News Tickets with Pre Selected Fast Passes

[Casper Gutman]

I’m sure your also aware of DL’s Maxpass, which is an upcharge (it also seems to be a better system then Orlando’s.)

I actually wouldn’t mind upcharge FPs - the more expensive, the better. But the idea that WDW doesn’t want to wring every penny out of their billion dollar boondoggle is nuts. Yes, Disney reaps some benefits from FPs ability to create the illusion of value, shuffle crowds around, and collect data. But the first two of those objectives are actually furthered if most FPs are upcharges, and data collection can continue apace as long as tying them to credit cards and room keys convinces guests to strap tracking bracelets to themselves.

Betting on the generosity of WDW management is unwise.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Now you're criticizing one of the perks resort guests are given? Perks provided to guests staying on site:

1. Free parking at hotel and parks
2. Complementary transportation to parks and Disney Springs
3. Free Extra Magic Hours
4. 60 window for booking FP+ the entire length of your stay
5. 180 window for booking ADRs entire length of your stay

#1 - gone unless you are DVC staying on points or cash at DVC resort
#3 - free EMH reduced, now you have to pay for some days

So that leaves #2, #5 and #6. And anyone can ride the buses, boats and monorail, so that's not really a perk solely for resort guests. So that really leaves just #5 and #6.

I wasn’t really criticizing it, just pointing to it as an example of paid FPs.

But I’ll criticize it now. Look at how radically WDW room prices have increased over the last few years (not solely or primarily because of FPs, of course). Calling it a perk stretches the definition of the word to the breaking point - guests pay through the nose for that “perk.” It falls under what I’ve been referring to as the “illusion of value” - an illusion that is strengthened if FPs are given an explicit monetary value but remain a “perk” for on-site guests.

 

[Gabe1]

I don't think they're really taking advantage of anyone. The people these tickets would appeal to (at the same price as regular admission) are most likely the ones who wouldn't have been booking fastpasses on their own, to begin with. If anything, this is opening those first-time visitors' eyes to the system and giving them access to something they might otherwise have not used.

We can only guess on this but I'm sure Disney has the data on the number of single-day guests using fastpass with their tickets.

They wouldn't be able to load these with tier one attractions simply because it would require them to hold back a percentage of the pool of tier one passes available to the people actually booking in advance and that becomes a problem when there already aren't enough of those to go around.

Yep. Disney has plenty of data. They indeed know how to funnel the most vulnerable to their tier 2 category, walk on attractions in many cases. One can cheer Disney for being so kind to newbies or a seasoned Disney traveler can see through the fog.

 

[MrPromey]

Yep. Disney has plenty of data. They indeed know how to funnel the most vulnerable to their tier 2 category, walk on attractions in many cases. One can cheer Disney for being so kind to newbies or a seasoned Disney traveler can see through the fog.

One can thank someone for a fresh bouquet of flowers they received or look closer at the flowers someone else just got and complain on their behalf because there are no roses in the bunch, I suppose.

I think we all "see" the same thing. Some of us just prefer to save our foil for food.

To each their own.

 

[MrPromey]

I like to call it getting pre-mad.

Good call.

I can totally understand looking at things and trying to extrapolate a future from what you see. Debating what may ultimately come of changes can be fun and disagreeing about changes and the impact from changes that have happened or are happing is interesting and allows us all to see alternate viewpoints (of the current, actual reality) but getting worked up about something you're right now only imagining to be the future seems...

Well, silly is the nicest word I can attach to that.

When and if Disney comes back and starts doing what is being predicted, then we can all go grab our pitchforks and of course, those who predicted the end of the world was around the corner since the dawn of time will stand up and say "See?! I was right!" but even fortune cookies sometimes get it right. That doesn't mean I'm about to live my life based on what the next one says, though.

 

[winstongator]

Complete attraction list:
...
So it's a way to trick foolish people into signing up for FastPasses they don't need. Smart.

Add Mountain Climber: Space, Splash, Big Thunder

Spaceship explorer: SSE, Mission Space, Soarin

Thrills: Tower of Terror, Rock & Roller Coaster, Indy?

It will be hard to deliver 'value' for the one day ticket. A friend got 1-day 2-park tickets to Universal, peak season, with express pas. Is that a value? He only had one day and while expensive seemed like he & his family enjoyed it.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Add Mountain Climber: Space, Splash, Big Thunder

Spaceship explorer: SSE, Mission Space, Soarin

Thrills: Tower of Terror, Rock & Roller Coaster, Indy?

It will be hard to deliver 'value' for the one day ticket. A friend got 1-day 2-park tickets to Universal, peak season, with express pas. Is that a value? He only had one day and while expensive seemed like he & his family enjoyed it.

Except he had to pay extra for express pass. This program is free.

 

[winstongator]

Less than 5%.

So you'll give me 20-1 odds?

 

[winstongator]

Except he had to pay extra for express pass. This program is free.

Was more speaking to the value. One day tickets are pricey. Our 3 years as passholders we were around $25/person/park-day. Now hotels...

 

[smile]

all methods to utilize MM+ in every way imaginable will be undertaken including any means to monetize it's function and exert control over as many aspects of the guest experience as possible using the data provided to conjure new ways to increase per guest spending, lowering capex, and essentially just getting maximum use of every penny ever spent at the resort.

no decisions are undertaken for their own good sake without having been thoroughly vetted for maximum return crossed with what the guest will tolerate...
guest tolerance is far more a hot button topic than many here would seemingly like to admit.

this is, of course, not new and will most certainly continue - this particular announcement is nothing.

so, nothing to see here, really... until there is... and there will be.

 

[smile]

So that leaves #2, #5 and #6. And anyone can ride the buses, boats and monorail, so that's not really a perk solely for resort guests. So that really leaves just #5 and #6.

actually listing a #6 would go a little further towards where you want to be, methinks

 

[LAKid53]

actually listing a #6 would go a little further towards where you want to be, methinks

I'm apparently having one of those days, lol. Good catch.

 

[HauntedPirate]

How's that tin-foil hat fitting you?

Not too bad. I have a large noggin, so finding a large brimmed hat that fits can sometimes be difficult. Baseball hats are fine, as long as they aren't fitted. Fortunately, tin foil is far cheaper and easier to fit around my head than normal hats. One downside is strength - The brim tends to sag and let a heavier rain fall right on me. But with my hair thinning on top, I need the blockage to avoid getting sunburned, and so they are also cheaper than continually buying and applying sunscreen to my head (not to mention safer than all the chemicals found in many sunscreens). Another downside, though, is the sun reflecting at others. People sometimes get annoyed by that, but I just say, "If you don't like it, walk away".

So you have doubts that TDO hasn't already been thinking about the potential of selling a 1-day ticket to other parks in the future with pre-loaded FastPasses, particular DHS after SW:GE opens? Nothing conspiratorial about it - They are going to have to do something about crowds at DHS starting in late 2019/early 2020. They will be looking at any and all options to disperse crowds away from SW:GE once it opens and to other rides/attractions/shows, and this sounds like one avenue right now they'd likely pursue.

 

[Disneymom64]

And this is where we agree. The problem with crowds and lines at the parks is solely a capacity issue. Disney has underbuilt over the past decade given the rise of crowds. Had they built attractions at the rate crowds increased, there wouldn't be the wait times we see today. Attacking FP+ is attacking the wrong issue - if anything, it's helped relieve wait times in a resort that's underbuilt to serve it's annual audience.

Hotel rooms are disproportionate to park capacity. Yet they continue to add rooms. Now good neighbor hotels get some of the same benefits as resort guests. Now just for fun let’s give day guests some of those same benefits. Where does it end? The only real answer to long lines is to add additional outlets/attractions for guests which I believe Disney is working on. Just not at an acceptable rate.