many, many times.
Please note that the fast pass system is cruel and mean. It is glitchy and likely to crash. We’ve found extremely difficult to get passes and had the app crash.
It’s also worth noting that it doesn’t seem to be possible to take a pass that would involve you modifying 2 passes simultaneously. It’s best to only have 1 pass booked while you work your magic looking for something better.
As an example: Let’s say you have a fastpass for Soarin this evening, and you’re supposed to go on Spaceship earth in an hour. You go into the My Disney Experience app, and modify your Spaceship earth pass, looking for a new time. As though Walt Disney himself has smiled on you, one opens up – but it interferes with your Spaceship Earth fastpass. The app will warn you that you’re modifying an existing fastpass – but for us, this has always resulted in a crash without the booking.
If you do have to modify 2 at the same time, use a different device to cancel one, which still likely won’t work, but it’s worth a shot.
Traveling Directions
Here’s a little something that we think people overlook a lot.
Disney is literally gigantic. Animal Kingdom is somewhere close to 600 acres, Epcot is close to 300. These places are BIG.
When you’re booking fast passes, think about travel time and direction.
One of our go to paths for magic Kingdom is: Book back to back fast passes for Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear (or 7 Dwarves mine train). We arrive toward the end of the first pass, and ride both in a row. Then we have plenty of time to meander over to Big Thunder Mountain or a similar ride that’s far away. This leaves us time for snacks, riding the people mover, or just waiting in line for something.
We see tons of people with an early morning 7 Dwarves Mine Train pass, then they’re on Pirates of the Caribbean, and then they’re on Space Mountain.
There’s no incorrect path or way to do these things, but – the longer you spend walking, the longer the lines are going to be and the more you’ll “Miss out on”. Plus, you’ll be more tired, hot, and irritable. Especially when you want to ride all the mountains and you find yourself walking From your Morning Big Thunder Mountain fast pass to your next one at Space Mountain, and then you head back to Splash Mountain. Believe me, you’ll be sick of walking past that spitting camel.