Fast Pass Strategies

[Dee BigKid]

We are planning our first trip to MK since they started fast pass. A frequent MK visitor suggested that we have one of our party run around the park first thing in the morning and fass pass all the attactions we want to see.

Sounds like a lot of running to me and wondered if it was necessary.

Most of our group (6 - ranging in age from 13 - 80) will be interested in the BIG thrill attractions.
We have reservations at the Contemporary for 6 nights but want to see a great deal. I have a feeling there is never enough time at WDW to do everything you want to do.

Any thoughts or other recommendations.

 

[anditoo72]

You can correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe that you can only get one FP every two hours or so. Like say you obtained a FP for Splash Mountain it will give you the hour window when to return, but also state the time you can go and get your next FP to another attraction. I don't know if you are interested but if you go to the post by me labeled "Magic Kingdom touring plan, whad'da think" Len gave me a great touring plan. It does have a scheduled break in the middle of the day though I am not sure if you were looking for a break, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out!!!

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Dee BigKid
A frequent MK visitor suggested that we have one of our party run around the park first thing in the morning and fass pass all the attactions we want to see.

Either there was a slight misunderstanding or your friend probably isn't as frequent a MK guest as you think.

Whenever you get a FastPass, a certain amount of time must pass before you can claim another. The amount of time will be printed right on the ticket you just received. It may be a few hours or a few minutes depending on crowd levels. But the time will always be before you are required to use your current ticket.

Example: you get a FP for Space Mountain. Return time is 10:50 to 11:40. In this example, you should be able to get another FastPass before 10:50. Since you have a 50-minute window to use your first pass, it's best to get ANOTHER FastPass before using your first.

Even with FastPass, it will often take several minutes to actually board and complete the ride. This is particularly the case with attractions like Test Track or Rock N Rollercoaster which have a pre-show. By the time you get through the line, pre-show, board the attraction, ride and exit, you'll often find that 20+ minutes have passed even during the slow seasons.

With regard to actually getting FastPasses, there are few occasions when I would personally recommend going out of your way (physically run across a park) to get them. Unless you're visiting during peak season, I find it best to just use them as convenient in whatever "land" you are touring. For example, if you want to hit the rides in Tomorrowland, grab a FP for Buzz or Space Mountain. Hopefully the return time will only be 60-90 minutes away. While you are waiting for your time to come up, you can go on TTA, Astro Orbiter, CoP...whatever appeals to you in that area.

The one noteworthy exception is Kilimanjaro Safari at Animal Kingdom which is always swamped in the morning. Send one person across the park (KS is all the way in the back) to get FastPasses for everyone, and then enjoy some other area (Dinoland?) util your return time arrives.

 

[RyMickey]

I think it is a great idea to send the fastest member of your party to get a Fastpass and then decide on a meeting place (at another ride, perhaps).

Some personal tips (from someone that doesn't travel with young kids - youngest age in our group is 15):

At the Magic Kingdom: We usually get a fastpass for Space Mountain in the am and then do Buzz Lightyear, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Alien Encounter (soon to be Stitch Encounter), and/or Caroussel of Progress while we wait. After we ride Space Mt., we send someone over to Frontierland to get a FastPass for Splash Mt, and then we ride Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, Country Bears, and/or Big Thunder while waiting to ride Splash.

At Epcot: The only attractions that you really need to worry about FastPassing are Mission:Space and Test Track.

At MGM: FastPass Rock N Roller, then do Twilight Zone while we wait.

At AK: FastPass Safari, then do Kali River Rapids, Tough to Be a Bug, and/or Dinosaur while we wait. If not able to do them all before FastPass time, we usually then FastPass Kali or Dinosaur (whichever we didn't do) and then walk the nature trails.

FastPass is great, and I would definitely agree with the tip that one member of the party should take all the tickets and walk quickly to a FastPass machine while the others go somewhere else.

Sorry for being so long-winded. Hope this helps.

RyMickey

 

[Dee BigKid]

Thanks for all the advice.

We will be traveling at peak season so anything we can do to escape long lines is helpful.

 

[TXDoug]

We just got back from a June trip. We purchased Tour Guide Mike to help us plan our trip and we used his Fast Pass advice.

While at the, we found virtually no one at the FP machines. Without exception, we walked up to each FP machine with no wait. And the longest we ever had to wait for a FP ride was 10 mins.

At Splash, the stand-by line was 75 mins to ride. We got on in 5. It was almost embarassing to pass everyone up to ride. Same for Safari and Buzz, etc.

Seeing no one in the FP line, one lady jumped out of the stand-by line to the FP line thinking that since they already passed the CM at the entrance they could just jump ahead. Needless to say, at the end of the FP line is a CM to collect your FP. She had to walk all the way back to the begining.

FP is just part of a plan to have fun at Disney. Read these boards to use FP or use Tour Guide Mike. It made our trip much more enjoyable.

Doug

 

[Bojangles]

You could always do E-ticket night at MK and not have to worry about fast passes there.

 

[msr709]

Originally posted by Bojangles
You could always do E-ticket night at MK and not have to worry about fast passes there.

Which works ONLY if you are there during E-Nites, we are not.

 

[karemore]

Fastpass was the best.

We weren't there during a busy time, so each FastPass return time started about an hour after we got our tickets.

I was the one running ahead for the Fastpasses since I knew the parks and DH didn't.

If you are going to have one person run ahead with the tickets, make sure it's someone you can trust not to drop any of the park tickets.

You also want to make sure it's someone who does not get lost.

And you want to be crystal clear about where you are going to meet up.

I always left Dh is the exact spot where I would meet him, with clear instructions not to move.....lol

Even with just two in the party, it's much quicker for one to run ahead for the tickets.....I can dodge strollers faster alone than having to make sure Dh dodged them too.

Have fun,

Karen

 

[huusk001]

Just thought I would clarify (RyMickey and karemore referenced the requirement as well) that in order to get a FASTPASS®, you do need your park ticket. If you are obtaining a FASTPASS® for everyone in your group, make sure you have their park tickets as well. The procedure is: insert your park ticket into a FASTPASS® machine, out comes a FASTPASS®, along with the return of your park ticket.

We love FASTPASS®!

 

[bubba's mom]

having one person in your party sounds like an awesome idea for making the best time out of fastpassing!! might i make a suggestion?? when you split your party up--2 way radios!! cheap at any walmart or target (or ask santa for a pair)..... that way, nobody will get lost and you don't waste time looking for each other.....

 

[swilphil]

All the fastpasses we had last week allowed you to get another fastpass 5 minutes after the original fastpass became active. For instance if the fastpass time was 10:50-11:40, you could get another fastpass at 10:55. The new time was printed at the bottom of the fp. So if you had one fast pass, you could wait until 10:55, get another fastpass and then go on the first fastpass ride while you waited until the next fastpass time.

FYI: We used cell phones to communicate with our group. We have Cingular and T-Mobile on 5 different phones. I never had any problem getting a signal.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by swilphil
All the fastpasses we had last week allowed you to get another fastpass 5 minutes after the original fastpass became active. For instance if the fastpass time was 10:50-11:40, you could get another fastpass at 10:55.

AFAIK, that's always the case. No matter how busy the parks are, you can always get another FP before you use the one in your hand.

 

[zcomic]

On each fastpass not only do they list the time to return to the ride, it lists what time you can get another fastpass. The key is to get that second one as soon as you can. Some people think they have to wait until they use their old FP before they can get a new one. This is a waste. By getting the second one ASAP we usually end up with two FP's at a time.

This strategy worked surprisingly well during our last trip at MK.

We were holding a FP for Space Mountain that said we could get another FP at 9:30. I got a FP for Junle Cruise at 9:30 and the time it said I could get another one was...... 9:31. We strolled over to Haunted Mansion and got an FP for that. Again it said we could get another one minute later. We were able to get an FP for Big Thunder mountain and this time it said we had to wait the usual hour or so before getting the next one. So at that point we have FP's for 4 attractions.

I thought it was a system bug but when we got back I posted this here and somebody replied that the "one minute" deal did happen sometimes at Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. I think it was based on the size of the crowd at that time.

 

[bubba's mom]

thanks all.....we have never been to disney since they started FP, so it is new to us. i THOUGHT you could hold 2 at a time, but wasn't sure and i haven't read (till now) anyone did. will definately take advantage of holding 2 at a time!!!!