More updated Fastpass+ information

[UNCFanatik]

You seriously need to get over the late fastpass thing. That conversation is so 2012. Heck, maybe even 2011.

I'm pretty sure anyone with a ticket can get into a Disney park. And the park schedules are available to all. Nobody is hiding the opening time or holding anyone back at the turnstiles (except EMH, and that's a different story).

Just adding onto your analogy and showing the source of your angst.

It is ironic for you to tell me to "get over it" when you constantly gripe in every FP+ thread how horrible this new system will be.

You cant seem to get over the fact that the previously uneven playing field is being leveled not to favor you.

 

[Tekneek]

So a rational parent said "well lets simply keep a piece of cake for each kid that's coming to the party", duh why didn't we think of this before?

And you guessed it-the other collective feet began to stomp.

But some of the other kids never show up and the saved cake ends up going unused.

 

[Brian Noble]

Ah, that's why there are a bunch of kids outside the party in the Standby Line.

 

[Rosanne]

But some of the other kids never show up and the saved cake ends up going unused.

Thanks a lot everyone. Now I have been drawn to my refrigerator to get out a slice of Pepperidge Farms Chocolate Fudge 3-Layer Cake I don't like ice cream though so I'll save that for my DDs.

 

[mom2rtk]

So a rational parent said "well lets simply keep a piece of cake for each kid that's coming to the party", duh why didn't we think of this before?

And you guessed it-the other collective feet began to stomp.

Then perhaps after putting aside an extra piece for the missing kids, there was some cake left. But the parent still would not let the other kids have seconds. Just because.

The bottom line is that allowing one FP per ride is a big takeaway. It's a big change. Maybe I'll be the only one who cares. Either I'll find a way to adapt and keep going. Or I won't.

 

[Tekneek]

Ah, that's why there are a bunch of kids outside the party in the Standby Line.

I like it!

 

[mom2rtk]

You know, my son turned 18 this weekend. And there is still cake sitting in the other room.

Would anyone be surprised if I went in and had a piece? Or two?

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks a lot everyone. Now I have been drawn to my refrigerator to get out a slice of Pepperidge Farms Chocolate Fudge 3-Layer Cake I don't like ice cream though so I'll save that for my DDs.

LOL, I'm glad I won't be eating alone!

But is yours fat-free and calorie-free like mine?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Because "good intentions" won't create a higher number of maximum riders per hour on a popular attraction.

But that assumes that enough people who are motivated to schedule their three fast passes per day, limited to one per ride, would use up all the fast passes days ahead of time. I speculate that the volume of options divided by the number of motivated guests would yield the desirable effect of having fast passes available for the guests that show up at rope drop. Disney could always "sell out" the plus passes like they do for the restaurant reservations, thereby always guaranteeing a pool of regular fast passes every day. And maybe that is already their plan.

The problem many of us have is that they may decide (like a lot of companies) that their first "drawing board sessions" are
enough and we all will have to live with the outcome, at least for a very long time.

Marketing 101 - Don't alienate your target market, in other words, if you anger your customers they won't come back. Monopolies, and the government, can tell you that you have to live with the outcome. But for profit groups don't usually operate under that principal.

 

[Turn the Page]

I'm trying to follow this, but are you saying that not everybody knew about FastPass (ice cream)? It is on the maps and always has been. If I'm following correctly, then maybe ice cream was mentioned on the second page of the invite but not everyone bothered to read it all the way through.

You weren't responding to my comment but yes, that is what it means. Fastpasses are not hidden from guests but we have all read stories on here where people in stand by lines had never heard of fastpasses, thought there was a separate charge for them, didn't know how they worked, etc. Like you pointed out, the necessary information has been on the park maps, that everybody gets, as well as on god knows how many signs and other informational media throughout the resort and internet but a lot of people still don't get it. At that point, I feel it's no ones fault but their own.

Bottom line, people just don't like to read. I work at a public archaeological site in the summer. We are available to talk to people throughout the day but we also have a big dry erase board where we write a short paragraph about what we are doing, what the site was, and some of the more exciting things we have found as of late. It is absolutely shocking to see the number of people that will stare at the sign for a couple of minutes (it's a very short paragraph. We're talking maybe 6 sentences tops.) then look at us and say "what are you doing here?" Really man? You just stared at the sign for two minutes. Point being you can literally shove the information in front of peoples faces but they don't bother to avail themselves of it. You have to take them by the hand and physically show them what the deal is or they don't get it.

 

[Rosanne]

LOL, I'm glad I won't be eating alone!

But is yours fat-free and calorie-free like mine?

Nope. Mine is loaded with fat, calories and .... flavor! I really am eating it. Darn power of suggestion.

 

[bcrook]

No one knows for sure how long the current FP system will remain in place once FP+ is rolled out. There's one thing that people need to keep in mind. I've seen plenty people on other threads say they'll opt out of FP+ and stick with regular FP while it's still in place. But I have a feeling Disney is going to make the regular FP system feel pretty difficult to use. For FP+ to catch on and become the popular system Disney is banking on, most of the attractions' FP allotment will likely go to FP+ with a much smaller pool going to the regular FP. Disney wants everyone to convert to FP+ (and everyone will have to eventually), and the only way to get more people to convert is to make the leftover FP system a less-desirable option.

I think this is good advice and explained well.

 

[Turn the Page]

Nope. Mine is loaded with fat, calories and .... flavor! I really am eating it. Darn power of suggestion.

I don't have any cake but I did just start inhaling a sleeve of Thin Mints. Can I play too?

 

[mom2rtk]

Marketing 101 - Don't alienate your target market, in other words, if you anger your customers they won't come back. Monopolies, and the government, can tell you that you have to live with the outcome. But for profit groups don't usually operate under that principal.

So I guess the question here is...... Does Disney hold the monopoly on Magic? I know they don't hold the monopoly on fun travel destinations, but do they have something so unique they can alienate a big chunk of their visitors and keep them coming back?

 

[bauer1168]

This is how I feel.

It appears to me that some of the concern about the 3 FP+ per day plan seems to be that all the good fast passes will be taken up by the plus users and there won’t be any left for guests who choose to use the current fast pass system. What if Disney has taken that into account with their data crunching and have determined that both the plus and the current fast pass program can run concurrently and provide more people with a positive experience. That could be why they changed from a test plan with 4FP+’s per day to the proposed 3FP+ per day.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s divide park guests into two groups:

1. The limited guest – this is the guest who is limited by wants or needs, i.e. they don’t want to stand in a line for Space Mountain for two hours or they have young kids who need a nap or to go to bed early, for example

2. The unlimited guest – they can make rope drop, can split up for the mad dash to get fast passes, can ride everything they want, twice, by 11am because they know how to work the parks, can participate in EMR’s, and are able to stay all day in the parks, if need be, to get the best use out of their fast passes

Right now WDW has many features in place for the unlimited guest. The fast passes, early and late hours, parades and fireworks and shows that get the crowds away from the rides. All of these features help to disperse the crowds throughout the parks. So what about the limited guests who would like to be able to ride TSM in the afternoon without having the whole family show up at rope drop? Maybe they are from the west coast and rope drop is just too early for them. Or the limited family who would love to see Enchanted Tales with Belle, but their three and five year olds, along with grumpy grandpa, don’t want to stand in a long line.

It appears as if the FP+ system is planning to improve the park experience for the limited guest. This new system could work very nicely for those guests. The limited guest might be a rather large percentage of the daily park crowd. And trying to improve their experience would be a big Win-Win for both Disney and the limited guests.

I agree they're trying to reach a happy medium for both kinds of guests as you have described.
A concern of mine is that if some guests haven't got a clue how to get a FP or, how it works and that it is free, this whole new experience could overwhelm them. I'm sure Disney will market/advertise this well, like they have with regular FP, but some guests will remain clueless and will be most likely reporting back to surveys with the same feedback as the one posted about guests' 'terrifying experience'.
If there is going to be an 'x amount of days' you can pre book in advance, will the people who like to sleep in be able to get up and be ready to get their desired times? Some will, some won't.

If FP remains operational when FP+ rolls out fully, even if for a short period, would there be anything to stop a family using FP+ to pre book evening times for attractions at DHS, and buy 1 day non park hopper tickets that they could use at RD for DHS to use regular FP?
If the family were staying at say, Beach Club, this could easily be done.
Can Disney prevent that at all? If the 1 day ticket was paid with the same credit card used to buy the RFID tickets/magic bands/package, is it possible the sale couldn't be made to that family?

 

[mom2rtk]

Nope. Mine is loaded with fat, calories and .... flavor! I really am eating it. Darn power of suggestion.

Man, wanna trade cakes?

 

[Brian Noble]

Marketing 101 - Don't alienate your target market, in other words, if you anger your customers they won't come back.

This is true.

But, plenty of evidence exists that selling expedited access to theme park attractions doesn't anger customers to the point that they won't come back. Many many other parks have been doing it for years.

Edited to add: I'm sure that a few might not come back, but evidently the lost revenue from those guests is outweighed by the gains from those who buy in, assuming these operators are competent at running their businesses.

 

[jade1]

But some of the other kids never show up and the saved cake ends up going unused.

Ah, that's why there are a bunch of kids outside the party in the Standby Line.

 

[Rosanne]

I don't have any cake but I did just start inhaling a sleeve of Thin Mints. Can I play too?

Oh, great. Now mention cookies. I stocked up on an assortment of Little Debbies. Must resist Must resist.

 

[UNCFanatik]

You weren't responding to my comment but yes, that is what it means. Fastpasses are not hidden from guests but we have all read stories on here where people in stand by lines had never heard of fastpasses, thought there was a separate charge for them, didn't know how they worked, etc. Like you pointed out, the necessary information has been on the park maps, that everybody gets, as well as on god knows how many signs and other informational media throughout the resort and internet but a lot of people still don't get it. At that point, I feel it's no ones fault but their own.

Bottom line, people just don't like to read. I work at a public archaeological site in the summer. We are available to talk to people throughout the day but we also have a big dry erase board where we write a short paragraph about what we are doing, what the site was, and some of the more exciting things we have found as of late. It is absolutely shocking to see the number of people that will stare at the sign for a couple of minutes (it's a very short paragraph. We're talking maybe 6 sentences tops.) then look at us and say "what are you doing here?" Really man? You just stared at the sign for two minutes. Point being you can literally shove the information in front of peoples faces but they don't bother to avail themselves of it. You have to take them by the hand and physically show them what the deal is or they don't get it.

I agree with you but that wasnt my point. My point was that everyone wasnt operating with the same knowledge base about the usage of FPs and that is why you see people now bristle at the idea of any attempt Disney makes to level the playing field.