What's the Longest Fastpass Line You've Ever Been In?

[pokee99]

Here I was thinking that all the Fastpass lines would be very short (or non-existent), but upon further reading, have discovered that they can be a longish wait, too!

I'm curious to know the LONGEST anyone's waited in a fastpass line, and which ride it was for?

Maybe you can help me understand this process better. It was my understanding that fastpass times are meant to reduce the wait times, but I guess if your window to return is 1pm-3pm and everyone that got that same timeframe comes back at 1pm (instead of sporadically between 1pm and 3pm), then the line would be longer, correct?

Then, there's the issue of people who get fastpasses for an earlier time window (say, 10am - 12pm) and then decide to return at 1pm, that could make that 1pm line even longer.

I am still not 'getting' how DL CMs will allow a 'late' return on the Fastpass times, as in the example I noted above, it can greatly affect Fastpass wait times, couldn't it?

Can someone shed some light on this. I am confused

Thanks!

 

[CrazyDuck]

20 min in Soarin'. But mostly because of the runtime of the ride itself.

 

[sonnyjane]

It is usually a very short line - about 5 to 10 minutes. I'd have to say never longer than 15 minutes for anything, which is nothing compared to a 120 minute standby wait time. I almost never come back during the designated window unless it's a ride that I'm really dying to go on right away. Usually I just collect and use them all later. I'll let other experts chime in on "how it works", but the bottom line is, it does. Basically I wouldn't worry about it. FP's are still the smartest way to go, unless of course you are alone and use the Single Rider line!!

 

[pokee99]

It is usually a very short line - about 5 to 10 minutes. I'd have to say never longer than 15 minutes for anything, which is nothing compared to a 120 minute standby wait time. I almost never come back during the designated window unless it's a ride that I'm really dying to go on right away. Usually I just collect and use them all later. I'll let other experts chime in on "how it works", but the bottom line is, it does. Basically I wouldn't worry about it. FP's are still the smartest way to go, unless of course you are alone and use the Single Rider line!!

There is a SINGLE RIDER LINE? Is that the same as the Rider Switch Line? Or would people doing the rider switch wait at the exit to 'switch off'?

 

[sonnyjane]

There is a SINGLE RIDER LINE? Is that the same as the Rider Switch Line? Or would people doing the rider switch wait at the exit to 'switch off'?

Not every ride has it. The ones that come to mind right now are:

DCA:
Grizzly River Run
Soarin' over California
California Screamin'
(Mulholland Madness/Goofy's Sky School when open)

Disneyland:
Splash Mountain
Indiana Jones

You just go up to the CM at the entrance and ask for a "Single Rider Pass", then you go into the ride through the exit, give the CM the pass, and fill the next single seat on the ride. I go to the parks alone most of the time, so this is wonderful for me!

 

[spacemermaid]

Longest, EVER? That would be last October, for Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy...I waited about 45 minutes in the Fastpass line. Also, FPs had run out by 11am or so...on a weekday

However...this is NOT typical for non-"plussed" rides. The longest I've ever waited in a Fastpass line besided what I mentioned above was about 20 minutes, for Splash Mountain, in the summer.

YMMV, as I try to go when the crowds will be lowest, for example the 20 minute wait for SM was during the summer, but it was on a weekday.

 

[JH87]

I don't think I have waited over 20 mins in a FP line...Like spacemermaid, the longest wait for me was for Space Mountain ghost glaxy. But the Standby was over 100mins so it felt like nothing!
You know it's gonna be a long-ish FP line later in the day when right at park opening, the line to get a FP is longer than the standby line to get on the ride!

 

[Vexorg]

I haven't ever had a notably long wait in a Fastpass line at Disneyland. but on my WDW trip I can recall waiting 20-25 minutes in the Fastpass line for Peter Pan at MK.

 

[cats mom]

Maybe you can help me understand this process better. It was my understanding that fastpass times are meant to reduce the wait times, but I guess if your window to return is 1pm-3pm and everyone that got that same timeframe comes back at 1pm (instead of sporadically between 1pm and 3pm), then the line would be longer, correct?

Then, there's the issue of people who get fastpasses for an earlier time window (say, 10am - 12pm) and then decide to return at 1pm, that could make that 1pm line even longer.

I am still not 'getting' how DL CMs will allow a 'late' return on the Fastpass times, as in the example I noted above, it can greatly affect Fastpass wait times, couldn't it?

Can someone shed some light on this. I am confused

Thanks!

For one thing, not everyone knows about the late return leniency.

We gave time expired fast passes to a family just the other day, and even though we tried to explain that they would still be accepted, the dad looked at us like we were totally nuts. I bet 10-1 those FP's got tossed as soon as we were out of sight.

And even though we try to give away FP's we aren't going to use, I still have a stack of them in my junk drawer. Sometimes we just don't want to trek back to an attraction, even with a FP.

So not all FP's that were distributed actually get used. I'm sure that helps.

I will say that at about 4pm on a super crowded, super hot day, I could have sworn half the people in the park walked past us in the FP line while we were waiting standby for Splash. I can't imagine that they all had FP's for that time frame. But I'd say that was the exception, not the rule. Most of the time the FP lines seem to be manageable and late returns don't seem to be a huge issue, at least IMO.

I'm sure if it became too much of a problem, Disney would start enforcing the return times. As far as I know, the late rule has spread by word of mouth and isn't in writing anywhere, so it would be easy for them to do. I really hope they don't though.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Autopia....a total waste of a FP and it doesn't even save all that much time.

 

[dmked]

Indiana Jones, I think I waited about 20 min. one time

 

[Disgram23kids]

40 minutes in the fast pass line for Space Mountain on Dec 12th. Standby wait was 90 minutes so we were still happy.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Spring Break 2010 - the FP line for Screamin' was clear past King Triton's carousel and was at least 45 minutes - standby line was over 120 minutes. That was the day we decided that we had had enough crowds and headed to the beach.

 

[disneychrista]

The key is yes sometimes the FP line can be long but you have to compare it to the wait in the Stand-by line.

 

[MommyWithDreams]

Autopia....a total waste of a FP and it doesn't even save all that much time.

I agree..Autopia is the worst line ever!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Indiana Jones.

 

[so_oregon]

on what I was sure was going to be a slow weekend (NOT), weekend of 12/11/10 for Haunted Mansion -- 45 minutes in the fast pass line...but it went fast. (but then again, at 11:00 pm, the wait time for It's A Small World was 70 minutes.).

 

[grandpa6]

There were 7 of us at Christmas, we always got fast passes for all rides. Many times nana and grandpa didn't ride those rides and sometimes one of the kids. They would go on it once, get off and go back on again with the rest of the fast passes, we never had a very long wait, 10 or 15 minutes, we never understood why people didn't use them, they are great.

 

[briangl]

Yes Autopia is a complete waste of a fastpass. Doesn't usually save much time at all. They should just remove the fastpass for this ride.

 

[danceanddisney2010]

Definitely autopia. I remember breezing through the first half and then getting stuck in the regular line for at least 20 min. It's such a slow moving line.

Other than that it would have to be Indiana Jones. Long FP wait for that ride more than once...