In 1999 Disney lead the way for theme parks by introducing the fast pass system. Many parks have since followed suit but none have been as bold as Disney were from the onset – allowing all guests to use fast pass, rather than those who were prepared to pay a premium.
Although every guest in a Disney has the facility to Fast Pass, and many use this facility, it has come to my attention that nobody seems to use it particularly well – or at least use FastPass to get more from their day. Therefore I’ve tried to prepare a FastPass guideline to help people get the most from this system.
- Does everyone want to go on the ride? For example if a party of six is in Disney Studios, and three guests don’t wish to visit thrill rides. You can use their tickets to double up – i. e. getting simultaneous fast passes for Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. This means the non-thrill riders don’t have to hang around for hours waiting for the riders.
- What else is in the area? If you go to Soarin’ first thing in the morning then you can get a Fast Pass for Soarin’ and use the rest of the time to ride Living with the Land (which doesn’t fill up until around 9. 30), grab a coffee and see Circle of Life. This will not only save time (probably over an hour between the two rides), but will be pretty slow paced.
- Don’t rush it. Remember that the window for a Fast Pass is an hour – and you can get your next Fast Pass at the beginning of that hour. You don’t need to rush to the ride at the beginning of your allotted time – use that time to take it easy, have a drink, get a new Fast Pass or ride a less popular ride.
- Don’t throw away Fast Passes you aren’t going to use. Find a party of the same size and give them the passes.
- Only get a Fast Pass if you need it. It’s amazing how often you see people getting a Fast Pass for a ride with a wait of less than ten minutes.
- Check how long the attraction wait time is. Last time I was at the parks I honestly saw on THREE OCCASIONS a queue that was over forty minutes long when the window for Fast Passes was to come back in thirty.
- Get them relatively early – Expedition Everest, Soarin’ and Test Track run out of Fast Passes in early afternoon – do them early.
Outside of very strange circumstances there is no need to wait longer than about 20 minutes for a Disney attraction nowadays. Please don’t.
Although every guest in a Disney has the facility to Fast Pass, and many use this facility, it has come to my attention that nobody seems to use it particularly well – or at least use FastPass to get more from their day. Therefore I’ve tried to prepare a FastPass guideline to help people get the most from this system.
- Does everyone want to go on the ride? For example if a party of six is in Disney Studios, and three guests don’t wish to visit thrill rides. You can use their tickets to double up – i. e. getting simultaneous fast passes for Tower of Terror and Rock N Roller Coaster. This means the non-thrill riders don’t have to hang around for hours waiting for the riders.
- What else is in the area? If you go to Soarin’ first thing in the morning then you can get a Fast Pass for Soarin’ and use the rest of the time to ride Living with the Land (which doesn’t fill up until around 9. 30), grab a coffee and see Circle of Life. This will not only save time (probably over an hour between the two rides), but will be pretty slow paced.
- Don’t rush it. Remember that the window for a Fast Pass is an hour – and you can get your next Fast Pass at the beginning of that hour. You don’t need to rush to the ride at the beginning of your allotted time – use that time to take it easy, have a drink, get a new Fast Pass or ride a less popular ride.
- Don’t throw away Fast Passes you aren’t going to use. Find a party of the same size and give them the passes.
- Only get a Fast Pass if you need it. It’s amazing how often you see people getting a Fast Pass for a ride with a wait of less than ten minutes.
- Check how long the attraction wait time is. Last time I was at the parks I honestly saw on THREE OCCASIONS a queue that was over forty minutes long when the window for Fast Passes was to come back in thirty.
- Get them relatively early – Expedition Everest, Soarin’ and Test Track run out of Fast Passes in early afternoon – do them early.
Outside of very strange circumstances there is no need to wait longer than about 20 minutes for a Disney attraction nowadays. Please don’t.