Remeber When ... Winnie the Pooh Fast Pass

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh opened at Disneyland on April 11, 2003. Disney thought it was going to do so well that they included FastPass to the attraction. Of course this was a time when Fast Pass machines were being placed on practically anything and everything, whether or not the attraction(s) needed it.



The Fast Pass for Winnie the Pooh took the spot of Splash Mountain's Fast Pass. And Splash Mountain got a new Fast Pass location, in an area that used to be part of Splash's queue. The new machines for Splash Mountain were placed in an area between the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain.  A lot of Guests who came out of the Haunted Mansion tend to stop right there to figure out what to do next and because of the small crowds that could gather in that area, the new Splash Mountain Fast Pass area was overlooked by Guests.




There were a many times where Guests would go over to Winnie the Pooh Fast Pass machines, get a Fast Pass only to realize after it's been printed that it's for Winnie the Pooh and not for Splash Mountain. There were many who believed that The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was going to be a very popular attraction that they actually had an extended queue made, just in case. The queue would have crossed over by the Briar Patch store, run along side Splash's queue as it made it's way up over the bridge. Of course, that queue never materialized






Speaking of The Briar Patch store, there was a brief period of time where that store was vacant. Because there were a lot of families going on the ride, there were a lot of strollers. So many strollers of different sizes that it started to become a problem when the walkway was getting cluttered with them. Being on a slope, sometimes there would be "runaway strollers".  To help alleviate the problem, some of the Cast Members came up with the idea of utilizing the vacant Briar Patch store as a holding location for strollers.



The Cast Members devised a stroller valet for the attraction. Guests would drop off their strollers at the Briar Patch and receive a small plastic piece with a number on it. The other half would be attached to their stroller.  The Guests would go on the attraction and then visit an even more themed store. When it was ready for pick-up, they would go back to the Briar Patch with their plastic number card and the Cast Member would match the number with the number on the stroller.  This stroller valet was only used for a short amount of time before the Briar Patch store was once again used