FastPass+ Changes Rolling Out Next Week at Walt Disney World

42 thoughts on “FastPass+ Changes Rolling Out Next Week at Walt Disney World”

• Last year we had luck in using our RFID cards as well as our Magic Bands to reserve FastPasses. I guess this fall we won’t be so lucky as to use both again? Has anyone recently had success with this method of using your “key to the world card” as well as reserving FastPass+ on the website?

  • Hey Nik – if I understand your question correctly, no. The old Fastpass system, machines and all, is completely gone. Everything now is completely Fastpass+. You may reserve those online ahead of time or at a kiosk in the park.

• I have been trying for the past 2 days to get my fastpasses on the My Disney Experience website, and I keep getting technical difficulties messages. Is anyone else experiencing this? This happens on different computers, internet browsers and times of day. Very frustrating!

• The Touring Plan guys are going to have a hard time keeping up with all the emerging strategies to maximize the ride experience! It just occurred to me that, with the tiering system, our typical park hopping strategy of going to one park in the am, resting poolside in the afternoon, and then going to EPCOT or DS for rides and dinner just turned upside down. With only 1 top tier ride allowed at DS and EPCOT, I might now choose to go to those parks in the am and hustle the rope drop to ride TSM, RRR or Soarin’ in the stand by lines and then go to MK later in the day/evening where I can get 3 mountain FP+s late in the day. Of course, then we can’t eat dinner at EPCOT or Brown Derby! We just may have to park hop back! oh my! Can’t wait for the touring plans to be updated with park hopping and FP+! In the mean time, life is still simple in Anaheim!

• Just an interesting side note, and I would love to hear from people who have utilized this in the past couple days but….

  On the phone with Disney last night to correct some horrendous MyDisney malfunctions (it decided to cancel one entire series of park hopper passes by itself, and foul up a bunch of other FP+ stuff)I had questioned about the new changes now starting and the Rep told me “right now you cannot use your park hopper for the additional 4th and on past passes”. I truly think she must have been misinformed in this. Maybe she was speaking that you cannot do it from the MyDisney app, but it wasn’t what she said. Maybe just a little confusion on her part.

  Would love to hear from those that have park hopped using the 4th and on FP!

• At least they are making some progress with this, but I still see no benefit of using the park hopper option (unless it was free – LOL) You basically have to be a rope drop for Park 1 and hopefully hit 2 or 3 main attractions without FP and then use your 3 FP+ for the evening in Park 2 to maximize. If you are going to HS without a FP in the morning, good luck after hopefully only waiting 30 mins for Toy Story. By then Rock’N Roller will be at least 30 mins , same with Tower of Terror (I preface this by saying this is during the busy times of the year) Thanks for keeping us updated on the Rikki!

• Here’s another question with an unclear answer: do you have to be at particular park’s kiosk in order to reserve the rolling FPP? For example, if I go to the Studios and use my 3 FPP, can I go to a Studios kiosk to reserve my 4th FPP at the MK or do I have to travel to MK to do that?

  Here’s hoping they link MDE to this change sooner than later, so changes can be made on mobile devices…

  • What I have read is that you need to be in the park that you are looking to get the FP+ for. So in your example you would have to travel to MK to get the 4th FP+.

    To me, this seems like a gamble that is not worth it. Schedule all your FP+ in the morning when they’re less valuable only to find the selection for your 4th FP+ is slim. Seems like a lose-lose.

    • Thanks. That’s what I thought would be the case.

      Unfortunately, it makes sense for them to do it that way, if their ultimate goal is for most people to reserve the rolling FPP by mobile device. Why invest in a software patch for the kiosks that would enable cross-park FPP when it’s easier to just enable people to pick the rolling FPP from anywhere using their own mobile device.

      Once that happens, how much do you want to bet that we will see people making their next rolling FPP ressies from the ride they’re currently riding?! LOL!

• Still need to know if you can choose your first 3 Fastpass+ from any park…or do they all have to be at one park? Only wanted two at one park, but they still give you the third as a suggestion.

• What I would like to see is a blog entry on what FPP are likely to run out each day, and at what time that would be for each park. Under the old system this was well known.

  For my trip in July I’m considering scheduling FPP for our parks that we are going to park hop and hit the headliners at RD in the morning in our first park. But this could change things if you can get decent FPP for the evening on the fly when you park hop.

  • Todd, I was thinking the same thing. We are going in July and I planned on going to MK at rope drop, doing some headliners and other rides in the morning (without FP) then taking an afternoon break. Then head over to DHS and do Toy Story, Tower of Terror, and Star Tours with FP+. We only have 3 days in the parks and this would allow us to see our favorite rides at HS without wasting a morning. I’m just leery of going to the MK without the option of FP…

• So, I had a thought. I think that tying the new “rolling FP+” entitlement to the pre-scheduled FP+ reservations is a little silly. It just creates confusion. What if the new “rolling FP+” entitlement could be made to work just like the old legacy FastPass system? There could be separate, dedicated “rolling FP+” kiosks positioned at each attraction. These dedicated rolling FP+ kiosks would simply display the “rolling FP+” return time for the attraction. Instead of inserting a park ticket and spitting out paper FP return tickets, users could just wave their magic band, and kiosk would acknowledge & confirm your FP+ return time.

  I can dream, right?

  • Exactly what I was thinking. Make obtaining these quick & easy so there won’t be 30-minute waits at the kiosks.

• I was at HS yesterday with evening FP and when I tried to change one of them in the morning, there wasn’t much left for the evening. I tried to change again at 5:30 and only muppets 3D and stunt show were left. This was with a 9:30 closing and crowd level 3. So, the pickens will be very slim, if at all, for a 4th when it’s crowded.

• What I’d like to know is if for this 4th FP+ if the restrictions are eased. For example, if I used one of my FP+ at MK for Space Mountain, can I get another Space Mountain FP+ after I use all 3 of my pre-booked ones? And if I’m at Epcot and I use a FP+ for Test Track, can I then get one for Soarin’ (even though it is Tier 1) after my 3 pre-booked FP+ are used?

  • It’s noted above that your rolling FP+ can be for a ride you’ve already used a FP+ for, so the limitations would just be based on availability- at least that’s my read.

• Like others… I am still frustrated that you have to use ALL THREE of your FPPs before you can get a 4th… really messes up evening planning! All they would need to do, is to allow the 4th one to be selected after using your first FPP. You would never have more than 3 FPP on reserve at any time that way. Please keep listening Disney!! 🙂

• Do the First three FastPass+ Still need to be made in one park? I was on the Disney Ap and chose only two, but it still filled in the third for me with their suggestion. What if I want to choose no third option and use that one in another park?

• Taken from the Disney Travel Agent Website: Today we are excited to share that starting on Monday, April 28, 2014, all Walt Disney World® Resort Guests will be able to make additional FastPass+ selections at in-park kiosks after they have redeemed their original (up to three) selections.

  Guests will be able to make one additional selection at a time, based on availability. After they redeem that additional selection, they can go to a FastPass+ kiosk to make another selection, and so on. (The additional FastPass+ selections must be made at a kiosk only.)
  Guests will be able to make their additional selection(s) for an experience at which they already redeemed a FastPass+ selection earlier that day.

  Guests with valid park-hopping privileges will be able to make their additional selection(s) at another park. Those selections must be made at a kiosk in the park where the desired experience is located.

• Maybe I missed to the answer to this…but for example, what if you scheduled 3 fastpasses at Hollywood studios- but only REALLY wanted to use one of them (TSM)…and planned on being at MK in the afternoon…without using the other 2 FP at HS, could you get your 4th at MK – or even better- hop and use those 2 (that you just signed up for the heck of it) at MK?

  • I asked a similar question when this was first announced. I don’t think anyone know yet.

    • Ok- thanks!

    • Just get the other 2 FP+s as early as you can but ignore them. The statements said a 4th is possible after the times for the first 3 are past.

    • Great idea- thank you!

• Hopefully they will change it so that you can add them with the app and not have to use the kiosks. Standing in line at a kiosk to cut off wait time at one ride doesn’t seem worth it. :/

  • I had the same thought. I’m not going to wait in line for 30 minutes hoping to get a fastpass to Soarin’ when I can’t know if any are left until I get to the kiosk (even if they post signs when they’re gone, the person in front of me might get the last one). Any of the less popular rides that might have fastpasses left late in the day would probably have a shorter than, or at least a comparable wait to, the kiosk (based on rumors of the kiosk wait anyway).

• Well, this is nice, but… It seems to me a more user-friendly option would be to just have the 4th, “rolling” FP+ available for whenever. Why tie it to the pre-scheduled FP+ reservations at all? People who have pre-scheduled FP+ reservations for late in the day (or evening parades, fireworks, etc) won’t likely have much opportunity to use the “rolling” FP+.

• Another thought: this could make early morning standby waits longer. Rewarding people for using up their FPs quickly will cause people to book FPs earlier when they might not have done so otherwise. More people in the FP line means longer standby waits. That “Golden Hour” after Rope Drop when standby waits are low just got less valuable.

• I already made some adjustments to my May 1st Fastpasses in anticipation of this change. Just not sure how early I am willing to make them. The first hour or two has low enough crowds anyway that I wouldn’t see the point in having them before 10am.

• Anyone know if this includes the Swan and Dolphin? I don’t think they have magic bands yet, but do have other Disney resort perks like Magic Hours, etc.

  • FWIW when I spoke with the Swalphin earlier this year, they stated that they have no plans to implement the magic bands or FP+ system.

    • ^I recently booked the Dolphin. S&D guests have the same access to FP+ as other resort guests, with one exception. Those who want Magic Bands must purchase them for $12 each. RFID enabled tickets work just as well.

• Interesting-places an emphasis on getting through your Fastpasses ASAP, I guess.

  What about parks that tier? Will we be able to choose regardless of tier?

  • That I guess we’ll find out starting on Monday. I am interested to see how that will work as well.

• So if your 3rd FastPass is for the special seating at the nighttime parade, you will only get 3 that day since the last one won’t be used until late that evening.

  • That would be my guess. At least as of right now and the way things are set up. It could change in the future with guest feedback, but the way it seems now, that would be correct.

    • My strategy is going to be to do plan all three of my Fastpasses for mid-day. I should be able to get enough rides in standby during the morning, take a break, use the FastPasses, and then check to see what is still available. Hopefully I can get another couple Fastpasses in before dinner. Just before our dinner, I’ll see if I can grab a Fastpass for the fireworks shows. Just doesn’t seem like it’s worth it to book one of those in advance.

  • We’ve heard from Cast Member that this is the case. I wouldn’t get a nighttime fast pass because of this situation.

  • My question is somewhat similar. Lets say I am at Hollywood studios for the day I get the 3 fast passes for earlier, and want to then get Fantasmic. With the tier system would I be able to do that if i used one of my earlier fast passes for TSM?

• Is this available to all guests or just resort guests?

  • All guests will be able to take advantage of the rolling fourth FastPass. As far as the park hopping, all guests who purchase park hoppers will be able to participate.

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