FASTPASS Ignorance Abounds

[UrsulasShadow]

I've stopped trying to give away my FP's. I've never had ANYone know what they were, or be interested in learning how to use them. You'd think I was trying to sell them something...

I think I'll use the idea of dropping them off on top of the FP machine from now on.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We've given away FP several times and do sometimes have trouble finding someone who knows what they are and how to use them. Happily, we've been on the receiving end of the gift, too! In January, a man approached us and gave my husband and me 2 RNRC FP, 1 for ToT, and also some other card that he said we could use to get unlimited FP. I was unsure of what that was and we didn't use it (no need to). As a bonus, we went right away to use the RNRC FP, and wound up getting Dream Ears from the Dream Team!

 

[AussieShirl]

I think some of the ticket sellers give the impression that the Fastpasses are some sort of special inclusion. I've just been checking out online ticket sellers for our upcoming trip and noted that one website states:
All of our Disney World Packages come with Disney's Fast Pass
as though it were something that was only available as part of their packages and not free to everyone with a Disney ticket regardless of where they were purchased.

Before our first trip to Disneyland I was lucky to find this forum and did lots of research, so we were able to make good use of the Fastpass system.

 

[jdcthree]

Me neither..at the very least, if you didn't know what those machines did, wouldn't you find a CM and ask? I know I would, because I am nosy! I'd want to know what the heck a fastpass was just out of plain curiousity.

EXACTLY. So would I!

 

[iHEARTflorida]

I think some of the ticket sellers give the impression that the Fastpasses are some sort of special inclusion. I've just been checking out online ticket sellers for our upcoming trip and noted that one website states:
All of our Disney World Packages come with Disney's Fast Pass
as though it were something that was only available as part of their packages and not free to everyone with a Disney ticket regardless of where they were purchased.

that like what they do with DTD, the UK Disney Tickets they say


PLUS, 5 visits (for the 5-Day Disney ticket) or 7 visits (for the 7-Day Disney ticket) to any of the following additional Disney attractions:

Blizzard Beach
Typhoon Lagoon
Downtown Disney
Pleasure Island
DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park
Wide World of Sports Complex (except for events where tickets are sold separately).

DTD is on there, and thats free anyway!!!

 

[ladyvader]

I've seen kind of the reverse of fear of FastPass - I've seen people bypass a nearly empty stand-by line, to wait in a huge line at the FastPass machines. We took a picture last summer at Everest of a massive crowd all struggling to get to the FastPasses. . .The wait time on stand-by was posted at something like 15 minutes, and we got on in less than 10. The line for the fastpasses was still ginormous when we got off the ride, and I swear I saw some of the same people waiting for them!

 

[nicwoodard]

O.k., I am a public educator and I love my job. But as I am reading through some of these posts of people who don't have a clue, I am thinking, "And I have to educate their kids."

Just kidding, but it is amazing to me. We had friends who went to Disney a MONTH before we did and they brought us some of their unused FP (only 2 sets). We were totally able to use them! The CM always checked the TIME, not date.

I also had another friend who I was visiting with before our trip and she told me "just take advantage of the Fast Pass!" I said "Oh yeah, me and everyone else." and she said "NO! People don't use them." I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself when we got there.

 

[Disney loving Iowan]

Has anyone else been able to use a FP for Soarin' after it expired? I've seen people turned away, but that was when the ride was still new...

Did this just last week for Soarin' and 2 other rides and had no problems whatsoever.

 

[BCV2002]

Let's all bow our heads and say a silent prayer for the uninformed . . .

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Ignorance abounds, not just about Fast Passes, but also about Single Riders lanes. How many times have we've seen people arguing at the end of the Single Riders lanes that some parent MUST ride with his kid. Excuse me, then why did you get in the Single Riders line? I was just there in May and saw this twice. Test Track had broken down again and when it opened back up, there were very long lines for both the stand by line and fast pass line, so I went through the single riders line. There was a guy in the fast pass line with his kid. The kid started yelling I was cutting. I smiled and told them no I was in the Single Rider line. The dad said, 'well so are we' and picked the kid up, put him over the railing, then climbed over himself. I warned him that the line was for single riders only and that he and his son would be split up. He said 'we'll see". Lo and behold, we got to the front and when the CM told the dad to go to one line and the kid to another, the dad went ballistic. The CM explained the single rider line to him, and the dad said "yeah, yeah, I understand single riders, but I thought we would at least be in the same car. My kid can't ride alone with strangers. Just put us in the same car.:rolleyes "

Were you at WDW the last week of April/first week of May? We were at Epcot on April 29th, I was waiting in line with DD5 for Test Track up by the loading area and saw a man with a young boy outraged with a CM. He was carrying on and making a scene. Could this have been the same man?

- Jennifer

 

[Schmeck]

Did this just last week for Soarin' and 2 other rides and had no problems whatsoever.

Thanks! I'm chaperoning a trip (tomorrow ) and I'll have 3 half days to give 14 kids the best experience possible. I know we can't do even half of the attractions, but for some kids this might be their only trip to WDW, and I want to do it right. Getting refused FPs at Soarin' would stink!

 

[thatgrrl]

i think there would be more success in giving away fastpasses if instead of walking off and mentally preparing your post at disboards about all the ignorant people at disney you took a minute and explained how they work.

we rarely use the fastpass system as it is really not necessary when you go every couple weeks with a 3 year old. if there happens to be a fastpass ride that we actually want to go on we will get in standby instead of waiting until 2:25 in the afternoon.

but the one time we won dream passes at AK we had no problem giving them away on our way out of the park. we had four and decided to divide them up into twos and each time i went up to a couple and said something like -- we won these and have no use for them, they let you get on rides faster. we used the safari, sorry about that, but you can use them for the new roller coaster! --- and that was that.

disney has changed so much over the last 10 years in how tickets, meals, ride lines are done -- i wouldn't expect most people to be able to download it all like a pro -- on VACATION. shoot in a similar vein, i would no be able to tell you much about the dining plan. never used it and don't plan to. if it wasn't for reading the boards and figuring some of it out i think i too would be confused when the server at a restaurant asked me if i was on "the plan".

let's all enjoy our breaks from reality and stop worrying so much about how others spend their time at disney.

 

[lindsmom]

When we went, I grabbed FP's for Soarin for three of us (me, DH and DD). DH didn't like the ride enough to go again (fear of flying), so I had an extra FP. It was approx. 3:00 in the afternoon, the FP was valid for right then... I politely asked a few people who gave me the "snake oil" look, and I stood in the middle of this sea of people and proclaimed rather loudly "Does ANYONE want a fast pass to ride Soarin' RIGHT NOW? I am going to tear this in half and throw it away!" Then some (creepy?) guy took it from me and walked away - don't know if he used it or not, or if he's selling it on ebay right now. But man! Was that tough to give away!

 

[momandseandodisney]

Seems like in this day and age some people just don't or can't beleive that there are people out there that still do nice things for total strangers and don't want anything in return. Kudos too all you lovely people for trying to do something nice for a total stranger/strangers.

I second that

 

[joshsmom]

i think there would be more success in giving away fastpasses if instead of walking off and mentally preparing your post at disboards about all the ignorant people at disney you took a minute and explained how they work.

It is quite presumptuous of you to say that. When I have approached people with FPs to give away, I barely get out what it is before they've said "no thank you" and moved on. If people WOULD take the time to listen they would be happy they did. Unfortunately for them, they didn't and ran off before I even had the CHANCE to tell them what I was trying to do.

BTW, when I'm at WDW, I'm DEFINITELY not keeping track of every little thing just so I can run and post. Its quite offensive that you would even make a statement to that effect. Those of us that have tried to give FP's away obviously had good intentions and SEVERAL people have commented that they feel SORRY for the people that don't understand them.

 

[DisDarling]

We tried giving away FP's on our last day of vacation and people looked at us like we were trying to give away illegal somethings. We found a family finally who was VERY appreciative.

I realize in this world that its uncommon to get free anything, but have a little failth and pixie dust that there ARE good people out there willing to spread the magic!

Amy

 

[joshsmom]

We tried giving away FP's on our last day of vacation and people looked at us like we were trying to give away illegal somethings. We found a family finally who was VERY appreciative.

I realize in this world that its uncommon to get free anything, but have a little failth and pixie dust that there ARE good people out there willing to spread the magic!

Amy

 

[HydroGuy]

i think there would be more success in giving away fastpasses if instead of walking off and mentally preparing your post at disboards about all the ignorant people at disney you took a minute and explained how they work.

we rarely use the fastpass system as it is really not necessary when you go every couple weeks with a 3 year old. if there happens to be a fastpass ride that we actually want to go on we will get in standby instead of waiting until 2:25 in the afternoon.

but the one time we won dream passes at AK we had no problem giving them away on our way out of the park. we had four and decided to divide them up into twos and each time i went up to a couple and said something like -- we won these and have no use for them, they let you get on rides faster. we used the safari, sorry about that, but you can use them for the new roller coaster! --- and that was that.

disney has changed so much over the last 10 years in how tickets, meals, ride lines are done -- i wouldn't expect most people to be able to download it all like a pro -- on VACATION. shoot in a similar vein, i would no be able to tell you much about the dining plan. never used it and don't plan to. if it wasn't for reading the boards and figuring some of it out i think i too would be confused when the server at a restaurant asked me if i was on "the plan".

let's all enjoy our breaks from reality and stop worrying so much about how others spend their time at disney.

You know, I do not worry at all about how "others spend their time" at Disney. I was hoping to do a good deed and save a woman and her two young children an 80 minute wait in line.

And to be helpful I used to try to explain FP to people who appeared confused - but long ago stopped trying. Usually I got looked at like this woman who thought I was selling snake oil. My take is most people simply do not care. But it does not change the fact that I am surprised that people would choose an 80 minute standby line over a 10 minute FP line.

And if it is not OK to say this on a forum like this, then what is this forum for anyways? It is a Disney forum after all.

 

[pixie08]

I've seen kind of the reverse of fear of FastPass - I've seen people bypass a nearly empty stand-by line, to wait in a huge line at the FastPass machines. We took a picture last summer at Everest of a massive crowd all struggling to get to the FastPasses. . .The wait time on stand-by was posted at something like 15 minutes, and we got on in less than 10. The line for the fastpasses was still ginormous when we got off the ride, and I swear I saw some of the same people waiting for them!

We saw people doing this last week as well!!! The day we were at HS the RNR FP machine broke down- it was chaos people were flipping out...the wait was only 15 mins since it wasn't even 9am

 

[thatgrrl]

And if it is not OK to say this on a forum like this, then what is this forum for anyways? It is a Disney forum after all.

eh, it just seems to negate all the pixie dust being cited in this thread to turn around and call people ignorant for how they spend their vacation.

and, re-reading your OP -- that mom with two young kids could have been my friend or neighbor since i have been telling everyone who would listen not to do fastpass their first time on toy story mania so they get the entire experience. maybe the look was because she thought you were ignorant for wanting her to miss mr. potato head.