To ensure you get the most out of the park, use Disney’s FastPass system cuts down your queue time at some of the most popular attractions. If you’re not sure what FastPass is or how it works, keep reading.
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What is FastPass?
FastPass is a line-jumping system that allows guests to ‘skip the queues’ on a number of popular rides throughout both parks. FastPass is built into your park entrance ticket and it allows you to skip the queue for a particular ride during a specifically allocated time slot.
What rides does FastPass work on?
You can only FastPass certain rides and they’re generally the ones with the longest wait times.
In Disneyland Paris, the rides you can FastPass are:
- Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain
- Star Tours
- Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
- Big Thunder Mountain
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Aerosmith Rock’n’Roller Coaster
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
- Ratatouille: The Adventure
Be sure to secure your FastPass selections early in the day, as they tend to be ‘sold out’ before noon. This does not mean that your return time will be before noon, however.
How do you use FastPass?
Each of the above attractions has a FastPass station beside their entrance. Simply tap to scan your ticket and you’ll get a separate FastPass ticket with your allocated time slot on it.
There is a catch; you only get one at a time and there are no pre-reservations. It works on a first come, first serve basis, on the day of. Once you have scanned your ticket, you find a return window, 11:40-12:40 in the picture below. Slightly out of focus, you will see a “next available FastPass” time. This time indicates when you are able to request another FastPass ticket from the kiosks; it is either at the start of your FastPass window (grab a ticket before heading to the queue ) or two hours after the moment you requested this ticket, whichever comes first.
If I had requested this ticket at 10 am, which I probably did, the time that I can request another FastPass is between 11:40 (start of the return window, based on this ticket) or noon (two hours from 10 am), whichever comes first.
Can I buy additional FastPass tickets?
As with most things, FastPass tickets are available for purchase. Check out the full details here.
Why should I use FastPass?
The obvious answer, to skip the lines, comes to mind. But if you still aren’t following, here is a better break down.
During Early Magic Time, only onsite guests are allowed into the parks on the rides. Once official “rope drop” happens, onsite guests are that much closer to the popular attractions and are already lined up in the standby line, ready to ride. By using FastPass, you can skip the initial long line, and come back in an hour or so to a much shorter line.
Furthermore, if in the early morning (because they are almost guaranteed to be sold out by afternoon), the line is just too long for yourself or the children to queue, simply grab a FastPass ticket. The return time will be on the board overhead and give you an idea of if this is a good use of your FastPass ticket. Get a ticket, have a meal, watch the parade, and come back to the queue for a shorter line experience.
FastPass and Rider Switch
These two skip-the-line features are not compatible, based on our latest experience, but they are complimentary.
True story;
- Get in the standby line for Star Tours.
- Request a rider switch from the Cast Member. Dad and oldest ride. Mum and babysit on the side.
- Mum uses 2 entrance tickets to secure two Fast Passes to Star Tours. Now we have two sets of return tickets. Yay for us!
- Fastpass immediately, because Mum was so quick to secure a reservation; Oldest and Mum ride, dad and babysit on the side. She’s asleep by now.
- Dad uses our 4 tickets because mum’s FP window has just opened, to secure 4 FP to Buzzlightyear. That queue is 1 hour long and the return time is in one hour – Have a snack, ride Buzz Lightyear.
- Return for Rider Switch ticket later in the evening when Fastpasses are sold out and the queue is long.
Why get a Fast Pass so early in the morning? Because the window opened within the next 30 minutes and Mum isn’t able to ride anything with the sleepy baby. Why not get a Fast Pass ticket and save the Rider Switch for later? You have all day to redeem it. Also, as we had EMT access, we were among the first in the standby line to ride Star Tours the first time. By the time the boys were back, the queue had doubled in size and now filled with offsite guests. Fast Passing this ride, even early in the morning, was an easy choice since we knew the oldest would want to ride again in the evening, after dinner, when the baby was asleep.
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