Fast Passes - 2008 Forward

[Mouseaholic!!!]

One Question.....

If the fast-passes are handed out based on the $$$ of your resort....does this mean DVC will be at the BOTTOM of the list? They do like brag about how little they "pay to stay".

 

[DVCLiz]

One Question.....

If the fast-passes are handed out based on the $$$ of your resort....does this mean DVC will be at the BOTTOM of the list? They do like brag about how little they "pay to stay".

I sure hope not!!!!!! I hope they have good memories and factor in that big check I wrote them not too long ago, and the one I write for my annual dues every January. That should get me a few FPs, I hope!!!

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

Perhaps they could tweak the current FP system in some way. Maybe if you are staying in a deluxe resort (or even DVC), you can go to the concierge desk and have the privilege of ordering which rides you want a FP for the day/night before you go to the park and even choose your own return time. Would anyone be upset if Disney tried something like this?

 

[TINKERIFIC]

I do not think any WDW wide "privliges" whether it be fastpasses or anything else should be "handed out" based on resort. Now if each individual resort/hotel wants to limit any of their "privliges" to only their guests then so be it.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

There is no "handing out" of anything. If you are staying a deluxe resort, you are paying more for it.

 

[Jason71]

The most common defense of the proposed plan seems to boil down to "WDW needs to fill hotel rooms, and a new perk will help them do that." But why use a perk that will ultimately discourage other visitors?

If off-site visitors (or even those at the values if this is limited to moderates and better) have to wait in longer lines and perceive they are being treated as second-class, they will quit visiting WDW. Word-of-mouth is a horrible thing. While there might be some gains in revenue from the hotels, it will only be off-set by an eventual decrease in revenue from the parks.

As an alternative, WDW could begin offering perks at their hotels that have absolutely no effect on guests visiting the parks. Customer service at least equivalent to other high-end hotels would a good start. Or a "Storm-a-Long Bay"-equivalent pool at each hotel. Even a better transportation system would do wonders--not necessarily the pipe dream of monorails everywhere, how about just luxury buses run often enough to guarantee everyone a seat? Any one of these things would increase the value of a stay at the WDW hotels without alienating those who don't stay there.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

The most common defense of the proposed plan seems to boil down to "WDW needs to fill hotel rooms, and a new perk will help them do that." But why use a perk that will ultimately discourage other visitors?

If off-site visitors (or even those at the values if this is limited to moderates and better) have to wait in longer lines and perceive they are being treated as second-class, they will quit visiting WDW. Word-of-mouth is a horrible thing. While there might be some gains in revenue from the hotels, it will only be off-set by an eventual decrease in revenue from the parks.

As an alternative, WDW could begin offering perks at their hotels that have absolutely no effect on guests visiting the parks. Customer service at least equivalent to other high-end hotels would a good start. Or a "Storm-a-Long Bay"-equivalent pool at each hotel. Even a better transportation system would do wonders--not necessarily the pipe dream of monorails everywhere, how about just luxury buses run often enough to guarantee everyone a seat? Any one of these things would increase the value of a stay at the WDW hotels without alienating those who don't stay there.

I agree completely.

Maybe they would not have to find incentives to fill resorts if they offered well-maintained parks, spotless resorts and the best customer service in the industry. Oh yea....like Disney did in the past!

Let's hope the are not distributed based on resort. How sad would it be for everyone who is trying to save $$ in this time of obscene Disney price increases by dropping from Deluxe Resorts to Moderates or Value Resorts.

 

[everylastbreath]

As an alternative, WDW could begin offering perks at their hotels that have absolutely no effect on guests visiting the parks. Customer service at least equivalent to other high-end hotels would a good start. Or a "Storm-a-Long Bay"-equivalent pool at each hotel. .

Why should Disney do that? If you want Deluxe accomodations, you should pay for them, it is not up to Disney to make up the differences in people's salaries.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Why should Disney do that? If you want Deluxe accomodations, you should pay for them, it is not up to Disney to make up the differences in people's salaries.

Disney SHOULD do this because their Deluxe Resorts do NOT match standard Deluxe Resorts elsewhere.

Beach Club lost it's 4th star for a while this year....it was rated as a 3 star.....which is equal to a high-end Holiday Inn.

 

[everylastbreath]

Disney SHOULD do this because their Deluxe Resorts do NOT match standard Deluxe Resorts elsewhere.

Beach Club lost it's 4th star for a while this year....it was rated as a 3 star.....which is equal to a high-end Holiday Inn.

The post that I quoted was stating that Disney should upgrade the Mod/Value hotels to be more equivalent to Deluxe hotels, not upgrade Deluxe to be more standard to Deluxe Resorts elsewhere.

 

[DiszyDean]

What does the level of Disney resort you are staying at have anything to do with fast passes? Meaning, you are paying more for staying at a deluxe and are receiving what you paid for (in theory). Entrance into the park is the same amount of money for someone staying at a deluxe resort as a value resort so the privileges should be the same.

I would support a fast pass system that is free for Disney resort guests and available for purchase for non-resort guests. This way, both groups can get fast passes and it remains a "perk" vs. an exclusion. This is the way I believe it is at Universal.

 

[raidermatt]

The post that I quoted was stating that Disney should upgrade the Mod/Value hotels to be more equivalent to Deluxe hotels, not upgrade Deluxe to be more standard to Deluxe Resorts elsewhere.

I don't think that's what the quote meant. I think it actually was referring to Disney deluxes matching the service at other similarly priced hotels.


I HIGHLY doubt Disney would make FPs an on-site only perk. There's just too many off-site guests that would be up in arms over that.

I wouldn't be surprised by them offering more FPs to on-site guests, or even just deluxe guests. I agree with Jason that it's a bad idea because there are better ways to encourage people to stay on site. But since Disney doesn't appear to have any desire to do any of those things, I'm guessing they will eventually use FP to do it.

 

[jade1]

We visit a few times a year and usually at busy times. The best attraction FP's are usually gone by noon. However we usually only get 2 FP's a day on average, so why not make it easy and be able to schedule 2 FP's a day ahead of time? If we are in deluxe and get 4-well yea we schedule that many, if we are in mods we will schudule 3, Values 2 (or whatever). It still would be much easier than currently trying to guess what time to go into EPCOT to obtain 6PM Test Track so we can make dinner and Illuminations.

 

[Robo-Daddy 3000]

We visit a few times a year and usually at busy times. The best attraction FP's are usually gone by noon. However we usually only get 2 FP's a day on average, so why not make it easy and be able to schedule 2 FP's a day ahead of time? If we are in deluxe and get 4-well yea we schedule that many, if we are in mods we will schudule 3, Values 2 (or whatever). It still would be much easier than currently trying to guess what time to go into EPCOT to obtain 6PM Test Track so we can make dinner and Illuminations.

Exactly!

Also, one of the big drawbacks to FP is how time consuming the whole process takes. At Epcot, you've got to walk to the Land to get a Soarin FP that tells you to come back in 2 houes. Then you walk across Future World to TT or MS and wait in line because you can't get another FP yet. Eventually you have to walk back to the Land to go to Soarin. Letting guests get a FP or 3 the night before with a pre-determined return will eliminate a lot unnecessary walking back and forth and save a ton of time too. Put the FP machines in the lobby or at the concierge desk. It could be done.

 

[rebecca06261]

Onsite guests get plenty of perks. ME, Disney transportation, free parking if you have a car, package delivery to your room, EMH. The thing about all of those also is that it's the SAME regardless of which hotel you stay in. I don't think the family that had to scrimp and save to stay at value should have any less extras than the one who is staying deluxe. Yes, some people scrimped and saved to stay deluxe, but most of the time those people could have easily stayed value or moderate with no problem. The extra saving was just to go up to deluxe. Does that make them better because they make more money? No. I think changing the FP system over to resort guests only would be a shot in the foot. They would have MANY unhappy guests. FP allowed shorter wait times making kids happier, and adults happier. Can you imagine going back to the days where most people were waiting an hour in line for a ride? That would be chaos! What I see being possible is that people who stay onsite can get more than one FP at a time. Perhaps two? Instead of having to wait two hours until you can get another one. Gives that extra little perk to onsite guests while still allowing the majority of guests there (which are offsite) the chance to get one.

Quick Correction: They don't deliver packages to your room, they deliver them to the resort's main qift shop two days after the purchase, then you get to stand in line for an hour 1/2 to pick up the goodies!
But I love the idea of an extra fast-pass or two...or even three!!!

 

[jade1]

Exactly!

Also, one of the big drawbacks to FP is how time consuming the whole process takes. At Epcot, you've got to walk to the Land to get a Soarin FP that tells you to come back in 2 houes. Then you walk across Future World to TT or MS and wait in line because you can't get another FP yet. Eventually you have to walk back to the Land to go to Soarin. Letting guests get a FP or 3 the night before with a pre-determined return will eliminate a lot unnecessary walking back and forth and save a ton of time too. Put the FP machines in the lobby or at the concierge desk. It could be done.

That also takes a lot of guests out of the lines to obtain a FP. Still leave the current system, but with most on site guests not in these lines-the off site guests may have a lot less to deal with. Of course this is assuming not ALL available FP's for any specific attraction can be pre scheduled by onsite guests. Another thing is a lot of onsite guests will grab these passes and never show up for the ride time which make make the standby line shorter.

Currently there is often so much effert in obtaining a pass that come heck or high water, we are going to use it.

 

[paulh]

We visit a few times a year and usually at busy times. The best attraction FP's are usually gone by noon. However we usually only get 2 FP's a day on average, so why not make it easy and be able to schedule 2 FP's a day ahead of time? If we are in deluxe and get 4-well yea we schedule that many, if we are in mods we will schudule 3, Values 2 (or whatever). It still would be much easier than currently trying to guess what time to go into EPCOT to obtain 6PM Test Track so we can make dinner and Illuminations.

Once you have your FP in hand its valid from start time till closeing. Were told this when we were on space mountin when it broke asked CM could we get out of line as we had FPs for test track and were about to expire.They told us what i have stated.Since then never had a problem using them later.Also they said you might stop off to eat, buy something. they dont whant to stop you spending money to rush back to a ride
Paulh

 

[bubba's mom]

Once you have your FP in hand its valid from start time till closeing. Were told this when we were on space mountin when it broke asked CM could we get out of line as we had FPs for test track and were about to expire.They told us what i have stated.Since then never had a problem using them later.Also they said you might stop off to eat, buy something. they dont whant to stop you spending money to rush back to a ride
Paulh

They may have told you it was valid till closing because it broke down ... similiar situation with us...had FP for BTTMR and it went down...indefinately. They told us we could use our FP at any FP except Philharmagic ...so, while I don't believe they are all available till the end of the day, it was probably for your inconvenience.....

 

[Gonz Of Lancashire]

Whether I agree or disagree really doesn't matter - what we all have to remember is that in the final analysis, Disney is a business and out to make money ...

Just done a bit of number crunching.

2 adults in January stopping at the Grand Floridian for two nights with park tickets - $1531

2 adults and 2 children stopping at the ASM resort for 14 nights with park tickets - $2898

Now the couple may eat at Victoria and Alberts both nights they are there, they may not, but I bet their food expenses don't run to the same as the family of fours. They may buy items from the stores in the parks, but I reckon the family of four will spend more there too. So, who does this business really value?

 

[Ted and Holly]

I have shown up past the "end time" of a Fast Pass several times with no issue. I have even brought it to the CM and they let me in the FP line. It may not be a rule, but it is definitely something that many CMs allow.

I would be against setting up FP levels according to what resort you stay at. I would also be against making FP a purely onsite deal. If any new idea makes it any harder to get a FP or participate in an attraction, I might reconsider my yearly AP renewal.