The Current Fastpass Attractions at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

• Dinosaur-40″ height requirement
• Expedition Everest-44″ height requirement
• Festival of the Lion King
• Finding Nemo the Musical
• Flight of Passage-44″ height requirement
• It’s Tough to Be A Bug
• Kali River Rapids-38″ height requirement
• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Na’vi River Journey
• Primeval Whirl-48″ height requirement

There are currently 10 attractions available for Fastpass selections at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Similar to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom is a tiered system. There are only 2 attractions in Tier One and they are both in Pandora-The World of Avatar. Both Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey are Tier One Fastpasses.

Tier One

• Flight of Passage
• Na’vi River journey

Tier Two

• Dinosaur
• Expedition Everest
• Festival of the Lion King
• Finding Nemo the Musical
• It’s Tough to Be a Bug
• Kali River Rapids
• Kilimanjaro Safari
• Primeval Whirl

What to Fastpass at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

In Animal Kingdom more than any other park this decision truly depends on your traveling party. The holy grail of Fastpasses at Animal Kingdom is Flight of Passage IF you can ride it. My husband can’t do simulators and I’ve ridden it once and it took me to the edge of getting sick so I have no plans for riding it again.

Assuming you choose Flight of Passage for your Tier One you will probably want either Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, or Kilimanjaro Safari to be your 2 Tier Two Choices. If you aren’t up for Flight of Passage you could choose the Na’vi River family boat ride as your Tier One and then make your Tier Two choices from their.

For Ron and I, our typical Animal Kingdom Fastpass selections are Kilimanjaro Safari, Primeval Whirl, and Finding Nemo the Musical. Usually you don’t need Fastpasses for Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo the Musical, or It’s Tough to Be a Bug so those aren’t really necessary. If we travel with our boys and their wives they like Expedition Everest and Dinosaur along with Kilimanjaro Safari.

I hope this series has been helpful to you. I know how confusing it can be to navigate Disney’s Fastpass system, especially for first time guests. I am always here to help you plan your Disney vacation. If you book through me I handle all your Fastpass and dining reservations so you don’t have too. Those are just some of the free extras you get when you book with me. To start planning just Email me to get started.

The post Making your Animal Kingdom Fastpass Selections appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Finally, the long awaited part 4 to my Disney Fastpass series. To get you up to speed we started with my Top 10 Disney Fastpass Tips. Then we moved on to making our Fastpass selections for the Magic Kingdom and for Epcot. There has been a 4 month gap in this series because we knew the Disney’s Hollywood Studios Fastpass tiers would be changing with the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Starting March 4, 2020 the Fastpass tiers are changing again!

The Current Fastpass+ Attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Beauty and the Beast-Live on Stage
• Disney Jr Dance Party
• Fantasmic!
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Millenium Falcon: Smugglers Run
• Muppetvision 3-D
• Rock ‘n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith-48″ height requirement
• Slinky Dog Dash
• Star Tours-The Adventure Continues-40″ height requirement
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror-40″ height requirement
• Toy Story Mania
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

There are now 15 attractions available for Fastpass+ at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with the addition of Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway . Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is still using boarding groups and is not yet a part of the Fastpass+ system.

Just like in Epcot, the Disney’s Hollywood Studios Fastpass system has 2 tiers. When you make your selections you get to choose one from tier 1 and two from tier 2. With the change starting March 4,2020, almost everything is in tier 2. Here is how it breaks down.

Tier 1

• Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Slinky Dog Dash

Tier 2

• Alien Swirling Saucers
• Disney Jr Dance Party
• Fantasmic!
• For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-along Celebration
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Muppetvision 3-D
• Rock ‘n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage
• Star Tours-The Adventure Continues
• Toy Story Mania
• Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

What to Fastpass at Hollywood Studios

The holy grails of Fastpasses at DHS are the three tier one rides: Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Slinky Dog Dash We aren’t big Star Wars fans and I can’t wait to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway but Slinky is our first choice. I’m hoping under the new system we will actually have a chance at getting Fastpasses for it but I’m not holding my breath. I happily wait 90 minutes for this ride when I can’t get a Fastpass, I love it that much! Our third choice would be Toy Story Mania.

When it comes to tier 2 we usually get Rock ‘n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Ron loves this ride and he gets to ride it twice, once using my Magic Band and once using his. Our third choice would be Toy Story Mania.

Depending what is available on tier 2 our other choices would be For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, Fantasmic!, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, or Muppetvision 3-D.

It has been many years since we have had little ones to take to the Disney Jr Dance Party but if you plan on going, get a Fastpass, waiting in that line can be brutal. Ron can’t ride simulators so we never ride Star Tours-The Adventure Continues, but I recommend it to Star Wars fans. I have never needed a Fastpass for Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage or Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

I hope this post helped you sort out your Disney’s Hollywood Studios Fastpass selections. Don’t forget, if you book your Disney Vacation Package through me, I do the planning with you…for FREE! Just Email Me and we will start planning!

The post How to Make your Disney’s Hollywood Studios Fastpass Selections appeared first on The Mom Maven.

I know every family and traveling party is different but I hope you will find this guide helpful. Remember, if you don’t want to deal with getting your Fastpasses, use me as your travel agent and I will take care of it for you. My services are FREE to you! Just Email Me for more info.

In Disney’s Magic Kingdom there are currently 25 attractions that offer Fastpass+ service. You can plan 3 in advance, what do you do? Panic? No, let me help you narrow down your best choices.

The 25 Fastpass Attractions at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

• Barnstormer-35″ height requirement
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad-40″ height requirement
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Enchanted Tales with Belle
• Haunted Mansion
• It’s A Small World
• Jungle Cruise
• Mad Tea Party
• Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Meet Ariel
• Meet Cinderella & Elena
• Meet Mickey
• Meet Tiana & Rapunzel
• Meet Tinker Bell
• Mickey’s Philharmagic
• Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train-38″ height requirement
• Space Mountain-44″ height requirement
• Splash Mountain-40″ height requirement
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Tomorrowland Speedway-32″ height requirement
• Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid

If you have small children and are not looking for thrill rides I suggest: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Peter Pan’s Flight, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Use Enchanted Tales with Belle as your backup if you can’t get one of the original three. The adults can use Rider Switch for any thrill rides they want to check out.

Families with bigger kids, or thrill ride enthusiasts should try to get Fastpasses for: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, with Splash Mountain as your backup.

As a rule, the hardest to get Fastpass in the Magic Kingdom is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. It must be gotten at 7am, 60 days before your vacation starts, and even then, it isn’t always available. For the Magic Kingdom, this is the holy grail of Fastpasses.

What not to Fastpass at the Magic Kingdom

People often ask me what rides aren’t worth Fastpassing. This can be a tricky question because it varies based on how busy the park is. Usually, I wouldn’t bother getting Fastpasses for: Barnstormer, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, It’s a Small World, Mad Tea Party, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Mickey’s Philharmagic, or Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. Both Philharmagic and Laugh Floor are shows that only let in an assigned number of people each show. Your wait will seldom be reduced by using a Fastpass at these attractions. Dumbo now has a paging system and a play area for the kids to enjoy while they wait. The others seldom have lines over 30 minutes so again, no need for a Fastpass.

I hope this post has helped you plan your Magic Kingdom Fastpass selections. If you would like my help, just book your vacation with me, it doesn’t cot you a penny. Email Me and we will get started.

The post How to Make Your Magic Kingdom Fastpass Selections appeared first on The Mom Maven.

10. Get the App

The My Disney Experience App is available in the App Store and on Google Play. Once your trip is booked, download the app and set up your vacation, linking your resort stay, tickets, and ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) so they are all in one place.

9. Decide What’s Important

Before you book your Fastpasses know which attractions in each park are must-dos for your travel party. If you need help deciding, I have a guide for each park, just click on the park name. Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In the next few weeks I’ll also have posts about the best Fastpasses to get in each park so stay tuned for those.

8. Make a Plan

If you already have your ADRs made, which you should, 180 days before your vacation starts, you need to plan around those times. You may also want to take into consideration parade times and show times, if your family likes to watch them. The last thing to consider are single rider lines. Test Track, Expedition Everest, and Rock ‘n Roller Coaster all offer single rider lines. If you don’t mind riding with strangers, these lines usually move rather quickly so you may not want to use up a Fastpass selection on them.

7. Fastpass Day

Know when your Disney Fastpass Day is. If you are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel or select Disney Springs area hotels, your Fastpass Day is 60 days before you arrive and you can get Fastpasses for your entire stay on that day. If you are not staying in one of those resorts, your Fastpass Day is 30 days before you arrive and you can only do one day at a time. The Fastpass booking window opens at 7:00am ET so plan to be up early and ready to go. If you live on the west coast, that’s 4:00am for you! Also, if you are staying on property, schedule backwards! Start with the last day of your trip, it may be easier to get the most coveted Fastpasses that way.

6. When to Schedule Fastpasses

I like to schedule Fastpasses starting at about 10:00am. The earlier morning hours the lines are shorter so I don’t worry about that. I also suggest getting your Fastpasses as close together as possible, so that you can get more later. Yes, you can only get 3 Fastpasses per day, all in one park in advance but you can get more and I’ll tell you about that in a bit. I try to schedule Fastpasses at 10:00am, 11:15am, 12:30pm or thereabouts. You have a 1 hour window in which to use your Fastpass, usually you can arrive up to 5 minutes early or 15 minutes late and still use it. If you know you aren’t going to make it to a Fastpass, go in the app and try and change the time, unless it is a high demand attraction you should be able to change it.

5. Screenshot Everything

There have been multiple occasions lately when the My Disney Experience app and the associated systems at Walt Disney World have crashed. When this happens the Fastpass system doesn’t work. Having a screenshot of your Fastpasses for each day to show the cast member at the attraction is the only backup system available when the computers go down.

4. Tweak The Times

After you use the first Fastpass of the day, go into the app and tweak the times of the other Fastpasses to make them earlier, especially if they are in the same area of the park. There is nothing worse thank killing time waiting for it to be Fastpass time.

3. Getting Additional Fastpasses

Once you have scanned the third Fastpass of the day, you can schedule a fourth and this one can be in the same park or a different one. As soon as we scan Fastpass number 3 at an attraction, I pull out my phone and schedule the next one and I continue on as we use each Fastpass from #4 on. I think the most Fastpasses we have used in one day is 8.

2. Keep Your Phone Charged

I know this seems like a no brainer but you can’t work the app if your phone is dead. You can always go to the Fastpass+ Kiosk in the park but they usually have long lines and who wants to wait in line to get a Fastpass so they can wait in a shorter line? This is my favorite external phone charger that I always carry with me in the parks.

1. Let Me Do It For You

If all of this seems to overwhelming, let me do it for you! Fastpass planning is just one of the FREE services I provide for guests who book their Walt Disney World vacation with me. All of my services are FREE so why not use my knowledge and expertise to help you plan your most magical vacation ever. Just Email Me and we will get started.

The post Top 10 Disney Fastpass Tips appeared first on The Mom Maven.

photo courtesy of Disney

Fastpass+ Upgrade

Starting April 10, 2016 you will notice the following enhancements to how you make FastPass+ selections:

• You will now be able to choose individual FastPass+ experiences and times, and will no longer need to make all selections for the same day at the same time.
• While you will continue to be able to select up to three experiences in advance, you now will be able to book fewer than three selections, if desired.
• In addition, when you have used your first three FastPass+ selections, you will now be able to make an additional FastPass+ selection via the My Disney Experience mobile app, in addition to in-park kiosks. Once you’ve used the fourth, you will be able to select another, and so on.

Why these Fastpass+ Enhancements were Needed

Personally I don’t understand why anyone would want to make fewer than 3 Fastpass+ choices at one time, but I guess some people do. If you are one of these people please leave me a comment and enlighten me as to why

The second enhancement makes perfect sense, it will save time! On last weekend’s trip to the Magic Kingdom I needed to change the time of a Fastpass, normally that is easy to do on the My Disney Experience app. The app kept freezing and couldn’t pull up any of the Fastpasses or my dining reservation. I re-started the app, re-started my phone and even signed out of the app and back in. My only option at this point was to get in the dreaded Fastpass kiosk line. Why do I say dreaded? This line is always long and slow moving. We watched numerous people finally get to the kiosk and have no idea which ride they wanted a Fastpass for. It was just like the people who stand in line at a counter service restaurant and when they finally get to the cashier they have no idea what they want to eat! Ugh!

Every time we have to get in a Fastpass kiosk line, we wait at least 30 minutes! Now that we can get our additional Fastpasses one at a time on the app, we just saved 30-90 minutes of park time! I can’t wait to try the enhanced system out when we visit Disney next month! Are you excited for these upgrades?

If you are thinking about planning a Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney’s Aulani, Disney Cruise Line or Adventures By Disney vacation please let me know. I’d be happy to help you plan and book your next magical vacation! Email me cindys@d2travel.

The post Disney’s Fastpass+ Gets an Upgrade appeared first on The Mom Maven.

Before we look forward into this new year, let’s look back at the most read Disney posts of 2014-just in case you missed any of them. Please feel free to share any of these posts on your social media channels so that others can enjoy them too.

#5 You can Have a Frozen Summer at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Photo courtesy of Disney-David Roark, photographer

#4 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party 2014

Photo courtesy of Disney

#3 A Visit to Frozen Summer Fun Part 1

This post was also my “most shared on social media” Disney post of 2014!

#2 Using the Aurasma App at Disney’s Frozen Summer Fun

#1 The Current Major Complaint about Fastpass+ at Walt Disney World

The post Top 5 Disney Posts of 2014 appeared first on The Mom Maven.

The Tiered System

When booking FastPass+ for Epcot or Disney’s Hollywood Studios you run into a very frustrating  problem. This problem has existed in one form or another since the beginning of the original FastPass program. In the old days we would enter DHS at rope drop and run to Toy Story Midway Mania to get FastPasses and then run to get in the hopefully still short early morning line at Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. Unfortunately, we have not ridden Toy Story Midway Mania in over 2 years because we have been unable to get Fastpasses by the time we arrive.

With the new FastPass+ system you can choose 1 “Premium” attraction and 2 other attractions.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios FastPass+

 “Premium” FastPass+attractions:

• Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage (I have never not gotten into this show, I’m not sure why it is listed here)
• Fantasmic (We used FP+ here and had the worst seats we’ve ever had for the show. Not worth wasting a premium FP+ on)
• Rock ‘n Roller Coaster
• Toy Story Midway Mania

Regular FastPass+ Attractions:

• Disney Junior Live on Stage (IMHO this is a must FastPass+ attraction-standing in that long hot line of whiny pre-schoolers is killer)
• Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
• Lights Motor Action Extreme Stunt Show
• MuppetVision 3D
• Star Tours the Adventure Continues
• The American Idol Experience
• The Great Movie Ride
• The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid

No FastPass+ Available Attractions

• American Film Institute Showcase
• Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure
• The Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow
• The Magic of Disney Animation
• Studio Backlot Tour
• Walt Disney One Man’s Dream

Epcot FastPass+

Premium FastPass+ Attractions

• Illuminations Reflections of Earth
• Maelstrom
• Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot
• Soarin’
• Test Track

Regular FastPass+ Attractions

• Captain EO
• Journey Into Imagination with Figment
• Living with the Land
• Mission Space
• Spaceship Earth
• The Seas with Nemo and Friends
• Turtle Talk with Crush

No FastPass+ Available Attractions

• The American Adventure
• The Circle of Life
• Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
• Impressions de France
• Innoventions
• O Canada!
• Reflections of China

At Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom their is no tiered Fastpass+ in place. Why? Well, one of the guests I spoke to said, that if a park is well-rounded with a good assortment of attractions, a tiered system isn’t needed. I agree 100% with her. Both Epcot and DHS need to be fixed. Disney’s Hollywood Studios lost its focus years ago and in my opinion it doesn’t know what it is anymore. It was a working studio with both animators and television production being done daily for guests to see. Unfortunately, those things that made The Studios unique are both gone and have been for a long time. I think Disney Parks leadership needs to figure out what it wants DHS to be and then work hard to get her there. Magic Kingdom is the perfect park, it is well rounded and there are plenty of attractions for all types and ages of people. Animal Kingdom is a close second, though I feel the upcoming AvatarLand may tip the scales in the wrong direction for that park.

I just hope Disney guests do their homework and plan ahead to make sure they have a magical vacation at Walt Disney World.

The post The Current Major Complaint About FastPass+ at Walt Disney World appeared first on The Mom Maven.

**This tutorial assumes you are booking a Walt Disney World Vacation package and that you are staying in a Walt Disney World Hotel**

When you book your Walt Disney World vacation you get to choose which of  seven colors to choose from: pink, blue, green, red, gray, orange or yellow. MagicBands can be personalized with the family member’s name etched inside. The MagicBands arrive at your home in advance of your magical vacation! The MagicBand serves as park admission, access to FastPass+ experiences and Disney PhotoPass photo association, all rolled into one, it also serves as a room key and optional payment method.

If you have a smartphone, download the MyDisneyExperience app from your phone’s app store, it’s free! You will use this app during your vacation to keep track of your Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs), FastPasses, view menus, read ride info and much more.

Six weeks prior to your vacation, you can make your initial FastPass+ reservations for each day of your trip. To do this you need to know what park you plan to be in each day and which attractions are important for your family. You can use either the MyDisneyExperience website or app to make your selections.

• Choose which park and which date you want to schedule FastPass+ for.
• You can choose 3 attractions per day, in the same park in advance of your trip.
• Once you have clicked on the three attractions you want you are offered 3-4 different schedules to choose from. When choosing, make sure you are not overlapping with any ADRs or parade times (if you plan on watching a parade that day). Choose the schedule that works best for you.
• Your FastPasses now appear in your “plans” on the app.
• Repeat this process for each day of your vacation and you are ready to go!

Tips to Remember

• You can change or cancel FastPasses on your app at any time-please cancel any FastPasses that you aren’t going to use so that a slot will open for another guest
• If you are walking by an attraction that you have a FastPass for and the stand-by wait time is short, ride the ride and then go to a FP+ kiosk and get a different FastPass!
• Once you use your initial 3 FastPasses you can go to a FP+ kiosk in that park, or a different park and get another FastPass

Maybe you aren’t the plan ahead type of person and you are thinking you’ll just wing it and get Fastpasses at the kiosks…don’t. The lines are long and some attractions won’t have any FastPasses available.

FastPass+ Kiosk line in Tomorrowland

If you really don’t want to deal with all of this then just let me do it for you! I am a Disney Travel Planner and my services are FREE to you. Just fill out my travel quote form and we will get started.

The post How To Use FastPass+ at Walt Disney World appeared first on The Mom Maven.

In case you haven’t read my initial post my main concerns were…

• Guests not staying on property couldn’t get MagicBands
• Difficult to coordinate FastPass+ times with other guests
• FastPass+ times not showing up on the My Disney Experience App if you don’t have a MagicBand
• Only 3 FastPasses a day
• No park hopping with FastPasses

FastPass+ Changes since I wrote my January Post

MagicBands for Everyone…for a price

1. Annual and Seasonal Passholders were finally able to order their MagicBands in March-if they hadn’t already received them by staying on property. We received ours in time for our trip to Walt Disney World for Type-A WDW and hopefully, my thoughts on using them for a weekend will be next week’s post.
2. At the end of March Disney started selling Magic Bands in several of their stores in each of the parks for guests not staying on property. The cost is $12.95. Once you purchase your MagicBand the Cast Member will link your theme park ticket to your band. If you had registered your ticket on the My Disney Experience app they will also transfer to your MagicBand. Off-site guests do not get the Touch-to-Pay feature of the MagicBands that on-site guests receive.

Coordinating FastPass+ is a Bit Easier

1. Now that we have our MagicBands and the My Disney Experience app is working for us full-force, we can coordinate our FastPass+ better. In the app you can link your family’s and your friend’s accounts together, allowing 1 person to make FastPass+ reservations for everyone. For example, on Wednesday I will be spending the day in Epcot with my adult son Aaron and our friend David from Pennsylvania who will be down on a week long vacation. We attached Aaron and David’s account to mine via email and I was able to make the FastPass+ reservations for all of us!

FastPass+ Changes Beginning April 28, 2014

On 4/24/14, Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, announced on the Disney Parks Blog:

So starting Monday, after guests have used their first three FastPass+ selections, they will be able to select another one at one of the kiosks located in each of our WDW parks. When they’ve used that one, they’ll be able to select another, and so on, ultimately providing guests with even more ways to customize their Walt Disney World Vacation. Guests will also be able to select and use their additional FastPass+ entitlements when they hop from park to park.

These new changes will allow some park hopping and it will allow you to get additional FastPass+ once you have used your original three for the day.

I am excited to see how Disney will continue to grow with the MagicBands and the FastPass+ system. I appreciate the fact that they have rolled out this industry changing system in steps so that they could review and tweak the system as they go along.

Have you used the FastPass+ system yet? What are your thoughts about it?

The post Upgrades to FastPass+ at Walt Disney World appeared first on The Mom Maven.

What is Fastpass+

Disney FastPass+ service makes your vacation better than ever by allowing you to reserve access to some of your favorite Walt Disney World experiences before you even leave home.

Choose from more than double the previous number of experiences and skip the standby queue at the attractions that you selected in advance, and—for the first time ever—FastPass+ service includes select Character Greetings, shows, parades and fireworks.

The above definition is straight from the Disney Parks website. That is how the system is designed to work and basically how is works for guests currently staying in a Disney resort.

FastPass+ Testing for Non-Disney Resort Guests

If you are not staying at a Disney resort, we live 2 hours away and often travel over for the day-as we did on Friday, the process is different. When you enter the park, bring your entire party to a FastPass+ Kiosk (they are located throughout the parks). You will receive a flyer that explains FastPass+ on one side and a list of all of the FastPass+ attractions, character meet & greets and shows. You get to choose 3 attractions in one park for the day.

**NOTE Please grab the paper and make your decisions BEFORE getting in line, especially of you have a large party going in several directions. The key to making your FastPass+ reservation experience run smoothly is organization and planning in advance. Not getting into line until you are organized makes it easier on the cast members and reduces the wait time for other guests as well.**

Kim and I knew what 3 attractions we wanted FastPass+ for and that we had  morning plans so we wanted all of our FastPasses for the afternoon. We waited in line about 10 minutes-there were 2 families making reservations with cast members and 1 ahead of us in line. We presented our APs to the cast member, told her our attractions: Peter Pan’s Flights, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and she went to work finding us times. She told us our first time 1:00-2:00pm for Pooh. Our first thought was, “How are we going to remember 3 FastPass times all day long?” You can write the times on the flier where you choose your attractions but neither Kim nor I had a pen with us, and neither did the cast member! I whipped out my iPhone and set alarms for each of our FastPasses and we went on with our day.

At about 1:10pm we arrived at Pooh scanned our APs at the FastPass+ return and entered the queue. Where the FastPass queue merges with the stand by queue you need to scan your card again so don’t put your card away. We has put ours away and had to dig them out of our bags for the second scan. The process was simple enough and worked well at all 3 attractions.

If you change your mind or if you go by an attraction and choose to ride stand by, you can go to a FastPass+ Kiosk and let the cast member know and they can update your FastPass+ with another choice.

MomMaven’s Thoughts on FastPass+

When we vacationed at Disney in December our friends who were staying in a Disney resort had access to FastPass+ but those of us staying off property did not, this made traveling as a group difficult during the busy holiday time.  My friend Kim and I headed to the Magic Kingdom on Friday, 1-24-14, to try out the system for ourselves.

We often pop over to the park to spend the day with friends who are down on vacation. Since they make their FastPass+ plans in advance is may be difficult to get the same time windows as they have. This is a new problem for us since with the old system we all walked up to the machines and got return tickets for the same time window.

Since non-resort guests do not have MagicBands at this time (hopefully passholders will be getting them in 2014), our FastPasses are not available though the My Disney Experience Mobile App. This is why we had to write down or create alarms on our phone so that we could remember our FastPass times.

We are parkhoppers and with the legacy FastPass system we were often able to visit our favorite attractions in all 4 parks in one day using 6-8 FastPasses in one day. The new FastPass+ system only allows 3 FastPasses a day and they must all be used in the same park. For locals like us, this is the biggest downside we see of the new program. Is it a deal breaker? No. Will is cause us to change our touring plans? Yes. Does this make us happy? No.

For most guests, I feel the FastPass+ system will work well. Having your resort reservation, dining ADRs and FastPass+ all organized on the My Disney Experience Mobile App will be a great way to stay organized on vacation. The system is still in its testing phase so I am sure there will be tweaks to the system as we move forward.

If you have questions about FastPass+ please leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them for you. If you have used the system on a recent vacation, I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

FastPass+ Kiosk

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