Disney Vacation Tips - Thoughts on getting off to a great start of your theme park vacation.
Steve and I were standing in line outside of For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration at Disney’s Hollywood Studios last week when the lady with three grandchildren asked us, “Do you understand FastPass and is it worth it?” You know how a sound can cause an avalanche? Well, that is what happened to that dear lady; her simple question loosed an avalanche of too much information on her head:
We explained, in too much detail, how FastPass works
Told her that there is no extra cost to use FastPass so it is definitely worth it!
Even though she didn’t really understand how to get the first three FastPasses, we explained how to add additional ones once those are done
We told her that shows are not usually a good use of a FastPass because of their high capacity
We told her to arrive well before park opening if FastPass wasn’t available for certain popular attractions like Avatar Flight of Passage or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Noticing the size and age differences of the kids at her side, we thought she needed to know about Rider Switch Passes
We asked if she had a park Times Guide and, when she didn’t, we gave her ours.
Poor lady, it was all too much and, if she did not gain a better understanding of FastPass, she at least learned the dangers of talking to enthusiastic strangers! Steve showed her the spots on the park map where she would find Disney cast members to help her set up some FastPasses so I sincerely hope she went there and that they took care of her.
We gave her the best advice that we could but I was a little sad because, over the course of the conversation, I learned that this was a once in a lifetime trip for her extended family who find it hard to get away from the family farm for very long. They had stood in line that morning to purchase their park tickets and I just kept thinking, “It would’ve cost a little less to buy your ticket in advance and you could’ve booked your FastPasses 30-days prior to arrival (they were staying off property), making your time in the parks so much easier.” It is just too hard and stressful to try to figure out tickets, park maps and complex systems on the spot when the kids are clamoring to go do one of the bright and shiny things there in front of them.
Making sure our clients get to the Disney and Universal theme parks knowing where to go, what to do and how things work is our number one priority and working with us before you arrive means you never have an experience like that classic final exam nightmare where you’ve arrived for the test but failed to study or even attend the necessary classes. If we meet you in the parks, we’ll try to help you even if you aren’t our client but we’d really love the opportunity to make sure you are well prepared and you don’t have to depend on the kindness of strangers.
