Fastpass return or replacement?

[bsmcneil]

That hope exists on all sides, but unfortunately will never be realized. The truth is that at Disney (and the rest of the world), access is already superior in nearly every aspect for people who do not need special accommodation. The parks, stores, transportation, rides, etc., were 95%+ built for able-bodied persons, and obviously work best when you can wait without issue and walk right in/on. And rightly so, because that’s what it takes for Disney to attract big crowds and be profitable, because 95%+ of their guests prefer it that way!

What makes a person compassionate is to understand this: For those with special needs in a 95%+ world, accommodations are not an optional convenience, they are a necessity. Enter DAS. Disney is legally required to provide reasonable necessary accommodation and not charge extra for it. It’s always imperfect, but they do the best they can.

Free LP-DAS, if it comes to that, may help make users’ park experience more equitable, but it will never make it equal, better, or superior. Unfortunately, by hard design, it will probably still be inferior to the able-bodied person‘s experience. DAS simply makes something possible that wouldn’t be otherwise. Understand that, and you begin to approach compassion.

Sure, some scummy persons will try to game the system. Always have, always will. You can’t take away access because of that. I wish the answer was free for everyone, but Disney seems to have other plans.

As an aside:
This is why I go solo sometimes without my son. I truly hate to say it, but going without him is a superior experience from a parks perspective. I plan less, cover more ground, ride more rides with lower waits, see more shows, eat in more restaurants, enjoy more forms of transportation, all with infinitely less stress. But nothing is like seeing the joy on his face experiencing his favorite rides! It’s worth the extra trouble to see that happiness!

edited for grammar

Thank you for your post

 

[buzlite]

My assumption was that DAS will not change, as that’s tricky legal territory, so making a new system non-identical to it might give us a clue about the new system. It makes Lightening Pass as a system less likely to be implemented, to my mind, because they won’t want it to mirror DAS too much.

It bothers me to no end about how people abuse the disability system. People who consider themselves or their children disabled with ADHD, obesity etc drive me nuts. My father is an amputee and he has never ever abused these systems. Many times he will even avoid using services that are offered because he doesn't absolutely need them. It drives me crazy when I see overweight people in scooters. As I child I was diagnosed with ADHD and apparently it was pretty bad. I remember my dad telling me that this was no excuse for being rude, disrespectful or inpatient. We would go places and if I was being any of the above we would go straight back home. No yelling, no screaming. Just these are the rules and if I wanted to enjoy these activities I needed to learn to adapt. Eventually I learned. I became a huge reader and dragged my books (Harry Potter!)everywhere we went and learned to keep myself occupied. When we finally went to Disney I was 9 years old and we waited in line 2 hours to see Mickey. We could have used the DAS line, we could have at that time even skipped the whole queue but I learned so much in those lines.
I have sympathy for people with disabilities that are self imposed through laziness (obesity) or overly protective parents that victimize their children.
On the other hand I have complete respect for parents with severely autistic/cebebral palsy etc children who are doing their best and using the trip to help these kids grow. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these are the majority at Disney.
(I also get many many requests each year to write "disability" letters for people's Disney trips...)

 

[annadreamsofdisneyworld]

It bothers me to no end about how people abuse the disability system. People who consider themselves or their children disabled with ADHD, obesity etc drive me nuts. My father is an amputee and he has never ever abused these systems. Many times he will even avoid using services that are offered because he doesn't absolutely need them. It drives me crazy when I see overweight people in scooters. As I child I was diagnosed with ADHD and apparently it was pretty bad. I remember my dad telling me that this was no excuse for being rude, disrespectful or inpatient. We would go places and if I was being any of the above we would go straight back home. No yelling, no screaming. Just these are the rules and if I wanted to enjoy these activities I needed to learn to adapt. Eventually I learned. I became a huge reader and dragged my books (Harry Potter!)everywhere we went and learned to keep myself occupied. When we finally went to Disney I was 9 years old and we waited in line 2 hours to see Mickey. We could have used the DAS line, we could have at that time even skipped the whole queue but I learned so much in those lines.
I have sympathy for people with disabilities that are self imposed through laziness (obesity) or overly protective parents that victimize their children.
On the other hand I have complete respect for parents with severely autistic/cebebral palsy etc children who are doing their best and using the trip to help these kids grow. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these are the majority at Disney.
(I also get many many requests each year to write "disability" letters for people's Disney trips...)

Wow, super judgmental post...

 

[bookgirl2632]

It bothers me to no end about how people abuse the disability system. People who consider themselves or their children disabled with ADHD, obesity etc drive me nuts. My father is an amputee and he has never ever abused these systems. Many times he will even avoid using services that are offered because he doesn't absolutely need them. It drives me crazy when I see overweight people in scooters. As I child I was diagnosed with ADHD and apparently it was pretty bad. I remember my dad telling me that this was no excuse for being rude, disrespectful or inpatient. We would go places and if I was being any of the above we would go straight back home. No yelling, no screaming. Just these are the rules and if I wanted to enjoy these activities I needed to learn to adapt. Eventually I learned. I became a huge reader and dragged my books (Harry Potter!)everywhere we went and learned to keep myself occupied. When we finally went to Disney I was 9 years old and we waited in line 2 hours to see Mickey. We could have used the DAS line, we could have at that time even skipped the whole queue but I learned so much in those lines.
I have sympathy for people with disabilities that are self imposed through laziness (obesity) or overly protective parents that victimize their children.
On the other hand I have complete respect for parents with severely autistic/cebebral palsy etc children who are doing their best and using the trip to help these kids grow. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these are the majority at Disney.
(I also get many many requests each year to write "disability" letters for people’s happy Disney trips...)

Oh, boy, there is a lot to unpack here.
How exactly do you know that obesity is self imposed and a result of laziness? In some, sure, it could be. But unless you know every single person’s story, please don’t judge them. They could have a thyroid condition. They could have a lifelong struggle with weight. They could be obese because of any number of physiological issues.

You have no idea why anyone is in a scooter. My cousin has had MS since she was in her 20s. Some days, she is fine. Others, whe has to walk with a cane. On her worst days, which far outnumber the better ones, she can barely walk. But to look at her or talk to her, you would never know. So if she was on a scooter, I’m sure some would judge her, thinking she was lazy. They would be wrong. As are you.

 

[bsmcneil]

It bothers me to no end about how people abuse the disability system. People who consider themselves or their children disabled with ADHD, obesity etc drive me nuts. My father is an amputee and he has never ever abused these systems. Many times he will even avoid using services that are offered because he doesn't absolutely need them. It drives me crazy when I see overweight people in scooters. As I child I was diagnosed with ADHD and apparently it was pretty bad. I remember my dad telling me that this was no excuse for being rude, disrespectful or inpatient. We would go places and if I was being any of the above we would go straight back home. No yelling, no screaming. Just these are the rules and if I wanted to enjoy these activities I needed to learn to adapt. Eventually I learned. I became a huge reader and dragged my books (Harry Potter!)everywhere we went and learned to keep myself occupied. When we finally went to Disney I was 9 years old and we waited in line 2 hours to see Mickey. We could have used the DAS line, we could have at that time even skipped the whole queue but I learned so much in those lines.
I have sympathy for people with disabilities that are self imposed through laziness (obesity) or overly protective parents that victimize their children.
On the other hand I have complete respect for parents with severely autistic/cebebral palsy etc children who are doing their best and using the trip to help these kids grow. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these are the majority at Disney.
(I also get many many requests each year to write "disability" letters for people's Disney trips...)

So you and your pals were talking about Fastpass and its return or not, the other daaaaaaay...

 

[Cabius]

::quickly changes subject back to OP::

Call me crazy, but the 50th anniversary would be a great time to just bring back the A-E ticket books.

Cut the cost of admission to $40, and make up the balance charging per ticket book. Let people buy more if they want to, but incentivize more atmosphere / live entertainment and a better balance of attractions.

This would make the experience much better and guests would hate it. (Especially APs, who really would be kinda screwed in this scenario depending on the pricing and duration of attraction tickets.)

 

[Karin1984]

::quickly changes subject back to OP::

Call me crazy, but the 50th anniversary would be a great time to just bring back the A-E ticket books.

Cut the cost of admission to $40, and make up the balance charging per ticket book. Let people buy more if they want to, but incentivize more atmosphere / live entertainment and a better balance of attractions.

This would make the experience much better and guests would hate it. (Especially APs, who really would be kinda screwed in this scenario depending on the pricing and duration of attraction tickets.)

Would you have to pay for the atmosphere and entertainment too, otherwise it will encourage people to just go in, bring some snacks and just enjoy their day there as if it was a park without much spending.

And what would the price per ride be?

 

[Cabius]

Would you have to pay for the atmosphere and entertainment too, otherwise it will encourage people to just go in, bring some snacks and just enjoy their day there as if it was a park without much spending.

And what would the price per ride be?

It would basically be a return to the pre-1980s version of the park, so yeah -- folks could absolutely go enjoy the atmosphere and spend far less. Others would end up paying more for extra tickets.

Obviously Disney doesn't want to reduce overall revenue, so I imagine admission ($40?) + a base ticket book ($75?) would combine to cost about the current admission price. It would be cheaper to buy tickets as a book than to buy individual tickets, but books include a mix of A- through E-tickets.

People who ride fewer rides would save money, and people who want to buy extra tickets would spend more. APs would really be the ones screwed in this system, since while the AP would be much cheaper we would have to spend on ride tickets every time. That's probably a good thing for the system overall, reducing demand for rides and thus lowering average wait times, but would still stink for us.

With everything included, supply and demand are priced in terms of how long guests are willing to stand in line, so lines are super long. With financial cost re-introduced to the picture you have another dimension that would reduce or re-balance demand for attractions.

The main thing is changing guests expectations of what a successful day at the park is -- from "I must ride everything!" to "I want to use my 8 tickets, especially my 2 E-tickets". If you can get the average guest going on 1-2 fewer attractions and spread demand out from E-ticket to B- and C-ticket rides and still feel like they got their money's worth then the overall guest experience would improve.

There's a reason Disney went away from this model -- guests like feeling like everything is included -- but Disney isn't exactly afraid of making us open our wallets constantly.

 

[Gordo Gato]

Any indication or idea when something is going to be announced? I’m having a hard time tracking all the rumors.

 

[Venelope21]

I’ve beginning to wonder if management intended to make an announcement regarding FastPass and was delayed or derailed by the recent COVID case increases in Florida. It wouldn’t behoove them to announce anything and then have to walk it back, even temporarily… I am now thinking once we start seeing a decline an announcement may follow.

 

[Mac30188]

I’ve beginning to wonder if management intended to make an announcement regarding FastPass and was delayed or derailed by the recent COVID case increases in Florida. It wouldn’t behoove them to announce anything and then have to walk it back, even temporarily… I am now thinking once we start seeing a decline an announcement may follow.

My guess is not directly, but indirectly it could be related. Honestly, that ship sailed when they increased the capacity in combination with the park reservation system. The Fastpass system is largely irrelevant compared to the number of people who now have a "confirmed" reservation to access to the parks. Many of these people have airline reservations and non-refundable or hotel penalties. This could be a problem for Disney. I doubt Disney will do anything without a political entity forcing their hand or at minimum giving them a justification for why they "had no choice but" to cancel anyone's Park Pass. I bet they are extremely focused and paranoid about what to do if they need to reduce/shut down as business priority one.

Therefore I doubt they are intentionally delaying Fastpass because of COVID, however it may be delayed because they have prioritized COVID risk mitigation over the work to get the system ready.

 

[Venelope21]

Therefore I doubt they are intentionally delaying Fastpass because of COVID, however it may be delayed because they have prioritized COVID risk mitigation over the work to get the system ready.

True. I was thinking more in terms of them needing to “utilize” those Fastpass lines for social distancing. Did that ever actually occur, that was the reason they suspended it right?

 

[Mac30188]

Any indication or idea when something is going to be announced? I’m having a hard time tracking all the rumors.

The latest credible rumors seems to indicate they believe something will be in place around the start of October or shortly thereafter. Take for grain of salt since just a rumor. We also don't know what system much less the rules and how much prep time they need. If it is day off reservation system, it could be announced very shortly before it is implemented. In short, it is likely something over the next couple months, but it could be tomorrow, in October, or anywhere in between. My guess was end of July. Shrug.

 

[bsmcneil]

Pretty rough/amateur - but feeling this mood so much today!

 

[bookgirl2632]

I doubt they will start any new Fast Pass system on October 1st. We all know the limits and capabilities of Disney IT. If htey launch that day and there is a snafu, they don’t want to be dealing with that on the anniversary. I definitely think it’ll either be in place prior to that date or not at all for a while.

 

[pigletto]

Any indication or idea when something is going to be announced? I’m having a hard time tracking all the rumors.

I don’t know when it will be announced but my overall experience has been that when the chatter heats up this much all over the internet , something is coming soon . And we’re hitting fever pitch .

 

[Marionnette]

I think TWDC can walk and chew gum at the same time. Different divisions handle health concerns at the parks vs other operational changes. I firmly believe that the only thing holding them back from rolling out a FP+ substitute is their technology. They could just bring back FP+ and alleviate the long extended queues by shifting some guests over to the FP line. But someone high up is so married to the idea of this new system that they would rather have guests bake in the hot sun all summer rather than do something about it.

 

[luv2cheer92]

True. I was thinking more in terms of them needing to “utilize” those Fastpass lines for social distancing. Did that ever actually occur, that was the reason they suspended it right?

The FP lines have been in use since the reopening. They haven't been used for distancing as they have still been active lines. The issue was that having people in the FP lines like normal would cause the standby lines to extend even further out into walkways than they already were. And while the FP lines have still been used, it is not a huge amount of people using them.

 

[Craig Larson]

Any indication or idea when something is going to be announced? I’m having a hard time tracking all the rumors.

Well, today is the quarterly investors meeting. So I would think if they are going to have anything for Oct 1 they might make some type of announcement (maybe not a full detailed plan) today. I would assume a paid FP option is something investors would be very happy to know about and when they intend to launch.

 

[onelove8187]

Well, today is the quarterly investors meeting. So I would think if they are going to have anything for Oct 1 they might make some type of announcement (maybe not a full detailed plan) today. I would assume a paid FP option is something investors would be very happy to know about and when they intend to launch.

Last earnings call before the 50th... we will certainly get some sort of information about something... could be interesting!