“will not accommodate late arrivals” now on ALL fast passes handed out at Disney World
My family and I just came back from a week in Disney World with the Spring Break crowds. The parks were crowded and we had to test out some new touring strategies due to them enforcing the fast pass returns.
Here are some tips for you:
-It is more important than ever to get to the park at rope drop with the new enforcements in place. We were able to ride a lot of the popular rides without having to waste a fast pass opportunity by getting there early.
-The fast passes for the REALLY popular rides had very late return times. For example by 10:30 a.m. the return time for Toy Story Mania was around dinner time which would cause a problem for most people because they would miss their dining reservations AND it prevents you from getting another fast pass until that time.
-Be very certain to look at the RETURN time for the fast passes before you go sticking your pass into the fast pass slot. There were many times when we would realize that attractions like Buzz Light Year and Test Track had quicker return times than Soarin’ or Toy Story Mania so we tried to hit those popular ones early on in the day without fast passing them and fast pass the attractions like Buzz Light Year and Tower of Terror that had return times about an hour later, allowing us to have more fast pass opportunities throughout the day.
Cast Members Mean Business:
Don’t approach your vacation thinking you will find a CM who will let you slide, they are being very clear when you are getting the fast passes that there are no exceptions. When we were getting fast passes for Rockin’ Roller Coaster the CM was loudly announcing to everyone “if you do not come back within the time stated on your Fast Pass it is as if you do not have a fast pass at all for this ride”. I did test the return time window and as allowed to ride 10 minutes after a printed fast pass time but I wouldn’t push it beyond that.
Changing How You Tour The Park:
I know I will be revamping the touring plans that I do for my clients based on this experience and the new fast pass limitations. It did not hinder our vacation at all and we still had a Magical time in Disney, but it changes the way you do things for sure. I did notice that the fast pass lines were much shorter now that they were enforcing return times which was great.
How will this change your park touring style? What do you think of the changes?
Related articles
- How to Tour the Parks – Dancing through Hollywood Studios (chipandco.com)
- Coming Soon: Disney World to add Fast Pass option for Fast Pass machines (chipandco.com)
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Ok, so, I’m confused on statements made in article and comments…you already said article was a mistake about “AND it prevents you from getting another fast past until that time” What is this 2 hour window that you speak of? because the picture attached to the blog shows time received as 11:11 and another Fastpass ticket will be available after 12:10 pm. That is only one hour.
It’s still the 2 hour window, sorry about that.
Yes, they are giving you a 10 minute grace period window, we tried that once and were allowed on, I wouldn’t try beyond 10-15 minutes though
Are they honoring the grace period? Shows as gp in the corner.
I was just wondering bc the article says “AND it prevents you from getting another fast pass until that time.” Just making sure it’s still a 2 hour window 🙂
Hi, no, they didn’t change the every 2 hours but if the return time was only an hour away, which happened for us with Buzz Light Year and Tower of Terror then it allowed us to get one sooner than the 2 hour mark.
So did they change the rule that you can get a fastpass every 2 hours if your return window is further out that that??