Fastpass at Disneyland just became a little less convenient. The mouse has begun to enforce the one hour return window printed on Fastpass tickets and is turning away guests who return after the time has expired.
Over the past decade, Disneyland has been lax about the printed times and allowed you to return any time after the initial waiting period. With Disney enforcing return times, families will have to keep close track of their schedule and spend time planning out their visit.
The change makes sense from Disney’s perspective. Enforcing the return time means they can better manage the standby wait time and more efficiently run the attractions. From the guest perspective, the change makes Fastpass more difficult to use and much less convenient.
As a parent, I appreciated the flexibility with the return time. My son often wanted to visit whichever attraction caught his eye (usually the Matterhorn). We never once returned to an attraction during the printed time on our Fastpass tickets. Keeping to a schedule gets more complicated when you factor in things like bathroom breaks, chasing down characters for photos, and snack breaks.
At Walt Disney World, you can adjust your Fastpass times on the fly with the My Magic+ program. It would be great if Disneyland could offer something similar so that you aren’t locked into a schedule on your vacation.
Being spontaneous is part of the fun of being on vacation. It would be nice if Disneyland could find a way to still offer some flexibility, instead of enforcing a rigid timeline.
Photo via Flickr
