E-Tickets and Fastpass-1st timer ?s

[OnTheWay2Diz]

Hi everyone...my family will be taking our first trip to WDW in June. I have read a lot on this board but still can't figure out what E-tickets are. Can someone explain?

Also, I know what the fastpass is, but I keep hearing things like "if they don't run out"...what does that mean? Is there a limited number of fastpasses? How does the fastpass work? Can you get as many as you want/need? Do you get to choose the time you want to come back or just take what they give you?

Thanks for the info, you guys are a wealth of knowledge! I could not have planned our trip without this board!

 

[turbodisney]

E-ride night is at Magic Kingdom. It is usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. It allows you to ride some of the big rides after the park closes for 3 hrs. If the park closes at 10, then you get to stay til 1 A.M. You have to be a resort guest and purchase a ticket at the resort. It costs $12. You still need your regular ticket for entry to the park. You take the ticket to a place on Main Street and exchange it for a wrist band. Then when the park closes, you get to ride Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, etc. They only sell about 3,000 tickets for each E-ride night, so there are not many people there.

Fastpass. At many attractions, you put your ticket into the fastpass machine and get a special ticket. This allows you to come back at a certain time and enter the ride at another shorter entrance. You can not get another fastpass at another ride til the time expires on the ones you have. You cant go to every ride and load up. Sometimes the fastpass time will be so late in the day that the machine will not give out anymore.

This is what we like to do at MGM. When the park rope drops, we hurry to R&R and get 3 fastpass tickets, which usually are good in about 30 to 45 minutes. We then get in the regular line and ride, since there are not many there yet. If its not lined up when we come out, we do it again. Then we may go somewhere for a while and then come back to do the fastpass. The fastpass is good for an hour from the time on the ticket. On a busy day the fastpass will keep pushing the time out further in the day...so if you get to a ride, get a fastpass even if its not lined up to much if you want to do it a little later. But remember, once you get a fastpass, you cant get another til that one expires.

Hope this helps.

 

[kenneyjo]

I think I have a couple of answers for you.
1) E-tickets/Ride; These are for the Magic Kingdom on special nights and for resort guest only. MK keeps most popular attractions (Haunted Mansion, Splash and Space Mountain etc.) open after closing for E-ticket holders. I think they can be purchased at your resort. You would have to check which nights of course.
2) Fastpass; Essentially a fastpass is a ticket you receive by inserting your park pass into a machine at the specific attraction. This ticket will designate a time to return and get pretty much front of the line access. They could "run out" if the park is very busy that day and a lot of fastpasses have been issued already. Example; if you grab a fastpass for tower of terror at 10:30 and the pass says to return between 3:30 and 4:30, chances are that the fastpasses will run out quite quickly. Normally the return time is a lot closer to the issue time.
Also, the fastpass will designate when you can get another fastpass for the same attraction or a different one. You cannot get another fastpass until that time.