Lack of fastpass an issue?

[calena]

I just was looking over my map - courtesy of Califgirl - and noticed there are no fastpasses in Fantasyland or fast passes for Pirates. It seemed to me there were more fastpass stations in Magic Kingdom or is that my imagination? Anyway - we love fastpass... DH is our runner usually to get the passes - is this an issue at DL with longer wait times. We are going in late October during the week and are assuming crowds will be small but you never know!!! Is the lack of fastpasses in certain areas a problem? I had thought we would do Indy and Pirates first when we get to DL but should we go to fantasyland first since there are no fastpasses there? Boys are most excited about pirates ride!
Deb

 

[Master Mason]

I would get the fast pass for Indy, and then ride pirates. The only lines I saw in July that were really bad in Fantasyland was at peter pan. Hope that helps

 

[Amy&Dan]

Yes, Unlike Disneyland, Magic Kingdom does have fastpass in FL for Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh which can be nice (and Mickey's Phil too but thats not at DL). Winnie the Pooh being in Critter Country at DL draws nowhere near the crowds its counterpart in MK does so you can often ride that with a five minute or less wait throughout the day. Peter Pan is a different story! Its line starts first thing and gets worse as the day wears on. I would definitely do Fantasyland first thing, riding Peter Pan and Dumbo first and after that proably the Matterhorn. The other rides in FL do not fill up as fast but you should still do those early as well. Then head over to Adventureland, get your fp for Indy and ride Pirates. Pirates is more popular now since its rehaul but you should still have doable waits for that one, its a fastloader so even a long looking que can move quite quickly.

And so you know, at Disneyland if the official park opening is after 8:00 a.m., Main Street will open thirty minutes early. This can really be nice, you can enter the park, get your map and your bearings and be at rope drop to head to your first land. But again, this only happens if the official park opening is after 8:00 a.m. Also, if there is early entry and you have that availability either with your park hopper (you get one EE day per hopper pass) or if you are onsite (onsite guests get EE privilidges each day its offered) use it! And again, do Fantasyland first during EE, since several of the rides in Tomorrowland (the only other land that is open during EE) have fastpass and can be done later.

 

[ScooterL]

Given when you're going, I wouldn't think you'd have too much trouble with crowds! But...

How important are the Fantasyland rides to you? Peter Pan and Dumbo really aren't that much different from those in Florida, though there are other attractions in Fantasyland that don't exist in Florida. It sounds like your kids might not care so much about doing a lot in Fantasyland if it means more rides on Pirates!

But if you want to do Fantasyland, I would recommend sending your "runner" to get Indy Fastpasses while the rest of you go to Fantasyland, do a few things there and then go over to Pirates (perhaps getting a BTMR FP along the way if you can) then ride Indy, then check the Pirates line. If you want to ride Space Mountain you'll definitely want a Fastpass for that!

Laura

 

[Judy from Boise]

IMO, Fantasyland is best done during EE, I would also make sure to ride alice.

 

[mikayla73]

I agree, the lines for Peter Pan can be long. They always seem a lot longer than the other FL rides. We don't have any kids, but love riding the FL rides We usually hit Peter Pan on the way out of the park. If there are any days they have fireworks and are open for a little while afterwards while you are there, go to the ropes where they have FL blocked off and wait for them to reopen it. As soon as they do, go straight to PP. We have done that a couple times, and it worked pretty well for us, we were able to walk right on.

If Splash Mtn is on your must do list, be sure to get a fast pass for that early. The line is usually long for that one and I have seen, even in the off season, Fast Passes be gone for the day when we have gone to get them in the early to mid afternoon. I am sure that Space Mtn is the same way now that it is open again. We were lucky last year when we were there and it had been down and we were in the right spot at the right time when they reopened it and we practially walked right on ... twice!

We haven't had to wait more than 30-40 min for POTC, but that was before the updates. We haven't been there since it was reopened.

Maybe you could do FL early one day and POTC another? That way you are sure to get to both without too much of a wait

 

[dizzyami]

Most of the day the line for pirates is really only 20 minutes at the most - including when I went during Thanksgiving - so we usually would not stress about that ride, and hit it at any point. Your best bet for Fantasyland is if you have Early Entry - you can pretty much hit all the rides there before the park even opens - and then head to Splash Mountain without any lines. The last two times I have been Splash Mountain has not been crowded the 1st hour of open or so, because it is a little cooler and people are afraid to get wet!!