Fast Passes, yeah no nay?

Cheshire Cat · Post by **Cheshire Cat** » Jan Tue 03, 2006 4:58 pm

I don't like them on any ride in any of the Magic Kingdom style Park and most stuff in epcot. It changes your day from lets do this to we have to do this now.

I agree! My dad hates waiting so he plans the day before hand and incorporates when to get the fastpasses for what rides. For some reason I think the fewer fastpass rides there are in a park, the better the system works. Magic Kingdom has way to many!

wagnerdisney · Post by **wagnerdisney** » Jan Tue 03, 2006 5:09 pm

jeebz68 wrote:As a Cast Member, Disney's FastPass is a wonderful thing.... when it works. The whole idea around FastPass is that you come back during your hour time window. You see there are a certain about of tickets printed out for each time period... that amout is what the Cast Members base there "ratio" if you will on. Most of the time is a 4 to 1 ratio. However, thats not always the case... if you have someone who hasnt followed some kind of ratio.... it actually hurts those in the standby line... that leads the next cast member to try and 'clean up' the FP line. Also just after parade time you always have an influx of FP Guests. Thats usually the worst time to be in the Standby line. And the worst thing is when guests are late with there FP times.... We will let ya in but keep in mind that those in the Standby line will be forced to wait longer... so what goes around comes around, eventually. Lastly, speaking for every cast member that I ve ever worked with... please dont give the CM working at the FP return enterence why you have to enter before your assigned time.... weve heard it all.... from 'I have to catch my flight' to 'but I have to use the bathroom' and Ive even heard, 'well come on man, Im on my last ride and myself and the wife need to go back to the room, if you know what I mean'. (Yea that last one was actually used... kinda creepy right?) Anyways thats a little insite into Disney's FastPass system, from a Cast Members eyes. If you know how to use the FastPass system your set. Its not a hard system to understand but the best way to learn how to use it is ASK A CAST MEMBER!! we will give you all our 'inside tips'. After all we also go to the park and use the FastPass system as well. If you want any tips (especially from a Magic Kingdom Cast Member) feel free to ask me... but I cant give away all of our hidden ways...LOL.

So What are some of the secrets.
If you don't mind sharing.
Thanks
Dan

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jan Wed 11, 2006 12:43 pm

The one thing I like is that they only us them on certain rides during the peak visitor days (like summer, Holidays, etc.) only. I didn't have to use it on many of the rides I went on last time because there wasn't a lot of people.

David · Post by **David** » Jan Thu 12, 2006 6:05 pm

We love to use Fastpass. We don't exactly build our day around it, but it comes in handy for the bigger attractions.

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jan Fri 13, 2006 4:23 pm

FP is the only way to go during busy times - we just returned from our 17th trip but our first during Christmas (actually the week before Christmas). By the 23rd of December Soarin' had a 200 minute wait - 200!! Without FP we'd never have waited for it or any of the other attractions with incredibly long lines. It's the greatest IMO.

RiaLucia · Post by **RiaLucia** » Nov Wed 22, 2006 7:03 pm

David wrote:We love to use Fastpass. We don't exactly build our day around it, but it comes in handy for the bigger attractions.

AKLRULZ wrote:FP is the only way to go during busy times - we just returned from our 17th trip but our first during Christmas (actually the week before Christmas). By the 23rd of December Soarin' had a 200 minute wait - 200!! Without FP we'd never have waited for it or any of the other attractions with incredibly long lines. It's the greatest IMO.

ITA with you both. If you want to do anything on peak days and not wait two hours in line, you better make use of a Fast Pass or two! The day after Christmas in 2002 my little brother and I worked the system so well at Magic Kingdom that at one point we had 3 Fast Passes! THREE! And that was without me working any of my special Cast Member magic!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Nov Wed 22, 2006 7:14 pm

Yea FAST PASS!!!!!!!!!! It's a great system at WDW!!!!!!!! I don't like they way they have the pass at IOA, Disney works the system much, much better

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Nov Wed 29, 2006 5:34 pm

Honestly I haven't seen much of a difference in the length of stand-by lines since I can remember going as a kid which was well before FP so I hardly see the so-called dark-side of the FP as so many others point out. What I do see is me making sure I see all the attractions at least once and then being given the opportunity to leisure about the park for re-rides, shopping, etc. or going back to the room for rest. Big vote in favor of the FP!

csquare77 · Post by **csquare77** » Nov Wed 29, 2006 10:12 pm

Cheshire Cat wrote:I like fastpass when I'm using it, but when I'm in the standby line I curse it

Exactly, Im kinda old school, just wait in line... Keep both sides open it will make an hour wait into a half-hour wait if they had both lines open like they did before. Of course there are exceptions.

Post by **subsonic** » Nov Thu 30, 2006 12:11 pm

I'm a fan of Fast Passes but think they need to be limited more. I remember waiting 2 hours on the reopening of Space Mountain, the culprit was they were letting SO many fast passes in. If having fast passes "sell out" around 4-5pm to allow for shorter stand-by lines, I'm all fot it.

Post by **spaulo** » Nov Thu 30, 2006 1:01 pm

I guess I operate a little differently than most of you... I never wait in standby for a FP-enabled ride, and I still always get to do all the rides I want (which is basically every C-ticket and up, plus a few smaller, nostalgic things). I don't see why anyone waits in the standby lines. I understand that if no one did, the FP wouldn't make any sense, but still...

I always have a valid FP for something in the park on me. And as soon as I can get another one, I do. Even if it means walking out of my way. I'd prefer to walk a little out of my way to avoid standing in line.

What I can't wait for is this next trip to DL... we're on a AAA package, so we have their Super FastPass...basically, there's no limit to the number of different rides we can hold FPs to at once. For each individual ride, it's still a one-at-a-time thing... the "open" time of your window has to come before you can get another FP for that ride.

Basically I'm going to hold my fiancee's and my in-laws' tix at all times, and run around like a mad man. In fact, the first ride we're going to hit in the morning is Matterhorn (no FP, you know)... while they leisurely walk that way, I'm going to swing through tomorrowland and grab Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain FPs. After Matterhorn and fantasyland, they're going to head to Pirates while I grab Big Thunder and Indy FPs.

Life is indeed grand.

(sorry long rant here)

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Dec Fri 01, 2006 3:45 pm

csquare77 wrote:Exactly, Im kinda old school, just wait in line... Keep both sides open it will make an hour wait into a half-hour wait if they had both lines open like they did before. Of course there are exceptions.

I don't think that's actually true. If they split the lines that way you'd still be taking guests from each line alternating. The only difference is instead of having one longer line with lots of people you have 2 lines with a small difference in number of people. FP isn't a long line, and while yes, there do seem to constantly be ppl holding FP's the alternating between lines isn't a 1:1 ratio as it would be with the 2 lines you say, FP they tend to let stand-by in as much as they can without having FP back up too much. While FP does make a line longer for stand-by it does NOT double the wait time

that's like a 1:1 ratio of FP:Stand-by

wdwfan · Post by **wdwfan** » Dec Tue 05, 2006 9:17 pm

I like the fast Passes Because they cut time in the line in half. that means that i can ride my favorite attraction without the wait

Post by **spaulo** » Dec Wed 06, 2006 1:44 pm

wdwfan, you don't happen to work for Disney Marketing, do you?

Captain Schnemo · Post by **Captain Schnemo** » Dec Wed 06, 2006 7:19 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:I don't like they way they have the pass at IOA, Disney works the system much, much better

I prefer the IOA system, only because if you stay on site, you can use your hotel key to go to the front of all lines at any time. This beats the crap out of running around and picking up a bunch of tickets from machines.

Disney might be able to pull this off if they only did it for the high end resorts, but even then it might be too many people. I wonder if the system could sustain the entire Yacht & Beach Club population skipping to the front of the line of everything at Epcot, for example.

I haven't actually used either Fast Pass system the normal way, so I can't comment on that. I tend to only visit WDW when I know the parks are going to be relatively uncrowded, so I'd probably like it since I would only need to use it for a couple big attractions.

Subsonic Radio

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