Some helpful Fastpass+ tips you might not know about

[Tom Morrow]

Apologies if any of these have been posted before.

1. When you make your initial three selections for a day, each one must have a one hour window dedicated to it. However, once you redeem a Fastpass, the rest of that window is now free, and you can attempt to move your remaining Fastpass selections earlier.
   
   For example: You have Space Mountain from 10:00 to 11:00 and Buzz from 11:00 to 12:00. Let's say you ride Space Mountain right at 10:00. Once you redeem your Fastpass at the second touch point in the Fastpass queue, which, let's say, is at 10:10, the rest of that window is now open. Your schedule is now free from 10:10 to the start of your Buzz Fastpass at 11:00. At this point you can open My Disney Experience and possibly move your Buzz Fastpass earlier. Unless it's a very popular ride, you can often move it very close to the current time.
   
   
2. When making your initial three selections, if you ONLY want one or two attractions, select only those. For example, at Epcot, you might only care about a Test Track or Soarin' Fastpass. Select ONLY Test Track or Soarin'. The system will find the best possible times for those, and fill in two random selections elsewhere. Checking three selections will force the system to find a schedule that makes all three work, which might push the selection you actually want to be later in the day, or not available at all.
   
   
3. If you plan on adding additional Fastpasses after your initial three selections, it would benefit you to have all three selections scheduled earlier in the day. Currently, you must use at least one of your initial selections, and the remaining two must either be used or expired to book an additional Fastpass.
   
   
4. If an attraction is listed as not available (it will read "standby available"), it doesn't mean it's definitely gone for the rest of the day like the old system. Since availability is constantly being shuffled around and updated, it would benefit you to periodically check to see if the attraction you want has become available again, then you can either book it or change one of your current selections to it. The tiers in place at Epcot and DHS apply, so you could only change a tier 1 selection to another tier 1 selection.
   
   
5. The bigger your party, the harder it is to find Fastpass times for you if it's later in the day (if you arrive early you shouldn't have a problem, and I don't think you'd ever have a problem through advanced booking). A party of 8, for example, arriving at a park in the afternoon, might benefit by splitting into two groups of 4 when making their Fastpass+ selections.
   
   
6. You will benefit from advanced booking. Even if it's only the night before or early morning on the same day, you can generally get the attractions and times you want.
   
   
7. You can change and modify any Fastpass you haven't used, even if the current selection has expired.

I will add more tips as I think of them.

 

[cw1982]

Thank you! I had not thought about the first one... that could conceivably be a big deal in terms of being able to add more passes quicker.

 

[DisneyGirl3820]

For example: You have Space Mountain from 10:00 to 11:00 and Buzz from 11:00 to 12:00. Let's say you ride Space Mountain right at 10:00. Once you redeem your Fastpass at the second touch point in the Fastpass queue, which, let's say, is at 10:10, the rest of that window is now open. Your schedule is now free from 10:10 to the start of your Buzz Fastpass at 11:00. At this point you can open My Disney Experience and possibly move your Buzz Fastpass earlier. Unless it's a very popular ride, you can often move it very close to the current time.

Thank you for that. Quick question......what if we use your scenario and instead of shifting the other rides earlier can I just pick a new ride to replace the early one at 10:10? Thanks.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Thank you for that. Quick question......what if we use your scenario and instead of shifting the other rides earlier can I just pick a new ride to replace the early one at 10:10? Thanks.

I think you still have to use all 3 before requesting a 4th. I think you could drop one of your original 3(change) to a new one.

 

[cw1982]

Thank you for that. Quick question......what if we use your scenario and instead of shifting the other rides earlier can I just pick a new ride to replace the early one at 10:10? Thanks.

Yep. As long as there are slots available you can change any or all of your attractions and times.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

Thanks for the tips .

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Excellent!

 

[swissamy]

Didn't know about tip 7, I thought that if a fastpass + selection expired it was lost forever! That's great news!!

 

[ShookieJones]

Good info. Thanks.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Thank you for that. Quick question......what if we use your scenario and instead of shifting the other rides earlier can I just pick a new ride to replace the early one at 10:10? Thanks.

You could either attempt to move your remaining Fastpasses earlier, or change them to different attractions. It becomes a bit more complicated at DHS and Epcot because of the tiers in place, because you can't change tier 2 selections to a tier 1 selection. Which brings me to another point:

Didn't know about tip 7, I thought that if a fastpass + selection expired it was lost forever! That's great news!!

Yep, an expired Fastpass plus can always be modified so you can still use it, based on availability. If you want to use it for the same attraction you selected, select "change time" - the system will find the next available time. If you want to use it for a different attraction, select "change experience" - the system will automatically search for other attractions with remaining availability. Previously if you wanted to do this, you had to change the time of your current selection to a valid time before changing it to a different experience, but now you don't have to, since selecting "change experience" searches for all remaining availability and not just within that time slot.

So here's where the tiers make expired Fastpass times a bit complicated. Let's say you used two of your selections, and have one remaining that is expired. If you are adding a 4th Fastpass in DAK or MK, it will have essentially the same result as modifying the expired Fastpass, since there is no tier system. At Epcot and DHS, however, if your expired selection is for a tier 2 attraction, you could only modify it to another tier 2 attraction. If you instead opt to add the 4th Fastpass, your expired Fastpass will be wiped out and the tier one attractions will be available to you once again (based on availability, of course).

 

[Tom Morrow]

As you can see there is kind of a huge learning curve to this, but the old system had somewhat of a learning curve too, and required you to go commando and circumnavigate the park several times. Ultimately, knowing tips like these will let you use the system to it's full potential and have that advantage you previously had over newbie visitors.

I know many people were against having to use their phone to check on Fastpasses, but the way I see it:
1. You will probably check your cell phone constantly anyway!
2. You can edit and modify your Fastpasses on the fly, in line for other attractions, while eating, or wherever rather than going to an attraction twice to ride it once.

Currently you can only add your additional Fastpasses at kiosk locations in the park, but I'm sure this will be a feature on the app soon enough.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

This is great. Used #1 many times. It totally helped us burn through the first three fp+ and utilize the 4th rotating fp. We were able to get Soarin', Maelstrom, Space Mountain, BTMRR, and Splash mountain all as 4th fp+ selections around mid-day!

 

[bluon]

I hope they rethink the 4th FP+. That does seem to punish people who choose a ride late in the day or, worse yet, the nighttime shows. It would make more sense to just let people pick another pass when they get to the park. Or better yet, make it a refillable slot where you can keep choosing an extra ride after you have used it, kind of like the old paper system.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

I hope they rethink the 4th FP+. That does seem to punish people who choose a ride late in the day or, worse yet, the nighttime shows. It would make more sense to just let people pick another pass when they get to the park. Or better yet, make it a refillable slot where you can keep choosing an extra ride after you have used it, kind of like the old paper system.

Honestly, it may depend on when you go. But the 4th fp+ was excellent for us. We arrived late 12pm-2pm. Had evening times for fp+ and were able to do so much. Last Thursday in MK we arrived at 3 pm stayed til 9pm.
We managed to ride
Pirates (fp+)
Haunted Mansion (fp+)
Country Bear Jamboree
Hall of Presidents
Splash Mtn.
BTMRR (Twice, 1 original fp+ & 4th fp+)
Stitch
Monsters Inc
Buzz Lightyear
TTA (4 times)
COP
Tomorrowland Speedway
Space Mtn. (4th fp+)
Little Mermaid

And take time out for dinner at BOG.

Even at EPCOT (arrived at 8 left at 6pm; had lunch at Coral Reef and dinner at Via Napoli)
We rode Test Track & Soarin twice in one day utilizing fastpass+ and morning emh.
I don't think you really need fastpass for night time shows.

 

[bluon]

Honestly, it may depend on when you go. But the 4th fp+ was excellent for us. We arrived late 12pm-2pm. Had evening times for fp+ and were able to do so much. Last Thursday in MK we arrived at 3 pm stayed til 9pm.
We managed to ride
Pirates (fp+)
Haunted Mansion (fp+)
Country Bear Jamboree
Hall of Presidents
Splash Mtn.
BTMRR (Twice, 1 original fp+ & 4th fp+)
Stitch
Monsters Inc
Buzz Lightyear
TTA (4 times)
COP
Tomorrowland Speedway
Space Mtn. (4th fp+)
Little Mermaid

And take time out for dinner at BOG. I don't think you really need fastpass for night time shows.

Were you able to select a 4th FP+ before using your first 3? If so, then I may be misreading how this all works. It sounds like they are tweaking the system a lot right now to get the right balance, so it's all a little confusing.

Also, it looks like you got a 5th FP+. So you were able to select another one after you used your 4th? If so, that's awesome.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

Were you able to select a 4th FP+ before using your first 3? If so, then I may be misreading how this all works. It sounds like they are tweaking the system a lot right now to get the right balance, so it's all a little confusing.

Also, it looks like you got a 5th FP+. So you were able to select another one after you used your 4th? If so, that's awesome.

After you use your first 3 you get a rolling 4th.

 

[bluon]

After you use your first 3 you get a rolling 4th.

That's good. I still think I'd prefer though to open up the 4th pass when you get in the park. Until then, I guess make your FP+ reservations early in the day if possible.

And I agree that nighttime shows are usually not the best use of your FP+, but I could see them being helpful on crowded days.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Were you able to select a 4th FP+ before using your first 3? If so, then I may be misreading how this all works. It sounds like they are tweaking the system a lot right now to get the right balance, so it's all a little confusing.

Also, it looks like you got a 5th FP+. So you were able to select another one after you used your 4th? If so, that's awesome.

What happens is immediately after you use one FP, you can move up the time of your next one. Once you have used all 3, you can get a 4th one use it and get another. It sounds like a hassle but it was fairly easy.
We were probably averaging 5 - 6 fast passes a day with the new system. One day we used all 3 original fastpasses in just over an hour. We found most rides except tsmm available late in the day. We were booking fastpasses at 5:03 that started at 5:05. We didn't find the need to wait in line at all. We also utilized the 5 minutes before many times to increase our fast pass turnover rate.

 

[cw1982]

What happens is immediately after you use one FP, you can move up the time of your next one. Once you have used all 3, you can get a 4th one use it and get another. It sounds like a hassle but it was fairly easy.
We were probably averaging 5 - 6 fast passes a day with the new system. One day we used all 3 original fastpasses in just over an hour. We found most rides except tsmm available late in the day. We were booking fastpasses at 5:03 that started at 5:05. We didn't find the need to wait in line at all. We also utilized the 5 minutes before many times to increase our fast pass turnover rate.

Hmm... so right now, my first FP+ at HS is ToT, and then we have TSMM. This makes me think maybe I should switch them if I'm trying to get through my first three quickly using the method you've described above, since ToT is probably much more likely to have FP+ available to move them around then TSMM would be. I just wanted ToT to be our first FP+ so I could get it over with haha... but it sounds like I should rethink that.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Hmm... so right now, my first FP+ at HS is ToT, and then we have TSMM. This makes me think maybe I should switch them if I'm trying to get through my first three quickly using the method you've described above, since ToT is probably much more likely to have FP+ available to move them around then TSMM would be. I just wanted ToT to be our first FP+ so I could get it over with haha... but it sounds like I should rethink that.

If your goal is to get through the first 3 fast then definitely put TSMM. I'm not sure when you're going but last week TOT wait was a constant 20 minutes all day so you may very well find you won't always even need FP for certain rides.