Disney World FastPass+ Tips and Park Plan Strategies

my family will be going in September on 2023 we just went in June of 22 we never got the genie plus or lighting lane or whatever it is (if they are the same) but next time we go we want to be a little more informed on the situation. We are not early people we are the type to show up around 1-2 in the afternoon and i seen if you want a good selection you want to go as soon as the park opens. From reading this isn't nothing like universals express pass so can you tell us what me the best option for us if we don't want to wait in long lines?

We dutifully got up early this morning to select our fast passes for Disney studios April 9. Sadly, there were NO available tier 1 selections available, and a couple of high demand tiers 2 attractions were unavailable as well. We did get tower of terror and star tours reserved though. So, do we intentionally NOT select a tier 1 attraction and just leave it open hoping a tier 1 opens up or reserve something in tier 2 we really don’t want (like fantastic) and replace it if we get lucky? Thanks!

Hi,

We are planning a trip to Disney World. I understand making my three fastpass selections ahead of time but my questions is; if one of most popular rides (mine train) has only a fastpass selection for late in the evening (7:50pm) left, should I choose that as one of my first three? Knowing that I will not get to make anymore fastpass selections until that time has passed? Or should i just make three for in the morning and keep trying throughout the day?

HI! Love your site! We are planning a trip for 5 in May. Our youngest will not make the height for attractions 38in+. I was told by two disney cast members that if I want to do a Child Swap, I will have to make FP for me, husband, and two older girls (not just the first party riders). My husband and girls would go first and then I could ride with the girls....but we all have have FP. This seems to contradict what I've read above and on other sites. Disney said they are making changes.... And in that case I wouldn't be making any FP reservations for my 3 yr old. Will this screw her up later on in the day when we are adding FP after using our 3? Thanks!!

Hii, me and my girlfriend are planning to visit disney world in may for 2 days... which parks can i combine to get the most rides and shows out of my stay :) (we are not staying in a resort at disney)

Hi, we're planning a 7 day park hopper trip from October 20th-26th, as it seemed like the lowest volume time that we personally can attend with job restrictions. I thought we were set, but after reading a lot of different forums, now I'm worried about reservations and fastpasses disappearing before my eyes when I log in at 7am 180/60 days before the trip begins.

As a generally anxious person, this is awful, since now I'm going to be stressing for MONTHS before these opportunities are even open to me. How much should I actually worry about fastpasses being completely booked on the day they become available, for the days we've chosen? And same for reservations for restaurants.

Great post!

Were headed to disney May 2020 with a couple babies. With rider swap (say for 7DMT), does each parent need a FP+ for the same time window (e.g. 10am-11am), or could the system be "gamed " where parent 1 has 10-11 while parent 2 does swap and then parent 2 has say 12-1 while parent 1 swaps?

This has been so helpful! My husband and I are going to Disneyworld in Jan 2020. We’re doing all 4 parks (1 each day). When our window to select fast passes comes, can we select 3 fast passes for each park? Or is it just 3 passes total?

Our family is planning to go next year in Jan. on a Mon. through Wed. We typically visit MK, EPCOT & HS. We usually go to HS on our last day and drive back to Miami early afternoon. We are debating about swapping our days and starting with HS and leaving EPCOT to the last day. It appears that Test Track will be closed when we go and there are way more rides in HS we want to ride. Does that sound better? Tips all say to get FP for your last day first, however, we are concerned that our first day (HS) would run out of FP sooner since there is Slinky and Star Wars, etc. with the whole tier 1 issue. I hope this makes sense. Any advice would be helpful. We are FL residents staying at a DW resort if that helps,

Hi! I’m going to DW with my 82 Y/O dad in December. We have a 3 day park hopper & staying off site. Sunday we were going to do Hollywood in the morning, take a break, then MK in the afternoon and the Christmas party that nite. Should we use our 3 FP at HS or wing it in the morning and book the 3 FP for MK in the afternoon.

Dad likes to see the sights and the whole Disney experience. We may do slinky dog and the smugglers run...

Also, any thoughts on motion sickness for Avatar & Soarin?

Thank you!!

Thank you these are great. I'm after some specific info if it's out there as I'm struggling to find advice. I've been to WDW a few times before about 10 years ago but my GF has been before and we 1 Day before we cruise off on a Disney Cruise. The day we visit (on a Sunday in mid Dec) Hollywood studios has EMH in the morning (8am-9am). We were thinking we go there first, then Epcot for a couple of hours, then Magic Kingdom for late afternoon. MK shuts at 6pm as there is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party from 7pm, which we are hoping to go (most likely). My question, after that long scene setting, is it better to book your fastpass for the morning at HS (So you are able to use the extra FP's throughout the day with no guarantee of getting any for popular rides later and risk long wait times) or do we book the FP's for the evening at MK before the party (if we don't go to the party)? I know she really wants to do Space Mountain and so we are leaning towards gambling and use at the end of the day. Bearing in mind she has never been to WDW and wants to do the classic rides at MK.

A follow up question would be if we do decide to do Mickey's party in the evening, would it be better to do the FP in morning at HS and hoping MK will be quieter in the evening at the party?

Struggling to find any guidance on this. Hoping this makes sense. Many many thanks in advance!

Help! We are confused, does Disney World charge a fee for FastPasses+ or not? We are getting a lot of conflicting information online.

Thank you for your helpful articles and tips especially on FastPass Plus in EPCOT. We 5 will be there on Thurs. 11/21/19 a week before Thanksgiving. IS THERE A BETTER FAST PASS ARRANGEMENT that we can make to insure that we see Frozen, Soarin, Mission Space and Fast Track on that day? We would also like to see Living With the Land and then spend most of our time in World Showcase pavilions. We know that Frozen is in demand but can only choose one Tier I at a time, and would rather go from Future World to World Showcase successively since one of us has walking issues. We will get to EPCOT at 8 AM for Extra Hours that day: see Fast Track @ 8:30 on our own, then use FP-Tier 2 - Mission Space @9:35; FP-Tier 1 - Soarin @10:50; FP-Tier 2 Living with Land @11:50 before going to future World. I assume that we must use Tier 1 & 2 FPasses before we can book Frozen at a Kiosk. Thank you for any help! :)

My husband and I will be at Disney over Columbus Day Weekend and are staying off site. We plan on going to the Parks Saturday and Sunday. Most of the Fast Passes are already taken.

All the Parks except Epcot have Early Access.

Will being at a rope drop for any of the Parks work for us to try to get on The Dwarfs ride or Slinky - or is that fruitless because of the early access?

If we use our 3 Fast Passes at Magic Kindom, then are we stil restricted by the Tier System if we go to another park?

Hi! We are booking for a trip in a few days and there are few fastpass available. I would like to know if we book fastpass for late afternoon, do we have to wait that the 3 of them are used to be able to book others?

If yes, does that mean that we should book less interesting rides early morning and then book interesting rides after, or we keep or late afternoon nice passes?

Thank you for your great website!

Hello! When you go in to book your fast passes via the my disney exp app and are booking for mulitple people (6 in my group all adults) do they offer a number of fast passes for the specific ride? Or would I have to try and get 6 individual fast passes? If I have to book individually any tips on how to do this so we are able to secure all 6 fast passes for the same time? Thanks so much!

Question about fast pass tiers: Once I use up all three fast passes for the day, am I Limited to which additional fast passes I can make? For example can I continually make fast passes for slinky dog dash once I've used up the initial three?

When we booked our fast passes 60 days prior, it only let us book 1 at a time. Wondering if you have heard of this before. We went 4th of July weekend.

Hi, I understand we can use rider switch if little one can't or doesn't want to go and can get away with only using two fast passes for the other three to ride. Can this be done the other way round, ie older one (10yr old) doesn't want to go because he thinks its not thrilling or is too babyish for him, can we use two fast passes and rider switch so each adult can go with the younger one? Can't leave 10yr old on his own! This would be the ideal way to use the fastpass.

Better still, if the younger one doesnt want to go on anything... could we use the two passes on something else but the older one go instead?

Thanks

Hi, we have a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids. One is tall and the other is short so if we use 2 fastpasses with rider switch, 3 of us could ride (alternating) with 2 fast passes if the short one is not riding. With the other two passes which will be for one adult and the shorter one, whats the best way to use them to try and maximize everybody's experience?

Thanks

Hello,

Love reading this such great information. I had a quick question because I have heard varying information. We have a family of 6 and two are little. Could my husband and 2 oldest get a fast pass for slinky and than I get fast pass for littles and me on toy story mania so they don’t have to wait. Would i be able to get rider swap for slinky dog without a fast Pass? Thanks

Hi! We are traveling in November. We usually offsite, but we were going to stay a night or two at a Disney resort to get the fast passes 60 days in advance. We plan on going to the park on the 18th and 19th. If we only stay one night do we only get the reservations for the day we check in or both the day we check in/checkout? Thanks!

This site has been so helpful. We are taking a last minute trip after finding out my husband's work conference is in DIsney. I have less than 3 weeks to plan, will spend the majority of the days with 3 kids by myself (ages 5, 6, and 7). Any advice for me? Can I just wing it or will that be a fail? (this is a first time for all of us)

We have a 1yo & 3yo so not able to get on all rides as a family. If my husband wanted to take my 3yo daughter on 3 rides using his fast passes and I wanted to take her on 3 different rides using my fast passes, does my 3 year old then technically require 6 fast passes to accompany us?

Hello! I'm a Disney-veteran, but I've never tried booking one Fastpass and then linking it to the others. How exactly does that work?

Question about Child Swap..Say there is a ride my husband and two kids want to ride, but I don't. Can we use child swap in that scenario? My husband and oldest ride the ride using Fast Pass, I am in line with a child swap pass with my youngest. When the ride is done, my oldest gets off and my youngest gets on with my husband?

We are planning a trip to DW in 2020. One person will be purchasing all the Disney tickets and we will link them all together. Since everyone may not be staying on Disney property, can our family member that is staying on Disney property obtain fast passes for the whole group, 60 days prior to check in?

We are going in June. The first day we will do rope drop at MK. We want to get a fastpass for Slinkydog but won't be going to that park until the next day. How do we get a fastpass? Can we order them during our 30 day window?

Forgive me if this was on your site and I didn't see it, but could you tell us which rides we do NOT need a Fastpass for? I.E. rides where the lines move quickly and there is likely to be under half hour wait.

Many thanks.

I keep getting mixed information about the child swap. We are a family of 4(2 adults 1child 1infant)

Say we want to ride splash mountain do both adults require a FastPass?

Technically if we get fast passes for all rides that ur children cannot ride could we have 6 in one day. 3 for my husband and 3 for me but child swap??

Hi! Reading everyone's question/answers has been so helpful! So we are booked to visit in October 22-29th. My question is am I able to book fastpass' for our whole trip starting 60 days out or do I need to do it day by day? I hope that makes sense! Thank you!

Hi! We will be going to Animal Kingdom Ferb 11,2019. The regular park hours are 9-8. I got a FP for Rivers of Light at 8:15 after regular park hours. I am not staying at a Dianey property, so do not have use of EMH. Will I not be able to use there fast passes? Thanks!

Hi. We're staying on property for three nights (first) and with friends for another two. If we have five days of park tickets can we make FP for all of those days at 60 days out, or just for the days that we are on property?

Hi! We are booking our honeymoon for early August. The first few days we’ll be staying on property before moving to an off-property condo. Do you know if any of the benefits of staying on-property carry over once we’ve moved locations? (Ex- can we book fast passes 60 days out for the whole trip?). Also, any recommendations for resorts, which days of the week to visit which parks, etc? Planning probably an 8 day trip with one day at Universal. Thanks!

Hi!

I have a question I can't seem to find an answer to. If I have a 5 day pass (one park per day) and reserve all 3 Fastpasses for a certain park, can I later decide to go to a different park and just delete these Fastpass reservations? I'm not sure if we want to go to Animal Kingdom on a Sunday or Saturday and I'd like to reserve Fastpasses for Animal Kingdom park on both days. We could then choose which day we go and still have the fastpasses.

We are a group of 14. Four will be checking in the day after the first 10. What is the best strategy for getting fastpasses together?

I'll be using a wheelchair. Will we be able to fit through all the waiting lines? Can we still use a FastPass with a wheelchair?

my question is a general question, but mainly with rope drop and fast pass lines. We will be coming in January. A family of 6, one of our family members will be in a wheel chair. how does this affect the hustle and bustle of rope drop? The fast pass lines and regular lines? She has bad arthritis but can walk for a while with out complications. But a full day of walking and standing in lines is way too much. Is it even possible to navigate rope drop with a member in a wheel chair. I really want to include her in everything but not hold back the group. Sounds like that rush to get to FOP or Slinky could be a huge swing on waiting times. (If you are in the front of the pack or at the back) Also do all rides have a handicap line? So many have stairs and non-friendly wheelchair paths to the ride. She can easily navigate from the line to the ride with out the chair. But in line and from ride to ride the chair is needed. Thanks ahead for any help or suggestions.

“Sharing” FastPass question— our family of 5 is staying on property but we know that not all of us will go to the WDW parks on some days (some of us will be going off property.) Can we use those family members’ magic bands and fast pass selections or do those people have to physically be in the park to use their ticket for the day to use their fast passes?

Hi,

Is it still correct that you don't need to get FP for all members of our group if using child swap? I keep seeing mixed responses? We are family of 4; one 3yo who cannot ride several rides. Can we just get 2 FP for my son and I and then my husband rides using child swap through FP line even though he wouldn't have a FP? Is that how it would work or do we need to get 3 FP?

Thanks!

If you'll have a little one with you who isn't tall enough for all the rides, you can do a child swap so that no one has to miss out. The benefit of this is that only your first party riders would need FastPass+. Let's say you're a party of four and three of you want to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Your youngest child can't or doesn't want to ride. You would all go to the FastPass+ entrance and tell the cast member you want to do a child swap. Your husband and older child would use their FastPass+ to ride while you waited with your youngest. You would get a child swap pass, and you could wait for your husband and then ride along with your older child again while he waited. Or you could come back with your pass later and ride. The child swap pass is good for up to three people.

is there a list somewhere that shows which rides have the double tap for fast passes?

You need to update your downloadable Frog Family Guide to FastPass+. It does not list the current Tier 1 attractions in Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios (your web page does). Also I believe that you can get additional FastPass+ reservations on Disneys app (after you use the 3 that you reserved in advance) mow and do not need to go to a park kiosk.

I am trying to figure out our fast passes and having a lot of trouble. How do you know where you will be in the park so that you can book a time slot for certain rides? Not sure if this makes sense, but when I usually go to a park I just walk through it and if I see a ride I want to go on, I wait in line and get on. I'm thinking with disney I better not do this. How do you suggest I decide what time slots I should choose? What if I choose a 2pm time slot for a certain ride and I'm all the way at the end of the park and this park is super far away. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for your help.

Hi!

I am staying at Pop Century starting October 25, 2018. I have linked my resort reservation and park tickets to my Disney account.

For some reason, though, when I look to book my fastpasses, I am only allowed to skip 30 days ahead. I thought I can book 60 days in advance.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Thanks!

We have tickets for Mickey's NSSHP in October. I've read conflicting opinions on several different sources about the ability to reserve FastPasses for the 4:00pm to 7:00pm time period with only a Party ticket. Is that allowed, or is a park ticket needed for that day? Thank you!