How to Access the Rides Faster at DisneyWorld -> FastPass+
It's like Magic, being about to practically walk on to a favorite ride at DisneyWorld and by pass the lines. Want to know how to do it? It's called FastPass+ and it's complimentary with your DisneyWorld Admission ticket....(ah hem, unlike some neighboring theme parks).
*Keep reading for tips and hints to get the DisneyWorld FastPasses you want most*
Here are 8 other things that make FastPass+ Magical:
1. You can use the MyDisneyExperience (MDE) app to make your Fastpass+ reservations. (TIP: download the latest update of the app to your smart device before your FastPass booking window begins and again before you go to Disney)
2. Reserve Them in Advance. If you are staying at one of the Disney resorts, (or at select Disney Good Neighbor resorts), you can make your FastPass (FP) reservations 60 days before you check-in and you can make your reservations for the entire length of your vacation at that point.
3. Everyone gets 3 FastPasses to start their day. You have to choose all three in the same park. That doesn’t mean you can’t park hop, but to start they all have to be in one park . . . subsequent FastPasses can be made for a different park. After you’ve used your first 3 (or they expire) you can start making more, one at a time. So after number 3 you can make #4, use it and make #5 and so on. Based on availability of course.
4. Reserve By Priorities. When making your FastPasses you do not have to go in chronological order. When you are staying at a Disney resort you can make FastPasses for all of the days of your trip on the first day your window opens which is 60 days before check-in. (30 days if you are not staying on property and have purchased your tickets in advanced and use the MDE app).
Two strategies: 1) prioritize your attractions by either the hardest to get (Frozen Ever After, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Flight of Passage, etc.), and by the attractions that are the most important must-dos for you. (So if your Animal Kingdom day is the 4th day of your trip go to it first and book your Flight of Passage FastPasses, then go to your Epcot day and book Frozen Ever After, and so on.) or 2) Another strategy is to put the most difficult to get FP attractions at the end of your trip—that way fewer people have had the window for that date open up and you have better odds.
5. Timing - Play around with the time tabs a bit until you find the best fit. When you are making your FastPasses you have the option to choose Morning, Afternoon or Evening and the system will auto-generate some time options to select, or you can select specific times like 10:00am or 2:30pm. I find that if you click on different time tabs it shows you more options for times.
6. You Have a 1 Hour time frame for each FastPass. It is not that you can ride that attraction as many times as you like within that hour, it is that you need to show up for the attraction sometime within that 1 hour time frame. So if your time is 10:20am-11:20am you can come as early as 10:20, but no later than 11:20. And you will get 1 ride on that attraction.
7. Getting Enough for your Party. If you are having trouble getting a party of 4 for a popular attraction you can try splitting your group. Maybe make 1 or 2 FastPasses at a time. So if you can get the first two for 10:15am reserve those. Then go back in to that day for the next 2 people, you might be able to overlap times so that FastPass starts at 10:30am. Now you can all ride together—you just need to arrive at the later start time or before the earlier end time.
8. All of Your FastPasses don’t have to be the same. I recommend one person be “in charge” of making the fastpasses on the MDE app. But that does not mean everyone has to ride the same ride at the same time. New to MDE is that you can select the fast pass for who in your party wants ride that ride.
So, What about other parks? Over at DisneyLand (in California), they have something similar call MaxPass. It works very differently and Disney charges an additional (nominal) fee. Over at Universal Studios in Orlando, they offer a similar service too, called ExtraPass, but it is something you purchase for a whopping $89 in addition to your admission ticket (or you get complimentary when staying at their resorts). Yet another reason to love FastPass+ at DisneyWorld, it's complimentary.
If you have a FastPass+ tip, I'd love to hear about it...please let me know in the comments section. Thanks!