5 Simple FastPass Tips to Plan Your Disney Vacation

When planning a Walt Disney World vacation there is one important step that can save you waiting in lines and missing out on your favorite attractions. That step is planning your Fastpass reservations. When planning your FastPass reservations there are 5 fastpass tips I want to share. They are understanding how FastPass works, setting up your My Disney Experience, understanding the FastPass Tiers, having a plan, and finally making your FastPass reservations.

What’s Inside: Read on for my 5 FastPass tips to plan your Disney vacation. Easy to follow step-by-step guide with all the information you need to plan your Disney trip.

#1 Understanding How FastPass Works

• Fastpass is a virtual line reservation system that is used at all of the 4 Walt Disney World theme parks.
• Guest staying at an on-site Walt Disney World resort can book their Fastpass reservations 60 days in advance.
• Guest staying at an off-site resort can book their Fastpass reservations 30 days in advance.
• When you make reservations you show up at the ride or attraction at your reserved day/time slot and you enter through a different, usually shorter line.
• FastPass is free!
• FastPass can be made for 3 attractions at the same park. After the 3 are used you may make a 4th FastPass at another park.

Step by Step FastPass Tips

# 2 Create an Account at My Disney Experience

• Start on a desktop, not your mobile device. It is easier to set everything up. After set up you can use your mobile device to make changes.
• Go to the Walt Disney World website.
• In the right corner click on My Disney Experience -> Sign in (or Create an Account)
• You will start at the Welcome screen. From here you can do a few things:
  • Add friends or family
  • Link reservations to on-site resort
  • Link theme park tickets
  • Make dining reservations
  • Make FastPass reservations
  • Personalize Your MagicBands

• First you need to add all guests you will be making FastPass reservations for. Go to My Disney Experience -> My Family & Friends List 
• Add a Guest -> Import through Resort Reservation
• Add all the guests that will be joining you. On our last visit it was my family and my parents. I was able to plan all 7 of our FastPass Reservations, Dining Reservations, and order MagicBands. This is really helpful when traveling in a large group.
• To customize your MagicBands: My Disney Experience -> MagicBands

• Now that you have your Friends and Family added you can move on to creating your FastPass reservations.
• You do not need to customize your MagicBands before you make your FastPass, but it is fun!! 🙂 MagicBands should be ordered within 30 days of arrival and will be shipped to your home.

#3 Understanding the FastPass Tiers

The FastPass tiers are the way the rides and attractions are split into groups that you can choose your FastPass from. There are 4 Walt Disney World theme parks and they all have a little different set-up for the tiers.

Magic Kingdom FastPass Tiers:

There are none!!! YAY! You can pick your 3 favorite attractions to reserve your FastPass. Read all about my Guide to Planning Your Fastpass at Magic Kingdom. Includes a Magic Kingdom Itinerary.

Epcot FastPass Tiers:

Choose 1 from Tier 1:

• Test Track
• Frozen Ever After
• Soarin’
• IllumiNations

Choose 2 from Tier 2:

• The Seas with Nemo and Friends
• Journey Into Imagination with Figment
• Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
• Living with the Land
• Mission: SPACE
• Turtle Talk with Crush
• Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot
• Spaceship Earth

Disney Hollywood Studios FastPass Tiers:

Choose 1 from Tier 1:

• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
• Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage
• Fantasmic!
• Toy Story Mania

Choose 2 from Tier 2:

• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Disney Jr. Live on Stage
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
• MuppetVision 3D
• Star Tours
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Animal Kingdom FastPass Tier:

Choose 1 from Tier 1:

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• Na’vi River Journey

Choose 2 from Tier 2:

• DINOSAUR
• Kali River Rapids
• Finding Nemo – The Musical
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost
• Festival of the Lion King
• Primeval Whirl
• Rivers of Light
• Expedition Everest
• It’s Tough to be a Bug!

This is where I will tell you to stop and take a breath. It is a lot to take in and before you can actually start making reservations you need to learn a little more about the rides and attractions.

#4 Have a Plan ->My Top FastPass Tips for Planning:

• Go to the Walt Disney World website and start reading about the rides. Think about the ages of your kids and anyone else traveling with you and spend some time thinking about what would make everyone happy.
• If you are unsure what a ride might be like, search it on YouTube. You can watch most rides to get a feel if it is dark, wet, scary, etc.
• Once you know what you want to ride. You need to think about the parks.
  • What parks do you want to visit?
  • How many days will you go to the parks?
  • Do you need a park hopper?
• With your list of parks you want to visit. Visit Walt Disney World website and look at the calendar for the days of your vacation. Make a flexible itinerary of the days you will go to the parks. (Need an easy worksheet? Download my vacation planning guide.) 
• You are looking for hours the parks are open and if any park has Extra Magic Hours(Early Entry for On-site guests)
• Write your park into your vacation planner and you are ready to book your FastPass!

#5 Make Your FastPass Reservations

• Sign in using My Disney Experience.
• Click on FastPass+ Reservations
• Choose the day you would like to make your reservations.
• Choose the park you would like to make your reservations.
• You will not be able to make FastPass reservations if you do not have a linked ticket. Make sure you do this before your 60 or 30 day window.
• Here is an example of making a FastPass at Hollywood Studios

• Select all the guests that will need the FastPass. Everyone needs a FastPass that will go in line with you. That includes young children and seniors.
• Click -> Next

• Choose the day and park you would like to make FastPass reservations for.

• Choose the attraction and the time for your FastPass reservations.
• If the given choices don’t work click View Detail and More Times.
• Remember to consider your dining reservations and time it takes to walk to each attraction when making your reservations.
• Once your reservations are made they will appear under your reservations page.
• You can also modify, change party, or cancel your reservation.
• If you decide to change parks or times you can usually change your FastPass but keep in mind the most popular attractions do run out or sell out very quickly.

FastPass Attractions that Typically Go Fast:

• Pandora Attractions at Animal Kingdom
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom
• Frozen Ever After at Epcot
• Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios

Now that you have booked your FastPass reservations you are ready to sit back and enjoy. I know this seems like a lot of work for a vacation but when you are at the parks you will be thankful that you took the time to plan. Did I leave anything out? Do you have questions? Please let me know in the comments so I can help!

More Walt Disney World Planning Tips:

• 6 Tips for First Timers at Walt Disney World
• How to Become a Jedi Knight at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
• Your Complete Guide to FastPass+ at Magic Kingdom

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