12 Disney FastPass Secrets to Help You Maximize Your Time
Do you want to know all of the best Disney FastPass Secrets? Of course, you do! Nobody in their right mind wants to spend their entire visit to the park waiting in line. Walt Disney World is one of the best vacation spots (for all ages!), but let’s face it, the lines are terrible!
Visitors often talk about visiting during the “off-season” however, at Disney, there’s really no such thing anymore. Thanks to all of the year-round events that the parks host, people flock to the parks by the thousands each and every day!
So how does one navigate the 4 massive parks with over 60+ rides and attractions? Well, you use the FastPass, of course! These Disney FastPass Secrets will help you plan your trip and maximize your time in the park.
Our Disney FastPass Secrets will help you navigate the lines, reduce your wait time, and make the most out of your next Disney World trip!
Table of Contents
What is FastPass+?
With the purchase of all Disney World tickets, you get 3 free FastPasses a day! Yes, free! A FastPass means that you are reserving your spot for a ride or attraction during a one hour window of time. Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t be standing in line, it just means that it will be a much shorter line.
We like to use them to secure spots for 2 rides and 1 character meet and greet.
How Do You Get FastPass+?
Once you purchase your park tickets, or if you have an annual pass, you can set up your FastPasses. You can use the My Disney Experience app, or the My Disney Experience section of the Disney World website. You can also hit up one of the kiosks in the parks.
When Can You Book FastPass+?
You can book your FastPass+ slots 30 days in advance, or 60 days in advance if you are staying at a Disney Resort. The earlier you try to book these time slots, the more likely you’ll be able to reserve your favorite ride. Some Fastpasses go quickly! The time slots become available at 7 AM EST so set your alarm!
Disney FastPass Secrets
Book Your FastPass For the Busiest Time of the Day
One of the best secrets to Disney FastPasses is knowing when to use the pass. The best time to use your FastPasses is when the park is the busiest. Makes sense, right? More people in the park = longer wait times. The best window of time to book your FastPasses is from 10 AM to 3 PM when the park is hoppin’.
The lines before 10 AM won’t be too outrageous since the park is just opening. They also decrease after 3 PM when people head back to their hotels to escape the crowds of hot Florida heat.
Pick the Most Popular Rides First!
Obviously, FastPasses for the most popular rides are going to get snagged first. Booking the hardest rides first is a quick and easy Fastpass secret that people may not even think of. The most popular rides, right now, are Frozen Ever After, Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Slinky Dog Dash.
Book your FastPass for these rides later in the day– chances are, there will be more FastPasses available.
If you are dying to ride one of these rides, and don’t have a FastPass, you should plan on spending at least an hour waiting in line.
Use Single Rider To Save Your Disney Fastpasses For Other Attractions
If you can’t resist some of the big kid/adult rides that your toddler or kid can’t go on- don’t worry, Disney has a plan! They have a system called Rider Switch Passes. See a cast member at one of the qualifying rides and they’ll hand you a Rider Switch Pass. Basically, one grown-up waits in line and goes on the ride while the other grown-up hangs out with the kids. Once, they’ve exited the ride, you pass off the kids and they hand you the pass. You get to ride the ride without having to wait in line again! Holla!
If just one of you wants to ride one of these rides, some rides offer a single rider line. Basically, you’ll fill in any empty seats on the ride. There are 4 rides in Disney World that offer single rider lines. They are Expedition Everest, Test Track, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, and Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run.
This is also a great option if you don’t mind splitting up with your group! You and your travel companions can all do this, ride the ride with some random person, and meet back up!
Refresh Your App To See If Your Desired Fastpass Comes Available
If there’s a ride you must do or a princess you must meet but can’t find a Fastpass for it, don’t give up. People cancel their Fastpasses because their kids are having a meltdown, or decide they want to ride another ride, or change their mind for a plethora or reasons. The minute someone forfeits their FastPass, it becomes available for someone else to snag. That someone could be you!
Just keep refreshing the app!
Check the morning of your visit (since people modify their selections the night before or even early that morning!). Also check after 10 AM because people may decide to alter their plans.
Think Things Out
When you pre-arrange your FastPasses, you’ll want to make sure they are near each other. Do yourself a favor and scope out a park map before you book your passes. If you’re hitting up Space Mountain at noon and then Splash Mountain at 1:15, you’re going to have to haul ass from Tomorrowland clear across the park to Frontierland.
It would make so much more sense to cluster rides like Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway, and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin together.
Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Character Meet & Greets also make a great trio!
Not Everyone in Your Group Needs to Use the Same FastPasses
Anyone over the age of 13 can manage their own FastPasses. If half of your group wants to ride Splash Mountain, and the other half wants to take it easy on Pirates of the Caribbean, you can choose which people will use which FastPasses.
Be Smart About How You Use your FastPass
Remember, you only get 3 FastPasses that you can pre-book (more on why I say “Pre-book” in a minute). Think of these 3 FastPasses as a precious gift. For the love of God, do not waste them on silly things like parades, fireworks, or unpopular rides. It’s not that Dumbo, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, It’s a Small World, and the Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor aren’t great attractions, because they are… they just aren’t worth using a FastPass for.
You Don’t Need to be at your Ride at the Exact Time You’ve Rserved Your Spot
Your FastPass window is actually an hour-long. This means you can arrive at the ride or attraction any time within that hour long window and be let in.
If you’re early for everything, like me, you can arrive 5 minutes before your FastPass window opens. Or…if you’re one of those people who is late for everything, you can arrive 15 minutes after your window. This comes in handy if you’re fighting over what rides to use your FastPass on and you have to bolt across the park to get from one ride to another.
You Won’t Lose Your FastPass
Okay, so say you didn’t listen to my advice and you booked FastPasses on opposite sides of the park from one another in a short time window. Then, theoretically, you didn’t make it to the second ride. Don’t freak out, if you miss your FastPass window (and the grace period), you can hop back on to the app and there will be a new pass available for you tto book.
You Don’t HAVE to Use Your FastPass
If you get to a ride that you have a FastPass for and the wait is only 15 minutes, you can always pull up the app and cancel your FastPasses. Or, if you have a MagicBand, just don’t scan it! Once you’re in the line, ditch your reservation and pick something else.
The Biggest Secret, EVER!!!
What if I told you that you actually can get more than 3 free FastPasses? If you book your 3 Fastpass for early in the day, you can book another once you’ve tapped your MagicBand for the last one.
While you’re in line, open up the My Disney Experience app on your smartphone and book that 4th Fastpass! After you tap your band for your 4th ride, you can book a 5th FP, and so on. This Disney Fastpass secret will lead you to “unlimited” Fastpass possibilities for the rest of the day!
Amazing, right????
Another option is to stay at Club Level in certain Disney World resorts. You can pay $50 a day to get three more FastPasses. This will give you a 90-day window to book 6 FastPasses per day.
Research the Tiers for Rides
Did you know Disney rides are ranked into tiers? Rides that are in Tier 1 are the most popular and in demand, and typically the harder to FastPass for. Tier 2 rides and attractions are essentially everything else. When you pre-book your 3 Fastpasses, only one of them can be for a Tier 1 attraction.
Fortunately, Magic Kingdom doesn’t use this system so all of the rides are fair game. However, the other parks do, so you’ll need to plan accordingly.
Tier 1 Rides By Park
- Animal Kingdom: Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey
- Epcot: Soarin’, Frozen Ever After, and Test Rack
- Hollywood Studios: Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, Toy Story Mania!, Slinky Dog Dash, and Alien Swirling Saucers.
Book your #1 choice for first thing in the morning and then set up all other passes for the peak period of 10 AM to 3PM.
Don’t forget, you can actually book a 4th, 5th, and 6th FastPass! Once you’ve used your FastPass on a Tier 1 Ride, you can book another!
Wrapping Up Our Disney FastPass Secrets
We hope that these Disney FastPass Secrets will help you maintain your sanity and save you tons of time during your next trip to Disney World. After all, who wants to waste their time standing around in lines? And for the love of God, if you haven’t already done so- download the My Disney Experience App. If you keep refreshing it, it’s a total game changer!
Save a Pin & Start Planning Your Adventure
Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more travel tips and tricks. See you next time!
You May Also Like
The Ultimate Guide to Visiting Disney with Toddlers
Take a Virtual Trip to Disney World
