Bonus anytime FPs with package - now there's a thought...

[Richard M Nixon]

I'm planning a short trip to Tokyo Disneyland and I ran across their vacation packages. They're similar to ours, bundling together tickets+room reservation, but you also get breakfast and sometimes dinner included, which is kind of similar to getting a dining plan but you are limited to hotel restaurants. However, the price of the bundle was more than the price of the parts, which was confusing me for a bit.

Then I realized that they're throwing in fastpasses when you buy the package!

Tokyo Disney does things like Disneyland does - old-school kisok FPs, so you can't plan anything ahead of time. When you get a package, you are still able to do a normal line-drop FP run, but you get a certain number of 'A' and 'D' ticket FPs per person (for a 2day/1night plan you get 2/4). They're pretty relaxed about what's an A ticket - it was jut "Toy Story Mania!" and "Nemo & Friends SeaRider".

I liked the concept a lot, since it's priced high enough to stop every guest from having bundles of anytime, any ride FPs while still allowing people who want to pay a premium to do so. For two people and two days in the park, the premium was about $300 USD, which was lower than I expected.

Pete has talked a few times about how to handle premium resorts and catering to guests with extra money, such as making FPs available to buy or giving an extra FP per day to deluxe resorts. I think this bundle system could work pretty well since it forces people to go all-in and get a deluxe hotel, meals, full days of tickets, etc.) while acting as a great package deal for groups that want a full Disney experience.





In before "eat the rich."

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

Whether a park utilizes paper or electronic FPs makes a huge difference on giving out more. The math has been done, and there are only so many FPs that can be used park-wide in a day. With paper FPs, the percentage of possible FPs actually used is way, way lower than it is with electronic ones. Once WDW transitioned over to electronic FPs, usage levels skyrocketed. It would certainly be possible to give guests who book certain packages extra FPs to Tier 2 attractions, but not to Tier 1. But in the end, what would be the point? Tier 2 attractions are easy to book even up to the point of booking them the hour you want to use them. It would be like handing out pails of sand at Santa Monica Beach. I suppose it might provide the optics of "value". But it wouldn't really net you anything. Five years ago, it might have been a neat perk to send people paper FPs to Space Mountain in the mail. But there is no way that they can give people extra FPs to FoP or Frozen or 7DMT or TSMM without messing with the math.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm not positive but I want to say that Domestic parks utilize/operate, etc FPs differently than the International parks. In a nutshell the guests themselves utilize them differently thus Disney tailors their product accordingly.

JMHO but it can be difficult comparing Domestic vs International on some things.

For instance price for Shanghai is determined by height, Toyko also has fixed-date park tickets, and both parks has a break for seniors on price, etc.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Something Shanghai does is Premier Access: https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/guest-services/disney-premier-access/

It's basically an extra paid fastpass, "Disney Premier Access" is $18-$22 and gives you one fastpass to one of the 7 higher rated attractions. "Disney Premier Access Set" is $90-$113 and gives you one fastpass to all 7 of those attractions. I think it was designed in response to Chinese scalpers who would show up early, get FPs for the big rides (Tron, Soaring), and literally sell them outside the ride! But I could see something similar to that showing up stateside one day. There would definitely be a huge outcry, but there would also be people who will pay it.

I could also see a option like Universal's Express Pass, but I'm sure they have considered it and would rather continue the VIP tours (private or otherwise): $400-600/hour for at least 7 hrs and a max of 10 guests.

 

[GerriS]

I was just at Tokyo Disney Resort in early November and had bought a package which included 8 fastpasses good in both parks. Since we had to go over a weekend (just finished the ABD China trip, but that's another story), these fast passes were a lifesaver. The lines are huge (especially after Hong Kong and Shanghai). While the 2 day package (which I booked on the Tokyo Disneyland site) was pricey I must say I am very happy with it. In addition to the 2 breakfasts (including Chef Mickey's) and the length of stay fast passes we also got unlimited fountain drinks at the quick service/counter service for our entire stay, And are park hopper passes were good from Day 1 in both parks. We also got a monorail pass and a few gifts. We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel which has access to the parks by bus or monorail (through Ikspari - their Disney Springs). I also want to say the Airport limo bus worked great as did the TokyoAirpporter.com car service. We used the latter on Friday evening when we weren't sure our flight would arrive in time to catch the last bus from Narita. The package was only good at the Ambassador (I would have like to stay a MiraCosta), which turned out to be a nice hotel. The package can also be reserved up to 6 months in advance whereas the room only is 5 months.