FastPass+ Most Certainly Not Coming Back As It Was

[Disney Analyst]

Classic FP / MaxPass was fairly simple to use, and didn’t require lots of expert tricks, etc. to make the most of, unlike FP+. You just had to show up early in the day — “first come, first served”.

It was a good system for most guests…. I’ve only ever heard good things about it from those who’ve used it.

DPA is definitely not an improvement for the majority of folks unfortunately

I do agree that classic Fastpass /MaxPass were better then FP+ - but I disagree that allowing all into a free FastPass system is the ideal situation for park ops.

 

[homerdance]

Interesting read from Joshua Harris, who was a Designer for Disney:

Is that the same guy who does that whole "high res" bit?

 

[havoc315]

You’re right…nobody goes EVERY year.

no AP holders…no florida residents…the pools of about 500,000 DVC contracts…nobody at run Disney events…holiday travelers…spring breakers…Halloween nuts…food and wine diehards.

nope…no one.

I didn’t say no one. I said not 50% of all guests… not 10% of the entire population.

And a big portion of those repeaters are local AP holders, not the high spenders WDW prefers.

where do you live? Maybe we’re on two different geographic wavelengths

Im in NY. Most families with young children in my circle have gone, 1-2 times while their kids were school age. Some have never gone. Some have gone 3-5 times.

I certainly know people exist that go every year. But I’ve never personally known any such person. (Ive personally known some DVC owners that went about ever other year for 10 years and then sold their contracts… never known anyone who went every year for 20 or 30 years).

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I'm praying they hold off until 2023.

I'm praying they hold off until I'm too old to ride rides.

 

[aaronml]

I do agree that classic Fastpass /MaxPass were better then FP+ - but I disagree that allowing all into a free FastPass system is the ideal situation for park ops.

Eh. A 100% free FP system is, IMO better for most guests than DPA.

That said, a combination of free and paid FP (not Standby Pass / Boarding Groups) is really the best option IMO, and it should only exist for high-demand, capacity-restricted attractions like SDMT….. not every single ride in the park.

For guests under FP Classic, there were two main frustration points:
1: No more FP available for your desired experience / time
2: Standby wait time for a given experience is longer than you’d like, and you can’t get an FP for it due to business logic / rules (e.g. you have a conflicting FP for another attraction, etc.)

Reducing free FP inventory (e.g. by 20%) and selling that inventory bucket back to guests as a solution to the above frustration points would make most guests a lot happier. E.g. you could use free FP for most of your trip, but maybe one day you slept in and all the free FPs for SDMT ran out — no problem, you can buy one instead for $15.

It’s like going to book a flight only to find out that economy is sold out, but First Class has some remaining space. Most people don’t get mad at the airline for not having more economy seats — they blame themselves for not having booked their flight early enough, and they’ll either pay up for a first class ticket, or pick another flight.

That said, Park Ops would likely benefit from reduced overall FP inventory / number of attractions, which would also benefit Disney by pushing more folks to paid FP upsells instead.

 

[Chi84]

I didn’t say no one. I said not 50% of all guests… not 10% of the entire population.

And a big portion of those repeaters are local AP holders, not the high spenders WDW prefers.




Im in NY. Most families with young children in my circle have gone, 1-2 times while their kids were school age. Some have never gone. Some have gone 3-5 times.

I certainly know people exist that go every year. But I’ve never personally known any such person. (Ive personally known some DVC owners that went about ever other year for 10 years and then sold their contracts… never known anyone who went every year for 20 or 30 years).

Some of us actually do exist

 

[MrHappy]

How about this, spit ballin here:
FP ride capacity will be capped at 10%. Of that Value resort guests get 0 free FP, Mod gets 1 free per day booked 30 days ahead, Delux gets 1 or 2 free per day booked 60 days ahead.
Then the left over FP capacity goes up for sale day of.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don't understand anything you just said

I think you’re giving Disney too much credit here and trying hard to defend them.

we’ll see what happens…but it’s hard to label this as “good” in any real sense

 

[Disney Analyst]

I think you’re giving Disney too much credit here and trying hard to defend them.

we’ll see what happens…but it’s hard to label this as “good” in any real sense

Got it.

I think maybe I’m not explaining myself well.

Or perhaps I’m just more grounded in the reality of what Disney is, so I don’t let stuff upset me

I’ve never though Fastpass was a great system, even if it benefitted me.

I also know Disney’s number one goal is to straddle the line between a good guest experience and making as much money as possible, however possible. Disney has been this way… for… a very long time.

None of this surprises me.

Again, I genuinely hope whatever system is created for Disneyland or WDW is an improvement for the majority.

 

[Dunston]

I think you have to accept at this point that whatever they introduce will make the guest experience worse

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I didn’t say no one. I said not 50% of all guests… not 10% of the entire population.

And a big portion of those repeaters are local AP holders, not the high spenders WDW prefers.




Im in NY. Most families with young children in my circle have gone, 1-2 times while their kids were school age. Some have never gone. Some have gone 3-5 times.

I certainly know people exist that go every year. But I’ve never personally known any such person. (Ive personally known some DVC owners that went about ever other year for 10 years and then sold their contracts… never known anyone who went every year for 20 or 30 years).

But you’re still wrong on your assertion…but I’m not gonna debate it anymore.

and if you’re in New York…you should be well aware of frequenting wdw…

wait…we’re not talking Buffalo are we?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

How about this, spit ballin here:
FP ride capacity will be capped at 10%. Of that Value resort guests get 0 free FP, Mod gets 1 free per day booked 30 days ahead, Delux gets 1 or 2 free per day booked 60 days ahead.
Then the left over FP capacity goes up for sale day of.

I think you tried that earlier…

still nope

 

[MrHappy]

I think you tried that earlier…

still nope

Wrong guy. But thanks

 

[britain]

Might be misunderstanding but isn’t there a strong possibility that the “inventory” that used to be set aside for fastpass will be less simply because there’s less demand - because it’s no longer a free option? Standby will be used more, and therefore lines will be “longer” but standby will move more swiftly because there’s fewer fast passes.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Wrong guy. But thanks

I don’t think they’re gonna flip from near all fastpass to almost none…that would benefit those that don’t pay which is counter to the point of charging for them…

and I don’t see any way you get freebies with your overpriced hotel. They have doubled the price of mods and “values” in about 15 years flat and they book…why convince anyone to do what they already do?

 

[Trauma]

I didn’t say no one. I said not 50% of all guests… not 10% of the entire population.

And a big portion of those repeaters are local AP holders, not the high spenders WDW prefers.




Im in NY. Most families with young children in my circle have gone, 1-2 times while their kids were school age. Some have never gone. Some have gone 3-5 times.

I certainly know people exist that go every year. But I’ve never personally known any such person. (Ive personally known some DVC owners that went about ever other year for 10 years and then sold their contracts… never known anyone who went every year for 20 or 30 years).

So right off the bat we can assume most DVC owners go at least once every 2 years.

Anyone who lives out of state and buys the AP has to go at least twice for it to make any financial sense.

I personally go at least once a year until lately (thanks corona) and know many families that do also.

When I’m on vacation and start talking to people I also run into many repeat visitors.

Heck when I ride any ride with a pre show 95% of the freaking room knows it word for word and all blurt it out to showoff what a “pro” they are.

“Make it a stretch” “___________” fill in the blank!

People go back to Disney again and again.

It might not be every year, but it’s enough that if they stopped going Disney would be in trouble.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Might be misunderstanding but isn’t there a strong possibility that the “inventory” that used to be set aside for fastpass will be less simply because there’s less demand - because it’s no longer a free option? Standby will be used more, and therefore lines will be “longer” but standby will move more swiftly because there’s fewer fast passes.

It’s possible…but there’s a revenue generating angle here…and they never restrain that. We just haven’t seen how yet?

 

[drew81]

So do we think this will be extended to live stage shows? Like paid VIP seating?

That is, if Disney ever brings back shows.

 

[jpinkc]

I'm praying they hold off until I'm too old to ride rides.

My great aunt went to WDW at 90 so I hope your wish comes true LOL, She was going to go at 93 but fell and broke a hip and her mobility really went downhill after that she made it 99 and month short of 100 LOL

 

[havoc315]

But you’re still wrong on your assertion…but I’m not gonna debate it anymore.

and if you’re in New York…you should be well aware of frequenting wdw…

wait…we’re not talking Buffalo are we?

Nope, NYC suburbs. Swear, never met anyone who went more than 5 times in 7 years. Most everyone I know thinks I’m crazy, for going 3 times in 10 years.

I know people who take cruises every year (to different destinations). Lots of people who go to Europe every year (pre-covid, different destinations each year). Know people who go to their Hamptons or Jersey shore houses every year, but don’t know anyone who goes to WDW in Orlando every single year.