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FASTPASS is a breakthrough new invention that decreases waiting time in queues for some of the most popular rides at the parks. Rather than waiting in line for some selected rides, you insert your ticket into a box in the Fastpass Distribution line (there has to be a more technical way of saying that sentence) and as well as receiving your park ticket back, you get a Fastpass ticket, which gives you a window of time in which you can come back and hop on with little to no wait.
I've heard some negative reviews about this, but imho, it's absolutely brilliant. I'm amazed that Disney was able to get this system to work so smoothly. Personally, I encountered no problems whatsoever and it saved us heaps of time. Even if you don't get to do much more in the time between getting the pass and the window, even just walking around the park looking around has to be better than standing in limited space for up to 120 minutes (the longest length of time I saw for any line during my time at WDW, on Christmas Day.) On Christmas Day, rather than waiting 90 minutes to go on Peter Pan's Flight, we waited for five - and that was the longest wait we experienced with Fastpass. I've also heard people say that the time between the distribution of the passes and the opening of the "window" was too long. The longest time we had was three hours, in the really busy week between Christmas and New Year's. Anyway, if the time is too long for you, just don't get the ticket! Either wait in the line or leave it for another day.
Another advantage of the Fastpass is that everyone can get it, so even the people who wait in the standby line, whining, really have no right to, as they can use it themselves. Sometimes circumstances don't allow you to use it, so you just have to put up with the line and not begrudge those who happen to be able to put it to use at that time, which I heard a couple of people doing. Most people I spoke to, however, thought it was teriffic and had only good things to say about it.
Overall, I think this is a great idea and it definitely helps for an even more enjoyable time at WDW ... after all, who likes waiting in line?
