yourfirstvisit.net

As of last week, all “traditional” Fastpasses are gone and everyone will now be using FastPass+.

Those staying in Disney owned and operated hotels (and, shortly, select Annual Passholders who don’t yet have a MagicBand) can book their FastPass+ up to 60 days ahead of time.

Everyone else (those staying on-site at the Swan, Dolphin, and Shades of Green, and those staying off-site) is stuck with booking them for that day once they are in a park. (At least, for now…)

To test this, I bought a 4 day ticket and used it, instead of my MagicBand/Annual Pass combo, to see how this is working. That is, I acted like I was an off-site guest with only a ticket.

Well, here’s the short report. It was easy as pie and I had no trouble getting great FastPass+ even when I arrived late in the day at “non-recommended” parks.

On the other hand, I was there during one of the three or four lowest-crowd weeks of the year—and one that mostly had lousy weather (cold, rainy, or cold AND rainy, except for Tuesday at Epcot, which was lovely.

So possibly I only proved that everything is easy on low crowd days. Well, I’ll be back during a high-crowd week in mid-March, and will try this again then. But for now, here’s some do’s and don’ts

DO PLAN YOUR FASTPASS+ AHEAD OF TIME

Know which rides you plan to get FastPass+ for before you show up. That’ll speed up your process once you are booking. It’s fine to plan different ones for different members of your party.

DO STILL SHOW UP AT ROPE DROP, AND DO A HEADLINER OR TWO FIRST—NOT FASTPASS+

You still never go wrong with arriving before the park opens and knocking off first thing a ride or tow that’ll build long waits otherwise. For my recommendations on both what rides to see at rope drop, and what to use FastPass+ for, see this.

DON’T BOOK YOUR FASTPASS+ UNTIL YOU’VE HIT A HEADLINER OR TWO

So far, there’s no rush to book FastPass+, and crowds to book them are highest at park open. So wait a bit, hit a headliner first, and note as you walk to it the various booking stations and how long their lines are.

In general, the booking areas closest to the park entrance will have longer lines, but your results will vary.

I never had to wait for more than one or two other parties before I booked my FastPass+, but to do so often walked past other FastPass+ booking lines with 20 families in them.

If you can’t find the FastPass+ booking areas, just ask. The parks have printed material that tells you where some (but not all) of the FastPass+ booking locations are, but they are written for insiders—not first time visitors. (Example: at Epcot, they were described as being in the “East and West Breezeways, and by the Tip Board.”)

MY EXPERIENCE BOOKING FASTPASS+ AS AN “OFF-SITER”

Friday, January 24th at the Magic Kingdom. At about 3p, I walked past the long lines in the FastPass+ line in the Adventureland veranda and booked the rides above in the FastPass+ location near the Hall of Presidents. (As always on this site, click to enlarge)

Saturday, January 25th at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. About noon on a morning Extra Magic Hour day I booked the above in a location between Echo Lake and Hollywood Boulevard.

(Sunday, January 26th—no parks this day—instead me and Josh schemed at his condo.)

Monday, January 27th, at the Magic Kingdom. On a night when the park closed at 8p, I showed up at 6.15p and still got Space Mountain! For late arrivals, you can get one FastPass+ for each full hour left. If I’d arrived 30 minutes earlier I could have gotten two FastPass+, and 90 minutes earlier all three allowed.

Tuesday, January 28th, at Epcot. I arrived around 1p on a day with morning Extra Magic Hours at Epcot, walked past long FastPass+ lines at the Tip Board, and got these in the breezeway on the way to Soarin.

Note that you can either take photos of your schedule, or have it emailed to you.

Things may be a bit different once the spring break crowds start showing up…and if so I’ll let you know. But for now, getting FastPass+ as an off-siter was easy and simple.

For the results of my earlier tests, see

• First Test of FastPass+–attractions
• Second Test of FastPass+– fireworks, parades, and character greetings
• Third test of FastPass+ — making plans on the day of use

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!