How Fastpass Works at Disney World

If you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World, one of the first things you need to figure out is how to use Fastpass+ because it will change your life. Well, your trip at least. Fastpass+ (the original system was called “Fastpass” and the current new and improved system is called “Fastpass+”) is the secret to skipping HOURS in line at the parks most popular attractions.

Figuring out how Fastpasses work is by far the thing I get the most questions about. How much does it cost? Is it worth it? How does it work?

Here’s what you need to know:

Fastpass+ is FREE for EVERYONE.
It’s a reservation system of sorts that allows you to experience the most popular attractions with minimal waiting in line.
Not every ride/attraction has Fastpass, but a LOT do.
Many live shows (including nightly fireworks) have Fastpasses, which means you either get early entry to the theater to pick your seat, or a spot saved in a certain section.
Fastpass+ reservations can be made 30 days in advance by the general public and annual passholders, but Disney resort guests can make their reservations 60 days in advance. That’s a HUGE incentive to stay on property as some of the most popular attractions run out of Fastpasses before the 30 day window even opens up.
Fastpasses can be booked on the My Disney Experience app or the Walt Disney World website.
You must have your park tickets purchased and linked to your my Disney Experience app (and everyone in your travel party connected) before you can reserve Fastpasses.
You can reserve THREE Fastpasses per day in ONE theme park in advance. Once you use your three original Fastpasses, you can start to reserve and use them one at a time in any park that you’re visiting.
There are kiosks in each park where you can scan your park tickets and book Fastpasses day of (what’s left over), but availability can be very fluid as people can cancel Fastpasses they’re not going to use and new times can pop up randomly so it’s best to download the app to your phone so you can check often and not backtrack through the park.
Your Fastpass reservation time is good for an hour. So if your Fastpass for Space Mountain is for 3:20, that means you can scan you Magic Band or park ticket and get in line anytime between 3:20 and 4:20.
The reservation availability opens up at 7AM EASTERN TIME 30 days before your arrival day (60 days for resort guests). At that time, you’ll be able to book Fastpasses for your whole trip so you don’t have to log back in every day to book the next day’s Fastpasses. For example, if your vacation starts (your first park day) on June 23^rd, you can login to the app at 7AM Eastern time on April 24^th and make reservations for the entirety of your trip.

Okay, okay…I get it. Reservations and strategic planning 30-60 days in advance aren’t necessarily “fun,” but neither is waiting in line for FOUR hours (yep, some lines really do get that long) for the biggest and newest attraction when you could only wait 10-15 minutes with a Fastpass. So if you’re planning your trip far enough in advance (with last minute trips you just have to take what you can get), make sure you set an alarm on your booking date and GET IT DONE. You’ll thank me later.

Now, onto recommendations for each park:

Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom has Fastpasses available for more attractions than any other park (25!). Here’s an alphabetical list of attractions that offer Fastpass:

The Barnstormer (Fantasyland)

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Frontierland)

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (Tomorrowland)

Dumbo the Flying Elephant (Fantasyland)

Enchanted Tales with Belle (Fantasyland)

The Haunted Mansion (Liberty Square)

It’s a Small World (Fantasyland)

Jungle Cruise (Adventureland)

Mad Tea Party (Fantasyland)

Magic Carpets of Aladdin (Adventureland)

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Fantasyland)

Meet Ariel at her Grotto (Fantasyland)

Meet Cinderella & Elena at Princess Fairy Tale Hall (Fantasyland)

Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater (Mainstreet USA)

Meet Rapunzel & Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall (Fantasyland)

Meet Tinker Bell at Town Square Theater (Mainstreet USA)

Mickey’s PhilharMagic

Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor (Tomorrowland)

Peter Pan’s Flight (Fantasyland)

Pirates of the Caribbean (Adventureland)

Seven Dwarves Mine Train (Fantasyland)

Space Mountain (Tomorrowland)

Splash Mountain (Frontierland)

Tomorrowland Speedway (Tomorrowland)

Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid (Fantasyland)

With this many Fastpass attractions, the good news is that you’ll ALWAYS be able to get three Fastpasses. BUT you want to pick the absolute best ones possible. You want to pick Fastpasses for attractions where using a Fastpass is going to save you a lot of time. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that has a 120 minute wait and you’re on in 10 minutes, that’s a huge time savings. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that only has a 5-10 minute wait and you walk right on, that’s not so good of a pick. Now, those numbers are going to depend on wait times on any given day and crowd patterns within the day. Wait times can fluctuate based on time of day and what’s going on around that attraction (for example, if the ride is located near the exit of a large theater, the ride’s line is probably going to swell when that show gets out because so many people are passing through the area and getting in line, whereas if you wait 10-15 minutes, that line may naturally go down quite a bit). However, in general there are some attractions that are time tested better picks than others.

Here are my Magic Kingdom Fastpass+ recommendations:

Great Fastpass Picks

Seven Dwarves Mine Train

Peter Pan’s Flight

Space Mountain

Good Fastpass Picks

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Splash Mountain

Enchanted Tales with Belle

Haunted Mansion

Okay Fastpass Picks

Pirates of the Caribbean

Jungle Cruise

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid

Any character meet & greets

Skip These Fastpass Picks

It’s a Small World

Tomorrowland Speedway

Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor

Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Mad Tea Party

Dumbo the Flying Elephant

The Barnstormer

Mickey’s Philhar Magic

When your booking window opens up and you can see availability, start working your way down this list category by category. For example, if attractions in the “great” tier are available, book those. If two are available but one isn’t, move down and pick one from the “good” category and so on..

Keep in mind…these picks are recommended generally based on popularity and how long wait times get. But if any of the attractions don’t interest you (or they’re not going to work for your party) obviously, skip that one and keep moving down the list.

These attractions aren’t categorized based on how “good” an attraction is, but by how long the wait is likely to be. Meaning…there are attractions in the “okay” and “skip” categories that you should definitely experience, you just don’t necessarily need to book a Fastpass for. Also, depending on crowd level, by afternoon, many of the attractions on the “okay” and “skip” lists may develop lines but they’ll be nothing compared to the lines in the “great” and “good” category.

Also, most of the attractions in the “okay” and “skip” category USUALLY have same day Fastpass availability in the afternoon and evening, meaning that after you use your original three Fastpasses, you can start booking additional Fastpasses one at a time.

If you’re booking Fastpasses at your 30 day window, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting what you want (resort guests who can book 60 days in advance certainly won’t)….BUT Seven Dwarves Mine Train is going to be the hardest to get. Meaning if it’s available (and it might not be) the time may not be until early evening.

Once you book your original three Fastpasses, you can modify your selections in the app and change if a better time becomes available OR if Fastpasses for an attraction that was full open up. People cancel Fastpasses all of the time (trips get cancelled, days get switched around, plans change) so if you keep checking, it’s always possible that an elusive Mine Train Fastpass will become available.

A tip for hard to book Fastpasses: If you’re dead set on having a Fastpass for Mine Train, sometimes the availability is better on days that are further into your trip. For example, if your trip is 5 days long, there may be more availability on day 3, 4, or 5 than day 1 or 2. This has to do with the overlapping booking window that Disney offers to people who have multi day tickets. Instead of making you reserve Fastpasses at 7AM 30 days in advance for EVERY day of your trip, they allow you to book your whole trips worth of days on that first day at 7AM. So if nothing is available on day 1 or 2 of your trip, it may be because it’s overlapping with day 4 or 5 of someone else’s booking window. If you’re using this strategy to book your whole trip, I would give priority to getting Fastpasses for Avatar: Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom) and Slinky Dog or Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (Hollywood Studios) over Mine Train as they’re going to be harder to get. Meaning put those two parks later in your trip if you can to have a better chance at getting those Fastpasses because you’ll PROBABLY be able to get Mine Train at 30 days.

Try and book your three Fastpasses as early in the day as possible (but not tooooo early). I would go for:

Fastpass #1: 10AM-11AM

Fastpass #2: 11AM-12PM

Fastpass #3: 12PM-1PM

Picking these times (or close to it) will: 1) let you take advantage of shorter wait times at attractions as soon as the park opens without using up Fastpasses, and 2) let you get through your original three Fastpasses as early as possible so you can start booking and using them one at a time. If you’re finished with your Fastpasses by 1PM, it’s possible to get in an extra 5-8 Fastpasses after that! If you’re really working it ; )

Epcot

Epcot Fastpasses work a bit differently because they are tiered. You can pick one Fastpass from tier one attractions and two Fastpasses from tier two attractions. The problem is that most of what you’d want is in tier one.

Here’s a list of attractions in each tier:

Tier 1

Epcot Forever

Frozen Ever After

Soarin’

Test Track

Tier 2

Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival

Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Living with the Land

Mission: Space

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Spaceship Earth

Turtle Talk with Crush

I’ll reiterate a lot of the advice that I gave in the Magic Kingdom section, as it applies in all parks.

Epcot has far fewer Fastpasses than the Magic Kingdom, but because it “tiers” the most popular attractions, chances are good that you’ll get a tier 1 Fastpass. The hard part is deciding which one.

Again as I said before, you want to pick Fastpasses for attractions where using a Fastpass is going to save you a lot of time. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that has a 120 minute wait and you’re on in 10 minutes, that’s a huge time savings. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that only has a 5-10 minute wait and you walk right on, that’s not so good of a pick. Now, those numbers are going to depend on wait times on any given day and crowd patterns within the day. Wait times can fluctuate based on time of day and what’s going on around that attraction (for example, if the ride is located near the exit of a large theater, the ride’s line is probably going to swell when that show gets out because so many people are passing through the area and getting in line, whereas if you wait 10-15 minutes, that line may naturally go down quite a bit). However, in general there are some attractions that are time tested better picks than others.

Here are my Epcot Fastpass+ recommendations:

Great Fastpass Picks

Frozen Ever After

Soarin’

Test Track

Good Fastpass Picks

Mission: Space

Living with the Land

Spaceship Earth

Skip These Fastpass Picks

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

Turtle Talk with Crust

Journey Into the Imagination with Figment

Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival

Honestly, Epcot is one of the weakest parks attraction wise and it shows in the Fastpasses. The three Fastpasses you’d want are all in tier one so you have to pick just one. And most of the remaining options aren’t things that you’d necessarily ever need a Fastpass for.

In the “great” tier (aka tier 1), I would pick Frozen because it’s in a less convenient location to do first thing when the park opens. Because it’s popular with kids (Frozen!) and one of the few kid-centric attractions at Epcot, there are seldom any same day Fastpasses available. If possible, pick an early afternoon time for Frozen since it’s located more towards the back of the park. That will give you time to see most of Future World and not have to backtrack before your Fastpass. If Frozen isn’t available, I would pick Test Track because it has the lowest capacity. Soarin’ cycles through a lot more people per hour and it’s not uncommon to find same day Fastpasses available (after you’ve used your original three).

For your other two picks, pick something from the “good” tier.

And remember…these attractions aren’t categorized based on how “good” an attraction is, but by how long the wait is likely to be. Meaning…there are attractions in thee “skip” category that you should definitely experience, you just don’t necessarily need to book a Fastpass for. Also, depending on crowd level, by afternoon, many of the attractions on the ” good” or “skip” lists may develop lines but they’ll be nothing compared to the lines in the “great” category.

If you’re booking Fastpasses at your 30 day window, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting what you want (resort guests who can book 60 days in advance certainly won’t)….BUT Frozen Ever After is probably going to be the hardest to get. Meaning if it’s available (and it might not be) the time may not be until early evening.

And if you don’t snag a Fastpass, just make that attraction your first stop of the day!

Try and book your three Fastpasses as early in the day as possible (except for Frozen which I would book early afternoon). I would go for:

Fastpass #1: 10AM-11AM

Fastpass #2: 11AM-12PM

Fastpass #3: 12PM-1PM

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios is arguably the park with the best (and most!) GREAT attractions right now. Like Epcot, their attractions are also tiered (you can choose 1 attraction from tier 1 and 2 from tier two). Here’s what’s available for Fastpasses:

Rise of the Resistance (the new, primo Star Wars experience) requires a boarding pass (a same day Fastpass) to ride. They’re available in the My Disney Experience app the MINUTE the park officially opens. You and everyone in your party has to be INSIDE the park gates to get one and they go FAST (they’re usually all gone for the day in less than a minute). If you get a boarding group, you’ll be called in order throughout the day (you can check the app for status updates) and you have two hours to get in line once your number has been called. Boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance are hard to get, BUT the nice thing is there isn’t a line or a place to rush to get one. So you can be in line for another popular attraction while you’re getting a boarding group on your phone.

Tier 1

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

Slinky Dog Dash

Tier 2

Alien Swirling Saucers

Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage

Disney Junior Dance Party

Fantasmic

For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

Muppet Vision 3D

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

Star Tours

Toy Story Mania

Tower of Terror

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Hollywood Studios has a pretty good Fastpass system. However it plays out, you’ll be able to get some really good Fastpasses. BUT you want to pick the absolute best ones possible. As I’ve said before, you want to pick Fastpasses for attractions where using a Fastpass is going to save you a lot of time. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that has a 120 minute wait and you’re on in 10 minutes, that’s a huge time savings. If you pick a Fastpass for an attraction that only has a 5-10 minute wait and you walk right on, that’s not so good of a pick. Now, those numbers are going to depend on wait times on any given day and crowd patterns within the day. Wait times can fluctuate based on time of day and what’s going on around that attraction (for example, if the ride is located near the exit of a large theater, the ride’s line is probably going to swell when that show gets out because so many people are passing through the area and getting in line, whereas if you wait 10-15 minutes, that line may naturally go down quite a bit). However, in general there are some attractions that are time tested better picks than others.

Here are my Hollywood Fastpass+ recommendations:

Rise of the Resistance (arrive early to be sure you’re in the park when the boarding passes become available on the app)

Great Fastpass Picks

Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run

Slinky Dog Dash

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Tower of Terror

Good Fastpass Picks

Alien Swirling Saucers

Star Tours

Toy Story Mania

Okay Fastpass Picks

Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage

For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Skip These Fastpass Picks

Fantasmic

Disney Junior Dance Party

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular

Muppet Vision 3D

In tier one, I would choose either Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway or Slinky Dog Dash (and do the other one at rope drop) since Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run has a single rider line (which can shorter your wait DRASTICALLY if you’re willing to ride separate). The line for Runaway Railway is all inside while the line for Slinky Dog is outside, which may mean you want to pick Slinky. Either choice is good.

I’ll repeat what I’ve said about booking Fastpasses in other parks here…

When your booking window opens up and you can see availability, start working your way down this list category by category.

I don’t generally recommend using Fastpasses for shows, which there are quite a few of in Hollywood Studios so that’s why a lot of attractions made it on the “okay” or “skip” list.

If you’re booking Fastpasses at your 30 day window, there are a couple of Fastpasses you “might” have trouble getting (resort guests who can book 60 days in advance certainly won’t). Tier one attractions are the hottest tickets and those spots are going to go fastest. So what’s available may end up determining what your tier one Fastpass is.

A tip for hard to book Fastpasses: If you’re dead set on having a Fastpass for Runaway Railway, Slinky Dog Dash, or Smuggler’s Run, sometimes the availability is better on days that are further into your trip. For example, if your trip is 5 days long, there may be more availability on day 3, 4, or 5 than day 1 or 2. This has to do with the overlapping booking window that Disney offers to people who have multi day tickets. Instead of making you reserve Fastpasses at 7AM 30 days in advance for EVERY day of your trip, they allow you to book your whole trips worth of days on that first day at 7AM. So if nothing is available on day 1 or 2 of your trip, it may be because it’s overlapping with day 4 or 5 of someone else’s booking window.

Try and book your three Fastpasses as early in the day as possible (but not tooooo early). I would go for:

Fastpass #1: 10AM-11AM

Fastpass #2: 11AM-12PM

Fastpass #3: 12PM-1PM

Picking these times (or close to it) will: 1) let you take advantage of shorter wait times at attractions as soon as the park opens without using up Fastpasses, and 2) let you get through your original three Fastpasses as early as possible so you can start booking and using them one at a time. If you’re finished with your Fastpasses by 1PM, it’s possible to get in an extra few Fastpasses after that! If you’re really working it ; )

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom also has a tier Fastpass system, but it’s MUCH easier to make choices with. You can choose 1 attraction from tier one and 2 from tier 2. Here are the attractions that utilize Fastpass at Animal Kingdom:

Tier 1

Avatar Flight of Passage

Na’vi River Journey

Tier 2

The Animation Experience

Dinosaur

Expedition Everest

Festival of the Lion King

Finding Nemo-The Musical

It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Kali River Rapids

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Meet Mickey & Minnie at Adventurers Outpost

Primeval Whirl (seasonal)

Rivers of Light

Up! A Great Bird Adventure

The tier one choice in this park is a no brainer. Avatar Flight of Passage is easily one of the greatest attractions in any theme park. Na’vi River Journey is basically like Pandora’s It’s a Small World. Pick Flights of Passage.

Great Fastpass Picks

Avatar Flight of Passage

Expedition Everest

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Good Fastpass Picks

Na’vi River Journey

Dinosaur

Kali River Rapids (if it’ll be hot)

Okay Fastpass Picks

The Animation Experience

Festival of the Lion King

It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Meet Mickey & Minnie at Adventurer’s Outpost

Primeval Whirl

Skip the Fastpass

Finding Nemo – The Musical

Rivers of Light

Up! A Great Bird Adventure

A lot of the attractions on the “okay” or “skip” list are shows and a Fastpass isn’t necessarily as long as you arrive 10-15 minutes early.

If you’re booking Fastpasses at your 30 day window, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting what you want (resort guests who can book 60 days in advance certainly won’t)…EXCEPT for Avatar Flight of Passage. Often it’s not available at all at the 30 day window.

A tip for hard to book Fastpasses: If you’re dead set on having a Fastpass for Avatar Flight of Passage, sometimes the availability is better on days that are further into your trip. For example, if your trip is 5 days long, there may be more availability on day 3, 4, or 5 than day 1 or 2. This has to do with the overlapping booking window that Disney offers to people who have multi day tickets. Instead of making you reserve Fastpasses at 7AM 30 days in advance for EVERY day of your trip, they allow you to book your whole trips worth of days on that first day at 7AM. So if nothing is available on day 1 or 2 of your trip, it may be because it’s overlapping with day 4 or 5 of someone else’s booking window.

Try and book your three Fastpasses as early in the day as possible (but not tooooo early). I would go for:

Fastpass #1: 10AM-11AM

Fastpass #2: 11AM-12PM

Fastpass #3: 12PM-1PM

How Fastpass Works at Disney World

Magic Kingdom

Epcot

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Animal Kingdom

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