Tag Archives: FastPass

Be Our Guest

14 Days: Be Our Guest Lunch

Be Our Guest

The Be Our Guest Restaurant is one we’re trying for lunch! Image ©Disney Parks

Hello everyone, and welcome to #Day14 in our #DisneyWorldCountdown!  One of the hottest tickets to get for Walt Disney World is a reservation for the Be Our Guest restaurant.  I’ve tried over and over again for clients for months and have had no luck in getting a reservation for them.  However, Disney knew that this would be the case, so they decided to make lunch a counter service restaurant, so you can experience it without needing to get frustrated over the lack of reservations.  However, as you can imagine, this is a tough ticket also, and wait times are often quite long for this as well.  My friend Sheila and I, though, thought it would be good to try this restaurant out for lunch, so we set down some strategies to try and get to the restaurant in as quick a time as possible but at the same time maintaining our dignity.  Here are some of the tips that we came up with.  Please let me know if any of these work for you, and any ones that you have tried that worked — or even failed — for you too so we can get a comprehensive list going!

Tip #1: Send others to play while we wait in the line…

The first tip is that we thought we would stand in line and send the others out to do some other attractions.  There are going to be seven of us for this lunch, so it seems like a good idea to get the others out and about and not waste their park time in line.

Tip #2: Decide to eat at a really early lunch and get their early…

Another strategy that we thought about was making our lunch an early lunch, and getting to the park early enough to get one of the first lunch times so that we won’t have to wait in line as long.  If you try this, rumor has it that you have to be in line for the restaurant by 10:30 AM or earlier, so make that decision in plenty of time to get there.  First lunch is at 11:00 AM.

Tip #3: Make it a late lunch after the lunch rush is over…

For lunch, Be Our Guest serves lunch until 2:15 PM, so another rumor that I’ve heard is that if you go over there around 1:00 or 1:30 and plan on eating a late lunch, you’ll have a shorter wait.  Have you found this to be true?  Let me know in the comments either way!

Tip #4: Snag a Be Our Guest FastPass for lunch…

I heard about a special website that you could login using your My Disney Experience account and schedule a FastPass for lunch.  Because of the popularity of this, I decided to give it a shot.  Here’s the link for you to try as well:

Be Our Guest Lunch FastPass

You will need to login, and then provide your first and last name along with your Disney confirmation number.  I don’t know if everyone has this ability to make a FastPass for it, or if it is on the same timeframe as the regular FastPass system (60 days), but we were able to do so.  When you are in the system, you can decide to place your food order online and get your FastPass or you can just get your FastPass.  Since there are so many of us, we decided to just get the FastPass.  For us, it gave us 12:30-1:00PM to return for lunch.

I hope that these tips are helpful in getting you that hard to get lunch at Be Our Guest!  Let me know what tips you have, and thanks for stopping by today!

 

Bloggers, Disney World Countdown, My Dreams of Disney, Walt Disney World
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FastPass
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60 Days: FastPass+

FastPass

The Magic Band – the start of your FastPass+ Journey!

Hello everyone, and welcome to #Day60 of our #DisneyWorldCountdown!  With the changes to how you can schedule your FastPasses now, day 60 has much more importance than it did before!  As a result, today we are taking a look at the FastPass+ system!

If you are taking a Disney vacation, the new system that replaced the FastPass system is called FastPass+.  This system allows you to schedule which FastPass attractions, shows, fireworks viewing locations, or even parade viewing locations you want to schedule ahead of time.  If you are staying on Disney property, you will be able to schedule your FastPass+ reservations starting at 60 days out from your vacation start.  It has also been reported that if you are staying at the Dolphin or the Swan hotel located at the Disney Boardwalk region that you can make your FastPass+ reservations at 60 days out also, although you won’t get a Magic Band unless you pay for one.  If you are staying off property you will be able to schedule FastPass+ reservations, but only at 30 days out.

The way things currently stand, you can reserve up to 3 FastPass+ reservations prior to arrival per day.  All of them have to be made at one park.  However, if you finish your 3 FastPass+ reservations, you can then go to the kiosks and make additional reservations.  Also, if you have a smartphone or tablet device, you can make changes to your FastPass+ reservations on the fly by accessing the My Disney Experience app.  Remember, Disney has rolled out Wifi throughout the parks to make it easier to access the app.

Reviews are mixed from what I’ve seen about it.  Some people don’t like it, and some people do.  Generally speaking, though, the reports I’m seeing from people that have experienced it have been favorable.  Most report few issues with the system, and quick response and resolution of problems when they did have a problem.

For us, it will be really interesting to see how it works for all of us.  Our reservation is a complex one — Cindy, Sophie and I have annual passes, Leigh Ann and Riley will have regular park tickets, and Sheila, Randy and Miss J will have Disney Premier Passports.  All of this really makes for some interesting FastPass+ selections.  I’ll be keeping track of how well it is working and will let you know in a followup post how it worked for us!

In the meantime, tell me what you think about the FastPass+ system.  Like it? Hate it? Wish it was like it used to be?  Let me know in the comments please, and thanks for stopping by!

Bloggers, Disney World Countdown, My Dreams of Disney, Walt Disney World
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FastPass 101

FastPass wb

FastPass wb (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello everyone, this post is for those people who are checking us out as part of their research for a first Disney World trip or inexperienced travelers. I apologize to those that are familiar with the FastPass system but wanted to share some knowledge.

1. What is FastPass? Disney’s FastPass system is basically like a ride reservation system. The way it works is that at select attractions (list below), you approach the FastPass  machine, insert your park ticket and receive a FastPass with a return time stamped on it. When that time arrives, you enter a separate line for a much shorter wait time.

2. Is there a charge for using FastPass? Unlike the ride reservation systems at some amusement parks, currently there is no charge for using FastPass (I don’t expect this to change in the future but you never know.)

3. What attractions offer FastPass access? The list for Disney World by park is as follows:

Magic Kingdom® Park:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Jungle Cruise
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
Peter Pan’s Flight
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Stitch’s Great Escape!
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Epcot®:
Maelstrom
Mission: SPACE
Soarin’
Test Track
Captain EO

Disney’s Hollywood Studios™:
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
Star Tours
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Toy Story Mania!
Voyage of The Little Mermaid Show

Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park:
Dinosaur
Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
It’s Tough to be a Bug!
Kali River Rapids
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Primeval Whirl

4. What else should someone know about FastPass? The number of FastPasses is limited and may go quickly. If there is a particular attraction you are interested in obtaining, I suggest you make it your first stop in the park. For instance, in Hollywood Studios, I made the mistake of riding Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster before heading over to Toy Story Mania. By the time we made it over to the FastPass kiosk, there were no more passes available. Also, each person boarding in your party will need their own FastPass but one person can obtain all the passes (but will need each person’s park ticket to do so).

I find FastPass to be very user friendly and easy to insert into my touring plans. I suggest you plan on using FastPass if any of your must sees are included in the program. If you have any questions that I didn’t answer, please feel free to add it to the comments section and I will do my best to answer the question. 

Bloggers, My Dreams of Disney, Vacation Planning, Walt Disney World
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