Preparing for FastPass

[Disney Dining Dad]

My wife and I are preparing for our first trip to Disney with our four-year-old daughter in July, and we have booked a room at the Wilderness Lodge, taken care of dining reservations and outlined which day we want to be at which of the four parks.

We are not overly familiar with the FastPass+ concept, but we can start using it on this upcoming Wednesday. I was wondering if anyone has some recommendations on how to best prepare in the days leading up to this date and then, some of the best ways to use the pass would be welcomed as well.

I just signed into my account and clicked the "FastPass+" button just to see if I could do some browsing ahead of time, and I received a page saying that I'm early (which I knew) but also that I need to "Purchase admission" and have "Theme Park Tickets" linked to my account? Has that already all been done as part of the package that I booked or do I need to go in and separately specify which days I will be at which parks?

Any advice that you can provide is greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Thought this additional information may be helpful...when I am logged into my account and click on "My Reservations," the "Tickets and Passes" section has "5 Day Ticket w/Park Hopping" listed three times, one for my wife, one for my daughter and one for me.

 

[nickys]

Nothing is wrong. You have a package with tickets attached. Those tickets are only valid 60 days out from your reservation.

At 60 days out, all will be well.

Some tips:

Best idea is to book the hard to get FPs first, then go back and fill in the gaps. So Flight of Passage, Slinky Dog Dash, Frozen ever after, 7dwarves mine train, TSMM are the first ones you should book. These will be hard to get until day 2 of your trip, some even later than that. So you can start planning out your days in each park now.

All parks except MK have tiers. Only 1 tier 1 ride can be chosen per day when booking them.

Have a pad of paper, with each date, the park and which FPs you want and roughly what time.

You will be asked to choose the date, park and then the party for the FPs.

Take a time given, you can later modify it to get a better time if available. And write down the time you get.

You cannot overlap FP times, so there must be an hour between them. So you need to know you got one at 9:05 so that you don't try for one at 10:00.

And good luck.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Get in ASAP and get the hard to get (popular) rides first. As @nickys says - go back and fill in the rest after those are secured. You'll need to know what parks will be on what days, obviously. No overlapping times and three per day until the first one is used in-park.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Your daughter will be too short for Flight of Passage so your priorities are Slinky Dog Dash (if available), Frozen Ever After, Navi River Journey, and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, probably in that order.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Thanks to all of you for your feedback. Much appreciated.

One thing I realized that might complicate things...I made my dinner reservations months ago based on which parks I thought we would be at on certain days. So, for instance, I have us having lunch at "Be Our Guest" the first day, followed by "Cinderella's Royal Table" the second day, Yak & Yeti the third, 50's Prime Time the fourth and a Garden Grill breakfast on the fifth. I guess with our hopper pass we don't have to be locked into one park each day, but I planned our meals based on that outline.

Possibly a dumb question, but is there a good place for me to go and browse the options as to what is available for me to get a FastPass for? As I mentioned in the OP, when I logged into my account and clicked "FastPass+," it knew right away that it wasn't my time yet and listed several reasons why I couldn't proceed. So, I wasn't sure if there's another location online where I can peruse my options.

I saw that two posters listed the same rides(?) in multiple posts so I'm guessing it's safe to make those a priority, but can FastPass be used at any ride at any park?

Also -- Is there a certain time on Wednesday when I will be able to start using my FastPass? I don't go to bed until late so midnight would be ideal, but I realize that wouldn't be fair to people not living on the East Coast. Should I just keep attempting to log in that day until it finally lets me move forward with the planning process?

 

[Tuvalu]

You can begin booking your Fastpasses at 7 am eastern on Day 60. No need to repeatedly log in earlier.

Only select attractions utilize Fastpass, and Fastpass is not interchangeable ~ each ride has its own and needs to be booked individually.

There is lots of information which will help you here:
https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/fastpass

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Thanks again for all of your help.

I still have to fine-tune some details, but based on my initial research, it looks like this will work as a rough outline for my wife, four-year-old daughter and me...

Magic Kingdom:
Peter Pan's Flight
Seven Dwarf's Mine Train
Enchanted Tales with Belle

Animal Kingdom:
Na'vi River Journey
Kilimanjaro Safari
Festival of the Lion King

Hollywood Studios:
Slinky Dog Dash
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Frozen Sing-Along

Epcot:
Frozen Ever After (with Soarin' a close second)
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
Spaceship Earth

Any thoughts? I believe I successfully chose only one Tier 1 and two Tier 2 attractions from the three parks where that matters.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Looks good to me. Be prepared with a second option for the Slinky Dog Dash, it's possible all of those FP will be gone before you can make your selections. Try for that FP first, then I'd do 7DMT, Na'vi, then FEA. After you have those locked down, go back and get all of the other ones you have listed.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Looks good to me. Be prepared with a second option for the Slinky Dog Dash, it's possible all of those FP will be gone before you can make your selections. Try for that FP first, then I'd do 7DMT, Na'vi, then FEA. After you have those locked down, go back and get all of the other ones you have listed.

Thanks.

Because my daughter is such a fan of "Frozen," I actually made FEA my top priority and got that but not Slinky Dog Dash. :-(

Had to settle for Toy Story Mania as my Tier 1 FP at Hollywood. Any opinions on that?

Also couldn't get Seven Dwarfs until 7:45 pm on my Magic Kingdom day. So, I guess that is better than nothing but not ideal to have to return to the park...especially after a big dinner at Ohana that night.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Thanks.

Because my daughter is such a fan of "Frozen," I actually made FEA my top priority and got that but not Slinky Dog Dash. :-(

Had to settle for Toy Story Mania as my Tier 1 FP at Hollywood. Any opinions on that?

Also couldn't get Seven Dwarfs until 7:45 pm on my Magic Kingdom day. So, I guess that is better than nothing but not ideal to have to return to the park...especially after a big dinner at Ohana that night.

Toy Story Midway Mania is very fun. MK at night is really magical so you might want to plan on spending a few hours in the evening at MK (so maybe it's a good thing you got the late FP).

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

You can begin booking your Fastpasses at 7 am eastern on Day 60. No need to repeatedly log in earlier.

Only select attractions utilize Fastpass, and Fastpass is not interchangeable ~ each ride has its own and needs to be booked individually.

There is lots of information which will help you here:
https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/fastpass

Helpful post

 

[PeakSeason]

We've never needed a Fastpass for either Nemo at Epcot (usually a 5-10 minute wait) or Festival of the Lion King at Animal Kingdom (this can take a huge number of people all at once at the posted showtimes). If there's something else you'd like to experience in those parks that is Fastpass eligible, I'd consider switching.