Space Mountain Fastpass

About Fastpass

The following FastPass text is extracted from The DLP-Guidebook :

Make more out of your time ...

FastPass is a new free service available to all guests, which allows to reserve a ride-time for FastPass-enabled attractions in advance and then skip the waiting-line to proceed directly to the attraction. Thereby it reduces the time spent in line for the FastPass-enabled attractions, if the guest does use FastPass, and frees time to spend exploring the themepark and it's many fold offers of attractions, shops and restaurants...

How FastPass works

FastPass issues free reservation tickets, that allow their holders to return to the attraction during a time-window indicated on the printed ticket, skip the usual waiting time and approach directly to the attraction. With a FastPass-ticket the waiting time at the attraction is usually reduced to something around five or ten minutes.

Guests get their FastPass-ticket from machines erected in front of the FastPass-enabled attractions, but can't choose the ride-time / time-window on their own. Instead the computer-based system has a certain amount of tickets for every time-window available and hands out tickets for the nearest available time-window, till it has issued all tickets available for the operation-day of the attraction. The number of FastPass-tickets available for a time-window / for an attraction per operation day depends on the maximum-capacity of the attraction, of which up to 80% are available through FastPass, while the rest of available spots is filled with guests waiting in the usual line.

To prevent guests from collecting FastPass-tickets for the whole day and thereby effective blocking the system for other guests, each guest may hold one FastPass-ticket at a given time for any of the FastPass-enabled attractions only. This is controlled as the FastPass-tickets are issued by automated machines for a certain attraction in front of this attraction after checking the passport of the guests only.

How to use FastPass

Approaching the FastPass-enabled attractions one sees three different entrances: the usual queue, now officially called "Stand by line", an entrance for FastPass-ticket-holders and a third area near the attraction where FastPass-tickets are handed out. Above this area an electronic signs informs for which time-window FastPass-tickets are handed out at the moment. If this time-window suits your plans for the further day proceed toward this area. Here several machines are located that produce the FastPass-tickets. Just put your themepark-passport into the machine, which now checks that you are not currently holding another FastPass, afterwards it returns your passport and then prints out your FastPass-ticket which depicts the time at which you are entitled to use your FastPass-ticket at this attractions. In case you are encountering problems (e.g. a breakdown of the FastPass-issuing-machine) there is a castmember around which will help you. After receiving the FastPass-ticket please exit the FastPass-issuing area through the exit - don't turn back and use the entrance as many guests do, as this is one of the causes why sometimes lines build up in front of the FastPass-machines.

Now it's time to enjoy the whole themepark with it's other attractions, do some shopping or maybe take a lunch or dinner in one of the restaurants. Starting at the point of time indicated on the FastPass-ticket you can return to the attraction - look for the FastPass-entrance. A castmember will check there that you have a valid FastPass-ticket for the attraction and that the time-window has arrived (showing up before the indicated time wont help you, as you are not allowed in by the castmember). After this first check you enter a special queuing area where you can walk toward a second castmember quiet fast usually. This second castmember is threading the FastPass-ticket-holder into the line of the guests without FastPass - he will keep Your FastPass-ticket. From this point on both groups, the FastPass-ticket-holders and the guests waiting in the Stand-By-Line, are waiting together in one short queue which usually takes around five or ten minutes till you can enter the real attraction. Enjoy it! To further enhance you benefits of FastPass read our tips!

Does FastPass work?

First of all: FastPass does not increase the capacity of the attractions or the themepark in general - instead it redistributes the guests throughout the themepark.

By getting a ticket for a certain time at a certain attraction guests are free to enjoy other attractions, the shops, restaurants or the atmosphere of the themepark instead of standing in line. It's up to you what you do with the time you save thanks to FastPass.

Whether this has an positive effect on your day in the themepark depends on what you do with your time - if you just stroll around or do some additional shopping or dinning you certainly saved time. But if you use the time to visit another attraction the effect depends on the behaviour of the other guests and the number of other guests using FastPass. With a growing number of guests using FastPass and visiting other attractions in the time they won thanks to FastPass, the lines at the non-FastPass-enabled attractions will get longer and guests will spend time they would have spend, let us say, e.g. in the line for Space Mountain, now on the longer waiting-times on, let us say, e.g. Autopia. In other words: the benefits of FastPass depend first on how a guest and the majority of FastPass-users spend their time and second how many guests do use the system. Also Disneyland Paris is advertising FastPass strongly throughout the resort there are still plenty of guests who step back from using the system as they seem to have problems understanding it - as long as this situation continues their might be a positive effect in the form that FastPass-users may be able to visit more attractions in the same time than before the addition of FastPass. If the number of users grow the effect may go down to zero for those guests who just want to visit the attractions, while everybody interesting in exploring the many rich treasures of Disneyland Paris, its beauty and special atmosphere still is set to win.

But there is a "downside" of FastPass anyway: FastPass-ticket-holders don't pass through the usual waiting-area and therefore miss something of the elaborate theming and the story told through the scenes in the waiting-areas. The short lines FastPass-ticket-holders walk through inside the attraction-buildings don't feature so elaborate scenes and theming. This may be a small downside compared to another result of FastPass: the usual waiting-lines at the FastPass-enabled attractions, now called "Stand-By-Lines", move slower than before, as only down to 20% (depending on the attraction and the number of FastPass-tickets used in a certain time-window) of the seats / spots available for the attraction are allocated to guests waiting in the line, while before FastPass it were 100% - keep that in mind when judging a waiting line for a FastPass-enabled attraction.

A problem of the system at the moment is also the fact, that FastPass-tickets are issued on demand, meaning: the FastPass-machines hand out tickets as long as tickets for the day are available and not only for the next X hours. So it is possible that due to high demand for FastPass-tickets at a popular attraction FastPass-tickets may be issued around midday that are valid for the last hour of the operation day (which may be as late as 10.00 to 11.00 pm), so that the FastPass-tickets are sold out well during afternoon. This is a cause of anger for guests arriving later at the attraction and causes problems when planning your day at the themepark. So especially if the FastPass-tickets are available only for a very late time on the operation day it may be more interesting to take use of one of our insider-tips to visit the attraction with a short waiting time ...

FastPass and Disabled Guests

Disabled guests still can use the entrances for disabled guests and pass by the waiting lines - they don't have to take a FastPass-ticket.

Attractions

FastPass is currently available at the following attractions:

• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril - backwards!
• Peter Pan's Flight
• Space Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain
• Star Tours

(c) by DLP-Guidebook-Team