TripHip - Travel Tips and Advice for Traveling on a Budget

A new system for ride waiting is the FastPass, but it might not be the miracle you've been waiting for at the ultra-busy Disney parks.

The idea is basically that you get a FastPass ticket at a busy attraction, which then reserves a place for you later in the day. A time is printed on a ticket for you. You just come back at that time, and breeze right in. Sounds awesome, but its misleading. For one thing, if lots of people are getting FastPasses, there can be just as long a line in the FastPass lane as the regular one.

Also, your "come back later time" can be several hours later. And the way the system works, you can only have one FastPass at a time (you swipe your admission pass to get them, and it does keep track). So you could get a FastPass for a busy ride at 10am, and not be able to get anymore of them for any other rides for 5 or 6 hours, when you finally get a chance to use the Pass.

I'm not saying the system has nothing to offer, just be cautious when planning a trip to Disney. Even with FastPasses, expect plenty of waiting in line.

Did you know you can get free admission to one Disney park on your birthday? Now there's a gift you won't want to exchange.

You need to go to the Disney home page (disneyparks.disney.go.com) and register in advance, at least 2 weeks. You'll get a confirmation email which you need to print out and bring to the park with you.

If you are using a multi-day ticket and don't really need a free day, you can swap out your gift for special birthday FastPasses, gift cards for merchandise or even a 1-day ticket to be used later.