The Secret to Beating the Lines at Disney World

Lines at Disney World can be tremendously long. While many others aren’t a fan of the land of Mickey, I do enjoy traveling there if nothing but for the great resorts and great food.

At some point during your stay, you’re probably going to end up in one of the four Disney them parks – whether you have kids or not. Prior to coming to Disney, you’ll be shipped one Magic Band for each person in your reservation. With these bands, they’ll allow you to access your hotel room, charge things to your reservation, and allow you to get into the four theme parks.

Fastpass+ is the Disney system for ride reservations, and replaces and older system whereby paper tickets were dispensed for rides. You can reserve, in advance or day of, three rides where you will go through the special line and not have to wait 30-240 minutes. You’re initially allowed up to 3 Fastpass selections per day. After you use those, you’re allowed one additional one, after each subsequent use, depending on availability.

I made the mistake on a recent Disney trip of reserving the three primary passes spread throughout the day. With large gaps of time between each pass, we wanted to get more Fastpasses, but weren’t allowed. Here’s a suggested tip: Select your three primary passes as early on in the day as possible (for the rides you prefer, or whatever is available earliest). Use them, then you’ll be able to get more, one after the other. This will allow you to continue to enjoy Fastpass rides throughout the day, without having to wait to use the three primary passes.

If a ride is broken during your allotted Fastpass time, you’re given a free opportunity to transfer your pass to another ride. Be warned, however, that this removes your original Fastpass selection and won’t allow you to return, unless you get another pass later.

Another way to beat the lines is using the single-rider lines, available on some rides. On these attractions, you won’t be guaranteed to ride with any fellow companions (some rides actually guarantee you will not ride with anyone you know), however you’ll move faster through the line and fill any open seats that remain.

Take these tips, and hopefully you can beat some of the lines at Disney! Do you have any other tips or tricks to share?