Day-Of FastPass+ Availability at Walt Disney World

By Steve Bloom

Getting a “Fourth” FastPass+ (and Beyond)

One of the first changes to the FastPass+ program was the ability to make more  FastPass+ selections after using your first set of advance reservations. Besides being able to get more FastPasses, this lets you get FastPass+ options that may not have been available to you previously. (For example, the advance FastPass “tiering” rules at Epcot and the Studios aren’t in effect for your 4th FastPass+ selection and beyond, nor is the once-per-attraction restriction.)

This means you have to choose a strategy. The two most common options are:

Book your advance FastPass+ reservations early in the day and have more time for “extra” FastPass+ selections,
Schedule your advance FastPass+ reservations during the busiest time of the day and use the standby lines early in the day, when the wait times are lower

To make this choice, it helps to know each attraction’s day-of FastPass+ availability.

The table below shows attractions that have availability throughout the day.

Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom


Mad Tea Party

Barnstormer

Winnie the Pooh

it’s a small world

Magic Carpets

Under the Sea

Town Square Tinker Bell

Haunted Mansion

Buzz Lightyear

Dumbo

PhilharMagic

Jungle Cruise

Tomorrowland Speedway

Laugh Floor
Turtle Talk

Seas with Nemo

Spaceship Earth

Captain EO
Muppet*Vision 3D

Beauty & Beast

Great Movie Ride
It’s Tough to Be a Bug

Primeval Whirl

 

The chart below shows the attractions where FastPass+ selections run out the quickest. The chart shows the probability of FastPass+ reservations still being available at a specific time of day. These probabilities are for groups of 1 and will be lower as the group size increases.

The analysis is based on 1.2 million day-of FastPass+ reservations available since June 2014. Attractions not in the above table or chart fall somewhere in between the two: their FastPass+ selections will run out, but not as quickly as the attractions in the chart. An upcoming version of our Personalized Touring Plan software will incorporate this FastPass+ availability analysis. In addition to recommending which three FastPass+ selections to make in advance, the software will determine if additional FastPass+ reservations will be available and whether they should be used in your touring plan.

FastPass+ Availability Factors

Many people assume that at midnight, 60 days out, all FastPass+ selections are available. The problem is that on the 60-day mark you can make FastPass+ reservations for your entire trip. This means that other guests arriving before you have already had the opportunity to make FastPass+ reservations on your vacation dates. As a result, the hard-to-get FastPass+ reservations may not be available, esepecially early in your trip.

Another factor that plays into getting FastPass+ reservations is your party size: it is harder to find a reservation for a large group than for a single guest. One strategy is to make your initial FastPass+ selections for a subset of your party and then copy the FastPass+ selections to the other members. In my case, I was not able to select Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for 4 people. But when I lowered my party size to 3, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was available. When I copied the FastPass+ selection to the fourth person, My Disney Experience found an overlapping FastPass+ reservation. This strategy does not always work: the Disney software will randomly insert a different attraction if it cannot fulfill the copy request.

With these overlapping selections, all 4 members of my party can ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train between 3:25 PM and 4:15 PM

One of the major complaints about FastPass+ is that guests “have to” make their FastPass+ reservations 30 days (or 60 days, for those staying in Disney hotels) prior to their vacations. For most attractions, there is still good availability a few days prior to your visit. This does not apply on a very busy day, or for the Frozen meet and greet at Princess Fairytale Hall and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train attractions (both at Magic Kingdom).

How has been your experience making FastPass+ reservations? Have you had any luck getting useful “extra” FastPass+ selections (beyond the first three) in the park?

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Day-Of FastPass+ Availability at Walt Disney World is a post from the TouringPlans.com Blog. Signup for a premium subscription today! Or get news via Email, Twitter, & Facebook.