Disneyland's Fastpass ticketing system, which lets visitors in the California theme park avoid the long lines for crowded attractions by booking a ride time, has been a free feature since it was created in 1999.

But Disney announced last week it will let parkgoers use the Disneyland smartphone app to electronically book and redeem Fastpasses, as well as download unlimited photos taken by resort photographers – for US$10 (NZ$13.90) a day.

The resort said the new electronic feature will launch later this year.

The advantage of the electronic Fastpass is that park visitors don't have to stand in line at a Fastpass kiosk to retrieve a ticket to book a time to get on an attraction and avoid the long queues.

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But visitors will have to wait until they get past the turnstiles to book the digital Fastpass, rather than doing so from home or elsewhere in the resort.

Disney also announced that it will add the Fastpass feature on two existing attractions, Toy Story Mania in Disney California Adventure park and Matterhorn Bobsleds in Disneyland. That means the resort will increase to 16 the total number of attractions that are available for Fastpass access.

The new digital Fastpass option, dubbed Maxpass, will operate alongside the free, paper Fastpass ticket system.

The immediate response to the news was mixed on theme park blog sites.

Some park fans wondered if annual pass holders who already get unlimited photo downloads will still have to pay an extra US$10 just to get the digital Fastpass service. Disney officials said they will soon answer that question.

Other parkgoers complained that the feature is squeezing more money from guests who have already endured regular ticket price increases.

"This is TERRIBLE," Luke Renfro wrote on the DisneyParks blog. "I can't believe you would charge extra for this feature. Awful."

- LA Times