Disney (Enhanced/Unlimited) Fastpass

See the original article for more tips about Disney’s Fastpass: http://www.mouseplanet.com/misc.php?pg=fastpass

How to get an "Enhanced Fastpass" option

Currently there is only one way to get this special benefit. You must buy a hotel and admission package from AAA Travel. They are the exclusive sellers of the Enhanced Fastpass feature. That’s right, you cannot get this feature from anybody else, even if you buy directly from the Walt Disney Travel Company.

First, you must buy hotel and park admission from AAA Travel. Of course, they would love to sell you reservations for air, rental car, meal packages, etc, but those are extras and not required. Second, you must stay at one of the three on property Disneyland Resort Hotels: the Grand Californian Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel, or the Paradise Pier Hotel.

These packages can be much more expensive than staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel (aka local non-Disney hotels). Only you can answer whether it is worth the extra money. Some people have been known to create a "split package," in which they stay at a Disney-owned hotel for a couple of days, and then move to a Good Neighbor hotel for the rest of the trip, but purchase park admission good for the entire trip. These admission ticket will then have the enhanced feature and be good for the entire trip and not just the portion spent at an on-property hotel.

How a Fastpass is "enhanced"

The original term for enhanced Fastpass was unlimited, but that was a bit misleading, since you can’t really get as many Fastpasses as you want. What "enhanced" means is that you can simultaneously hold a Fastpass for each Fastpass attraction. For the regular guest, the expectation is that you will only have a Fastpass for a single attraction at any given time (but more on that to come).