oh my god, i feel like screaming. for the people who love spontaneity: go, enjoy, live, love. no one is forcing you to buy an x-pass. for the people that do want this, fine...buy it. more power to you. but no one is forcing you to plan every step. the argument that disney is "effectively making you plan everything because i don't like standing in a stand by line" is trying to have it both ways. like others have said, i'd assume fast pass stays, but there will just be a certain amount per time reserved for x-pass. so i don't see how disney is infringing on anyone here.
i'll give you a great example on my last trip of how i wish i had x-pass:
we were there last week from tues-fri. my wife has never seen MSEP and, since spectro is rumored to be coming back soon, we only had one chance. we were in WDW for a wedding, so we were occupied with festivities attached to that on wed and thurs night. so friday night before the big president's week crowd got there, we did MK at night and saw MSEP and did the night time rides. stayed until 12:30 or so. it was our favorite night of the trip.
in the meantime, we wanted to get to DHS the next morning. DHS had extra magic hours in the morning, but after spending all night in MK, we didn't really feel like getting up at 6:30-7:00 to be in DHS by 8. so we got over there for 9. by the time we got down to TSMM, fast passes were at 3:20. rock n roller coaster had a 70 minute wait time after we did TOT on stand by. we left DHS after doing star tours, great movie ride, TOT and the muppets and did not do TSMM and RNRC. now...if i could have booked a time for anywhere from 9-12:00 on RNRC or TSMM, i would have been more than happy to pay for it. that doesn't limit my spontaneity, it just enhances certain other aspects of my vacation...like say...sleeping in. or getting to have relaxation by the pool without sacrificing being in the park for a 3:20 fast pass. know what i mean?