There’s a strategy for that! You know us, we love our FastPass strategies. Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass is now part of the Hollywood Studios FastPass tiers. For the second time in the last few weeks, the Hollywood Studios FastPass tiers have been revamped. What does this mean to our Hollywood Studios Strategy options? We’re glad you asked. Let’s bust out our My Disney Experience app and put together our strategy around Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass.
It’s Open!
Woohoo! We’re a little excited for this attraction, to say the least. On March 4, 2020, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens its doors for the first time. When the attraction opens, Disney World is following the traditional opening where it will offer both FastPass and standby. It will not have boarding groups like Rise of the Resistance. Instead, the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass will be a tier one attraction. Below is a breakdown of the new tiers.
Tier One
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Tier Two
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Toy Story Mania
- Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Dance Party
- Fantasmic
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
- Muppet Vision 3D
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Tower of Terror
- Voyage of The Little Mermaid
With the Fastpass tiers you’re able to select one attraction from tier one, then two attractions from tier two. Once you have completed your first three FastPass selections you can select a fourth FastPass and more!
Passholder Insights: We prefer to use our FastPass selections on the attractions. We’ve found we usually do not need a FastPass to experience the shows.
FastPass Window Opens
It’s FastPass day! For this Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass strategy we’re looking at making our selection prior to arrival. As we discuss in our FastPass Essentials Guide, depending on where you stay either at a Disney related resort or a non-Disney related resort will determine when and how you can make your selections. The window is open, what would the DVC Duo do?
There are two things we like to do. First and foremost is prioritize certain FastPass selections. In this situation, we’re prioritizing our Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass. What this means for us, is that we’re going to look to make this selection first. We usually stay at a Disney resort so we’re going to use our 60+ day window to our advantage. With the harder to get FastPass selections we like to put these towards the end of our trip, as we’re more likely to find options.
When staying at a non-Disney related resort, we recommend checking for a FastPass first thing on your 30-day mark when the system opens at 6 am. Then doing so on each of the following mornings for the length of your stay (as guests staying at non-Disney related resort are only able to book a day at a time, on the 30-day mark).
Passholder Insights: Disney related resorts is a combination of the Disney owned resorts and what’s referred to as Good Neighbor Resorts. Here’s a list of Good Neighbor Resorts.
The Back-Up Plan
Demand for the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass will more than likely be very high. It is Mickey’s first-ever ride. If you’re not able to obtain a FastPass selection, have no fear, we have a back-up plan. The first thing we would do is select another Tier 1 attraction. For us, it’s Slinky Dog, as we’ve found the wait times for Slinky Dog tend to be higher than Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. However, there are no bad selections here, it all depends on what you prefer, Toy Story or Star Wars.
On our Hollywood Studios day, if we were not able to secure a FastPass we would look to do one of two things. The first option would be to rope drop, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Our second option would be to step into line just as the park is closing. For example, Hollywood Studios is closing at 8 pm, we would join the line around 7:55 pm. As long as you’re in line before the park closing time you’ll be able to ride. Additionally, we’ve found the ride moves quicker as they’re no more guests in the FastPass line.
Passholder Insights: Keep checking My Disney Experience for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass options, as we’ve found they pop-up from time to time leading up to and while on a trip.
Our Thoughts
It’s all about prioritization for us. Whether we’re looking at making a Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FastPass or any other FastPass at Walt Disney World. The big thing we always tell ourselves is if we are not able to secure a FastPass, we’ll use the back-up plan if it’s a must-experience attraction for us. Before heading to Hollywood Studios, we would recommend picking out one or two must experience attractions that are outside your FastPass selections. Then you could rope drop one and use the last ride of the night method for the other one. Toot, toot! Looks like our training is pulling out of the station, we’ve got go!
