What an unfortunate day. Flew to California from the East Coast with my 10-year-old son to reunite him with his best friend, who now lives in Northern California. We met the family in Anaheim in order to take their nine-year-old to Disney, as he had never been before (as well as my son and their two teens).
Arriving at 9:10 AM on a Saturday with the fast pass/lightning line option paid for and $165 daily tickets for all attendees, the two younger boys and I were able to ride exactly 2 actual rides and the Jungle Cruise for little kids in FIVE AND A HALF HOURS. Yes, you read that right. Despite paying for the shorter line option, Disney has completely changed their fast pass as I have experienced it at their Florida location, which is much better by the way, so that once you book a lightning line reservation, you cannot schedule the next one until the booked ride pass has been used (often 45 minutes of wait time or more), OR you WAIT TWO HOURS. At Disney World, at least you can or could book multiple fast passes at once.
Do not be fooled into thinking that $20 per person will get you any sort of excellent access: true, you skip a very long “standby” line, but in the interim, you must wander around and wait or spend money on snacks and souvenirs for antsy kids (understandably) for 40 minutes-plus anyway, for any in-demand ride.
Our friends we attended with went straight to Star Wars at 9 AM, and waited an hour and a half with their teenagers. By 1 o’clock, the two younger boys were shot, overheated and frustrated from waiting exorbitant amounts of time, and just wanted to go back to our rental house, which has a pool. The older kids and their parents stayed at the park to try to do more rides, but left and returned to the house soon after upset, as multiple rides went out of service for repair or some other reason, and the only thing left to ride was Space Mountain, which had a 90 minute wait. They gave up.
I have been to both Florida Disney World and Universal several times, and this was by far the worst experience - and my first one at Disneyland. We will not be back, and suggest anyone reading this chooses another option for family entertainment that is if not less costly, then more accessible.