Jim Hill on XPass coming in 2012

[WDW1974]

A lead-in statement ALWAYS guaranteed to be followed by a paranoid rant...

I suppose I should say "Welcome back"? :wave:

Monty, buddy, I am not paranoid. I am a realist. No pixie dusted blinders on here. Disney isn't doing anything to improve anything but the bottom line here. If you disagree, then by all means offer your opinion.

But being a north of the border igloo-dweller who can afford to stay at the GF (not worrying about healthcare and having some honorable public officials must make life easier!), I'd expect a rosy view of things. :ROFLOL:

Merry Christmas! :xmas:

 

[MissMorrow]

Hmmm, I wonder what this means for the dreaded Florida Passholder?? :brick:

Must I decide today that I want to go to the MK for the afternoon on April 26th and ride BTMRR at 2pm

 

[Scuttle]

Hmmm, I wonder what this means for the dreaded Florida Passholder?? :brick:

Must I decide today that I want to go to the MK for the afternoon on April 26th and ride BTMRR at 2pm

I know right! This is so stupid for us passholders. We really get the shaft on this one it appears.

 

[hoke2007]

Honestly, I see this program lasting a few years and then being cancelled. I just don't see the market for rich guests who want to take the time and plan out every last aspect of their trip. It's an incredibly stupid idea that will (hopefully) fail miserably for the company.

 

[JustChillinBro]

Just stop.

I have bad news if you think Jim Hill is your meal ticket.

 

[NoChesterHester]

Meh... whatever.

Some folks really get worked up over knowing absolutely nothing. Moving on.

 

[WDWGoof07]

And money that could be better spent on the REAL guest experience for ALL. Not on masquerading a stale product to some guests by making them feel special by spending more. :xmas:

That's what irks me about NextGen. All the tangible results for this program amount to nothing more than what I bolded, new ways to get people to stave off complaints about wait times in overcrowded parks (Next Gen queues, Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom), or shallow gimmickry to pass off old experiences as new or innovative ("play-and-greet" attractions, the Small World "enhancement" Jim Hill described, or this kind of travesty)....Nothing of substance.

If people are complaining about wait times, why not address it directly by adding capacity (or better yet, taking advantage of facilities they already have - I'm lookin' at you Diamond Horseshoe, Adventureland Veranda)?

 

[RSoxNo1]

I have bad news if you think Jim Hill is your meal ticket.

Yep, that's exactly what I said. The bashing gets annoying. Especially lately when it's about things like this that aren't even rumors. We all know this information is valid yet the cheap shots that are largely unfounded keep cropping up.

This conversation should be about the content of the article and not necessarily the person writing it. The fact that Jim's name was put in the subject was seemingly done out of malice, perhaps intending to question the source.

I know people are skeptical when Jim posts rumors, I get that skepticism - I don't agree with it, but I get it. It's the nature of rumors. But as others have posted, this isn't a rumor post, this is rehashing stuff that has been known for a while. There were a few more small details included but all in all there wasn't much new information.

As to the content itself. Depending on how many guests per day use xPass it could be imperceptible to the average guest. Looking at just the fastpass aspect of it, I assume/hope that the Fastpass distribution will be comparable to what a guest can accomplish in the park. I'd be curious if their tickets would enable them to get additional Fastpasses if they dare deviate from the plan.

The question I have would be regarding guest perceptions. Will guests be scheduling things that they otherwise wouldn't visit because they can schedule it? I would assume they would. So in theory that would likely mean that however many people visit attractions using xPass that otherwise wouldn't have visited that attraction will eat up that many Fastpasses in the system.

Example: 500 people use xPass in a park on a particular day. 5000 people use Fastpass for an attraction on a given day, and 5000 people use Standby. 400 of the xPass people would have been part of that 5000 fast pass group, so them getting an xPass doesn't make a difference because they were getting a Fastpass anyway. The remaining 100 weren't going to go on the attraction because they didn't get a Fastpass and didn't want to wait in line. But now they're using 100 of the 5000 Fastpasses of the day and they weren't otherwise planning it.

 

[Scuttle]

I have bad news if you think Jim Hill is your meal ticket.

JH has better sources than you think.

 

[JustChillinBro]

I'll make you a deal.

When I can create a Mary-Blaire-esque doll on my computer months before my trip. And then show up at it's a small world. And see the doll that I created on my computer dance for only me at the end of the ride on a flat screen. I will take a picture of the doll (which will be modeled to look like Jim of course), to the new theme park that is going to be built within the next ten years. And I'll buy you two, Jim, and me a smoothie and we can laugh about it together.

Everything "known" about "XPass" is a myth. I'm willing to hang my wdwmagic reputation on it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'll make you a deal.

When I can create a Mary-Blaire-esque doll on my computer months before my trip. And then show up at it's a small world. And see the doll that I created on my computer dance for only me at the end of the ride on a flat screen. I will take a picture of the doll (which will be modeled to look like Jim of course), to the new theme park that is going to be built within the next ten years. And I'll buy you two, Jim, and me a smoothie and we can laugh about it together.

Everything "known" about "XPass" is a myth. I'm willing to hang my wdwmagic reputation on it.

Honestly, I hope you're right because the stuff that he's put out there lately has been stuff that I don't want to see hit the parks.

 

[the-reason14]

I think we will just cancel our Nov. 2012 vacation. We had decided that once they start letting people book ride times from home, it's over!
We like to be spontaneous, we do not want to decide 6 months in advance where we MIGHT want to eat when we are on vacation, nor do we want to make reservations for rides. After all these years of going every year, sometimes twice, we noticed the food quality declining and prices just keep rising for less.

Good-Bye WDW, it was fun....

I honestly feel the same way as you do. I didn't read the article, but there have been talks about this 'reserve a ride' type system for some time now, and I never really liked the sound of it. Sure, it still seems possible to do it the old fashion way, but I'd hate to have to go to guest relations to get fastpasses when the park just opened and they're already out of fastpasses for my favorite ride. What's there now isn't broke, why 'fix' it?

 

[G00fyDad]

Is everyone looking at this objectively? I mean Disney is a business. It is there for our enjoyment but not at the expense of profit. Things are going to change. Do I wish that Disney World would stay the same as it was on my first visit? Sure, but I am realistic enough to know that isn't the case. It will change and not all of the changes are ones we will like. I'm not looking at this with rose colored glasses nor am I a (God help me for using this retarded term...) Fanboy. I am just realistic enough to know that things will change no matter how much I don't want them to. The XPass system (I highly doubt this will even happen though) may be a failure. Or it could have the opposite effect and everyone may come to love it. There is no system exactly like it so any ideas about its possible success or failure is pure conjecture at this point. But I doubt it will happen, and I am even more positive that it will not happen now that JH has weighed in on it.

And for those that say that they will not get a FP because of the XPass taking them all up... you know this how? I'm just curious.

 

[JustChillinBro]

There is no hoping. The future is not catering to the select few. If you have been to the theme parks recently, you'll notice that the demographics are shifting. The days of the theme parks being full of middle upper class Americans are over. This was even addressed on the last quarter's conference call, where Jay addressed booming international business from South America and specifically stated that the increase more than made up for a decrease in European visitation. International visitors and domestic Hispanic visitors drive attendance. I would assume the general demographic here is 25 - 45 year old white males. Disney isn't even interested in us anymore, but that is another discussion.

The point is that it's ludicrous to think that the foundation of "NextGen" is going to be swanky bleachers in front of Cinderella Castle for the 3pm Parade and a select few people being able to schedule Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at 3:51pm on Tuesday November 24, 2012. The idea that the future of Walt Disney World is catering to 1,000 of 100,000+ people a day is insanity.

For that matter, premium experiences will certainly continue to be on the rise. But like that $189 Animal Kingdom thing, I would be surprised if many of them infringe on the enjoyment of others.

 

[WDWGoof07]

Is everyone looking at this objectively? I mean Disney is a business. It is there for our enjoyment but not at the expense of profit. Things are going to change. Do I wish that Disney World would stay the same as it was on my first visit? Sure, but I am realistic enough to know that isn't the case.

I'm not protesting XPass because I'm stubborn and opposed to change. Part of the intended goal for XPass is to address the issue of wait times in the parks. There are better solutions to this problem (build rides!), but management likes this NextGen stuff because it keeps them from having to add anything of substance while raking in extra cash. I'm as business-friendly as it gets, but, when your competition is bolstering their attraction offerings and you're concentrating on creating new ways to get guests to spend money on a stale product, that just seems short-sighted and, in my opinion, discourages repeat visits. Such an approach could even be detrimental to you in the long term.

 

[AEfx]

Just stop.

But...can you?

 

[AEfx]

I'll make you a deal.
Everything "known" about "XPass" is a myth. I'm willing to hang my wdwmagic reputation on it.

Since you've been a member about a month, kinda small bet.

 

[MickeyPeace]

If you remember that he's a cash business, with no benefits, etc. etc. etc. it's actually only "a nice living", depending on how much of a cut he takes from his other guides. Your average small-town lawyer probably bills as much or more hourly.

That said, there certainly are people out there who will pay a small multiple of the "typical" all-in trip price if someone else would just deal with everything for them. It's not a huge market, but it is there.

Who is doing this? And they have a crew of guides working for them? Does Disney allow it?

And who in their right mind would pay another guest to walk around with them?

 

[AEfx]

Who is doing this? And they have a crew of guides working for them? Does Disney allow it?

And who in their right mind would pay another guest to walk around with them?

Ask Jim Hill.

He tried it, and got his behind kicked right outta Disneyland. Of course, he tried to wear it as a badge of honor, but we all know it must have stung.

Oh, that's right - right after he took preorders for his "park tour" CD's you could listen to around the park. He was gonna get them! Awhile later he said it was coming along nicely. Even a bit later, hitting snags but still coming.

Gee, I wonder at what point those preorders got cancelled, when it never actually came to be, like any other project he has started.

 

[PhilharMagician]

It's not the same thing. You're comparing 2,400 rooms versus 30,000.

I am not sure what the room count has to do with it?

Currently Disney allows FP's for all every park guest which is alot more than 30,000.

If Disney only allowed guests that were staying in a Disney resort room to have FP's and that guests staying off property would they have to pay $20.00 per person per day for FP access to key rides. If this happened the occupancy numbers would most likely rise and the some people would pay for FP access. In the end, Disney would make money and also really ________-off the locals.

For clarification, I do not think this will happen.