Does Anyone Remember Disney Before Fast Pass Existed?

[Mousemommy1]

Absolutely! I think I am becoming even more grateful for those childhood trips our parents took us on. I think it was like a Disney line waiting boot camp or something...and why I don't mind lines now I guess.

We waited in lines forever back then!!! That's why I am always amazed by all of these people who are now claiming to never have waited in line at Disney. Kudos to them. Glad I never adapted those ways those, as I might never want to visit Disney again and I certainly don't want that!

 

[GigiDisneyfreak]

The first time I went to WDW was 1987 and I was 12. I fell in love with WDW on that trip. Fast Pass didn't exist and I waited on lines and I didn't care. My parents took us two more times 1988 and 1990. Fast Pass still didn't exist. My love for WDW exceeded the rest of my immediate family and planned my first trip with friends at the age of 18 in the middle of summer of 1992. Still there wasn't fast pass. I made several more trips without fast pass and I never cared. I loved WDW and I was able to enjoy all aspects of it not just the rides. I enjoyed fast pass when it was first introduced, but clearly I was enjoying WDW without it and I will continue to enjoy WDW with only 3 FP+. I don't understand why people are so up in arms about it, they are entitled to their opinion, but it is nice to see a thread without all the FP+ bashing.

 

[Hopefully]

I too remember the ticket books and no FP at all.
I remember waiting in lines and not being crazy about it.
I learned my love of WDW in those days and I have shared that with my children and now my grandchildren.
Change is hard.
But the negativity here on the TPAS board is horrible.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

That's why I look at these FP+ threads and just shake my head.

I have been going to Disney for over 35 years. Until this year, I never really used fastpass. AT ALL. I do remember in the last few years since it was introduced that I might go and see a long line and the FP kioks was open and the time looked okay so I grabbed a ticket. If I were in the vacinity later, I might go on the ride. I did that maybe once a day at MOST. And more often than not I would be in dinner or the other side of the park and just junk the fastpass.

When I bought into DVC, they gave me like 10 of the super fast pass cards. I admit I used those to the hilt. They were super cool. Although I gave 3 of them away when I left the park to some really nice looking family.

Other than that - even last year I didn't even use FP.

So FP+ works for me. Because this is the first trip I actually used FP for anything more than a passing "maybe". I actually had GUARANTEED seats reserved for the big hitters that meant I could get to the park at noon instead of RD and still see Soarin.

So yeah - I remember Disney before FP and for me, it jsut gets better with age.

 

[KilroyWasHere]

I too remember the ticket books and no FP at all.
I remember waiting in lines and not being crazy about it.
I learned my love of WDW in those days and I have shared that with my children and now my grandchildren.
Change is hard.
But the negativity here on the TPAS board is horrible.

It is. I was thinking the other day about a friend of mine who was planning the first Disney trip this time last year. I told her to come to these boards as their is a plethora of information and some really good things to read. If that same friend asked me this year, I would have told her to stay away....

 

[practicallyperfect77]

People are "frustrated" and "up in arms" b/c something they loved and held near to their hearts is no more. I have a very good friend who absolutely loved being the fast pass runner. That's right...I said LOVED. She found it fun. There is nothing wrong with this just as there is nothing wrong with loving standing in line. Neither side is right.....just our personal preference.

 

[kidd_freeper]

1986 3-Day Park Hopper, no expiration....$58 (adjusting for inflation: $174 in 2014 dollars)
2014 3-Day Park Hopper, no expiration....$368

Good ol' 1986, when tickets were half the price they are now.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I well remember when there was no such thing as FP. I took one trip in August of 1998 and waited two-and-a-half hours to ride Splash Mountain. You just sucked it up and did it because it was Summer and the crowds were outrageous. FP came along and it was like hitting the lottery.

FP+ is now here and it's here for the duration. We loved it, but then, we're probably in the demographic it's aimed at; people who aren't commandos but who are also willing to plan ahead a little. It worked well for us.

 

[goofy4tink]

That's an easy question to answer ... My last pure FP trip was November 2012, Thanksgiving Week. During my one day at HS, I was able to ride TSMM four times: Rope Drop plus three FP. Under the new system, that can't happen. At most I could ride it twice, or a 50% reduction in my TSMM experience (I refuse to wait in a line as long as TSMM).

I loved Disney World for the fun times with my family. Those fun times were largely built in riding rides, spending an entire day roaming the park from ride to ride, stopping only for meals and snacks. The FP+ system breaks that.

That's a pretty unusual thing. I suppose that if DHS was open late then sure, you could get 3 FPs for one ride. Did you get FPs for any other attractions? You could ride TSMM more than twice, but you would have to do standby twice. The vast majority of people really don't feel the need to ride the same thing more than twice. But that's a personal decision. I rode EE 14 times in a row...about 90 mins prior to parl closing, in the drizzle. The park had emptied due to the rain. My friend and I just kept walking around and getting back on. Why? Just because we could. Wasn't that we love the ride so much....truth be told, I was pretty much bored after the 7th time! But how many times would we get that chance. And it had nothing to do with FPs.

I guess we will all have to agree to disagree on this subject. The new system will work for many guests, while it won't allow other guests to tour the way they are used to touring.

 

[KilroyWasHere]

People are "frustrated" and "up in arms" b/c something they loved and held near to their hearts is no more. I have a very good friend who absolutely loved being the fast pass runner. That's right...I said LOVED. She found it fun. There is nothing wrong with this just as there is nothing wrong with loving standing in line. Neither side is right.....just our personal preference.

I don't think there is anything wrong with loving FP-. I just need to know there are still people out there that value Disney for more than how many Fast Passes they can get. Clearly there are still a lot of us out there. Like I said before, I hope it works out for everyone that likes the old FP system. I have nothing negative to say about FP-, FP+, or anyone who holds and opinion on the whole thing. I'm just looking for some positive energy to counter all of the venom that has been going around. Need some anti-venom, if you will.

 

[tmfranlk]

It is. I was thinking the other day about a friend of mine who was planning the first Disney trip this time last year. I told her to come to these boards as their is a plethora of information and some really good things to read. If that same friend asked me this year, I would have told her to stay away....

I have a friend of a friend a link here a month go. However I told them to hold off a little but before visiting the boards an let some FP+ stuff due down. Also not to open any FP+ threads until March so that the changeover has some time to fully take place and settle before they tried to understand it. Right now I think a lot of these threads would scare people off of Disney all together.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

1986 3-Day Park Hopper, no expiration....$58 (adjusting for inflation: $174 in 2014 dollars)
2014 3-Day Park Hopper, no expiration....$368

Good ol' 1986, when tickets were half the price they are now.

In 1986 there were only TWO parks...if you take the inflated price and multiply it by 2 to account for DHS & AK then it is $348

 

[dwheaton]

In 1986 there were only TWO parks...if you take the inflated price and multiply it by 2 to account for DHS & AK then it is $348

That doesn't really work since the timeframe is still the same. There may be more options, but you're not getting more hours in Disney parks for twice the price. It's still three days of park visiting.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

My first trip was 1983, second 1986 and we stayed at Poly. For some reason I remember there was a special entrance for anyone who stayed on property of course then it was only Contemporary, Poly and Fort Wilderness and every day you could get in an hour earlier than the rest of the visitors. My next trip wasn’t until 1999 so a lot changed between visits. I also remember when they first started FP you had to return during they time on your ticket. One thing nice about FP+ is now that I’m getting older I don’t mind if I have to skip some of the rides there are other things in the parks that I can appreciate and enjoy that I didn’t when I was younger.

 

[DisneyAllyC]

I think I was 6 when they didn't exist. Then I hadn't gone back for a long time. When I finally did go back they had started them and I thought they were awesome

 

[gaelicgoddess]

I had my first Disney trip at a very young age and although FP came out before I even turned ten I do remember having to wait in line without fastpasses. And you know what the best part is, no one cared, because that was the standard. Long lines, long waits, crowded queues. It was the standard. That was why Disney took so much time and effort to make the waiting areas so interesting. To this day I will not get a FP for Space Mountain or Splash mountain? Why you may ask. Because in Space Mountain I love looking at the little "portal" windows with the asteroids and the stars and all of that other fun stuff, and in Splash mountain, half the fun is the line... seeing all of the pictures or brer Rabbit, and Brer Fox etc, and going up the stairs into the little "treehouse" thing.. it's awesome. It is so very worth the wait. I still don't understand why people are so frustrated with this new system. Disney still happens with a fastpass or not. People are just so caught up in the hype and wanting everything to happen immediately, that they forget that vacations are about the downtime. I still love waiting in lines, so everyone else can fastpass+ around me then. I miss old, long line waiting, Disney.

 

[mom2rtk]

In 1986 there were only TWO parks...if you take the inflated price and multiply it by 2 to account for DHS & AK then it is $348

There are only 24 hours in a day. You can still only be in 1 park at a time.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

I don't think there is anything wrong with loving FP-. I just need to know there are still people out there that value Disney for more than how many Fast Passes they can get. Clearly there are still a lot of us out there. Like I said before, I hope it works out for everyone that likes the old FP system. I have nothing negative to say about FP-, FP+, or anyone who holds and opinion on the whole thing. I'm just looking for some positive energy to counter all of the venom that has been going around. Need some anti-venom, if you will.

No problem with that at all. I'm generally a quite positive happy go lucky laid back person. Just wanted to respond to the 2 previous posters that didn't understand why some folks are frustrated and up in arms. FTR - my first trip to WDW was when I was 11 in July 1988. We had 2 days passes. I was just so stoked to be there. The thing I remember most about that trip was walking down main street sharing popcorn and Mickey ice cream with my uncle. I can set appreciate the atmosphere. Fast track to my most recent trip and one of my favorite parts was being able to do all 4 parks and my favorite rides on my last day there so I can definitely appreciate going on lots of rides too.

 

[W.E.D.]

I remember, OP. Believe it or not, our trip in '11 was the first time I had ever pulled a FP. And somehow, we still managed to experience everything we wanted to at the parks. Our plan? Get there as close to RD as possible and tour, tour, tour.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

There are only 24 hours in a day. You can still only be in 1 park at a time.

I've hopped to all 4 parks in one day. Additional parks increases ticket prices - access to 4 is greater than access to 2 and therefore costs more.