9 Attractions at Disney World You Shouldn’t FastPass
Sometimes, Disney advice emphasizes one aspect of a topic so much that the other parts get forgotten. For example, MickeyBlog loves telling you the best FastPasses to get for your trip. What we haven’t told you is which FastPasses you should avoid. The reality is that some FastPasses are pointless or, at the very least, not the best use of this feature. Here are a few attractions you shouldn’t FastPasses along with an explanation of why.
Magic Kingdom
For clarity, I’ve divided this list into four sections, one for each theme park at Walt Disney World. I’ve done this because you may only book FastPasses at a single park each day. So, bunching everything together is more likely to cause confusion.
The one thing I’ll say about Magic Kingdom is that it’s more open-ended than the other three parks. It doesn’t have FastPass tiers. Due to the sheer volume of available attractions, there’s not a right or wrong FastPass per se. Some are simply better than others. My suggestions here may seem controversial, as something like The Barnstormer isn’t for everyone. When you have a young child, however, it’s a must-do attraction. You might as well get a FastPass for it. Here are ones that are a bit different.
Haunted Mansion
I must confess that I won’t always practice what I preach on some of these attractions. For example, were I ever to miss out on a FastPass to Haunted Mansion, I might as well go ahead and hire a divorce lawyer. Despite my imaginary marital problems, I would never suggest that a friend get a Haunted Mansion FastPass unless they were a diehard fan.
At Magic Kingdom, several attractions have average wait-times of 45 minutes or longer. The next time I will be at this park, Touring Plans indicates that Haunted Mansion’s wait-time will peak at 21 minutes. If my wife sees this, it means we’re riding Haunted Mansion at least five times that day.
Our best use of a FastPass, however, would be for three of Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain. They’ll have lines that are at least twice as long, thereby maximizing the value of the applicable FastPasses.
It’s a Small World
The other two suggestions at Magic Kingdom follow the same philosophy. With It’s a Small World, the massive throughput at the attraction assures guests of boarding quickly. To wit, wait-times are five minutes or less several days next week. The next time the carnival is in town, you’ll have to wait longer than that for most rides. It’s a miracle at Walt Disney World when the lines are that short. Since It’s a Small World can service roughly 40,000 guests daily, It’s not worth a FastPass.
Under the Sea – Voyage of the Little Mermaid
It’s a Small World is one of the top three attractions at Magic Kingdom in terms of throughput. The Little Mermaid ride ranks fourth. There’s a reason why Disney loves to build Omnimover attractions. The ride carts connect together and move at a uniform pass down the track. It’s the perfect theme park attraction system, and the massive size of Voyage of the Little Mermaid gives it that much more guest capacity.
Epcot
Epcot and the other two remaining parks employ tiered FastPass systems. They have a handful of top attractions in the top tier and force guests to choose one and only one each day. The next tier is filled with several attractions that have short waits on most days. With a modest amount of strategy, any of the secondary attractions is easy to ride without a prolonged wait in line.
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Having said that, some FastPasses are still pointless. Journey into Imagination with Figment has a reputation as the worst ride at Epcot and possibly Walt Disney World. If you disagree with that statement, I’m glad. I love minority opinions and encourage you to listen to your heart, not peer pressure. Since the perception of the ride is negative, at least by Disney standards, you don’t need a FastPass for it. Many park guests won’t even ride it, and the throughput on the attraction is great, too. This line definitely doesn’t require a FastPass.
Spaceship Earth
One of the most predictable traffic patterns at Walt Disney World happens in the morning. Guests waiting to enter Epcot stare off at the giant silver golf ball in the sky. Once they pass through the gate, they’re somehow compelled to head straight to Spaceship Earth.
Some of them have tried to get ahead of the herd by booking a FastPass. It’s not the worst idea in the world, but it’s also not great. Since many guests ride it the moment they enter the park, Spaceship Earth notoriously slows down in the afternoon. You should just wait until then to get in line.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Studios works a lot like Epcot, although it only gets a fraction of the park traffic right now, even after the addition of Toy Story Land. The paucity of rides here means that everything will have a lengthy line, at least early in the day. Due its reputation as a half-day park, it will clear out a bit later in the day. The suggestions I list here are intended more for the part of the day when it’s still well-trafficked.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Oh, you should totally ride this, presuming that you’re an adrenaline junkie. It’s an awesome coaster that will blow you away right from the start. Just don’t waste a FastPass on it. As previously discussed, it’s the attraction that benefits the most from Single Rider. You miss nothing this way, while the line is much shorter.
Toy Story Mania!
This suggestion is controversial. I feel strongly about it, though. Currently, the top tier of FastPasses at Hollywood Studios is comprised of the attractions at Toy Story Land. Whether you’ve visited Walt Disney World many times over the years or are about to go for the first time, the song remains the same. You’ll want to pick Slinky Dog Dash as your FastPass.
Should you not get it, Alien Swirling Saucers is the next choice. With three ride stages in operation now, Toy Story Mania!’s lines are (finally) manageable. You shouldn’t waste a super-valuable Toy Story Land FastPass on the attraction with the shortest line, even if it is spectacular.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
At Animal Kingdom, you don’t have to think hard about the top FastPass options. You’re going to book one of the two attractions at Pandora – The World of Avatar. Otherwise, you’re waiting 90 minutes in line for no good reason. So, the choices here come down to how you approach the next tier of FastPasses. I’m devout in the belief that one of them should be Kilimanjaro Safaris, the ride that’s the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom’s theme. And that leaves only one remaining FastPass. I would suggest that you skip the popular ones that most people short list. They are…
DINOSAUR
Okay, I love DINOSAUR and view it as one of the most underrated attractions at Walt Disney World. I just don’t think you should use a FastPass on it, at least not in advance. My anecdotal experiences at Animal Kingdom suggest that it’s a FastPass that you can pick up on My Disney Experience after you’ve used your original batch. Even if you don’t do that, the wait-times are oftentimes modest. You can and should ride DINOSAUR, and you can do it comfortably the old-fashioned, pre-FastPass way.
Expedition Everest
Okay, don’t boo and hiss. I accept that this is the most controversial suggestion of everything listed here. I’m saying it for the same reason as Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. The Single Rider line here generally allows you to board the ride in 20 minutes or less, sometimes much less depending on the crowd calendar.
The downside is that the line queue for Expedition Everest is tremendous. You’ll skip many of the imported, authentic artifacts. This happens because you’ll move through the line too quickly to spend a lot of time staring at them…and that’s okay. It’s a small price to pay to skip most of the wait on Expedition Everest.
Got a question, at epcot,was there a time when you first came to epcot to get a dinner reservation u talk to a person on a screen monitor to reserve a seats in the world showcase, I remember doing this. Thanks. I do agree with your selection of faspasses
I remeber this from when i was like 10 im 43 now. I just couldnt remeber which park it was and my family thought i was crazy….lol @Dean Kastelic