Fastpass+ questions

[metcarl]

I have a few fastpass questions. I have only been to Disney once before and was not aware the fastpass system had changed. Therefore, I did not reserve our fastpasses until just a week before our trip, so now am scrambling around to get them for our party of 6: my husband and I, our two girls ages 5 and 8 and my parents (ages 68 and 70)

I have managed to get a total of 4 FP's for Anna/Elsa but they are split into pairs of two. One of FP's is for 12:30-1:30 and the other is for 1:50 to 2:50. Is it safe to assume that we could go at 1:45 (15 minutes late for one FP and 5 minutes early for the other) or do some CM's enforce the hour window more strictly? Same problem with the SDMT (one FP for 4:55-5:55 and the other for 6:10-7:10).

Another scenario that I had earlier: What if I only had one FP for Anna/Elsa for my 5 year old? Would a CM let me go with her in the FP queue, or would they say sorry, you're out of luck! Same situation with my 8 year old. She had a single FP for Anna/Elsa, is old enough to go by herself but really doesn't want to. Would they let one adult (out of our party of 6) go with her? What is really annoying is that I called to ask this question and the person I spoke with said I didn't need a FP to accompany either kids. Subsequent customer service agents have told me otherwise. How lenient are they at the actual attraction?

The other questions I have involve switching FP's among our group. Throughout the reservation process, I have just managed to grab FP's however I could for Anna/Elsa and SDMT. I have ended up with a mix of 4 tickets with overlapping windows in pairs. We have decide to let our two kids use the FP and go with me and my husband. I'm even sure who has the actual reservation. Could I use a FP reserved under my mom for my daughter? I emailed Disney through the website and they said that you are not allowed to use someone else's FP. I'm skeptical that they would actually enforce this. We have a combination of Magicbands (for the girls) and cards for the adults. Another scenario - my parents don't care to ride Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain. This allows us to maximize the use of the FP's to allow my daughters to go on as many attractions as possible, which is really why we are all here - for their experience, not ours. One customer service person on the phone told me that was trying to take advantage of the system. I really don't see how. We have paid for the tickets including 3 FP each. We are not using more than that as a family as a whole.

If my daughter is using an adult's FP, do you think I need to take off her magic band or just let her keep the magic band on and hand her the card with the correct FP on it?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Every person in your party needs to have a FP+ for any attraction that you are trying to gain access to.

I would advise looking at the post in @mesaboy2 signature that answers questions about FP+ and how it works.

 

[mesaboy2]

I have a few fastpass questions. I have only been to Disney once before and was not aware the fastpass system had changed. Therefore, I did not reserve our fastpasses until just a week before our trip, so now am scrambling around to get them for our party of 6: my husband and I, our two girls ages 5 and 8 and my parents (ages 68 and 70)

1. I have managed to get a total of 4 FP's for Anna/Elsa but they are split into pairs of two. One of FP's is for 12:30-1:30 and the other is for 1:50 to 2:50. Is it safe to assume that we could go at 1:45 (15 minutes late for one FP and 5 minutes early for the other) or do some CM's enforce the hour window more strictly? Same problem with the SDMT (one FP for 4:55-5:55 and the other for 6:10-7:10).

2. Another scenario that I had earlier: What if I only had one FP for Anna/Elsa for my 5 year old? Would a CM let me go with her in the FP queue, or would they say sorry, you're out of luck! Same situation with my 8 year old. She had a single FP for Anna/Elsa, is old enough to go by herself but really doesn't want to. Would they let one adult (out of our party of 6) go with her? What is really annoying is that I called to ask this question and the person I spoke with said I didn't need a FP to accompany either kids. Subsequent customer service agents have told me otherwise. How lenient are they at the actual attraction?

The other questions I have involve switching FP's among our group. Throughout the reservation process, I have just managed to grab FP's however I could for Anna/Elsa and SDMT. I have ended up with a mix of 4 tickets with overlapping windows in pairs. We have decide to let our two kids use the FP and go with me and my husband. I'm even sure who has the actual reservation. Could I use a FP reserved under my mom for my daughter? I emailed Disney through the website and they said that you are not allowed to use someone else's FP. I'm skeptical that they would actually enforce this. We have a combination of Magicbands (for the girls) and cards for the adults. Another scenario - my parents don't care to ride Space Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain. This allows us to maximize the use of the FP's to allow my daughters to go on as many attractions as possible, which is really why we are all here - for their experience, not ours. One customer service person on the phone told me that was trying to take advantage of the system. I really don't see how. We have paid for the tickets including 3 FP each. We are not using more than that as a family as a whole.

If my daughter is using an adult's FP, do you think I need to take off her magic band or just let her keep the magic band on and hand her the card with the correct FP on it?

1. Tough to say. You are pushing the limits of the so-called grace period in both directions with those times, you may or may not get a sympathetic CM.

2. In my experience, it is unusual at least to be allowed more than 1 person per FP--as a blanket rule I say it is not allowed. Again, you may find a sympathetic CM but I certainly wouldn't count on it.

The green link in my signature may prove helpful to your FP questions.

 

[kay1864]

Assuming your parents aren't going to A&E, and if it's really important that both daughters have their pictures taken as a pair (the girls, not A&E):

I would suggest one parent and one child getting in the A&E line (scanning the tickets at the Mickey head) at 1:40, and the other at 1:45. Once you're in the line, the first parent can let a few people go past them until the second parent catches up.

If the girls are going to greet them individually, then just follow the same plan, but the first parent stays in line normally, then you regroup at the exit.

Either way, make sure the time on your watches/phones are synched with a kiosk or the screen at a FP scanning station.

If my daughter is using an adult's FP, do you think I need to take off her magic band or just let her keep the magic band on and hand her the card with the correct FP on it?

I would take off the MB for that ride.

 

[kay1864]

Also, keep trying for SDMT (and A&E if your parents want to go). Cancellations do happen.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Don't worry about what name the FP+ is tied to. Use them for whoever in your party that you like too. The CMs will not give you a hard time about it.

 

[HopperFan]

- You must be 7 to enter or ride attraction alone, otherwise you need someone 14 with you. Your youngest will not be permitted to enter alone. Last week they were questioning many kids as to their age, even those sitting in front of parents.
- You are taking a chance they would let you enter outside your FP+ window. I was there all last week and saw many turned away.
- Last week we saw several told they missed their FP+ and there was nothing they could do but go try to book another at a kiosk. You chance that if going late.
- There have been some allowed to escort a child without having a FP+ but many told they must have a FP+ for each person. Again up to chance.
- No worry on using others FP+, just switch MB or ticket and no one will say a word to you. We do it all the time. You aren't getting anything extra.

 

[Lucius Best]

I have managed to get a total of 4 FP's for Anna/Elsa but they are split into pairs of two. One of FP's is for 12:30-1:30 and the other is for 1:50 to 2:50. Is it safe to assume that we could go at 1:45 (15 minutes late for one FP and 5 minutes early for the other) or do some CM's enforce the hour window more strictly? Same problem with the SDMT (one FP for 4:55-5:55 and the other for 6:10-7:10).

On our recent trip, we had some split FP. We went near the end of our window, talked to the CM, and he let our friends in with us no problem even though their window was still 10+ minutes away. Witnessed it happening a few other times. However, our ride was Mission Space, not Anna&Elsa or 7DMT. It certainly doesn't hurt to ask. And like someone else said, you could always go in late and stand aside inside the FP queue and wait for the others to catch up.

What is really annoying is that I called to ask this question and the person I spoke with said I didn't need a FP to accompany either kids. Subsequent customer service agents have told me otherwise.

This is the exact same thing I ran into when trying to plan our last trip. When asking questions on the phone, we often got different answers from different CMs. My conclusion was that you are not necessarily speaking to a FP+ expert on the phone. However, when we actually got to WDW, we found the CMs working at the FP kiosks to be very knowledgeable and helpful and able to answer our questions.

The other questions I have involve switching FP's among our group.

I don't know what the official policy is, but this was not a problem at all on our recent trip. Grandma and Grandpa do not do Mountains any more, two of us would take their Magicbands and get an extra FP ride. In contrast to you being told you're "taking advantage of the system", I had a FP kiosk CM tell me it was perfectly fine to swap Magicbands.