Fastpass + for dummies!!!

[Disney Daddy]

Okay, apparently, I am clueless when it comes to fastpass+. I kind of knew about being able to only get about 3 or 4 fastpass+ reservation per park per day; however, I did not know you could not hop to another park and get more fastpass+ reservations. Why pay all the additional money for a park hopper ticket. With that being said, with fastpass+ reservations on my MagicBands, can I walk up to a fastpass kiosk, scan my MagicBand and receive a paper fastpass, or will I be limited to 3 fastpass attractions a day?

 

[englanddg]

Okay, apparently, I am clueless when it comes to fastpass+. I kind of knew about being able to only get about 3 or 4 fastpass+ reservation per park per day; however, I did not know you could not hop to another park and get more fastpass+ reservations. Why pay all the additional money for a park hopper ticket. With that being said, with fastpass+ reservations on my MagicBands, can I walk up to a fastpass kiosk, scan my MagicBand and receive a paper fastpass, or will I be limited to 3 fastpass attractions a day?

The bands are not compatible with the paper fastpass machines. You have to have a magnetic strip card (KTTW) for that.

Park Hopping is still a great thing to do for ADRs...but, without being able to do FPs at the later park, I'm not sure it's worth the extra cost...

I don't get discouraging Park Hopping. The only thing I could think of is that Disney maybe wants to try and reduce some of the bus traffic / number of runs required? But, mid-day, the buses are rarely that full anyway.

Park Hopping is one of the ways I started to visit other hotels, and try stuff out there (like restaurants). Otherwise, I'd just ignore them. It's better than a brochure to have guests actually visit (even if it's just to snag another bus). If you see AKL or WL once, you are gonna want to stay there!

 

[Tom]

Okay, apparently, I am clueless when it comes to fastpass+. I kind of knew about being able to only get about 3 or 4 fastpass+ reservation per park per day; however, I did not know you could not hop to another park and get more fastpass+ reservations. Why pay all the additional money for a park hopper ticket. With that being said, with fastpass+ reservations on my MagicBands, can I walk up to a fastpass kiosk, scan my MagicBand and receive a paper fastpass, or will I be limited to 3 fastpass attractions a day?

With FP+, you can book them up to 60 days in advance via the MyDisneyExperience.com website, or a smartphone app. But first you must have a Disney resort hotel reservation and some sort of Disney theme park ticket linked to the same account.

You will also want to link accounts for everyone in your party, so you can get the same Fastpasses.

You are correct that you can only select FP+ for one theme park per day. However, Park Hopping still provides a benefit if you want to see nighttime shows, eat a meal, or experience Extra Magic Hours in a park other than the one where you have FP+ for that day.

You will no longer be able to obtain paper fastpasses - either with a band or card. You will only be able to book FP+, and use your band to gain access using the scanners at the entrances to the ride queues.

It's very simply, while also very complicated at the same time - so don't feel like you're alone in your confusion

 

[Tom]

The bands are not compatible with the paper fastpass machines. You have to have a magnetic strip card (KTTW) for that.

But only if you stay at the resorts that haven't done away with legacy FP, which includes 2 resorts now. I predict the rest will follow quickly, since MDE will be in full force for all guests starting in 2014.

 

[englanddg]

But only if you stay at the resorts that haven't done away with legacy FP, which includes 2 resorts now. I predict the rest will follow quickly, since MDE will be in full force for all guests starting in 2014.

Yeah. The reports have been so wishy washy, I wasn't sure if they'd fully done away with it yet.

But...we all knew this was coming...

 

[Rob562]

The bands are not compatible with the paper fastpass machines. You have to have a magnetic strip card (KTTW) for that.

Park Hopping is still a great thing to do for ADRs...but, without being able to do FPs at the later park, I'm not sure it's worth the extra cost...

I don't get discouraging Park Hopping. The only thing I could think of is that Disney maybe wants to try and reduce some of the bus traffic / number of runs required? But, mid-day, the buses are rarely that full anyway.

Park Hopping is one of the ways I started to visit other hotels, and try stuff out there (like restaurants). Otherwise, I'd just ignore them. It's better than a brochure to have guests actually visit (even if it's just to snag another bus). If you see AKL or WL once, you are gonna want to stay there!

Park Hopping with FP+ also means that you can schedule your FP+ for the *second* park that day, visit your first park to ride a few things Standby, and the hop to another park knowing that you have FP+ lined up. It'd be nice to do a few Standby attractions at AK and know that when I hope to Studios later on that I'll be able to get onto TSMM. You couldn't do *that* under legacy FP.

-Rob

 

[englanddg]

Park Hopping with FP+ also means that you can schedule your FP+ for the *second* park that day, visit your first park to ride a few things Standby, and the hop to another park knowing that you have FP+ lined up. It'd be nice to do a few Standby attractions at AK and know that when I hope to Studios later on that I'll be able to get onto TSMM. You couldn't do *that* under legacy FP.

-Rob

Right. Hopefully this is something that is a feature that is added later. I tend to go for longer periods of time (10 - 14 days), and I really enjoy hopping from one park to another.

 

[Tom]

Right. Hopefully this is something that is a feature that is added later. I tend to go for longer periods of time (10 - 14 days), and I really enjoy hopping from one park to another.

I also hope for that. They could just say you get 4, and can mix and match them across the parks.

 

[disney4life2008]

Park Hopping with FP+ also means that you can schedule your FP+ for the *second* park that day, visit your first park to ride a few things Standby, and the hop to another park knowing that you have FP+ lined up. It'd be nice to do a few Standby attractions at AK and know that when I hope to Studios later on that I'll be able to get onto TSMM. You couldn't do *that* under legacy FP.

-Rob

This is actually a great way to looking positively at FP+ and park hoping. I am actually testing this out in January. On my arrival day (late in the afternoon) I have a FP+ reserved for TSMM at 5pm which in my previous trips even in the off season - the wait exceeds 90 minutes. So if this means that I will have little to no wait - then FP+ is a winner. Your method is also good for park hoping - but that would mean being at the gate at opening. This would easily work at AK where you can get by standing in the regular line all day. But EPCOT, HS, MK all have lines up to an hour after opening - and you would still need to do the gate dash to say TSMM.