Fastpass return hour choices?

[princesspumpkin]

When you get a Fastpass, are the hours limited to when you can return, or do you choose any block of hours that you want during that day? When I've read other posts, it seems as if people get Fastpasses to return to that ride around an hour or so later (after they've done one or two other rides). Can you choose to come back, say, 4 hours later? Thanks

 

[ekmdisney]

As long as you come back after your return time you can come back at any time. On the ticket their will be two times on it, the top time is your return time the bottom one is the time the ticket is suppose to "retire."

 

[princesspumpkin]

OK, let me understand this correctly. The return time isn't an hour window. It says to come back anytime after, say 2pm. Then, it retires when, 3 or 4 hours later? I'm sorry, but I need it explained like I'm a two year old

Also, how is it possible to hold two Fastpasses at one time?

 

[ekmdisney]

The pass has an hour window. So say you have a pass for Splash Mountain with a return time of 2:00pm to 3:00pm, then the pass officially expires at 3pm. But as long as you return anytime after 2pm you will be able to use the FP line. So if something happens and you are not able to get to the ride until 3:30pm, you will still be able to get on the ride, by way of the FP line. Though many would love for you to use your pass in that hour window and not a minute later, I have yet to see any one ever told they can't use the pass because they were were there after it expires. And I do this all the time.

As for holding more than one FP at a time for different rides. No...you have to wait for the time on one FP to start for you to be able to get another. So say you are at TOT and its 10am and you have just picked up a FP for TOT and it's return time is not until 11am to Noon, then you will not be able to pick up another pass until 11am.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Ok, I am starting to understand. So, technically, you can hold two Fastpasses at one time. If you have a Fastpass for 11-12, and it's 11:30, you can technically get another a FP for another ride and then use the first FP, afterwhich you can use the other FP for the second ride?

Also, I'm not sure if my other question was answered. When you go to retrieve a FP, do you get your choice of hour blocks (ex: 12-1, or 2-3...all day long) or are there only one or two choices of hours..
Thanks again.

 

[bazzanoid]

princesspumpkin -

the fastpasses are allocated timeslots automatically and you can't choose which time slot you want to return in. As above, there's nothing stopping you returning later than the 'expiry' time on the ticket, but you categorically cannot choose a time - it just issues a pass for the next available slot. On quiet days this will be within the next couple of hours, on busy days i've been to the fastpass machines at 9.45am and got a return time of 7/8pm!

 

[ekmdisney]

That's right. You don't get to choose your time. When you get to the rides entrance, you will see a sign with two times and a clock. One time will be the stand-by time...this is the time you will wait if you were to get into line right at that moment. (Some times these times can be off, you could wait less or more than the time posted.) The other time you will see is the Fast Pass time, it is the time that if you were to get a FP ticket that you would come back. This way you could decide if you wanted to get a FP ticket or just go ahead and get in line.

On slow days, the come back time could be pretty close to what it would be if you waited in line, say you are wanting to ride Space Mountain and the wait time is 30 minutes, if it is a slow time the come back time for SM might be about 30 to 40 minutes later. BUT on really busy day you could look at a come back time of 1 hour or more. I have picked up a FP ticket for Splash Mountain that told me I couldn't use it for another three hours from the time I picked it up, and the wait time for the stand by line was almost two hours. It all depends on the crowds.

 

[bicker]

This idea (being able to specifically choose your return time) was mentioned as a possible enhancement to FastPass that might be offered to deluxe resort guests or premium package guests. It is not currently part of the offering today (for any guests).

 

[princesspumpkin]

Oh, now I get it! So, if we got a FP to come back at 4pm, and it is now 11am, we can go to another ride and get a FP that was at 2pm (because the two times don't coincide?).Sorry to be such a pain Or, must we wait until after 4pm to get another FP?

 

[wdwguide]

Oh, now I get it! So, if we got a FP to come back at 4pm, and it is now 11am, we can go to another ride and get a FP that was at 2pm (because the two times don't coincide?).Sorry to be such a pain Or, must we wait until after 4pm to get another FP?

Princesspumpkin,

I think you may be a bit confused about the system, which is perfectly understandable.

Let me try to make it a bit clearer - load up this picture to see what I am describing:
http://i.pbase.com/u39/rappateng/upload/40547472.fastpass_mission_space2003.jpg

This person got their FastPass for Mission: SPACE at 4:43 pm. They received a return time window of 6:51 to 7:51 pm. While you cannot pick your return time (a computer determines that for you based on the ride's capacity and how many people have requested FastPasses before you), you do know in advance of what it is going to be, since it is displayed above the FastPass distribution area.
The pass also states when they will be able to receive another FastPass ticket for the same or any other ride in the same park - in this case at 6:16 pm - they don't need to use their Mission: SPACE pass first (or at all). Of course, you can ride the same or any other attraction using the standby or single rider lines all you want, whether you have a FastPass for it (or any other attraction) at that time.

In other words, your FastPass will tell you everything you need to know - your return time AND when you will be able to get another pass. And should you lose it or forget when you can get another pass, you can always stick your ticket into any FastPass machine, and it'll print out an "invalid ticket" that lets you know when you can get another one.

I hope this helped.

 

[princesspumpkin]

WDWguide, thank you so much for that explanation. I now know that the FP will actually tell me when I can get another one (I never heard it explained that way). Although, I must admit, from your example, I don't get how you can get another FP at 6:16. But if that is true, then you are holding two FP's at the same time, correct? Also, I couldn't see the link.

 

[wdwguide]

WDWguide, thank you so much for that explanation. I now know that the FP will actually tell me when I can get another one (I never heard it explained that way). Although, I must admit, from your example, I don't get how you can get another FP at 6:16. But if that is true, then you are holding two FP's at the same time, correct? Also, I couldn't see the link.

I hotlinked it for you (I'll take the hotlink out this evening since I don't want to use someone else's bandwidth).

The time when you can get another FastPass is also determined by some computer. Best not to worry about how exactly it is determined...
And in the above example, it's true that if you got another FastPass at 6:16, you would have two active passes at the same time.

 

[Robo]

But if that is true, then you are holding two FP's at the same time, correct?

The FP system does not know if you ever USED a FP after getting it.
It will just allow you to keep getting MORE all day (following the "waiting period" after getting each one).

So, you can be "holding" a handful of them by the end of the day... if you don't USE them.

Don't overthink this.

 

[drogerstn]

Depending on how the timing works out (return times vs time the user can receive another FP), a person can hold multiple fastpasses which have not reached their "expiration" time.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Ohhhh, now I get it! For some reason, I was always under the impression that you couldn't obtain another FP until you had used the previous one (or at least until the previous one was about to expire). And you're right, I am overthinking things, because I am an obsessive planner. But I thought that all Dis'ers were like this I really needed to grasp this concept correctly because I will only be at WDW for onen day and want to make the most out of it. Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[Belle1111]

Don't feel bad Princess. The FP stuff seems really hard- but it's not and you 'll get the hang of it within the first 2 times of using it!

I love the FP system!

 

[EMT-319]

Sometimes you have to wait 2 hours for another pass, sometimes 20 minutes. Read your fastpass ticket.

Also, when the parks are very busy, all FPs for a particular ride may be all gone (issued) as early as 10:30 am. This used to happen quite often on TestTrack.

Two week ago I returned 3 hours past my "window" and a CM said (sarcastically) "We're quite a bit late, aren't we?".

Later in the day, I mentioned this comment to another CM who was assisting guests at a different fastpass machine. She apologized, was amazed that the other CM even made that comment, and issued me a couple of extra fastpasses.

To confuse the issue even further - sometimes when the fastpass machine is malfunctioning or extremely busy and a CM issues you a fastpass manually, that manually issued ticket will not say "you can get another fastpass after xx time". Which means - you can go to another ride and get a fastpass right away.

This happened on Exp Everest 2 weeks ago. I received my EE fastpass, manually, from a CM at the machine - (seemed like 2 million guests waiting in line) and went immediately to the safari and got another fastpass.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Sometimes you have to wait 2 hours for another pass, sometimes 20 minutes. Read your fastpass ticket.
Also, when the parks are very busy, all FPs for a particular ride may be all gone (issued) as early as 10:30 am. This used to happen quite often on TestTrack.
Two week ago I returned 3 hours past my "window" and a CM said (sarcastically) "We're quite a bit late, aren't we?".
Later in the day, I mentioned this comment to another CM who was assisting guests at a different fastpass machine. She apologized, was amazed that the other CM even made that comment, and issued me a couple of extra fastpasses.
To confuse the issue even further - sometimes when the fastpass machine is malfunctioning or extremely busy and a CM issues you a fastpass manually, that manually issued ticket will not say "you can get another fastpass after xx time". Which means - you can go to another ride and get a fastpass right away.
This happened on Exp Everest 2 weeks ago. I received my EE fastpass, manually, from a CM at the machine - (seemed like 2 million guests waiting in line) and went immediately to the safari and got another fastpass.

Thanks a lot for making me feel like I'm not soo stupid. And I'm from South Jersey too!

 

[wdwguide]

Two week ago I returned 3 hours past my "window" and a CM said (sarcastically) "We're quite a bit late, aren't we?".

I have been refused access to the FastPass line for being late before. That was a couple of years ago though.

 

[netposer]

So you can get a FP for ride A. It will show you the time window to return and another time that shows when you can get another FP for ride B.

We were standing inline for the "Barn Stormer" when it broke down. After 20 minutes a CM started handing out free passes to other rides. I'm not sure what it was but we were able to walk right on another ride thus bypassing the stand by line-