Live from WDW FastPass+ Test for Annual Passholders

Live from WDW FastPass+ Test for Annual Passholders

Debi, who is a friend of Disney Dining, and her family have been selected to take part in the test of the FastPass+ system for Annual Passholders. She has graciously agreed to share her experiences here. The test period started on Sunday, January 26, 2014. Here is what she has to say so far:

My experience thus far has been very positive.

The first step was selecting the colors of our magic bands (red, blue, Mickey yellow, green, gray, orange, and pink. Each of us selected our color and what we wanted printed on the Magicband, 9 characters (letters, numbers, and spaces). Our Magicbands are scheduled to be shipped in 48 hours.  We hope to have them prior to our visit next weekend. Will keep you posted!

The system is user-friendly on the PC. I will be curious to see how the program works when it is released to everyone. The App on our Android is not exactly accurate but that is the point of testing.

So…what about Fast Pass+ access? Here you go….. At this time, “Eligible testers who are not staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel can hold a maximum of seven days worth of Disney Fast Pass+ entitlements during a 60-day rolling window.” In our situation, we visit Disney, just about every weekend. With this in mind, I started scheduling each weekend 7 weeks out. Once we have completed our visit on Saturday we will schedule the next week out. We are trying every park, before we settle into our favorite, Magic Kingdom.

As I review availability today for next weekend, it appears there is availability to all of the in demand rides.  I looked to see what was available for today at Epcot and Soarin’ and Test Track were available later in day as of 12pm. Keep in mind, Epcot and Hollywood Studios are scheduled on a tiered system. You cannot access Soarin’ and Test Track in the same day using Fast Pass+. The same is true with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Toy Story Mania. As we all know, during peak attendance days at the parks, availability probably will not exist close to the day of your visit.

We will have to approach our plans a bit differently but if we are diligent with scheduling in advance, I think it will be okay. I can see where spontaneity will be an issue in selecting the park we will visit each week, especially when we have to select several weeks ahead of schedule. It’s kinda like deciding what we want for dinner seven weeks in advance. In this family, sometimes it’s hard to decide 2 hours ahead of schedule. Lol

From what I see right now we need to examine our personal park attendance practices. Once we know how frequently we visit, which park(s) we frequent most often, what time we typically arrive, and the amount of time we stay in the park we will be able to make Fastpass+ work for each of us. Of course, if we have that one ride we just can’t live without, we will need to schedule that one weekly.

At this time, we cannot park hop with Fast Pass+ but maybe that will come in the future.

I don’t know how long the testing process will last. Testing for the resort hotels seemed quick and I am hopeful this will be the same.

I will keep you posted as I experience more.

Debi