As Disneyland passholders, Stella and I know how to tackle the resort effectively. From arriving early in the morning, to riding every major attraction before lunchtime, we know a thing or two about Disneyland. With this knowledge, we felt it was a great idea to show our readers the best way to ride attractions at Disneyland.
With that being said, there are a couple of things I need to mention first. One, in order to use your time most effectively, Disney Max Pass is a must. For $15/day per person, Disney Max Pass allows guests to pick and modify Fast Pass attractions from the Disneyland App on their phone. Without Disney Max Pass, guests are forced to walk to each attraction and select their Fast Pass, eating into their time immensely with commuting.
Additionally, when it’s busy, the longest a guest will wait with Disney Max Pass for another addition is an hour and a half. If guests must walk to attractions for a Fast Pass, the wait may be as long as two hours before they can select their next Fast Pass.
Disney Max Pass is controversial because guests must pay for the service. As passholders, we just added it to our pass, the Signature Pass, for an extra $75 for the year.
Since we visit the resort multiple times per month, it was a no brainer.
For passholders, it’s worth the extra cost, especially if you visit multiple times a month. For those without passes, I would still pay the extra money.
It’s incredibly convenient to just pick your Fast Pass selections from your phone without actually walking to the attraction.
If you’re at the Incredicoaster and needed a Space Mountain Fast Pass, you’re looking at best a minimum thirty-minute walk.
Or, with Disney Max Pass, you can just pull out your phone and within seconds secure your Fast Pass. I’ll pay an extra $15 just for that alone. Plus, you can download all resort pictures for free as Photo Pass is included in the price.
As for the second thing, this guide is not counting Disney’s newest ride, Rise of the Resistance, in the Fast Pass strategy. Set to open on January 17, 2020, we obviously have not had a chance to ride it. Once we do ride it, we will go ahead and update this post. Currently, I will not be back to California until March. Once I’m back, the first I will do is ride the attraction and let everyone know!
Cool, I think everything is set. Without further ado, let’s dive in!
First things first, you MUST wake up early. Waking up early and heading to the park BEFORE it opens is essential. As Americans, we have a tendency to wake up late and lollygag.
If you want to utilize your time wisely at Disneyland, wake up early. Just do it. You’ll thank yourself later.
For example, if the park is scheduled to open at 8AM Saturday morning, we are up by 5:30AM. By 6:15AM, we are out the door. The parking structure opens an hour and half before park opening, allowing us to enter the structure with ease.
From the structure, we board the tram and arrive at the main entrance plaza just before 7AM.
Since we still have a bit of time, we order coffee from the Starbucks app and pick it up at the Starbucks by the Downtown Disney store. Once we grab our coffee, we head to Disneyland and wait outside the main gates. By now, its about 7AM. Although the park is scheduled to open at 8AM, they will start letting people into the park at about 7:30AM. And waiting thirty minutes outside the gates goes by quick.
At 7:30AM, they open the gates and start letting people in. As soon as both our passes have been scanned, we can immediately begin picking our Fast Passes. Yup, we can pick right away, even before the park is officially open, another major reason to pay for Disney Max Pass. For those without Disney Max Pass, they must wait another thirty minutes AND then walk to the ride. For those with Disney Max Pass, it adds a huge advantage over those who do not.
For our first Fast Pass, we always pick Radiator Springs Racers. By picking it this early, our show time is probably between 8:15AM to 9:15AM, with our next selection available at 8:15AM. What do we do in the meantime? Smuggler’s Run.
Once the rope is dropped at 8AM, its time to use those legs and move! Best thing to do is walk through Sleeping Beauty Castle, cut through Fantasyland and head to Galaxy’s Edge via the entrance right next to Fantasyland. Going through Frontierland takes wayyyy to long compared to cutting through Fantasyland.
Once in Galaxy’s Edge, we head straight to the entrance of Smuggler’s Run. Around now, I can pick my next Fast Pass. For our next ride, we might pick Guardians of the Galaxy or Soarin. With our next selection picked, we head onto the ride and try to collect as much coaxium as possible. And yes, after riding it so many times, its quite easy now.
After Smuggler’s Run, its time to head to California Adventure and ride Radiator Springs with our first Fast Pass. Once we ride Radiator Springs, its probably time for our next Fast Pass. However, if Incredicoaster has a short line (which it usually does this early), we’ll ride that first before cashing in our next Fast Pass. And for picking our next Fast Pass, we’ll probably grab Space Mountain at Disneyland.
And the rest of the morning plays out this way. As the day progresses, our times between Fast Passes will grow until it hits an hour and a half, but we are able to use so many in the morning with very little wait time in between. And when we do have time, we find a ride, like Incredicoaster, Thunder Mountain, Pirates, etc that usually has a short wait.
To do so, I am constantly checking the Disneyland App. And once I select a Fast Pass, I remember the time it tells me I can pick my next ride. Once that time hits, I’m on the app to pick the next ride.
With this strategy, we can hit every ride by lunchtime or a little bit after, depending on how busy the park is that day. If the park is busy, it will slow down Fast Pass return times.
We pick Saturday over Sunday to visit as less passholders are in the park on Saturdays. Passholders will be your biggest competition for Fast Passes since they are more familiar with the system. Tourists, on the other hand, will be less familiar and less likely to use Fast Passes despite the amount of guides on the internet.
When the parks were empty over the summer when Disney blocked all the lower tier passholders, it was a cakewalk collecting Fast Passes. Return times were almost nothing as there were no passholders to compete with for attractions.
Below is a list of the attractions offering FAST PASS:
Disneyland:
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Haunted Mansion
Indiana Jones Adventure
“it’s a small world”
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues
California Adventure:
Goofy’s Sky School
Grizzly River Run
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission: BREAKOUT!
Incredicoaster
Radiator Springs Racers
Soarin’ Around the World
Toy Story Midway Mania
From the list, the following are your best bet for using Fast Passes:
Disneyland:
Space Mountain
Star Tours
Indiana Jones Adventure
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Splash Mountain (if it’s hot)
California Adventure:
Radiator Springs Racers
Toy Story Mania
Soarin’ Around the World
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT!
Between grabbing Fast Passes for the above list, use that time to ride other attractions. Don’t waste a precious Fast Pass on Roger Rabbit or Big Thunder Mountain when it can be better be utilized for attractions like Space Mountain or Toy Story Midway Mania.
Now, if it’s an especially busy day and the best attraction Fast Pass return times are either sold out or way too late, then go ahead and grab a Fast Pass for a slower attraction. But when given the option, use your Fast Passes on Disneyland’s better attractions.
Additionally, Disneyland offers Fast Pass for Fantasmic and World of Color. Depending on which show you plan to attend that night, grab a Fast Pass first thing in the morning after you select your first ride Fast Pass (Radiator Springs Racers, remember). Once that ride is secured, go ahead and grab a Fast Pass for the nighttime show. Just don’t forget (which I always do).
With the above stragedy in place, you’ll be set. To recap, arrive at the park EARLY. Be outside the gates at 7AM for an 8AM opening. If the park opens at 9AM, be at the gates at 8AM. And once you scan your ticket and make it inside the park, IMMEDIATELY pull out your phone and select your first Fast Pass (for Radiator Springs Racers).
The first Fast Pass should be for 15-30 minutes after park opening, allowing you to ride one ride before you redeem. Use that for Smuggler’s Run or another big name attraction you like. Just remember the time to pick your next Fast Pass.
As the day progresses, continue this strategy. Pick a Fast Pass, ride an attraction in the meantime, pick another Fast Pass and redeem.
You can also fill your time with other attractions, dining and drinking. But you can’t go wrong by showing up early and riding the best attractions early when everyone else is still in bed.
Pick days where more passholders are blocked, like Saturdays or holidays. We’ve had great success on holidays as all lower tiers passes are blocked, allowing us free reign.
Thoughts?
I hope this Fast Pass strategy will help your future trip to the Disneyland Resort. Please read our Disneyland One-Day Itinerary HERE and our California Adventure One-Day Itinerary HERE for the prefect trip to Disney’s first resort!
What is your go to Fast Pass? Do you still walk to the attractions or use Disney Max Pass? Ever entered the Fast Pass queue without a Fast Pass? Let us know in the comments below!
