Question to those that have booked through AAA and used the enhanced FP feature

[ScottwPA]

Hi everyone!

I booked a 3-day weekend (over the upcoming MLK weekend) through AAA with a 3 night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. I recently received my packet through AAA with all of the materials for the trip. However, there wasn't any specific notation on the parkhopper ticket or in any of the literature in the packet that specifically stated or mentioned the enhanced/unlimited fastpass feature. I double-checked with my AAA agent to confirm that the ticket contains this feature, and she verified this information. I am not really expecting any problems - it just seems strange that all of the AAA advertisements specifically state this as a benefit (as well as our original itinerary from AAA), but there really isn't anything in the packet about it.

There is a slip in the packet that explains the early entry into Fantasyland, but nothing about the enhanced FP. If someone booked and didn't know about this extra feature, they might not even realize that they can use it! At any rate, we have used the AAA unlimited FP in the past (when you could stay at a good neighbor hotel) and it is well worth it!!

Scott

 

[fidoprincess]

You are so lucky! We've had the "enhanced" fast pass packages before and it is great. The one trick to remember is that you can go to the ride AFTER the time limit. We go in early-resort guests get Early Entry every day it is offered(no one will tell you this either!)- and Dh runs and gets all the fast passes while I take the kids to Fantasy Land. Be sure to get Space first because often they are gone early.

Then the whole rest of the day, no lines or waiting to get the next fastpass. The last time we had this, DH even went over to DCA early in the AM and got all those FPs too. It is wonderful! Around noon or even before, when the last time to get a new fp has passed, he would make the rounds again and get all new ones! Be careful with the tickets though, once he put the same one in so even though a slip came out of the FP machine, it said Not A Valid FastPass and we didn't even notice until we went to go on the ride. I don't think you can go and get 100 space fast passes-one of each ride per ticket at a time. After the time on the last ticket though, you can go get the whole park again. (The ticket will say at the bottom-you can get you next fastpass after ...)Oops, just saw that you've already had them before.

Somewhere on the ticket there is a code embedded that shows AAA/resort guest but I don't think you can see it. It won't say it but you will get it, don't worry!

We got the fast passes first thing in the morning, hit the rides that didn't have them(esp. fantasy land) and when we were all done, we would use the fast passes even though it was after the "return time." It is great!

Have fun and maybe we will see you there! We will be there the 12th-16th at DLH but no AAA(sniff, sniff). Can't feel too bad though with APs, we are paying $89/$109 night so it was worth giving up the enhanced FPs.Don't forget your swim suits, it is supposed to be beautiful!

 

[CalGal]

When we had a AAA booked trip with enhanced fastpass, I also felt just a little nervous about the passes when we received our package since the passes didn't indicate anything about the enhanced FP. But there was no problem. When used, the FP made noted the AAA feature and worked like they were supposed to. I loved, loved, loved it, and with a busy weekend, it will be even more special. We ended up converting to an AP, but not until the last day so that we could get the most use out of our enhanced FP.

Do make use of your EE, but note that FPs won't be available until after the official park opening time.

 

[Grog]

Glad I found this thread. I was thinking about booking our upcoming trip through AAA for the savings, but now I'll do it for sure. I hadn't heard about enhanced FP before. I guess that will teach me to not read the fine print

 

[CalGal]

You do need to know that the AAA enhanced FP is only for packages that include a stay at one of the Disney properties (GCH, DLH of PPH).

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We booked through aaa for our trip in Oct '05 and found that it was well worth the additional cost of staying onsite for this feature ( we also wnjoyed being so close to the park s, GCH). We have a 4 year old and a 7 year old who are like other kids in that they are not very patient waiting in lines. So having the enhanced fastpass feature got us on many rides with little wait times. I'm not sure if you have little ones but fast passes work in combination with child swap. My 4 yo was tall enough to ride space mountain was fearful. So my dh would take our 7 yo with 2 fast passes and would request a child swap ticket. When they were done, I would again take our 7 yo using the child swap. So our 7yo rode twice with one fastpass. We actually upgraded to an annual pass at the end of our trip so, we won't enhanced fastpasses this year. But we'll definitely book through aaa again for enhanced fastpasses when our ap's expire.

 

[Grog]

You do need to know that the AAA enhanced FP is only for packages that include a stay at one of the Disney properties

Thanks. We are planning on staying at one of the three, just trying to decide if we want to splurge on GC for this trip, or stay at one of the other two.

 

[yeartolate]

We went to DLR 3 times so far during the 50th. There has been no "off peak" this season in my book. It has been busy busy busy.

Our one trip with AAA was a gem The enhanced passes made the vacation. It killed me to turn in our PH at the end of the trip for AP credit. It was a signal we were back in the real world.

I cannot realistically say we went on many more rides than usual, we just were able to see shows and things we normally passed over. We also spent alot of time at the pool - a luxury we rarely get on our "normal" vacations.

 

[renzdr]

Does the entire stay have to be at one of the Disney hotels or can you split it up with a couple at a good neighbor hotel?

 

[ScottwPA]

The AAA package that includes the enhanced fastpass indicates that your trip must include a "stay" at one of the three Disney hotels. AAA defines a stay as a minimum of two consecutive nights at a Disney hotel. Therefore, you could split up your trip by staying the other night(s) at a good neighbor hotel.

As an example, say you are planning a 4 day/4 night trip to Disneyland. You could stay 2 consecutive nights at the Disneyland Hotel and then 2 nights at the Park Inn across the street, and have the unlimited fastpass for the entire 4 days (if you purchased 4 day hoppers through the AAA package).

Scott

 

[CalGal]

Thanks. We are planning on staying at one of the three, just trying to decide if we want to splurge on GC for this trip, or stay at one of the other two.

Be warned --- staying at the GCH can be addictive. We love the convenience and ambiance now find it hard to stay anywhere else.

When we got the advanced FP last summer, we added a couple of days and stayed off-site with relatives and were able to add days to our advanced FP -- so yes you can split your stay and get the advanced FP for the entire stay. There is a minimum number of nights (I think it's 2 nights) that you must stay at a Disney hotel to get the advanced FP. If you do split your stay, I recommend that you first stay off-site, then transfer to the Disney property. There are 2 reasons for this. First, you can get spoiled by staying on-site, so it's nice to do that last. More importantly, you can use your EE on your parkhopper when you are staying off-site. Then (after the EE on the parkhopper is already used up), you can flash your on-site resort charge-card and get EE entry priveledges again when you are staying on-site.

 

[pjhootch]

We just got back from our trip with enhanced fastpass. Don't worry about the tickets not being marked, they still have the feature. When you put your ticket in a fastpass machine the fastpass is marked with "AAA fastpass".

Our packed material told us to pick up our pins and lanyards at the AAA office inside Disneyland. Guess what? It is GONE! If your package tells you the same thing, you should know that you can redeem your coupon for pins and lanyards at the gift shop in the GC or at the Little Green Men Shop in tomorrowland.

Have fun.

 

[yeartolate]

Does the entire stay have to be at one of the Disney hotels or can you split it up with a couple at a good neighbor hotel?

We did 2 days at Grand Californian and 3 days at $37 doubletree priceline.

 

[kimmmbers]

We went to DL a year or two ago. We only ordered our tix thru AAA. We got a good deal---2 day parkhopper w/free parking and $10 ESPN cards for each of us. They even sent us a cute binder w/beautiful Disney pic folders inside. We did not stay on property or book a hotel or anything with AAA. We only bought tix. We were not suppose to get any fastpass extras, but we actually were able to get multiple fastpasses. No waiting for 2hrs to pass. We just went to each ride and got a fast pass immediately. So even if you can't book a room thru AAA, it doesn't hurt to buy your tix thru them.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

We go in early-resort guests get Early Entry every day it is offered(no one will tell you this either!)

DLH front desk stated that they dont allow ee every day it is offered to hotel guests...you can only pick one day...so I dont understand...how are you able to do this?

 

[Laz]

You are so lucky! We've had the "enhanced" fast pass packages before and it is great. The one trick to remember is that you can go to the ride AFTER the time limit. We go in early-resort guests get Early Entry every day it is offered(no one will tell you this either!)- and Dh runs and gets all the fast passes while I take the kids to Fantasy Land. Be sure to get Space first because often they are gone early.

!

So does this mean that all the Fast Pass machines are working during Early Entry?

 

[ScottwPA]

DLH front desk stated that they dont allow ee every day it is offered to hotel guests...you can only pick one day...so I dont understand...how are you able to do this?

You should have no problem getting multiple early entries during your stay - you just show your charge slip from the hotel (that has the dates you are staying there) plus your parkhopper for each early entry. The 3+ day parkhopper tickets have only one early entry per ticket, so maybe this is what the DLH front desk person was talking about?

 

[victorandbellasmom]

So does this mean that all the Fast Pass machines are working during Early Entry?

When we went in October, Fast pass machines were not operational during early entry. They were functional at the park's regular operating hours. I'm not sure if that's changed since then though.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

You should have no problem getting multiple early entries during your stay - you just show your charge slip from the hotel (that has the dates you are staying there) plus your parkhopper for each early entry. The 3+ day parkhopper tickets have only one early entry per ticket, so maybe this is what the DLH front desk person was talking about?

ah so the 5 day actually shows multiple ee on it?

 

[CalGal]

ah so the 5 day actually shows multiple ee on it?

No, I think all of the parkhopper plus passes include at most one EE. There are some parkhoppers that do not have any EE, and APs do not include EE. However, when you show your charge card for one of the Disney properties, you will get EE with an AP, or even without having an EE remaining on your parkhopper.

In August, I had a 5-day parkhopper. I used my EE before I checked into the GCH. I was able to get another EE later by showing my GCH charge slip even though I had already used my EE through the parkhopper. At the end of the trip, I converted my AAA parkhopper to an AP. In December, I was able to get EE 3 times during my stay at the GCH using my AP by showing the hotel charge slip. (But oh, I did miss that enhanced FP in Dec.)

It is also my experience that FP machines do not operate until after normal park opening time. I've never seen a FP machine operating during EE.