Rumor Version of MaxPass coming to WDW in May?

Nautilus

Member
We don't even know what this is yet and it's already nauseating. Any form of having to pay for FP, when it's always been free on the east coast...is just heartbreaking. I guess that sounds dramatic, but when you consider that FP has always been open to everyone of all budgets, yeah...it's heartbreaking because it could be a make or break deal on a family's vacation.

I remember being in the FP line (back when it was paper) for Splash Mountain and a man in the standby asked me how everyone in my line was moving so quickly. I told him about FP and he asked how much it cost. When I said, 'it's free,' his face lit up. I bet it changed the rest of his day and maybe his week.
 
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JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
We don't even know what this is yet and it's already nauseating. Any form of having to pay for FP, when it's always be free on the east coast...is just heartbreaking. I guess that sounds dramatic, but when you consider that FP has always been open to everyone of all budgets, yeah...it's heartbreaking because it could be a make or break deal on a family's vacation.

I remember being in the FP line (back when it was paper) for Splash Mountain and a man in the standby asked me how everyone in my line was moving so quickly. I told him about FP and he asked how much it cost. When I said, 'it's free,' his face lit up. I bet it changed the rest of his day and maybe his week.
It was always slated to be P4P. No question about it.
 

Angel Ariel

Well-Known Member
MaxPass, IME, has more availability for a longer amount of time over the course of the day because there is no prebooking as there is with FP+. I can absolutely see WDW removing the prebooking from FP+ and replacing it with a day-of maxpass system, and making the onsite benefits tied to better/easier access to SWL (and the other new attractions soon to come in Epcot, etc).

Given the reservations implementation announced for SWL in Disneyland, it seems that Disney is rethinking benefits on a different scale than they have in the past.
 

KingdomofDreams

Well-Known Member
It seems clear Disney is changing it up somehow, even though at this point details that can be discussed are (understandably) sketchy. I can only hope whatever is planned does not include scheduling times and limiting choices through tiers. Disney makes this far more complicated and stressful for their guests than it needs to be, or should be. Uni has made it work quite well for their guests for many years now. No reason Disney can't do the same.
 

Lensman

Well-Known Member
It's a well thought analysis, but as mentioned by @marni1971 there is the strong possibility that the complimentary FP is for a non E-Ticket.
I think @marni1971 said that it was possible that we'd continue to get 3 Fastpasses, but not for Tier-1 attractions. So the two options might be:
  1. One Tier-1 FastPass per day.
  2. Three lesser FastPasses per day.
My speculative analysis was for option 1. I haven't figured out a framework for an analysis of option 2.

@marni1971, when you mentioned "options", did you mean that Disney is considering these two options or that guests would have a choice between these two options?
Another option is to be able to get three passes as now, but only for “lesser” attractions. The Es, and perhaps Ds, will be a separate class. Putting Fastpass on JIWF and LWTL will suddenly make perfect sense.
This also affects the locals and those with APs which serve to greatly stabilize attendance levels at the parks year round. Unlike DLR where they have too many AP holders, WDW needs the AP holder and can't afford to alienate them.
Agreed. I don't know the impact on AP holders and I don't know whether to discount the AP holders who complain about being alienated by the current FP+ system. The glass half-full argument is that they will be happier because more Tier-1 FastPasses will be available at T-30 and via Standby, especially during the off-season and shoulder season.

Finally while I agree with you that FP+ has reduced the spontaneity of trips, making them scheduled and regimented, Disney gets loads of analytical data from these to help them better understand guest behavior and habits. This was part of the reason they spent billions on MDE, to be backing off from this seems like a colossal admission of failure.
Are you sure it's a colossal admission of failure? Disney will still get the information from the one free FastPass and any purchased FastPasses. And if they get 50% uptake on paid FastPass @ $20 a pop (unlikely), that's what, an extra $500 million a year in the bank? Maybe this is one of the outshoots from all the data? And would be a reasonable tradeoff for only collecting 70%-80% of the data that they do now.

I've experienced the entire evolution of FP. I've never seen it as a system to to disenfranchise guests, though I can understand how for some guests who are unable to get them it would seem "unfair". I remember the pre-FP days where E-Tickets like splash would routinely have 120 minute waits, yes the queue moved, but EVERYONE still had to be in it for 120 minutes. Keep in mind that was also when park attendance was half of what it is today. I could only imagine the horror of popular attractions with reduced FPs given todays attendance levels.
I agree that it's a bit of Sophie's Choice given that we can't just wave our wands and have greater attraction capacity. As others have alluded to, the only (unlikely) solution that would make everyone happy is additional parks in other locations, either in the U.S. or internationally.

My only other thinking-outside-the-box solution is for the genius data scientists and behavioral psychologists to figure out some way of fooling people into being happier riding fewer attractions - in particular only riding the Tier-1 attractions once per trip.
 

Angel Ariel

Well-Known Member
MaxPass is NOT the same as WDW FP+. There are no advance reservations, you can have multiple FPs for the same attraction reserved at the same time, and you can have overlapping FPs. When MP was $10/person/day it was totally worth it to me as we got at least 12-15 FPs each day. At $15 I'm not sure it will be worth it.


Agreed!
MaxPass also includes Photopass with that price, which also makes it much different than FP+. Getting MaxPass for our days there (when it was $10/day/person) was about the same price as Photopass for the week would have been, and we were getting that anyway. One price, including MaxPass and Photopass, was totally worth it.
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
MaxPass also includes Photopass with that price, which also makes it much different than FP+. Getting MaxPass for our days there (when it was $10/day/person) was about the same price as Photopass for the week would have been, and we were getting that anyway. One price, including MaxPass and Photopass, was totally worth it.
Plus park hopper tickets max out at 5 days. It's much easier to tour completely in half the time at DLR, keeping the max price for MaxPass far more reasonable.

When I think about the price of 7-10 days of FPs at WDW plus MaxPass, it makes my head hurt.
 

whiterhino42

Active Member
But Maxpass is technically already at WDW, for UK ticket holders anyway. You can already make FP reservations on your phone and 60 days out too as well as have Photopass Memory Maker which is ''free'' with all UK tickets for duration of stay so you can download pictures whenever.
What! Why do you get memory maker free and for us it costs $150!
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Dear Disney Decision Makers, if you are reading, please remember that what makes Walt Disney World special is that it is not like the competition.
Unless it's imposing resort parking fees, then they're doing it because of the competition...
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
They could really simplify everything by going back to pay-per-ride, perhaps with a dynamic pricing structure that fluctuates with demand. Fastpass and standby queues would be combined, but instead of posted wait times they would have posted fees that are added to your magicband when you enter the queue- the longer the wait the higher the price to add yourself to it. So, something like Impressions de France as a walk-on at the end of the day would only be $6 to enter but Flight of Passage in the middle of the day would be $65 or so.
 

YorkshireT

Well-Known Member
They could really simplify everything by going back to pay-per-ride, perhaps with a dynamic pricing structure that fluctuates with demand. Fastpass and standby queues would be combined, but instead of posted wait times they would have posted fees that are added to your magicband when you enter the queue- the longer the wait the higher the price to add yourself to it. So, something like Impressions de France as a walk-on at the end of the day would only be $6 to enter but Flight of Passage in the middle of the day would be $65 or so.
I’d feel ridiculously ripped off paying $65 for Flight of Passage, I’d feel ripped off at $20 unless it was free to get in.
 

Angel Ariel

Well-Known Member
Do we think this will be announced and implemented THIS year? Or announced in the next few months to begin with 2020 packages being sold? It's kind of rude to change the rules on packages people bought a year ago!
I’m assuming these changes are to go along with Galaxys edge, so I would expect whatever they do to be implemented this year.
 

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
I would also assume that if they limit free FP they will take away the ability to book more once you have used them. If they limit everyone to just one FP a day, then there should be plenty of inventory for the people who pay to get great FPs most of the day.
 

Grimley1968

Well-Known Member
I'm not necessarily opposed to a paid FP system, since the added cost will reduce lines slightly for those who pay for this, and I'd also love to see the pre-park arrival reservations go away (if it ends up being like the Disneyland version).

But since legacy FP was restricted with the arrival of FP+, and with the arrival of paid parking at resorts, and a host of other things that used to be free which now aren't, no one should be surprised that Disney would charge money for one more thing (FP) that used to be free.
 

Sarah1024

New Member
I would also assume that if they limit free FP they will take away the ability to book more once you have used them. If they limit everyone to just one FP a day, then there should be plenty of inventory for the people who pay to get great FPs most of the day.
I think you can still get day of FP's for free. You can hardly get the headliners anyways. It would be a MAJOR game changer for Disney to drop this, and impact the way a lot of people vacation! That would get a lot of blow-back too.
 

WondersOfLife

Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
If FastPass goes to paid - yes the Fastpass lines will be shorter - but I havent usually found the FP lines to be an issue or THAT long.

But the regular lines will EXPLODE as all the people that used to use the free FP and dont want to pay go to to the regular lines.

I would prefer the ability to buy ADDITIONAL Fastpasses....but needs to be expensive enough that the FP lines don't get longer to your original point.

There's an odd request: Disney please make something MORE expensive!
Attractions that used to be a walk on, wouldn’t be a wal on anymore. The only reason there are lines for attractions like Figment, Nemo, Little Mermaid, Spaceship earth, and other “eh” or omnimover Attractions is because people snag Fastpasses for Attractions they normally wouldn’t go to.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
To clarify a few things, since I now can:

“Free” FP will still be available as they are now. However they may not be free for the more popular attractions, or the ratio of “free” fast passes for the more popular attractions may be reduced. The ratio may be fluid, or alter over time. You may find you can’t get a “free” fastpass for Mine Train since they’ve “all run out” but you may then magically be able to pay for one.

There may be at least three different packages of paid fast pass available. As I understand it there maybe a limit on re rides (no more fast passing BTM then getting another one in the same day) depending on the product purchased.

This may be implemented on the newest and shiniest attractions first, once said attractions begin to take fastpass. The ratio here will possibly start quite low in favour of free passes and slowly change.

This may happen later this year.
 
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