Is the Disney fastpass worth the extra money?

Answer 1

FASTPASS is a fantastic way to reduce waiting time, and there's no additional charge. It was introduced in 1999 at the Animal Kingdom and eventually expanded to select rides at other parks. FASTPASS is basically a reservation to enjoy an attraction later in the day with a much reduced wait.It's also a great way to delay water rides like Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom or the Kali River Rapids at the Animal Kingdom until the warmer part of the day, without the long lines.

When you reach an attraction with a long wait, just insert your admission pass into the FASTPASS machine and receive an appointment. When you return at your appointed time, you'll proceed through the FASTPASS line directly to the staging area. Disney gives preference to FASTPASS guests over standby guests in the regular line. It's a great feeling to waltz past a long line!

FASTPASS reduces the need to get to the park before opening, since you are avoiding long lines anyway. Just be aware that a limited number of FASTPASSes are available, and they are frequently depleted by 2 pm.

Addition

As a former Disney employee, I would just add that Disney sometimes admits 25 or more FASTPASS guests for each standby guest. Staff is trained so that the FASTPASS guests never wait more than 15-20 minutes, maximum.

Answer 2

The FastPass+ system allows guests staying at Disney hotels at the Walt Disney World resort to book their fast passes up to sixty days in advance. I presume that's what you mean by "extra money", since there's no actual charge for the FastPass itself. In evaluating whether to stay at a Disney or non-Disney hotel, you need to remember that the ability to book your FastPasses an extra 30 days in advance is not the only benefit of staying in a Disney hotel; the Disney hotels are also generally closer to the parks and transportation is simplified, and there's also the Extra Magic Hours ... times when only Disney hotel guests are allowed into the park.

At Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, heck yes get fastpasses early and often; they don't cost anything (except potentially a few minutes getting to the fastpass distribution point and waiting for a fastpass kiosk to open) ... since having a fastpass will save you a considerable amount of time waiting in line, they're definitely worth it if the standby wait time is anything over, say, ten or fifteen minutes (for rides that even offer fastpasses, it almost certainly will be). The one exception is if you know you're going to be leaving early; there's no point in going out of your way to pick up a fastpass you won't be able to use.