Life in the Fast Lane

Disney's FastPass

This will be the last post of my Disney spotlight. I have a lot more info about Disney, dining and hotels so just let me know if you have questions!

Disney has devised an ingenious way to make waiting for attractions much more bearable. Certain rides and attractions in each park are equipped with the FastPass capability. I suggest you use the book I mentioned in a previous post to determine which rides offer FastPasses. Here's how I suggest you use FastPass:

1. The day before you hit the park, determine which attractions offer FastPasses. Decide which attractions your family would most like to go to and as soon as the park opens, send one person to the attraction to get a FastPass. THIS PERSON WILL NEED TO HAVE EVERYONE'S PARK ENTRY CARD (or the cards of each member of your party who wants to ride the attraction).

2. At the attraction the 'runner' will go to the FastPass distribution kiosk and insert each card one at a time to receive a FastPass for each member of your party. Make sure they know to collect all park entry cards after getting all FastPasses! You don't want to forget your park entry cards in a kiosk as these cards are linked to your credit card information.

3. The FastPasses will have a 'return time' printed on them. This means that when you come back to the attraction after the designated time on your FastPass, you can enter the FastPass lane and board much more quickly than the regular line. This return time will be a one hour time slot later in the morning or afternoon depending on how many FastPasses have been distributed that day so it pays to get yours early on very popular rides (ex. Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios). A very important thing to note is that you do not have to return in that one hour window. For example, if your return time is 10:40 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. you can ride any time after 10:40 a.m., you do not have to ride in the one hour window but you do have to ride the same day in order to use the FastPass.

4. Another notable thing is the number of FastPasses you can get for different attractions at one time. Once your FastPasses print they will display a time when you are eligible to get a FastPass for another attraction. In the Magic Kingdom you can get FastPasses for different attractions just about every hour, however, in Hollywood Studios you can get FastPasses for different attractions every two hours or more. Make sure you arrive at the park early and get the FastPass for the ride you want to ride most right away.

By the fifth day of our trip we were tired and got to Hollywood Studios at 9:30 a.m. (the park opened at 9:00 a.m.). Heath immediately ran to get a FastPass for Toy Story Mania while we went to watch The Voyage of the Little Mermaid. He returned, FastPasses in hand with a FastPass return time of 2:00 p.m. This did not work for our group because the kids would not last that long, especially on the fourth day of our trip, so it pays to get to the parks early or on time and to get those popular FastPasses quickly!