Disney experiments with ‘FastPass only’ access to Toy Story Midway Mania. We’re intrigued.

Disney experiments with 'FastPass only' access to Toy Story Mania. We're intrigued. | Dearest Geeks of EarthVirtual carnival-style games, 3D glasses, twists and turns – Walt Disney World’s Toy Story Midway Mania wins at pixie-dusted life, which is probably why wait times easily clock in at eleventy mabillion hours.

Unless of course, you’ve made an advance reservation with FastPass+.

The virtual queuing system rolled out in 1999 as a way to lessen wait times at popular attractions. As it had no advance reservation system at the time, the process was relatively straightforward in that guests would race to FastPass kiosks as soon as the parks opened to get a ticket-turned-reservation for their favorite rides. (We know. Because we ran like we were on The Amazing Race.)

The new FastPass+ system, which really isn’t all that complicated either once you get the hang of it, allows for advance planning online or in the parks themselves. It opens up a lot more rides by allowing guests to avoid long lines, and is included in the price of admission for every day a ticket is purchased. Guests are simply given a window when they need to show up and ride. And sure, it requires some advanced planning, but not having to spend half the day in a never-ending queue with kids hanging from your legs is the obvious upside.

And it would appear Disney is working on making more upsides happen for its guests with an experiment going down in Hollywood Studios from Monday-Thursday.

During that time, guests who want to ride Toy Story Mania must make advance reservations with their FastPass+ in order to gain access, which means they won’t have the option of waiting in the standby queue.

A Disney spokesperson did tell us that extra FastPass+ reservations will be available for the duration of the experiment, but we’re thinking this test is probably a sneak peek at how things will work at Walt Disney World in the future.

A win-win for all involved? We’re not sure yet, but we’re kind of curious to see how it will all play out.

Photo credits: Disney Parks

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