Disney World Tips, Walt Disney World Tips

How to FastPass+ Like a Pro at Walt Disney World (2019)

FastPass+ at Walt Disney World is one of the best benefits included with your park ticket. For the uninitiated, a FastPass+ (abbrevaited as FP or FP+ in the world of Dis) is the ability to pre-book rides at Disney World allowing you entry with little to no wait time. You are given a one-hour window of time for each reservation (it will be listed as 10:35-11:35, etc) and you can show up 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late for this window. FastPass is often underutilized due to misinformation found online or just a general lack of understanding of what it can and can’t do for you.  Don’t be that park-goer standing in every long line because you fucked up your FastPass usage, or worse yet, didn’t use it at all (some people think there’s an upcharge for FP+, there is not). If you follow these tips, I can promise you that your time waiting in line will be greatly reduced, even during peak season. Please remember that while FP+ is designed to save you time, there can be unexpected ride closures, etc so as with anything when it comes to planning manage your expectations and be ready to adapt on the fly.

If you’d Like to skip around through the sections of this guide use the links below or the  << and >> markers on subsequent pages.

Section 2 “Often”Section 3 “Never”Section 4 “Extra” 

1. Early

Book your Fast Passes as early as you can. So for those in the general public that’s 30 days out. For those staying at a Disney-owned hotel, Shades of Green, or one of the 7 Disney Springs Area Hotels you can start reserving FastPasses 60 days from the start of your vacation (you can book for the entire length of your stay at this point, meaning if you have a 7 day stay you will be booking your last day FastPasses 67 days out). Take full fucking advantage of this for the most popular rides (click here for a list at each park).  With that being said, if you aren’t staying at one of the properties offering you a 60 day FP+ window there are 4 rides you may have difficulty finding a FastPass for: Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, Frozen Ever After at Epcot, Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom. Don’t fret if you are unable to obtain a FastPass for one of these rides just be sure to arrive at the park early, say 45 minutes before it opens or 75 for Animal Kingdom, and you should be able to ride any of these rides with a sub thirty minute wait time. Just be sure to head straight to that ride once guests are allowed to start moving into the park – this strategy is called “Rope Drop” in the Disney community. Editor’s Note: don’t bother with this strategy on days with Morning Extra Magic Hours for resort guests if you aren’t a resort guest yourself.

You are allotted 3 FP+ selections to start each day (these 3 must be used at the same park) use them early in the day. I know some other blogs say don’t use a FastPass in the morning or don’t use it until 10am or whatever the fuck, but that’s utter bullshit. Book your three most coveted fast passes for when you plan to first arrive at the park be it 9am or whenever – more on this in section 2. And stagger them as closely as possibly (Disney’s minimum stagger interval is one hour between each of your first 3 pre-booked fast passes.) If you are using rope drop strategy don’t start your first Fast pass until roughly 30 minutes to an hour after park open this gives you time to ride the attraction(s) you plan on rope dropping.

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