Walt Disney World – FastPass+ Tier System (March 2020)

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February 11, 2020

Written by: Jim Smith

If you’ve visited Walt Disney World (WDW) in recent years, you are likely familiar with WDW’s FastPass+ system, where you can reserve up to three attractions per day to enjoy with minimal time spent waiting in line. FastPass+ uses WDW’s MagicBand technology in sync with the My Disney Experience (MDE) App for selecting attraction reservations.  Guests can select the attraction they wish to experience, and also choose from an available selection of times they wish to visit the attraction. It replaced the paper FastPass system that was previously employed in the parks, whereby guests could visit a desired attraction, punch up a fastpass request, and receive a paper ticket to return and enjoy the attraction at a later time that day, as assigned by WDW’s scheduling algorithm.

There are many posts online in the Disney-sphere that offer guidance and strategy on using Disney’s FastPass+ system, so I will not dive into that here (but I will include a link to some good guidance at the end of this post). What I will discuss here is the current iteration of WDW’s FastPass+ tier system, which is currently employed at three of WDW’s four theme parks (Magic Kingdom is the only park at WDW that does not employ a tier system).

The WDW tier system categorizes the most popular attractions (historically referred to as E-ticket attractions) separately from the remaining attractions at a given park. The parks that use the tier system have two tiers each – Tier 1 and Tier 2. When making FastPass+ selections at a park with tiers, guests may choose one attraction from the park’s Tier 1 list, and they can use their remaining two selections on Tier 2 attractions (guests may also choose to select three Tier 2 attractions, instead of selecting any Tier 1 attractions).  After the guest scans in at their selected Tier 1 attraction, they may make another Tier 1 selection (or alternatively they may make another Tier 2 selection).

Those are the basics on how the WDW Tier system works. Now I will provide a list – by park – of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 attractions.  For good measure, I am also including Magic Kingdom attractions available by FastPass+, even though Magic Kingdom does not currently use the tier system.  This list will be subject to change going forward, but I will strive to update this list as WDW changes attraction designations.

Note: if an attraction does not appear on one of the lists below, it is because it is not part of the FastPass+ system (Astro Orbiter, the Walt Disney World Railroad, and Epcot’s World Showcase pavilion films are good examples of this).

Magic Kingdom
FastPass+ Attractions:

  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
  • Barnstormer
  • Dumbo
  • Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • Haunted Mansion
  • “it’s a small world”
  • Jungle Cruise
  • Mad Tea Party
  • Magic Carpets of Aladdin
  • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
  • Meet Ariel at Her Grotto
  • Meet Cinderella and Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Meet Mickey at Town Square Theater
  • Meet Rapunzel and Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall
  • Meet Tinker Bell at Town Square Theater
  • Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
  • Peter Pan’s Flight
  • Mickey’s PhilharMagic
  • Pirates of the Caribbean
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
  • Space Mountain
  • Splash Mountain
  • Tomorrowland Speedway
  • Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid


Hollywood Studios (as of February 19, 2020)
Tier 1 Attractions:

  • Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
  • Slinky Dog Dash
  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (opening March 4, 2020)

Tier 2 Attractions:

  • Toy Story Mania
  • Alien Swirling Saucers
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
  • Tower of Terror
  • Star Tours
  • Voyage of the Little Mermaid
  • Disney Junior Dance Party!
  • Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
  • Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
  • Muppet Vision 3D
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Fantasmic! (preferred seating area)

Note: Rise of the Resistance, which opened in November 2019, is not yet part of the FastPass+ system. It currently continues to use the Boarding Group system for reserving an experience on the attraction. Also, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is scheduled to open to guests on March 4, 2020, and will be accessible for FastPass+ as a Tier 1 attraction.

Animal Kingdom
Tier 1 Attractions:

  • Avatar Flight of Passage
  • Na’vi River Journey

Tier 2 Attractions:

  • Kilimanjaro Safaris
  • Expedition Everest
  • DINOSAUR
  • Kali River Rapids
  • Primeval Whirl (seasonal)
  • Rivers of Light (preferred viewing area)
  • It’s Tough to Be A Bug
  • Festival of the Lion King
  • Finding Nemo Musical
  • Adventurers Outpost Character Greeting
  • UP! A Great Bird Adventure
  • The Animation Experience at Conservation Station

EPCOT
Tier 1 Attractions:

  • Test Track
  • Frozen Ever After
  • Soarin’
  • Epcot Forever (preferred viewing area)

Tier 2 Attractions:

  • Mission: SPACE
  • Spaceship Earth
  • The Seas with Nemo & Friends
  • Living with the Land
  • Pixar Short Film Festival
  • Journey Into Imagination With Figment
  • Turtle Talk with Crush

If you would like more guidance and strategy on the ins-and-outs of WDW’s FastPass+ system, please reach out to me directly, either through a comment to this post, or to my Facebook or Instagram accounts.  You can also visit MouseHacking.com, which is one of the sources for this post. 

Sources:

Mouse Hacking.com

Disney Parks Blog

Walt Disney World website

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