Best FastPass for Epcot 2020

Sharing is caring!

Which is the Best Fastpass for Epcot? Working out which Fastpass is best for Epcot can mean that you spend a considerable amount less time in line.

This article is fully updated for 2020 so you can get the best FastPass for Epcot for your visit to Disney World.

You may have heard it said that what EPCOT really stands for is Every Person Comes Out Tired. That is just a joke of course, but it is certainly true that you will walk a very long way when you visit EPCOT.

This makes planning your day at EPCOT all the more important. And a huge part of making the most of your time at EPCOT is to understand and make the most of the Disney FastPass system.

You do not want to be walking backward and forwards from Epcot Future World to World Showcase to ride certain attractions. You really do need to plan.

And a huge part of making the most of your time at Epcot is to understand and make the Disney FastPass system work for you.

If you want to know more about which are the best rides at Epcot Click Here for this Guide.

How Does Disney Fastpass Work?

FastPass has been available at Walt Disney World for a long time. However, in recent years it has been improved and is now known as FastPass+.

The system used to use paper tickets and you would always have to visit a kiosk to get a FastPass. Now things are much easier and most people use the My Disney Experience phone app to make their FastPass selections.

A Disney World FastPass gets you into a priority line to wait for an attraction. Many of the rides and shows in Disney World have a FastPass line available.

A FastPass can save you a considerable amount of time standing in line. However, it will not cut your wait time completely.

It gives you entry, at a certain time, to the FastPass line. This is usually much shorter than the standby line and you usually do not have to wait for more than 15 minutes to experience the attraction, sometimes less.

With wait times for some popular attractions in Epcot reaching 120 minutes and more, you can see how a FastPass is going to make your day more enjoyable.

A FastPass gives you a one-hour time window that you can enter the Fastpass line. For instance, you may have a FastPass to arrive between 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm for Frozen Ever After. Any time in this slot you can enter the FastPass line.

Anyone with a Disney World park ticket or an Annual Pass can make FastPass+ reservations. You can only have 3 per day at first. Once you have used these you can get additional Fast Passes.

How Do You Make FastPass+ Reservations?

Photo By

You have an advantage if you purchase a Disney World park ticket or annual pass in advance because you can use the My Disney Experience phone app or the Disney website to get FastPasses ahead of time.

If you buy a ticket on the day you visit, then you will have to use the kiosks in the park on the day you are there. This means that you will not get the best pick of the FastPasses.

It may even mean that you cannot get a FastPass at all if you visit at popular times. FastPasses do run out for certain attractions. It could mean that you have to skip riding a certain attraction as the stand by lines are too long.

Therefore you can see that there is a huge advantage to buying a Disney World ticket in advance of visiting the parks.

There is another way to get ahead of the game. Stay in a Walt Disney World Resort and buy your tickets in advance. This will mean you can start booking your FastPass+ selections 60 days before your check-in.

You can book them for the length of your Disney World hotel stay. For instance, if you are staying for 10 days you can start to book 60 days before you arrive for the whole 10 days of your Disney World hotel stay.

If you are not staying at a Disney World resort hotel, you can buy a park ticket and book 30 days in advance for your FastPass reservations.

As you can see, you get a considerable advantage by booking a Disney World resort hotel.

The booking window starts at 7 am ET either 30 or 60 days before you arrive. This is unfortunate if you live on the west coast as that is 4 am PT. Europeans have the advantage as they are 5 hours ahead of Florida time!

You do need to be as close to 7 am ET as you can if you want to snag the best times for your FastPasses.

What are the Epcot Fastpass Rides?

Photo By
Epcot uses a two-tier system for Fastpasses.

Epcot Tier 1 FastPass

You can only have one Epcot Tier 1 Fastpass at any one time. Here are the Tier 1 Epcot Fastpasses:

• Epcot Forever
• Frozen Ever After
• Soarin’
• Test Track
• Epcot Character Spot

Epcot Tier 2 FastPass

You can have two Epcot Tier 2 Fastpass at any one time. Here are the Tier 2 Epcot Fastpasses:

• Disney Pixar Short Film Festival
• Journey Into Imagination with Figment
• The Sea with Nemo and Friends
• Living with the Land
• Spaceship Earth
• Turtle Talk with Crush
• Mission: SPACE Green
• Mission: SPACE Orange

Frozen Ever After or Test Track?

Photo By

Of course, there is one thing you will notice immediately here. The 3 most popular rides are all Tier 1.

Frozen Ever After often has a wait of 90 to 120 minutes so not surprisingly this is the most highly sought after FastPass.

Soarin’ and Epcot Test Track are also extremely popular rides.

Therefore you are going to have to decide a strategy for which of the Tier 1 Epcot Fastpasses you want to choose.

I would not suggest using your Tier 1 for Epcot Forever as you can experience that without waiting for too long. Of course, the best spots do go early, but you will still be able to get a decent view if you get your spot about 30 minutes before the show.

The Epcot character spot really isn’t worth using this coveted Tier 1 Fast pass for either.

Our advice is that you choose between Test Track and Frozen Ever After. Soarin’ now has more capacity so the lines should not be as long as for the other two attractions.

But which one should you choose?

If you have young children who are Frozen obsessed you really have to choose Frozen Ever After. With the new Frozen II movie just being released the popularity of this ride is not going to change any time soon.

If you choose Frozen Ever After as your Fastpass you should arrive as early as possible to Epcot and head straight for Test Track. As soon as you have experienced Test Track go to Soarin.

Another tactic is to ride Soarin’ first and then use the single rider line at Epcot Test Track. There isn’t one for Soarin’ so you can’t do it the other way around.

If you don’t have young children who want to ride Frozen then get a Fastpass for Test Track (or Soarin’ if you are prepared to use the Single Rider option for Test Track).

Epcot Tier 2 FastPass Choices

Photo By
Some of the Tier 2 choices really shouldn’t ever be chosen as they have short wait times

Journey Into Imagination with Figment is the best example of this. There is rarely a line for this attraction so do not waste a Fastpass selection on it.

The same is true for Disney Pixar Short Film Festival. You really don’t need a Fastpass for this.

Living with the Land is actually one of my favorite rides, but this is more for nostalgic reasons than anything! It is located next to Soarin’ so this is the reason that the lines are sometimes longer than you would perhaps expect, as the major attraction draws people into that area.

Photo By

I probably wouldn’t use a Tier 2 FastPass for it though as the lines usually do not exceed 30 minutes.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends is a wonderful ride for all the family, but again, the lines usually aren’ too long. The same is true of Turtle Talk with Crush.

Consider using your Tier 2 Epcot FastPass on Spaceship Earth and Mission: Space Orange. The latter is the spinning version of the ride. If you only want the modified version of Mission: SPACE Green, usually the lines for this are pretty manageable anyway.

Spaceship Earth FastPass

Is Spaceship Earth Worth a Fastpass? The answer is that it can be. Spaceship Earth is the first attraction you will come to after entering the park at the main entrance. The consequence of this? The line builds up in the morning as many guests go to this attraction first.

For this reason, lines are usually at their worst between 10 am and 2 pm for Spaceship Earth. If you can get a Tier 2 FastPass for around this time for Spaceship Earth that is usually a good use of your time. You can experience Test Track and Soarin’ and then you do not have to backtrack very much to go and get in the Fastpass line for Spaceship Earth.

How Many Fast Passes Per Day at Epcot?

Photo By
You can initially choose one Tier 1 Fastpass and two Tier 2 Fast Passes for Epcot.

When you have used all of these you can get an additional Fastpass for either Tier 1 or Tier 2. Once you have used this you can get another, and so on.

Epcot FastPass+ Kiosks

Most of you will be booking your Fastpasses on the website or on your phone with the My Disney Experience App. If you want to get a Fastpass in the Epcot park there are kisoks where you can do this. Their locations include:

• Future World West: In the breezeway across from Epcot Character Spot
• Future World East: In the breezeway on the way toward Mission: Space
• World Showcase: At the International Gateway

What Time Should I Get My Epcot FastPasses For?

This is another important thing. The times of your FastPass. The thing that you need to understand here is that Epcot is a huge park which is split into two distinct sections.

The main entrance to Epcot takes you into Future World. This is where the iconic geodesic dome which everyone recognizes as the symbol of Epcot is. This huge silver ball is where the Space Ship Earth ride is and this is the first attraction that you will come to when you enter the park in this entrance.

The rides you have to think about getting a Fastpass here are Test Track and Soarin.

The other section of the Epcot park is World Showcase. Most of this part of Epcot does not open until 11 am.

Therefore if you are arriving in Epcot in the early morning you will most likely not use the World Showcase entrance, unless you are staying in one of the Epcot resort hotels or arriving on the Skyliner.

By far the majority of guests arrive at the Epcot main entrance.

This means that the sensible thing is to try and get Fastpasses for Test Track or Soarin as close to the mid-morning and lunchtime as possible. This will give you the chance to explore Future World before heading out to World Showcase.

As you can only have a FastPass for either Soarin’ or Test Track at any one time you need to choose between the two.

The most difficult FastPass to get is one for Frozen Ever After. This is located in the Norway Pavilion in World Showcase.

Ideally, you will have already experienced Test Track and Soarin’ before you move on to Frozen Ever After.

Another good reason to get Fastpasses for the time period 10 am to 2 pm is that you can’t get another Fastpass until you have used your first 3.

Once you have checked in and used all of these you can get a 4th and possibly even a 5th and 6th, depending upon how busy the park is.

Remember too that Fastpasses cannot be used during Extra Magic hours if you are a Disney resort guest. In theory, you shouldn’ need them at this time as the park will not be as full at this time.