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Mouse Chat Disney Radio – Disney FastPass+ Avoid Ride Wait Times
UPDATE 3/13/14
MyMagic+ Testing Expands to Include Disney Annual Passholders
| As part of the test and adjust process for MyMagic+, all Passholders are now eligible to customize MagicBands and make FastPass+ selections in advance.
Passholders who link their Passes in My Disney Experience will see the option to customize MagicBands and can place their orders. Passholders will receive their MagicBands, a black or gold Passholder discount card and an exclusive Passholder MagicSlider. Communications and directions will be sent to Passholders via email and direct mail over the coming weeks. |
Disney World has a new ride wait time system. Gone is FastPass and it has been replaced by FastPass+. If you are planning a Walt Disney World Vacation there are several big changes that you need to be aware.
First if you are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort you get to make advance reservations for your rides and attractions. So the sooner you book your Disney World trip you can then sign up for My Disney Experience and start making your ride reservations. If you are not staying on Disney property you can still get FastPass+ times, but only on the day you arrive at the park. So no advance reservations. The kiosks are located at several spots in the Disney parks (In testing as of this article). Currently the lines at these FastPass+ kiosks are extremely long.
The new system is not a quick, enter your ticket and get a print out for when to return. The new FastPass+ kiosk lets you select up to 3 rides / attractions for that day. So guests take a long time trying to see what’s left and what times are available.
There are also several rides that are “E Ticket” rides. These rides and attractions you can only pick one of. So you can’t for example pick Rockin Roller Coaster, AND Toy Story Midway Mania. You can only get a fastpass+ reservation for one. So how it works is you get to select just one top tier ride, and then two A-D ticket class rides.
Also if you purchased the Disney Park Hopper option on your Disney Park Tickets, you don’t get FastPass+ reservations for more than one park.
So before you buy a park hopper ticket make sure you plan your day. Because currently you could hop to anther park and get there with no fastpasses and massive wait times. So your park hopper ticket value is diminished. Of course you can park hop to get dinner over at EPCOT, or start your day at the Magic Kingdom with no fastpasses in hand and then park hop to other park in the afternoon that you have made your FastPass+ reservations for.
Also New – You can book Be Our Guest Dining for lunch in advance. You can even pick your lunch items.
Yes it can be confusing, and hard to make sure you have your magic bands and FastPass+ reservations linked with everyone in your party. I would highly recommend using an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner to make all this extra work much easier. You can contact our friends at Pixie Vacations. (www.PixieVacations.com) Best of all they are free to use. they don’t charge a fee or add something into your vacation cost. It is truly free to use them when you book your Disney vacation with them and they will hold your hand every step of the way.
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Steve Griswold
Mouse Chat
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I am planning my Disney honeymoon for March, and am not able to make lunch reservations for Be Our Guest. Perhaps that was short lived?
I have heard you can not do it this far out. I am also going in March, I can get into the system to do this but no passes are available. I was told to try just one month out for Be Our Guest.
There are no lunch reservations at Be Our Guest. I was able to get a dinner reservation the night before I went to the park, even then there were plenty of walk up reservations for later in the evening.
We stayed at on property last Sept and still have our magic bands. We are going again this year but staying off property. Any chance that we will be able to link our tickets to our existing magic band accounts and pre-select our fast pass +?
Hi, Heather,
Sorry no. You would need to be staying on property again to add your tickets and then select rides and attractions in advance.
I believe you can add them to your existing magic bands. Go to My Disney Experience and log in. Link your tickets or passes then add fast pass. i found it to be very easy. Once you get to the parks go right to guest services and ensure all your bands are ready to go.
Hi Steve. I understand how the “choose one” FP for E ticket rides per day works, but my question is once I choose my 3 FPs for the day online with My Disney Plus, can I get additional ones the traditional way by using my room key (if they still give those) at the old FP kiosks? Or are you limited to 3FPs per day, period? Thank you. Love your podcasts!
Hi Mary,
The old Fastpass machines and old Key To The World cards are both gone. BUT ( In Testing Now) you can walk up to a Kiosk location and get TWO additional fastpasses for that day. I heard this was after you used your three for the day that you prebooked online, but I have to think it’s anytime because what if your 3 fastpasses you book for late in the day.