Ten Tips For 60-Day Disney World FastPass Picks

Disney World’s FastPass is kind of like an appointment system that lets you reserve spots in line for various rides, shows and character meetings before you arrive in Orlando. It’s pretty awesome, and it’s available to anyone that purchases a ticket to Disney World. If you happen to be staying in a Disney resort or a Disney Springs Hotel for your visit, you also have the option of selecting your FastPass picks 60 days before your trip. Should you do so? Um, YES! Today’s post shares ten tips for making your 60-day Disney World FastPass picks.

Let’s start with an overview of why you should care about this in the first place.

Disney World is very popular. (News Flash!) Last year more than 20 MILLION people visited Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom attendance jumped 15% last year, mostly due to the new World of Avatar. In other words, it’s a pretty crowded place. Even if you go in the so-called off-season, which honestly is becoming more difficult to identify, you’ll find thousands of people just as excited to share the magic of the parks as you are. Waiting for rides, food and transportation is just part of the deal.

That’s where Disney’s FastPass comes in. For at least three attractions per day, you have the option of skipping the traditional line. (Score!) Guests with FastPass appointments enter a separate queue that is typically shorter or at least quicker than the stand-by entrance. You access these lines with your MagicBand if you’re using one or a Disney-issued card if you’re not. If you choose your attractions wisely, you could easily save three or more hours in line per day.

Unfortunately, the ability to claim FastPasses for the most popular attractions, even at the 60-day mark is becoming more difficult. The increase in park attendance, expansion of 60-day booking privileges to Disney Springs Hotel guests, and a ton of new resort construction projects are contributing to this trend. If you really want to get the most popular attractions, you need to do a little planning.

Convinced yet?

Here are my ten tips for making the most of your 60-Day Fast Pass window:

(1) Set Up a Disney Account

The first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is set up a Disney account. You can do this on the Disney World website or through the free My Disney Experience app. You also need to make sure your park tickets and reservations are linked to your account. Instructions for doing this are included online if needed.

(2) Explore your FastPass options

This is the fun part, so don’t skip it! Spend some time looking through all the entertainment options on the Disney World website or app. You can search for attractions by park, thrill level, interests or even height requirements if needed. Try to involve some of your travel partners in this step to add a little more fun to the planning! If you’re not sure if a particular attraction is right for your travel party, try googling an on-ride video for more insight.

If (when?) you see something you definitely want to include in your trip, hit the heart icon within your Disney account and save it to your “wish list” for safe keeping.

(3) Choose five FastPass options per park per day

Once you have an idea of what you like (or you’ve created a massive “wish list!”) narrow down your choices to your top five FastPass options. Disney’s website notes which attractions are eligible. Although you can really only pick three FastPass selections per day initially, it’s good to have five in mind in case your first three aren’t available. This is particularly true if you’re planning to visit the parks for three days or less, because the amount of competition for FastPasses during this time frame is highest.

Unfortunately, it’s a tad more complicated than just picking any five, because Disney employs a “tier” system for FastPass at three of the parks. It’s Disney’s way of ensuring more people have access to FastPasses for at least one headliner attraction per park. Magic Kingdom is the easiest to plan because you are allowed to pick whatever you want from the lengthy list of options. At the other three parks you are permitted to pick one attraction from Group 1 and then another two attractions from Group 2. Here are the current Tier One options by park to help you with planning:

Animal Kingdom: Choose one from Pandora Flight of Passage or Pandora Na’vi River Journey

Epcot: Choose one from Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ or Test Track

Hollywood Studios: Choose one from Micky & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers’ Run or Slinky Dog Coaster (these change frequently!)

If this doesn’t make sense or you need more information check out my long-winded  thorough discussion of Disney’s FastPass in this previous post.

(4) Prioritize what’s most important to you for your trip

What? That sounds a little deep. What I mean is you can’t always get what you want, even at Disney World. There are so many different awesome options for entertainment that you won’t be able to cover them all. Many even occur at different parks at the same time. (Sigh) That means eventually you’ll have to make some trade-offs.

Is that Be Our Guest dinner reservation at Magic Kingdom more important than a FastPass for Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom? Is a FastPass for the Slinky Dog Coaster more important than the Extra Evening Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom? Should I add a park-hopper ticket so I can jump to another park and avoid these types of annoying decisions?

You get the idea.

If you have an idea of what you’re willing to change about your trip, and what you’re not, you’ll have an easier time making your FastPass picks when your window opens.

(5) Map your park days, but stay flexible

Once your FastPass reservation window opens, you’ll make selections by date and by park for your whole trip, not just for the first day. For that reason, it’s a good idea to map out in advance which parks you want to visit each day. You may already have circumstances (like dining reservations or tours) that make some of these decisions for you. If not, try to pick a few different ideas on which parks will work each day so you can adjust them as needed while making your selections. You may want to check out Disney’s planned calendar for assistance (shown with link above).

This is a complete change from my old strategy of mapping out every day of my trip, including FastPass timing, months in advance. (Planning is in my DNA.) Now that Disney makes changes in shorter time frames (park hours, ride refurbishments, ticketed events, etc.) and FastPass options are harder to get, there’s not a whole lot of value in nailing down your touring plan details too far in advance. You’ll probably end up changing them anyway. Several times in fact.

That’s a long way of saying flexibility is good for health as well as your Disney World planning activities.

(6) Know your odds

Ugh. I’m trying to keep this positive but I feel like I should clearly state that there are a few FastPass options that just aren’t easy to get. The most popular ones right now are Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom and the Slinky Dog Coaster or Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway-Railway at Hollywood Studios. For our most recent visit, I was unable to get a Flight of Passage FastPass or a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FastPass for any of the first three days of our planned vacation. In fact, the earliest FastPass available for Flight of Passage was in late afternoon on our fourth day!  The earliest time I could get Slinky Dog Coaster was 2:30pm on day 5. Five!

What does that mean?

Well, it means if you’re planning to visit Disney for four days or less, there’s a chance you won’t be able to reserve a FastPass for one of these three attractions even at the 60 day mark. Crazy, I know! But it happens more frequently than you might think. That’s why it’s a good idea to have alternative attractions in mind.

It’s also a good idea to evaluate if you really want to experience the most popular FastPass attractions or you’re just trying to snag it because everybody’s telling you to. Maybe coasters and flying banshees aren’t your thing? That’s totally fine. Easier, actually. Stay true to what sounds like the most fun to you!

(7) Book your picks at 7AM EST on the 60th day

This is an important one. If you want the best shot at your first choice FastPass options, you really need to start making picks the first few moments you are eligible to do so. That means getting up early (way early if you’re on the west coast!) and logging into your account so you’re all set when the selection process starts at 7AM. (You can also call a Disney agent at 7AM for this step if you prefer.)

In preparing this post, I noticed quite a few Disney-related sites that still claim you can start making FastPass reservations at midnight. This is no longer true. I tried it a few times to make sure. (Yawn) For our last three trips the FastPass window always opened at (or a few moments before) 7AM EST. If you’re too early, you may get the screen shot shown above.

Well, the characters may be different on your version because they are specific to your party, but you get the idea.

(8) Start with your latest days or hardest-to-get attractions first.

So it’s 7AM on your 60th day before vacation and your logged in. Perhaps you’re filled with nervous energy, caffeine or both. What should you do first? My advice is to start with the hardest-to-get or your most-desired attractions first. If you want Flight of Passage, for example, definitely try to get that one first. Same strategy if you want Seven Dwarfs Mine Train or the Slinky Dog Coaster. You may even want to secure these individual attractions first on different days, rather than scheduling all three of your attractions at one park at the same time.

If you’re not sure which attractions are the most difficult to get, another idea is to start scheduling FastPasses for the last day of your trip first, and then back toward the beginning.

So, for example, if you’re arriving on a Monday and leaving on Saturday, try scheduling FastPasses for Saturday first, then Friday, Thursday, etc. It may feel strange, especially for us linear-thinkers, but your odds of getting the attractions you want improve the later into your trip you go.

Why?

Well, because when you choose your Saturday attractions for a trip that starts on Monday, you’re really making FastPass selections at the 66 day mark instead of just 60. Much fewer people have access to the system at 66 days than they do at 60, so the overall competition for spots is less and your odds improve. That’s why I was able to book a Slinky-Dog Fast Pass for the 5th day of my trip as I mentioned above. It’s kind of like starting a race a full five minutes earlier than the rest of the pack.

If that doesn’t make any sense to you, just know your odds are always better the earlier you book!

(9) Choose FastPass options for ticketed events last.

If you’re planning to attend a ticketed event at Magic Kingdom (like Mickey’s-Not-So-Scary-Halloween-Party or Mickey’s-Very-Merry-Christmas-Party) and you don’t have a regular park ticket for the same day, try planning FastPass experiences for your party day last. Again, some of the Disney sites give conflicting information on this point.

In my own experience, Disney let me book FastPass experiences at Magic Kingdom for the day of the party, as long as it was the last day I planned. I’m not sure if this was just a glitch or the norm, but I’m passing it along in case it’s helpful to you.

You are permitted to enter the park at 4PM on the day of a ticketed party. Disney doesn’t use the FastPass system during ticketed events, so the last FastPass window available on party days is 5:30PM-6:30PM. If you want to book three FastPasses on a party day, try booking options for 3:30PM, 4:30PM and 5:30PM. Once the party officially begins at 7PM, attraction lines move more quickly. This is because the FastPass lanes are empty and many guests take advantage of other activities (parades, characters, shows, etc.).

(10) Remember that FastPass selections won’t make or break your trip!

So now that I’ve scared you into thinking you won’t get what you want, let me offer another tip. It may even be the most important one on this list.

FastPass won’t make or break your trip! It really won’t. If you can’t get all of the attractions you want, don’t sweat it. You always have the option of standing in line for these attractions once you’re in the parks. Some of the theming in the stand-by lines, including Flight of Passage and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, is more fun than the FastPass lines anyway.

My purpose for sharing these tips is to give you the best chance of getting what you want, not to stress you out about planning. I hope I’ve achieved that goal!

If you need more information on FastPass including individual attraction options, please check out my previous post.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Add a little (FastPass) magic to your world!