FastPass+ makes Walt Disney World easier, and more fun! The excitement of booking your Fast Passes in advance is great fun in itself! But, there is no point in using a Fast Pass on an attraction that has a low wait time or doesn’t require a queue, or on a celebration such as the fireworks where views are excellent around the parks.
So which should you use your Fast Passes on in EPCOT?
If you are not familiar with what Fast Passes are, make sure you read out post about Fast Passes in Walt Disney World first!
EPCOT Fast Pass Tier System
There are two EPCOT FastPass tiers. Tier 1 currently has five attractions,. Tier 2 has eight attractions. When selecting your 3 Fast Passes for EPCOT, you can only pick one of the Tier 1 attractions, OR all three in Tier 2. These are:
- Epcot Forever (Nighttime Show)
- Frozen Ever After
- Soarin’
- Test Track
- Epcot Character Spot
All other rides in EPCOT fall into Tier 2, and you can select any of these as you wish for your other two fast passes. Of course, you can select three Tier 2 Fast Passes instead.
- Disney/Pixar Short Film Festival
- Journey Into Imagination With Figment
- Living with the Land
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Spaceship Earth
- Turtle Talk with Crush
- Mission: SPACE Green
- Mission: SPACE Orange
What Fast Passes to get in EPCOT
EPCOT has very few attractions compared to some of the other parks, with just 13 total attractions that you can use your Fast Passes on. However, three of the main rides are in the Tier 1 category, with the other two being the nighttime show and a character Meet and Greet. This means that you should be selecting a Tier 1 with any Fast Pass booking you make. Don’t forget though; you can book more once you use your first three!
The limited amount of rides in EPCOT also reduces the chance of getting the Fast Pass you want. But, picking the best to use them on is an experience in itself and great fun!
Our Top three Fast Passes at EPCOT:
- Frozen Ever After
- This is currently the most popular ride at EPCOT. A log flume ride based in the Norway pavilion in World Showcase, this magical attraction puts you right into the heart of Arendelle. This song-filled journey is a slow-moving boat ride with backward and forward plunges down short waterfalls. You may get wet! Wait times can be very, very long, over 240 minutes (4 hours!!) as is the newest EPCOT ride, and of course, features Frozen. Hence, we recommend this be your top FastPass if you are not going to rope-drop it!
- Mission Space: Green or Orange
- Looking for a thrill? Well experience the journey of an astronaut across the Earth, or endure an intense journey to the Red Planet. There are two Mission Space rides; Orange, and Green. Orange is the more intense of the two, and warning, it is not for the faint of heart! Disney can reconfigure the ride’s four centrifuges to either Orange or Green based on guest demand. In general, the kinder, gentler version has a wait time of about half that of its more harrowing counterpart. Lines can be an hour plus, so if you want to ride it, it is a worth FastPass to consider.
- Spaceship Earth
- This is actually our favourite ride at EPCOT, because as fun as the story is, the interactivity at the start of the ride, and the resulting end-of-ride video is so much fun! They will take a picture of you at the start, ask you some questions, and at the end it will create a custom video just for you while you descend back to the unloading station. The ride itself is an educational journey through history, from prehistoric times, right up to today. Wait times are hit and miss; they can be 5 minutes, they can be an hour or more. Is it worth a FastPass? For middle of the day, absolutely. The throughput though of guests is extremely fast, so lines move very quickly.
Good Alternatives to our Top Three:
- Test Track
- This is one of the most fun thrill rides in Walt Disney World, with an interactive element of designing ‘your car’ before boarding your high speed ride vehicle. Inside, you go through some sharp twists and turns, but it’s just building the anticipation of the high speed drive and the burst out the doors to the outside. While many will put Frozen Ever After log flume ride in the Norway pavilion first, if you don’t have kids, our advice would be to rope drop Frozen Ever After at the start of the day, and then enjoy Test Track without having to have the long queue, and avail of Rider Swap if you have small kids. Test Track can have waits over 90 minutes or more on quiet days, as it is one of the most popular rides in the park. This is a Tier 1 attraction!
- Soarin
- This ride is basically the predecessor to Flight of Passage in Pandora in Animal Kingdom. Taking a flight across the world, ‘soarin’ past landmarks, wildlife, and more, with pumped in smells and sounds to make you feel like you really are flying. This is a lot of peoples favourite ride at EPCOT, so it proves popular as well. However, I would consider Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom to be the upgrade of this ride. This is a Tier 1 attraction!
Honourable Mentions:
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- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- A fun experience for all the family. The Seas with Nemo & Friends is a fun ride featuring characters from Finding Nemo, and puts you at the heart of the pavilion, where the exhibits, Turtle Talk with Crush, and viewing platforms for the main SeaBase aquarium are.
What not to use your FastPass on at EPCOT:
In general, there is not a lot of attractions to use your Fast Passes on; EPCOT is much more focused around the World Showcase than around rides. With some new attractions coming though in the near future and a current expansion of EPCOT, that may change in what you use your FastPass on. But for now, its all about that Tier 1 FastPass!
Should I use a Fast Pass on the Night Time EPCOT Forever Show?
No – this is visible from pretty much anywhere around World Showcase, and you can easily find a spot to view this show. The FastPass section is only small as well; so you have to show up early to get a good spot. Don’t bother!
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