Best Park to use Bday Fastpass Badge

[Canmum]

In Febuary 2009 my family will make our long awaited first trip to Disney World! We were supposed to go in 2007, but decided it would be better finacially to wait until 2008. In 2008 my Mom was diagnosed with cancer so we cancelled again to help care for her. Happy to say she has made a full recovery.

During our visit my son will celebrate his 16th B'day. Since we already have our multi day tickets purchased we are planning to get the fastpass badge for him. I would like to know in what park it would be most benifical to have this special priveledge? My son is a typical teenage boy so the park that is the most laden with thrill rides would be good. But I would love to hear the opinions of all those who know the parks well.

Also our family of 4 (mum, dad, 9yo dd, 16 DS) Will be travelling with another family of 3. The birthday fastpass allows my son to take up to 5 people in his party with him. Anyone have any thoughts on how strictly this would be enforced? Think we could slide through one extra person?

[gerald72]

I thought it was a total of five.
But why isn't that enough? Why is there the need to beat the system.

[Canmum]

"FASTPASS for birthday celebrant and up to 5 members of his/her party. "

As I read this it would be my son and an additional 5 people from his party, therefor a total of 6 people. Since our group is a total of 7 that would mean someone would have to sit out or delay the group by going through the regular line. There is no "need to beat the system" we are perfectly willing to abide by the rules. Most times not eveyone will want to ride with him (i.e.I don't do rollercoaters) but it would be nice if everyone could ride together on occasion. If is not possible, c'est la vie.

What park would you choose to use to use a birthday fastpass?

[princessesmom]

You are correct, it is a total of 6 people - the birthday boy/girl and up to 5 additional guests. It is my understanding that the fast pass is good for 4 rides. This is new for 2009, so there is no way of knowing how strict they will be since there is no history. But my guess is that they will enforce the limit, otherwise where do you draw the line and why did they bother to have a limit?

We will be going to MK for my son's 8'th birthday. For my family this is our favorite park, so it makes sense for us. With your son being 16, I would guess he might prefer DHS or maybe Epcot. You should ask him what his preference is.

Have fun!

[TBY2225]

Another idea would be to get the gift card equal to a one day ticket for your son on his birthday. Then he could get some gifts for himself. You can always get FP's the regular way. That way everyone could ride and not have to worry about the extra person. In my mind 4 FP's is not equal to a free day in the park or a gift card, but that is me. As for the thrill rides, each park has a few, so that is a tough call. I would say DHS with RnR and ToT, also it would be nice to have FP for TSMM!

[VWL Mom]

DS17 votes for DHS

[indytraveler]

I have a DD14 and she would love the MK experience. She is a thrill ride seeker but it is something about MK that brings out the kid in you. With using your park passes to get FP's and the 4 extra ones you shouldn't have to wait in line for any ride too long. (we had dream FP's for MK last summer and we didn't wait at all)

However, DHS or Epcot would work just as well. Toy Story Mania, ToT, RnRRC, all good. TT, Soarin, and MS are pretty good too. Tough choice.

[mouseketeer mom]

We're celebrating my DD's 13th BD in March, arriving the day before her actual birthday. She has chosen to get the $75.00 gift card to shop for herself! If she choose the Fastpasses, she said she would pick MK for sure.

[kemps@wdw]

DD (15 yrs old) says the better thrill rides are @ DHS!

[WeLuvBuzz]

I would recommend DHS if your son enjoys thrill rides. With RNRC, TOT, and TSM the passes would be easy to use. I highly doubt you would be able to "sneak" in an extra person. I assume the process will be similar to the Vacation Club fast pass perk where they give you a plastic card the you put in the fastpass machine. The machine then spits of the allocated number of fastpasses with a return now time on it. The greeters at the fastpass gate only allow in and on the ride the same number of people for which you have fast passes.

[mulderxcoltrane]

Not knowing exactly what the passes will be like - I would say Magic Kingdom.

If they're anything like the dream fastpasses, they'll be excellent.

A close second (as others have mentioned due to thrill rides) would be DHS.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I would say MK because of Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad...however some teens may vote for DHS for RnRC and Tower of Terror

[dumbo ears]

Id choose magic kingdom just because it has a lot of thrill rides and also a lot of other rides for the family. Im goin next year on my bday in may for my 18th bday

[Canmum]

Thanks for your input everyone!

I did find out that the bday FP is good for only 4 rides. Initially I thought it was all day, but like another poster suggested if we use these in conjunction with with regular fast passes we should be able to minimize wait times nicely.

As background my son's b'day is March 1st. This falls on a Sunday. Down side of this is he will be "sharing" his birthday with those born on Feb 29th so there could be a higher than normal volume of bdays being celebrated that day. So far I am leaning toward Magic Kingdom on that day since they have the Extra Magic evening hours that day. I do however have ParkHopper passes so we could do another park during the early part of the day (using bday FP there), have a rest and then come back to MK prior to EMH.

Do any of you use the "unoffical" guide and touring plans? If so do you find them worthwhile?

How are crowd levels during EMHs? Are the managable? Can you still get FPs during extra magic hours? Is there a 12 step program that can cure me of my disney planning obsession?

[stitchaholic]

i use the birnbaum guide,and it was extremely helpful in getting me through the parcs last year and helping us to do all there is to do,or almost. it was also great at giving descriptions of all the restaurants so that we could plan our ADR's. it also helps with my vacation planning obsession for the 2 months before the trip

[disneydeb]

With TSM, Rock n' Rollercoaster, and ToT, my guess is he would prefer DS.

It wold probably be my preference and I am 52!