- Joined
- Feb 11, 2007
- Messages
- 17,547
I've been hesitant to mention this .. but I also think that in small ways.. certain benefits are already being extended.
For example : A family I know stayed at a deluxe resort and several times were given "bonus" fastpasses for other attractions. Example: Getting a FP at Space Mountain and being given a "Surprise Bonus" FP for Buzz Lightyear" from the Space Mountain FP machine.
I've seen several reports of this, but from what I've heard its pretty random, and it seems to provide the "bonus" for the less-utilized rides.
Think about it this way - not everyone has their park admission tickets tied to their room key cards. If you use a separate admission ticket, how would they know whether you are staying at a deluxe resort, or even onsite? Do AP holders who happen to stay at a deluxe resort lose out on the "bonus"? That's another reason I don't think any sort of system has been implemented yet.
As for numbers, I agree that overall, if we are strictly talking Deluxe resorts (and not including DVC, which at times have been billed as Deluxe), and one FP per person, and equal park distribution, AND equal ride distribution, it wouldn't matter overall.
But add in EMH (which probably increases a certain park some percentage), and the limited number of rides likely to be targeted by the bonus Fastpasses (assuming they are good for any ride), there could be an effect. I'd expect that Everest in AK and Soarin' in Epcot to be the primary targets in those parks. The other parks may see better distribution with more "signature" rides.
I'm just guessing at numbers, but for an example with Soarin', I'm guessting that there is about 100 seats per theater, 2 theaters, and a 10 minute cycle time. So thats a load rate of 2400/hour. Your 3750 guests represent an hour and a half of the ride's uptime. Even spread throughout the day, that could be significant. Of course, getting deeper into the numbers, you need to figure out how many of those 3750 would have gone on Soarin' anyways without the bonus pass, and would not ride it an additional time because of the pass...
This is why at least one of the rumored changes (X bonus passes a day for Deluxe guests, Y bonus passes for Mods, etc.) seems unlikely, as the effect COULD be significant. If it was X bonus passes for the duration of your stay, that might not be so bad.