FastPass+ Most Certainly Not Coming Back As It Was

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yes, exactly. They are of value because that's what people want.

Because people pay for things doesn’t necessarily equate to “value”

that’s the bandwagon fallacy…or the causation/correlation fallacy…the hasty generalization fallacy…

prolly all those and more…it’s “fallacy soup”

Also: the “free market” is never free and never will be…ask Disney

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Don't want to ruin the magic... but a few of them had extra "friends" so perhaps 20 people at a time.

Point is, there were many meet and greets that had people in line.

Now there are none and those people are in other lines....

What magic?

 

[DisneyDebRob]

Don't want to ruin the magic... but a few of them had extra "friends" so perhaps 20 people at a time.

Point is, there were many meet and greets that had people in line.

Now there are none and those people are in other lines....

Thanks for ruining the magic. Sheesh.. a pandemic now this.

 

[kong1802]

What magic?

You know, the same magic in "How magical is POR at $249/night or should I spring for more magic for the $349 princess rooms"

 

[kong1802]

Thanks for ruining the magic. Sheesh.. a pandemic now this.

Once I found out that the extra doors in the Elsa and Anna meet and greet weren't actually doors to the kitchen I made it my life goal to ruin it for everyone, lol

 

[Waters Back Side]

Not at all - in fact keeping it back to the original point - which was specifically citing other theme parks.

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Which was 'why they exist at every major theme park' -- The systems exist because the companies saw they could sell that kind of access for a huge premium. Not because someone paying for shorter lines is what people wanted.

Keep the order of operations right here... All those systems came out as upsells from day one. People were just willing to pay to avoid other pain.

Your logic is like saying "People get fillings at every dentist because that's what people want". No, people get fillings done because people are willing to pay for a procedure that avoids worse pain or medical issues. You don't cite the existings of fillings as a service as proof of people's desire to have fillings. It's something they do out of avoiding something else - not a desire for it.

Many parks also offer them for free as well. Universal offers them for free to their Deluxe guests. I have no idea how it works, as I'm not a Universal person but they do get them for free. And its unlimited for them. There is no reason to believe that WDW will not offer BOTH a free version and paid version. Now if we are arguing how many are made available, that is different.

 

[flynnibus]

Are you against the free aspect of it or the availability of it? I'm curious...if they out of nowhere announce it will be remain free but very scarce would you be okay with that?

This question isn't really relevant to the post quoted... but since you asked...

I don't have a problem with a free service - and I'd prefer a free service honestly. I just think Disney ruined the service they did have... and I really don't think paying hundreds of dollars a day extra to side step what they screwed up is a good idea for us as customers.

There is no reason Disney couldn't do things like
- release more FPs throughout the day instead of 'all first come, first serve'
- allow reservations of FP the day before without doing it 60 days before
- stop the stupid 80:20 FP ratio and move it back to something less impactful on standby (when FPs are gone, wait tolerance will manage lines)
- in the same vein, no need for disney to give out ALL it's table service capacity to ADRs

There are lots of variations possible BESIDES the ones Disney has already given us. But so many people only think in terms of what Disney has already told them was great.

 

[Willmark]

Wouldn't the most efficient solution to the attraction capacity problem be to re-introduce the ticket book system, or some online equivalent?

No.

Disney is going to continue with trying to stuff 10 pounds of cattle into a 9 pound bag and ignore the fact that said cattle are mooing louder.

 

[Chi84]

Your logic is like saying "People get fillings at every dentist because that's what people want". No, people get fillings done because people are willing to pay for a procedure that avoids worse pain or medical issues. You don't cite the existings of fillings as a service as proof of people's desire to have fillings. It's something they do out of avoiding something else - not a desire for it.

No wonder you're so down on WDW! I can honestly say I've never thought of a vacation there in terms of getting dental fillings to avoid worse pain or medical issues. To each his own, I guess. Well, we will never see eye to eye on this issue, so I see no profit in continuing this.

 

[Waters Back Side]

This question isn't really relevant to the post quoted... but since you asked...

I don't have a problem with a free service - and I'd prefer a free service honestly. I just think Disney ruined the service they did have... and I really don't think paying hundreds of dollars a day extra to side step what they screwed up is a good idea for us as customers.

There is no reason Disney couldn't do things like
- release more FPs throughout the day instead of 'all first come, first serve'
- allow reservations of FP the day before without doing it 60 days before
- stop the stupid 80:20 FP ratio and move it back to something less impactful on standby (when FPs are gone, wait tolerance will manage lines)
- in the same vein, no need for disney to give out ALL it's table service capacity to ADRs

There are lots of variations possible BESIDES the ones Disney has already given us. But so many people only think in terms of what Disney has already told them was great.

While I agree with most of this, it was NOT 80/20. Come on now lol. Did they let more people with FP on before stand by? Yes. But it was not 80/20. If they limit them, there is a realistic possibility they could remain free to some people.

 

[flynnibus]

Many parks also offer them for free as well. Universal offers them for free to their Deluxe guests. I have no idea how it works, as I'm not a Universal person but they do get them for free. And its unlimited for them. There is no reason to believe that WDW will not offer BOTH a free version and paid version. Now if we are arguing how many are made available, that is different.

While it is an included perk for Deluxe hotels at UNI - we can all agree that is quite the outlier yes? And it's also something they haven't continued for any other property they've built (paid upgrade or not).

The irony is... when we talk about the Uni feature, we talk about how much of a value it is because for a family it is a huge savings vs a la carte, plus its unlimited like you say, and it's good for both check in AND check out days.

Imagine if Disney does something similar but with say... a hugely boosted club room price.. and an expensive a la carte price. Will we see it as a value?

Or will we always be skewed by the free offer in the past?

 

[flynnibus]

While I agree with most of this, it was NOT 80/20. Come on now lol. Did they let more people with FP on before stand by? Yes. But it was not 80/20. If they limit them, there is a realistic possibility they could remain free to some people.

Yes, these ratios are common. You just don't notice it in the size of the groups you see. When they let 3 groups go and one standby group... thats 75:25...

How continuous this is visible depends on when returners get in line. But the FP availability is based on how much of the ride capacity they intend to give away to FP.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Where does the room for you come from? Are there empty seats now, with that 135 wait, in order to shove you in there?

Do you have a spouse, family? Are there other people who right want to be shoved in there too?

Now the number of people trying to shove themselves on the ride is everyone managing to ride the ride this way +1 (you) + 2 (family) + [unknown amount of other people on WDWMagic who would do this too].

And this is supposed to happen without creating a negative experience for everyone that is still managing to ride the ride.

Please explain how you accomplish this magical feat without making the wait time longer for someone, or outright taking their spot?

Um, actually yes. There are often empty seats on rides.

One means to fill them is called "single rider." In the before times, instead of letting a seat go empty, I happily sat next to strangers. I mean, all of us pretty much do that all day at WDW anyhow, so why not? I don't care about the picture. I can take a picture just before/after the ride if I'm so inclined.

I always saw SR as me doing everyone else a small favor, because it makes the line shorter for everyone. It is a bit like that old game Tetris. Efficiency is awesome! And I've met some really cool people via riding solo. The last time I rode TT SR, I met a senior-aged couple that were first time riders! I was able to answer their questions, ease their concerns a little. they shared their enthusiasm with me! Very sweet people! Seeing the ride through their eyes gave me a fresh perspective. I very much hope when I get to be their age, that I am equally adventurous!

As for going to WDW with younger family: if we were eligible to use SR, we did. Everyone in SR just has to be 7 or older and comfortable with splitting up. (If we had children under 7 (or not comfortable riding solo), then we split up or stuck with only FP/rider swap.)

To answer your later question, yes, if everyone did SR, the wait would be just as long as standby. If/when that happened, we adjusted, but that wasn't very often.

If many folks don't understand FP, even fewer understand what single rider is. Yes, it is kind of magical. Knowledge is magical. I hope that's why we all participate in this forum, to learn from each other. Though some days, I have my doubts.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Not every new ride needs to be ROTR...plus you can always clone things to increase capacity (adding theaters etc) it comes down to money in thoery you could mirror image anything you want but its not always practical BUT given this is the most visited theme park destination on earth i think it should be higher on there priority list. Another piece of that puzzel is why dont they factor capacity when they design these amazing new systems?

Wait...wait...you mean there could be more than one Rapunzel in the Princess Storybook Hall!?!!??!?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You know, the same magic in "How magical is POR at $249/night or should I spring for more magic for the $349 princess rooms"

…oh that one hit home

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

While I agree with most of this, it was NOT 80/20. Come on now lol. Did they let more people with FP on before stand by? Yes. But it was not 80/20. If they limit them, there is a realistic possibility they could remain free to some people.

On the newer stuff built with fastpass in mind??

it absolutely was.

didn’t you ever see the mock applause when they take someone out of standby?…because it’s a short line with a 2 hour wait?

I have…at least twice on mine train.

fastpass+ Was a stupid system. And wdw management is rather “dim” as well

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Wouldn't the most efficient solution to the attraction capacity problem be to re-introduce the ticket book system, or some online equivalent?

What’s the cover charge then?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No. You had the privilege of being able to make 3 Fastpasses in advance. That's it. They were free and not skip the line passes either.
Essentially Disney was doing you a favor.

I know it’s legal and all now…but you gotta stop using so much

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I have NO IDEA if this is true, so please take the following with great skepticism:

Not quite FP news, and not me, but someone in another thread just shared that they were able to pre-book Rise as part of booking the VIP tour, and according to them, that was not previously possible. According to them, this was just new as of today.

Anyone in this forum have a VIP tour booked?

 

[cslafferty]

With FP+, sure they “gave” you 3 FPs but (in my experience) many times only 1 was really necessary - the other two you had to choose from were for attractions where FP wasn’t really necessary. I remember not using them many times because the standby line was less than 10 min. So I’d rather see it go back to the old FP system or $ per attraction so I can get FPs for the rides I choose as I need them.