But the tier system by the end prevented you from picking 3 tickets at every park.
And I'm here now. It's a busy summer day in July. The park is always packed. Lines move relatively quickly. If FP existed the pathways would be even more congested, the lines would be even more backed up (because people would be in two lines at once, technically) and once you burned through your pre-booked ones, you'd likely wind up having to wait in much longer lines for everything else. It's a shell game.
We can agree to disagree. All I can say is that FP+ made my family's trips significantly better VS what we just experienced. With that said, everyone should remember that there are still many variables at play that impact current conditions (though I doubt things would be any better without them...likely worse): the parks are not yet operating at even summer capacity as far as we can tell, let alone full capacity; most entertainment and shows are still down- many of these are very high capacity, so that could have a real impact, but likely offset by even higher attendance; the limitations on park hopping until 2 PM impact late morning/afternoon crowds- some parks would likely be more busy and some less busy without those limits.
At the end of the day, none of us really get a vote in what is going to happen (sure, vote with your money and answer surveys, but that won't change the next 6 months). Right now, today, is as fast pass free as WDW is probably ever going to be. Not bringing fastpass back in some form isn't on the table. So we can debate whether WDW is better with or without FP+, but the reality is that sometime soon Disney is bringing SOMETHING back. I see 3 possibilities:
1. Some combination of a free tier and paid tier. Everyone (or maybe just resort guests) gets 1 or 2 FP's and then anyone can buy additional ones. I could also see them tiering it so everyone gets 1, resort guests at moderate hotels get 2 and resort guests a deluxe hotels get 3 and you can buy more.
2. Fully paid FP for the masses- basically FP+ but with a lowish $10-$15 per day fee. Low enough that a large percentage of people pay it. That option might actually generate the largest profits for them.
3. Fully paid FP for the rich- some form of FP- per ride or unlimited- at a high cost- $10-$20+ per ride or $200-$300+ per day. It has to be high enough that relatively few people will use it in order not to impact standby too badly (bad press) and to make the cost worth it to people (basically walk on access).
Just my thoughts, we'll see what happens.