How to Maximise Your Fastpass+ Choices
So you're off to Walt Disney World and you've heard about fastpass+ but you're not 100% sure about how it works, well let me share with you my fastpass+ tips.
1. Book as soon as possible! If you're staying on site you can book fastpasses 60 days in advance, if you're staying elsewhere then you can book 30 days in advance. Make sure you take advantage of this especially if you're aiming for the more in demand fastpasses.
2. Plan your days ahead of time, for fastpass+ to work effectively you need to know which parks you're planning to visit on which days of your trip and also if you're planning to visit in the morning or afternoon or all day long. My way of choosing this mainly goes off EMH (if I'm staying on site) and where I've made my dining reservations (I generally do Dining in line with EMH unless I know EMH isn't worth the crowds).
3. Don't waste them, If you want to get the most out of fastpass+ avoid using them for night-time spectaculars and parades as this will severely limit the amount of fastpasses you can get in a day.
4. Don't just choose your favourite attractions, think strategically. Some rides although they may be your favourite, will never have a queue line long enough to justify fastpass+.
5. Know the park layout, try to organise fastpass+ in an order that makes sense, or incorporates other attractions between, this will ensure you aren't going back and forth all over the park just for your fastpass.
My Recommendations
Magic Kingdom
There is no tier system in Magic, so it depends on your priorities the most popular choices are Anna & Elsa, Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Peter Pans Flight, and the queues for these are guaranteed to be long so if you want these you will need to be on the ball, especially for Anna & Elsa!
If these aren't your top 3 choices then I would advise picking any of the following:
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Enchanted Tales with Belle
Any of the others I would say have a small enough queue at other points in the day for it not to be worth it.
Epcot
Epcot does have a tiering system, so you can choose one from Tier A and 2 from Tier B.
Tier A
- Soarin'
- Test Track
- Illuminations
- Living with the Land
Tier B
- Mission Space
- Captain EO
- Journey into Imagination
- Turtle Talk
- Spaceship Earth
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Character Spot
For my recommendations I would suggest Soarin' or Test Track, in terms of the others I would choose Mission Space and then not get another, then once I'd used those I would try to get one for whichever of the first two I didn't pick (if they were still available).
Hollywood Studios
As with Epcot, Hollywood Studios has a tier system, so again 1 choice from tier A and 2 choices from tier B.
Tier A
Tier A
- Toy Story Midway Mania
- Great Movie Ride
- Rock n Rollercoaster
- Fantasmic!
- Beauty and the Beast
Tier B
- Star Tours
- Tower of Terror
- Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Disney Jnr
- Indiana Jones
- Lights Motor Action
- Frozen Sing Along
For Hollywood studios I would generally go for Toy Story from tier A and then Star tours and tower of terror (or frozen) from tier B, but again this will depend on the situation, if you are with young children then you are more likely to want to use it for Beauty and the Beast, Disney Jnr and Frozen (or something along those lines).
I wouldn't waste a fastpass on Great Movie Ride or any of the shows (except frozen) as you can easily see these without a fastpass and the queue will die down for great movie ride at certain points during the day.
Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom doesn't have a tier system, I would recommend using your fastpass+ choices on Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids and Kilimanjaro Safari. Again with the shows you can see them easily without a fastpass and the other rides will die down at certain points of the day :)
