Summary Welcome to those of you joining me from Capturing Magical Memories and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 2nd stop on our Magical Blogorail. This month we are blogging about Disney Vacation Basics.  I live near Disneyland so I am always eager to do a blog post about Disneyland.   One thing that…
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Welcome to those of you joining me from Capturing Magical Memories and those of you just hopping aboard. I am the 2nd stop on our Magical Blogorail. This month we are blogging about Disney Vacation Basics.  I live near Disneyland so I am always eager to do a blog post about Disneyland.  

One thing that people often ask me about are FASTPASSES at Disneyland Parks.  For first time visitors or those that don’t go too often it can be confusing to know which rides you can use a FASTPASS with.

Here is a list of all the rides that utilize FASTPASSES:

Disneyland Park

  • Autopia
  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
  • Indiana Jones Adventure
  • Roger Rabbits Cartoon Spin
  • Space Mountain
  • Splash Mountain
  • Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

Disney California Adventure

  • California Screamin‘
  • Goofy’s Sky School
  • Grizzly River Run
  • Radiator Springs Racers
  • Soarin‘ Over California
  • The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
  • World of Color

How Does It Work?

FASTPASSES are Free!! Each person who would like to not wait in line forever can get a FASTPASS.

You will need to have the admission ticket for each person in order to get a FASTPASS.  Insert the admission ticket in the kiosk for the ride you want a FASTPASS for and it will spit out a FASTPASS.

You can’t get another FASTPASS until the time shown on your current FASTPASS.  For example in the Big Thunder Railroad pass shown above the  FASTPASS is for 1:30 and you can’t get another FASTPASS until 12:45.

Where To Get Them

The majority of the FASTPASSES are distributed near the entrance or exit of the attraction.  However, there are a few such as Radiator Springs that are located in wack-a-doodle spots so use this handy map on Disneyland’s website to find the location of all the FASTPASS distributions.

Really Cool Tips

1. The Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS system are NOT on the same system so you could get a FASTPASS at one park and then head over to the other and grab another one right away.

2. Roger Rabbits Cartoon Spin AND Radiator Springs Racers are not looped into the FASTPASS system so you can get a FASTPASS for these attractions and not have to wait to get another FASTPASS on another attraction.  See the picture below of the Radiator Springs Racers FASTPASS.  See how there is no time noted on the pass for when you can get another one?  Shhhh, don’t tell anyone I told you.

3. If people in your party don’t want to (or can’t) ride on a certain attraction such as Space Mountain then take their admission ticket and grab additional FASTPASSES.

Radiator Springs FASTPASS Tips

Radiator Springs is by far the longest wait ever!! But you shouldn’t have to wait in line for 3 hours for a six minute ride.  So here are my tips.

Get there early – that seriously is the best tip ever and often overlooked.

Early Admission Option

If you are staying at a Disneyland Resort Hotel you can enter either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure 1-hour before the park opens by using the Extra Magic Hour early admission option.

Currently the schedule is as follows: Disneyland Park Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Disney California Adventure on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

You will need your hotel key for each person in your party.

Disneyland Hotel Room Key

Once you enter the park have one person take all of the admission tickets and get Radiator Springs Racers FASTPASSES.  The rest of your party can head into Cars Land and get in line for Radiator Springs Racers.

In the morning the wait can be about 40 minutes but that will go pretty quickly.  Once the person getting your FASTPASSES is done they can join you in line AND you now have a FASTPASS to use later in the afternoon.

For Those Without Early Admission Option

Get to the gates of Disney California Adventure at least 45 minutes before the park opens.  They generally start to let people into the park 30 minutes before the park opens.  They will have a rope blocking off Cars Land near Carthay Circle Restaurant.

Have one member of your party take all of your tickets and head for the Radiator Springs FASTPASS distribution line.  The FASTPASSES for Radiator Springs Racers is near It’s Tough to Be a Bug but by this time the end of the line can easily be near Carthay Circle Restaurant.  There will be a Cast Member holding a sign to indicate where the end of the line is.

Once the park opens you will be in a herd of people heading into Cars Land.  It can be crazy but just keep on walking with the herd of people.  Everyone will pretty much get in line for Radiator Springs.

Cars Land Herd

The wait at this point will be over an hour since other guests have already been in the park for a bit by now.  The other member of your party will still be waiting in the FASTPASS line.  You can either get in line for Radiator Springs and have them join you later or decide to not ride at this time and use the FASTPASS later.  The time of your FASTPASS will more than likely be mid to late afternoon.

I hope those tips helped you. For more information about Disneyland Resort FASTPASS service see Disneyland.com