Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and a Fastpass line. A sign at the entrance will tell you how long the wait is in the
regular line. If the wait is acceptable, hop in line. If the wait seems too long, you can
insert your park admission pass into a special Fastpass machine and receive an ap-
pointment time (for a time later in the day) to come back and ride. When you return at
the appointed time, you will enter the Fastpass line and proceed directly to the attrac-
tion's preshow or boarding area with minimal further wait. There is no extra charge to
use Fastpass, but you can get an appointment for only one attraction per park at a time
(with a few exceptions, noted below). Interestingly, this procedure was pioneered by
Universal Studios Hollywood many years ago and was pretty much ignored by major
theme parks at first.
Fastpass works remarkably well, primarily because Fastpass holders get amaz-
ingly preferential treatment. The effort to accommodate Fastpass holders makes any-
one in the regular line feel like an illegal immigrant. As a telling indication of their
status, Disney (borrowing a term from the airlines) refers to those in the regular line
as standby guests. Indeed, we watched guests in the regular line stand by and stand
by, shifting despondently from foot to foot while dozens and sometimes hundreds of
Fastpass holders were ushered into the boarding area ahead of them. Clearly Disney
is sending a message here, to wit: Fastpass is heaven; anything else is limbo at best
and probably purgatory. In either event, you'll think you've been in purgatory if you
get stuck in the regular line during the hot, crowded part of the day.
Fastpass, however, doesn't eliminate the need to arrive at the theme park early.
Because each park offers at most eight Fastpass attractions, you still need to get an
early start if you want to see as much as possible in a single day. Plus, as we'll dis-
cuss later, there's only a limited supply of Fastpasses available for each attraction on
a given day. So, if you don't show up until the middle of the afternoon, you might
discover that all the Fastpasses have been distributed to other guests. Fastpass does,
happily, make it possible to see more with less waiting than ever before, and it's a
great benefit to those who like to sleep late or who enjoy an afternoon or evening at
