This morning I came across an Op-Ed published by Inside the Magic (ITM) titled: “7 Issues Walt Disney World must address immediately.” Titles like this really get my attention… I like to see if it’s something I’ve thought about before, or something perhaps I do (or do not) agree with.
The first two items in their list deal with FastPass: remove the three per day limit and reserving selections in different parks on the same day. At a very high level, Disney does both of these for a number of reasons.
Limiting selections to three per day limit has to do with the mathematics surrounding the number of FastPass attractions, their hourly capacity, the number of hours in an operating day and the expected number of guests. If they allowed four or five FastPasses to be pre-booked, it is highly likely that there may not be selections available for every guest planning on going to the park that day. The limitation of only planning FastPasses in one park really comes down to the fact that it’s easier for Disney to explain and enforce the rules.
Reading further, the author makes the following statements, each which I want to address:
- “pre-booking only 3 per day isn’t nearly enough”
- “you either are lucky enough to get all 3 in the morning or all 3 in the afternoon, or you have the luck of getting FastPass+ times that are inconveniently spread out across the day–4 and 5 hours apart from each other”
- I’m ignoring the FastPass+ that you can book after you’ve used your 3 because let’s be honest the selection at that point isn’t very good
Three advance FastPasses is plenty. In fact, there are days that I’ve pre-booked none and still been able to obtain multiple FastPasses. And again, limiting the selections to 3 ensures that every park guest will be able to some level of tour planning in advance of their vacation.
Pre-booking FastPass has nothing to do with “luck.” It has everything to do with effort. Mousekepros clients know this for a fact. We recently had aclient come to us with a plan that had a 9am FastPass and a 10pm FastPass on the same day. That is a plan for disaster. Within a few days, we were able to adjust the plan to move everything to the morning AND improve the ride selections. We put in the effort rather than relying on chance.
We certainly don’t dismiss the 4+ FastPasses that guests are eligible to book after their third. In fact, this is our speciality. We have consistently booked premier attractions for our clients in their 4+ FP: Mine Train, Slinky Dog, Flight of Passage, and more. Being resigned to the fact that there will be nothing “good” left just isn’t true.
At Mousekepros we are experts in FastPass acquisition. We put in the work before AND during your trip so that you can relax, have fun and experience the best Disney has to offer.
