Max pass/ no magic bands at WDW

[Pennstate6411]

AK hours are extended until 8 and ROL is at 7:15 for the last couple nights of my trip, at least.

A guy takes a few weeks away from stalking everything Disney and things just go haywire. I now see that when we are there it is open until 8:00 PM now but I still see ROL at 6:30 for our dates

 

[TheMaxRebo]

And that's the huge disconnect. Disney says you can book up to 180 days in advance. People, especially on here, take it as if you don't get up that day you'll get nothing you want and be eating hot dogs all vacation. I'd be curious to know how many people set up their reservations 6 months in advance and never adjust them. I'd bet it's pretty low. I don't begrudge people getting culty favorite or high demand places like Cinderella's Table, Be Our Guest, or Victoria and Albert's 180 days out. If I want to eat at Alinea on a weekend I'd better plan in advance. Same for seeing Hamilton or a big name concert. But it's really unnecessary for most places. When they open, they open. It's ok if not everything set in stone 3 months out.

As for the hours, it is frustrating that those don't get solidified earlier. But I don't think it's that big of a problem for closing, it's when they open earlier that might be annoying. You lose that extra hour or so of sleep.

180 days really is longer than needed. We do all of ours then just as I am a hyper planner so have everything set and there are usually one or two hard to get ADRs in our plans so I might as well make all of them. I only rarely adjust plans - and that is often due to changing park hours (for example, last trip I had a PPO breakast booked - and then they changes the hours so the park was open earlier and thus my meal was no longer PPO so I cancelled it)

I know though for Disneyland I was frustrated in planning our first trip as they only set park hours (and thus some restaurants didn't take ADRs until that point) until about 5 weeks out from our trip, maybe a little less. That felt too short for me. Maybe do 60 days for ADRs and 30 days for FP+ and it would work

 

[Roxyfire]

180 days really is longer than needed. We do all of ours then just as I am a hyper planner so have everything set and there are usually one or two hard to get ADRs in our plans so I might as well make all of them. I only rarely adjust plans - and that is often due to changing park hours (for example, last trip I had a PPO breakast booked - and then they changes the hours so the park was open earlier and thus my meal was no longer PPO so I cancelled it)

I know though for Disneyland I was frustrated in planning our first trip as they only set park hours (and thus some restaurants didn't take ADRs until that point) until about 5 weeks out from our trip, maybe a little less. That felt too short for me. Maybe do 60 days for ADRs and 30 days for FP+ and it would work

That makes sense, and the PP who has a big family, that makes sense too. You basically have to do what's right for your family. If deciding at 180 days out isn't right, then by all means don't do it. I often grab 1 or 2 "really wants" and then fill in later. I think a lot of the dining frenzy comes from people who get the dining plan and must have something each day to use up those credits. It gets compounded when they aren't sure what they want to do so they book multiple things and drop them when it's a day or two out. Of course it's not 100% reliable but if you're looking to grab some food last minute, it's always a nice surprise.

 

[tlmadden73]

It's hard to be "fair" with any reservation system. Disney is in such high demand, it doesn't matter what the window is for reservations (ADRs, Fast Passes). If it is same day or 360 days out, there will always be a flood of people trying to make that reservation at the "zero" hour.

I wonder if WDW will do some sort of combo of the two systems. Keep the 60 day reservation system, but have some sort of pay system for a 4th "day of" Fast pass.
That may be too complex, but I think most of us realize Disney will find some way to monetize the Magic Bands and FP+ system.

My personal guess is we will see more "Early Morning Magic" breakfast events at the other parks to sell rides and breakfast. The existing event essentially sells you three Fast Passes on top of the price you'd pay for breakfast (as well as the perks of getting into an "empty" park).

I am shocked they haven't done one at AK yet for Pandora. Based on wait times for FOP, I would think an event to get you on that ride without the wait time would be a HUGE seller.
I could see a Toy Story Early Morning Magic and a Star Wars Early Morning Magic.
I could see one at Epcot too .. a Frozen Early Morning Magic - Test Track + Frozen + A&E M&G + breakfast.

 

[Roxyfire]

It's hard to be "fair" with any reservation system. Disney is in such high demand, it doesn't matter what the window is for reservations (ADRs, Fast Passes). If it is same day or 360 days out, there will always be a flood of people trying to make that reservation at the "zero" hour.

I wonder if WDW will do some sort of combo of the two systems. Keep the 60 day reservation system, but have some sort of pay system for a 4th "day of" Fast pass.
That may be too complex, but I think most of us realize Disney will find some way to monetize the Magic Bands and FP+ system.

My personal guess is we will see more "Early Morning Magic" breakfast events at the other parks to sell rides and breakfast. The existing event essentially sells you three Fast Passes on top of the price you'd pay for breakfast (as well as the perks of getting into an "empty" park).

I am shocked they haven't done one at AK yet for Pandora. Based on wait times for FOP, I would think an event to get you on that ride without the wait time would be a HUGE seller.
I could see a Toy Story Early Morning Magic and a Star Wars Early Morning Magic.
I could see one at Epcot too .. a Frozen Early Morning Magic - Test Track + Frozen + A&E M&G + breakfast.

Yeah I can see a market for all those flavors of EMM. The only way I can see them start charging for FP+ is to add a surcharge to get more than 3 FP+ per day. Something like $5 or $10 per person, activated when you go to book your 4th FP. The only problem is with the kiosks, they'd need a CM there or some way to pay the charge. Let me be clear, I would not be a fan of this at all, but I could see that as a way to monetize the system. The biggest downside, other than the public backlash is that it would be a total gamble, especially for the busiest days. Imagine someone paying $10 pp on Thanksgiving day only to find the options are kiddie rides. That would cause some serious buyer's remorse and some big-time guest services complaints.

 

[tlmadden73]

Yeah I can see a market for all those flavors of EMM. The only way I can see them start charging for FP+ is to add a surcharge to get more than 3 FP+ per day. Something like $5 or $10 per person, activated when you go to book your 4th FP. The only problem is with the kiosks, they'd need a CM there or some way to pay the charge. Let me be clear, I would not be a fan of this at all, but I could see that as a way to monetize the system. The biggest downside, other than the public backlash is that it would be a total gamble, especially for the busiest days. Imagine someone paying $10 pp on Thanksgiving day only to find the options are kiddie rides. That would cause some serious buyer's remorse and some big-time guest services complaints.

I could see that, but like you said there could be some backlash.

I've also speculated that another way to "monetize" Fast Passes is basically give resort guests a 4th fast pass. (Just add a 4th FP that you can only use DAY (basically schedule it as you walk into the park). I bet that would be a key factor in a family deciding to stay on or off site.

 

[Scalemaster34]

I agree they need to give Resort Guest more of an incentive.... Right now really thinking about saving $400+ and moving our PC reservation to Wyndham Grand Orlando that is just behind PC.

Only thing keeping me a PC is transportation to MK.... I usually avoid the Extra Magic parks anyway, so really transportation is the main draw. An extra FP would stop me thinking about it. But that said, why would Disney care, if I canceled my Dec reservation... someone else would book that room within a day.

Biggest complaint I hear for "people" is they didn't know how complicated a Disney vacation is. You can't just show up and expect to be able to ride attractions in a timely manner without a FP, nor can you eat just where ever you might want.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I agree with the comments that it might be for a rolling 4th FP. They could make some serious money there.

I can't see them getting rid of the 3 pre-booked FPs now, at least for onsite guests.

 

[Roxyfire]

I agree they need to give Resort Guest more of an incentive.... Right now really thinking about saving $400+ and moving our PC reservation to Wyndham Grand Orlando that is just behind PC.

Only thing keeping me a PC is transportation to MK.... I usually avoid the Extra Magic parks anyway, so really transportation is the main draw. An extra FP would stop me thinking about it. But that said, why would Disney care, if I canceled my Dec reservation... someone else would book that room within a day.

Biggest complaint I hear for "people" is they didn't know how complicated a Disney vacation is. You can't just show up and expect to be able to ride attractions in a timely manner without a FP, nor can you eat just where ever you might want.

Very true. The only incentive they really have going is the prebooking, EMH, and convenience of everything being through Disney (transport, tickets, etc) when you get a package. Many experienced and repeat visitors may see less and less value in that over time. Plenty of others are not opposed to waiting in lines either.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Just because the bands won't work for Land because for their visitors it's mostly day trips doesn't mean the end for them in world

 

[bdiddy]

We were in DL a week after Maxpass went into affect and absolutely loved it!

My ideal system would be the Maxpass system but be able to scan a magic band instead of your phone but otherwise I loved everything else about how Maxpass worked way better than WDW's system.

 

[STLstone]

We were in DL a week after Maxpass went into affect and absolutely loved it!

My ideal system would be the Maxpass system but be able to scan a magic band instead of your phone but otherwise I loved everything else about how Maxpass worked way better than WDW's system.

If you can add "it doesn't cost $10 per person/per" day to that, I'm on board, too.

 

[Moliphino]

I don't want to go back to having to rope drop to be able to get good fastpasses and I certainly don't want to start paying for them. Sure it would save you from having to run to the attraction, but that's not nearly enough upside.
I've been to parks with old-style fastpasses since getting used to Fastpass+. It sucked.

 

[adam.adbe]

Just because the bands won't work for Land because for their visitors it's mostly day trips doesn't mean the end for them in world

This is key.

In WDW Disney are more than happy to reward people for spending the morning in their resort, and rolling into the parks when they're ready, because they can make money on that. DL has much less opportunity to monetize guests who aren't inside the turnstiles, so allowing fast-passes to work as a way of getting people into the parks early is a benefit to them.

Different market, different product, different expectations.

 

[skier_pete]

First off, coming from a first line CM its a meaningless rumor.

Second - dear god I hope they don't start charging for FPs at WDW.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

I really think if Disney was going to pitch this program it would have happened in the first 3-4 months of "testing" when glitches were more common than not and the price of MDE as a whole began to go WAY beyond early estimates.

 

[STLstone]

I really think if Disney was going to pitch this program it would have happened in the first 3-4 months of "testing" when glitches were more common than not and the price of MDE as a whole began to go WAY beyond early estimates.

They may not have thought of it before. But now they have figured out that people will pay to use the app for Fast Passes in California, so maybe somebody that counts the profits might start to ask why they give it away for free in Florida...

 

[Moliphino]

They may not have thought of it before. But now they have figured out that people will pay to use the app for Fast Passes in California, so maybe somebody that counts the profits might start to ask why they give it away for free in Florida...

If they tried to start charging $10/person/day at WDW now I think there would be riots.

 

[wnwardii]

Don't forget that at the DL resort, you don't have to use Max Pass or pay for it. The paper FP are still available at the ride kiosks. You are not required to purchase the Max Pass in order to get your FP. You are just basically paying for the convenience of not having to go to the kiosks.

And considering that you already getting a rolling "4th" FP at WDW, it would be extremely challenging to implement some other "pay as you go" FP program at WDW without totally changing things (which Disney could do).

 

[jknezek]

Here's a funny story about the FP+ system. I've got a college fraternity brother, very smart, talented programmer type, went to work for a very well-known tech consulting company, moved up the ladder very fast. After a couple of years, he got real quiet about his work and started telling people he had signed a bunch of NDAs and couldn't talk about what he was doing. We all assumed it was government related, but it dragged on for years. Probably 3 or 4 years at least. He was miserable. Whenever we could get him to talk he muttered about antiquated systems and horrible integration and impossible ideas. Finally one day in early fall 2013 he was done. Never seen the guy so happy. A few months later the NDAs ended and he could finally talk about what he was working on, if not give a whole lot of details. You guessed it, he was a lead outside manager for the FP+ creation and installation and what later became MDE.

Still claims it was the most miserable project he's ever worked on, and he does a lot of government work. Apparently Disney wanted all kinds of legacy systems to work with the FP+, and my friend's firm kept telling them it would be cheaper, faster, and easier, just to rebuild all the systems they wanted connected and leave open ways to connect future systems. Disney never would agree, whether that's because they didn't believe the contractors or just didn't want to, so the whole infrastructure surrounding FP+, Magic Bands, and MDE, and how it all interacts with payment systems, reservations, pretty much everything, is all band aids and tape bridging disparate systems, programming languages, and vendors.

Whenever someone wonders why Disney doesn't do something with a Magic Band that seems simple and makes perfect sense, like adding AP discounts to mobile ordering, it's probably because none of this stuff was designed to work together and everything needs a custom bridge built to support it.