Dealing With The Crowds (fast-pass)

[paoil]

We're just back from 8 days at the World. We normally go in January and so we're used to light attendance. This year's Easter trip was impromptu--and I was very worried about what we would encounter.
Indeed it was wall to wall people. But to my great surprise, we still managed to take in all the attractions we desired.
Saturday 3/19 we arrived at 9am. We grabbed Pooh fast passes, rode Snow White with 10 minute wait and walked onto the newly opened Small World. As you'd expect, SW glistens. All the bad ceiling sections are repaired, everything works, and the colors are wonderful.
We used our fast passes, did Philaharmagic, and walked onto Haunted Mansion with just a 5 minute wait. We got Fast passes for Peter Pan and by that time the park was just full of people. There were 8 of us (ages 9 to 85) and trying to manuver through bottlenecks such as in front of Small World took 5 minutes and careful walking. We had PS for a Castle lunch. Cinderella was downstairs, which was a nice surprise. The service was appropriately sedate which allowed us a nice chance to rest up. (We'd flown in late the night before.) The food was very good and matched the atmosphere.
After lunch Peter Pan was broken down, so we headed to our rental house to rest and finish unpacking. When we returned in the evening we stumbled into the Spectormagic Crowd. Crowd control was not good and we couldn't get down Main Street. (We returned to MK several times later in the week and crowd control was much improved--with numerous baton-holding cast members keeping walkways open and traffic moving.)
Surprisingly, fast passes were still available and we did some more E-ticket items interspersed with watching the fireworks and using up the fast passes for Peter Pan--which was up and running smoothly by then.
Sunday was Epcot. We noticed that there seemed to be twice to three times as many folks on the walkways as we're accustomed to--but that park sure soaks up the crowds well. It was still easy to manuver. 30 and 60 minute stand by for Mission and Test Track respectively, so we used fast passes. Off Kilter had a fiddler who we hadn't seen before. Had a great lunch at Italy. My mom speaks Italian and she and the waiter struck up lively conversations. We saw American Vybe at American Pavilion last year. I have quite an interest in music--and they weren't too impressive. During this past year they have improved significantly--and during the week I went back to see them twice more. They sing back to back with the Voices of Liberty--what a great 1/2 hour of live music.
Tuesday was MGM. We're Millionaire nuts. The shows were sold out--something we're not accustomed to seeing in January. At the first show my son (16) got to the 13th question before bowing out. Later that day I got to question 12. I've wanted that shirt for a long time and just missed the previous 2 years--so I was delighted.
As the week went on the crowds got heavier. By Thursday MK Main Street was solid people from sidewalk to sidewalk virtually anytime all day. But the amazing thing is fast pass kept working for us. By doing non fast pass attractions that are popular early in the morning or late at night (i.e. Movie Ride at MGM or Pirates at MK), by using fast pass for the big rides, and by going on the other rides (Carousel of Progress, WEDWAY, etc) at the other times we got on virtually everything we would get on during a January trip. I was amazed. We never, ever waited more than 10 minutes for any attraction. I know that sounds crazy given the crowd levels, but that's accurate. The key was Fast pass.
We even had a couple of January-like experiences. On Friday night it rained and drizzled, and a lot of folks left after the 8pm Spectro parade. Lightning shut down the outdoor rides such as Splash and Big Thunder. But it quit raining and we just happeded to wander into Frontierland at 10pm as they were opening the rides again. We walked onto Big Thunder twice (when I say walk on I mean they were sending the trains out with 1/2 the seats empty. We decided to try Splash. We walked on there too--and so many boats were going out empty they let us stay on without going through the line. We rode 3 times.
A couple of negatives: with the large crowds it is very LOUD. I miss just walking around and hearing the music. The music is still there--but it's almost indistinguishable. It's also impossible to find a quiet place to just sit down. At AK we did find some benches behind Rain Forest--and I took a quick 5 minute shut eye. But that was it for quiet sit-downs. Finally, there wasn't much street entertainment (except the scheduled Epcot shows). At MK we saw a banjo/tuba group in Frontierland--but that was it. Oh, the other negative is the need to plan meal PS. In January we don't even bother making them until the day of or day before. That way we can be very flexible. But for this trip I ended up having to book a month in advance, and even at that, I got shut out of some places we wanted to go. Then during the trip one of my daughters got sick one day, and we missed our BOMA PS--plus we changed our mind a few times--so I was stuck trying to make same day PS. We did manage to get same day PS for BOMA's on Thursday night--although we had to wait for a 9 pm time. We also got a Liberty Tree PS (same day) for lunch. But on Saturday (3/26) it was so crowded we were unable to book anything impromptu and we had to stay with our pre-arranged PS.
By the way, we had exceptionally good meals. They were the highlight of this trip. In addition to Cinderella's Castle and Alfredos: Mama Melrose (great waiter who kept us laughing for an hour), Rain Forest, BOMA's (what a great meal) and Crystal Palace (the penne pasta with wild mushrooms may have been the best Italian dish I've ever had--and we eat a lot of Italian food).
Well, this has turned into a trip report--sorry for the length. But thought I'd share the good news--yes you can have a ton of fun even in the highest attendance times. USE FAST PASSES!!! (And the other good news: we got annual passes! We're thinking of trying Star Wars weekend plus the Christmas lights!!!)

 

[GarrettJD]

Glad you guys had a great trip!

I agree about FastPass: If you're looking to see the maximum possible, you MUST make good use of FastPass. Last year we arrived at WDW the day after Memorial Day and went straight to the Magic Kingdom, about 3:00 pm. The park was packed, with 60 to 90 minute waits for most attractions. However, with use of Fastpass combined with less crowded and faster loading attractions, we were able to see PoTC, Big Thunder, Hall of Presidents, TTA, Carousel of Progress, Mickey's Philharmagic, Country Bear Jamboree, and Winnie the Pooh with minimal waits. This included watching both Share a Dream Come True and Spectromagic, and taking about an hour for dinner.

I love attractions like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh, but I'd NEVER ride them without a FastPass or a minimal standby wait. On our last day at the MK last year, the wait time for Peter Pan at about 5:00 pm was 140 minutes. That's right-- a 2 hour and 20 minute wait for a 3 minute ride. Fortunately we had just ridden it 3 times in a row w/o getting off the night before during E-ride, so we didn't feel too compelled to join the line.

Anyway, glad you guys liked Crystal Palace and Boma-- they are two of our favorite places to eat at WDW.

 

[princess aurora]

Sounds like you had a super duper trip I'm glad to finally hear about someone who didn't "freak" b/c of the crowds. Yes it gets crowded DEAL with it. It is manageable.

I love attractions like Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh, but I'd NEVER ride them without a FastPass or a minimal standby wait. On our last day at the MK last year, the wait time for Peter Pan at about 5:00 pm was 140 minutes. That's right-- a 2 hour and 20 minute wait for a 3 minute ride.

I don't know why ppl do wait in those lines. I'd NEVER do it either. FASS PASS is the only way to go but sometimes there are poor unfortunate souls that don't know about a fast pass.

 

[2gether]

I think I know why some people wait in lines....they don't have multi-day passes, or they don't understand the system!

 

[lomillerin]

We leave on Tues. this week- Can you give me some help with Fast Pass. I thought you could only get one at a time and that many fast passes were sold out before 1:00 during last week and this upcoming week. How were able to get so many? Like if we get one for Mission Space, we could not get one for TT until we used the Mission Space, but by then TT would be out of fastpasses.
Please give me your tips.

 

[GarrettJD]

We leave on Tues. this week- Can you give me some help with Fast Pass. I thought you could only get one at a time and that many fast passes were sold out before 1:00 during last week and this upcoming week. How were able to get so many? Like if we get one for Mission Space, we could not get one for TT until we used the Mission Space, but by then TT would be out of fastpasses.
Please give me your tips.

You can only get one FastPass at a time... but you can get another usually when your FastPass return time begins, or two hours after you got your last one, whichever is earlier. For example, if it's 9:00 and the FastPass is for 10:00, you could get another at 10:00. If it's 9:00 and the FastPass is for 1:00, you'd be able to get another at 11:00.

The system doesn't keep track of FastPasses used, only received, so the best thing to do is, say, if you get one that's good at 10:00 at Splash Mountain, go and get another one at, say, Big Thunder right at 10:00 before you use the Splash Mountain one.

Also, don't make the mistake that so many make of standing around outside the attraction line waiting to use your FastPass. You'll always see this... a bunch of people with FastPasses for, say, 12:00, will be standing right outside the line at 11:55, ready to get right in at 12:00. There's no reason to do this. Remember that you usually have an hour to use your FastPass, so there's no particular reason to arrive right at the beginning of your time slot.

Also, it's good to keep in mind-- if the standby line is 15 minutes or less, I wouldn't bother with FastPass.

As far as Test Track and Mission:Space, I'd get a Test Track FastPass first, because they tend to run out quicker, due to a number of factors, most notably the frequent breakdowns, causing many people to grab FastPasses. Mission: Space is usually easier to get a FastPass for.

Hopefully this helps (and is clear )

 

[paoil]

We leave on Tues. this week- Can you give me some help with Fast Pass. I thought you could only get one at a time and that many fast passes were sold out before 1:00 during last week and this upcoming week. How were able to get so many? Like if we get one for Mission Space, we could not get one for TT until we used the Mission Space, but by then TT would be out of fastpasses.
Please give me your tips.

Garrett gave good advice. Even during the crush of Easter week the FP rides that tended to run out or get very backed up were Test Track and Space Mtn. Even at 6 pm on Saturday nite (3/26) we could get FP for Buzz, Splash, or Big Thunder with just an hour or so wait. In contrast, we saw Test Track fast pass machines covered up early in the afternoon on a couple of days.
What amazed me were the people getting in stand by lines where the wait was longer than the fast pass return time. Example: Sat (3/26) at 7pm we came off Space Mtn. The stand by time for Buzz was 75 minutes. Fast pass return was for 8:10 to 9:10. Why wait in line for 75 minutes when you could get FP and walk on at essentially the same time, freeing up 75 minutes to shop, go on Carousel, WEDWAY, etc.
Here was our strategy: if we got to the parks fairly early then we'd go to a FP ride and get the FP, even if the line was short. Then we'd do a nearby ride or two (that don't have FP). By that time it would be our return time. But if there was another nearby FP ride we'd send a member of our group to get FP's for that ride too. Then we'd use FP for 1st ride, get off and be on time for FP window for 2d ride. Then we'd get FP for 3d ride. By that time park would be filling up so FP window might be an hour or two away. We'd use that time to go on a ride that never has lines.
Example that worked even arriving 1.5 hrs after MK opened: Have group take leisurely walk down Main St. but send one person to Buzz for FP's. The window was only 20 minutes away so we met up and walked to Pooh and got FP's for there (about 50 minutes away). Rode Snow White. Popped over to Buzz. Could have done Tea Cups easily in there, but no one wanted to. Headed back for Pooh, but saw line for Small World was short so went there first--also got FP's for Peter Pan because window was open again. Used FP's for Pooh, saw Philharmagic, then Peter Pan FP window open.
At MGM we arrived early and I got FP's for Tower and Rockin while everyone else rode Star Tours. (I got Tower FP's and had to wait 20 minutes to get Rockin--I just wandered and people watched). Then I grabbed FP's for Millionaire (which they just hand out at a table--no connection to the computerized system--same for Indiana and Motor Sports), met my group, and we did Tower and Rockin back to back with FP's.
I don't think your trip tomorrow can be much more crowded than last week (they closed MK to admission last week). And with FP's you should be in great shape. Have fun!

 

[minmate]

Paoil -- Thanks for taking the time to post insights from your trip! Hope to have as much luck as you when we get to WDW on 4/5!

 

[lomillerin]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[mar2728]

Many people mention that Test Track's Fast Passes are used up fairly early in the day. Does anyone know how that might differ on the EMH evenings for any of the parks? Do they start the Fast Passes up again after the park closes?

Thanks!

 

[GoofyHusker]

Anyone know if the system will still allow you to get a FP for Jungle Cruise and/or Haunted Mansion even if you had a FP for another ride? It worked when we were there a year ago. The timing on the windows for each was just right for us to hold FP for JC, HM & Splash Mountain at the same time and ride them one after the other.

 

[Anjiebaby]

We always made sure we had a fast pass. On the fast pass it gives the return time (usually an hour, sometimes for a show just 15 minutes) then below that it gives you a time for next fast pass. Anytime after that time you can get another fastpass even if your haven't used the one you are currently holding.
We have also used our fast passes after the 1 hour window if it is just impossible to race across the park. A CM told us to hold onto our passes once when the ride was almost a walk-on during our fastpass time and told us we could use them later in the afternoon to ride again. At busy times always hold a fastpass, it is like waiting in two lines at once.
Also if you have any small kids in your party that are too short or too afraid to ride ask the CM at the entrance for BabySwap which allows the first people to ride and then the person who stays with the non-rider can take up to two people back on the ride through the fastpass line.
Hope these tips help. Research and learning how to see the parks is the difference between a fun or frustrating trip at busy times.

 

[paoil]

Anyone know if the system will still allow you to get a FP for Jungle Cruise and/or Haunted Mansion even if you had a FP for another ride? It worked when we were there a year ago. The timing on the windows for each was just right for us to hold FP for JC, HM & Splash Mountain at the same time and ride them one after the other.

HM fast pass machines are not currently in use. (But even last week it was a pretty short wait). Jungle Cruise machines were hooked into the overall system.

 

[rich_84]

It is so nice to hear people talk about good times in high crowd conditions!! Thank you so much for the advice and insight into the world of Fast Pass! I will be heading there in June and this information and advice gives me a lot of hope for what is possible.

Thanks you guys!