Fastpass Tickets

[Disney Vacation Planner]

Walt Disney World has recently introduced a method of reducing the time needed to queue for the more popular rides called "FastPass".

The FastPass doesn't mean that a guest will ride the attraction any earlier than if they didn't take advantage of it, but it does mean that they wouldn't have to queue for hours for the attraction, and so instead could do something else while they'd otherwise be queueing, and thus make more use of their time in the park.

The Fast pass line runs beside the regular line and takes the guest to the ride boarding area. When they get to the ride they can get a fast pass or wait in the regular ride line. The time to the ride and return time for fast pass are displayed at the entrance to the ride. The time to ride for someone waiting in line will always be slightly earlier than the time to return with the fastpass ticket, but it does mean staying in line until they get to the front, whereas the fastpass time to return and ride means that the guest can get their fastpass ticket, and then go off and do something else, returning at their alotted time.

To get the fastpass ticket, the guest inserts their park pass, (which can be any valid Walt Disney World issued admission media), into the fast pass machine and it prints a small receipt ( about the size of a cash register receipt) on which there is a period of time to return spread over a one hour block ie. (11:15 to 12;15). Providing the guest returns within this time slot they can join the short fastpass line rather than the longer standard line. A Cast Member checks the pass before they allow entrance to the attraction.

When the admission media is inserted into the Fastpass machine it is supposed to check that no other outstanding fastpass tickets have been issued for the same media to prevent guests from getting fastpass tickets to all of the rides one after another. The FastPass ticket that has the one hour block return time printed boldly on the front of the ticket (the time and date of issuance is also printed on the ticket). On the back of the ticket, pre-printed information about FastPass, and the height requirements of the attraction are included. The FastPass tickets are issued in one hour blocks every five minutes, with a specific number of tickets issued for every five minute block.

Initially the Fastpass system was implemented in the Animal Kingdom (on Countdown to Extinction (now renamed Dinosaur), Kilimanjaro Safari and Kali River Rapids) but has now also been setup in the Disney MGM Studios (Rock n Roller Coaster) and The Magic Kingdom (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain), and Epcot (Test Track).