Hollywood Studios FastPass Strategies 2020
Okay, for the umpteenth time in recent years, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has altered its FastPass tiers. Amusingly, this may not even count as the last time that Disney does this during the year, as one key ride remains off the FastPass list for now. Still, you need to have a plan for your next visit. So, here are your best Hollywood Studios FastPass strategies for 2020.
What’s Different?
Last time we talked, the park had turned virtually every ride into a Tier One FastPass. So, park visitors could only pick one of those attractions plus the only Tier Two ride option, Star Tours. Thankfully, Disney has trashed those rules.
The new FastPass structure at Hollywood Studios is night and day better. Disney has slotted only three attractions in Tier One, and one of them isn’t even open yet! For the foreseeable future, the park’s Tier One FastPasses are:
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Slinky Dog Dash
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run joins the FastPass system on February 19th. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway follows on March 4th. Almost everything else at Hollywood Studios drops down to Tier Two, meaning that you can go back to the old way in deciding FastPasses. You pick one from the top tier and two from all the rest of your favorites.
One attraction still works differently. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance will maintain its Boarding Group process for a while. So, it’s not participating in the standard FastPass system for a while longer.


(Matt Stroshane, photographer)
To ride this E-ticket attraction, you’ll still need to arrive at the park before it opens. Then, you should open the My Disney Experience app and try to enter a Boarding Group. Nothing changes with the most popular attraction at Hollywood Studios.
Picking FastPasses at Hollywood Studios
You’ll face one crucial choice when you plan a park day at Hollywood Studios. You must select one of the three FastPass options from Tier One. This decision will involve a bit of guesswork, at least at the start.
In recent months, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has required a wait of about 60 minutes. Slinky Dog Dash is around 90 minutes. However, those statistics reflect the fact that the Star Wars attraction didn’t have a FastPass line.
This statement may sound counterintuitive, but wait-times should get longer for Smugglers Run. This will happen because the virtual FastPass queue will siphon off a lot of the hourly throughput.
You don’t need to understand the math or logic here. The main takeaway is that you should select the FastPass for the ride with the longer wait. Unfortunately, we can only guess what that is at the moment. I mean, we’ll need the body of a year to know all of the quirks of Runaway Railway. So, the only known at the moment is Slinky Dog Dash.
My Tier One Suggestions
Picking the right FastPass does have an easy answer. You should choose the ride that you like the best. In lieu of that, pick the one that interests you the most. If you’re still not sure, I would rank them as follows:
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
I feel this way because I expect Runaway Railway to become hugely popular. Yes, it should possess a great deal of throughput, meaning that it could host a lot of guests each hour. Still, demand for it combined with its newness should inflate wait-times throughout 2020.
Picking between Slinky Dog Dash and being a spaceship pilot is difficult. However, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run comes with Single Rider, and it’s generally a wait of 30 minutes or less. Presuming that this behavior holds, it’s the easiest ride to experience without a FastPass among Tier One options.
Also, remember that Rope Drop can solve many problems. You could feasibly grab a FastPass for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Rope Drop at Slinky Dog Dash, and then experience Smugglers Run via Single Rider.
My Tier Two Suggestions
Every other ride but Rise of the Resistance is an option for Tier Two. You can select two of the following attractions:
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Star Tours
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Toy Story Mania!
I didn’t even mention the various shows at Hollywood Studios, some of which are available as FastPasses. I’m more of a rides person. So, I’d skip these options. However, if you like one of them, such as the Frozen or Beauty and the Beast shows, you should substitute in one of those Tier Two FastPasses instead.
Here’s my thought process about each of the rides. The wait for Star Tours is rarely significant, even with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge open. I view that option as a wasted FastPass, at least before your park day. Similarly, Alien Swirling Saucers averages a 30-minute wait-time, which is reasonable enough on its own.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith also includes Single Rider. As such, I wouldn’t recommend a FastPass for this one. So, that leaves Toy Story Mania! and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror as my preferred suggestions.
Again, you probably have favorites, though. You should always pick the FastPasses that will make you happiest. If that’s Star Tours, book Star Tours!
However, for the average Hollywood Studios park guest, I’d recommend Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania!, and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Honestly, the beauty of the modified Hollywood Studios FastPass system is that you can’t go wrong with anything. Now that most of the best rides are in Tier Two, you can churn through FastPasses both before and during your park visit!