Disney World has an awesome ride/show reservation system called FastPass+.
FastPass+ allows you to reserve rides or shows and is included in your park ticket or annual passholder purchase. Fastpass+ reservations can be made 30 days in advance, or if you are staying at a Disney World Resort you have the option to make your FastPass+ reservations 60 days in advance and for the entire length of your stay. If you have no purchased your park tickets you cannot make FastPass+ reservations.
But what does that mean?
Staying OFF property:
That means if you are staying off Disney property but have purchased and linked your park tickets to your MyDisneyExperience app, you can make your attraction reservations 30 days prior to the day of your visit. For example, if I am vacationing to Disney World for Veteran’s Day weekend 2019 and have an arrival date of Friday, November 8th and a departure date of Tuesday, November 12th and I can make my reservations on October 9th for a park visit on November 8th. I can make my three selections and then I have to wait until October 10th to make my reservations for Saturday November 9th, and so on. Disney only allows you to make reservations for 30 days out exactly.
Staying ON property:
If you are staying on Disney property you can make your attraction reservations 60 days prior to the first day of your visit. For example, using the same dates above with an arrival of Friday, November 8th and a departure of Tuesday, November 12th I can start making my FastPass+ reservations on Tuesday, September 9th. Because I am staying ON Disney property in this scenario I can make my reservations for the entirety of my trip, up to 14 days. Meaning I can make all my park day reservations at the 60 day mark rather than signing on to continue making the next days reservations.
Annual Passholder:
Annual Passholders can make their FastPass+ reservations 30 days prior to arrival and you can make up to 7 days worth of reservations at any point in the 30 day window. If Annual Passholder is staying at a Disney World Resort, the on property rules for FastPass+ prevail over the Annual Passholder rules.
Making FastPass+ Reservations
I’m an avid planner, and if you are too this portion will be your bread and butter.
You will first need to have signed up for a MyDisneyExperience account with your email address and have linked your reservation package or ticket confirmation to your MyDisneyExperience account.
YOU DO NEED A VALID TICKET FOR ALL BODIES IN YOUR PARTY THAT YOU WISH TO MAKE FASTPASS+ RESERVATIONS FOR. I can’t stress that enough.
I personally have created identities for everyone within my traveling party so that I can easily add them to my FastPass+ reservations while I’m making them in the app. This helps expedite the process when time is crucial if you’re trying to snag some of the more sought after FastPass+ reservations like Soarin’ at Epcot, Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom or Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios.
Additionally; you will want to have a clear and concise plan of what park you plan to visit on what date and consider your Disney dining reservations as well when making your FastPass+ choices. I make a calendar where I put what park I’m visiting under the date and scratch in the time of any dining reservations I have made.
Note: All FastPass+ reservations are in increments of one hour and Disney absolutely does not allow you to overlap your FastPass+ reservations. However, they WILL allow you to overlap a dining reservation with a FastPass+ reservation.
Now that you have your park plan and dining reservations written out, it’s time to start making your FastPass+ reservations!
Reservations for FastPass+ are only able to be reserved in advance online or through the MyDisneyExperience app. You cannot make FastPass+ reservations over the phone. If you are in park you can make them at the in park kiosks as well.
In MyDisneyExperience click on “My Plans” and choose “Make a Selection” under FastPass+. It will ask you to then make your “FastPass+ Party”, here you will select all individuals in your travel party for whom you have linked tickets for that you would like to reserve a FastPass+. Next you will select a date on the calendar and the park of your choosing. Now choose a time period. You can either choose a general time frame “Morning/Afternoon/Evening” or a specific time. I ALWAYS choose a general time period so it will load everything available in that time period so that I have more selection. Now click on the selectino of your choice and confirm your FastPass+ reservation. This will now show up in your “Plans” section on your MyDisneyExperience.
Types of FastPass+
Disney has Tier 1 and Tier 2 FastPass+ reservations to choose from.
Tier 1: These are Disney’s most sought after FastPass+ reservations. You can choose 1 FastPass+ from this category per day. Rides include Soarin’, Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Slinky Dog Dash etc.
Tier 2: The rest of the rides/shows. You can choose up to 2 from this category per day.
Note: You cannot make the same FastPass+ reservation for the same ride over and over. Ie: Jungle Cruise, Jungle Cruise, Jungle Cruise. Say it three times fast and a poor joke wielding cruise captain will appear. 😉
Using FastPass+ in the Parks
You have your reservations, now what!?
You have set up your 3 FastPass+ reservations for the day. They are each in an increment of one hour. For example you may have a FastPass+ reservation for Slinky Dog Dash from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm and then a reservation for Star Tours from 3:30 to 4:30 pm etc. You must go to the ride and line up sometime within this time frame to ride the attraction. When you reach the final minutes of your 3rd and final FastPass+ reservation you are able to make more! Grab your cell phone or head to the nearest FastPass+ kiosk and reserve another if you desire. When that 4th reservation is complete you can make a 5th and so on. This is a helpful feature, especially if you plan to park hop.
Do you have a tried and true FastPass+ strategy? Comment below with your favorite tips and tricks!