RUMOR: Disney to charge for extra FP+ after AVATARland and StarWarsLand are built

[Nubs70]

Ok, think about this.

How many people does Disney service a day, how many are resort guests and how many are off site? If Disney could control their parks to the point where you have to stay on site to visit the parks, who wins this financially? Yes, its terrible to think such things, but if Disney builds another 50k hotel rooms, what would be the fastest way to fill them up to over 95% occupancy?

This would be a master stroke from Disney's perspective business wise, it wouldn't do anything to WDW or force guests elsewhere. The public would get over it or honestly, I doubt they would care. Disney already offer free pick up from MCO, and basically that's to trap you at WDW, how many people use Magical Express? Magical Express is a smashing success, and everyone knows they will be trapped, for the most part at WDW.

This isn't far fetched as some want you to think it is, and I bet Disney already is either thinking about it, or has it already planned. I don't know. It may hurt peoples feelings because they can't use a cheaper alternative, but thems the breaks.

Imagine if they announced a 5th gate with announcing parks being made to resort guests exclusive, would the public even remember?

Jimmy Thick- Its the future, like it or not its how WDW will make boatloads of cash, and I applaud this.

You have a valid thought here. Since FP+ is based on basic business process queing theory, this would make sense. We know what the maximum attraction throughput of the parks. So build enough onsite accommodation for that number of guests. Then everything that happens throughout the day can be planned and anticipated with optimum efficiency. WDW could become the leader in theme park processing.

 

[Fractal514]

I would just like to point out that there has been no concrete evidence that Disney is planning to charge for FP+ in any way and that there aren't even strong rumors. There ARE the "hunches" and "feelings" of folks who distrust Disney and dislike this program, but other than the supposed musing of one or two corporate types, there has been no public indication of any such plan. At least, not to my knowledge. If there has been and someone could please post a link to support that, I would gladly recant this post. I would argue this post should have it's title changed to SPECULATION: instead of RUMOR:.

 

[Nubs70]

I would just like to point out that there has been no concrete evidence that Disney is planning to charge for FP+ in any way and that there aren't even strong rumors. There ARE the "hunches" and "feelings" of folks who distrust Disney and dislike this program, but other than the supposed musing of one or two corporate types, there has been no public indication of any such plan. At least, not to my knowledge. If there has been and someone could please post a link to support that, I would gladly recant this post. I would argue this post should have it's title changed to SPECULATION: instead of RUMOR:.

If the gains from MM+ fail to materialize, TDO will do this in a second. While speculative, the infrastructure is in place for immediate implementation if the order is given.

 

[ParentsOf4]

If the gains from MM+ fail to materialize, TOD will do this in a second. While speculative, the infrastructure is in place for immediate implementation if the order is given.

Corporately, the beauty of MyMagic+ is it's flexibility.

New rules and policies can be enacted overnight by changing a few lines of code. Disney invested billions in order to allow MyMagic+ to evolve with the market.

We are seeing the slow, painful rollout of MyMagic+ v1.0.

No one should believe that MyMagic+ will be the same in a few years.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

This isn't some thing I would worry about

 

[wm49rs]

This isn't some thing I would worry about

Only if you put credence into rumors from people who know people....

 

[Nubs70]

This isn't some thing I would worry about

It is not a question of worry, it's a discussion of what is possible based on existing technology and framed in reference to past behavior and strategic direction that satisfies Disney's financial goals.

 

[raymusiccity]

If the gains from MM+ fail to materialize, TDO will do this in a second. While speculative, the infrastructure is in place for immediate implementation if the order is given.

One of the most annoying failures at the point of making purchases is simply the size of the buttons. I've seen the lines delayed as people take off, or put on their glasses to correctly hit the right buttons for their 'pin' number. All CM's agre that all ot the keypads will have to be replaced. :-( just another example of them not seeing the forest for the trees. Let's just raise the price of tickets. Voila! Problem solved.

 

[ILOVEDISNEY]

Disney will soon make all the internal WDW roads toll roads for all off-property guests and charge CMs for parking unless they buy a annual parking pass. I heard this from a friend of a friend of mine who knows someone who used to work at WDW before being fired for selling FPs to anyone from Brazil and groups having a quinceanera trip. The person also predicted Disney would raise ticket prices out of the blue in February to keep Americans out of the parks since the CMs no longer speak English and are tired of dealing with rude people asking them if they speak English.

 

[Nubs70]

One of the most annoying failures at the point of making purchases is simply the size of the buttons. I've seen the lines delayed as people take off, or put on their glasses to correctly hit the right buttons for their 'pin' number. All CM's agre that all ot the keypads will have to be replaced. :-( just another example of them not seeing the forest for the trees. Let's just raise the price of tickets. Voila! Problem solved.

All Disney needs to do is aquire Jitterbug to get access to that jumbo button IP.

 

[maxime29]

This might have been noted already, but I don't see why Disney just doesn't offer an unlimited FP card for a fee where you get front of the line access once per line and then another tier for unlimited front of line access for each ride.

If Disney REALLY is going to go through with charging for FP....Make it where you have the current system for three complimentary FP+ for any guest buying a ticket. Maybe even offer one additional FP for those staying on property to (slightly) encourage a higher resort occupancy rate. Then sell the different tiers: 1 FP+ per ride and then unlimited FP+ per ride. Then the guest can determine "Is XYZ $ amount worth it to save that much time in line for multiple rides?"

I do feel that Disney should not charge for the current FP+ method. This should be a selling point since Universal charges for Express Pass and anything they could use to "stick it" to Universal would help. Then again, it is Disney and the guests are still going to fork over money.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Interesting... Sounds like something that is just being tossed around since Finance likely isn't making definitive decisions 10 years in advance like this. CAPEX planning yes but charging extra for FP... Doubt it.

Probably just an idea that was tossed out there a few times.

 

[Rose&Crowner]

Since we're in here discussing rumors I thought I'd let you know a little secret I heard while waiting for rope drop at the International Gateway the other day. There was a security guard lecturing the rapidly filling up queue on all things WDW. He was using his three minutes on a soap box to demand that we didn't ask about the biometric readers, stating that they weren't creating fingerprint profiles, and not to ask because we'd been told. No joke the guy was a blowhard level 7.9, so I turned to the line and asked if anyone remembered paying more for the morning berating we were receiving and asked the guy why Mickey needed a profile on me.. So he went on and on about construction and whatnot and he said that the monorail will shortly be a thing of the past. I laughed out loud and said no way, you could've heard a pin drop because everyone else was too whipped down to comment I guess. I advised him that I heard exactly the opposite from a bus driver, and demanded to know who I can trust around here. Then I snapped thes pic for posterity and laughed all the way to Norway.

Rumors be just that... Rumors. Maybe this guy didn't get the memo about the automation upgrade currently underway on the express and resort monorail lines.

 

[Fractal514]

It is not a question of worry, it's a discussion of what is possible based on existing technology and framed in reference to past behavior and strategic direction that satisfies Disney's financial goals.

That's cool, but it still isn't NEWS or RUMOR, is it?

 

[Skippy's Pal]

Still think the FP+ "payment" will be in the form of extra FP+'s attaching to resort hotels - 1 extra for value maybe, 2 for moderate and deluxe, maybe 3 for concierge, and then bumping the rack rate by $10 or so, on top of whatever else they've done to the rack rate by then. Also possible that they might do something like "merch points" and tie an extra FP+ to some level of spending. The MYW infrastructure certainly would make that easy to track.

 

[Nubs70]

That's cool, but it still isn't NEWS or RUMOR, is it?

I would say it is neither news or rumor. I would call it strategic thinking. Along the lines of "what do we have", "what is our goal" and "how can we use what we have to achieve our goal." This is what happens in planning sessions that occur above and out of sight of fhe mid level manager. I liken it to the open innovation process as practiced by Procter & Gamble. For example,as much as it pains me to say, the concept put forth by Jimminy Thick about turning the hotels and parks into "an island unto itself" to be very intriguing and fitting into the goals of NGE. The Island concept would lead to the ultimate in efficient operation with very objective reasoning and execution of investment and expansions.

It would be real interesting if Disney would reach out to some on these boards to explore some of the ideas discussed here.

 

[Fractal514]

I would say it is neither news or rumor. I would call it strategic thinking. Along the lines of "what do we have", "what is our goal" and "how can we use what we have to achieve our goal." This is what happens in planning sessions that occur above and out of sight of fhe mid level manager. I liken it to the open innovation process as practiced by Procter & Gamble. For example,as much as it pains me to say, the concept put forth by Jimminy Thick about turning the hotels and parks into "an island unto itself" to be very intriguing and fitting into the goals of NGE. The Island concept would lead to the ultimate in efficient operation with very objective reasoning and execution of investment and expansions.

It would be real interesting if Disney would reach out to some on these boards to explore some of the ideas discussed here.

I think you're missing my point, which is that the entire premise for this thread is misleading and that it really doesn't belong on this particular board. If everyone started posting musings, postulations, and theories, we wouldn't be able to identify the news and rumors that are based on some kernel or truth. That's what I'm saying.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think you're missing my point, which is that the entire premise for this thread is misleading and that it really doesn't belong on this particular board. If everyone started posting musings, postulations, and theories, we wouldn't be able to identify the news and rumors that are based on some kernel or truth. That's what I'm saying.

Except that the notion of charging for FastPass+ has been part of the earliest reports on NextGen and what was then known as the xPass.

 

[Fractal514]

Except that the notion of charging for FastPass+ has been part of the earliest reports on NextGen and what was then known as the xPass.

Reports from who? I mean, I've heard the speculation of this since forever, but I've never actually seen anything newsworthy, and frankly, I think a lot of this is just people either trying to hype this into something or using it as an excuse to bash a system they don't like.

While I appreciate the discussion of the topic, I just think it is misleading to label it as a rumor or news, when it really isn't.

 

[WildcatDen]

Ok, think about this.

How many people does Disney service a day

Wooo, Ah. . . Umm, is that in a 'different part of the park?