FastPass+ (2014 - 2020)

In the mid-2000s, Walt Disney World began work on one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted. No, it wasn’t a fifth gate… but it was the price of one! With their eyes set on the 21st century, Disney began an initiative called “MyMagic+” – an unimaginable technological upgrade to Walt Disney World that was meant to equip the resort with a new, foundational, 21st century infrastructure.

You have to remember that when “MyMagic+” was in development, phones still flipped open. That explains the MagicBand – an all-in-one silicone bracelet that became the physical embodiment of the MyMagic+ initiative. That MagicBand – sent “free” to any guest staying on-site at Walt Disney World – would function as a room key, park ticket, charge card, and reservation-holder in one, representing the new cohesion between Disney World’s many dissimilar systems.

By time MyMagic+ officially launched in 2014, the billion dollar investment in the digital future of Disney World took the form of “My Disney Experience” – an app and website that synced with MagicBands and shifted vacation planning to weeks and months before a trip. That included the official end of paper FastPass, and the launch of FastPass+. Now, rather than making day-of, real-time FastPass reservation, guests would book their hour-long return windows weeks before touching down in Orlando.

The Good

FastPass+ was equal, equal, equal. For better or worse, democratizing FastPass access and baking it into trip planning meant that the days of frequent fliers getting 6, 7, or 8 FastPasses in a day while casual guests got two, one, or none was over. Now, every guest got exactly three FastPass reservations. Three. (Later updates allowed guests to book additional FastPass one-at-a-time after using all three.)

FastPass+ removed the day-of-chaos. Let’s be honest. In retrospect, there was something very comforting about knowing – somewhere between 30 and 60 days out from your trip – that you had successfully booked a return time for Flight of Passage and could rest easy the night before your Animal Kingdom day knowing you’d get on. And if you didn’t get a FastPass+ reservation for it, you could check back each day – frustrating for sure, but often rewarding, “gamifying” the FastPass process in a way some people enjoyed.

FastPass+ was still free. That much is probably obvious, but it feels worth saying given… y’know… what’s to come. And in retrospect, imagine the ability to gain priority access to Flight of Passage, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Rise of the Resistance for free! That was the reality, and having to wake up early two months before your trip to book it doesn’t feel as much like a punishment now as it did back then!

The Bad

FastPass+ artificially inflated the resort’s FastPass inventory. In a perfect world, FastPass might be available or two or three rides at each park. That way, while you’re waiting for a return time for an E-Ticket, you have lots and lots of other rides to enjoy with fast-moving lines. But in order to provide enough FastPass capacity for everyone to have three pre-booked, guaranteed slots, Disney pretty much made every conceivable attraction a FastPass+ attraction – including those that didn't need a priority queue, or indeed, were made worse by having one.

For example, the high-capacity Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean both got FastPass+. As a result, both rides that had featured short waits and continuously-moving lines since the '70s suddenly ballooned into hour-long waits defined by stagnant
"Stand-by" lines created like a toxic byproduct of FastPass+. Likewise, 3D films and theaters across the resort joined FastPass+. So if you weren't "in the know," you might use one of your three precious FastPass+ reservations on MuppetVision or the Pixar Short Film Festival, only to find that the "priority queue" deposited you in the same lobby as everyone else, not saving a single minute.

FastPass+ tiered its attractions and limited guest choices. When selecting FastPass+ reservation, guests were limited to three, of course, but of those three, only one could be from a “Tier A” attraction. Obviously, that’s fair, but for fans, it was also frustrating. At EPCOT, for example, Soarin’, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track were all “Tier A,” so if you wanted to ride all three, you would have to wait Stand-by for two of them. Period. Your other two would have to be from the over-inflated category, forcing you to opt into a FastPass for an attraction that didn’t need it like Turtle Talk, the Pixar Short Film Festival, Journey into Imagination with Figment, etc.

FastPass+ began the stratification of access. Whereas paper FastPass was available to all equally, FastPass+’s pre-booked nature lent itself to an obvious “perk” Disney could begin to offer. On-site guests were able to book FastPass+ 60 days out + the length of their stay, whereas guests without a Disney World hotel reservation had to book FastPasses for each theme park day individually 30 days prior. Obviously that’s well within Disney’s scope to do, and on-site guests would no doubt list this as “The Good” of FastPass+. But in so doing, you basically had to stay at a Disney Resort Hotel if you wanted the best chance to book FastPass access to the most in-demand rides... the first crack in what had otherwise been an uncharacteristically equal treatment.

FastPass+ was easy to get “wrong”. Whereas decisions about paper FastPass were made in real time, comparing real wait times and making decisions based on the moment, FastPass+ basically left newcomers or first-timers to either delve into online guides or just make random decisions without knowing, for example, that if you waste your one “Tier A” FastPass on Alien Swirling Saucers, you’ll spend the rest of your day regretting it.

FastPass+ left no room for spontaneity. By far the biggest complaint about FastPass+ (and indeed, much of the MyMagic+ era) was that basically, it cut any joyful spontaneity or flexibility from Disney World. In the old days, you might’ve gotten a five day ticket and a seven night hotel and just seen where you wanted to go each day. But with FastPass+, you needed to know in April that you would be at Disney’s Hollywood Studios riding Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster between 1:05 PM and 2:05 PM on June 7th. Likewise, Annual Passholders essentially got the Fastpass+ equivalent of scraps for their spur-of-the-moment drop-ins to the parks. 

The Long & Short

With FastPass+, Disney was clearly trying to utilize the suite of new technologies available to it. Shifting everything to an app in 2012 was bold (and in retrospect, it’s funny that they also needed “My Disney Experience” computer terminals in each park for the sizable chunk of guests who didn’t have a smartphone available in their party). By shifting planning to weeks before a visit, FastPass+ did do some good in simplifying a trip itself; but the cost was that guests felt they’d lost spontaneity and choice.

They got it back alright… but at a price… literally…