My FastPass+ Strategy for All 4 WDW Parks in One Day

I might be crazy....

My next trip is coming fast! Just a little over 60 days actually! I'm staying on property so I'll be able to book my FastPasses next week and I thought it would be fun to share my strategy with you all. I'm doing something new and slightly insane, if you ask Rob anyway, and trying to hit all 4 Disney World parks and hit as many major attractions as I can in ONE epic day! In order to make this work I'll have to be pretty organized with my touring plans and FastPass strategy. Read on to see what I'm planning.

Advance FastPass+ Reservations

If you're not familiar with how the FastPass system works it can seem a little complicated. Especially when you are reserving your spot on rides 30 or 60 days in advance. So how does it work? 

FastPasses allow you to skip the line. Each FastPass has an hour window where you're able to go through a special line and avoid the long queue.  

If you're staying on Disney property you are able to book 3 FastPasses 60 days before your arrival. If you're staying off property it's 30 days out. You are only allowed 3 advanced FastPasses per park day. But once those 3 are used you can then keep booking them one at a time while you're in the parks. Because you have to use all 3 advance FastPasses before you can book more, you want to make sure the 3 you book ahead of time are for the first few hours you'll be in the park. 

Rope Drop of Course!

A big part of my strategy is to make sure I'm at my first park in plenty of time for Rope Drop. If you're not familiar with what that is, it's just another way to say "park opening"! Before the parks open, they'll usually let you go through security and the ticket turnstiles to help alleviate some of the congestion at the entrance but you're only allowed in to a certain point and they'll mark that point with ropes. When the park opens, cast members literally "drop the ropes" and then you're allowed all the way in to get on the rides. 

My plan is to be in the parks from rope drop to park close. And fortunately, since I'm staying on property, I'll also have access to extra magic hours. Extra Magic Hours is an exclusive perk for guests staying on Disney property. Extra Magic Hours are either in the mornings before the usual park opening or in the evenings after normal park close. On-property guests are allowed in early in the mornings and allowed to stay late in the evenings at select parks on select days. This is a big perk because it helps cut down on wait times and congestion in the parks. For example, on the day I'm visiting, Magic Kingdom's regular park hours are from 9:00 a.m-9:00 p.m but there are evening Extra Magic Hours from 9:00 p.m-11:00 p.m.

Animal Kingdom and Pandora

My first stop will be Animal Kingdom so that I can try to hit both Pandora attractions right away at rope drop. My last visit to Animal Kingdom was a week before Pandora opened so I haven't been able to ride either Flight of Passage or Na'vi River Journey. Both rides are tier 1 when it comes to FastPass+ so I'm only allowed to reserve one ahead of time. Both rides in Pandora have long wait times at any given time so which one I choose for my FastPass comes down to which is the longest. Flight of Passage wins out over Na'vi with average wait times over 2 hours. So I'll be trying to grab a 9:00 a.m FastPass for Flight of Passage. This will give me anywhere between 9:00 and 10:00 to go and ride it. But before I use that FastPass, I'm going to head straight to Na'vi River Journey. From what I've heard the queue for Na'vi is sort of boring so it's not really somewhere I want to get stuck for very long. After I ride Na'vi, I'll use my FastPass for Flight of Passage and finish up my visit to Pandora.

After Pandora, I'm headed up to the Africa section of Animal Kingdom for a safari ride on Kilimanjaro Safari. This will be my second FastPass because the waits for this ride are usually close to an hour or more. When my Safari is done it's on to Asia for Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. Wait times for these two are pretty similar but Expedition Everest is just slightly longer in my experience so that will be my third FastPass.

The Rest of My Day

After Expedition Everest, all of my advance FastPasses will be used up. This opens up the opportunity for me to book more as I go. This is where it gets a little complicated. After the advance FastPasses are used up you are only able to book one at a time for the rest of the day. So I'll have to be slightly more flexible when it comes to the order I'm riding the more popular attractions. 

When I leave Animal Kingdom, I'll be moving on to Hollywood Studios. Since Galaxy's Edge won't be open yet, Toy Story Land is still going to be the busiest. I'm going to try and grab a FastPass for Slinky Dog Dash and if I can't I'll look for my second choice which is Rockin' Roller Coaster. I'll be looking for these FastPasses as soon as I get off Expedition Everest. The last time I went to Hollywood Studios I stood in line for Rockin' Roller Coaster for over an hour and that is not a mistake I'm going to make again. The queue is long and hot and boring. So I'll be looking to get a FastPass for both of those rides and possibly Hollywood Tower of Terror if I happen to see one available. 

After Hollywood Studios, I'm headed to Epcot. The only major attractions I really care to ride are Soarin' Around the World and MAYBE Frozen Ever After. Again, which ones I ride and in which order depend on the availability of FastPasses for the times I'll be in the park. I should be able to get Future World completed in about an hour or so since I usually skip Test Track and Mission:Space and then I plan to spend a couple hours eating my way around the world before heading off to my final destination, Magic Kingdom.

On the day I'm visiting, Magic Kingdom has Extra Magic Hours from 9:00 p.m-11:00 p.m so I'll have plenty of time to see and do everything on my list. The only rides I really plan on actively looking for FastPasses for are Peter Pan's Flight, Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean, all depending on FastPass availability and wait times. 

So there you have it! My crazy plan to try and cram all of Disney World into one day. I'm not sure if it's going to work but I won't know until I try! And I'll be sure to keep this blog updated and let you all know how it worked out!!! 

I wanna hear from you! Which rides do you think are absolutely necessary to have FastPasses for? Are there any on my list you would change? Let me know in the comment section below and don't forget to hit the "follow" button!