Fastpass question

[Meeska Mooska]

Two years ago, when I was at MK for EMH starting at 10pm, the FP machines started over again. How likely is this to happen? When I look at estimated wait times at various parks in the future, it shows that FP's are gone hours before magic hour starts, and there is never any mention of new FPs being available.

Was my experience two years ago not a typical one? It was slower season, first week in March.

I'm rethinking my itinerary for my visit next week. I was planning on visiting EP on Sun March 7th, then hopping over to MK for Wishes, Elec parade, and EMH for whatever we missed earlier during the week. But I'm reconsidering because once the parade is over, the lines are gonna be huge, and EMH won't start until midnight that night. I could wait it out in hope of a FP or two if we are waiting right at the machine at midnight to try to do SM, but if there aren't going to be any more FP then I don't see the point (I'll have a 4 yr old with me).

Anyone in the know?

[Thadine]

This is the first time I heard about FP machines started over again later at night.
I read tons of trip reports and never did someone mentioned this.

Would be interesting to know if more people did experience this indeed

[RoonieRoo]

I've actually heard of past references to the FP machines being cycled again for the EMH but nothing specific. My suspicion is that it's either something that they tried in the past and don't do now OR it's something that only happens when they are predicting very large crowds.

Just a theory. Hopefully someone with genuine knowledge will come along.

[Lisa]

I'm interested in the answer too. I read somewhere (sorry, can't remember exactly where) that when EMH starts they don't honor FP's from earlier in the day.

[jhalpin76]

I went to a MK pm EMH in Feb. 2010 and we tried to use a Winnie The Pooh FP from earlier in the day. The CM let us use the fast pass, but said that we were supposed to get a new fastpass starting at the beginning of the EMH and that the one we had was technically only good until the end of the regular hours. The faspass machines weren't covered, but I couldn't tell if they were actually giving out new FP's or not - we didn't try to get one since he let us in and we didn't ride any more FP rides that night.

[vicki_c]

It's hit or miss. I've heard of times they've done it, but I do not believe it is a standard occurrence that you can plan by. I have also heard that you can't use FPs obtained earlier during EMH, but I would again guess it's up to the CM's discretion.

[josh]

If FASTPASSes are distributed during Extra Magic Hours, they will "reset" at the beginning of the Extra Magic Hours. For example, if Soarin' runs out of FASTPASSes at 2pm and Extra Magic Hours starts at 9pm, the FASTPASS system will restart and give out FASTPASSes with times during evening Extra Magic Hours. You'll definitely want to use any FASTPASSes you collect during the day before Extra Magic Hours begins because the FASTPASS line isn't guaranteed to be running. Whether or not the FASTPASS system is running at any particular ride is hit or miss. It depends on crowds and staffing. You're more likely to see FASTPASSes at rides like Soarin', Test Track, Toy Story Mania, Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, Space Mountain, and Splash Mountain at the beginning of Extra Magic Hours.

I would assume that they will be offering FASTPASSes at the Magic Kingdom on that night, at least for the Mountain rides and Peter Pan. The only reason they don't is because it costs money to add staff to "man" the FASTPASS return line.

I sent my cousins out to the Magic Kingdom this evening to see what rides were offering FASTPASS and here's where it's available:

Buzz Lightyear
Jungle Cruise
Mickey's PhilharMagic
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Winnie the Pooh

Splash Mountain isn't running, but it would likely offer FASTPASS if it did. All FASTPASSes are reset when Extra Magic Hours starts and the first return times are 40 minutes after Extra Magic Hours begins.

[Lisa]

Thanks for the info, Josh.

[RoonieRoo]

That is cool Josh. I had no idea how the Fastpass system worked during evening EMH's. I love it when learn something new about touring stuff.

[Meeska Mooska]

Thanks Josh! I guess I didn't really need to stay up until 1am this morning watching the WDW lines app Please thank your cousins for taking one for the team!

Your info is exactly what I came up with...and for the above rides, no regular FP's were distributed for times past midnight, except SM. Just before they ran out at about 9pm, FP times were for 2am. I'd assume that the CM would accept them.

I was surprised that BTM (trying to bulk up my acronym vocabulary) didn't issue new FP's like the other big rides, but then again, reported standby times were about 10 min's, so maybe they didn't deem it necessary.

So I guess I have 2 choices:

1) I could try to get all of MK done on Wed March 2nd (one of the slowest days of the year), and only come back for the electric parade on the 6th after Epcot, with no intention of doing any rides.

2) Or I could do Epcot a different day (perhaps Sun Feb 27th - Josh may remember that I was looking for a park to do that day), and make the 6th a 2nd MK day. I could take advantage of a relatively light morning, collect FP's to use that night (before EMH's start), go back to the hotel for a rest/pool time. Then come back for the madness of the parade/wishes, use our FP's while waiting for EMH's to start, then stand right at the SM machine right at midnight to try to get one more ride in...sounds like a lot of work...

Thanks everyone!
Lizanne

[josh]

Hmmmm, can you re-paste what Park you'll be in each day of your trip?

[Meeska Mooska]

This was from pre-forum days...

I have posted it in the Itinerary part:

http://easywdw.com/forums/showthread...=3394#post3394

[Janine]

I sent my cousins out to the Magic Kingdom this evening to see what rides were offering FASTPASS .

This just struck me as really funny.
It's like an on-site reconnaissance mission. I love it - what service!

[josh]

They're so excited to be let out of their cages that they'll go just about anywhere.

Except Hollywood Studios on Fantasmic day.

Speaking of service, I fixed your misspelling of "reconnaissance." Now THAT is service! Plus I'm not breaking the rules!

[Janine]

Oh man! I even spell checked it. You should have seen how I spelled it before spell check. Somewhere, recognizance (or however I spelled it) is a word. It just might mean something completely different.
Your word looks much better...