Disney, Travel

Fastpass+ at WDW

First of all, what is Fastpass+ (FP+)? It is a service offered by Disney complimentary with your park tickets which allows you to select up to 3 attractions per day to experience with a shorter line. At all of the applicable rides, you will see the regular, or “standby” line as well as a Fastpass line. The standby line might be a wait of over 2 hours, but with a FP+ you should be on the ride within 10-20 minutes (usually faster, sometimes it might take a little longer).

At the 60 day window before your trip, you can select up to 3 Fastpasses in advance. Your 3 choices must all be at the same theme park, but once you have used those up on the day of, you can search for any available FP+ that may be remaining for any park (to be used that day). I believe our max was 6 or 7 Fastpasses in one day… so it can be done!

If you are staying off site, your window to book these does not open until the 30 day window. By this point, some of the most popular rides will already have zero availability for FP+ – this is just one of the many perks of staying on site at WDW.

You will be given an hour long window to use your FP+ – there is a very small time frame of wiggle room on each side of this hour (from everything I’ve head or read, it’s about 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late – which essentially gives you an hour and 20 minutes).

When you go to use your FP+ for a ride, you must scan your Magicband (see, these things are important!).  The light will turn green, and a cast member will wave you through to the Fastpass line. Typically there will be a second scan point as well, to deter any line jumpers, so keep your Magicband out and ready!

Not every ride or show offers FP+ selection. Also, not every ride/show that offers it actually requires it. Each park is different as well, as you will see below. If you click on the name of the park, it will take you to my blog post describing a little more detail about each ride.

Magic Kingdom (choose any 3):

  • it’s a small world – Fastpass is not really required, line is typically not too long to wait in.
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
  • Dumbo – Fastpass not required, just go a little later in the day
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • Haunted Mansion
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Mad Tea Party – Fastpass not required, line is never too long
  • Meet Ariel at her Grotto – character meet
  • Meet Cinderella and a Visiting Princess – Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Meet Mickey Mouse – Town Square Theater – talking Mickey!
  • Meet Rapunzel and a Visiting Princess – Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic – Fastpass not required, you can almost always get in to the next show (so you might wait 10 min)
  • Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor – Fastpass not required, the theater is large and you’ll just have to wait for the next show
  • Peter Pan’s Flight
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – highly recommend getting a Fastpass for this one. It’s one of the newest rides in this park (about 4-5 years old now, but lines are always over an hour)
  • Space Mountain
  • Splash Mountain
  • The Barnstormer – Fastpass not required
  • The Magic Carpets of Aladdin – Fastpass not required
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – Fastpass not required
  • Tomorrowland Speedway – Ugh, no. Don’t waste a fastpass on this. Don’t even waste the time spent in line for this.
  • Under the Sea: Journey of The Little Mermaid – Fastpass not required

The three fastpasses you choose for Magic Kingdom will depend on the people in your group.

Epcot

Epcot Group A (choose 1):

  • Frozen Ever After 
  • IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth 
  • Soarin’ 
  • Test Track 

This is a tough call. The easiest one to eliminate as your choice is Illumintions, as the show can be viewed from anywhere around the World Showcase. Are you traveling with younger girls who love Anna and Elsa? Then you might want to pick Frozen as the lines are always long. Soarin’ is one of my favourite rides, but the line does tend to be shorter than Test Track (which is also an excellent ride) – neither one of those are bad choices to be honest.

Epcot Group B (choose 2):

  • Character Spot
  • Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Journey Into Imagination
  • Living with the Land
  • Mission: SPACE
  • Spaceship Earth
  • The Seas with Nemo & Friends
  • Turtle Talk with Crush

Most of these are unnecessary to use a Fastpass on – Turtle Talk, The Seas, Living with the Land, and the Short Film Festival almost always have minimal wait times (if any). I’m a wimp and can only handle the green side of Mission:Space, so the line for that is rarely long (although if you’re a thrill seeker who likes G-Force rides you’ll want to grab a Fastpass and go to the orange side). The character spot can see long lines, since it’s one of the only places to see Classic Mickey and Minnie. Even the Fastpass line for that moves slowly. Journey into Imagination is mainly for kids, so if you are a group of adults it’s not necessary to use a Fastpass on. Spaceship Earth never has a crazy line, but it’s something you HAVE to ride while at Epcot, so we usually grab a FP for it.

Hollywood Studios

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Group A (choose 1):

  • Toy Story Mania!
  • Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
  • Fantasmic!
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

This group should only have 2 options – Toy Story or Rock ‘n’ Roller. Fantasmic is easy to grab as a 4th Fastpass later in the day, and Beauty and the Beast isn’t difficult to get into since the theater is large. Again, what ages are the people in your group? Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is the only coaster at WDW with an inversion, and it does have a height restriction, whereas Toy Story is for everyone. Both rides tend to have long standby lines most of the day as well.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Group B (choose 2):

  • For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
  • Disney Junior – Live on Stage!
  • Voyage of the Little Mermaid
  • Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
  • Star Tours
  • Muppet*Vision 3D
  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terrror

This one is always easy for us – Star Tours and Tower of Terror. You can almost always walk into the Muppet ride, and the other four options are shows with roomy theaters.

Animal Kingdom

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Group A (choose 1):

  • AVATAR Flight of Passage
  • Na’vi River Journey

I have not been on either of these, since Avatar land opened after I was last at WDW, but from everything I’ve heard Flight of Passage is one of the best rides Disney Imagineering has ever created, and should be your #1 choice for a Fastpass.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Group B (choose 2):

  • DINOSAUR
  • Expedition Everest
  • Finding Nemo – The Musical
  • Flights of Wonder
  • It’s Tough to be a Bug
  • Kali River Rapids – tends to be closed for refurb in January
  • Kilimanjaro Safaris
  • Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
  • Primeval Whirl
  • Rivers of Light

I always get a Fastpass for Everest – my fav ride in all of WDW! I also usually wait in the standby line multiple times (later at night, it’s almost a walk-on). The Safari is always worth a FP+ as well. Dinosaur is ok. FP+ is not required for Nemo or Flights of Wonder.