At WDW Now - Used GAD Fastpass for Epcot & DHS

[lklasing]

We only have 4 people in our group. Do you think it would be possible to 'gift' the extra two cards to two random strangers? How nice it would be to give to a honeymooning couple, etc.

Kathy

You could, but they need to be waiting there with you at the Will Call window.

Actually, our experience was that all you had to do was have their park tickets. The CMs we encountered (6 or 7 different times) never wanted to see the people but rather just counted valid park tickets. (Our group was always no where near the window, putting on sunscreen.) Now, as a practical matter for your question, I'm sure 2 strangers will want to be there with you as you turn in the voucher to make sure you don't take off with their park tickets.

 

[pixarmom]

I am in the same boat (staying at Beach Club and entering thru the International gateway) except I am planning to upgrade to an AP. Can I do that at the gate or do I need to get my one day then uprade inside the park and if so, where?

The day you posted this question, we were checking into the Beach Club, and upgrading our GAD vouchers to APs at the international gateway ticket window! All at once - no going through the gate and back out again, etc. And there was no wait at the window when we arrived at 8:15am - we were the only ones there.

I told the CM what we needed to do, and he redeemed the GAD vouchers, upgraded to APs, we purchased an AP for our youngest (too little to participate in GAD) and bought a TIW card all at once and on-the-spot. The CM - Craig - was very organized and efficient. Our friends did the same (upgrade to multi-day pass) at MK outside the park in February - again, all at once.

 

[doconeill]

Actually, our experience was that all you had to do was have their park tickets. The CMs we encountered (6 or 7 different times) never wanted to see the people but rather just counted valid park tickets. (Our group was always no where near the window, putting on sunscreen.) Now, as a practical matter for your question, I'm sure 2 strangers will want to be there with you as you turn in the voucher to make sure you don't take off with their park tickets.

Yup, I'm just reporting what the rules are in general - as we all know the experiences are varied.

The day you posted this question, we were checking into the Beach Club, and upgrading our GAD vouchers to APs at the international gateway ticket window! All at once - no going through the gate and back out again, etc. And there was no wait at the window when we arrived at 8:15am - we were the only ones there.

I told the CM what we needed to do, and he redeemed the GAD vouchers, upgraded to APs, we purchased an AP for our youngest (too little to participate in GAD) and bought a TIW card all at once and on-the-spot. The CM - Craig - was very organized and efficient. Our friends did the same (upgrade to multi-day pass) at MK outside the park in February - again, all at once.

I believe in another thread Cheshire Figment said they are more willing to allow the AP upgrades instantly mainly because it doesn't affect the expiration date, since you will get an active AP at the time of the upgrade. Although I'm pretty sure some have gotten instant MYW upgrades as well...don't quote me on that, I've been on a non-Disney vacation weekend and I'm just coming back

 

[lklasing]

Yup, I'm just reporting what the rules are in general - as we all know the experiences are varied.

I totally agree.

 

[pixarmom]

Yup, I'm just reporting what the rules are in general - as we all know the experiences are varied.



I believe in another thread Cheshire Figment said they are more willing to allow the AP upgrades instantly mainly because it doesn't affect the expiration date, since you will get an active AP at the time of the upgrade. Although I'm pretty sure some have gotten instant MYW upgrades as well...don't quote me on that, I've been on a non-Disney vacation weekend and I'm just coming back

Yes! We were really happy that it worked out as well as it did! Our friends redeemed GAD vouchers at MK last month, and got the instant MYW upgrade!

 

[TLSnell1981]

Darn it. There will be 7 of us, so the FP won't work. Everyone else needs to use theirs to upgrade their ticket.

 

[december]

Darn it. There will be 7 of us, so the FP won't work. Everyone else needs to use theirs to upgrade their ticket.

Why won't it work? There have been reports of people getting up to 10.

 

[doconeill]

Darn it. There will be 7 of us, so the FP won't work. Everyone else needs to use theirs to upgrade their ticket.

Why won't it work? There have been reports of people getting up to 10.

Agreed. If nothing else, you can ask. IF they become strict about it, it would probably be on the busiest of days when they are more valuable and in higher demand.

Even if you only got six, you could work it so everyone gets a benefit. There is nothing that says the Fastpass needs to be used by the card holder.

 

[mldnhr5]

We are coming down Friday with another family. We have 10 vouchers (8 adult 2 kids) that we know need to be redeemed by Sunday. We thought our only option was to redeem them for a ticket. Can you elaborate more on what you got?

I assume the fastpass you got lets you go to the ride without a time restriction.

We would love to maximize the vouchers. Thanks in advance for more details!!

Andy

 

[Petraman]

I told several of you I would post when we used our GAD FP's. Truth is, several have already posted same info.
3/21 ... used 1st GAD FP at Hollywood Studios. All info posted on Doconeil's FP page was still accurate. Same rides for FP, 3+3 FP's for each person, and like others have said, all I had to show was our AP's.... no one else at the window but me. Passes worked great and made the day pretty amazing. By working our own FP's along with the GAD FP'S, we rode/saw almost everything plus 4 TSMM rides, 3 RnR rides, 2 ToT rides... done by 7:00.

Tomorrow its Epcot. Will report on ability to get GAD FP's at the International Gateway.

 

[Petraman]

We are coming down Friday with another family. We have 10 vouchers (8 adult 2 kids) that we know need to be redeemed by Sunday. We thought our only option was to redeem them for a ticket. Can you elaborate more on what you got?

I assume the fastpass you got lets you go to the ride without a time restriction.

We would love to maximize the vouchers. Thanks in advance for more details!!

Andy

Read carefully here. Will answer all your questions...
http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php#GAD

Have fun!

 

[doconeill]

We are coming down Friday with another family. We have 10 vouchers (8 adult 2 kids) that we know need to be redeemed by Sunday. We thought our only option was to redeem them for a ticket. Can you elaborate more on what you got?

I assume the fastpass you got lets you go to the ride without a time restriction.

We would love to maximize the vouchers. Thanks in advance for more details!!

Andy

Only if you already have a multi-day ticket already in hand, you can choose two other options:

- Fastpass Exchange Card

- Souvenir ear hat figurine and trading pins

You can also donate the ticket to one of several organizations at any point.

If you are going at a particularly busy time, you may want to use one of several of the vouchers for FPs, when they are most valuable, and others for tickets to save money. To do that, on the first day turn those in for tickets that need them, purchase tickets separately for the rest, and then you can turn in other vouchers for the FPXCs. However, if it is also a busy time they might be more likely to restrict the numbrer of FPXCs given per voucher (the advertised limit is 6), so you'd have to get creative with their use to cover 10 people.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Just printed my voucher (Yeah!) and I think I have all the info I need. Although, I am sure to scour this thread again before we leave.

Anyway, we are hoping to use the voucher for FP's at DHS next week. I know it is a "blackout" week, so lets hope that Chesire Figment was right. It does say on the voucher "Ticket is NOT valid for admission on March 29 - April 8 and July 4, 2010". It doesn't say anything about not being able to use the FP or ear figurine option during that time.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Marshay]

Why won't it work? There have been reports of people getting up to 10.

Really? We are a party of 10 and will have 8 GAD vouchers ... one of the kids is 1 so no need for her to have one, but the other kid is nearly 5yo so couldn't do GAD.

If a CM is 'in the mood', it may be possible for her to get a GAD FP, too?

I didn't even think to ask for her...but it would make it soooo much easier if everyone in the group had their own GAD FP...

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Really? We are a party of 10 and will have 8 GAD vouchers ... one of the kids is 1 so no need for her to have one, but the other kid is nearly 5yo so couldn't do GAD.

If a CM is 'in the mood', it may be possible for her to get a GAD FP, too?

I didn't even think to ask for her...but it would make it soooo much easier if everyone in the group had their own GAD FP...

It is my understanding that for each GAD voucher you can receive up to 6 Fastpass cards for the day - one for each member of your party. If you have 8 GAD vouchers, you could use one voucher each day of your trip and get up to 6 FP cards. Some people have reported that CM's have given 8 FP cards per voucher.

 

[Marshay]

It is my understanding that for each GAD voucher you can receive up to 6 Fastpass cards for the day - one for each member of your party. If you have 8 GAD vouchers, you could use one voucher each day of your trip and get up to 6 FP cards. Some people have reported that CM's have given 8 FP cards per voucher.

Thanks! Guess that means I'll just have to ask.

(We're already planning to use just one GAD FP a day, so that gives us 6 to use which is fine. We'll just share and not everyone will go together. We're going to be there 10 days so it would be awesome to have one almost every day and enough for everyone. But if not, no biggie. We'll make it happen either way.)

 

[Mickey Fliers]

Thanks! Guess that means I'll just have to ask.

(We're already planning to use just one GAD FP a day, so that gives us 6 to use which is fine. We'll just share and not everyone will go together. We're going to be there 10 days so it would be awesome to have one almost every day and enough for everyone. But if not, no biggie. We'll make it happen either way.)

Yeah, so you really only need to ask for one additional FP card per day. Also, don't forget that you can ask for a Rider Switch pass for the rides that the 1 yo isn't tall enough for. That will ensure that everyone gets to ride the biggies.

 

[december]

Thanks! Guess that means I'll just have to ask.

(We're already planning to use just one GAD FP a day, so that gives us 6 to use which is fine. We'll just share and not everyone will go together. We're going to be there 10 days so it would be awesome to have one almost every day and enough for everyone. But if not, no biggie. We'll make it happen either way.)

Definitely ask!

 

[chickie]

We just got back and used our 1 voucher for each of our 3 park days. We had a party of 5, and used the fastpass option. What a godsend! Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania were all gone by 10 am, but we were able to walk up at 3pm and get an immediate fastpass, ride the ride, come back and get more fastpasses and ride again! The CM at the Fastpass machine told us we were holding "Gold"! It was great, and to us, it was well worth the ticket price that we would have saved otherwise.

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

We just got back and used our 1 voucher for each of our 3 park days. We had a party of 5, and used the fastpass option. What a godsend! Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania were all gone by 10 am, but we were able to walk up at 3pm and get an immediate fastpass, ride the ride, come back and get more fastpasses and ride again! The CM at the Fastpass machine told us we were holding "Gold"! It was great, and to us, it was well worth the ticket price that we would have saved otherwise.

Did you use 1 voucher for 3 days? Or 3 vouchers over 3 days; one for each park??

I want to make sure I have this right.