Park History Experts: What was before FastPass?

[dieumeye]

Elsewhere on the internet, there’s a thread of people discussing WDW and DL who SWEAR they got “line skipping passes” in the parks in the 80s and 90s.

I know FastPass didn’t start until mid-late 1999. So what could all these people be thinking of?

 

[Jennasis]

NOTHING. You waited in line.

There was the E-ticket nights. Where you could ride the headliners for like two hours after park close. But no line skipping passes you could buy or were given other than perhaps an occasional guest recovery thing.

 

[dieumeye]

NOTHING. You waited in line.

There was the E-ticket nights. Where you could ride the headliners for like two hours after park close. But no line skipping passes you could buy or were given other than perhaps an occasional guest recovery thing.

This is what I thought, but I figured it’s not possible for so many people to be having a mass delusion. I still don’t get how so many people swear they used line skipping passes in the 80s and 90s. Crazy.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

They did occasionally give front of line passes for guest recovery, and maybe for handicapped guests. I remember using one to ride the canal boats at Disneyland. Don’t remember why we got it.

 

[dieumeye]

They did occasionally give front of line passes for guest recovery, and maybe for handicapped guests. I remember using one to ride the canal boats at Disneyland. Don’t remember why we got it.

Do you think a “skip the line” pass could have been handed out as part of a resort stay?

 

[GoingSince1990]

Absolutely nothing, ever, for us from 1990 through 1999 when in December I saw this new machine at Kilimanjaro Safaris giving out tickets, with a sign containing this unfamiliar word "FASTPASS". Before then it was all about the rope drop, getting perfectly positioned to dash through the best rides like a mad creature before the crowds started to build up. Back then even VIP tours did not give any preferential access to rides.