FASTPASS - Your Disney ticket to short lines

 

FASTPASS is the system Disney has for reducing the time that guests stand in line. Lines at Disney World can reach 2 and 3 hours long. Instead of standing in line, now you can just grab a ticket and when your time comes you get to go right to the front of the line. Amazing.

 

 

This is the greatest invention since sliced bread. In fact other parks (yes, even the other one in Orlando) have copied and even improved on the FASTPASS system. It's about time for Disney to redo the system to make it even better.

 

FASTPASS Tickets

Photo by Express Monorail

Questions and answers

Here are a few answers to some general questions you might have about the Disney ticket for avoiding crowds.

 

Q. What is FASTPASS (FP)?

A. The program is designed to help guests minimize your time waiting in lines. Pass dispensers give out tickets that have a return time on the ticket that allows you to bypass the regular (long) line.

Q. How does FP work?

A. At selected rides (see the chart below), Disney has put ticket dispensing machines. You put your entry pass in to the machine and out pops a pass with a return time.

The ticket will have a return time window. You return to the attraction during that return time window, and walk by all the silly people waiting in line. (Sometimes interesting things happen whey your walking by all those silly people.)

Q. How soon can I get another FASTPASS?

A. There will be a time listed on your ticket when you are eligible for another Disney ticket. It will be the return time on the ticket or 2 hours from the time you got the ticket which ever is earlier.

Q. Who can use it?

A. Anyone with a valid and active Disney World admission ticket.

Q. What do you mean valid and active?

A. You have to physically be in the park. If you're in the park you probably got there with a ticket. You can't have Daddy go to the park early and everyone catch up later.

Q. What does it cost?

A. FASTPASS is complimentary. (Yes, son, that means free... good. You're learning.)

Attractions

Here's a chart with the current Walt Disney World attractions where the program is in use.

 

Magic Kingdom	Epcot	Disney's Hollywood Studios	Animal Kingdom
Space Mountain	Mission Space	Hollywood Tower of Terror	It's Tough to be a Bug
Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin	Test Track	Rock-N-Roller Coaster	Kilimanjaro Safari's
Mickey's Philharmagic	Captain EO	Voyage of the Little Mermaid	Expedition Everest
Peter Pan's Flight	Living with the Land	Star Tours	Kali River Rapids
Splash Mountain	Soarin'	Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular	Primeval Whirl
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	The Maelstrom	Toy Story Mania
The Jungle Cruise		Lights Motors Action!
Winnie the Pooh

Time for another Disclaimer   The recommendations in Dad's FASTPASS Attraction Chart are based on moderate to heavy crowd days. Bigger crowds enhance the chance you will need a pass for the rides listed. Smaller crowds decrease the need for one. Thank you.

 

What the colors mean on this chart.

• BLACK - You will wait a very long time, unless your very lucky, to ride without one.
• RED - Highly suggested. Most days you will wait at least an hour without one.
• Yellow - Check the wait time, it might be better to go ahead and ride.
• Blue - These are shows with large theaters. The FP line is let in first. If the FP line doesn't fill the auditorium, then everyone else is let in. During slow times you'll get in without a FP, during busy times you won't.
• Green - Most of the time you can get on without waiting too long.
• White - (white) - Usually you're wasting your time. (To get a FP)

How to Use FASTPASS

Don't I just put in my park pass and get a little ticket? In theory, yes, that's how it works. In practice, there's much more too it.

 

Here's a little secret. Getting a ticket isn't always a good idea. If the return time doesn't work into your "Plan"... Don't do it.

 

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean.

You are at Epcot and you want to get a pass for Soarin'. The return time on the clock is 6:30pm. You have dinner reservations at 6:15 at Chef's de France. You probably ought to skip it.

 

On our last vacation, we looked at riding Peter Pan's Flight. The standby line was 90 minutes long. It was around noon. The return time was 4:00. Our "Plan" was to be in Adventureland around 4:00.

This is why Dad likes to have a plan.

Crowds and Touring Plans

Disney World Crowds are a fact of life. To go on a Walt Disney World vacation will at one point mean standing in line. There are ways to minimize the time you stand in those lines and it's something Dad suggests everyone gets. The way to minimize time standing in lines is by using Touringplans.com.

 

Touringplans.com is the unrivaled leaders of creating Touring Plans (imagine that) for Walt Disney World vacations. They have put together a system that will save you up to several hours of standing in line on your vacation. Check them out.

 

Dad's Touringplans.com page

 

Dad also knows a thing or two about crowds at Disney World. His crowd pages are legendary at least in his own mind.

 

Dad's Disney World Crowds page

Ask Dad

Surely (please don't call me Shirley), Dad has answered all of your questions by now, but if not, you can always dial up the ole' Dadster and ask him just about anything. Check out some of the questions that Dad has answered before ...

• We're going to Animal Kingdom first, then coming back to Epcot. Can we still get a FP for Soarin'?
• Can I get a FASTPASS early(before the family gets in) at Disney Hollywood Studios?

Dad's Ask Dad page

 

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Dad's Bottom Line

The FASTPASS program isn't as good as Universal Studios Front of the Line program, but it is free and available to all guests. If used smartly, it will save you time.