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peng
03-24-2007, 07:17 PM
I a few places I have read that one can use a fast pass much later that the end time on the pass. Example: get a Space Mountain fast pass in the morning that says it ends at 11:30, but show up at 3:00 in that afteroon and still go in the fast pass lane.

Does this really work? Have you ever used this and been told your fast pass had expired and you should not be in the fast pass lane?

samsma
03-24-2007, 07:33 PM
We did this all the time on our last trip. We collected the fastpasses in the morning, and used them at night when the lines were packed. No one ever said anything, or made it seem like it was wrong to do that.

GrouchoMarx
03-24-2007, 07:51 PM
We do it all the time. Never a problem.

lofosho
03-24-2007, 07:52 PM
At night, when all the fast passes run out, CMs will usually let you use expired fastpasses from earlier that day : )

MouseWife
03-24-2007, 08:07 PM
I don't see any thing wrong with this, for this reason:

How many times have you arranged your day around going back to a land to ride something with a fast pass only to have the ride down? You have plans to leave the area or even the park at that time until later, maybe returning to this area.

So, if you can go back later, I think it is only fair to be able to ride with these types of fastpasses.

Pat-n-Eil
03-24-2007, 09:39 PM
I can tell you for an unequivocal fact that the de facto policy used at both parks is that the expiry time is ignored. I've had castmembers confirm this for me several years ago and the policy has not changed.

You must wait for the return time in all cases - but the hour window is not enforced. They should just put the park closing time as the end time and eliminate any confusion.

hlbtimes2
03-24-2007, 09:55 PM
I've only had one cm even raise an eye. He looked it kind of funny, I said "I'm a little late, hope it not a problem". He laughed and said "a little late?". I should mention it was over 10 hours past the return time. LOL

Mr.Abominable
03-25-2007, 12:17 PM
We do this all of the time as well and never have a problem.

Another Dimension
03-25-2007, 12:57 PM
Over the years, I have only gotten hit-up about returning with an 'hours late' Fast Pass a few times and all by a Autopia CMs.


One Autopia CM last summer even said
"You know, you're kinda late with this, aren't you?"


...to which I quickly replied "....yeah?!?" :cool:


He still took it and let me pass... but what was with the completely unneccessary question? :p

Mermaid
03-25-2007, 06:15 PM
We do this all the time but I don't like to go more than 2-3 hours late. Have I done it- Yes, but I don't like to!!:p One time, the CM told us we were early for our 11PM FP, I said, no it is 11AM. This was at like 10PM so I felt weird about it but he let us go! I heard the WDW CM confirm they have the same policy of taking them late.

Clotho
03-25-2007, 08:43 PM
We do our darndest to go during the time, and not "abuse" the ability to go anytime after. But if we genuinely get sidetracked or delayed, then we will use them outside the window. That doesn't happen much, though, as we generally end up planning our day to hang around the area of the ride with the fastpass on it.

Question: I understand you are only supposed to be able to have one Fastpass at a time. But what happens if you show up at 9am and a very busy ride already has Fastpass returns for 9pm. Are you really not allowed to get any more Fastpasses? Or is there some expiry on the time limitation after getting one--like an hour after getting one Fastpass you can get another?

I know I knew this at one time, but haven't been in high season lately, and so have been able to walk-on most rides, with Fastpass machines not even being open.

Drince88
03-26-2007, 03:46 AM
Question: I understand you are only supposed to be able to have one Fastpass at a time. But what happens if you show up at 9am and a very busy ride already has Fastpass returns for 9pm. Are you really not allowed to get any more Fastpasses? Or is there some expiry on the time limitation after getting one--like an hour after getting one Fastpass you can get another?

When you can get a FP for another attraction is printed directly on your FP. Generally I think the maximum is 2 hours, though make sure and check because that's something that Disney's been known to 'play with' at one or both U.S. properties

Pat-n-Eil
03-26-2007, 09:13 AM
If you get a FastPass and the return time is more than 2 hours later, then you can get another FastPass in 2 hours. Some rides (Grizzly River Run, Roger Rabbit) are not "connected" to the rest of the rides, so you can hold a FastPass for them and another FastPass attraction at the same time.

If the "enhanced" version, which has been available for the past few years but not in 2007 (likely due to the year of a million dreams campaign), then it allow(ed) you to hold one FastPass for every attraction that offers the FastPass. Basically each ride's return time determined when you could get another FastPass for that ride.

To get the "enhanced" version for the past couple of years you had to book through AAA and stay at least 2 nights at a Disney Hotel. I liked it better when the only stipulation as that you booked through AAA to any hotel/motel and park tickets. I sure hope this comes back next year. I know AAA was unhappy when they took this away.

The Real Cinderella
03-26-2007, 10:24 AM
You are able to get a new fastpass as soon as the one you are holding hits its return time. Example: "Return between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m." You may get a new fastpass at 10:01, even if you have not used the one you are holding.

I don't think using a FP after the printed time is abusing the priviledge at all. If that were true, Disney wouldn't allow it. We usually head straight to space mountain and get a FP first thing. The return time is usually around 9:30 a.m. Unless the park is insanely busy, there is no way we ever use them that early. Once we used them for our last ride of the night, around 11:30 p.m. The CMs just laughed.

MrsPooh
03-26-2007, 11:17 AM
We just tried it on our last trip last weekend, and we had no trouble with it.

disneyrox
03-26-2007, 11:22 AM
We were standing in a (very long) line for CA Screamin' yesterday when somebody asked the CM if you had to come back in that one hour window. She didn't exactly say yes or no, but basically said "if you come back later, you'll have to wait longer than you're supposed to"...or something along those lines.

We always get them in the morning and use them later in the day.

Pat-n-Eil
03-26-2007, 01:37 PM
... We always get them in the morning and use them later in the day.

This is a great strategy for FastPassing. The lines at the park in the first couple of hours when it first opens are usually pretty short. By utiliziing the short return times, you can even get a second FastPass for your favorite ride after getting the first FastPass and then going into the normal wait queue.. and picking up the second FastPass after you've gotten your first ride in.

tigga please
03-26-2007, 06:01 PM
This is a great strategy for FastPassing. The lines at the park in the first couple of hours when it first opens are usually pretty short. By utiliziing the short return times, you can even get a second FastPass for your favorite ride after getting the first FastPass and then going into the normal wait queue.. and picking up the second FastPass after you've gotten your first ride in.

thats what i do. first i get a fast pass, then i stand in a FantasyLand queue, ride the ride, and then repeat.

Clotho
03-26-2007, 09:56 PM
I guess I don't understand the "I get mine in the morning" strategy. When I have been there during busy times, I have definitely seen return times late in the day. So I get there at 10am, and the earliest return time is 5pm. So obviously I wouldn't have to wait until 5:01pm to get another FastPass, or else not only would it not be helpful at all, but likely the FastPass return times would run out on the other rides, and I couldn't get any more.

So the expiration time makes sense, but at two hours to wait between collections, even if I arrived at 8am, I would get one at 8am, then another at 10am, then another at 12pm, another at 2pm...it would take most of the day to get a few fastpasses!

MrTomMorrow
03-27-2007, 01:37 AM
Yes, but even if you get a fastpass at 8, 10, 12, 2, and 4, that's still five fastpasses and you'll still save more time than if you didn't get those fastpasses at all...

fastpass makes lines shorter, but it also makes the regular standby line, in effect, longer...

samsma
03-27-2007, 05:07 AM
When we were there,on a BUSY holiday weekend, we got fastpasses as soon as the park opened. The wait time was about 45 min on average, so by the time we did a ride, and got to the next ride we wanted to get a fastpass for, we were o.k. Then when it was 10, we went to DCA and did the same. I never saw that late of a return time until about 10 or 11 at DL. So the trick is to get there EARLY!

disneyrox
03-27-2007, 05:53 AM
Also, when you get there at park opening, the return times aren't usually that far out. We've gotten there at opening, run to Space and gotten a return time of 8:50 or so. We would then head over and ride Buzz and then Matterhorn and by that time, we can usually get another FP.

Getting there at 9:30 last weekend, and heading straight to Space, our return time was 3:55. So that first hour to hour and a half makes a big difference in return times.

ralfrick
03-27-2007, 07:55 AM
I have returned from our afternoon break with FPs for 7 rides in my pocket. If you're there at an 8AM park opening, you can easily obtain FPs for 5 rides by noon.

A bientot.

Clotho
03-27-2007, 10:55 AM
I am not judging, I swear, but I can't seem to find the language I need to be clear:

This is kinda what I meant by abusing the system. People running into the parks to hoarde as many FP tickets they can, which they have absolutely no intention of using in the time which is written on the ticket. Then someone who arrives only one hour later who wants to use it in their afternoon at a reasonable time, may find a very late return time, or even all the Fastpasses completely used up for the day.

I always thought the spirit of FP was that you go up to a ride, and find the line is longer than you want to wait in. So you deicde to get a FP, and come back a little later after you have waited in some other more reasonable lines: eseentially re-distributing the crowds to other nearby, less busy rides, thus evening out the crowds more throughout the park. And making the guest feel like they have more flexibility in how they spend their time (rather than waiting for 1:30 in one line, waiting :45 in this line, then waitin :15 minutes in the other FP line).

The model being suggested here is instead you grab all the FP the system will allow you to hoarde as early in the day as possible, and then essentially have a "magic fastpass" that you can use any time of the day. Are you seriously saying this is not abusing the system, and is how Disney intended it to be used??

I am offering this up as a way to understand your reasoning better, and NOT saying "You are bad an evil and should be punished." LOL I just don't understand how one can rationalize that this is how the system is "meant to work", and encourage people to go grab FP and use them "whenever". Those time windows represent a way to control crowds and provide a better guest experience for everyone.

If I "ran the show", I think I would limit FP distribution a little bit. I wouldn't ever let the system hand out a return time for 7 hours later. I would allow it to hand out a limited number of passes for up to a limited window thereafter--maybe 4 hours would be reasonable. That way, if everyone runs in at 8am to grab FP's, one will never find that the return time has leapt to 8pm by the time they go to get a FP at 10am. The machines would simply not give FP's, and perhaps the sign could even add some indicator saying "X# FP's left for 3:00pm - 4:00pm Return" When all those FP's ran out, it would wait until the next hour to hand out a certain number of FPs for the 5-6pm return window...

I am not the amazing statiticians (sp?!) that Disney clearly has working for them on this. But some way to control it a little more might help make the system work better as a crowd control measure (which is what it is at its heart), and encourage people to work within the system a little more toward that end, rather than trying to find any loophole that might make their stay more enjoyable possibly at the expense of others...

SarahJanet
03-27-2007, 11:25 AM
Are you seriously saying this is not abusing the system, and is how Disney intended it to be used??

If Disney doesn't want them used this way, they would close the loophole. They allow it, so I am perfectly happy to do whatever it takes to make my wait time shorter!