Fastpass advice?

Travel Info
This will be our first trip to Disney, we have two kids ages 12 & 9. Due to our own bad planning we realized that we are going over memorial day weekend. We plan on going to parks when they open and taking advantage of magic hours.

My question is in each park which rides should we send someone directly to get a fastpass and which ones should we go stand in line for first. Also if one member goes to get passes and the rest of the group gets in line for a ride, will the other person be able to join the group in line?

What time do the buses start taking guests to the parks. I read that it starts an hour before the park opens, do buses leave earlier for extra magic hours. How early do we leave the resorts to get to the parks (do we plan to take the first bus in). What is the advantage to arriving at the parks an hour or two before it opens and waiting in line???

Travel Tips

If you want the person to join you in line, you must wait for them. People will complain and flip out if you "hold" a spot for your family member. It's easier just to wait until they get there. When I'm there, I always use the fastpass on my favorite/most popular rides. At Epcot, get a fastpass for Soarin and then get in line for Test Track. At MGM, get a fastpass for the Rockin Roller Coaster and wait for Tower of Terror. At the Magic Kingdom, get a fastpass for any of the bigger rides like Splash Mt. Space Mt. or Thunder Mt. and then just go hop into any of the shorter wait lines. At Animal Kingdom, get a fastpass for Expedition Everest, and then wait in line for Dinosaur or Kilimanjaro Safari. (These are just the opinions of most of the people I go to the parks with and myself. Lots will depend on what kinds of rides your kids will enjoy.) I think a 12 and 9 year old would love them, and they would have no problem getting on any of them.

Busses will leave earlier for extra magic hours. I'm pretty sure the 1st bus will leave at 7:30am, but you'd have to double check at your resort to be sure. After that 1st bus, they come every 15-20 mins, so you don't have to feel like you MUST be up by a certain time. Go at a pace that works best for your family. The advantage is that all of the major attractions will be open for you to go on before they're open to everyone else. One thing I recommend is that you take advantage of the evening extra magic hours as well. The morning ones are ok, but eventually they have to let everyone else in. The evening ones were lots more fun because you get to stay a few hours after the park closes (you'll get a special wristband that will allow you to get onto the rides during the evening hours.) When my mom and sisters came down to visit, they had alot more fun during the evening hours because the crowds/lines were less and because lots of the families with younger children tend to leave rather that stick around for the extra hours.

Have an awesome trip! :)

Others
well all depends on were you are staying.. The hotels start bus services about and hour before park opens.. As for waiting in lines the lines at the parks move ok the gates move pretty fast.. I have the disney vacation club and go as much as possible..
The fast pass was the best idea disney came up with.. As for what rides.. Disneyland.. I hit Indie first with the fast pass the splash mount.. The big rides fill up fast so get your passes for those.. now if i remember right you may only take out like 3 passes at a time per ticket you might want to check on that. But like in dca tower of terror is a must get and the roller coaster.. as for those its all up to you how you hit the parks.. ya know.. Have fun and god speed.
It's a very good idea to be in the parks very early, if possible as soon as they open. The parks get specially crowded close to noon time so try to get all or most of the most popular attractions done before that time. On the fastpasses, the bad thing about them is that you can only get fastpasses for 1 attraction at a time, at least it was like that the last time I went (I Live in the Orlando and I know all the parks like the palm of my hand). When I say 1 attraction at a time I mean if you pick up a fastpass for a certain ride at 9 am and it tells you to come back to the ride at 10:30 for example, you wont be able to get anymore fastpasses for any other ride until after 10:30...I find that sometimes the waiting time on the fastpasses is equal or sometimes even more than when you stand on the actual regular line. Also, a good advice is to try to do the busiest rides when the parades are going on, of course, that's just if you don't want to watch the parade ;o). So in conclusion, the fastpass is nice but it wont let you get fastpasses for more than 1 attraction at a time so you might be able to use for some attractions but not for others. Oh! and a way of knowing which are the busiest attractions is that usually if a ride offers fastpass it's because lines tend to be large and time consuming.

On the buses time, each hotel has different departure times so you'll have to check that up with your hotel and try to do it in advance so you can plan accordingly. Usually the first bus will take you there early enough to be there when the park opens, and trust me, not a lot of people wake up that early to go to the parks so it is good if you do so you can get the most out of your day!

I hope this helps! Good luck! and have great vacations!
I've lived in Orlando for the past 7 years and workerd at some of the theme parks.
First Choice- defenitley when you go to Animal Kingdom send straight away for Expedition Everest before the fastpass gets "sold out" for the day. Second Choice(s) Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Soarin', Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Kilamanjaro Safaris, and Test Track. Answer to the second question, most likely no. Also sometimes the magic hours varry because whe we went there, Magic Kingdom was open untill four am.
Here are a couple of websites to help you out:

www.intercot.com
www.wdwinfo.com

They are pretty helpful and should answer those questions for you! Have a great time!
Either get "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007" by Bob Sehlinger or go to www.touringplans.com and buy his touring plans that will give step by step instructions on how to see everything with a minimal wait. It really works. I helped my brother tour the Magic Kingdom during Christmas vacation and he saw nearly everything. Getting to the parks early means you get an entire section of the park done before the lines build. We stood at the rope and talked to the staff and we got the be the first riders of the day on Space Mountain.