Disney Fastpass
An explanation of how to use FastPass at Disney World and DisneyLand
In 1999 Disney began testing a new system that was intended to help reduce the waiting time at some of Disney's popular attractions. This system called FastPass was first introduced at the Animal Kingdom. After its successful debut it was expanded to all four major theme parks. By using the FastPass, you can bypass most of the standby line in the busiest Disney attractions. Many people simply don't take advantage of FastPass and continue to wait in long theme park ride lines that they could have avoided.
There's a lot of misunderstanding how FastPass works. So let's start with the most important points.
FastPass is free with park ticket!
First of all, Fastpass is free to anyone holding a Disney parks admittance ticket. So if you've got your ticket to enter Walt Disney World (or Disneyland), then you've got your ticket to use Fastpass.
Our best advice is if you are going during a busy time? Use early entry if staying on site and change to another park when that park gets to crowded for your liking. Don't leave before using the Fastpasses you have collected throughout the day. Make sure you get the next FastPass when it is available. Send older kids with everyone's passes to get them and meet you somewhere. Always go back to the hotel mid day to cool off in the pool and relax for the late night hours. Get plenty of water during the day, which you can bring in....water is expensive at WDW!
Disney's Fastpass Distribution
In order to use it, all you need to do is place your Disney park ticket into the Fastpass machine, where available and it will then give you a ticket with a return time for that attraction.
You then return to that attraction anytime during the "return time" or later, so you don't have to race back to get on the ride the moment the FastPass becomes valid. As long as you return after the first time listed n the FastPass you can get in line. It is a misconception that you must ride within the hour stated.
Once your FastPass return time has rolled around, all you have to do is return to the attraction, get in the FastPass line and hand it over to the Disney cast member. You might wait a bit before riding, but usually it is no more than 10 minutes.
Note the time indicated for getting your next FastPass it can be as small as 15 minutes but at the most two hours from when you got it.
Arrive early for popular attractions
It's important to go and get your FastPass early for the popular rides on busy days. Otherwise you may find yourself with a FastPass that isn't good until late in the evening, after you've long since left the park. So, it is always best to get to the park early, get the FastPass to the popular rides first and then when it is busy in the afternoon, use up the FastPasses while everyone waits.
On the busiest days, some attractions will run out of FastPasses very early in the day. This is common at Animal Kingdom's Everest roller-coaster and Disney-MGM's Tower of Terror, and the ever popular Toy Story Mania at the Studios. So get your FastPass early for these attractions if you're at Disney World in the summer or on a holiday weekend.
What happens if I go to get a FastPass, and my pass doesn't work?
Normally, there will be one or two castmember at the Fastpass station to help you with questions you have, or if your pass does not work for some reason, they will be able to manually print you a FastPass
The parks are going to be packed when we go, will the FastPass line be huge?
Due to the nature of the FastPass system, whether the parks are crowded or empty, the system will only a certain number of passes for each 5 minute period. So, no matter if the standby line is 5 minutes or 120 minutes, the FastPass line will always be between 5 and 10 minutes. The one difference between light and heavy days is that on heavy days, the demand for FastPasses will be higher, so the time between when you get your FastPass and when you can enter the queue will be longer.
The rest of the family wants to go on Peter Pan, can I pass and go get a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain?
It is not required that every pass holder be at the FastPass machine to get a FastPass. If you have all of the park passes for each person in your family or group, you can get one FastPass for each of them. Put in each park pass one at a time, collect all the fast passes, and meet your family where ever they are.
FastPass Attractions
FastPass isn't available at every attraction in the Walt Disney theme parks, but it is for many of the popular rides, including:
Magic Kingdom - Peter Pan Flight, Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic, Jungle Cruise,
Snow White Scary Adventures, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Buz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Stich's Great
Escape and Haunted Mansion.
EPCOT - Soarin', Norway Maelstrom, Mission Space and Test Track and Living With the Land
The Studios - Rock-n-Roll Roller Coaster, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt,Spectacular, Star Tours, Lights, Motors Action, The Voyage
of the Little Mermaid,Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror
Animal Kingdom - Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur, It's Tough To Be A Bug, Primeval Whirl and Expedition
Everest at Animal Kingdom.
