Fastpass

[haplessdad]

My wife and I and our two sons will be going to WDW over the Canadian March break for the first time. I have heard so much about the fastpass, but know so little about it. I understand it is a way of avoiding long line-ups on the rides. Could someone please give me an idea as to how they work and how to best utilize it while we are there. For example, can we have one fastpass for each of us or can you only have one in total? Where do you get the fastpass?
Thank you for any and all input!

 

[Bob P]

Hi and welcome to the DIS!


Here you go:

http://allearsnet.com/tp/fastpass.htm

 

[RachelNinja]

Bob P added a great link to explain Fastpass. The tip that I particularly want to point out is this one:

If the FASTPASS says 1:00 - 2:00 can I get a second FASTPASS at 1:01?
Yes. You can get another FASTPASS as soon your "window for entering the FASTPASS line" begins.
You can get a new FASTPASS up to two hours from the time you actually got your FastPass (it will never be longer than two hours, but can be shorter if it has been programmed into the FP computers to be shorter than 2 hours.)
In all cases the time you can get another FastPass is always printed on all FastPasses (if you received an Overridden FastPass because there was a problem with your admission ticket, it will not show a time).

I didn't know this in the past but this time I did. This means that you can get another FP before you even use the previous one you have, as long as you put your ticket into the machine within the time frame (the example above says 1:01).

This came in handy this past trip at Magic Kingdom because within a couple of hours, my family was able to do Buzz Lightyear 3x, Winnie the Pooh 2x, and Peter Pan 1x. Waiting on a regular line would have meant only going on each ride once.

 

[Melanie98]

This is my very first post (yay me!)! I'm sure I'll be full of questions of the next few months. I'm thrilled to have found this board, because it seems like there's lots to figure out before heading to Disney.

Can you have more than one FastPass at a time? For example, can I go to the park early and grab a couple of FastPasses before breakfast and then go back to ride later?

 

[t_catt11]

Usually, you have to wait an hour and a half to two hours before you can get another fastpass. Use them wisely!

 

[brighteyes]

Usually, you have to wait an hour and a half to two hours before you can get another fastpass. Use them wisely!

Exactly I did not know that once you get a fastpass you cannot get another one until the time window on that fastpass.

I found out when we grabbed a fastpass for a ride and the return time was 3 or 4 hours later.
We had it overridden by a nice cm and got a fastpass for another ride in the meantime.

Lesson learned on the first day.

Stephanie

 

[KerryW]

How do you know how long the current wait is for an attraction? Is there a sign posted at the entrance, or a CM to ask? Or do you just have to eyeball the line?

 

[Disney4eva]

No you can get fastpass for your whole family!! and you get them only at rides that have the fastpass ticket maker

 

[haplessdad]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I read through all the posts on Allearsnet and everything is much clearer now. Thank you all again.

 

[KerryW]

No you can get fastpass for your whole family!! and you get them only at rides that have the fastpass ticket maker

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I know there are only a few attractions with fastpass machines. I was just wondering, in general, how to tell how long the current standby line is for any ride - in order to make the decision about whether to wait or get a fastpass or skip it.

 

[Alesia]

Exactly I did not know that once you get a fastpass you cannot get another one until the time window on that fastpass.

I found out when we grabbed a fastpass for a ride and the return time was 3 or 4 hours later.
We had it overridden by a nice cm and got a fastpass for another ride in the meantime.

Lesson learned on the first day.

Stephanie

That's not entirely true. You can get a new fastpass when your time window opens up or after 2 hours, whichever comes first.

 

[Alesia]

How do you know how long the current wait is for an attraction? Is there a sign posted at the entrance, or a CM to ask? Or do you just have to eyeball the line?

There is a sign at the entrance.

 

[disneylandguru]

Bob P added a great link to explain Fastpass. The tip that I particularly want to point out is this one:

If the FASTPASS says 1:00 - 2:00 can I get a second FASTPASS at 1:01?
Yes. You can get another FASTPASS as soon your "window for entering the FASTPASS line" begins.
You can get a new FASTPASS up to two hours from the time you actually got your FastPass (it will never be longer than two hours, but can be shorter if it has been programmed into the FP computers to be shorter than 2 hours.)
In all cases the time you can get another FastPass is always printed on all FastPasses (if you received an Overridden FastPass because there was a problem with your admission ticket, it will not show a time).

I didn't know this in the past but this time I did. This means that you can get another FP before you even use the previous one you have, as long as you put your ticket into the machine within the time frame (the example above says 1:01).

This came in handy this past trip at Magic Kingdom because within a couple of hours, my family was able to do Buzz Lightyear 3x, Winnie the Pooh 2x, and Peter Pan 1x. Waiting on a regular line would have meant only going on each ride once.

Here's another good TIP about FastPasses.

If your family (like ours) generally heads back to their hotel mid-day to take a nap and rest up, ALWAYS make sure to get FastPasses for all of the family on one of the more popular rides before you leave.

Even though the FastPass ticket tells you come back within a certain window of time ... the tickets are honored ALL DAY LONG.

That means when evening rolls around and all FastPasses have been distributed for the day, your family will still have a FastPass for something like Indiana Jones at say 9pm when the lines are endless.

And getting a FastPass when you are leaving for lunch means that you will likely be able to get another FastPass as soon as you return to the park since your FastPass window will have passed.

 

[cincymomof3]

This is something I didn't know about the fast passes....they are good all day?? Not just the window time?!

 

[DVCLiz]

I've read recently that CMs are getting much stricter about all FastPass return times - seems that within the last couple of weeks I read that they will no longer be honoring FPs after the window has expired. I wouldn't count on being able to do this in the future!