FastPass+ experience group tiers changing for Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios

Jun 10, 2014 in "MyMagic+"

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Posted: Tuesday June 10, 2014 10:20am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

The FastPass+ experience group tiers are about to change for both Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Effective now, FastPass+ selections for June 16 2014 and later will be subject to the following changes.

At the Studios 'The Great Movie Ride' moves to group 1.
At Epcot 'Living with the Land' moves to group 1.
At Epcot 'Character Spot' and 'Maelstrom' move to group 2.

If you already have selections made from the old groups, they will continue to be valid unless you cancel them.

Here is the full updated line-up. Disney's Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom do not make use of experience groups.

Epcot Tier Group 1 (One selection can be made)

IllumiNations
Soarin'
Test Track
Living with the Land

Epcot Tier Group 2 (Two selections can be made)

Captain EO
Journey into Imagination
Maelstrom
Character Spot
Mission: SPACE
Spaceship Earth
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush

Disney's Hollywood Studios Tier Group 1 (One selection can be made)

Toy Story Mania
Rock 'n' RollerCoaster
Fantasmic!
Beauty and the Beast
Great Movie Ride

Disney's Hollywood Studios Tier Group 2 (Two selections can be made)

Tower of Terror
Star Tours
Indiana Jones
Lights, Motors, Action!
MuppetVision 3D
Disney Jr Live on Stage

Discuss on the Forums

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wilkelizaJun 25, 2014

I have a feeling this is because the Tier 1 attractions were filling up rather quickly. Now that they moved a few up from Tier 1 from Tier 2 that weren't filling up at all (looking at you LWTL) they will ensure that people get a Tier 1 attraction day of and can't complain any more even if LWTL isn't as great as TT or Soarin. note I love Living with the Land but would never choose it over TT or Soarin.

AndyGatorJun 25, 2014

Still hate the system. Used it from Saturday until yesterday. Still had tons of "sorry the system cant do that right now, try again later" errors. I figured out what the new Fast Pass+ is all about. Making people return to the parks for multiple days. If you could reserve a Soarin & Test Track fastpass, you wouldn't have to return to Epcot. But since you can only pick one from the top tier, if you want to use FP+ on both attractions, you'd have to go back on a different day. Don't give me that, "you can make additional FP+ reservations after you use all 3" line. No you can't. Not at Epcot on most moderately busy days. They are all gone by about 10 a.m.

DVCPlutoJun 12, 2014

Now that's using your noodle! Nice score!

mweierJun 12, 2014

Good luck getting this combo of FP+ a week ago... TIER CHANGE LOOPHOLE SCORE! (forgot i DID have LWTL FP+ and Soarin' pre-change. Changed LWTL to TT as they're both Tier 1 now; Changed JI to Maelstrom as they're both tier 2 now. Should barely need Maelstrom FP+ that soon after WS opens, but it's close enough to TT to justify hitting early...

omuriceJun 12, 2014

Why don't they just move everything at Studios into Tier 1? Then it will be a full-day-of-waiting park

asialeighJun 12, 2014

You can have multiples fastpasses for the same attraction if that is what you're talking about here. After using your initial 3 if that attraction still has FP+ available you can choose it even if you've already used one on it before.

G00fyDadJun 12, 2014

Yeah, I have never waited for it either, but I've seen the standby for this get to over an hour long on really hot days.

DisneyCaneJun 12, 2014

I wish they would somehow let you book your 3 FP+ in advance at different parks for park hopping. Keep the Tier restrictions even. I would much rather book Soarin', Tower of Terror and Star Tours than Soarin', SSE and Nemo whenever I want to ride Soarin'. Even with the increases standby, it still isn't bad on SSE so I hate "wasting" FP+ on it. I understand the need for tiers. Under the old system, when Soarin' FP distribution was for 6:00 - 7:00 at 10 AM (slight exaggeration), people would opt to wait an hour in standby rather than wait all day essentially for FP. Now that same person will have the FP+ in advance so more people will take slots. If they didn't have tiers at Epcot I would guess that for busy times you wouldn't be able to book FP+ for Soarin' or TT unless you are a Disney resort guest with 60 day advance or MAYBE if you booked right at the 30 day mark.

maxime29Jun 12, 2014

They made Maelstrom a Tier 2 so they can get more people to World Showcase (shop/dine/explore) without waiting for the three Fastpasses to expire until guests can select another one. I wouldn't doubt it if 95% of the Tier 1 picks were Soarin/Test Track anyway. I would have rather seen Living w/ Land still Tier 2 since I always like to ride Soarin/Land/eat lunch at Sunshine without needing to come back. Movie Ride as a Tier 1? List was fine already. Oh well...

NearTheEarsJun 12, 2014

Oh, don't get me wrong, It's a great ride, but I've just never actually waited for it before. Was always right onto the boat.

G00fyDadJun 12, 2014

I might if I go to EPCOT on more than one day. We absolutely love that ride. I know that there is a lot of griping about how Disney isn't what it used to be, but this is one of those rides that just sort of takes me back to the early Disney. I can't explain why, but it just does.

KingdomofDreamsJun 12, 2014

FP+ = Good FP+ with "Tiering" = Royal Pain in the a**

disney4life2008Jun 11, 2014

LwTL gets a lot of flack but I absolutely love the attraction. But to have it as a Tier 1 attractions shows that FP+ is not beneficial to a place like Epcot. Honestly, the only attraction that needs it is Soarin and even if you did standby with paper fp you could still not stand in line a long time if you arrived early enough.

BigTxEarsJun 11, 2014

I agree that going in without some research would be an issue. I can also see the TT/Soarin conflict. I am not a huge fan of Soarin so it did not effect our last trip. With the new movie on the way it will though. :)