Disney World Resort® is one of the most popular attractions in the entire United States. The Disney World group of theme parks brings in an average of just over 1.3 million visitors each year, breaking down to just over 50,000 people in the parks each day. With crowds of that incredible size, it is certain that lines will be long for many of the attractions.

Most people can make it through the lines for rides in about half an hour, but some of the most popular rides can have waits that top three hours, some even longer than that.

There is simply no better feeling than approaching an iconic ride like Peter Pan’s Flight, seeing the wait time is over an hour, and simply swiping your wrist band at the FastPass station to bypass the long lines.

Disney World FastPass System

For those looking to make a once in a lifetime trip to this incredible vacation destination, there is a way to avoid the lines and enjoy most of the rides the parks have to offer, the Disney Parks FastPass system.

• FastPass is included in the purchase of each Disney World ticket.
• Each ticketed user has the ability to reserve their FastPass selections up to 30 days in advance.
• For each ticket each guest can reserve up to 3 FastPass selections in advance on the website or the Disney World mobile app.

Important Note:  By far the easiest way to manage your FastPass as well as getting into one of the theme parks is with a MagicBand.  For our family vacation, this one item was a must for each of our family members as it made our Disney experience so much more enjoyable without having to manage tickets.  And, lest I forget, the Disney mobile app is a must also for making changes to your FastPass as well as many other benefits.

FastPass, I’m in. Let’s find a vacation home.

FastPass Tiers

This is where it gets confusing so hopefully I can make it easier to digest.

• Each park, except Magic Kingdom, has attractions listed in tiers. Each guest can reserve one Tier 1 attraction, the other two daily FastPass reservations can be used on Tier 2 and Tier 3 attractions.
• At Magic Kingdom, all rides are on the same tier, this allows guests to choose any 3 rides in the park to use their Disney FastPass reservations.
• Once all 3 FastPass selections have been used, guests are invited to visit the website, mobile app or any Disney FastPass kiosk located throughout Disney parks to reserve another FastPass for a different ride. This one is cool because after you use all your FastPasses they let you use it again for another ride. So make sure you plan accordingly to use your FastPass as early as possible.

For guests of the park, this option can be the difference between getting to ride some of the parks most popular attractions and missing them altogether.

Prior to heading to the park for a vacation it is important to do some research and find which rides are the best to use the FastPass for, and which ones are worth waiting in a line.