How NOT to use FastPass
(Don’t know what this FastPass stuff is all about and need more information? You can find the basics here.)
Unless you are an annual passholder or visit the parks regularly, making advance FastPass+ reservations can be one of the most important parts of planning a vacation to Disney World. You want to be able to insure that your group gets to experience most of the attractions on their to do list during your visit. This is especially true if it is a once in a lifetime or even a once every few years trip.
If you are going to take advantage of this Disney World perk, it’s also important to know how NOT to use a FastPass.
Top 5 Ways to NOT use FastPass+ at Disney World
- Rides that don’t need one
When utilized properly, a FastPass is worth its weight in gold. The tricky part is not “wasting” an advance FastPass+ reservation on an attraction that doesn’t need one. Disney World offers a FastPass for most of its attractions regardless of popularity. Booking a FastPass for something like the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride at Epcot, for example, is pretty much a throw away reservation. There may be a line for that attraction from time to time, but I doubt that it will ever be much more than a 20 minute wait even during the busier seasons.
That being said, if you are planning a trip and you REALLY want to make sure you get on a particular ride, a FastPass+ reservation isn’t out of the question. If it’s important to you, and it is a ride that can end up with a considerable line during certain times of the day, just do it. For example, if you have made two of your advance FastPass+ reservations and don’t really have a third must do ride that needs a FastPass, you can make it for a ride that you definitely want to experience. If you do that, you could ride it in the morning with little wait and then be able to ride it again with a FastPass when the crowds are picking up.
Shannon Albert at WDW Prep School has a terrific infographic that outlines the priority attractions for each park. This is a great tool to have when trying to figure out which rides are important to your group and how essential a FastPass is for those particular attractions.
2. Fireworks or shows
The evening shows at Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios are all great, but you don’t need a FastPass for them. Even after IllumiNations at Epcot changes later this year, there are so many places around the World Showcase to view the Lagoon area. I don’t think reserving anything special is worth it. The better idea at Epcot is to make dining reservations around 7:30/8 at one of the restaurants lining the lagoon. Just show up around 15-20 minutes earlier than your Advance Dining Reservation arrival time and let the Cast Members know that you are willing to wait a little longer for a seat with a good view. We have done this at Rose and Crown (UK Pavilion) and Spice Road Table (Morocco Pavilion) and had both a great meal and a great view. The Rose and Crown is now part of an IllumiNations dining package so that may impact that strategy unless you purchase the dining package.
Same goes for Rivers of Light in Animal Kingdom. If you want to secure a great seat and would be eating a table service meal anyway, consider one of the Rivers of Light dining packages.
Shortly after Rivers of Light opened, we reserved the Tusker House package. It was a good meal and a pretty great view. Since we were on the dining plan and were going to use table service credits for dinner anyway, it was the perfect choice for us at the time.
Similarly, I wouldn’t necessarily book a FastPass for Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios. There are a TON of seats and even those folks with FastPass get in line 30-45 minutes before the show since the FastPass+ area is assigned but the seats are not.
If you really want to secure a seat for Fantasmic, there are generally FastPasses still available late afternoon. Once you are done with rides for the day, you could always try to grab Fantasmic as your 4th FastPass. Just remember, that means you will not be able to make any more FastPasses that day since the show generally runs until park closing or later.
This may be a good choice if you are planning to spend the morning in the parks and the afternoon at Disney Springs or your resort. Then you can head back to Hollywood Studios after that break and hop in the Fantasmic FastPass line. There is also a dinner package for Fantasmic as well as a dessert event.
During busy seasons, there are sometimes two showings of Fantasmic. One way to hedge your bets is to plan on seeing the last show of the evening. It is less crowded.
For firework/projection shows that don’t offer fast pass viewing areas, the dessert viewing parties are an option. They are a bit pricey, but if it can fit into your budget, the view alone for Magic Kingdom’s Wishes & Happily Ever After is worth doing the dessert party once. The desserts are just a nice bonus. The Hollywood Studios dessert party doesn’t have as great a view of Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular, but the Star Wars themed goodies could be a big hit if you have a fan in your group. Similarly, the Frozen Every After desert party in Epcot is an option if you have Anna and Elsa fans.
3. First thing in the morning or too late in the day
By “First thing in the morning” here, I mean rope drop and/or taking advantage of early Extra Magic Hours if you can. If you get to the park early enough to line up before rope drop, you can better position yourself to head for a popular attraction that you DID NOT manage to secure a FastPass for.
The crowds and lines are shorter for the early birds, but remember that a lot of other guests will be on to this strategy as well. However, a 30-45 minute wait first thing in the morning is much better than a 2+ hour wait later in the day. If you book your advance FastPass+ reservations for too early in the morning, you may not be able to employ this strategy. Make FastPasses for late morning through early afternoon and you can hit some attractions before your reservation times kick in.
The same goes for the evening, particularly during Fireworks or evening entertainment. While guests are watching the fireworks, the wait times can go down on the more popular rides. The extra bonus is that some rides are even better at night. Add fireworks exploding overhead? Magical. A special note here is that if you get in line only a few minutes before the park closes, you can stay in line and ride the attraction even if it means you won’t ride until after the official park closing time.
4. Making identical FastPasses for EVERYONE in your group
Here I have to admit to a HUGE Dustless Pixie blunder. Until I got the hang of it, I would make FastPass+ reservations for my sister, son and I on rides that I had no intention of riding. I am a notorious chicken when it comes to some thrill rides. They would ride and I would either delete my FastPass or wait for it to expire. I didn’t realize that I could make one of our advance FastPass+ reservations for Peter Pan’s Flight while those two had one for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. Lesson learned. Now I can float over London while they scream their heads off on the mine train. Everyone is happy!
You don’t have to get all matchy-matchy with your FastPasses. Each member of your group can book completely different advance FastPass+ reservations. Take advantage of this flexibility if it works for you.
5. Rides with great queues
Disney Imagineers are no joke when it comes to theming. Tangled toilets anyone? Their artistry really shines in the many super detailed attraction queues throughout the park. While standing in long lines is no picnic, for a lot of the newer attractions, there is a lot to look at and experience BEFORE you get on the ride. The queue is now part of the attraction.
One of the downsides to FastPass+ is that you may miss out on a lot of that great theming as you breeze by in line. In some instances, you bypass most of the queue theming ENTIRELY. While I’m not saying that a 4 hour wait is worth experiencing the entire Flight of Passage queue in Animal Kingdom, a 2 hour wait might be for your group. Peter Pan’s Flight has crazy wait times pretty quickly after park opening, but the interactive queue is very detailed and worth going through the standby line if the wait isn’t super long. If you have done your research, and a popular ride that appeals to your group has a great queue, consider rope dropping that ride in the standby line.
Using the FastPass+ system strategically may seem like a lot of research and preparation, and it can be. The payoff is in the parks. If you can take advantage of it, FastPass+ is a great way to help the magic out!
