If you're planning a Disney World trip, you've probably heard a lot of conflicting information about the new Fastpass+ service.  This "line-skipping" service has been changing rapidly since it replaced the old Fastpass system in the end of 2013. The great news is with all the recent changes, the new Fastpass+ system has become a terrific way to skip lines all day!

This post has general information on how Fastpass+ works.  I will also soon be adding a post on how to best use Fastpass+.

Fastpass+ is simply a reservation system allowing you to skip the regular line for Disney attractions.  After you've bought Disney park tickets or a Disney package, you can use their website or smartphone app to make reservations for 3 rides per day in advance. Here are some basics to remember:

Fastpass+ is free
Unlike similar services from other parks, Disney does not charge for Fastpass+ usage.  

You can make Fastpass+ reservations starting either 30 or 60 days in advance.

• If you're staying at a Disney hotel, you can make your reservations 60 days before the start of your trip.
• If you're not staying at a Disney hotel, you can make reservations up to 30 days in advance.  

You can make three Fastpass+ reservations per day in advance
At the park you are able to make more reservations (see below for details), but in advance, you are limited to three a day.

Your reservations are for one-hour windows, and they can't overlap
For example, you may make a reservation for Peter Pan for 10:00-11:00, and then a reservation for Winnie the Pooh for 11:00-12:00.  Overlapping is not allowed.

Your ticket contains your Fastpass info
You may have a regular looking ticket, or maybe a "Magicband" (basically a wristband that acts as your ticket).  When approaching a ride where you have a Fastpass, head to the Fastpass entrance and tap your ticket or wristband against the Fastpass "pole".  Mickey's head on the pole will turn green and you're in!

You can change your mind
Decide you don't want to ride Peter Pan but prefer Dumbo?  No problem - you can change it either on your smartphone or at one of the many Fastpass kiosks scattered throughout the park.

You can't schedule more than one Fastpass for an attraction with your three pre-scheduled Fastpasses.
Even if you want to ride Space Mountain three times, you can't make your three Fastpass+ rides all for Space Mountain.

Your three pre-scheduled Fastpasses for a day must all be at one park.
You can't schedule two at one park and one at another park.

At Epcot and Hollywood Studios, you can only select one of a group of "top-tier" attractions with your three pre-scheduled Fastpasses.

At Epcot, those attractions are:

• Soarin'
• Test Track
• Maelstrom
• Epcot Character Spot

• Illuminations

At Hollywood Studios, the supposed "top-tier" attractions are:

• Toy Story Mania
• Rock 'n Roller Coaster
• Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage
• Fantasmic!

NEW - You are able to schedule additional Fastpass+ times after you've used your first three Fastpasses
As of Monday, April 28, Disney allows you to schedule additional Fastpasses, one-at-a-time. This is great news for in-the-know people to help you skip out on more lines.  A few things to note about this.

• You can't schedule additional Fastpasses until you have used your first three (or the time window for them has passed).
• You must schedule your additional Fastpasses at a kiosk in the park, not on your smartphone.
• You can schedule these Fastpasses for any ride that has Fastpass availability.  There are no restrictions such as "you rode it before", "you're in a different park now", or "you already chose a top-tier attraction".  If there's availability, it's yours!
• Once you've used your fourth Fastpass, you can return to a kiosk and schedule a fifth.  Once you've used the fifth you can go schedule a sixth.  And so on, and so on...

That's about it on how Fastpass+ works.  It's really not much more difficult than making restaurant reservations.

The big question, of course, is how to use Fastpass+ properly to skip out on the most lines possible!  With the new ability to schedule additional Fastpasses, it has gotten very complex to figure out the "optimal" way to use Fastpass to skip as many lines as possible.  I plan on writing another blog post on how to accomplish this!  In the meantime, if you have any questions or you're trying to figure out the best Fastpass+ scheduling for your upcoming vacation, please feel free to contact me or post a question in the comments!

Disney has now fully rolled out its Fastpass+ system at Walt Disney World.  With the new system, you make three Fastpass reservations in advance for each day for set times.  When you visit a Fastpass attraction for which you have a reservation, you go in a separate entrance and skip the main line.

The system has gotten mixed reviews.  While people like the ability to reserve several ride times at once, the limit of three Fastpasses has really put a crimp into planning for many.  For example, at the Magic Kingdom, there are a good ten or more attractions that regularly have long lines - it's extremely challenging to avoid all the lines with only three Fastpass+ opportunities.  (It can be done - it just takes some heavy-duty planning).

Good news - in a blog post today, Disney announced they will allow people to get additional Fastpass reservations in a day.  Here's how it apparently will work:

• You'll still make your 3 Fastpass+ reservations in advance (up to 30 days in advance for non-Disney-hotel guests, and 60 days for Disney hotel guests).
• After you've used your three Fastpass+ reservations, you'll be able to make an additional reservation for an attraction at one of the Fastpass kiosks in the park.
• After you've used that reservation, you will be able to make another reservation!
• This will continue on and on, for as many reservations as you'd like to make!

In essence, this will be a hybrid of the "old" Fastpass system and the new Fastpass+ system.  You can make reservations in advance, but after using them, you can get more Fastpasses as before (only one at at time, just like before). And one nice advantage over the "old" system - no trekking to an attraction to pick up a paper Fastpass - just head to the nearest kiosk.

Once again, for the third time in six months, Disney has completely changed the optimal planning strategies (they don't make it easy on people like me, do they?)  Since the Fastpass+ system has come into exclusive use, the best strategy has been to schedule your three Fastpass+ attractions for the busiest time of the day you plan to be in the park (late morning or early afternoon usually for Optimal Magic clients).  Then you can use the non-busy early morning times for the other long-line attractions.

When this change comes into existence, this strategy will likely get thrown out the window. I'll need to analyze things more, but the new strategy will likely be to schedule your first three Fastpasses as early as possible (likely 9:00-10:00am, 10:00-11:00am, 11:00am-noon).  As soon as these Fastpasses are used, then schedule another Fastpass time!  You'll be able to get far more Fastpasses this way, and wait in even fewer long lines.

This is all work-in-progress.  Things are changing every week with the Fastpass+ system.  If you're planning a trip in the next few months, it is absolutely crucial to have the most up-to-date information if you want to avoid the lines and have the most fun on your trip. You can do it yourself, but not with a guidebook - even a brand new guidebook is out of date at this point.

Rest assured that Optimal Magic always keeps completely on top of all the changes occurring at both Disney parks, and any plans we create are 100% up-to-date for the days you'll be at the park.  As always, please contact me if you'd like more details either for Optimal Magic helping plan your trip, or for how to do it yourself!

Walt Disney World is going through a major transition now.  They are introducing their new "MyMagic+" program. They are currently "beta testing" the entire program, and more and more guests are being invited to "beta test" the program on their Disney trips.  If invited, should you join in?  There's no easy answer, but this blog post should help you decide what's best for your group.

It's mostly not a big deal

There are many sites online that discuss exactly what MyMagic+ is, but here it is in a nutshell: Disney is replacing park tickets, hotel keys, credit cards, and Fastpasses with a band you wear on your wrist that has RFID technology.  Want to enter your room?  Wave your band at it. Want to pay for a Mickey ice cream?  Wave your band.  Want to enter a park?  Wave your band.

Most of this will offer a minor bit of additional convenience for guests.  Despite all of Disney's marketing mumbo-jumbo, it mostly isn't a big deal.

Fastpass changes, however, are a big deal

However, there is one huge change to all of this - Fastpass is being changed dramatically. The current system is simple - at a Fastpass-enabled attraction, insert your park tickets into a Fastpass machine, and get a slip of paper with a return time for the attraction.  Come back at that time, and you can skip the line.  It's a great system, and if you know how to exploit it (like all Optimal Magic customers do), you can get many more rides on the big-ticket attractions without waiting in the lines.

Under the new Fastpass+ system being beta-tested, several changes are afoot:
-No more "regular" Fastpasses.  If you are using the new Fastpass+ system, you are no longer eligible to use "regular" Fastpasses.
-There are many more Fastpass+ enabled attractions.  The number of Fastpass-enabled attractions has more than doubled.  This could be considered good, though many of these added attractions rarely have a wait anyway.
-You can reserve Fastpasses on your smartphone.  You can also change Fastpasses on the fly.  Some people love this idea.  I'm not a fan - I don't want my nose buried in my phone while at a Disney park.
-You have more flexibility in choosing the time of day you want a Fastpass for.  This is good - more flexibility isn't a bad thing at all.
-You are limited to only 3 (possibly 4) Fastpasses in a day!  Uh oh - this isn't good.  For some parks (Animal Kingdom), three Fastpasses may suffice.  For the Magic Kingdom, it's not nearly enough!
-You can't get two sets of Fastpasses for one attraction.  Want to ride Space Mountain five times with no long waits?  Easy to do, using Fastpass. With the new system - it can't be done.
-You can reserve your Fastpass times up to 60 days in advance.  Yes, really.  Disney expects you to know where you plan to be up to 60 days in advance!
-You can't have Fastpasses in more than one park in a single day.  Like to spend the morning at Animal Kingdom and evening at Epcot?  You won't be able to get Fastpasses for both parks!

Needless to say, these changes to the Fastpass program will change touring strategies dramatically.

As I mentioned before, it depends.  For some people, it makes sense.  For others, it would be a disaster.

People who definitely should not join the beta test:
Serial Planners: If you plan to be at the park in the morning before opening, you have a plan of attack, and you are an expert at the current Fastpass strategy, do not join the test.  You will avoid more lines using the "old fashioned" Fastpass strategies.
Technophobes: If you don't have a smart phone, don't join (it's more difficult to change Fastpass times without one).  If you don't want your nose in a smartphone, don't join. If you don't have patience for potential screwups (it is a beta test after all), don't join.

People who may want to consider the beta test:
Late arrivers: Can't get to the park at opening?  Being able to get a Fastpass for mid-day say, Toy Story Mania will be wonderful.  It may more than offset the negatives. And because the number of people beta-testing is still relatively small, the availability of Fastpass+ times is still very good (this will change in the future, by the way...)
People who love technology: If the idea of playing with your smartphone to change Fastpasses is exciting to you, by all means join.
Annual Passholders: There is currently a bug where people with annual passes can still get "regular" Fastpasses while doing the MyMagic+ beta test.  In that case, by all means join!  You'll get the "Fastpass+" benefits but still be able to use regular Fastpass - you'll be able to double-dip!

Once everyone is rolled over to the new system, the old "regular" Fastpasses will be phased out.  At this point, despite all of Disney's marketing materials saying otherwise, you're going to have to plan even more (sigh...).  Want a Fastpass for a hard-to-get attraction?  You better be ready to reserve your time months in advance before the timeslots fill up!  (Ridiculous, I know...)

The good news is that Optimal Magic is keeping up with everything going on with the MyMagic+ rollout - we'll ensure that you have a great time and best skip out on the lines regardless of the current system at Disney! If you're using Fastpass+ we'll help you select the absolute optimal attractions (and times) for your group - if you're using regular Fastpass we'll help you get the most out of it, as well!

As always, drop me a line with any questions you may have!

In my previous post, I discussed the already-in-place additions and changes to Walt Disney World from the newly announced MyMagic+ plan.  Today, I'm going to discuss what's coming up.

Keep in mind that everything is subject to change - things may be added or subtracted as Disney fine-tunes everything.

The "MagicBand"
Disney is going to roll out what they call the "MagicBand" - it's essentially a bracelet with an RFID chip embedded in it.  This bracelet is the key to many of the MyMagic+ features.  Some of the minor things this bracelet will allow you to do include:

• Enter the park without going through a turnstile (much like the RFID-enabled tickets Disney resort guests can now have)
• Purchase items by a tap of the wrist
• Use it as a room key for your Disney hotel room.

These are all fine and good, but they're basically the equivalent of having your theme park ticket and hotel key on your wrist. Convenient, possibly, but not exactly revolutionary.

However, the band will be used in conjunction with a couple of other technologies in a way that changes your vacation more.

Fastpass+ scheduling

It appears from some sources that up to three Fastpass times will be able to be scheduled in advance, either at home, or using a smart phone (or kiosk in the park) on-the-fly.  These Fastpasses will essentially be in your MagicBand - you can just tap your MagicBand at the Fastpass entrance.

I have mixed feelings about this addition, but they are partially due to mixed messages from Disney.  If these three Fastpasses are in addition to "regular" Fastpasses, they are a huge boon, particularly for Optimal Magic customers.  We can get additional Fastpasses, and schedule them at times that the "regular" Fastpasses would be less convenient.  And Disney is planning to have "special" Fastpass+ opportunities like a special fireworks viewing location - these could be GREAT additions to a trip, and I'm excited to build them into my customers plans.

While this sounds great, I'm a bit concerned that some sources indicate that you will not be able to use regular Fastpasses if you have Fastpass+.  If this is true, (and that you can only get three Fastpass+'s for the day), it's going to make planning more challenging.  After all, many people use far more than three Fastpasses over the course of a day!

Adding on top of that the need to plan your Fastpass+ times in advance (Disney says you can change them on the fly, but really, what are the odds of there being availability of prime Fastpasses at the last second), and I'm worried Disney is making the whole Fastpass experience more difficult and less "magical" than the current syst

Regardless of what happens, rest assured that Optimal Magic will be on top of it, and will make sure on your vacation you'll visit all the attractions you want, and avoid all the lines.

Personalized Experiences
One last addition from the new MyMagic technology is that Disney says it will allow for personalized experiences.  Meet up with Ariel, and she'll know your name and say "Hello Julia."  Ride an attraction, and your name could pop up somewhere in it.

Some people may find this magical, and some may find it "Big Brother-esque" - I fall somewhere in the middle.

Conclusion
Despite all the marketing-speak, most of the MyMagic changes are relatively minor for the end consumer - conveniences like "tap your wrist to buy an item or enter the park" are nice (and may cut down on some lines at shops), but they're not really revolutionary.

The one revolutionary change will be that of Fastpass to Fastpass+.  This year will be an interesting one with the rollout - I suspect things will be added and subtracted as Disney tweaks things.  The great news about that is whenever Disney is tweaking and changing things, there are ways to take advantage of it for the smart visitor (which, if you're an Optimal Magic customer, is you)!

Regardless, be sure to keep checking this space to see what happens as different aspects of MyMagic are rolled out at Walt Disney World!

Happy New Year! Today is just a brief note to let you know that in the next week or two, I will be discussing several major new developments at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, most importantly, the just-announced "MyMagic+" at Walt Disney World.

Disney is pushing forward on what they're calling MyMagic+ - which Walt Disney Parks chairman Tom Staggs is calling a way to "give guests more opportunities to personalize and customize their entire visit." For details on MyMagic+ straight from Disney, check out their blog here.

As for my thoughts on MyMagic+ - I think it has some potential, but it also could make itMUCH more difficult to do everything you want without copious amounts of (pretty ridiculous) pre-planning. Already it is difficult to get reservations for dinner times at popular Disney restaurants if you don't reserve two, three, or even six months in advance.  If Disney follows through on their plans, it's potentially going to be difficult to even get a ride on Peter Pan's flight without similar advance planning, which is outright ridiculous.

In the next few weeks, I'll talk a bit more about what we know and don't know about MyMagic+, and how Optimal Magic will be able to help you avoid the pitfalls, and still get on Peter Pan, Space Mountain, or whatever attractions you want, with no wait - and I'll do the planning for you to ensure everything works out optimally!