FP Guidebook/TA AAA Misinformation?

keishashadow

Proud Redhead...yes, I have some bananas!
Joined
Dec 30, 2004
Inspired by another thread, I re-read the 2 guidebooks i have in hand UG (latest edit my library had-late '06) & hot-off-the-press Econoguide ('07 5th edition) & compared them to Hydroguy's:thumbsup2 FP rules.

Confused as to info in guidebooks, wonder if it's outdated?

Can we do a True/False as to what info i have PLEASE?

1) DL FPs seem to work on the same order as WDW; with the exception of allowing you to return anytime that day until the park closes after the FP window begins sure wish WDW would follow suite

2) From the UG -- Multi day DL packages from WDT ... and AAA packages entitle guest to gather a FP for as many attractions and you wish and hold them all at the same time??? :eek:

3) Econoguide -- On all but the busiest days of the year, you're allowed to hold only one Fastpass ticket at a time; when waiting time for reservation extends to several hours, Disney allows ticket holders to make reservations at two separate attractions. ":confused: so can you stack your FPs ala wdw once the window has opened up?

no wonder i'm so confusedpopcorn::

Interesting next section from the Econoguide book, probably old rumour to you DL regulars:

But recently, Disney has shown signs it may be pulling back from the concept. It seems that the Fastpass has disrupted the carefully engineered traffic flows at te parks; although some people are able to happily cruise right on to a ride at their appointed time, the waiting lines for those without pases at some attractions has grown unacceptably long. It is unclear if Fastpass will be a permanent element of Disney parks, if it will be reconfigured, or it will be ended
 
Remember an '06 guidebook is from info gleaned, often, in '05. I'm sure you know that, but sometimes I know I forget it, so I wanted to put it out there. :)

I know that when we planned our first day-trip in late '05, AAA packages still did have the special fastpass. But that's gone now. Possibly because of the million dreams celebration, they wanted the "dream" fastpass to be special, so they had to take it away from AAA, or maybe for some other reason. But the info in that UG is old and wrong now.

We've used a FP after the "end" of the window, even during our '05 trip, and definitely our '06 trip. (and I've read that WDW allows it too, almost all the time)

We don't go at busy times of the year, but I know that last year (can't remember if true in '05) we were able to go get another fast pass, before using the first, after something like two hours passed. This was October, and not Columbus Day, so NOT a busy time of year, but they allowed it.


"although some people are able to happily cruise right on to a ride at their appointed time, the waiting lines for those without pases at some attractions has grown unacceptably long"

I actually noticed the opposite on both of our trips, that often the FP line was far longer. Don't even bother with FP for Autopia, for instance, in my opinion. You are put together with the regular line VERY very early, and for us it maybe took 5 minutes of waiting away (and then my 1 year old REFUSED to sit on the seat, and they refused to let us ride with him in my lap, and we had to get out of the car). Space Mountain was also pretty long with one experience with FP... Anyway, my point is that I've experienced very long FP lines, where I pretty much wish that I had just used the regular line (especially on Indy, b/c then I would have been able to see ALL of the line, not just the half or whatever that you skip with FP).
 
lol - i agree, sometimes i think the guidebooks are outdated by the time they hit the bookstores. Was trying out all the different books "free";) before I bought an updated one...they all seem to have new releases due end of year/early next year. Really hate to buy an outdated one.

Anyway, i didn't see anything on the DL site, nor does my AAA TA know anything about the reverting to the unlimited FP system (how cool would that be???) sure would entice me to take a look again at their "inflated" package prices.

Did see a post as to the YOAMD celebration being extended (thru '08??); not sure if that's offical or not.

FYI, we were soooo lucky @ WDW in June:banana: got TWO dream FP/YOAMD (Epcot & MK):woohoo:
 
The YOMD has been officially extended through Dec. '08. Therefore, no chance of AAA getting the "enhanced FP" feature back anytime soon. I wonder if Disney will ever let them have it back? :confused3
 


The YOMD has been officially extended through Dec. '08. Therefore, no chance of AAA getting the "enhanced FP" feature back anytime soon. I wonder if Disney will ever let them have it back? :confused3

IMO, it'd sell more packages...evidently, they're holding their own on attendence (whether via the 50th Celebration, etc.) and don't need to offer it?
 
DL does have the unwritten rule that they do allow you to come any time after your return window opens. One time, at Soarin' Over CA, I did have the CM consider refusing the FPs we were handing her. My friend and I (both pretty darned experienced APs) told her no one ever enforces the end of the window and she did let us on, reluctantly.

I don't think the enhanced FP will be comeing back any time soon.

Not really true there on holding only one FP at a time, ever. First, the two parks are not connected. Second, each park has a ride disconnected from the others in that park. The rule is you can get another FP when your return window opens or two hours later, which ever comes first. On non-busy days, the return widnows may very well be within two hours of you getting a FP for all but some of the most popular rides, even later in the day (and even some of those might be within 2 hours).
 
1) DL FPs seem to work on the same order as WDW; with the exception of allowing you to return anytime that day until the park closes after the FP window begins sure wish WDW would follow suite
WDW does work that way too. It does not seem to be quite as official as DLR, but they do allow use of expired FPs. I did it many times in June 2006 without any problems.

2) From the UG -- Multi day DL packages from WDT ... and AAA packages entitle guest to gather a FP for as many attractions and you wish and hold them all at the same time??? :eek:
As others have said, the "Enhanced FASTPASS" feature is no longer available but may be again in the future. It was discontinued in January 2007 I believe.

3) Econoguide -- On all but the busiest days of the year, you're allowed to hold only one Fastpass ticket at a time; when waiting time for reservation extends to several hours, Disney allows ticket holders to make reservations at two separate attractions. ":confused: so can you stack your FPs ala wdw once the window has opened up?
This is flat out wrong. I think what they are trying to say is that you can only get one FP at a time. And that is not completely true because there are the two disconnected FP rides at DLR such that you can get more than one FP at a time, and DL and DCA are disconnected from each other. You can hold as many FPs as you can collect.

Interesting next section from the Econoguide book, probably old rumour to you DL regulars:

But recently, Disney has shown signs it may be pulling back from the concept. It seems that the Fastpass has disrupted the carefully engineered traffic flows at te parks; although some people are able to happily cruise right on to a ride at their appointed time, the waiting lines for those without pases at some attractions has grown unacceptably long. It is unclear if Fastpass will be a permanent element of Disney parks, if it will be reconfigured, or it will be ended
This has been a rumor for several years and IMO has no merit.
 


This is flat out wrong. I think what they are trying to say is that you can only get one FP at a time. And that is not completely true because there are the two disconnected FP rides at DLR such that you can get more than one FP at a time, and DL and DCA are disconnected from each other. You can hold as many FPs as you can collect.

Yeah, really...because how in the world would they KNOW if you've actually USED it? It's not like they scan into the computer system when you use them, nor does that seem possible!
 
WDW does work that way too. It does not seem to be quite as official as DLR, but they do allow use of expired FPs. I did it many times in June 2006 without any problems.

As others have said, the "Enhanced FASTPASS" feature is no longer available but may be again in the future. It was discontinued in January 2007 I believe.

Beginning with our Oct. '06 trip, we experienced WDW CMs cracking down on FP utililzed beyond the expiration window... we got great rolling of the eyes when using a FP a few hours "old" on Space Mt..

During June '07 trip, we were turned away from Soarin', only 20 min. past our window:rolleyes1 and it was due to waiting a long time for a ADR, even though we rushed thru dinner & ran to Soarin'; and I spoke to a supervisor -they were firm: sorry, no can do...of course, we later in trip received 2 YOAMD passes:wizard:

I've read several posts from other DISers experiencing the same thing, while others report being able to use FPs years old:confused3 ...luck of the draw/CM i suppose. Just think they need to be consistent to everyone, state the policy and abide by it.


Just so i've got the term right:

was Enhanced Fastpass the "unlimited one" for on-site & AAA?
 
Beginning with our Oct. '06 trip, we experienced WDW CMs cracking down on FP utililzed beyond the expiration window... we got great rolling of the eyes when using a FP a few hours "old" on Space Mt..

During June '07 trip, we were turned away from Soarin', only 20 min. past our window:rolleyes1 and it was due to waiting a long time for a ADR, even though we rushed thru dinner & ran to Soarin'; and I spoke to a supervisor -they were firm: sorry, no can do...of course, we later in trip received 2 YOAMD passes:wizard:

I've read several posts from other DISers experiencing the same thing, while others report being able to use FPs years old:confused3 ...luck of the draw/CM i suppose. Just think they need to be consistent to everyone, state the policy and abide by it.
Well, I have been out of the loop at WDW for about a year now. Soarin was the one ride that seemed to give problems most frequently with late FPs. But that was still not common. At least a year ago.

was Enhanced Fastpass the "unlimited one" for on-site & AAA?
Yes. And some still believe that EFP will come back after YOAMD ends.
 
During June '07 trip, we were turned away from Soarin', only 20 min. past our window:rolleyes1 and it was due to waiting a long time for a ADR, even though we rushed thru dinner & ran to Soarin'; and I spoke to a supervisor -they were firm: sorry, no can do...of course, we later in trip received 2 YOAMD passes:wizard:

I've read several posts from other DISers experiencing the same thing, while others report being able to use FPs years old:confused3 ...luck of the draw/CM i suppose. Just think they need to be consistent to everyone, state the policy and abide by it.

WOW...That sucks! :rolleyes1 I kind of thought that they honored the expired FPs because what if someone got sick, or need assistance, or was running late from having spent $$$ in their restaurants, or got stuck in another line that ran long, etc. That really sucks!:mad: I hope they don't plan on doing that at Disneyland.
 

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