So How Does FASTPASS Work at DLP?

[HydroGuy]

I understand that as of April 1 the FP system was changed at DLP. So I am interested in how it currently works and not how it used to work.

1. I understand that FP return windows are 30 minutes long and that they enforce those windows fairly strictly at DLP. True?

2. What are the delays between picking up FP sets? In the American parks it is always a minimum of 40-45 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours. Does DLP work similarly to this?

3. I will be at DLP on weekdays the first week of June. If I pick up a FP for say Space Mtn right after the park opens at 10AM, what should I expect the return window to be? And will that coincide with the time at which I can pick up a second FP set for say BTM?

 

[A Small World]

that they enforce those windows fairly strictly at DLP. True?

Over Easter they were enforcing the windows very strictly. People were being made to wait to one side until their time slot. They may be less strict though at a less busy time

 

[davewasbaloo]

3. I will be at DLP on weekdays the first week of June. If I pick up a FP for say Space Mtn right after the park opens at 10AM, what should I expect the return window to be? And will that coincide with the time at which I can pick up a second FP set for say BTM?

The times are enforced, but the windows open up quickly. If you are going during the week in early June, beware it is the school holidays in England, so it could be busy. Big Thunder and Peter Pan's flight have the worst lines, so I would prioritise those for first thing in the day. Space Mountain is normally not too bad. Buzz is an omnimover, so FP is not a big deal. Star Tours rarely has super long waits, but FP is available. But BTMRR is a monster of a line (but don't miss it, better than DL's, WDW's and I understand TDL's.)

I do not believe they have windows to refresh like in the US. The main change was that the FP machines were not connected, so you could go around the park grabbing one at each attraction if you wanted. Now they have networked them like at DL and WDW.

Also, FP are not really necessary at WDS, and it only tends to be RNRC that makes use of it.

 

[HydroGuy]

2. What are the delays between picking up FP sets? In the American parks it is always a minimum of 40-45 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours. Does DLP work similarly to this?

3. I will be at DLP on weekdays the first week of June. If I pick up a FP for say Space Mtn right after the park opens at 10AM, what should I expect the return window to be? And will that coincide with the time at which I can pick up a second FP set for say BTM?

Bumping here as I have never seen anyone post FP info on how long the window delays are first thing in the morning.

 

[kevankiki]

We headed straight for BTM one morning as soon as the park opened, there was quite a queue for FP tickets, but they seemed to have a problem with the machines. We eventaully got to the front of the queue and received tickets for 11.10am, handed to us by a CM.

DD later realised that we could have dashed straight off to Buzz for FP tickets as we hadn't put our passes into any machine to get the tickets!

 

[rjn1976]

During our Easter weekend visit we found the the fast pass system to be less efficient than at WDW. There seem to be too many fast passes given out per time slot, in WDW the time slots seem to rotate through quicker, this translates into longer than usual fast pass queues. For example we queued for approx 30 mins in the fast pass queue for space mountain. The plus side of this is that the fast passes don't run out as early as at WDW, so if you arrive later there's still a good chance of grabbing one or two.
There can also, sometimes, be a siginifcant wait to actually get to a fast pass machine (e.g 10-15mins). There were also a fair few people whose tickets were not recognized by the fast pass machine (we had this misfortune every time time we tried to use them and saw a lot of others in the same boat) which further lengthens the wait as a CM has to sort the FP for you.

 

[marcus.ka]

If you are going during the week in early June, beware it is the school holidays in England, so it could be busy.

Is this true? I couldn't find any information about school holidays in the UK in on ot the "sticky" or in the internet! Which part of the UK has school holidays?
Is it a general school holiday or just a part of the country?

Could this be the reason why the whole resort is booked on 7th June?

Have a look here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1430571&referrerid=&highlight=june

 

[wideeyes]

Is this true? I couldn't find any information about school holidays in the UK in on ot the "sticky" or in the internet! Which part of the UK has school holidays?
Is it a general school holiday or just a part of the country?

Could this be the reason why the whole resort is booked on 7th June?

Have a look here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1430571&referrerid=&highlight=june

All of England schools have one or two weeks off during the last week of may or first week in June.
Scotland schools have different holidays to England schools so not sure if they are off during this time as they must break up for the summer holidays quite near to this time.

 

[ralfrick]

The plus side of this is that the fast passes don't run out as early as at WDW, so if you arrive later there's still a good chance of grabbing one or two.

Based solely upon what I've been seeing on these and other boards, this would seem to be the biggest thing that is very different than before. When I started planning our pond hop, most people were talking of FPs running out really early in the afternoon, so, as I hoped, in this way the changes were for the better. It stands to reason that if a lot of people were getting FPs for everything at once, they'd go quicker than if some were going to Space, some BTM, etc, but then each has to wait a bit before getting another elsewhere. I often wondered if being able to collect them all at once was one of those things that sounded better than reality may be, especially with an enforced 30 minute window instead of 60 minutes. Shame you can't spend the morning collecting them, and the evening using them "late" (but not early) like at DL and WDW , but we'll cope.

A bientot.