Unlimited Fast Pass at EPCOT

[goingquackers]

Excuse me if this has been discussed before, but I have never seen this.

I just got back EPCOT this week and found out you can have unlimited fast passes. I confirmed this with several cast members just to make sure. I was told you can possess as many fast passes at one time as long as they are not for the same attraction. This is supposed to be a test and may expand to the other parks.

Anyone else heard of this?

 

[DisneyaholicRaquel]

Cool...no I haven't heard this!

 

[Leota]

We noticed that the last day or two of our 4/15-4/24 trip. I thought it was great! Didn't notice any increase in wait times for FP return from it. I hope they do implement this throughout WDW......

 

[f16]

My understanding was that this was just a test they ran during April, and that as of Sunday, May 1st, things are back to normal (one FP at a time).

 

[sugermouse]

Novel concept!

 

[ABWTmom]

WOW - hope someone going who is there NOW can confirm when they get back - we leave 5/17 - would be great!



DH Opening Day Ceremonies 1972
DH & family - 1972 - visit using tickets given at opening day
DH & DW 1983 - off-site
DH, DW, DS (4) 1986 - The Disney Inn
DH, DW, DS (19), DD (12) 2001 - POR
DH, DW 2003 - Wilderness Lodge
DH, DW, DD (15), DD (21 mo), DD (21 mo) 2004 - POR
DH, DW, DS (22), DD (25 mo), DD (25 mo) 2005 - POR

 

[PrincessRyann'sMom]

We did this on 4/27. We were there as the park opened and were surprised to get multiple FP's. Did Soarin', Test Track and Mission Space in all of 2 hours! What a great time!

 

[Msslaydbug]

Darn it - I hope they still have it when we go 05/17

 

[Princess Wannabe]

We were there last week, and although I noticed I could get more than one Fastpass, I just thought it was a "fluke"...or else, I must be REALLY, REALLY special! LOL! I didn't realize everyone else in the park was special, as well!

 

[DisneyFans4]

Excuse me if this has been discussed before, but I have never seen this.

I just got back EPCOT this week and found out you can have unlimited fast passes. I confirmed this with several cast members just to make sure. I was told you can possess as many fast passes at one time as long as they are not for the same attraction. This is supposed to be a test and may expand to the other parks.

Anyone else heard of this?

If you want to ride something else again then do you have to wait 2 hours to get the FP for a ride you already have been on?
This sounds like a great idea and I hope they've kept it. I thought it was terrible to make you wait 2 hrs. to get another fast pass to ride something else only to find out that the FP's were sold out!!

 

[Poohbear123]

If you want to ride something else again then do you have to wait 2 hours to get the FP for a ride you already have been on?
This sounds like a great idea and I hope they've kept it. I thought it was terrible to make you wait 2 hrs. to get another fast pass to ride something else only to find out that the FP's were sold out!!

Me too! Hope they make it permanent!

 

[weregoingtodw]

Aw man - can someone else report on this? We'll be in EPCOT on Monday and I'd LOVE that!

 

[BraveMom3]

I would love it if this is still going on when we get there on May 28 for 2 weeks!!!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

We were there last week, and although I noticed I could get more than one Fastpass, I just thought it was a "fluke"...or else, I must be REALLY, REALLY special! LOL! I didn't realize everyone else in the park was special, as well!

See, I think that will be a problem. If everyone in the park is "special", don't you think that as people catch on, and realize then can have unlimited fast passes, that the fast pass lines will be as long as the stand-by lines?

I hate to be a party pooper here, but I don't think I like this at all. I mean, as the system is set up now, it forces people to have to wait before they can get another fast pass, limiting the amount of people able to ride at a certain time.

Also, by allowing people unlimited FP's, that means the rides will more than likely "max" out alot earlier in the day. So say you go into MK around 5pm for the night. If it closes at say 10PM, I bet, you get over to Space Mountain for a FP, you are going to find the FP machines closed up, because the return times for the passes out there will be booked up to closing.

I see "NIGHTMARE" written all over this. Sure the test week went great, but more than likely, not alot of people realized they could get unlimited FP's. Also, it was held in Epcot. I believe there are only 4 FP attractions anyway.

Having an unlimited FP program in the MK???? I can see the future, and I can see it will not be good. Not good at all. Take my word.

 

[scanmom]

I don't think it will make the fastpass line longer. You can still only get 1 FP for a certain ride at one time, and they still only give X number of FP's with a certain return time per hour. If only X number of people can get into the FP line per hour, it will not matter if they are also holding a FP for another ride. I do think it will make the FP's run out earlier in the day. I think this kind of system could make it even more important to get to the park as early as possible, especially on a busy day.

 

[Cellthing]

Something along the same lines that we found was that the "Rider Swap" passes for those of us with small ones, were good for several days. We picked up one at Test Track early one morning, before heading to Chef Mickey's, I just happened to look at it later that night, and noticed that it expired on 4/30, and it was 4/24. I saw this on several other rides as well at the other parks.

 

[IloveDMB]

I know when we were at Disneyland last year, several attractions aren't connected through the FASTPASS line. You could hold multiple fastpasses for several different attractions at one time.

This did not increase the wait time for the fast pass line, and we were there during Spring Break. The system in place at Disneyland seems to work well. It does seem that they have not expanded this to California Adventure, because there you could only get one fastpass at a time.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I know when we were at Disneyland last year, several attractions aren't connected through the FASTPASS line. You could hold multiple fastpasses for several different attractions at one time.

This did not increase the wait time for the fast pass line, and we were there during Spring Break. The system in place at Disneyland seems to work well. It does seem that they have not expanded this to California Adventure, because there you could only get one fastpass at a time.

But, does Disneyland experience the same crowds as Disneyworld?

 

[scanmom]

DLR does get VERY crowded sometimes. There aren't as many people, but there is less than 1/2 the space to put them. And they do include CA in the disconnected FP program.... GRR is disconnected, I know, and I think one more attration, but I can't remember which one. We loved having the disconnected FP's, and utilized it alot. It saved us ALOT of time on spring break 2004.... not as much in 2005, since we were there 2 weeks before spring break and the crowds were lower (except on the Friday that they showed Fantasmic!).

 

[SoCalKDG]

But, does Disneyland experience the same crowds as Disneyworld?

Disneyland crowds can be worse since the actual park is smaller(not the number of rides). Both MK and DL draw between 13-15 million.

The big problem with unlimited FP for a park like MK is it rewards one type of customer, the one that gets there first thing in the morning. You get there at opening, grab 8 FP for 8 rides, and then go about your day. If you like to show up a little later, or like to parkhop, by the time you get to MK all the FP could be gone.

What I've heard as an option(that Disney might consider) for the unlimited FP is to restrict the number of FP they give each hour for a specific ride. So if they were going to give out 4500 FP for a day to Splash, they might limit giving out 750 per hour over the first 6 hours. This way FP were available from 9AM to 3 PM. This way people showing up at noon or later still have a chance to get a FP for rides, while still allowing unlimited FP.