My experience with FastPass+ and regular Fastpasses - Game changer

[ckb_nc]

Been home two days - and got to participate in the MgicBand experience as we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside.

I went online before we left and planned out our trip while ordering FastPass+ for each day - the online system is nice if not slow but I wish you had more say so on the times. But hey it works

We used all of FastPass+ the first day at MK - I forgot our hard media so we could not get regular FastPasses but it worked out ok. The next day was Epcot with a planned late start - we missed our FastPass+ for TestTrack but no one in my party seemed to care -I had ridden single rider earlier in the week so I was not in any shape sore. We did use it for Soarin which was great - and wish you could more easily split up your party (we had three who wanted Soarin and two who did not).

We went To Hollywood Studios on day three and here is where FastPAss+ and Fastpasses where amazing - it was early magic hour and we got there just as the parked opened - and rushed like everyone else to Toy Story Mania - I used our hard media to get Regular Fast Passes. The times coincided with our FastPass+ time - so we rode standby then, then rode back to back to back on two Fastpasses later that morning.


We did the same thing that day with RnR rollercoaster - we had a fastpass+ , a fastpass and did standby getting three rides plus lunch in two hours on a day where standby times were quoted at 50 mins plus. This after we did this ride and Tower of Terror earlier in the morning with regular Fastpasses/FastPass+ for Tower of Terror - powerful combination there.

BTW the fastpasses to Two story mania are like golden tickets - we had three we gave away as we left the park.

Sat afternoon I tried to change our Fastpass+ for the next day at MK - I wanted to scrap our FastPass to Little Mermaid (we had walked on it on our first morning at MK and I knew it was a waste of a fastpass) - I spent 25 mins on my iPad on the app trying to cancel our current set and get a new set - to no avail - I ended up with 6 FastPass+ - clearly a bug in the system. They did not work BUT the cast members honored them (I had back to back Buzz Lightyear fast passes when the wait time was like 45 mins). We used these Fastpass+ plus regular Fastpasses gain to stack the deck.

Reaction to this - Fastpass+ is a game changer - Between using these plus using regular Fastpasses you can really get some ride time advantages. My family and I truly were able to plan our times in the parks well and limit our wait times to absolute minimum.

Disney has once again stacked the deck to staying on property with the MagicBands and FastPass+. Being able to walk into a park with three desirable FastPasses in hand plus the ability to get more is actually unfair to non-property guests in many ways. But this is Disney's game and they are doing what they can to entice us to stay on property - and to me this is one big enticement.

 

[Sammie]

The testing right now was resort guests only but when it goes live non Disney resort guests will be included.

Right now annual pass holders can book without having a Disney resort reservation and at some point other ticket media for day guests will be able to.

Also if the rumors are true regular fastpasses aka legend or paper will be dropped when Fastpass+ is fully implemented.

 

[ckb_nc]

The testing right now was resort guests only but when it goes live non Disney resort guests will be included.

Right now annual pass holders can book without having a Disney resort reservation and at some point other ticket media for day guests will be able to.

Also if the rumors are true regular fastpasses aka legend or paper will be dropped when Fastpass+ is fully implemented.

If I was Disney, I would limit the FastPass+ experience to my guests on site - still if you show the day of and purchase a one day ticket to say MK then you would obviously not have a shot.

BTW the disney app is so slow

 

[Ametista]

OP's experience was based on being able to pull FP- as well as use FP+. I still wonder what will happen if they dump the old system, and also, for off-site peeps like us, what will we do? I would never even go to Disney without the FP system because the crowds and lines are too much for us.

To the OP, glad you had fun and liked how it worked out for you.

 

[ckb_nc]

I actually think what I experienced was unfair in some ways; basically I was competing for Fastpasses like everyone else while I had three of them in my pocket already. I am a planner so it worked for me well for the most part. If they scrap the old system, and its just the new FP+ based system where my three in hand I have waling through the gate count as if they were spit out by the machine, then its more fair. It is nice to have a fast pass to say Toy Story at 10:30 and not have to be there at rope drop to get one. It actually heped us plan our days.

The fact that i had back to back Fastpasses to Toy Story at 10:30 (one paper, one on my Band) (when the FPs were gone by 10am for the day BTW) was truly not fair - not that I was complaining but it was not fair.

FastPass+ is a planners dream - plan you park day, plan your meals.

 

[wisblue]

To the OP, you said that you wish you had more input on return times for FP+.

Did you try to modify the times after you first set them? When I made FP+ reservations for a short trip in November, if I knew I wanted FP's for the evening, I chose one of the options that gave me AM return times and then changed each one (one by one) to slide them into the slots I wanted in the evening. It's a little tedious, but once you get a feel for how it works, the whole process took a couple of minutes per day of the trip.

Maybe that won't work as well once the system is available to everyone, at least at the busiest time of the year. But, for now, I had no trouble getting the 3 attractions I wanted in consecutive one hour slots at the time of day I wanted.

 

[ckb_nc]

Interesting - I did not try that. When I went to set mine up for example I would have two back to back (say Buzz and then Space) and the Splash was like 90 mins later. And my other options (B,C,D) were worse off. A FAQ on my disney experience and FastPass+ is certainly warranted.

I can tell you that the iPad app was truly a challenge to work - I would try to scroll down and it would not scroll well (essentially it would click on whatever attraction i tired to use to scroll up or down with). I really want to give some feedback to Disney but am struggling with the how at this point. The app needs some help the biggest being speed. Just plain slow.

 

[maryj11]

So when you make fastpass + selections they are like one hour apart from each other or how does that work ? We go in May but cant make the selections yet. I wonder if they will have regular fastpass and fastpass + both available or not when we go. If they only have fastpass + I hope they will increase it to 4 instead of 3.

 

[Zandra]

Can someone lay out the FP+ rules for me really quickly? I've been away for awhile and get the gist but I'm slightly confused. It sounds awesome but a little confusing..

 

[Missyrose]

Been home two days - and got to participate in the MgicBand experience as we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside.

I went online before we left and planned out our trip while ordering FastPass+ for each day - the online system is nice if not slow but I wish you had more say so on the times. But hey it works

We used all of FastPass+ the first day at MK - I forgot our hard media so we could not get regular FastPasses but it worked out ok. The next day was Epcot with a planned late start - we missed our FastPass+ for TestTrack but no one in my party seemed to care -I had ridden single rider earlier in the week so I was not in any shape sore. We did use it for Soarin which was great - and wish you could more easily split up your party (we had three who wanted Soarin and two who did not).

We went To Hollywood Studios on day three and here is where FastPAss+ and Fastpasses where amazing - it was early magic hour and we got there just as the parked opened - and rushed like everyone else to Toy Story Mania - I used our hard media to get Regular Fast Passes. The times coincided with our FastPass+ time - so we rode standby then, then rode back to back to back on two Fastpasses later that morning.


We did the same thing that day with RnR rollercoaster - we had a fastpass+ , a fastpass and did standby getting three rides plus lunch in two hours on a day where standby times were quoted at 50 mins plus. This after we did this ride and Tower of Terror earlier in the morning with regular Fastpasses/FastPass+ for Tower of Terror - powerful combination there.

BTW the fastpasses to Two story mania are like golden tickets - we had three we gave away as we left the park.

Sat afternoon I tried to change our Fastpass+ for the next day at MK - I wanted to scrap our FastPass to Little Mermaid (we had walked on it on our first morning at MK and I knew it was a waste of a fastpass) - I spent 25 mins on my iPad on the app trying to cancel our current set and get a new set - to no avail - I ended up with 6 FastPass+ - clearly a bug in the system. They did not work BUT the cast members honored them (I had back to back Buzz Lightyear fast passes when the wait time was like 45 mins). We used these Fastpass+ plus regular Fastpasses gain to stack the deck.

Reaction to this - Fastpass+ is a game changer - Between using these plus using regular Fastpasses you can really get some ride time advantages. My family and I truly were able to plan our times in the parks well and limit our wait times to absolute minimum.

Disney has once again stacked the deck to staying on property with the MagicBands and FastPass+. Being able to walk into a park with three desirable FastPasses in hand plus the ability to get more is actually unfair to non-property guests in many ways. But this is Disney's game and they are doing what they can to entice us to stay on property - and to me this is one big enticement.

Would you still like the new system as much if there were no regular FPs?

 

[jimandami]

So when you make fastpass + selections they are like one hour apart from each other or how does that work ? We go in May but cant make the selections yet. I wonder if they will have regular fastpass and fastpass + both available or not when we go. If they only have fastpass + I hope they will increase it to 4 instead of 3.

When you originally make them, you choose your 3 priority experiences and MDE gives you 4 choices of "sets" of FP+. You choose the one that works best for you. Then, you can go in and modify each one to fit your needs better. You can also go in and schedule a couple members of your party for one ride, and the rest of your party for another ride (I think that's what the OP wanted to do with Soarin but didn't know how). It's actually very easy to do, just choose modify FP+ and play around a little bit. I would not expect there to be regular FP in May.

 

[jimandami]

Can someone lay out the FP+ rules for me really quickly? I've been away for awhile and get the gist but I'm slightly confused. It sounds awesome but a little confusing..

If you stay onsite, 60 days out from your trip you can begin scheduling FP+ experiences, provided you have a valid ticket linked to each person in your party on MDE. You get 3 choices per day, only one park per day. At DHS and Epcot there are tiers of rides. Ex: You can have a FP+ for either Test Track or Soarin' but not both. It sounds confusing in the OP because he was still able to double dip, AKA get standard FP. That will very likely be gone soon! If you stay offsite, you can get FP+ in AK park the day of by scheduling at a kiosk. This is spreading to MK and will continue to spread to other parks.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Reaction to this - Fastpass+ is a game changer - Between using these plus using regular Fastpasses you can really get some ride time advantages. My family and I truly were able to plan our times in the parks well and limit our wait times to absolute minimum.

They are getting rid of the regular paper Fastpasses.

 

[maryj11]

When you originally make them, you choose your 3 priority experiences and MDE gives you 4 choices of "sets" of FP+. You choose the one that works best for you. Then, you can go in and modify each one to fit your needs better. You can also go in and schedule a couple members of your party for one ride, and the rest of your party for another ride (I think that's what the OP wanted to do with Soarin but didn't know how). It's actually very easy to do, just choose modify FP+ and play around a little bit. I would not expect there to be regular FP in May.

Ok thanks

 

[btk2333]

So when you make fastpass + selections they are like one hour apart from each other or how does that work ? We go in May but cant make the selections yet. I wonder if they will have regular fastpass and fastpass + both available or not when we go. If they only have fastpass + I hope they will increase it to 4 instead of 3.

It is very likely that by May all legacy FP will be gone

 

[Zandra]

If you stay onsite, 60 days out from your trip you can begin scheduling FP+ experiences, provided you have a valid ticket linked to each person in your party on MDE. You get 3 choices per day, only one park per day. At DHS and Epcot there are tiers of rides. Ex: You can have a FP+ for either Test Track or Soarin' but not both. It sounds confusing in the OP because he was still able to double dip, AKA get standard FP. That will very likely be gone soon! If you stay offsite, you can get FP+ in AK park the day of by scheduling at a kiosk. This is spreading to MK and will continue to spread to other parks.

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense now. The OCD planner in me actually likes this idea!

Will the tier system move to other parks? Say, you can't get TOT or RRC FP+ on the same day?

 

[mesaboy2]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense now. The OCD planner in me actually likes this idea!

Will the tier system move to other parks? Say, you can't get TOT or RRC FP+ on the same day?

No one knows if tiers will move to MK or AK, stay tuned.

As has been bluntly pointed out to me, you actually can get ToT and RnRC FP+ on the same day, since they are in different groups.

Lots of this kind of information can be accessed via the green link in my signature.

 

[jimandami]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense now. The OCD planner in me actually likes this idea!

Will the tier system move to other parks? Say, you can't get TOT or RRC FP+ on the same day?

The tier system is currently at DHS and Epcot, but no one knows if it will move to the other parks or not. At DHS TSM and RnR are both tier 1 so you can't do them both, but ToT is tier 2 so you could do both ToT and RnR on the same day.

 

[morethananyonex]

I didn't notice the date at first reading this report, makes a lot more sense now.

It's funny (not funny haha but funny sad) that everything this particular guest found awesome about FP+ is no longer possible. I agree that a system without tiering and with extra FP- would be really awesome.

 

[ckb_nc]

As that guest, I would end to agree BUT the ability to have a FP in hand for a headliner like Soarin when I wake up and not have to scurry to the park is still very nice.