As many of you know, RideMax has been taking advantage of a loophole in the FASTPASS (FP) system at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom which had allowed someone to obtain a FP ticket for both Barnstormer and Dumbo, even if he or she had recently obtained another FP elsewhere. This would normally be against the FP rules, but the machines seemed to be operating somewhat independently of the rest of the FP network. This allowed someone, for example, to get a FP ticket for Peter Pan (or some other MK attraction), and then to immediately get FP tickets for both Dumbo and Barnstormer, even though two hours hadn’t elapsed since the Peter Pan ticket was obtained, nor had the “ride window” for that first FP ticket arrived yet.
We had received reports within the last few days from a couple of customers who had read online that the Dumbo and Barnstormer FASTPASS machines were “connected” to the rest of the FASTPASS (FP) network again, so I decided to drop in on the Magic Kingdom today to check it out. I decided to “test” the loophole by obtaining a FP ticket for Peter Pan, then I’d try to also get FP tickets for both Dumbo and Barnstormer, to see if the system would allow it.
To make a long story short, the picture below shows the result of my “test” (click for a larger image):
It may be hard to read the time stamps in fine print at the bottom of these tickets, but I obtained the Peter Pan ticket at 11:29am, and successfully obtained both the Dumbo and Barnstormer tickets five minutes later, at 11:34am.
Given the recent reports of this loophole going away, I decided earlier this week to remove this feature from RideMax, at least for now. Even though this test indicates the loophole still existed today, it seems safer to NOT depend on this, especially since the parks aren’t crazy-busy right now, and this really isn’t absolutely necessary for efficient touring.
Having said this, I do expect to check this again as Mardi Gras week and President’s Day weekend approaches. If the loophole still exists then, I’ll likely put the feature back in RideMax so that folks using the planner can take advantage of this during those busier days in February.
Oh, by the way, while I was in the Magic Kingdom today I took a picture over the construction wall of the new Rapunzel’s tower and village, which I’ve posted below. It seems to be coming along nicely!
Happy planning!
