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3. FastPass+ wants to turn your friends into your enemies

The FastPass+ system turns friends into frenemies...or worse. Image © Disney

As if all of the above were not enough of an issue, some rides create further havoc. For example, the Kilimanjaro Safaris at Animal Kingdom possesses different FastPass requirements. If five people are in a party, only one is allowed to utilize their MagicBand at an access point. Theoretically, the other four people all receive credit for the action.

In execution, MagicBands have a failure rate of about 16% from my experiences using them. That percentage translates to a 1 in 6 chance that simply by selecting a FastPass for Kilimanjaro Safaris, a person could impinge upon the future FastPass opportunities not just for themselves but an entire group of friends as well. The end result is a lot of grumbling about messed up plans for later in the day from people who love you enough to want to go on vacation with you. Once again, FastPass+ pranks the user by alienating all your buddies.

4. FastPass+ creates conflict among Disney employees

This picture of Mouseketeers includes a couple of folks who became famous. See if you can pick them out. Image © Disney

With so many potential barriers to receipt of additional FastPass opportunities, my party of five all but gave up on the idea of the mythical fourth pass. Out of eight days we were at Walt Disney World, exactly two of us ever received an additional one. When we did, there was further confusion about our options beyond that point. One Disney employee at Hollywood Studios confidently informed us that four was the finite limit. The following day, an equally self-assured worker not only stated that we could get more than four but actually demonstrated the fact. Thus, the theoretical ability to receive an additional FastPass after the usage of all previous ones exists and we anecdotally managed to attain a fifth one on our final day. Disney’s staff is not well trained about the possibilities of how to do so, though.

Since we are still early in the learning curve on the new (well, latest) iteration of the system, I expect this issue to be reduced in coming weeks. For now, I would advise people to hold firm if an employee tries to tell you that four FastPass selections is the maximum, assuming you can actually get the mythical fourth one, that is. Given the dramatic changes involved and the number of long time employees working at the various parks, turmoil is understandable in the early stages. If anybody gives you grief about additional FastPass selections, just tell them that you read it on the Internet so it must be true, right?

5) FastPass+ does not travel (yet)

The current FastPass+ system does not entitle Walt Disney World visitors with the ability to select rides at different parks on the same day. (Image © Disney)

This point surprised me a great deal. Once we had completed our first three FastPass rides, my party considered park hopping, something we did a great deal on the trip. We were surprised to learn that the new kiosks at various parks are one-dimensional. To wit, Animal Kingdom is a locale wherein few people stay for the entire day. Most visitors are like me, people who plan to leave early in the afternoon and visit another place. Oddly, no one at a park has the ability to create a FastPass for a different park right now (assuming that the three employees I asked about this topic are all well informed). So, there is no way to transition FastPass selections between parks without physically visiting the new one.

I even tried to test this problem in a different way. I attempted to use the MyDisneyExperience app to create a single FastPass for a ride at EPCOT then a pair at Magic Kingdom. At least, that was my theory. The application is designed such that it automatically suggested and forcibly assigned me additional rides at EPCOT. I then tried to do something similar at the park, only to run into similar issues. At this point, Disney forces the user to stay in one place until the FastPass rides are done.

I don’t want to sound entirely negative about the experience. I am simply relaying our issues in order that you may learn from them. Overall, our party went 6 for 40 (a .150 batting average in the baseball vernacular) in our pursuit of the mythical fourth pass and 30 for 40 overall in our usage of FastPass. Suffice to say that Disney needs to improve not only their system but also the education of their employees as well as users in order to boost those percentages. I fully expect the readers of this column to achieve much greater success as long as you are aware of all the potential pitfalls involving the FastPass+ system.

 
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Comments

I'm sure that Disney will get this worked out. It's a shame that it's disrupting people's vacations, but a bad day at Disney still beats a good day anywhere else. Incidentally, how did you pass Rockin' Roller Coaster 4 times? It's at the end of the road across from Tower of Terror. There is nothing else nearby to pass it for.

Early on (last summer and toward Christmas ) when testing was going on. Things were challenging.
All this fuss about not being able to change things is not true. You can easily switch stuff around in ur MDX app or even cancel that 3rd fp you didn't want so you can access a different one. THE REASON U CANT GET 7Dwarfs Mine train is that people staying in resorts can book 60 days out. Try all u want (at least up thru this summer) they were booked 60 days out.
I am pretty experienced at the parks. I DID LOVE THE OLD SYSTEM (b/c people could give me paper fast passes) it allowed me to ride Tower of Terror 56 times in one day (7:40 am-10:40pm). That couldn't happen now :-(
My wife and I did Epcot in spring and just did standby all day...only thing we waited long on was Soarin for 50-60 min.
This summer I had friends with me in the park and some folks were on guest passes (so NO advance fast passes) and we were able to do 2 parks a day and did all the big stuff with only a few fast passes. June 15-16
I personally went to MK mid July at rope drop and walked straight to 7Dwarfs (still 30-40 min), did Peter Pan, haunted mansion, splash mountain, and Pirates and them took a boat back over to Polynesian to eat breakfast at 11:15. So all that in less than 2 hr in the park. Take stuff as it comes..lighten up...don't let the schedule work you...you work the schedule.
Also..THE ANIMAL KINGDOM COMPLAINT..... Scan your tickets into your MDX app and set fast passes for later in the afternoon at whatever park u want....just do AK on the fly..no fast passes.
Get there at open do safari, single rider Everest and whatever u want and head to ur second park after lunch(to use those fast passes u made).
ALSO ANIMAL KINGDOM CAN BE MORE THAN A HALF DAY!! I kno I know I've done that too. Just hit the big stuff and run to the next park. Heck I've done all 4 in 1 day with all night shows included (holiday season..early fantasmic, boat to epcot, illuminations, monorail to MK, walking down Main Street for most of wishes, celebrate the magic projection show on castle, and the. Main str electrical parade. ) and some more rides. 8AM-2AM!!!!!!
But ANIMAL KINGDOM HAS SO MUCH in the way if hidden details and xtra things 90% of people miss because they don't slow down and do some DISCOVERING. MY BEST ADVICE IS.....,settle down, slow down, enjoy those intricate show details that Disney is so well known for! You do not have to do it all on THIS trip. I know some folks will say that they can't go as often as I do, but CHOOSE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY!!! Walt was all about providing a quite show.....enjoy it or you just may be running right by something special that 90% of people miss and would love....how's that for a unique and soeciL experience?

In reply to by Scott (not verified)

Walt was all about a QUALITY show*

I planned a last minute Fourth of July trip. It was my first experience with Magic Bands and Fastpass+. It was my 10th trip to Disney and will be my last for a VERY long time. I absolutely hated the "new" system. I tried every day for 3 weeks to get a fastpass for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before 10:40 at night to no avail. Had the "old way" been in place, I would have gone straight to the ride after park opening to snag a fastpass for later in the day but not for 10:40 at night! Needless to say, I never made the ride after the fireworks it was an utter, complete madhouse. I too crisscrossed the park to use my other 2 fastpasses in a fashion that I have NEVER had to do before. HORRIBLE! I'm no stranger to holiday crowds but this Magic Band, fastpass+ system was the worst I've ever experienced. I will not be going back any time soon.

Epic fail on Disney's part. The old system was FAR superior. We just returned from a week at WDW. When your three fastpasses are up, you have to go stand in line (a long line) at a fastpass kiosk to get a new fastpass. And all of the popular rides are not available. So get ready to stand in line to ride the more popular rides mutiple times on the same day. A couple on attractions were booked up for our entire stay. Our little girl missed out on the Frozen characters because there were no available fastpasses and the sand by line was over three hours.

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