Disney realised that time management to get around the parks was vital to helping guests see as much as they could during their visit and the Fast Pass system seems to be the answer.
The computerised virtual queuing system allows guests to pre-book a time slot thus avoiding waiting in long lines for what could be, for popular rides, a few hours especially at peak times of the year such as Christmas and Easter.
The system is simple to use and a great way to plan your day. You simply go to the attraction you want to see and insert your admission ticket into the slot, The Fast Pass machine then issues you a ticket with a one hour time window for later in the day and you can go to the front of the line for that attraction at any time during that one hour. Just hand your Fast Pass ticket to the Cast Member at the entrance to each attraction and away you go. No lines!
Once you have your tickets you are free to explore everything else then head back with your Fast Pass to the attraction anytime during your one hour time slot.
Each Fast Pass ticket only covers the one person, so every member of your group must get their own ticket issued.
To make the system fair, Disney did have to place some restrictions on the Fast Pass to make it work for everybody. You can only hold one Fast Pass for one attraction every two hours, or after your one hour time slot expires, whichever is the sooner. Once two hours has passed or your time slot has expired, you can then go onto the next main attraction and obtain another Fast Pass.
There are many attractions within all four Disney parks that offer the Fast Pass, so make the most of your time and grab your Fast Pass tickets as soon as you get to the parks.
The big popular attractions, such as Soarin and Fast Track at Epcot, can often have a return time of several hours, so make sure you check the return time before you commit to your Fast Pass ticket - the return times are displayed above the Fast Pass ticket machines. We have many times seen a return time of 6 hours or more and this may not fit in with your plans, so do check the return time. Often during the busy peak times of year, the popular attractions can even run out of Fast Pass slots - the attractions after all can only take so many people in a day, so if you are visiting during a busy time of year, head for your favourite attraction as early as you can in the day to make sure you get a slot.