Grand Kids to Disney in June

redhooker wrote:

Beaker wrote:

The alternative is every rider waits the full time for a ride.

That alternative would be crazy. Everyone treated equally!? That would not be fair???

If you learn to work the system it makes for a much better day.

Because of my bad foot and wife's bad knee we never know were we may be and sometimes need to sit for up to a half hour at a time.

We usually ride 5 to 8 rides and only spend a total of just over an hour in line.

Please say thank you to suckers like me that make your day wonderful.


After returning home, I sent a complaint to WDW and actually received a phone call from customer service and had a long talk about the fast pass. What you said about WDW using fast pass to regulate the lines is true but the fact is that attractions can handle only so many guests per hour regardless. You may possibly see a different fast pass in the future to even out the playing field. EVERYONE would have a certain number of fast passes to use without all the planning one now needs, and when you use yours up, too bad.

All that being said we went the Monday after Thanksgiveing to see the Christmas lights which were wonderful. We had a very good time and would like to go again but unless something is done with the fast pass, this will have been out last time.

We stayed at Fort Wilderness which was nice, but about any state park is much nicer for us.

I am not saying your opinion is wrong-I understand the frustration. And this is not an argument, just a possible bit of info that could assist on your next trip. The irony is I felt exactly the same way as you until I understood how it works.

First-everyone is treated equally with fastpass. Everyone can reserve them a month in advance, and pick from several different time slots for the rides. Want them stacked in the am, afternoon or night-there's a layout for almost any plan. It also orders them with no backtracking. Three is the limit in advance, but I already listed out several ways to get in 6 or 7 rides with little to no hassle if you mix in quicker line rides or hit the busy ones before 10am. MIx that in with one or two meal reservations and it is a full day. If you don't reserve a table (which if you call 407 WDWDINE they can get you in somewhere with as little as an hours notice as long as you are flexible) you are stuck using a walk up counter serve restaurant. Fort Wilderness is not the greatest campground in the world, but we pay from $60 to $90 a night to stay it is by far the cheapest WDW resort to use. Cool side note is the water tower at the pool is the old one from the now closed River Country.

That said-if you try to spontaneously go on a whim with no reservations it is tough. We live an hour away so that can be an issue for us. If you actually plan ahead and reserve all you can it is now possible to visit WDW and spend a very short amount of time waiting in lines. To us that is a huge improvement.

I agree, it is a science and takes some effort to plan, it is probably no fun for someone who likes to be spontaneous, but it can be a lot of fun for us, as we are neurotic planners
We have always found:
1) be there at opening and hit a couple of big rides right off
2) plan your fast passes as early as possible so you can add more later
3) plan to do the less popular stuff mid day
4) do lunch/dinner off hours just before 11am is the perfect time for lunch and just before 4pm for dinner
5) despite the logic, avoid a park that has extra magic hours that day as everyone else will go there to get an extra hour out of their day, but they will end up spending an extra two hours in lines
6) don't go hide inside when it rains, bring a rain coat and go straight for the popular rides
Finally the most important factor, and this is huge:
1) lines are insane in July and around Christmas
2) lines are dead in October and April

Beaker wrote:

The alternative is every rider waits the full time for a ride.

That alternative would be crazy. Everyone treated equally!? That would not be fair???

If you learn to work the system it makes for a much better day.

Because of my bad foot and wife's bad knee we never know were we may be and sometimes need to sit for up to a half hour at a time.

We usually ride 5 to 8 rides and only spend a total of just over an hour in line.

Please say thank you to suckers like me that make your day wonderful.


After returning home, I sent a complaint to WDW and actually received a phone call from customer service and had a long talk about the fast pass. What you said about WDW using fast pass to regulate the lines is true but the fact is that attractions can handle only so many guests per hour regardless. You may possibly see a different fast pass in the future to even out the playing field. EVERYONE would have a certain number of fast passes to use without all the planning one now needs, and when you use yours up, too bad.

All that being said we went the Monday after Thanksgiveing to see the Christmas lights which were wonderful. We had a very good time and would like to go again but unless something is done with the fast pass, this will have been out last time.

We stayed at Fort Wilderness which was nice, but about any state park is much nicer for us.

I am not saying your opinion is wrong-I understand the frustration. And this is not an argument, just a possible bit of info that could assist on your next trip. The irony is I felt exactly the same way as you until I understood how it works.

First-everyone is treated equally with fastpass. Everyone can reserve them a month in advance, and pick from several different time slots for the rides. Want them stacked in the am, afternoon or night-there's a layout for almost any plan. It also orders them with no backtracking. Three is the limit in advance, but I already listed out several ways to get in 6 or 7 rides with little to no hassle if you mix in quicker line rides or hit the busy ones before 10am. MIx that in with one or two meal reservations and it is a full day. If you don't reserve a table (which if you call 407 WDWDINE they can get you in somewhere with as little as an hours notice as long as you are flexible) you are stuck using a walk up counter serve restaurant. Fort Wilderness is not the greatest campground in the world, but we pay from $60 to $90 a night to stay it is by far the cheapest WDW resort to use. Cool side note is the water tower at the pool is the old one from the now closed River Country.

That said-if you try to spontaneously go on a whim with no reservations it is tough. We live an hour away so that can be an issue for us. If you actually plan ahead and reserve all you can it is now possible to visit WDW and spend a very short amount of time waiting in lines. To us that is a huge improvement.

Tickets at Work offers some discounted tickets at times. I would not expect more than 10% effective, though. Buy 3 get 2 days free right now, but that isn't 40% discount. The multi-day passes get very cheap over 4 consecutive days. Don't bother with multiple entry per day. You waste at least an hour of open park time changing parks.

Have fun! We've been twice and enjoyed both times. I don't have the desire to return, but my wife wants to. And you couldn't pay me to go to WDW in June! Both times were off peak and busy enough as well as comfortable weather, Nov and Feb.

The alternative is every rider waits the full time for a ride.

That alternative would be crazy. Everyone treated equally!? That would not be fair???

If you learn to work the system it makes for a much better day.

Because of my bad foot and wife's bad knee we never know were we may be and sometimes need to sit for up to a half hour at a time.

We usually ride 5 to 8 rides and only spend a total of just over an hour in line.

Please say thank you to suckers like me that make your day wonderful.


After returning home, I sent a complaint to WDW and actually received a phone call from customer service and had a long talk about the fast pass. What you said about WDW using fast pass to regulate the lines is true but the fact is that attractions can handle only so many guests per hour regardless. You may possibly see a different fast pass in the future to even out the playing field. EVERYONE would have a certain number of fast passes to use without all the planning one now needs, and when you use yours up, too bad.

All that being said we went the Monday after Thanksgiveing to see the Christmas lights which were wonderful. We had a very good time and would like to go again but unless something is done with the fast pass, this will have been out last time.

We stayed at Fort Wilderness which was nice, but about any state park is much nicer for us.

ArticFox 676 wrote:
Disney and AAA not longer partner on discounts as of Jan. 2015.

Well, that's too bad! I was going to mention to the original poster to check with AAA.

Also try checking Disboards and FortFiends forums for info.

Recently returned from my 10th visit and won't be back for a while. My complaints:1. With fast pass you can get on maybe 3 attractions/rides a day. At $100- per day to get into a park that's $33- per maybe 5 minute ride. Having to use all 3 fast passes before booking 4th is a joke as the kiosk lines that you must wait in are crazy long. 2. I stayed in Ft. Wilderness and on arrival day went to Trails End for dinner and was told no walk ins, reservations only. Went to concierge to check for cancellations and was told none. While being told this, one in my party was checking app on phone and found a cancellation. The concierge couldn't find it. What's with that? 3.With every dinner reservation I made it came up on my phone listing me and someone else's names, who I never heard of. I checked with town hall and they had no answer as to why. I also checked @ each restaurant and none could answer. Makes me wonder about your security on their apps. 4. It stinks that if all you want to do is go into a park for dinner, you need to use a park entry. There should be a way to handle this. 5. An older couple camped near us and the day after their arrival were joined by 3 other families for the weekend. And we wonder why the pool was packed. I doubt WDW would allow 4 families to share a single hotel room. And WDW just announced another price increase.

Beaker wrote:

First, the fastpass system is great.

For some.

For others, like me, it sucks.

Totally understand the sentiment, as it took a while for us to adapt. But the stats don't lie and the standby lines are actually less time compared to pre-fastpass so if you don't use the FP system you would be worse off if it were never implemented. The fastpass users are being manipulated to spread out the lines-and are not taking up space in the standby lines. An average ride runs close to 8,000 people a day through the FP line that wait about 10 minutes (a busy day at MK is like 80,000 people) so to me it is impressive. The alternative is every rider waits the full time for a ride. If you learn to work the system it makes for a much better day. We usually ride 5 to 8 rides and only spend a total of just over an hour in line.

First, the fastpass system is great.

For some.

For others, like me, it sucks.

Just gonna post some good fyi about disney, as we are pretty well versed in the park (10+ year annual pass holders).

First, the fastpass system is great. Once you buy your tickets online you can book 3 fastpasses online up to 30 days in advance. If you are not familiar, here are a couple insights on those:

1. The attractions are easy to understand. But there are also "fastpass" for fireworks & parades. You might wonder how the heck that works but Disney recently built beautiful "lawns" all around the front of the castle strictly for fastpass holders, and it is a comfortable front row picnic style seat that is tough to beat.

2. There is a possibility there will be no fastpass available for a ride you want. Don't fret, if you are resourceful you can go up with your whole party, and ask for a "child swap" pass. Then 1 or 2 persons can wait in line, and later up to 4 other people can return to the ride and go through the fastpass line (I may regret hooking this info up here, this is an expert level move).

3. PIck your fastpass rides based on the need. All the coasters are good candidates except barnstormer. That one is usually 20 minutes on standby. No FP needed for Dumbo, or the little mermaid. If you arrive early, you can expect to get 2 rides in with reasonable lines if it's prior to 10am, even on the busiest of days-right now everyone runs to the mine train. So plan your route accordingly. With this info we can usually get 5 to 7 rides in with minimal waiting, and that is on "busy" days at MK.

If you are not staying on property, and plan on dining there (character dining is great at least once with the kids), if you make a breakfast reservation at one of the central hotels like Poly, Cont, GFL, you can drive right up and just park there for free for the day (at the parking toll just tell them you are en route to the resort reservation). You will park just feet from the door and ride the monorail right into MK. We love the Ohana breakfast btw. If you plan your day right with a couple shows and the fastpass rides you will not be worn out and the whole experience will actually be enjoyable for the grownups as well as the kids.

Disney and AAA not longer partner on discounts as of Jan. 2015.