Tag: FastPass

Walt Disney World Will Not Use Virtual Queues or Single Rider Lines When Parks Re-Open

Despite rumors about virtual queues, according to sources, Disney has informed Cast Members that they will not be using them when the parks re-open on July 11th and July 15th.  This includes Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. It appears that Disney is confident that it can control attendance at the park, which probably will mean manageable queues at the attractions.

While we have known that FastPass+ will not be available for some time, it appears that Single Rider lines will also no longer be available.

From everything that we’ve been told, Disney will be using every inch of its vast queue capacity to maintain social distancing.

So assuming you can secure a reservation into the park, the lack of queue complications should make for a very pleasant, no-planning experience.

Walt Disney World Updates Reservations, Suspends FastPass+ and Extra Magic Hours

Thursday evening Walt Disney World announced more details on its plans to reopen the resort beginning on July 11th.

The big take is that Disney announced that FastPass+ will be suspended, along with Extra Magic Hours.

Effective Thursday Disney will be cancelling all dining reservations, experience bookings, Disney dining plan and FastPass+ selections. Disney also stated that guests with existing Resort reservations will have priority access to the new park reservation system when it becomes available. Also, guests who had existing reservations will receive priority access to rebook reservations when reservations for dining and other experiences resume.

Guests who purchased a Disney dining plan and tickets for dates between May 28, 2020 and September 26, 2021 will receive an automatic cancellation and refund of their Disney dining plan.

Guests who booked Resort hotel reservations with a Free Dining package for dates between May 28, 2020 and September 26, 2021 will receive an automatic cancellation of their Disney dining plan and are invited to rebook their vacation for a later date with a 35% room discount.

The details of the release are below –

  • New Ticket Sales and Hotel Reservations: At this time, we are temporarily pausing new ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel reservations so we can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations. Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make a theme park reservation before new tickets are sold; we will be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details. We will resume new sales of tickets and Disney Resort hotel reservations after that period of time. Theme park reservations will be limited due to attendance limitations and will be subject to availability.

 

  • Dining and Experiences: In order to foster physical distancing during this time, upon reopening, our offerings, restaurants and other experiences such as behind-the-scenes tours will be limited in capacity, and other experiences may remain closed. As a result of limited capacity, we have made the difficult decision to cancel all existing dining reservations and experience bookings, including Disney dining plans included in packages. We will reopen dining and experience bookings with more limited numbers closer to when the parks reopen. We will also shift from a 180-day booking window to a 60-day booking window for dining and experience bookings going forward to allow Guests to make their plans closer to their visits.

 

  • FastPass+ and Extra Magic Hours: As a result of the COVID-19 impact, the FastPass+ service will be suspended for the time being as we plan to use additional queue space to manage capacity at our attractions and maintain physical distancing. We will automatically cancel existing FastPass+ selections and share any future updates on the service at a later date. Also, please note that upon reopening, Extra Magic Hours will be temporarily suspended.

 

Disney to Enforce FastPass+ Usage Terms and Conditions Effective Today

Effective today Disney will be strictly enforcing the FastPass+ terms of usage to make the system fairer for everyone.

What should be of note to guests is the rule regarding FastPass+ reservations only being made on tickets used for admission into the park will be enforced.

According to the official Disneyworld.com website, the rule is:

The valid theme park admission associated with your Site/App account and used to make FastPass+ selections must be the same valid theme park admission that you will use for entry into the park on the day the FastPass+ selections are redeemed.

FastPass+ selections made on tickets not used for theme park admission that same day, the My Disney Experience app may be temporarily locked, and the app will prompt guests to speak to guest relations or call the My Disney Experience Support Center.

Continued attempts to make FastPass+ reservations with tickets not used for admission that day may result in permanent loss of access to FastPass+.

You can read the full FastPass+ terms and conditions here.

The enforcing of this rule results from the abuse of FastPass+ has becoming more widespread.  Visitors have been using friends tickets, expired tickets, and other methods to obtain more than the allowed amount of FastPass+ allocation per day.

Additional Disney FASTPASS Locations and New Disney MaxPass Coming to Disneyland Resort

Many guests already know that Disney FASTPASS is one of the best ways to make the most of their time at Disney Parks. This landmark innovation was first introduced at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World in 1999 as a way to provide guests with faster access to the fun. Over the years, Disney FASTPASS has evolved and expanded and is used at our theme parks differently, based on the unique ways our guests enjoy our sites around the world.

Today, Disneyland announced further expansion of Disney FASTPASS coming to two of their most popular attractions — Toy Story Mania in Disney California Adventure park and Matterhorn Bobsleds in Disneyland park! When Disney FASTPASS first launched at Disneyland Resort it was available at four locations, and over the years the number has expanded to a total of 16 attractions with these two new additions.

Later this year, Disneyland Resort will launch Disney MaxPass, which will allow guests to maximize their experience by providing unlimited downloads of their high-resolution PhotoPass images and by enabling the convenience of mobile booking and redemption of Disney FASTPASS return times – all by using the Disneyland App. Disney MaxPass will be available for an introductory price of $10 a day. Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders also will have the opportunity to purchase Disney MaxPass on a daily or yearly basis.

Guests will continue to have the option of Disney FASTPASS service at no cost by obtaining FASTPASSES at attraction FASTPASS kiosks, just as they do today.

The digital Fastpasses can only be used on rides, not for shows like “World of Color,” or “Fantasmic!”

“The introduction of the new Disney Fastpass locations and the new Disney MaxPass is part of the Disneyland Resort’s ongoing commitment to providing guests opportunities to further customize their experiences,” said Melissa Britt, a Disneyland Resort spokesperson.

Officials did not have a date for when the new system would go online, saying that the resort needed to build the infrastructure for the digital readers at each of the 16 locations, but said it would be later this year.

It is not the “My Magic Plus” system that has been in use for a few years at Walt Disney World, which allows visitors there to book ride reservations weeks in advance and are also a digital key for hotel rooms.

Britt said there are no plans to use the “Magic Plus” system at the Disneyland Resort at this time.

‘A Pirates Adventure – Treasures of the Seven Seas’ Offering Bonus FastPasses

Walt Disney World guests can now receive a bonus FastPass+ to ride Pirates of the Caribbean by playing ‘A Pirates Adventure – Treasures of the Seven Seas.’

Guests playing the game need to complete at least three of the five missions, and the bonus FastPass+ is theirs. The collectable Treasurer Finder Cards are also still awarded for completing each mission.

The interactive experience takes around 20 minutes per mission, with the signup located in The Crow’s Nest, just beyond Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland.

Huge FastPass+ Upgrade Goes Online Sunday

Walt Disney World will be rolling out a huge upgrade to its FastPass+ service which should greatly improve the guest experience.

The upgrade will go into effect on April 10th and will include:

  • Once a guest uses their first three FastPass+ selections, additional selections can be made from the My Disney Experience app, and will no longer only be available from an in-park kiosk. The same rule applies as before, with the fourth becoming available once the first three have been used, and then the fifth becoming available once the fourth has been used, and so on.
  • It will no longer be necessary to choose all FastPass+ selections at the same time with My Disney Experience app or website. Individual selections can be made, and it will no longer be a requirement to choose three experiences – only one or two can be made if needed.

Unfortunately there will be no change to the requirement of choosing all three FastPass+ selections from the same park, but after the first three have been used, the additional FastPass+ selection can be at a different park.

Magic Kingdom Removes Parades and Fireworks from FastPass+ List

Disney has changed the Magic Kingdom FastPass+ offerings so that parades and fireworks have been removed.

Wishes, Festival of Fantasy Parade and the Main Street Electrical Parade are no longer part of the FastPass+ line-up at the park.

Disney only recently built dedicated FastPass+ viewing areas in the new Main Street Plaza Gardens for firework viewing.

Some Walt Disney World FastPass+ Attractions Eliminating Second Touch Point

Walt Disney World is attempting to improve efficiency through the FastPass+ line, some attractions are making changes to the FastPass+ touch points.

The new system will allow for only the first touch point at the beginning of the line to be used, eliminating the need for the second touch point that is found at the merge point between the FastPass+ and Standby lines.

The second touch point was originally installed to prevent line jumping from the standby line to the FastPass+ line after the initial touch point.

In removing the second touch point, the process for guests passing through the line will be simplified.

Two Major Enhancements Coming to MyMagic+ for Walt Disney World

Two major new enhancements are set to debut later this Spring for MyMagic+ at Walt Disney World.

The first enhancement results from perhaps the one of the biggest guest complaints with FastPass+.

If everything goes according to Disney’s plans, starting sometime around early April, guests will be able to make additional FastPass+ reservations directly from the My Disney Experience app on your phone. This new functionality will eliminate guests needing to go to kiosks to make additional FastPass+ reservations after their initial three have been used.

Also scheduled to debut soon is the widespread rollout of StoryMaker.  This is the interactive component of MyMagic+ that many were excited about in the early days of the project. StoryMaker was one of the features that did not make the initial rollout of MyMagic+ due to the complexities with other areas of the system that were deemed to be of higher importance. Disney Imagineering concentrated its efforts on FastPass+ and MagicBand reliability.  This along with rising costs put StoryMaker on the back-burner, until now.

Already testing in some areas, StoryMaker will allow attractions to interact with guests, using information from the MyMagic+ profile associated with the guest. For example, the “it’s a small world” goodbye sequence may know exactly where you are from, or a meet and greet with Mickey Mouse might use your name.

Disney has not yet announced the availability of any of these features, so as always, we need to treat all of this as speculation at this time.

Disneyland Begins First MagicBand Tests

Image Courtesy of Inside the Magic
Image Courtesy of Inside the Magic

Guests at Disneyland were taken aback recently as the technology from Walt Disney World’s Magic Band system appeared to be undergoing a test at the Space Mountain entrance in Tomorrowland.

FastPass-holding guests were ushered through a newly-roped-off queue and instructed to press the barcode of their FastPass against one of the two readers on either side. The lights on the readers turned green in a very familiar way when the passes were validated. Normally, guests at Disneyland show a print-out ticket displaying their return time to ride an attraction.

At this time, there is no other information available as to future plans for this technology at the Disneyland Resort.

Cast members would not comment on how long the test would run or even whether Magic Bands themselves would make their way to the California parks.

From Inside the Magic

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