Charge For Premium Fast Pass

[lrodk]

For those familiar with this board, the idea of Disney creating a premium fast pass service(one that guests would pay extra for) has been tossed around and debated upon(both pros and cons) here in the past. Many insiders felt that it was just a matter of time before someone like Disney, who pioneered the reservation system in the form of "Fast Pass", would create a seperate tier system to augment revenues. Well, it seems that Six Flags beat them to the punch. SFs is betting that park guests at their new Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, Aurora, Ohio, will pay extra to jump to the front of the line on the park's most popular rides. For $10, a coupon good for five front-of-the-line jumps can be purchased. Guests can buy as many coupons as they like and use them between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Guests will be ushered up the exit ramp and will be merged with those already in line. Specific seats cannot be requested by the riders.

I tend to believe that a similar system at WDW, especially if it turns out to be a huge hit at SFs, is alot closer that we think. All eyes in the theme park business circle are watching this one very carefully, as they scramble for ways to improve their bottom line. We'll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

 

[Laurajean1014]

I'm not cheap, historically, but that idea sounds silly. You already pay a premium to enter the site. Now SF's wants you to pay to go to the first in line. Isn't that what these parks were designed to avoid? Clash amungst the classes?

Humbug I say! Wait on line, talk to your kids, it's part of the tradition!

 

[drusba]

Check out the USA Today story on the other post on this page about fast pass systems. Apparently the Six Flags system is getting negative feedback and guests who are standing in line and don't pay the eztra fee are booing those who use the quick pass line. The indication would be that Disney's system, which is usable by all guests without paying extra, is the only one that does not lead to guest resentment.

 

[YoHo]

Supposedly, there is some complaining from standby guests at Disney, but Generally it doesn't seem to be too bad. Even the first time visitor to a Disney Park should be able to figure out the fastpass system by the end of one morning.

As to Disney's prospects for Charging. Disney has a couple of advantages.
1: the process is in place already and guests are familiar with it.
2: if they implement it right (whiich has been one of the centers of debate) Nobody would actually know who the privledged few are, and that would keep complaints down.

 

[lrodk]

The problem with SFs system in Aurora is that the premium line is dedicated specifically to those purchasing these passes. Because of that, guests entering this line are easily visible and recognizable by guests on the other line. Disney already has a separate line available to guests with Fast Passes, and thus in this case I think they could seamlessly blend premium passholders with Fast Pass ticket holders without anyone on the regular line noticing, thus avoiding guest resentment. The SF parks that are piloting their Fast Lane program, which is a version of Disney free Fast Pass system, are also limiting the number of tickets they give out in the day on a first come first served basis, which probably fuels the anymosity among those guests who weren't able to get their tickets early enough in the day before they ran out. Disney's system is much fairer in that sense. I think that SFs will learn from the negative feedback and tweak the system until they get it right.

I can understand why some guests would not want to pay the extra fee for something they could do for free otherwise. But if you really wanted to cover a lot of ground in the day(as is the case with E-Ride nights), the premium passes seem like a good option for those with the extra disposable income. If E-ride nights are any indication, then there should be a strong enough demand to justify implementing the system.

 

[Laurajean1014]

Great explanations. Okay, I'm now more receptive to digging pass the lint and find that extra $10!

Thanks, L

 

[mrgoofy]

Universal Studios Florida has a similar system where people who stay at one of their hotels can just walk up to the front of the line for any ride.

This has received many complaints, not from the people at the hotels, but from day visitors, and people staying at non-Universal Hotels. I see their point. You payed just as much as the person going to the front of the line to enter the park, so what if you stayed at a Universal Hotel or not? From what I hear, those hotels are rather pricey so many people may opt to stay at a less expensive hotel so they can afford a longer vacation. Its almost like Universal is creating second class citizens in their parks. I don't think they will be able to keep this up, and keep all their visitors happy.

I'm not too sure if I like the premium fast pass idea, it will all depend on how it is implemented. Maybe they could do it so people staying at a disney resort get one free fast pass a day. It must be done in a way so that once people enter the park, they are treated just like any other guest. That will avoid a problem like Universal has created for itself.

 

[BRERALEX]

i think sf great adventure does somehting like that already but i dont know if people pay. and they do it not in a very orderly fassion and its set seats like in the middle of the coaster i saw them doing it for batman i remember

 

[lookingforward]

I went to Universal/Islands of Adventure in April and we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. Our hotel cards allowed us unlimited access to the Express Line, not Front of the Line Access. This means that we were allowed to get in the Express (FAST PASS) line with anyone else who got express tickets. At Universal anyone could get an Express ticket, those with one day tickets could get one at a time, those with mult-day or annual passes could get, I think, three at a time. The hotels at Universal are expensive but with certain discounts you can stay for about $120 a night.
I have to be honest and say that we loved the system. To me it was worth paying a higher hotel price for the convienence. That said, we did encounter a few comlaints by those in the regular line. However, when the US employee explained to the complainer that anyone could get express tickets many people were not aware of this!
I am a compulsive planner, I love planning. But many, many people simply just show up and start walking. We talked to a bunch of people who did not know anything about the Express Line and were not planning on even learning about the system.
About the "class" issues, I do not feel that it was a real divider. We were not doing anything different from those day visitors who had done their research. We still had to wait in a line, just a shorter one. The ropes did not magically open as we approached. Noone knew who was a hotel guest and who had the individual express tickets.
If something like this is ever done at Disney it would have to be done very carefully. I know there would be thousands lined up to pay! But I think if we took an objective look at things we would see that money already talks at Disney. Lets not fool ourselves, people are already paying extra for perks, $120 plus dollars for VIP fireworks cruises, preferred viewing areas for different events, dinner packages to get reserved seating for Fantasmic and Holiday shows, resort guests paying premium resort prices get early admission, etc. This divides us, don't you think. People who can't pay for onsite resorts don't get in early, those who can't afford to pay for dinner at MGM have to wait in line for two hours to see Fantasmic. The list goes on and on. Just thought I would add my thoughts, I hope I did not make anyone mad.

 

[RamVA]

....not offensive--at least not in my opinion. Money DOES talk; it does buy perks--and nicer clothes, and nicer cars, and better vacations, and so on, and so on. That is one of the advantages to the free enterprise system. Want a system where everyone makes the same wages, equal ownership of land, equal access to comparable medical, etc., try Communism--everything is supposed to be equal, fair, "classless". Guess what? It doesn't work. Even in a so-called "classless" system, someone ends up with the "gravy"; in a "classless" system it ends up being the people in power--in our system everyone has an equal shot at earning more and obtaining that "American Dream". So, to the point, if I'm willing to pay an extra $10 to move to the head of the line, so be it; the same opportunity IS open to everyone--if you choose not to avail yourself of the option, then where is your basis for complaint? I know I don't begrudge those very people "Lookingforward" referred to--those who can afford the fireworks cruises, the dinner packages, the concierge rooms, etc.

I paid $145 per night to stay at Portofino Bay, and I paid it just so I would have FOTL access, and it was worth every penny! The lines at Disney are absolutely ridiculous, and they are going to have to come up with some kind of idea to remedy this problem. It's just a joke to be spending thousands of dollars on a vacation, and only be able to see maybe a quarter or a third of a park in a given day during peak times!! I object MUCH, MUCH more to E-nights, since Eisner and company have resorted to closing the parks earlier and earlier--time that used to be included in the price of my ticket--so that he can charge you extra to be able to ride less rides!! No one seems to complain about this, and it's a total rip-off by management!

Well, I've rambled, and ranted once again--apologies!

 

[Bob O]

I was at Six Flags Great America on 7/12/01 and they offer a pass called fastlane where for $10 you get a priority entrance to 4 rides of your choosing one time per ride from a group of 10 rides. On the day i was there the lines werent long except for a brand new coaster(v2) which had about a 2hr wait all day. I saw few people using the fastlane pass all day so i dont know how well it is going over. I think rather than selling it to everybody that it should be a perk for onsite guests ti keep hotel attendence up, escpecially with occupancy rates down and the Pop century opening next year, also the beach club villas. Nothing beats universal's front of the line access for onsite guests but that wouldnt be practical for wdw, but at disneyland they do offer a fastpass for any ride as part of their package deals so who knows what will happen.

 

[Dumbo]

I was at Six Flags World of Adventure (Ohio) last Thursday 7/12/01. I saw the Fast Lane in action. They don't have a separate line for Fast Lane entrance. There is a sign at the exit to enter for Fast Lane. People walk through the exit and enter the ride at the exit. If you wait in line like everybody else and get to the coaster boarding area you will find two cars (boarding area) roped off. You can not enter these two coaster cars from the boarding area. These two cars (fits 4 people) are reserved for fast lane. We saw people waiting at the exit to border these cars. If no fast lane people are waiting at the exit then the people will fill these two cars form the boarding area. So they don't really go empty.

X-flight was a two hour wait. Superman-The Great Eascape also had a long wait. If you want to stand in the regular line, you may spend 10 hours in line only to ride the 5 most popular attractions.

To some spending an extra $10 may be worth it. To others going to a popular amusement park and not being able to ride the most popular rides can be a disappointment.

Dumbo

 

[DOPEY44]

It looks like we've come full circle.
Why don't they sell a pass with,...say
6 - E attractions
8 - D attractions
10 - C attractions
12 - B attractions
15 - A attractions
That should shorten the lines!!!

 

[larworth]

SF has many different systems at different parks. The above pay per ticket book at SFWOA. SFoG is renting out palm units where you make your own ride reservations ($20-25 range). SFGAdv allows you to get 4 passes for four different rides at 2 hour intervals, but they are free. Other SF parks don't have a program.

I don't know if SF leaves it up to each park, or if corporate is trying out a number of different systems to see what guests like best. If they are booing peole at SFWOA I'd hate to see what they would do at SFGAdv (they might want to issue these people hard hats).

The Universal perks will be much reduced by the end of the year. No longer do multi-day ticket holders get to hold 3 passes at a time. They now can only have one just like everyone else. Those staying on-site, used to be taken to the front of the line. Now they just get unlimited fastpasses (just show your key). This will soon go away and they will be limited to one pass per ride per day. The computer hardware for this was installed in the spring, but they have had some bugs to work out. I hear it is close to being ready and just a matter of when they will pull the switch. It is a given before their new budget hotel opens.

Everyone is all over the map, so I think it will be a couple of years before we see a definite trend appear. With some of the bad PR Disney has been getting lately it will be interesting to see if they play it safe and leave the current system alone, or if they get greedy?

 

[Captain Crook]

Good point larworth. I agree that with all of the "experimentation" going on Disney is most likely going to sit and watch, plus with Park attendance dropping the need for quicker lines also diminishes somewhat and as larworth says, Disney does not need ANY bad publicity. It will be interesting to watch how US/IOA handles the fallout and I'm sure Disney will be watching, too...

 

[YoHo]

It actually sounds to me like Universal IOA is moving more in the fastpass direction. It seems interesting that Disney may have choosen the right meathod the first time. Its nice to see when they do something right.

 

[gary]

Sorry about jumping in late with this comment. I haven't been my usual lurking self lately.

I noticed some comments in this thread about Front-of-the-Line (FOTL) access at Universal, and to the best of my knowledge, it's gone. We went last year, stayed at the Portofino, and got FOTL access (they took us around the side and in a back door). FOTL access was advertised for a while longer, but by the time we went this year (stayed at the Hard Rock, but I don't think the HR policy was supposed to be any different from Portofino) FOTL was gone and replaced with all-day Express.

Practically speaking, it didn't make much of a difference - we still did everything we wanted to do, multiple times, in a day in each park (IOA and Studios). But in FOTL, you're ushered out of the line, around the side, and in a back entrance. In Express, you just join with the park's other Express users. FOTL makes you look like a VIP, but it also gets you noticed - not necessarily a good thing...

You can see how FOTL *needed* to merge with Express. As Universal built more hotels, it could hardly hope to guarantee *all* of the guests FOTL access - all the vacationers get up early, enter IOA, and expect to get to the front of Hulk (or Spiderman). A thousand people all demanding to get to the front of the line at once. Obviously, that's an unlikely extreme, but one that becomes more possible with each on-site hotel expansion that happens. So... they already had the express system in place, so why not just give the on-site guests "all-day" express access. It's still pretty darn good, you blend in with the "normal" (i.e., off-site) express people - no animosity towards you or Universal.

On the other hand, the off-site guests no longer think that you must be a visiting movie star...

(BTW, staying at the Portofino or Hard Rock is great, with or without FOTL/Express. They're beautiful. Portofino for couples, Hard Rock for families, IMHO).

I don't know whether the numbers would allow Disney to do something similar. WDW has so many on-site hotel rooms that it probably wouldn't be practical to give all guests all-day FastPass access - it could very easily make the stand-by lines too long. That, of course, begs the question of "what about giving it to the people staying in the Deluxe resorts" or "what about paying extra for the privilege" or "what about paying extra for a limited number of all-day fast-passes". Which has been discussed here endlessly, but (no doubt) not finally.

I think that they should just give all day FastPass (or FOTL) to us DVCers. (Tongue firmly in cheek, lest I incur the wrath of the masses).

Gary