FastPass+ Most Certainly Not Coming Back As It Was

[Waters Back Side]

I'll refrain from freaking out until it's officially announced.

Disneyland Paris tickets seem to be significantly cheaper (more than 20%) than WDW. So I could see the pricing for individual FPs being higher.

I'd really hope its more flat rate vs. per ride per person, because we usually travel as a group of 10+, so one ride could easily cost us the price of admission.

Agreed. Because I still think, even despite Disney always looking for ways to make more money, that they will offer free passes or a portion of it for free.

Heck we do not even know of Disney Premier Access itself is coming let alone what form. It was confirmed for Paris but not WDW. I do not think its realistic to assume it will and charge on site guests for all rides.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I thought attitudes towards Disney Paris were much more lukewarm, although perhaps I am thinking back to my youth when people mocked it in its "Euro Disney" incarnation. If that is the case, if this program is unpopular then it will tank hard over there, as I don't think they have the "unprecedented demand!!" that Orlando does.

I'm not a fan of this program in the current form, assuming this is in fact what it will look like. Maybe with some tweaking. We generally travel in a very large group where only a couple of families are paying for nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. to travel with them. For me, that is a big part of what makes Disney special, that time with my extended family. Premier Access to a single ride would, as someone above noted, be the cost of an entire park ticket for us. 4 days of tickets for a group of 12 already cost $6,000, which is madness.

Virtual queuing with a group of small children and toddlers sounds like a nightmare. Now instead of hustling everyone through a relatively short FastPass line to a waiting ride, we would be trying to contain everyone in a large open space or, worse, unleash them in a store. And of course everyone else will be doing the same with their kids, which should make communal spaces at Disney... uh... interesting. Also, if all of this needs to be done via an app, that sounds like a pain in the behind since none of the kids have phones and we'd have to stop and pull up QR codes for all of them. Seriously, do no Disney execs have actual children at home?

Honestly, I am just confused by the state of vacationing in the US in general these days. There is just some kind of insane inflation bubble happening right now... it's not just Disney, hotel rooms at the Jersey shore are going for close to $800 a night this summer. Who on earth is paying for this stuff? Even a low six figure salary isn't nearly enough to bank the kind of vacation world we are living in now, are there tons and tons of people making $400,000+ suddenly?

 

[hopemax]

Adding attractions will not solve the problem. The parks are exceeding their comfort levels, even if they are not technically full. Beyond the attractions themselves, walkways, restaurants, shops, bus stations, and bathrooms are operating at their limits.

The base issue is that WDW has not opened a theme park in 23 years. Prior to this, the longest gap was 11 years. Even divided among the four theme parks, attendance is the highest its ever been.

Premier Access is being implemented because corporate Disney created a problem they don't want to fix.

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While I think there are other considerations why not building a 5th park in Orlando was prudent (guest LOS / labor issues), I think the previous poster who mentioned that Disney should build another US theme park resort is onto something. A third resort would be an alternative way to release the pressure building up in Central Florida. That brings me back to the point I made yesterday, Burbank lacks faith that the US theme park market is a growth opportunity. If Disney's America got built, where would we be?

 

[dovetail65]

It has been stated that what we get will probably be similar in concept but look a little different.

If we get what is in Paris I will not like it. If it is close to Paris I will not like it.

My point is if no one speaks up on the Paris system now and once the Paris system starts if people hate it but not one complains adn they just keep paying for it the more likely we will get that at WDW. The more now the less it will look like Paris would be my hope.

Hey who knows maybe I am wrong and we will love paying that price and mulling around the park. Mark my works the actual WAIT times will not be and can not be shorter once a certain amount of people are in the park. We just pay more for those wait times.

 

[Disstevefan1]

IMO the anger is draining from the blogosphere and the message boards now with everybody's doom and gloom scenarios, then Disney can announce whatever they want later after listening to all the free response data. They can give a free fastpass to each guest or to on-site guests, and that would be enough for people to not fight too hard. It doesn't have to be the same system as Paris to make a tremendous amount of money. I'm still of the opinion it won't all be strictly monetized, and thus won't come with much blowback.

I think you are right! The bait and switch!

They present this awful FastPass plan, then switch into whatever plan they had all along, and people like it compared to the initial plan and the best of all they can say “In response to our customers needs”.

It’s genius!

 

[pdude81]

Attractions would certainly help as they eat up more people. Plenty of space for a new land at DAK, and if the rides already announced and then do a proper JII rework, the combination would eat up a lot of people in the short term. Certainly more can be done than that, but to get people out of the walkways and shops you need something for them to do.

Also dividing by number of parks is tough as parks are not really equal in capacity. There is a lot more for people to do in MK than Epcot in recent years. Another park would be great, but they should do more with what they have first.

 

[Ayla]

Just saw this video today of what is going in in Paris from Mickey Views. (I didn't see it posted).

What a flipping disaster.

 

[ctrlaltdel]

While I think there are other considerations why not building a 5th park in Orlando was prudent (guest LOS / labor issues), I think the previous poster who mentioned that Disney should build another US theme park resort is onto something. A third resort would be an alternative way to release the pressure building up in Central Florida. That brings me back to the point I made yesterday, Burbank lacks faith that the US theme park market is a growth opportunity. If Disney's America got built, where would we be?

Certainly there could be diminishing returns, but I do think a new Disney resort, if done well (which, let's be honest, Disney's track record with new domestic parks isn't the greatest) would just be another profit machine. Can't seem them doing it at all anytime soon. As a native of NOVA, Disney's America would've been an enormous success if done even remotely close to what the original plans were. The DC area is already a major tourist destination and it would've been a must do.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Remember when Disney/ABC decided that Who Wants to be a Millionaire needs to be on like EVERY night?

Yeah, you can't always keep going back to the same well. Just trying to keep scaling WDW with theme parks isn't quite the answer either.

Please keep in mind that a 5th theme park is in the RCID's 2020 Comprehensive Plan, while Universal was moving forward with a 3 major theme park until COVID hit.

Adding a 5th theme park at WDW is not an alien concept.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Even a low six figure salary isn't nearly enough to bank the kind of vacation world we are living in now, are there tons and tons of people making $400,000+ suddenly?

We're in that low to mid $100's range and are being priced out of a lot of things. I guess people are just using credit and worrying about it later.

 

[AshaNeOmah]

Universal was moving forward with a 3 major theme park until COVID hit.

They've moving forward. Lots of activity at the Epic Universe site the past month or so.

 

[hopemax]

Honestly, I am just confused by the state of vacationing in the US in general these days. There is just some kind of insane inflation bubble happening right now... it's not just Disney, hotel rooms at the Jersey shore are going for close to $800 a night this summer. Who on earth is paying for this stuff? Even a low six figure salary isn't nearly enough to bank the kind of vacation world we are living in now, are there tons and tons of people making $400,000+ suddenly?

Many people didn't spend their travel money / eating out money / drinking in bars money / attending events money for 15 months. And the government gave us like $6000 in stimulus money. Once people blow through that, we see how much of this is sustainable. But Disney will be the ones that try to hold this new price line the strongest.

 

[Ayla]

Many people didn't spend their travel money / eating out money / drinking in bars money / attending events money for 15 months. And the government gave us like $6000 in stimulus money. Once people blow through that, we see how much of this is sustainable. But Disney will be the ones that try to hold this new price line the strongest.

Not everyone has stimulus money to blow.

 

[Trauma]

Please keep in mind that a 5th theme park is in the RCID's 2020 Comprehensive Plan, while Universal was moving forward with a 3 major theme park until COVID hit.

Adding a 5th theme park at WDW is not an alien concept.

If people are paying just to get on the rides why isn’t a 5th gate a good idea?

The 5th gate would be packed for at least the first few years.

Everyone would have to pay to ride.

The fast passes alone could pay for the park.

Po4 your better with numbers than me is what I’m saying stupid or is that possible?

 

[el_super]

Premier Access is being implemented because corporate Disney created a problem they don't want to fix.

Let me just add a little historical context here...

Back in 1955, when Disneyland opened, every single ride had a cash admission. Most of the rides ranged from 10¢ to 25¢ per ride (on top of the $1 admission). A few months into the park being opened, they noticed that the biggest attractions were drawing most of the crowds (and money) and the smaller attractions were struggling. Disneyland's Publicity dept came up with the idea of offering "Ticket Books" that would bundle big ticket attractions with small attractions for a combined fee. For $2.50 you got admission to the park and 8 attractions. People had an incentive then, to ride the smaller attractions they already paid for, and thought they were getting a discount on.

The idea of moving people and capacity around is as old as the parks themselves. Whatever new evolution comes, it will still be aligned with the same goals that those silly coupon books made their debut.

The more obvious, and seemingly unpopular option would be to just raise prices until demand fell and attraction wait times were more in line with where they should be. Disney doesn't do this because they are terrified of alienating too many potential customers, even if they are dealing with parks and facilities that would have been torn down and replaced now if it was any other form of infrastructure.

 

[GhostHost1000]

They've moving forward. Lots of activity at the Epic Universe site the past month or so.

and wait until it opens and draws more people from WDW to Uni, especially if the Di$ney trend$ continue

 

[seascape]

Who thinks its possible that WDW will still offer a limited number of free fast passes for those staying on property? I hope they will and base it on level of resort, either 1,2 and 3, for value to deluxe. or even better to encourage upgrades 2, 3 and 4. Also they could offer 1, 2 or 3 to annual passholder per day based on level of annual pass. Those who spend all their money on property should be treated better than those offsite guests and annual passholders should be treated better than daily customers. In an ideal world Disney should offer Annual Passholders with an annual pass an additional fast pass for staying on property, so a person staying at a Deluxed resort would get 4 or 5. Give better service to those spending more money.

 

[EdnaMode]

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm trying to figure out why people are shocked that a resort area is making many of the same changes that resort areas are making all over the world over the past 10 years. Paid parking, optional shuttle, no baggage handling from the airport are standard things at properties all over the world. And I'm not sure the rooms were ever priced with these ideas "built in" to the room rate. Some of these changes are things I won't miss or remember being just fine without before they were implemented.

And honestly I've been three times post-pandemic and didn't miss FP+ one bit.

"I miss resort fees so much when I stay at a Disney resort." Said no one ever.

 

[el_super]

If people are paying just to get on the rides why isn’t a 5th gate a good idea?

Cannibalization of other parks would decrease the margins. You'd spend billions of dollars on another park to only get a fractional increase in guests to the property.

And the bottleneck will always be MK. People will want that traditional Disney experience, and few would be willing to make a trip to Florida and NOT get to visit Magic Kingdom. End result: you would still have over crowding issues at MK, severe drop offs in attendance at EPCOT and AK, and a whole new park you would need to constantly be pumping money into to keep running.

Maybe a third Disney resort in the US would work, but in competition to Disneyland and WDW.... it would be a tough sell.

 

[Greg in TN]

This isn't FP
You didn't pay for FP before anyways - so you can't claim you were already paying for it

Yes, they are removing stuff and still charging you for more. But that doesn't mean we make up our own facts and twists to justify the disfavor for what is happening.

Did anyone make the complaint that "they were already paying for extra hours" when Disney reduce them? Or did anyone claim "we already paid for that attraction to be open" when Disney changes their lineup. No.. it's a contrived complaint that makes bad associations to try to justify a pre-defined point. Having value reduced is not the same thing as being charged twice for something.

I think this system will be awful too - but that doesn't mean we make things up to make it sound worse.

It's like paying $40,000 for a fully equipped car, then when you get it home, the dealership comes and takes the air conditioner back. Sure, you've still got the stereo, the cruise control, all the other electronic gadgets, but do you feel the same about your car without the air conditioner? And how many people will you recommend to that dealership to buy their $40,000 car ? Will you ever go back to that dealership for another car ?