Originally Posted By kelrivas I just had to write and thank all of you great people who take the time to tell all the important secrets for a successful trip to Disneyland. I had not been to Disneyland in over 10 years and never around the holidays. This was my first trip there with my 8 years old. I have a 15 year old that I have been there with but it was a long time ago…a life time ago… The four of us, our two girls, 8 and 15, and my wonderful hubby decided in Oct that we would forgo the Christmas exchange madness and spend the weekend of Christmas there instead. The first thing we had to decide was Hoppers or Single Park. I honestly only wanted to go to Disneyland, but California Adventures looked fun as well…However I did not see us wanting to walk from park to park, so rather than spend the money for a four day hopper we decided to go with the four day single day tickets from Costco. Four single days for 129 dollars, and the tickets are good until Nov 2006. We decided for Christmas we would just spend two days at Disneyland, then later in the year we would go to California Adventures and Disneyland again. I am so glad we made the decision not to get a Hopper this time. We really just wanted to be at Disneyland, I had 10 years to catch up on to and my husband had even more. It was the best decision for us. All I can say is Fastpass is a beautiful thing. We got early to the park, at 7:30 and waited in the early admission line for it to change over to regular admission(thanks for that tip!). As soon as the gate opened we were first in line to get in. We RAN to Haunted Mansion and got fast passes for it that were for 8:30 am. But went on Pirates…hey I had to see all the changes. Jack Sparrow…what a cutie! We road Pirates twice and Big Mountain Thunder Mountain twice before it was even time for our Haunted Mansion Fastpasses to be valid. But I remember you all saying we could use our Fast Passt any time after the starting time so we RAN to Space Mountain, got a fast pass for it and then rode it, went on Star Tours and Buzz Light Year (all within about 45 minutes) by that time the Space Mountain Fast Passes were valid so we went and got a Fast for Autopia and Roger Rabbit, since you all gave us the secret about the RR not being on the network. So by 12 noon we had four Fast Passes to use later in the day and had already been on many of the major rides. We brought our own lunches and snacked on them while waiting for the Matterhorn. Then afterwards waited in huge line to see the Princesses…that was the worse line all day, but hey not bad…considering we had rode almost all the major rides before noon (We saved SmallWorld for nighttime). While waiting to see the Princesses my older daughter was able to get a few more Fast Passes! We now had Splash Mountain and another Space Mountain. I began to feel guilty because we had not even used them yet. I was also worried that we would get in trouble. But later that evening we had a nice dinner at New Orleans Square, then road many of our fast passes later in the evening. We stayed until midnight and loved everything every minute. The snow was so much fun I laughed until I cried and I was not the only adult laughing and crying in New Orleans square… The next day we had a few Fast Passes left from the day before. We had no trouble using them as long as we went after the starting time written on the ticket. The only Crew Member who refused us was a Space Mountain guy…(he was a bit of a Grinch, but hey he has a job to do). Another Crew Member who over heard us told me to come an hour later when he would be collecting the tickets there and he would let us on (he also told us if we had other Fast Passes from the day before to just to be sure to come after the time written on the fast pass so as to not to bring attention to ourselves, “hey we are too busy to even care if the fast pass is for the day before…) I just want to thank him because he could have told us just to toss the tickets but he didn’t and we had a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve. We went on Space Mountain 4 times in less than 45 mins…I was so sick LOL Ok I know one should not be so indulgent and use the system that way but all I can say is it had been 10 years and I LOVE Space Mountain. We kept many of our Fast Passes that had Dec 24th written on them…for mementos… Thank you everyone for helping to make one of the most memorable Christmases of my life time! Kellie
Originally Posted By karlg If you know how to "play fastpass" then getting into FP attractions becomes easy. The hard part is getting into all the non-FP attractions on a busy day. A big advantage of collecting FP early and using them later is that you get a double benefit when you get to the park earlier (not to mention it keeps you from making dedicated walks to use your FP). You get the FP to use later and while going on attractions that will fill up later with no F.P. Even with a F.P. it can take about 1/2 hour to go through a major attraction and in that time lines will be building on non-FP attractions. Its possible to see all of Fantasyland except for Small World in about 1/2 hour if you get there at the start of the day, whereas the line for Peter Pan alone can be over an hour later in the day. My tip for people that want to do anyting in Fantasyland is to get their first FP and then head for FL. The ride times are short so there so that you can go from attraction to attraction before the lines build (do Peter Pan first, followed by Mr. Toad). Early in the day it is important to consider the ride time to get the most advantage of getting there early. If you go on an attraction with a long ride time (like SW, Pirates, IJ), the lines will build while you are on the attraction.
Originally Posted By kelrivas Thanks for that tips karlg. We are going to Disneyland again soon so we probably will go to Fantasy Land early. Having older kids we had other priorities that were centered on New Orleans and Tomorrow Land, and we only did three Fantasy Land rides (Peter Pan, Snow White, and Mad Hatter). My kids did not seem to mind but we all decided next time to do what you said, and hopefully get on Matterhorn a few more times as well during that early time. Our next stop? California Adventures, we just have to see the new stuff...I can not wait! Kellie
Originally Posted By lmoore I agree wholeheartedly. Fastpass makes the Disney experience so much less stressful. I have never tried using a FP from another date...I will try that next time we go. Thanks for the tip!!
