Does anyone else remeber this??????

[Ducklover]

I was wondering if anyone remembers the times without Fastpass. I remember waiting 60-90 minutes to ride Space Mountain. Why did it seem more exciting then????? I remember going through the que, watching the ceiling, hearing the screams, watching the trains and being so excited by the time I finally rode!!!! Believe ne I LOVE fastpass-but does anyone else remember feeling this??? It was the same for BTM and even HM!
Maybe I'm crazy-my kids say I am-or maybe it was DISNEY MAGIC!
5 months and counting!!!! WDW Aug 9-19th

[breezysmom]

There is something to be said for the anticipation of the ride........I do kinda miss that .....My family and I used to make bets on how close the posted wait time would be ....it made the time go faster....Somehow they had it pretty close most of the time .......That said...the bigger the parks get the harder it would be to see everything if they hadn't done something like fastpass...

[LoriMistress]

I remember the days without FPs. When my family and I would to go DLR we had to wait in lines that were 90-120 and over for rides (this was during August of course). Oh man...I am SO thankful for FPs. I feel like it's a privilage (of course, I'm dorky).

[mook3y]

lol sigh going to show my age here...

I remember the days of A - E tickets.

My dad was in a local union and was able to get "unlimited ride" passes.

By the end of the day, most people had used their tickets up and the lines would drop down and you could walk on to any ride.

[Touchdown]

I remember pre Fastpass and I dont recall them fondly. I have gotten on the big rides (that I want to ride a lot) more times with it (usually I would go to my favorite ride, ride it, get a fastpass, keep moving on and hour later as the park is filling up go back ) then before. The thing that I am sure to miss is those great E-ride nights at the MK. In 3 hours I could hit SM 3-5 times, spin through Fantasyland, hit the HM, BTMRR 2-3 times (most of the time that late without getting off) and then finish the night with SM 1-2 times before catching the Goodnight Kiss. Sounds like EMH Evenings will not be even close to this .

[Speedy1998]

I remeber the pre Fastpass days, but I do not remeber lines that long. Maybe it was because we just planned better. We would do BTM as soon as we got there and would have to wait maybe 15 min, and we usually hit SM after crowds thinned in the evening.

[Willowwind]

lol sigh going to show my age here...
I remember the days of A - E tickets.

I'm with ya on that one. I can remember those, then going to the paper ones that you had to tie onto you someplace where they could be seen by the cast members. It always seemed like back in those stays WDW was our family secret.

I also remember the year a suite at the villas went over $100 a night, I was in 7th grade and couldn't believe how "expensive' it was!

[DVC2004]

I remember the days before FP. I remember going during Easter week and waiting for hours for rides.

[January-2007]

Yes, I remember the days before the Fastpass! I remember thinking about how cool all the stuff was in the Splash Mountain line, like the chipmunks singing in the little treehouse, and the posters on the wall of Brer Bear and Brer Fox, etc. Now you just race through a lot of that while in the Fastpass line without really noticing the small stuff. Ah, the days when the line was split into two lines, but they were EQUAL and the manhandler at Space Mountain didn't treat you like a criminal for not being in the FP line... Different times, that's for sure.

And E-Ride nights, wow, that was fun. I think I was SLEEPWALKING by the end of that night!

[battle beast]

I *BOUGHT* a train ticket off Ebay (DL), and I do remember a time before the fast pass... I was waiting 75 min for Splash Mountain... that was the longest I've ever stood in line...

[wrfd18]

What year did they do away with ride tickets? I was there when I was 5 in 1975 and got lost and had to sit in a ticket booth until my uncle found me. We went back in 1979 and I don't remember.

[LudwigVonDrake]

I understand why they have it, but I would prefer a WDW without fastpass

[Jerry2]

I understand why they have it, but I would prefer a WDW without fastpass

....... ........... Why do you say that?

[Speedy1998]

What year did they do away with ride tickets? I was there when I was 5 in 1975 and got lost and had to sit in a ticket booth until my uncle found me. We went back in 1979 and I don't remember.

I think it was late 1980 or 1981. I remeber them on my first trip in the summer of 1980, but on my second trip we had some type of pass that you had to show CMs.

[slt21]

I remember the time before FPs, but we rarely went during the peak times so we never really had bad waits.

I have many fond memories of E-Ride Nights, as well.

I don't remember having ride tickets (which makes since, as I wasn't even a theory when they did away with those), but I did find an old ticket book in my family's house. It was really cool to look through; I think I ended up "permanently borrowing" it, lol!

[SandmanGStefani24]

do we remember? How could we forget?! My 2nd trip I can remember the summer heat as we waited in line for over an hour for splash. It was miserable, and all the waiting in that line and others caused me to get dehydrated and feel sick. Fastpass is a lifesaver!

Yeah some queue lines are pretty cool, but I would rather be riding something than standing around wishing I was. (I can do that here at home for free! )

[casey@bat]

I guess the magic has changed now. We get excited thinking about all the rides we are going to get to ride before the crowd gets there. It is so fun to plan out how and when we get our fast passes. That is magical now instead of the anticipation of the ride.

[SillySymphony]

I think there's more method than madness behind FP for the WD Company. After all, it's very difficult to queue up at Peco's Bills for a burger while you're standing in line for Splash... Ditto for the shops. What FP has done is crerated a whole new "gestalt" of touring. I'm not suggesting it's worse, simply different than many of us remember.

In regards to EMH versus E-Ride nights, well... really there is no comparison. EMH simply extends your theme park experience by 3 hours. In each case, those resort guests with hopping privileges show up at the "late park" and clog it. I've been one of the "cloggers" myself. But, oh... those days of the E-ride nights. Well worth the extra investment.

[Goofy Pluto]

I've always felt like waiting in line was part of the experience of going to WDW. It's why you needed 2, 3, or 4 days at some of the parks to do everything. You COULDN'T do everything in one day because of the waits in line. The last time I went for an extended trip 5 1/2 years ago, it just didn't feel the same without having to wait in line to get on rides. (It was the first time we went in the fall, though) I mean, it's weird to complain about NOT having wait in lines, but that was part of the experience for me. Without the lines, we finished up a park in less than a day and were like, well, what do we do now? I mean, it was nice not to be trapped in a queue for an hour or more, but there's was something strangely missing for me without having to wait...

[Jasper]

For people like myself and my family, Fastpass is not that big of a deal. That is because like some of the other posters we almost always go to WDW during non-peak times. The result is that Fastpass doesn't shorten the lines much or in some cases not at all. In fact, there have been times where on some of the Fastpass attractions they didn't even offer them on some days we were there.

While I am old enough to remember A-E tickets and a day before Fastpass, I don't have a very strong opinion of it either way. I am sure that if we went during busy periods our attitude might be different.