Fastpass...why doesn't everyone use it?

[RweTHEREyet]

At WDW, if I have a while to wait before the start time of a FP, I usually grab a snack, cruise the shops or just take a short break. In other words, I am normally doing what Disney hopes I will be doing, and that is possibly spending more money.

 

[HydroGuy]

Why I don't use FP much. Example. Just had my meal about 30 before walking up to Space Mountain. Stand By line was 30 min but to come back for Fastpass was 3 hours later. I don't get why people were getting the fastpasses. To me it is likewaiting an extra 2 1/2 hours. The argument could be made that I could go on other stuff in that time period, but I can do that in the same amount of time as if I waited in the Stand by line. I am one who very rarely uses Fastpass.

Besides all that, some people make the mistake of thinking FP means no line at all. Even with say Space Mtn you still need to wait at least 10 but it seems closer to 15 minutes to get on the ride with FP. And then it is 5 minutes to go up and get the FPs in the first place. So 30 minutes is probably a good threshold on whether it is worth getting FP. Regardless of the return window.

 

[kazbar]

I love the fastpasses and use them whenever we can get to Disneyland.

I hate the look though that you get when you try and do something nice for someone (my Aussie accent seems to have them convinced I am a lost convict or something ), so I am one of those people who put unused passes on top of the machine.

I figure at least that way they will get used by someone know knows what its all about.

Who knows, maybe one of my FP went to a DISer

 

[XTinabell]

I love the fastpasses and use them whenever we can get to Disneyland.

I hate the look though that you get when you try and do something nice for someone (my Aussie accent seems to have them convinced I am a lost convict or something ), so I am one of those people who put unused passes on top of the machine.

I figure at least that way they will get used by someone know knows what its all about.

Who knows, maybe one of my FP went to a DISer

haha, I found FP's on top of a machine before. I thought someone left them there by accident so asked around and nobody knew. We ended up giving them to a mother and her son who we over heard them saying they wished they could get more FP's to ride again. They were thrilled. I wonder if you left them.

 

[PineapplePrincessCA]

We just got back from 3 days at DL and DCA and didn't use the FastPass at all. Reason:

~The lines weren't long to begin with. The longest waits we had was PFF (which of course doesn't have FP) and the Fantasyland rides during the magic morning. I noticed the FP people walk by on a few rides and made a note of where they "caught up" to the rest of the people in line and it probably only saved them 5 minutes most of the time. Totally not worth it to us to have to plan out when to backtrack through the park to plan on going on a ride after a set time. Just not worth it to us, especially when we have 6 people in our party. Much easier to just "wing it" and wait an extra 5 minutes or so on a ride when we get to it.

 

[iheartdisney]

For us, it is usually a matter of the standby line being short enough that it is not worth it to come back later. Or many times, such as Splash or Space Mountain, we'll grab a fastpass, but while we are there, might as well ride it!

Besides all that, some people make the mistake of thinking FP means no line at all. Even with say Space Mtn you still need to wait at least 10 but it seems closer to 15 minutes to get on the ride with FP. And then it is 5 minutes to go up and get the FPs in the first place. So 30 minutes is probably a good threshold on whether it is worth getting FP. Regardless of the return window.

Our last trip I was making it "educational" for my DD, so we focused on timing the lines and waits. Space Mountain had a posted time of 30 minutes, it ended up being closer to 20,and only 8 of that was before the fastpass merge. (including walking time just to catch the end of the line)

Bad Space Mountain FP story- we used a FP, and got bad mouthed the whole rest of the ride by the teenage girl behind us, telling her boyfriend he should "do something" to us for cutting them in line. I chose to keep my Fastpass knowledge to myself that instance!

 

[Flitterific]

I actually like to collect as many FPs as possible regardless of the standby line times. If I go to Buzz and see that the standby line is 20 minutes, I still get a FP but ride it standby as well. I keep saving them for later in the day to use