Here it is - Announcement re More FP+ Beginning 4/28

[nilla]

Lots of speculation in this thread about Disney potentially having different times available, etc. for people staying in the Deluxe resorts as opposed to the Moderates or Values.

To which I ask, "what part of this whole FastPass+ experience leads you to believe they're capable of pulling off something this sophisticated right now?"

 

[clsteve]

I get your point now. Thanks.

I would just add that if staying onsite gets you a better deal with FP+, you'll hear it from Disney first. You won't have to slink about message boards looking for secrets.

Agreed.

I wonder if this is another test to see what they can do and what works before announcing it as an added benefit to the intended recipients

In the very beginning of all of this I was definitely leaning towards the additional FP's to help with the flat-to-declining occ rate. It still may eventually happen, of course. I'm sure they have that "faucet" available to them to turn on at some point (they'd be very silly not to have programmed it in as an option).

Right now, they have 2 main things they have to measure for effectiveness as it relates to guest spend and on-site ressies: 60 day advanced booking and time in or out of the Parks. Until they get a few fiscal quarters of data on these, no reason to do anything else or you don't know which of the many options are most effective and by how much.

Using FP's to increase time-in-Park for off-site is an easy one to do and measure. Disney has decades of data that equates an avg-spend-rate-per-guest/time-in-Park. And I doubt they would see it as that underhanded. In return for booking your 3 favorite rides (now with a chance at additional after you use the 1st 3) we get an extra couple of hours of your time.

Same for on-site: get your 3 faves done in the morning (or afternoon) so you can go have fun doing other things! (with us, for a price).

If this doesn't start to tick that guest spend number up after a few quarters, turn on another faucet and measure how effective it is.

 

[jade1]

Lots of speculation in this thread about Disney potentially having different times available, etc. for people staying in the Deluxe resorts as opposed to the Moderates or Values.

To which I ask, "what part of this whole FastPass+ experience leads you to believe they're capable of pulling off something this sophisticated right now?"

I can give you 2 billion reasons.

 

[buggy2727]

Wait you can see the available FP times with the Lines app? Where is that? I have the app but didn't know I could see that.

 

[OtherScott]

In the very beginning of all of this I was definitely leaning towards the additional FP's to help with the flat-to-declining occ rate. It still may eventually happen, of course. I'm sure they have that "faucet" available to them to turn on at some point (they'd be very silly not to have programmed it in as an option).

Right now, they have 2 main things they have to measure for effectiveness as it relates to guest spend and on-site ressies: 60 day advanced booking and time in or out of the Parks. Until they get a few fiscal quarters of data on these, no reason to do anything else or you don't know which of the many options are most effective and by how much.

Using FP's to increase time-in-Park for off-site is an easy one to do and measure. Disney has decades of data that equates an avg-spend-rate-per-guest/time-in-Park. And I doubt they would see it as that underhanded. In return for booking your 3 favorite rides (now with a chance at additional after you use the 1st 3) we get an extra couple of hours of your time.

Same for on-site: get your 3 faves done in the morning (or afternoon) so you can go have fun doing other things! (with us, for a price).

If this doesn't start to tick that guest spend number up after a few quarters, turn on another faucet and measure how effective it is.

And this brings analysis down to the micro level. One system to tell Disney everything about clsteve.

 

[magicbob]

Lots of speculation in this thread about Disney potentially having different times available, etc. for people staying in the Deluxe resorts as opposed to the Moderates or Values.

To which I ask, "what part of this whole FastPass+ experience leads you to believe they're capable of pulling off something this sophisticated right now?"

Good point. The conspiracy theories fall apart when you consider that Disney IT's track record is akin to the "cone of silence" from Get Smart.

The discussion (which is only about 50% serious) about "secret" perks for Deluxe guests reminds me of an old Eddie Murphy skit on SNL where he does an undercover expose' and discovers parties on city buses, etc.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Yes, I know. I didn't think the PP knew and I just wanted to work with what he gave me:

"Now you won't know until you wait in line at the Kiosk."

Figured "Lines" (which I subscribe to) and MDE might be a bridge too far

Except his statement is correct..under fp+, now, at this moment, you do *have* to go to an in park kiosk to see what fp+ time are available. It may not be that way long term, but it is right now. Under legacy fp, that wasn't the case. You could use lines or mousewait or other phone apps to get that information.

 

[elaw]

Report from Epcot:

"Mickey Adventures is here today testing out the new ability to select another FastPass after using your 3 that were scheduled. We scheduled all 3 for morning, and finished the 3rd around 11:30. We headed straight to a kiosk (you can't use the app for this unfortunately). The good news is that we were able to get a FastPass for Test Track! The bad news is that we couldn't get it until 5:20 since it's a somewhat crowded day. And there was nothing available for Soarin. Stay tuned to see if we can get another one after!"

https://www.facebook.com/mickeyadventures/posts/783216488357429?fref=nf

Report from DHS:
After using our 3 FP's this morning. (ST, TOT, TSMM) we booked RR with a CM (you can't book additional Fp's with the app). Unfortunately, the only available time showing from the CM was 3 1/2 hours later. We took the FP and then used the MDE app to change the time and after a little fiddling, got the pass time down to only 45 minutes from the present time instead of having to wait 3 1/2 hours to use it.

 

[AndreaA]

I can give you 2 billion reasons.

Reasons for them to try or ability to actually do it? If you actually think they have a billion ways to accomplish extra FP+ stuff, then let's see you name one.

So far I haven't seen much to give confidence that they can even manage a completely equitable distribution of FP+ (ie first come, first served, regardless of who you are, what you've spent or where you're staying), so the idea that they would currently risk doing something trickier seems unlikely at best.

Of course WDW hasn't impressed me with the common sense method of holding off until IT can actually handle things, so who knows?

 

[OtherScott]

Except his statement is correct..under fp+, now, at this moment, you do *have* to go to an in park kiosk to see what fp+ time are available. It may not be that way long term, but it is right now. Under legacy fp, that wasn't the case. You could use lines or mousewait or other phone apps to get that information.

Apologies to PP .

 

[jade1]

Reasons for them to try or ability to actually do it? If you actually think they have a billion ways to accomplish extra FP+ stuff, then let's see you name one.

So far I haven't seen much to give confidence that they can even manage a completely equitable distribution of FP+ (ie first come, first served, regardless of who you are, what you've spent or where you're staying), so the idea that they would currently risk doing something trickier seems unlikely at best.

Of course WDW hasn't impressed me with the common sense method of holding off until IT can actually handle things, so who knows?

Kinda meant with dollar amount they should be able to do it.

 

[magicbob]

I can give you 2 billion reasons.

Reasons for them to try or ability to actually do it? If you actually think they have a billion ways to accomplish extra FP+ stuff, then let's see you name one.

Would you believe ONE billion?

So far I haven't seen much to give confidence that they can even manage a completely equitable distribution of FP+ (ie first come, first served, regardless of who you are, what you've spent or where you're staying), so the idea that they would currently risk doing something trickier seems unlikely at best.

Would you believe one THOUSAND?

Of course WDW hasn't impressed me with the common sense method of holding off until IT can actually handle things, so who knows?

Would you believe $3.50 in loose change and a coupon for 1/2 off a Mickey Bar?

 

[hemmie]

Report from DHS:
After using our 3 FP's this morning. (ST, TOT, TSMM) we booked RR with a CM (you can't book additional Fp's with the app). Unfortunately, the only available time showing from the CM was 3 1/2 hours later. We took the FP and then used the MDE app to change the time and after a little fiddling, got the pass time down to only 45 minutes from the present time instead of having to wait 3 1/2 hours to use it.

Interesting. How did you book with a CM rather than a kiosk? And if you book at a kiosk, does it connect with your MDE account so you can adjust the time through the app? That would be better (although of course not as easy as doing the whole thing through the app).

 

[jade1]

Except his statement is correct..under fp+, now, at this moment, you do *have* to go to an in park kiosk to see what fp+ time are available. It may not be that way long term, but it is right now. Under legacy fp, that wasn't the case. You could use lines or mousewait or other phone apps to get that information.

Yep true-but you did have to walk over to the selected attraction to get the FP-now you don't.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Report from DHS:
After using our 3 FP's this morning. (ST, TOT, TSMM) we booked RR with a CM (you can't book additional Fp's with the app). Unfortunately, the only available time showing from the CM was 3 1/2 hours later. We took the FP and then used the MDE app to change the time and after a little fiddling, got the pass time down to only 45 minutes from the present time instead of having to wait 3 1/2 hours to use it.

Wow! Wonder if this would work to to change experience too. I admit I didn't read the article. I wonder if they had to split the group up and stagger return times. Something I'm guessing the CMs at the kiosks aren't doing. which I totally understand.....that would really increase the wait time at the kiosk.

 

[buggy2727]

The discussion (which is only about 50% serious) about "secret" perks for Deluxe guests reminds me of an old Eddie Murphy skit on SNL where he does an undercover expose' and discovers parties on city buses, etc.

OMG this was just on this weekend, where he goes undercover as a white man???!!! I was hysterical!

 

[clsteve]

Good point. The conspiracy theories fall apart when you consider that Disney IT's track record is akin to the "cone of silence" from Get Smart.

The discussion (which is only about 50% serious) about "secret" perks for Deluxe guests reminds me of an old Eddie Murphy skit on SNL where he does an undercover expose' and discovers parties on city buses, etc.

Hah!

Disney IT does have a wonderful rep now, doesn't it!

But Disney IT didn't do this part of the system: the DataWarehouse and Business Rules around FP+. They may well have done many other things around MM+, but there are only 4 or 5 companies in the world (all integrators) who can pull of what we are talking about and Disney is definitely not one of them. It is a very specific skill set and an incredibly complex process (hence the huge cost) and those people do not work for any internal IT company. They work for the big guns where the big money is.

That was contracted (with business req's provided by Disney, of course). There's no other way it could happen.

 

[Jennasis]

Report from DHS:
After using our 3 FP's this morning. (ST, TOT, TSMM) we booked RR with a CM (you can't book additional Fp's with the app). Unfortunately, the only available time showing from the CM was 3 1/2 hours later. We took the FP and then used the MDE app to change the time and after a little fiddling, got the pass time down to only 45 minutes from the present time instead of having to wait 3 1/2 hours to use it.

WAIT...So you have to use the app to select your subsequent 4/5/6th FP+, but once selected you can manage it IN the app?? So you could then change it around to whatever is available??

 

[PEC]

Report from DHS:
After using our 3 FP's this morning. (ST, TOT, TSMM) we booked RR with a CM (you can't book additional Fp's with the app). Unfortunately, the only available time showing from the CM was 3 1/2 hours later. We took the FP and then used the MDE app to change the time and after a little fiddling, got the pass time down to only 45 minutes from the present time instead of having to wait 3 1/2 hours to use it.

So that is at least the second report I have seen on here of inviduals getting a top tier 4th FP+. Granted not great return times but still at least on what should be a relatively slow day, you are not completely stuck with options that do not require a FP+ anyway.

 

[elaw]

Interesting. How did you book with a CM rather than a kiosk? And if you book at a kiosk, does it connect with your MDE account so you can adjust the time through the app? That would be better (although of course not as easy as doing the whole thing through the app).

Over in the old TOT FP distribution area, there are about a dozen CM's with iPads that scan your magic bands and make your FP reservation for you. Because they scan your magic band it's all connected.