Ultimate FastPass for 1-day visit?

Did you end up doing the Ultimate FP? Trying to figure out if it will be worth it. We will be there at high time as well and part of me hesitates bc there are so few rides with FP but we will only have about 1.5 days in park. We live 1 hr from WDW and have been to DL in CA and are used to pretty much all FP all the time! From the chart online it looks like for a family of 4 the additional cost for Universal FP would be $800 per day? Does that sounds right? It's a big spend so trying to figure out if it really is worth it.

Any input is appreciated!

Paying for FP is only worth if you can afford the cost. Do not cut anything from your vacation (transportation, restaurants, lodging) to save for theses passes.

One question, are you staying at a Disney hotel? Suites include VIP FPs which are the free variant of the Ultimate FPS and upgrading to a suite might be a better way to spend your euros.
 
Did you end up doing the Ultimate FP? Trying to figure out if it will be worth it. We will be there at high time as well and part of me hesitates bc there are so few rides with FP but we will only have about 1.5 days in park. We live 1 hr from WDW and have been to DL in CA and are used to pretty much all FP all the time! From the chart online it looks like for a family of 4 the additional cost for Universal FP would be $800 per day? Does that sounds right? It's a big spend so trying to figure out if it really is worth it.

Any input is appreciated!
Yes, we ended up getting the one-time ultimate fastpass for me and DH, plus the kids's one time FP for DS11 (it works only for Ratatouille, Peter Pan and Buzz). In hindsight, we really could have saved the money and done without them. We stayed at the DLH so had early entry for both of our days and did tons without the wristbands. We only got them to use on our first day which was our full day there. I didn't want to waste any early morning time getting exchanging the voucher for the wrist bands, so we headed to the rides first. I also figured the wrist bands would be our back up if lines were too long or we wanted to go on something twice. We really could've gotten by without them because surprisingly, the lines were not bad at all. This was Friday, Aug 2nd. The crowds were much worse on our half day, Sat the 3rd.

Just to get an idea, here's what we did on our full day, but keep in mind we have a pretty relaxed touring style, stop a lot for breaks and didn't feel the need to ride everything:

Buzz (5min wait during EMM)
Hyperspace Mtn (5min wait during EMM)
Pinocchio
Pirates x2 (we just stayed in our boat and they let us go again since no one was in line!)
- pulled BTMR FP at around 10:25am for return time of 11:55am)
Phantom Manor (5min wait)
Frontierland fort walk thru
Castle walk thru
Small World
Alice's Labrynth
BTMRR with FP
Lunch at Col. Hathis pizza
Dragon walk thru
- we then took a loooooong break for swimming and relaxing at the hotel, we stopped on our way out to get the wristbands.
Snacks at the international huts at the Studios park
Ratatouille with wristband
Slinky Dog
Dinner at Agrabah Cafe
BTMR with wristband
Peter Pan with wristband
Tea Cups
Star Tours x2 (each wait was only 5min! didn't even need the wristband for this)
Tried to ride Buzz again with wristband but it was broken down - left at 9pm since we were tired.

We weren't interested in doing Tower of Terror or RRC. We rode Indy the next day with a 10min wait. So, we didn't even really need the wristband for most of the rides because we either did them during EMH or the waits weren't long enough to need them. We probably could have just stayed in DL park and done everything there on our full day and then the Studios on the 2nd day.

I honestly think that if you are going on a week day, even during busy August, then you will be in pretty good shape, especially if you have 2 mornings to get things done. Saturday seemed much busier, so if you can only go on weekend days then I would still recommend the ultimate FPs.

Happy planning!
 
Paying for FP is only worth if you can afford the cost. Do not cut anything from your vacation (transportation, restaurants, lodging) to save for theses passes.

One question, are you staying at a Disney hotel? Suites include VIP FPs which are the free variant of the Ultimate FPS and upgrading to a suite might be a better way to spend your euros.

Thanks! We are just trying to figure out what is the most efficient use of money! We will be there next summer in early July and it would be half day Thurs, all day Fri, and half day Sat. We are definitely staying on site, probably the Disneyland hotel (would love to stay at the new Avengers but doubt it will be open then). The price of getting the Ultimate FP for each day and DL hotel is a LOT more than just doing the suite at DL hotel so would do the suite if it really is important to have the unlimited FP each day. (The Super FP doesn't make sense for us and the Ultimate One time could but again, cheaper to stay in suite).

They have the special now going to stay at DL hotel and get half board. Trying to weigh the pros and cons of all. Thanks for the input!
 
Yes, we ended up getting the one-time ultimate fastpass for me and DH, plus the kids's one time FP for DS11 (it works only for Ratatouille, Peter Pan and Buzz). In hindsight, we really could have saved the money and done without them. We stayed at the DLH so had early entry for both of our days and did tons without the wristbands. We only got them to use on our first day which was our full day there. I didn't want to waste any early morning time getting exchanging the voucher for the wrist bands, so we headed to the rides first. I also figured the wrist bands would be our back up if lines were too long or we wanted to go on something twice. We really could've gotten by without them because surprisingly, the lines were not bad at all. This was Friday, Aug 2nd. The crowds were much worse on our half day, Sat the 3rd.

Just to get an idea, here's what we did on our full day, but keep in mind we have a pretty relaxed touring style, stop a lot for breaks and didn't feel the need to ride everything:

Buzz (5min wait during EMM)
Hyperspace Mtn (5min wait during EMM)
Pinocchio
Pirates x2 (we just stayed in our boat and they let us go again since no one was in line!)
- pulled BTMR FP at around 10:25am for return time of 11:55am)
Phantom Manor (5min wait)
Frontierland fort walk thru
Castle walk thru
Small World
Alice's Labrynth
BTMRR with FP
Lunch at Col. Hathis pizza
Dragon walk thru
- we then took a loooooong break for swimming and relaxing at the hotel, we stopped on our way out to get the wristbands.
Snacks at the international huts at the Studios park
Ratatouille with wristband
Slinky Dog
Dinner at Agrabah Cafe
BTMR with wristband
Peter Pan with wristband
Tea Cups
Star Tours x2 (each wait was only 5min! didn't even need the wristband for this)
Tried to ride Buzz again with wristband but it was broken down - left at 9pm since we were tired.

We weren't interested in doing Tower of Terror or RRC. We rode Indy the next day with a 10min wait. So, we didn't even really need the wristband for most of the rides because we either did them during EMH or the waits weren't long enough to need them. We probably could have just stayed in DL park and done everything there on our full day and then the Studios on the 2nd day.

I honestly think that if you are going on a week day, even during busy August, then you will be in pretty good shape, especially if you have 2 mornings to get things done. Saturday seemed much busier, so if you can only go on weekend days then I would still recommend the ultimate FPs.

Happy planning!
Thanks so much. This is very helpful!! We are so used to the WDW system so just trying to figure out how we should approach this one! Much appreciated.
 


Thanks! We are just trying to figure out what is the most efficient use of money! We will be there next summer in early July and it would be half day Thurs, all day Fri, and half day Sat. We are definitely staying on site, probably the Disneyland hotel (would love to stay at the new Avengers but doubt it will be open then). The price of getting the Ultimate FP for each day and DL hotel is a LOT more than just doing the suite at DL hotel so would do the suite if it really is important to have the unlimited FP each day. (The Super FP doesn't make sense for us and the Ultimate One time could but again, cheaper to stay in suite).

They have the special now going to stay at DL hotel and get half board. Trying to weigh the pros and cons of all. Thanks for the input!

One last thing, if you are staying at the Disneyland Hotel: the Castle Club rooms are granted VIP FPs as well. They are more expensive than regular rooms, but cheaper than suites, and their location can't be beat: just in the center of the hotel, with view either of the Fantasia Gardens or even the Disneyland Park. And you've got your own private lounge with characters during breakfast, views of Main Street USA and Space Mountain, and free drinks (non-alcoholic unfortunately) and snacks during the day. Maybe something to consider!
 
We just returned from DLP. We were also there 1 1/2 days. We bought the Ultimate Pass. I’m not really into rides. I go for the atmosphere and the joy it brings my husband an daughter. I opted not to buy an Ultimate Pass for myself and just buy for my DH and DD. This saved us a little bit of money.

I do think the Ultimate Pass was worth it for the most part. We arrived at the park around 11:30am on our first day. We went to Studios first. All the rides had lines up to a hour wait. We got a paper FO for ToT. While we waited, we rode the Slinky Dog ride as it only had a 20 minute wait. We ate lunch and went back to ToT. We left Studios knowing we had both early morning hours and the Ultimate Pass the next day. We then went to Disneyland park. It took a bit to get our bearings. Again, all the rides had 1-2 hr waits. We made a decision not to wait in any line longer than 40 minutes. We were so tired after 2 weeks in London and Paris. Had enough of waiting in lines. We got FPS for Hyper Space Mountain. My DD loved this ride. The line for Star Tours got shorter, so they did that too. We had dinner and checked out the dragon under the castle and Aluce’s Labyrinth. We the ran over to Small World before the fireworks. So at the end of the day, we only rode 4 rides.

The following day we took advantage of the Early Morning hours. We went to Stufios to ride Crush which there is no fast pass for. Also, rode RC racers as not part of Ultimate Pass.

Once Early Morning hours were over, we left the park to go to the ticket window to pick up our Ultimate Passes. There was just one window for those buying and picking up
Passes. There were about 5 people in front of me. Each seemed to have a problem. Many were trying to purchase. They didn’t understand the various options and what was included. It seemingly took forever for their questions to get answered. Not sure why the details are not posted, so this is known beforehand. Needless to say, I was 40 mins in line to get our Ultimate Passes. We could have had a ride or two done in this time. Ugh...frustrating!

On the up side, once we had the Passes, my DH and DD rode all the rides they were entitled to in both parks. We also used the paper fastpasses, so they got to ride Hyper Space Mountain 3 times.
Outside of the time waiting to pick up the passes, having the Pass made for a very successful ride day. No regrets in purchasing.
 

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