We Loved FastPass+!

[DisneyPiPhi]

We took our first trip since 2012 in May of this year, and it was also our first trip with our daughter, who is two yeards old. I just have to add my voice to the discussion on FP+ and say that we absolutely adored it.

Here are some points I'd like to share about FP+:

1. I had great FP+ at 60 days because I got up at midnight and got them done. No big deal; it took 10 minutes. However, we had to change our dates about 30 days before the trip, so I lost our big ticket FP+ to meet Anna and Elsa. I checked daily, though, and lo and behold a week or two before our trip, a 6:30 PM Anna and Elsa popped up! So, I liked that there was availability to be flexible and add FP+ close to our trip.

2. We LOVED the kiosks. The longest I waited in line at a kiosk was probably 10 minutes - the other times they were basically walk-ups or waiting behind one group. My strategy was to book morning FP+ if possible and then hit the kiosks after to book some more for the afternoon. We were not riding too many "big ticket" rides with our two-year-old so I wasn't concerned with things like Space Mountain or SDMT... but she got to go on Dumbo and the Barnstormer lots of times! (Those were her favorites.)

3. I had a magical FP+ moment. While getting a new FP at a kiosk, a cast member asked if I needed any help. I said, "No thanks. I love this new FP+ system and I have no idea why people complain about it! It has made our trip awesome!" He thanked me and said it was nice to hear positive feedback; he then asked how many people were in my party and gave us extra Fast Passes for any ride just because I was nice! I think we used them for Haunted Mansion.

4. Loved the My Disney Experience phone app. LOVED it. Was able to change FP+ times while sitting in restaurants when we decided to enjoy dessert before rushing off to another ride. So fantastic! We did this a lot actually - changed our schedule around the night before or the day of. I thought the app offered us a lot of flexibility. We could also check wait times and then add/drop FP accordingly. It was SO great!

5. I enjoyed "gaming" the system with a young child. Becuase my daughter is two, she didn't need a FP+. So on our second MK day, we split up a bit. For example, in the afternoon, I had a Jungle Cruise FP+ scheduled for both adults (which means my daughter could ride with us.) I super hate Jungle Cruise, but my husband loves it. I used the app to cancel that FP+ for me, so he took our daughter by himself. While they were gone doing that and Aladdin's Magic Carpets, I hit a kiosk and scheduled a Winnie the Pooh FP+ for just me. Then I shopped on Main Street and drank a Frapuccino, enjoying some solo MK time! When DH handed DD off to me, he took a Starbucks break while the kiddo and I rode Winnie the Pooh. She got extra rides, both adults got breaks, and everyone was happy!

So, if you're worried that FP+ will ruin your trip, my tips are to try to book AM FP+ so you can add more at the kiosk later that day, and to use the app to stay informed and be flexible.

 

[kj2mom]

I am soo glad to hear it worked out great for you all! We loved it as well! Our plan of attack was a little bit different, my children are 13 and the big ticket rides were the key for them. We rope dropped and did as much as we could with low waits in the morning then had our fast passes scheduled for the afternoon times when rides seem to have the highest wait times. A few months prior to the trip we started doing Disney training walks after dinner. My son would sometimes beef asking why we were walking when really the majority of our time would be waiting in line. I had forgotten about those remarks until yesterday and I made a point to ask him at dinner if he still think Disney is all just waiting in line. His reply was a very loud no, no, not if you plan and are smart with your FP (woohooo mom's hard work paid off !).

 

[Mousemommy1]

We have now had 3 FP+ trips and we like it too. For us, it makes us more efficient.

 

[TMJR]

That's great to hear!

 

[DebbieB]

I love it too! It's easier to plan knowing what time your fastpasses are. Under the old system, you were at the mercy of the return time clock. For example, we did the Segway tour, it was over at 10:30. We had lunch in France at 12:00. We planned to grab fastpasses for Soarin afterwards, assuming fastpasses would be in the afternoon by that time but much to our surprise, the return time available was 12:00. So we were stuck killing time in Future World and checking back to see what the current Soarin fastpass time was. Finally it was late enough that we could grab it and head to France. Under the new system, we could have booked Soarin for around 2:00.

 

[loves to dive]

I've been using since the trial and have always thought it was fine. We didn't use the old system that much, none of us were ever to keen on getting at any park at RD and running the bulls just to get a FP to ride a ride. I've been there times when we haven't even had to use some of our FP since we could just walk on the rides so I was able to cancel them on the fly and book big ticket ones for later in the day.

 

[pmreilly]

We love FP+ simply because we get to reserve headliners and do them at a time when its convenient to us: late in the day. We are late park people and now I always get to experience rides such as Soarin and TSMM when, in the past, arriving at 2PM to these parks meant no chance to experience them without 90 minute waits.

It works perfectly for the way my family does Disney.

 

[aretha30]

Glad to head that it worked for your family! We really like it too. We have found that we don't have to rush to get FP for the headliners (that my DH and oldest love) and we can get everything done that we want to do. We head down in 8 days and are excited to know that we can ride 7 Dwarfs 3 times w/o waiting since we already have the FP+ for it!

 

[mickeyfanachey1999]

We are late park people and FP+ works great for us. We had never ridden TSMM until FP+ because the FP- would always be gone by the time we got there!

 

[fujamaga]

This will be the first time we're seriously using the FP system and I'm glad to hear you like it!

 

[Cee]

I agree! I loved switching things up on the fly. So far, MB and FP have been great.

 

[PrincessJo]

We love it too. The system works great for us Glad you have a fun trip!!

 

[busymommy2pink]

We love FP+ simply because we get to reserve headliners and do them at a time when its convenient to us: late in the day. We are late park people and now I always get to experience rides such as Soarin and TSMM when, in the past, arriving at 2PM to these parks meant no chance to experience them without 90 minute waits.

It works perfectly for the way my family does Disney.

This exactly! Works very well for our family! We also find it very easy to swap them and change times on the app on my iphone. Zero complaints here either!