Disney Notes

Fast Passes Available to EVERYONE for FREE Guarantees you get to ride the 'best' rides Important parts of the Fastpass: (1) RETURN TIME & (2) NEXT FASTPASS TIME Important parts of the ride: FASTPASS DISTRIBUTION area: Where you find the machines to give you Fastpasses FASTPASS RETURN line: The line you go into when your Fastpass time comes up STANDBY line: regular ride line - you can go in anytime and wait Rides that use Fastpasses: SPACE MOUNTAIN, INDIANA JONES, ROGER RABBIT, HAUNTED MANSION, BUZZ LIGHTYEAR, SPLASH MOUNTAIN, STAR TOURS, BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILWAY, AUTOPIA. Note: sometimes the Fastpass machines are NOT used -- HAUNTED MANSION tends to use them for the Halloween version of itself (the Nightmare Before Christmas edition), but not all year. STAR TOURS may no longer be using them. Check the park map for the red F indicating Fastpass rides (attractions -- sometimes other things take Fastpasses). What are they? Fast passes are a way to save a spot in line for a number of attractions: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Roger Rabbit, Indiana Jones, etc. Your fast pass has a RETURN TIME on it -- until it is time to go on the ride (the RETURN TIME) you can get food, go on another ride, or enjoy a walkthrough attraction. When the RETURN TIME comes up then you go to that ride, put yourself in the FASTPASS LINE and speed through to the ride. FAST PASS doesn't mean NO line...they can be as long as 15 minutes. But the STAND BY line might be 90 minutes....

How do I get them? Near the rides that offer Fast passes there will be an area with large boxey machines. You may have to line up to use the machines (especially true at Space Mountain and Indiana Jones). You stick your park ticket into the machine, it will return your ticket and drop a paper fastpass out. Problems: if you have not yet reached the NEXT FASTPASS TIME the machine will give you a piece of paper indicating the problem. If all the Fastpasses have run out, no more will be issued. There is a castmember to help you if you need it. There is also a sign on the Distribution area indicating the RETURN TIME of the fastpasses you are about to get. If you plan to leave the park at 10pm but the INDIANA JONES FASTPASS RETURN TIME is at 10:30pm, you may want to skip getting Fastpasses on that ride and go get them on something you can ride before you leave. You cannot trade Fastpasses. You can get stuck.

What do they look like? See the photo (right). Two important times: RETURN TIME which means you cannot use the Fastpass before the time posted (in the photo it is 6:55pm). And the NEXT FASTPASS TIME - this is the time you can get ANOTHER Fastpass and it even more important than RETURN TIME (in the photo it is 5:06pm).

How do I best use FastPasses? When you enter the park, pick up a park map and go immediately to a Fastpass ride and get Fastpasses (for example: enter pasrk, go immediately to Tomorrowland and get Fastpasses for SPACE MOUNTAIN). If the standby line is 'short', you may want to get in that line immediately after getting fastpasses (so you will be guaranteed to ride the ride twice that day without waiting a long time). Else: Go immediately to a high volume ride that gets really long lines - MATTERHORN and NEMO'S SUBMARINES are good choices (at the beginning of the day these lines will be 15 minutes...by 10am they will be 30 mins or more).

Next: Note your NEXT FASTPASS TIME. If you come into the park about 9am and get Fastpasses for SPACE MOUNTAIN, likely you will have a RETURN TIME for SPACE MOUNTAIN of about 11:30am - 12:30pm and a NEXT FASTPASS TIME of 11:15am. You want to be at the Fast Pass Distribution for your next favorite ride just as the clock turns 11:15am (there is a clock posted at each FASTPASS ride that shows official Disney time). So you may want to be at BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN at 11:16am picking up a FASTPASS EVEN BEFORE YOU RIDE SPACE MOUNTAIN at your 11:30am timeslot!!!!!!.

In other words, you can line up the rides you want to ride with handfuls of Fastpasses!

THE BIG SECRET: FASTPASSES DO NOT EXPIRE

Even if the time on the FASTPASS says RETURN BETWEEN 11:30am - 12:30pm, you can use the FASTPASS all day as long as you return to the ride after the initial time (11:30am). They do not expire - imagine if your child has a problem and you have to take care of it....DIsney does not penalize you by saying "Tough luck! You lose!". But don't be cheeky about it. Disney could change its mind and someday make them expire. So I always ask the castmember politely if I can still use the passes AFTER the ending time. I have never been told NO and I am oftern told, "They don't expire" by the castmembers.

Still, if your RETURN TIME is 11am and you use the fastpasses at 11pm, the castmembers may give you a look.....

OTHER ADVICE

If your child loves the AUTOPIA, FASTPASSES are a must. That ride has deceptively longe HOT ride lines to stand in. Even with FASTPASSES the wait will be at least 20 minutes.

If your child is too short for INDIANA JONES (or other FASTPASS ride), ask the castmembers how the parent switch works. Sometimes they will give you a FASTPASS if the whole family waits in the standby line the whole wait time, but a kid is too short and the parents must alternate who rides the ride while the other watches the kid.

You really do want to use FASTPASSES. It may seem like you only save 5 minutes wait on BUZZ LIGHTYEAR, but you are forced to wait for NEMO'S SUBMARINES and that wait can be 2 hours. Every 5 minutes you save in a line with a wiggly kid is a blessing!

Even if it seems like an effort to follow the NEXT FASTPASS TIMES like a hawk, it generally means that if you hustle for the first hour you are in the park, you will be able to really relax and know you are guaranteed to ride some awesome rides, without wainting in horrible lines, all day long.

If you are leaving the park for the day and still have FASTPASSES you haven't used, hand them to someone! Pass on the goodwill!

Best Advice for dealing with Disneyland

Hit the park early. Use Fastpasses. Go back to your hotel midday and nap or play in the pool, etc. Return to the park later.

Ride Lines

Nemo's Submarines is probably the longest line in the park -- will be about 2 hours in the middle of the day. If your kids are able to be up late, wait until all the little kids have left the park to ride this (after 10pm).

Autopia ride line is deceptively long. It is also usually hot and stinks of the fuel for the cars. I always wonder why anyone over 16 who can REALLY drive and who is not traveling with kids wants to line up for this attraction. BUt they do -- and EACH DRIVES HIS/HER OWN CAR.

Dumbo is also a deceptively long line -- it is not a continuous-load line. The rocket ships in Tomorrowland is really the same ride-- you just go higher. If either line looks like it takes 20 minutes or less, thank your stars and jump in line immediately. Short lines do not last!!!!!!

Better than you would expect

Toontown is interactive -- kids can play with the buildings and in the buildings in Toontown. Let them play. In Goofy's Bouncehouse (line can be long - only for little kids) they can literally bounce off the walls. Minnie's House is especially good -- the kitchen is a magnet for kids to play in. Relax the let them play. The rollercoaster is a little weird-- kids have to be tall enough....but the cars are tiny so as a grownup you will be seriously jammed into them. Not worth it if the line is long. Mickey Mouse is guaranteed to be at his house (back in the garden) - you go through his house and find a line where they show cartoons while you wait. You may not want to wait....

Jedi Training in Tomorrowland. Sessions run all morning (posted times). Your kids can try to become Jedis (better chance if wearing a Star Wars t-shirt and being super enthusiastic) or just watch the show. The show is much more entertaining than it should be -- especially (to me) when 4 year old girls in pink princess outfits and tiaras get serious to prepare to fight Darth Mall. There is usually enough room around Tomorrowland Terrace to get a good view.

Tarzan's Treehouse Kids love climbing around the tree house and there's an interactive area at the end.

Jungle Cruise If you are in the mood for extremely old dumb jokes, this is a blast. Added fun: watch the faces of bewildered Japanese tourists who don't understand the jokes. The line can be long (if it goes up on top of the building) so sometimes not worth it in the middle of the day when people are killing time before they can ride INDIANA JONES. It usually has a very short line at the end of the day when it is dark -- and the dark can be all kinds of atmospheric.

Tom Sawyer Island Kids can run wild and explore the caves (and bridges, etc) -- some have interactive pirate features!!!!!!!! Yes, you get stucj over on the island, but there is a bathroom across from Frontierland and another up on the side of the Fort.

Canoes One of the few rides that is not programmed -- kids actually have to paddle or the canoes don't go anywhere. Actually kind of cool. You find them across from the line for SPLASH MOUNTAIN.

Innoventions (Tomorrowland) It takes a while for the building to spin and let you in...but it is a fun area to 'play' in. Lots of interactive games, new products to see, etc. But the cell phone access is limited. There are no bathrooms. And to get back in you have to go through the whole process of the waiting for the building to turn again (though as soon as the door opens you can turn right and avoid Tom Morrow's presentation and so get into the rest of the building faster). You really don't want to go in unless you intend to spend at least an hour there.

Indiana Jones Best ride (or attraction) Disney ever created bar none. (second best is SOARIN' in CA ADVENTURE PARK (and in Florida at EPCOT)...third is ROCKING ROLLERCOASTER in Florida at the park formerly known as MGM). Even the line to get on the ride is entertaining -- you can actually read the symbols on the wall if you are good at substitution codes (or look up the key on the web or ask the nice castmember who helps out near the big round stone tablet past the bat caves). It is more visually spectacular than physically so -- it is physically a rough jeep ride. No spins, no 80' drops, no splashing water. If you ride it more than once, you might notice how the ride changes....

Best Food Ideas

Bring your own snacks! Save by NOT buying expensve ice cream, etc midday!

You can get healthy snacks: there's a fruit stand on Main Street (about hald way up) and one across from the SPLASH MOUNTAIN line in Critter Country.

Drinks are big -- share them! If you buy a kids' meal, it comes with a drink. Castmembers do not have to see actual children to sell you a kids' meal.

Best Breakfast Tomorrowland Terrace offers 4 different well-priced breakfasts including eggs and french toast sticks (my favorite!!!!!). The worst thing is that you are sitting and eating when the lines are short!!!!!

Best Lunch Hiding from crowds by being over at the Critter Country restaurant is nice -- they serve big hamburgers (they offer cheese burgers but will make them without cheese if requested). No variety in menu, but lovely to sit out over the waters of America....

Best Dinner There's decent Mexican food at the Cantina between the SHOOTING GALLERY and BIG THUNDER RAILWAY is a good way to go IF YOU CAN BEAT THE CROWDS. Not good with any crowd as the place is SLOW....the tables get filled, and the nearest bathroom is too small. For faster dinner, the pizza restaurant in Tomorrowland has a quicker-than-Disney-average table turnover rate. Really, your best bet is to forget having dinner until some other day ... though you can actually make reservations at many of the restaurants in Disneyland up to 60 days in advance -- though these aren't cheap restaurants....Downtown Disney restaurants (ESPN ZONE, RAINFOREST CAFE, etc) are better for sit down restaurant with reservations (you can often make reservations in the morning for dinner at RAINFOREST CAFE for example).

Best Extras

Silhouettes can be cut of your kids (and yourselves) as portraits on MAIN STREET. These are old fashioned and amazingly cool. Definitely worth the price. They usually give you two (identical - cut at the same time) plus a frame for the price.

Fantasmic The best show Disney has ever put together though they swear they are never sure they will continue it. It is usually shown about 7 and about 9 just below New Orleans Square using Tom Sawyer's Island as a backdrop. But.....crowds start camping out EARLY for spots-- it can be really hard to find a spot to see it at all. BUT if you plan ahead you can pay ALOT ($75 per person or more) to watch it from a viewing area in the middle of the crowd (right next to the CHURROS vender) and they will give you drinks and a snack box. You have to reserve and pay by phone 60 days (I think it is 60) before the day you want to attend. Days when there are two sessions mean Fireworks will follow one of the FANTASMIC sessions and you can stay in your special seats to watch those -- pretty good view but ont perfect - you will be right under the 'snow'. Phone 714 781 4400 (Guest Services) for information about this. Fantasmic sells out in minutes, so you really have to line your ducks up.

You Should Know

There is often a line just to get the FASTPASSES for INDIANA JONES (Distribution is in a shack between JUNGLE CRUISE (to the left) and INDIANA JONES lines (to the right). That whole area gets seriously congested and it is hard to figure out which line is which.

The FASTPASS DISTRIBUTION AREA for SPACE MOUNTAIN is WAY UP under a covered passage near the entrance to the Standby line.

If you like parades, line up early (parade route is given on park map). If you don't like parades, be aware that a parade will cut the park in half. To get around you may wish to ride the train. It also makes it very difficult to get OUT via Main Street. You may want to take the train to get to the Main Street station or Exit the park via the Monorail in Tomorrowland.

When crowds get thick castmembers will create a one way only traffic pattern through ADVENTURE LAND past the INDIANA JONES ride. It can be tough to get through -- usually 3pm to 8pm.

Your stuff will be searched before you enter the park. If you have no purse nor backpack there is a quick line. Otherwise leave time for the security search.