Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE WDW and it has that magic which Universal doesn't, but I've been saying for years that Universal has the superior plan with regard to perks for their resort guests.
The other side of that, though, is that if you're not a resort guest it degrades the experience. The last time I had a Universal AP, they still had the original Express Pass, which was just like Fastpass where the tickets were distributed by machines in the park. But but they were also just starting to play with offering Express Passes as a paid perk. They were selling them in the parks for about $20. The end result was that there were no Express Passes to be had (unless you bought them) after around 11AM. What that meant for me was that unless I bought the Express Pass, it was not possible to get the value I had already paid for out of my AP, because all the lines were too long, since they were inserting people who had paid extra at the front of the line.
They had sold me a certain level of access to their rides and attractions, and then revoked that access so they could turn around and sell it to someone else for more money. Put another way - when it was my turn to ride something, they were making me wait so that someone else who had paid extra could go first. That would have been fine if they'd paid
me - whether directly or indirectly such as by discounting the cost of my ticket - but they hadn't.
I've seen, and occasionally participated in, this very debate, right here. Perks are more than OK if you're paying extra for them - indeed they are mandatory. But there is a pretty sharp distinction between perks that are provided through additional cost or effort on the part of those providing the perk - such as freebies or exclusive services - and those that instead involve taking something away from other guests. An Express Pass, whether it's paid for or included as a perk for staying at the hotel, can only be provided by taking something away from other guests - guests who are still paying full price, IE who are still paying for that which has been taken from them to offer as perks to someone else.
