As magical as Walt Disney World is, sometimes things don’t go according to plan.
So what happens if you have a FastPass+ to your favorite attraction, and it unexpectedly closes? Things like weather can’t always be avoided, and ride breakdowns happen, but does that mean you lose that FastPass you booked weeks (or maybe even months) ago?
It sure doesn’t! Here’s what happens if an attraction closes during your FastPass return window.
Ride Closure/FastPass+ Notification
If an attraction has an unforeseen closure (usually due to weather — for outside attractions — or technical issues), you’ll get a notification and an email from My Disney Experience, stating that a change has been made to your upcoming FastPass+ experience.
You’ll typically receive this notification 5-10 minutes prior to your FastPass return window, so you have a little time to adjust your plans.
Your Multi-Experience FastPass Options
The notification will let you know that the attraction is currently closed, and you’ll be issued a Multi-Experience FastPass that has two options.
The pass gives the choice of visiting that attraction any time later in the day if it becomes operational again OR using the FastPass on another attraction at any time that day.
Multi-Experience FastPass Conditions
In the email about your ride closure and Multi-Experience FastPass, there will be a list of attractions where this Multi-experience FastPass will work, as there are often exclusions. Usually the exclusions match the FastPass tiers at that park or exclude the most popular attractions.
For example, if you were no longer able to ride Mad Tea Party, you’re not going to be able to use your Multi-experience FastPass to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. However, if you were no longer able to ride Flight of Passage, you’ll be allowed to ride any attraction in the park (including Flight of Passage should it be open later.)
How to Use Your Multi-Experience FastPass
The Multi-experience FastPass is automatically added to your My Disney Experience Account, and you can view it under “My Plans.”
When you click on the FastPass, it’ll show you which attraction it’s replacing as well as who now has a Multi-experience pass (pictured above).
If you click “See Replacement FastPass+ Options,” it will show you where this pass is and is not accepted.
You’ll click on the attraction you’d like to assign the FastPass to, and you can scan into that attraction’s FastPass queue any time. You won’t receive a new FastPass window for that ride, so you can fit it into your plans whenever it works for you.
And the best news is, you can consider this a “bonus” FastPass! It will not affect your ability to get other FastPasses. So if you receive a Multi-Experience FastPass, be sure to book another FastPass for your group to replace the original one!
Timeframe for Multi-Experience FastPasses
Usually the Multi-Experience FastPass must be used the same day your original FastPass was for. But in rare cases, the Multi-experience FastPass may work the next day too. For example, if you had a FastPass for Fantasmic! and the show gets cancelled, your pass may work the next day at Hollywood Studios as well as the other parks.
This is because you may not get the chance to use the replacement Mulit-Experience Pass so late in the day, considering Fantasmic! usually only has one show at the end of the night. As you can see above, it lists the exclusions at all four parks, and the date extends through two days. (Here it’s 10/26/19 – 10/27/19.)
Pro Tips for Multi-Experience FastPasses
If you choose to visit the original attraction later in the day, try to wait a little bit after the attraction reopens. Usually when an attraction first reopens, the FastPass line gets lengthy, because lots of people are trying to use the same replacement FastPass you are. If you can wait a few hours, you can avoid a 30+ minute FastPass line.
Know that sometimes your original attraction won’t reopen at all. Some rides — like Test Track — can go down for weather and for technical issues and may never recover. In that case, try to apply your Multi-Experience FastPass for another popular ride like Soarin’ or Frozen Ever After.
So never fear friends, while it’s a bummer when an attraction closes, Disney will seamlessly take care of you. It really is the Most Magical Place on Earth!
Have you used a Multi-Experience FastPass during your vacation? Let us know your experience in the comments!
On a recent visit to Magic Kingdom, we received the multi-experience fast pass after the Winnie the Pooh ride went down just before our fast pass window. The description that we received in the My Disney Experience app for Android was no where as descriptive as what was in this article. What came up for us was guiding us to select another fast pass option, which were poor choices as being the regular fast pass selections for everyone remaining that day and it wanted to replace our one remaining fast pass of the day due to overlapping return windows. It wasn’t until we read the email after leaving the park that we got a better description of what to do, which just seemed like to show up to any ride in the list in the email anytime for the rest of the day and we would have been let in. Luckily we rode the ride earlier in the day when the lines were short and we were near the end of our day anyway, but we could have saved some time on our one last non fast pass ride of the day if the app had been more descriptive. Next time we will know better. This article is good, but until it happens to you it is difficult to keep in mind and the app could have been better about explaining what to do.