Fastpass – WDWNT Archive

CONFIRMED: Non-Disney Resorts Adding FastPass+ 60-Day Booking Window, Extra Magic Hours in 2018

WDWNT on December 21, 2017

As we speculated a few months back, Disney will indeed extend the 60-day FastPass booking window to guests at the Disney Springs area hotels on Hotel Plaza Boulevard. This will begin to be offered to guests at these non-Disney resorts in 2018. Here is the full statement from Disney on the change:

“Guests staying at any of the Disney Resort hotels will continue to experience special features offered at a Disney Resort hotel, including legendary Guest service and unique theming, along with benefits like the Extra Magic Hours benefit, the ability to make FastPass+ selections up to 60-days prior to arrival, (both of these benefits require valid theme park admission), the convenience of MagicBands, complimentary transportation (motor coach, buses and ferry boats) around the Walt Disney World® Resort and standard parking at Disney theme parks, Disney’s Magical Express service and the ability to purchase Disney dining plan packages. Those Guests staying in select Disney Resort hotels can also receive other services such as personalized vacation planning, merchandise delivery to their rooms, and easy access to Minnie Van service.

For 2018, we are also extending some benefits that are currently available to Disney Resort hotel Guests and Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel Guests. Each Guest, with a valid theme park admission, staying at one of the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels, which are designated Official WALT DISNEY WORLD hotels will be extended these benefits. The Disney Spring Resort Area hotels include: B Resort & Spa; Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort; DoubleTree Guest Suites by Hilton Orlando; Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista Palace; Hilton Orlando Resort Lake Buena Vista; Holiday Inn Orlando; Wyndham Lake Buena Vista; and Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista.

Beginning Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2018, Guests at any of these Official WALT DISNEY WORLD hotels, with a valid theme park ticket, can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours benefit as each day, one of the four Walt Disney World Theme Parks opens early or extends later for Guests to enjoy select attractions.

Scheduled to begin Jan. 10, 2018, Walt Disney Travel Company packages are available for online bookings for the Disney Springs® Resort Area hotels. Also, scheduled to begin Jan. 10, 2018, Guests at these Official WALT DISNEY WORLD hotels, who have booked a package reservation for the hotel through a Walt Disney Travel Company package, will be able to link their hotel reservation on My Disney Experience, and with a linked, valid theme park ticket, these Guests can utilize a 60-day booking window for FastPass+ selections. These are benefits that are already available to Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel Guests.”

New “FastPass to Friday Please” Hat Released at Disney Parks

WDWNT on December 21, 2017

Apparently, Disney is very big on baseball caps right now and is continuing to release new park exclusive headwear throughout the month. In the same vein as the recently released Spaceship Earth hat, there is now a FastPass one…

The hat reads “Disney FastPass+ to Friday Please”. It seems merchandising wasn’t simply allowed to put the word FastPass on the hat, so they had to put the full name of the service. Even stranger, this hat was released at Disneyland Resort where FastPass+ doesn’t exist.

The cap retails for $21.99 and can be found on either coast very soon.

FastPass Reservations for Frozen Ever After at Epcot Now Available Beginning at 9AM Daily

WDWNT on December 1, 2017

Previously beginning at 11:00AM every day, guests can now find FastPass reservations for Frozen Ever After at Epcot beginning at 9AM daily through the Walt Disney World website and the MyDisneyExperience app.

Frozen Ever After takes guests through the kingdom of Arendelle from the Disney animated hit, “Frozen.” Located in the Norway Pavilion at Epcot, Frozen Ever After celebrates a “Summer Snow Day” on a journey through a frozen willow forest, past Troll Valley and up to Queen Elsa’s palace high up on the north mountain. Epcot is one of four theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Matt Stroshane, photographer)

Up until this point, only standby was available for the first two hours of the day at the attraction, but now there will be FastPass reservations covering the entire operating day for the Epcot ride.

If guests aren’t interested in hunting for a FastPass or braving the standby line, the Frozen Ever After Sparkling Dessert Party is also still available.

The Magic Kingdom to Distribute Bonus “Surprise” Paper FastPasses on Select Evenings Through November & December

WDWNT on November 20, 2017

On select very busy evenings at the Magic Kingdom between November and December 2017, some guests will receive a bonus “surprise” FastPass to use on select attractions.

These paper FastPasses will only be valid on the day they are distributed and will not work at Peter Pan’s Flight, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or any character meet and greet experiences, but any other FastPass attractions in the park will accept them.

The distribution process for these FastPasses remains unknown, but it seems you will need to be in the right place at the right time (but they should be distributing quite a few on those nights). We suspect that these will be given out on most evenings where there is not a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom.

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Disney World to Extend 60-Day Advance FastPass+ Booking to Guests at Select Non-Disney Hotels

WDWNT on October 25, 2017

While Walt Disney World Resort Hotel Guests (and those at the Swan and Dolphin) have been able to book FastPass + reservations for 60 days prior to their visit, it now seems that Disney will roll-out the same benefit to multiple Walt Disney World Good Neighbor Hotels, including those on Hotel Plaza Boulevard near Disney Springs.

Holiday Inn on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, a Disney Springs Resort Area Hotel

While a complete list is not available as of yet, we know that these non-Disney hotels will be able to offer their guests the 60-day FastPass booking window sometime before the end of 2017. These bookings will still be done through the MyDisneyExperience app, the same way other resort guests make the advance FastPass+ reservations.

We expect every hotel in the Disney Springs Resort Area on Hotel Plaza Boulevard to be included, but there should also be additional Good Neighbor Hotels on the list when announced by Disney.

Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and all other guests with linked tickets receive a 30-day booking window currently.

BREAKING: Disneyland Adding FastPass, MaxPass to “it’s a small world” Holiday in 2017

WDWNT on October 25, 2017

When “it’s a small world” Holiday returns to the Disneyland Resort on November 10th, 2017, it will offer both FastPass and MaxPass to allow guests to more quickly experience this very popular attraction.

“it’s a small world” Holiday often proves quite popular, so it has been surprising to see FastPass not in use over all these years, despite that it was one of the first Disneyland attractions to ever use the service back in 1999. This year, it will offer MaxPass as well, allowing guests to book the ride reservations digitally on their phones via the Disneyland app.

Disney has stated that this will be a test of the service at the attraction, and should it prove popular, FastPass and MaxPass will become regular offerings at “it’s a small world” throughout the year.

Disney MaxPass, Paid FastPass Service at Disneyland Resort, Officially Launches Next Week

WDWNT on July 22, 2017

Disney MaxPass, the paid FastPass service announced back in January, will officially launch next week through the official Disneyland mobile application.

The Disney MaxPass logo

Starting on or around July 19th, guests will be able to add MaxPass onto their park tickets through the app, allowing for digital FASTPASS return times and unlimited Disney PhotoPass photo downloads.

In January, Disney stated that the cost would be $10 per day, but there will also be an annual charge available for annual passholders. No pricing or other info is available at this time.

UPDATE: Disney Automatically Locking All Accounts That Attempt to Cheat FastPass System Beginning Today

WDWNT on June 12, 2017

As we told you earlier this week, Disney is cracking down on anyone who tries to cheat the FastPass+ system at Walt Disney World. Today the new policies have gone into use, as well as a more effective way of stopping guests from doing such activities again than we had even speculated.

Beginning today, any guest who uses a FastPass under tickets not used for that day’s theme park admission will have their associated MyDisneyExperience account and the ability to book any further FastPasses locked at the end of that day. The system will apparently run through all accounts to find any culprits overnight, and then lock the account should it find a FastPass was booked illegitimately. Guests with these infractions will have to visit guest relations in order to unlock their accounts. Guest relations will only unlock the accounts if the act was deemed to not be malicious.

Disney World Cracking Down on FastPass+ Cheating, Will Begin Locking Guest Accounts Who Abuse System

WDWNT on June 12, 2017

Disney will soon be turning on a validation system of sorts for FastPass+ usage inside of the Walt Disney World theme parks.

A term dubbed “In-Park Validation” on internal documents, this phrase means the validation of park admission and entry for the day before allowing FastPass+ usage. Guests “in the know” for the past few years have learned a loophole in the system that allows bookings using the in-park FastPass+ kiosks with expired tickets or by using a second ticket on their account to book another set of FastPass+ for the day, but not actually using the ticket to enter the theme park. Basically, tickets not used to enter the park could be used to obtain valid FastPass+ reservations.

There is a similar loophole with Cast Member passes as well, where they have 3+ “Guest Passes” to allow their family and friends into the park, but limited restrictions on FastPass+ booking and usage without redeeming admission.

Another issue that’s been plaguing the parks has been 3rd party tour guides. These are the unofficial tour guides people are finding through numerous Disney fan sites, Craigslist, and more. These guides promise FastPass+ usage for all the attractions for their paying clientele, which means their employees rope-drop the park with these handfuls of expired tickets and cards to book the major attractions first thing in the morning at the FastPass+ kiosks. This is all combining to a few people holding FastPass+ options from thousands of folks who are paying admission that day and now cannot find anything they want available.

This in-park validation system will check to ensure that a guest used an active ticket for admission before redeeming a FastPass+. If you didn’t, the Cast Member at the FastPass+ line at any attraction can see this and deny you entry. Repeated attempts will lock MyDisneyExperience accounts from utilizing the FastPass+ booking option, which can be a serious deal for those abusing the system. Guest Relations will be able to unblock accounts if the behavior was deemed non-abusive.

This new policy is slated to rollout within the next few weeks at Walt Disney World. Stay tuned for a more definite date.

RUMOR: Disneyland Paris to Introduce Paid ‘Fastpass Premium’ Service

WDWNT on May 8, 2017

Starting in May, Disneyland Paris are said to be introducing a paid FastPass service.

It will reportedly be at a cost of €90 per day for unlimited Fastpasses and €15 for a single Fastpass. Thankfully, the current Fastpass system isn’t going anywhere, but this seems to be going hand in hand with the recent changes to the annual pass structure.

Shanghai Disney Resort is currently the only other Disney property that offers such a service, with Disneyland offering a paid service called MaxPass in the coming months that allows for digital FastPasses, but not for unlimited.

What do you think of the new changes? Let me know in the comments!

Tag: Fastpass