Most high-volume, popular attractions at Disney's theme parks have little Fastpass kiosks near their entrances. Let's say you want to ride Space Mountain, but you're intimidated by the huge queue that snakes out of sight past the horizon of Tomorrowland. Simply check the digital Fastpass sign near the entrance to see what "return window" is currently being assigned, usually a one-hour period later in the day (like 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.). If that time suits, swipe your park admission ticket through the Fastpass kiosk, and you're issued a printed slip with the attraction and time of your return window. Wander off into the park until your window, then head back to Space Mountain and present your Fastpass. Presto, you're admitted to an expedited line that rarely takes longer than 15 minutes.

Universal Express is essentially the same deal as Fastpass, with a few extra bells and whistles. Disney allows you to have only one Fastpass at a time. Universal Express, on the other hand, allows you to schedule as many as three different rides concurrently, depending on what level of park admission you buy. You can also use the shorter Universal Express lines if you stay at one of Universal's on-site resort hotels—you just flash your hotel key to join the shorter line.

Since everyone has some degree of access to these express lines, there's little to no friction between people waiting in express versus standard lines. With the exception of the Universal hotel guests (who are a small enough percentage to have little impact), no one can use the express lines constantly. Except on days when park attendance is low enough to make the express lines moot anyway, you'll only be able to get a few express-line passes before they're all distributed for the day. Someone who gets ahead of you via an express line at one attraction will likely have to use the standard line somewhere else, while you zoom ahead. It's really your choice where you choose to "express" yourself. However, during peak season neither Fastpass nor Universal Express can do much more than blunt the trauma of the madding crowds because there is a finite number of passes available each day for each attraction, and on busy days, they are often all distributed before noon. Which means that it's back to the big lines.