Rumor Version of MaxPass coming to WDW in May?

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Oh, I thought touring plans at least knew what they were doing. Don't you have reporters in the parks?

All of those (Safari, LWTL, Soarin') have been covered since July. Super easy to see on various YouTube videos/google searches to verify.

This is NOT a recent change

Going a little “rough”...aren’t ya?

 

[lentesta]

I can’t find where I read the 8 per day thing but it’s been referenced several times on here before when talking about the launch of MDE.


edit to add
I had another look and couldn’t find the attractions per guest metric still.

It was 9 and Disney spent a ton of dough to make it 10 according to this NY Times article from 2010.

 

[lentesta]

Oh, I thought touring plans at least knew what they were doing. Don't you have reporters in the parks?

All of those (Safari, LWTL, Soarin') have been covered since July. Super easy to see on various YouTube videos/google searches to verify.

This is NOT a recent change

You're right - I went back and looked at our photos, and those signs have been covered for a while. My bad.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It was 9 and Disney spent a ton of dough to make it 10 according to this NY Times article from 2010.

10 would be $12 a ride.

Welcome to wildwood, New Jersey

 

[Naplesgolfer]

But previously everyone is paying roughly the same admission price and getting free FP+. Anything charged to jump the line is extra cash the park is getting in that they didn’t before.
the 60 day benefit might drive people to stay on property but that benefit also didn’t exist prior to FP+.
charging for skip the line benefits would be easy money for the park. The masses pay the standard admission and the people who can pay more pay more.

I just looked Universal's pricing for express pass. It cost much more than I thought and we all quote on this site. They have a one park or two park pass and unlimited or one ride a day per attraction passes. So essentially 4 types of pass. Just the lowest pass, one park one ride per day for the rest of this month is 259.99 to 269.99. The whole summer is 159.99 to 199.99. The other 3 passes are more. The pricing is day based. I assume based on historical demand.

I think this gives us a guide as to the range of pricing Disney could charge for a max pass. Also individual or groups of 3 fast-passes for sale could be inferred from that pricing. $20 each ? Based on your supposed 8 ride happiness level?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I just looked Universal's pricing for express pass. It cost much more than I thought and we all quote on this site. They have a one park or two park pass and unlimited or one ride a day per attraction passes. So essentially 4 types of pass. Just the lowest pass, one park one ride per day for the rest of this month is 259.99 to 269.99. The whole summer is 159.99 to 199.99. The other 3 passes are more. The pricing is day based. I assume based on historical demand.

I think this gives us a guide as to the range of pricing Disney could for a max pass. Also individual or groups of 3 fast-passes for sale could be inferred from that pricing. $20 each ? Based on your supposed 8 ride happiness level?

Are those Florida resident pass prices?

 

[Naplesgolfer]

Are those Florida resident pass prices?

I just went back to check. It looks like the express pass is the same for everyone. The park tickets of course offer a Florida rate.

 

[UNCgolf]

I just looked Universal's pricing for express pass. It cost much more than I thought and we all quote on this site. They have a one park or two park pass and unlimited or one ride a day per attraction passes. So essentially 4 types of pass. Just the lowest pass, one park one ride per day for the rest of this month is 259.99 to 269.99. The whole summer is 159.99 to 199.99. The other 3 passes are more. The pricing is day based. I assume based on historical demand.

I think this gives us a guide as to the range of pricing Disney could charge for a max pass. Also individual or groups of 3 fast-passes for sale could be inferred from that pricing. $20 each ? Based on your supposed 8 ride happiness level?

Universal includes it for anyone staying at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, or Portofino Bay, though.

And those hotels are much cheaper than the Disney deluxe hotels -- I stayed at Royal Pacific for almost half the price of what it would cost to stay at the Polynesian. I think Disney would have to include it for all three resort types or run the risk of actually driving people off-site. Why pay $200+ a night for an All-Star and then have to pay $150-200 on top of it for the express pass? You could just stay off-site for half the price and use the savings to pay for the pass, because if some sort of all day FP for all rides was an option the 30 minutes of extra time in the morning would be more or less irrelevant.

 

[havoc315]

Universal includes it for anyone staying at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, or Portofino Bay, though.

And those hotels are much cheaper than the Disney deluxe hotels -- I stayed at Royal Pacific for roughly have the price of what it would cost to stay at the Polynesian. I think Disney would have to include it for all three resort types or run the risk of actually driving people off-site. Why pay $200+ a night for an All-Star and then have to pay $150-200 on top of it for the express pass? You could just stay off-site for half the price and use the savings to pay for the pass, because if some sort of all day FP for all rides was an option the 30 minutes of extra time in the morning would be more or less irrelevant.

Universal doesn’t include all resorts.

Fact is, different people would have different equations. Some would say, “I’ll stay at a value resort... and use the 30 minute early entry. And then I don’t need to buy an express pass.”
Still cheaper to stay in a value then to stay off site PLUS express pass purchase.

Most Universal guests do not buy the express pass. That’s the point — it’s a value added, for those willing to pay for it.

If Disney went towards this model, I’d expect to see the express pass included in deluxe bookings. Maybe available at a discount for mod and value guests. Available at a discount for DVC and AP guests. Full price for off site day visitors.

 

[sullyinMT]

Completely disagree. I'd much rather have 30 minutes at every park every day than one hour per day that all the resort guests swarm to.

I'm willing to wait and see how this shakes out. The pessimist/cynic in me though says that non-resort guests will slam all four gates trying to get their "RD" window. If there isn't some meaningful separate corral and open walkway or whatever for resort guests, you could spend 15 of the 30 minutes just trying to muscle your way to the turnstiles. It will leave you with one, maybe two attractions, and no chance of entering queue #3 while still short enough to "beat the rush."

I hope I'm wrong, and the dispersed crowds really do work out to be beneficial. In this current reopening phase, it even made for a nice extra window of time when they opened park gates a little early over Thanksgiving week to all guests as a means to lessen pinch points at the tapstiles.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If there isn't some meaningful separate corral and open walkway or whatever for resort guests, you could spend 15 of the 30 minutes just trying to muscle your way to the turnstiles.

I mean... under the old system it's not like you spent 15 of the 60 minutes trying to muscle your way to the turnstiles.

 

[sullyinMT]

I mean... under the old system it's not like you spent 15 of the 60 minutes trying to muscle your way to the turnstiles.

Right. It's why I readily admit I may be a bit too overly cynical in this case. 30 minutes is a lot closer to GP admittance, though. For most resort guests it won't matter. They'll be at the gates at 7:45 or so for an 8:30 EM30. My worst case imagined scenario is for those guests who oversleep by 15 minutes or miss a bus by a few and need to wait that extra 20. If they arrive to the park's bus stop after 8:15, the RD masses may well be overwhelming.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Universal includes it for anyone staying at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, or Portofino Bay, though.

And those hotels are much cheaper than the Disney deluxe hotels -- I stayed at Royal Pacific for roughly have the price of what it would cost to stay at the Polynesian. I think Disney would have to include it for all three resort types or run the risk of actually driving people off-site. Why pay $200+ a night for an All-Star and then have to pay $150-200 on top of it for the express pass? You could just stay off-site for half the price and use the savings to pay for the pass, because if some sort of all day FP for all rides was an option the 30 minutes of extra time in the morning would be more or less irrelevant.

I don’t know if they’re “a lot cheaper”. We did 4 nights at royal pacific right before the plague and it was about $400 a night after their discount...so $500 a night is definitely poly range.

Universal doesn’t include all resorts.

Fact is, different people would have different equations. Some would say, “I’ll stay at a value resort... and use the 30 minute early entry. And then I don’t need to buy an express pass.”
Still cheaper to stay in a value then to stay off site PLUS express pass purchase.

Most Universal guests do not buy the express pass. That’s the point — it’s a value added, for those willing to pay for it.

If Disney went towards this model, I’d expect to see the express pass included in deluxe bookings. Maybe available at a discount for mod and value guests. Available at a discount for DVC and AP guests. Full price for off site day visitors.

Only the most expensive 3...he prefaced that.

 

[sullyinMT]

Universal includes it for anyone staying at the Royal Pacific, Hard Rock, or Portofino Bay, though.

And those hotels are much cheaper than the Disney deluxe hotels -- I stayed at Royal Pacific for roughly have the price of what it would cost to stay at the Polynesian. I think Disney would have to include it for all three resort types or run the risk of actually driving people off-site. Why pay $200+ a night for an All-Star and then have to pay $150-200 on top of it for the express pass? You could just stay off-site for half the price and use the savings to pay for the pass, because if some sort of all day FP for all rides was an option the 30 minutes of extra time in the morning would be more or less irrelevant.

The Universal pricing model is really weird for their hotels because of this. We'd actually really like to stay at Aventura, as we love Aria on the LV strip and it looks like a similarly modern chic hotel. If Uni offered even a discounted Express Pass to their "moderate" guests there and Sapphire Falls, as @havoc315 suggests Disney do with whatever they do to FP pricing and hotel tiers, it would be a no-brainer for us. I don't think either company needs to offer a discount to their "value" tier guests, though, as it would likely create an oversaturation of the market.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I mean... under the old system it's not like you spent 15 of the 60 minutes trying to muscle your way to the turnstiles.

No...but you spent 15+ minutes covering pathways in parks that have 3-5 or so miles of path

MK, EPCOT, DAKL

30 minutes is a sham. It’s enough to get to one thing...which probably means the line to 1 thing. In an hour you could “fast hop” 3-4 lesser rides...cover a land. In 3 hours you could enjoy yourself. This also cost them not a penny of additional staff/operations...they can just put the early staff where they know they’ll be needed and then fan them back to the less crowded places slowly. It likely saves them money.

Only people at beach club are getting to ratatouille in under 20 minutes

 

[sullyinMT]

I don’t know if they’re “a lot cheaper”. We did 4 nights at royal pacific right before the plague and it was about $400 a night after their discount...so $500 a night is definitely poly range.


Only the most expensive 3...he prefaced that.

I know it's one example during what will probably be the start of a very busy and in demand season for WDW given the timing and other events, but our upcoming HHN trip at RPR (10/19-10/24) with four day "hopper+" tickets (so that you have access to a Disney water park), with Memory Maker, is $2.6k more at WL (least expensive deluxe for those dates).

Of course, there are all kinds of arguments to derail this thread about the relative value in either vacation and ways to save money with WDW (renting points, two extra gates, the hope that their stellar and often superior entertainment will be back by then). Knowing this, and knowing that Disney owns its resort hotels as opposed to whatever the revenue sharing agreement between Uni and Loews, I would hope that whatever TDC does with pricing and line-jumping access, some preference be given to Deluxe Resort guests. This is from a family that has always stayed moderate due to preference for POFQ. But the price demanded by those hotels should be met with a park perk more meaningful than 30 minutes of access to whichever park you choose that day.

 

[UNCgolf]

Universal doesn’t include all resorts.

Fact is, different people would have different equations. Some would say, “I’ll stay at a value resort... and use the 30 minute early entry. And then I don’t need to buy an express pass.”
Still cheaper to stay in a value then to stay off site PLUS express pass purchase.

Most Universal guests do not buy the express pass. That’s the point — it’s a value added, for those willing to pay for it.

If Disney went towards this model, I’d expect to see the express pass included in deluxe bookings. Maybe available at a discount for mod and value guests. Available at a discount for DVC and AP guests. Full price for off site day visitors.

That's kind of my point (and also exactly what I said regarding Universal's deluxe hotels).

It's different for Disney, because Disney has offered FastPasses for free and guests are used to having that as an option. Universal only had a free offering for a pretty short period of time; not long enough for people to expect it as part of their vacation. If FastPasses go away entirely and the paid upcharge is the only option, there are going to be a lot of guests who want it because they've become too used to having FastPasses. If you have to spend $250 a night to stay at a value with no express pass offering, or could stay elsewhere for $300 a night including both your accommodations and an express pass, I think a lot of people would go for #2.

However, and it's a big however, that will depend on how the system works. If you have two adults and two kids, and you have to pay for each individually, that's a gigantic expense increase and you can throw what I just said out of the window. At Universal everyone in the room gets one (I think -- I know we both received one without having to pay anything extra, but it could be limited to two per room or something like that), but I don't know how they price it out for families otherwise. There's obviously a huge difference between paying $150-200 for your whole family per night and paying $150-200 for each individual.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I know it's one example during what will probably be the start of a very busy and in demand season for WDW given the timing and other events, but our upcoming HHN trip at RPR (10/19-10/24) with four day "hopper+" tickets (so that you have access to a Disney water park), with Memory Maker, is $2.6k more at WL (least expensive deluxe for those dates).

Of course, there are all kinds of arguments to derail this thread about the relative value in either vacation and ways to save money with WDW (renting points, two extra gates, the hope that their stellar and often superior entertainment will be back by then). Knowing this, and knowing that Disney owns its resort hotels as opposed to whatever the revenue sharing agreement between Uni and Loews, I would hope that whatever TDC does with pricing and line-jumping access, some preference be given to Deluxe Resort guests. This is from a family that has always stayed moderate due to preference for POFQ. But the price demanded by those hotels should be met with a park perk more meaningful than 30 minutes of access to whichever park you choose that day.

Oh I never doubt who the price champion is...just saying little brother isn’t that literal

 

[UNCgolf]

I don’t know if they’re “a lot cheaper”. We did 4 nights at royal pacific right before the plague and it was about $400 a night after their discount...so $500 a night is definitely poly range.

When I stayed there 4 years ago it was almost half the price of the Polynesian (I checked out of curiosity), and the Royal Pacific is both nicer and more convenient than the Polynesian. I'm sure it's not always that way and prices have definitely increased in those four years (although Disney prices have increased too), but we paid around $350 a night at the Royal Pacific for a regular room and a regular room at the Polynesian for the same dates was somewhere between $550-600. Both were discounted off rack rates.

 

[doctornick]

It's different for Disney, because Disney has offered FastPasses for free and guests are used to having that as an option. Universal never had an offering like that. If FastPasses go away entirely and the paid upcharge is the only option, there are going to be a lot of guests who want it because they've become too used to having FastPasses. If you have to spend $250 a night to stay at a value with no express pass offering, or could stay elsewhere for $300 a night including both your accommodations and an express pass, I think a lot of people would go for #2.

However, and it's a big however, that will depend on how the system works. If you have two adults and two kids, and you have to pay for each individually, that's a gigantic expense increase and you can throw what I just said out of the window. At Universal everyone in the room gets one (I think -- I know we both received one without having to pay anything extra, but it could be limited to two per room or something like that), but I don't know how they price it out for families otherwise.

FWIW Universal did have “free” Express Pass as part of park admission when they first rolled it out. Worked just like traditional FP. This was not used for long though, only a year or two IIRC before going to a paid model