The latest evolution of this 15-year-old ride-reservation system, FastPass+ is a milestone in Disney’s never-ending quest to create something more complicated than the US tax code or the Affordable Care Act.

FastPass+ is a ride reservation system. It is designed to moderate wait times at popular attractions. Understanding how to use FastPass+ is important for success with our Touring Plans, especially if you want to experience lots of attractions or are unable to arrive at park opening.

Somewhat like making a dinner reservation at a restaurant, FastPass+ allows you to make a reservation to ride an attraction at a Disney theme park. You can request a specific time, such as 7:30 PM, or you can let the FastPass+ system suggest some times.

Each FastPass+ ride reservation lasts for an hour (reservation windows for shows may be shorter). Thus, if you make a FastPass+ reservation to ride Space Mountain at 7:30 PM, you have until 8:30 PM to use it, or change it to something else. Just like a restaurant reservation, your FastPass+ may be canceled if you don't show up on time. (In practice, you can usually be up to 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late to use your FastPass+ reservation. Our Disney World touring plan software knows this, and takes advantage of it occasionally.)

There is no charge to use FastPass+ — it comes free with park admission to everyone, including guests not staying at a Disney-owned resort.

Disney only offers FastPass+ at select attractions. Specific FastPass+ information for each theme park is linked below.

• Magic Kingdom FastPass+ Advice and Tips
• Epcot FastPass+ Advice and Tips
• Hollywood Studios FastPass+ Tips and Advice
• Animal Kingdom FastPass+ Tips and Advice

For our most detailed instructions, please visit our page dedicated to making FastPass+ reservations.

Using Disney’s website or the Disney's My Disney Experience app, guests staying at a Disney Resort Hotel can make FastPass+ reservations up to 60 days before their trips. Anyone else with park admission can book FastPass+ reservations up to 30 days in advance. (Annual Passholders who are not staying in a Disney Resort Hotel may hold only 7 days of active reservations at a time.)

If you buy your admission the day you arrive at the parks, or if you want to change your FastPass+ selections when you're in the park, you can use the My Disney Experience app on your mobile device, or find an in-park computer terminals to make or alter same-day reservations.

FastPass+ terminals can be found at the following locations. Because they’re mobile, Disney occasionally moves around underutilized kiosks to see if guests can better find them. If you don’t see one around, as the nearest Cast Member for the closest location.

Each FastPass+ reservation lasts for an hour, and Disney officially enforces the ride return time. Thus, if you make a FastPass+ reservation to ride Space Mountain at 7:30 PM, you have until 8:30 PM to use it, or change it to something else. Just like a restaurant reservation, your FastPass+ may be canceled if you don't show up on time. (In practice, you can usually be up to 15 minutes late to use your FastPass+ reservation.)

When you return to Space Mountain at the designated time, you’ll be directed to a separate, shorter "FastPass+ Return" line. Before you enter the line, you’ll need to validate your reservation by touching your MagicBand or RFID ticket to a RFID reader at the FastPass+ Return entrance. Once that’s done, you'll proceed with minimal waiting to the attraction’s preshow or boarding area.

If technical problems cause an attraction to be closed during your return time, Disney will automatically adjust your FastPass+ reservation in one of 3 ways, depending on the time of day the issue happens:

1. If it’s early in the day, Disney will offer you the chance to return to the attraction at any point in the day, after it reopens.
2. Another early-day compensation option Disney offers is to let you choose another FastPass+ attraction in the same park, on the same day.
3. If it’s late in the day, Disney will automatically give you another FastPass+ selection good for any FastPass+ attraction at any park the following day.

Issues with FastPass+ reservations are sent through the My Disney Experience app.

Like FastPass+ at the other parks, you can obtain more FastPass+ reservations at Disney's Hollywood Studios once you've used your first set, or once their reservation times have expired (whichever comes first).

For example, if you have FastPass+ reservations for Toy Story Mania from 9-10AM, Star Tours from 10-11AM, and Tower of Terror from 11AM-12 noon, you can obtain more Fastpasses as soon as you use the Tower of Terror reservation, or 12 noon, whichever comes first. You can use the My Disney Experience app or visit one of the in-park kiosks to make this reservation, and you'll only be able to make 1 additional reservation at a time. Once you make a reservation, you can get another FastPass+ once you've used the previous one (or the reservation time has passed).

Here's a link to our research showing which attractions typically have good day-of FastPass+ availabilty.

Each guest is limited to 3 pre-planned FastPass+ uses per day and these initial FastPass+ reservations may only be used in a single park per day per ticket. (As mentioned above, once you've used your advance FastPasses, you can get one additional FastPass reservation at a time on the day of your visit. for any attraction at any park.)

Why does Disney need to limit the number of FastPass+ uses available? Because guests who use FastPass+ are more satisfied with their trip, so Disney wants more guests using it. But the number of guests who can use FastPass+ in a given day is a function of the number of rides which have FastPass+, their hourly capacity, and how long the park is open.

Take the Magic Kingdom as an example. The park has around 25 FastPass+-enabled attractions and parades). Combined, those attractions should be able to give rides to around 35,000 people per hour (plus parades). Assume half of that capacity is allocated to FastPass+, and the other half to standby riders. Over the course of a 12-hour day, that works out to around 225,000 FastPass+ spots available on those rides.

About 53,000 people visit the Magic Kingdom on an average day. If there are 225,000 FastPass+ spots available, each person can have about 4 FastPass+ reservations before all of the spots are taken.

However, if 75,000 people visit the Magic Kingdom during the same 12-hour day, they can only have 3 FastPass+ reservations each before all of the spots are taken. At 75,000 people, Disney could keep the park open longer, but it would take an 18-hour day (e.g., from 8 AM to 2 AM) to guarantee 3 FastPass+ reservations per guest. Keeping the park open costs money.

Another way of making more FastPasses available is to add FastPass+ to more attractions. Today, Disney’s four parks have FastPass+ at around 70 attractions, parades and fireworks (the number fluctuates as Disney is constantly testing which attractions guests respond to). In addition, Disney is using FastPass+ for more character greetings, and to reserve some of the best viewing spots for the parks’ afternoon and evening parades and shows.

Disney has proven, however, that it is not oblivious to the concerns of those who wanted more FastPass+ allotments. Guests can add an extra FastPass+ after they have used their initial set. For example, if you have 3 FastPass+ reservations at the Magic Kingdom for Peter Pan's Flight at 11 AM, Big Thunder Mountain at 12 PM, and Pirates of the Caribbean at 1 PM, once have used those three, or the latest FastPass+ window closes (at 2 PM in this example), you may schedule another FastPass+ for an attraction at any park.

This system also requires a bit of foresight to use to its full potential. Scheduling your initial FastPass+ reservations for a bit earlier in the day gives you more wiggle room to acquire extra FastPasses. Additionally, it makes scheduling evening parades and shows with your initial FastPass+ reservations less desirable since you wouldn't be eligible for an extra FastPass+ until after that one expires.

In addition to limiting the number of FastPass+ you can obtain, Disney prevents guests from obtaining certain combinations of FastPass+ reservations. For example, you cannot schedule more than 1 pre-planned FastPass+ per attraction. If you want to ride Space Mountain twice in a row, one of those rides will usually be via the standby line. Once you use your initial, pre-planned FastPass+ reservations however, you can use the My Disney Experience app or go to a kiosk and book that second Space Mountain FastPass+, if available.

In addition, Disney's computer system does not allow FastPass+ times to overlap. If you've got a FastPass+ reservation for 2 PM to 3 PM, you cannot make another FastPass+ reservation later than 1 PM or earlier than 3 PM.

Disney also limits the combinations of FastPass+ reservations you can have, preventing guests from using FastPass+ on all the park’s headliner attractions. The practice, known informally as "FastPass+ Tiers," is in effect at Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Here's how FastPass+ works at Epcot: The park's attractions are divided into two groups:

The FastPass+ computer system will allow you to choose only 1 attraction from Group A, and 2 attractions from Group B. You'll notice that Disney has in Group A the attractions with the longest lines. Disney does this to ensure that most guests get access to either Soarin' or Test Track for their FastPass+ selections.

The other thing to notice is that few of the attractions in Group B actually need FastPass+ reservations most of the year. Waits for every one of these attractions are generally under 20 minutes every day except holidays, and in many cases the waits are under 10 minutes. Epcot's Group B attractions exist primarily to give FastPass+ users something to use FastPass+ on, and to help Disney distribute crowds throughout the park.

Further, guests who book last-minute vacations may see their FastPass+ choices reduced. Because an attraction’s FastPass+ availability is limited by its hourly rider capacity, those who book last-minute trips may find that FastPass+ reservations are no longer available at their favorite attractions. We provide information on the next 30 days of FastPass+ availability on our website.

Clearly, Disney’s FastPass+ rules are designed to do three things: encourage you to stay at a Disney resort; book your trip well in advance; and tell Disney exactly where you plan to be every day. These three things increase Disney’s revenue. They also decrease Disney’s operating expenses, because Disney will be able to adjust its staffing levels at each park based on how many people have made FastPass+ reservations. More importantly, by promising lower wait times in advance, they encourage you to spend more time at Disney’s parks and discourage you from last-minute trips to Universal or other theme parks.

After a couple of years of use, we feel confident saying that FastPass+ has decreased average waits at most headliner attractions and increased waits at secondary attractions, at all four parks.

That said, we’ve heard from plenty of readers whose waits in FastPass+ return lines are significantly longer than expected. The main issues seem to be:

• Guests who show up a few minutes earlier than their reservation start time.
• Guests who expect the FastPass+ system to operate differently than it does. For example, a surprising number of guests think the FastPass system lets them use any 3 rides without a reservation, and that Disney simply keeps track of how many times their MagcBand has been scanned.

Our computer-optimized touring plans support FastPass+. With these, you choose the attractions you want to experience, including character greetings, parades, fireworks, meals, and midday breaks, and we’ll give you a step-by-step itinerary for your specific dates of travel showing you how to see everything with minimal waits in line. The touring plans can incorporate your existing FastPass+ reservations and suggest where to use any remaining FastPass+ opportunities.

You can update FastPass+ reservations while you're in the park, too. If you decide to change a Fastpass+ reservation from Splash Mountain to Big Thunder Mountain, you can tell Lines to re-optimize your plan based on your new FastPass+ times, and Lines will re-do your plan. The ability to re-do your plan allows you to handle any situation while still minimizing your waits for the rest of the day.