Fast Pass to become "Pay for Play"?

[LindsayDunn228]

Just disgusting. I love how everyone who can afford to go deluxe feels so entitled to bigger and better and more. Perhaps if they downgraded and gave the money to a family who had never been to the parks becasue paying rent is pretty difficult they might find the kind of joy that their heart is really desiring.

Don't misunderstand. Most people work very hard for their money and deserve to spend it as they see fit. If it is on a deluxe vacation, good for them. But to automatically assume that you deserve better than the family that has been saving for the past eight years to get to WDW one time in a budget resort with their children is elitist and says alot about your character

Standing ovation!!!

 

[Minerva]

there are so many different ticket options that we are all not paying the same admission to the parks!!!!!!

Everybody starts with the same basic one park per day ticket unless they're getting an AP. They can choose to add options beyond that.

 

[BostonRob]

It seems classist to change the system and deny some visitors the same rights as other visitors... especially if the distinctions are based on money.

See, now this is getting totally irrational. Since when did Fastpass become a 'right'? There are no 'rights' at WDW. There's no constitution. This is a theme park, not the real world.

Right now, people staying onsite get to stay in the parks later that people staying on International Drive. Should I call the United Nations to report this gross violation of human rights?

 

[lllovell]

Magical Express is currently free - but probably won't be forever (unless the $$$ increase is overwhelming and Disney cannot justify stopping it after the celebration is over). Instead it will become something that some people pay for and others don't. Are people that rent car's elitist because they don't ride the free bus? They are choosing to spend their money differently. Disney would rather you ride their bus and have no car, so they are trying to get as many people as possible hooked on this form of transportation by making it free.

What you are assumming is that people that pay for value rooms won't be given ENOUGH FPs. I disagree as those rooms need to be filled too. This is a no brainer perk for Disney to offer (even EMH cost them money - this is virtually free once the system for making the resservations is in place.). Doesn't cost them much, might encourage more people to spend more money while giving all onsite guests another perk for staying onsite.

 

[back2disney]

For one I won't have to take my children out of school just to go during the offseason.
And #2 you have to be living off a trust, have cashed in lucrative stock options or just plain finacially challenged to not see the value in staying anywhere else other than Pop Century.

 

[ophie]

See, now this is getting totally irrational. Since when did Fastpass become a 'right'? There are no 'rights' at WDW. There's no constitution. This is a theme park, not the real world.

Right now, people staying onsite get to stay in the parks later that people staying on International Drive. Should I call the United Nations to report this gross violation of human rights?

I'm not being irrational. FP is a right for all guests. It's listed in the terms and conditions that you agree to when you purchase the ticket.

 

[BostonRob]

Thanks for missing the point. I'm not being irrational. FP is a right for all guests. It's listed in the terms and conditions that you agree to when you purchase the ticket.

And are those 'rights' subject to change at any time without notification?

 

[lillygator]

well - look at at the charging privileges that Disney offers onsite guests now - why doesn't each resort offer the $1500 beginning option that the deluxes do?

 

[lillygator]

well - look at at the charging privileges that Disney offers onsite guests now - why doesn't each resort offer the $1500 beginning option that the deluxes do?

ETA :In Disney's eyes - isn't that already saying that the Deluxers are better?

and I guess that is one of the resort perks the guest is paying for.

 

[Mister Disney]

I don't agree.

Magical Express is a "free" perk. Is it intended to make Disney more money? Sure. Is it segregating any of the visitors? Absolutely not. And more importantly, it's a smart business move, not a shrewd one.

Letting people that can afford to stay at a more expensive hotel cut in front of people who cannot is shrewd. It's wrong.

People keep talking about Vegas. What do you think would happen if a high roller with millions of comp points was standing in a line for a buffett and Jimmy Crack Corn, who's never been there, was in front of him in the same line? Would it be fair to let the high roller not wait in the same line for the same food at the same price? If I were Jimmy Crack Corn, and someone cut in front of me because they were staying at a nicer hotel, I'd punch him in the nose.

No Perks are ever REALLY FREE. ARE THEY?

But, its the perks that get people to either stay on property or off property.

It is the perks that get people to choose to stay at Deluxe and Moderate resorts over Value resorts.

Its the perks that get people to stay in Concierge Level Rooms over regular rooms at Deluxe resorts.

FP can also be a perk, and Disney knows it.

They can leave the system as it is....and "ADD" to it based on what they are after with the patent.

For those people that are worried about Mary & Joe "Middle America" and their 2 children scrimping and saving to come to Disney, I too scrimp and save to come to Disney. Also, lets not forget ALL those people that can not afford to come to Disney at all. People make choices on how they are going to spend their money.

There are people that are goin to choose length of stay at Disney over other choices and there are going to be people like me that are going to choose shorter times for more money for added value and perks.

 

[lllovell]

No - Because Suzy, Johnny, and their mom and dad could have gotten the same fastpass that you had, regardless of which hotel they were staying at. They simply chose not to.

Under Disney's new idea, Suzy, Johnny and the folks could get cut in front of not because they chose to stand in line, but because they couldn't afford to shell out $300 a night to stay at the Boardwalk.

ALL hotels onsite will get FPs. If I want better service, I pay for a better hotel. To me this perk is like that. This perk will start at some base level where everyone on site has the same chances and then will move up from there. I am sure it will be a system where you would not get LESS FPs than you currently do on average NOW by walking around the park and praying that all the FPs for a particular ride are not gone or 7 hours away already. This way, at least you know in advance if 4 pm is full (if they do it like they have proposed and have it online or with special room access).

 

[lllovell]

RIGHT THERE - THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT!!!!

Disney giving ALL THEIR RESORT GUESTS RESORT BENEFITS is fine. It's a great perk, and there's absolutely nothing wrong or unfair about that.

But for Disney to start segregating their own resort guests based on how much money they spent for a hotel room, is wrong.

If a huge fire engulfed all of Disney World, and the whole resort needed to be evacuated, should the guests staying at the Yacht and Beach Club be escorted off property before the guests staying at Port Orleans?

that gets an eye roll....you know its not the same and are really stretching

 

[ophie]

And are those 'rights' subject to change at any time without notification?

They certainly are. But that doesn't change the point that if Disney does this... it looks classist and it's a horrible PR move. As I said before (way back when... pages ago, I'm sure), if they want to do this... it should be an additional ticket option instead of something that's attached to resort category. It's much more affordable to buy ticket options than it is to upgrade to a deluxe.

 

[Mister Disney]

But for Disney to start segregating their own resort guests based on how much money they spent for a hotel room, is wrong.

Disney has every right to segregate the perks they offer to their guests based on how much they are spending. Whether we like it or not, they are ALREADY doing it.

If a huge fire engulfed all of Disney World, and the whole resort needed to be evacuated, should the guests staying at the Yacht and Beach Club be escorted off property before the guests staying at Port Orleans?

THIS IS COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES and is not relevant. This debate (and I OH so love good debates...) is about perks. LIFE SAVING issues are not a perk. Being SAFE is a RIGHT.

Perks are a benefit, not a right.

 

[BostonRob]

If a huge fire engulfed all of Disney World, and the whole resort needed to be evacuated, should the guests staying at the Yacht and Beach Club be escorted off property before the guests staying at Port Orleans?

No, because that actually would be a violation of Human Rights. If you can't make a distinction between that and a tiered fastpass system, I guess I should stop trying to convince you of it.

 

[lllovell]

OK - if giving people that stay in the more expensive resorts more FPs is elitist, then explain to me how the MYW tickets aren't? If I can afford to buy tickets for more days and add water parks and non-expiring features and park hoping, but someone else can't and can only afford to buy the number of days for this one trip, basic tickets that expire with no park hoping, is it wrong of me to get a discount because I can afford to buy more days upfront?

If I choose to stay at the most hotel I can afford (be it a moderate or a deluxe) is it wrong for me to get more perks at WDW for doing it? What if I choose only to stay at Pop this time so that I can take 2 long weekend trips, not just one this year - do I resent those people that stay at the moderate and deluxe resorts and get a few more fast passes than me? I guess this is where we differ (for those that find this to be elitist), I will pay for what I can get and offering me more perks to maybe get me to spend more money is fine. It is my choice and if it means one less trip for me, then that is MY choice to make. Chances are pretty good that unless Disney totally flips out and makes a Deluxe stay have 4-5 times as many FP per day as a Pop guest, its not going to be worth my money to every stay in a deluxe versus a value (and probably not worth it to most people).

 

[Pedler]

They certainly are. But that doesn't change the point that if Disney does this... it looks classist and it's a horrible PR move. As I said before (way back when... pages ago, I'm sure), if they want to do this... it should be an additional ticket option instead of something that's attached to resort category. It's much more affordable to buy ticket options than it is to upgrade to a deluxe.

If they did that you would likely see it as a resort only option that you could pay for. Remember that Disney makes some serious cash off of people staying on site. Look at the many changes this year to the packages and ticket pricing. ME, MYW Dinning are all for on site guests designed to keep you onsite and spend more. The new ticket pricing rewards people that stay longer with a lower per day cost. On the other hand the person that can only go for 2 days as part of a Florida vacation is paying a much higher per day rate. Its not fair but most of the changes made this year are designed to drive people to staying longer and saying on site.

That said I think the PR nightmare of establishing a large scale "class" system would be more than they could deal with. If, and it is a big IF, they do this I would suspect it would be for the conceirge guests first and they would then raise the price of concierge.

 

[lllovell]

Of course I can. It was a bad analogy I guess.

I don't know. Some people on here can politely disagree and debate. Then you have others that are just plain nasty.

Lets keep debating! I am not trying to be nasty nor do I think you are foolish - I just disagree.

Hey - beats working

 

[tracy51]

Oh my, this is rather heated. And over something that may or may not even be an idea Disney is tossing around.

Look, the first time I go to Vegas and don't get all the 'perks' - free drinks, free rooms, etc - that my boss who goes once every couple months gets, am I going to feel like a 2nd class citizen? No. He's paid for the perks or earned them. The perks are a marketing ploy to get you to spend more, gamble more, and point blank - just to get you to walk thru the door more.

This would be the same thing. We're staying at Pop for our first trip as a family this summer. Yeah, its a tight budget to make this trip happen, but we did better budgeting than we thought and considered moving up to a moderate or deluxe. We decided against it because we don't plan on being in our room much and didn't think the perks for the resort were worth it for us. Now if more FP's were a perk for moving up then we probably would have moved up - its a perk we would have used and would justify to us spending more money. That's why companies offer things like this. You always have people that will choose the least expensive or the most expensive option no matter what you offer. Its the people on the fence who might go either way that they try to sway. It's not to put anyone in a certain class, but to nudge them towards spending more money if they are trying to decide. I've read posts that complain about concierge at Disney resorts not really adding anything like other resorts do for that level of service - something like this would probably go aways to change that view and get people who wouldn't go concierge to choose it. It's all about squeezing a bit more money out than what they were going to get before. And that touches on the DVC issue - Disney already has you, they don't have to work as hard to get your money. You've bought into DVC odds are you are going to come & spend your money no matter what they offer you. If they do this, I think they will offer something to DVC members - not just to keep them happy, but its something they can print on the bottom of the brochures to attract new DVC owners.

It's not somebody 'richer' cutting in front of somebody 'poorer' any more than right now someone using fastpass is a case of somebody 'smarter' (more well informed) cutting in front of somebody 'dumber' (less informed). If it's implemented its simply a marketing ploy to get guests to spend more.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Yes and no.

Do you think the people on the Titanic assumed because they were third class passengers that if the ship was going down, they would be left to die so the first class passengers could get off the boat first?

OK, a bit stetched and dramatic. I'm just trying to get to the point (in a roundabout way) that if Disney starts down this road, what's gonna be next?

I mean, you can say nothing will come out of it, but look at the heated debate it's ALREADY caused on this message board....

All over a patent application. Disney has made no announcement that they have any intention of implementing this, but people are getting their shorts in a knot over it anyway.