How to Make and Maximize Fast Passes at Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World offers an option to make ride reservations in advance, called Fast Pass+.  These Fast Passes+ (FP+) are available starting at 7am Florida time (Eastern time zone) 60 days in advance of your trip if you are staying on Disney property or 30 days in advance for everyone else.  Using a FP+ allows you to use a special line queue that has a wait of 15 minutes or less (most of the time).  Here is a quick step by step tutorial of how to make a FP+ reservation and a few ways you can maximize them.

(Make sure you tickets are linked to your account.)

Step 1:  Decide which park you want to go to each day as your primary park.  You get 3 FP+ to start and they all have to be at the same park.  (In this example we will use Magic Kingdom.)

Step 2: Review dining reservations.  I write them down so I remember where and when. 

Step 3: Log into the My Disney Experience App.  Here is the start screen (on iOS).  Click on the FP+ icon. 










Step 4: Decide who you want to put on the reservation, you can use anyone on your Friends & Family List.

Step 5: Pick a date.  If you are staying at Disney you will get the length of your stay, if not you will get 30 days from the current date.  You can choose any date that is blue.   Then pick your park. 

Step 6: Scroll though and pick your favorite ride first.   In this case, I would choose the Jungle Cruise.  The Mad Tea Cups doesn't have huge lines and is usually less than 25 minute wait, same with "It's a Small World".  At the bottom I will include a list of rides and experiences at each park that normally have the shortest lines. You should not use FP+s for these to maximize your time. 

Step 7: Confirm you reservation time.  It will be for an hour (unless its a show) and you can arrive any time during that hour.  You will get an alert if you have an overlapping dining reservation, which is why I said to write those down.  I normally advise 90 minutes for a sit down meal and then travel time.  For example, if I have a reservation at The Crystal Palace for 10:00, I will probably be cutting this FP+ close.  Sometimes cast members are nice and let you use them after the expire but not always so don't bank on it.  You'd be better off booking for a 11:30-12:30 slot if available.  You can't overlap FP+ reservations. 

 Step 8: Repeat steps 6 and 7 two more times.  You can book different FP+s for different party members, but you need to go back to step 4 to do that.  This is important if you have kids and adults or just people with other interests.  I will book Tower of Terror for me and hubby and book Disney Jr on Stage for Nanny and the kids at the same time. 

Step 9: Repeat steps 4-8 for each day of your trip.  Once you have everything booked you can view them under My Plans in the app. 

HELPFUL HINTS



Character Spot at Epcot is a FP+ location
and you can see Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.

If possible book a character meal with your favorite characters so you don't have to use FP+s for meet and greets.  You can make advanced dining reservations up to 180 days in advance so you can pick which character meal best meets your needs.  My sisters kids do not love standing in line but love characters so we usually have a character meal everyday.  This allows the kids to eat while they are waiting to interact with the characters.  If this isn't your thing or in your budget you can FP+ meet & greets with some of the more popular characters.

You can use parent swap with FP+.  This is me riding with
my nephews because my kid doesn't
like this ride.  This was their second time in a row.
The first time they went with their parents, then they
went again with me, while my kid hung out with
my sister. 

A good rule of thumb is the more thrilling (fast, scary, new) the ride the longer the line.  Book these rides first and use your FP+ for these.  As of Nov 2018 the longest ride lines are for Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Na'vi River Journey, and Slinky Dog Dash. 


Book our first FP+ of the day between 11am-1pm.  Before 11am most of the parks aren't as busy.  If you can make rope drop (park opening) you can get on most rides without too long of a wait.  I will usually try and stack my FPs+ between 11am-3pm for a couple reasons.  We will either eat a big breakfast and make it to the park later, we want an early dinner or a nap and the biggest reason:  YOU CAN BOOK MORE FP+s after you use the first 3 each day!

After you use your third FP+ of the day, and I mean right after you scan your band/card you can book another FP+ if available.  After you use that one, you can book another as long as there are FP+s available.  These do not need to be in the same park you are currently in.  For example you can be walking up the queue for Space Mountain as your last FP+ of the original three and book a FP+ for Tower of Terror.  If you do this just remember to give yourself some time to get from Magic Kingdom to Hollywood Studios. 

Try and book your FP+s in the same area of the park or in a path so you aren't zigzagging and wasting time walking.  If you need a park map, the are available online or in the app. 

Here is my list of ride/experiences that normally have the shortest lines and I don't recommend using one of your starting 3 FP+s for (by all means use the same day ones for these if possible) by park.

Epcot:
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush
Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Magic Kingdom:
Mad Tea Party
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
Prince Charming Regal Carousel

Hollywood Studios:
Muppet Vision 3D

Animal Kingdom:
It's Tough to be a Bug!
TriceraTop Spin

Let me know if you have other tips or tricks for maximizing your Fast Pass+ reservations.