NextGen/xPass Making the News Again

[stimmons]

....and then Atlas Shrugged

Who is John Galt?


You will find me in the Standby line if there is xPass and FP. It will be empty!

 

[Robo]

You will find me in the Standby line if there is xPass and FP. It will be empty!

That's because those who got there before you gave up and left...
due the line not moving an inch.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Why not? Instead of putting the shops at the end of the rides why not put them at the beginning and have each person take a number (like at the deli)?

You shop for 10-15 minutes then your number is called and you immediately get on the ride????

Isn't that what they are doing with the new queue-less dumbo? You show up, you get a "color" and then you wait around for your "color" to be called. In the meantime there will be interactive entertainment, but you better believe there will also be merchandise for sale

The only way Disney could do better with capitalizing on a captive audience is if they had someone going up and down the standby lines selling mickey bars and glow swords.

 

[Q-man]

My sister's ex-DH would love the NextGen/xPass. When they went to WDW he had everything planned out, everything. He had a detailed schedule for each day - order of rides, meal times, parades, etc. It was uber commando style.

My sister on the other hand hated the lack of spontaneity. She would want to stop and look in a gift shop, grab a snack, snap a photo, interact with a character or something and he would say no. Reason being, it would throw off the schedule.

So obviously it's not going to be for everybody. I don't think it would be for our family, especially given the limited info made available at this point in time. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

This was my point earlier in this thread. The people willing to plan everything out are already the ones there at rope drop with a detailed touring plan, including ADRs made 180 days ago, and running for fast passes. It is going to take a whole lot of educating the masses for this to make much of a difference for the majority of park goers.

Not trying to say or imply that the small portion of the park goers that are on the forums won't notice or be affected by any changes. But, this all could very well be about managing us.

 

[iheartmickey1111]

I just hope if they do this that it doesn't become mandatory to plan your rides months in advance if you want a decent wait time. I love planning, but the thought of planning out every tiny thing disgusts me! The only thing I would be willing to plan more in advance would be character greetings. But as far as rides, nope...I won't go that far. And think of how many people show up to WDW as it is without any prior planning! There will be so many people that won't even know about it! Overall, I think it's pretty stupid and they should focus their efforts on improving their existing FP system instead of creating a new one that will be full of kinks to get worked out.

 

[wishinon3stars]

Question for all of you in the know: A while back there were pictures posted of the boxes being put at the entrance to some rides, have they been opened yet? Or does anyone know what's in them?

I haven't read about them recently and was just wondering.

 

[larryz]

They can make a wrist band with all this importand data but, not a band for a kids height???????????????

Too easy to swap wristbands with a non-rider...

Think about this. As I figure it, they currently have capacity for about 120,000 guests staying on property, including day rooms and DVC units (average occupancy 4 per room). Right now, the only substantial perks associated with doing that -- besides transportation to and from the airport -- are EMH and the "total immersion in the Magic."

Every year for the past several, WDW has had to offer discounts or free dining to fill rooms -- to get people to stay on property. What better way to entice those on the fence to stay in a WDW resort than the opportunity to have expedited access to the rides? It's not rocket science -- USF and Loew's broke that code years ago.

With the new units coming on line in the next year or two, WDW will have to make the resort experience more special, and NeXPass is certainly one method of doing so -- advance ride reservations, room access, dining, charging, and differentiated guest experiences all tied to the RFID wristband. And I wholeheartedly agree with all the posters who say Disney isn't doing this to make the guest experience better, no matter how they spin it -- it's to make more money off the resorts by keeping them more full without having to cut revenue by discounting rooms and/or giving away food.

I'd expect, as I've speculated before, that there will be tiers of NeXPass benefits tied to the resort level you're willing to pay for. All WDW resort guests likely will get "free" access to NeXPass; the amount of perks tied to that will depend on the level of resort you're paying for and/or the add-on fee you're willing to part with.

They could even differentiate among the various DVC resort owners as well -- the more points you own, the greater the benefits/lower the add-on fees. But, and it's a big one, they don't really need to do that -- they already have DVC owners' lodging money, and will get the ticket/food/souvenir/resort activity money anyway, sooner or later.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

^ I agree.

 

[mesaboy2]

Question for all of you in the know: A while back there were pictures posted of the boxes being put at the entrance to some rides, have they been opened yet? Or does anyone know what's in them?

I haven't read about them recently and was just wondering.

The boxes and their contents disappeared a week or two later, with no apparent changes.

 

[hookedonears]

Just found this article discussing NextGen and xPass. Mostly familiar sources repeating familiar theories, but the words "free service" stood out to me. Take it as you will.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/04/18/whole-new-world-for-whole-new-disney/?intcmp=features

I have no doubt that Disney is planning something, but they're always planning something. There are many, many ideas for new attractions and such that have 100’s of man hours put in to them, many to the point of going into final production, though somehow never make the final cut and are put on the shelf. It’s an intriguing idea though.

 

[larryz]

The boxes and their contents disappeared a week or two later, with no apparent changes.

Perhaps they covered the cuts in the concrete in which they embedded RFID sensors...?

 

[mesaboy2]

Perhaps they covered the cuts in the concrete in which they embedded RFID sensors...?

That thought crossed my mind too when I saw photos on a blog of cuts in concrete in the HM queue. See here: http://thedisneyblog.com/2012/04/19/magic-kingdom-update-new-fantasyland-and-more/#more-16728

 

[barney44]

Looks like the Dis Boards rumors have come to reality. Check out this 2012 thread talking about what we now call Fast Plus +.

I wonder what other rumors will come to life in 2016.

 

[doconeill]

Looks like the Dis Boards rumors have come to reality. Check out this 2012 thread talking about what we now call Fast Plus +.

I wonder what other rumors will come to life in 2016.

Not sure which article you may have been trying to post...but we've been discussing a next generation Fastpass since before 2012...

 

[siskaren]

Not sure which article you may have been trying to post...but we've been discussing a next generation Fastpass since before 2012...

I assume he's referencing this thread.

 

[barney44]

This original post was quite spot on.

I assume he's referencing this thread.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

This original post was quite spot on.

~LOL. Today must be resurrect old threads day! You must miss the good old days -- but you could have picked some funny ones.

~ETA: I can see why you are bumping old threads now.

~Unsubscribed.... thread has suddenly gotten dumber and going increasingly downhill by the second.

 

[Shaden]

This thread is amazing !!!

Well Played Mesa et al.

 

[Shaden]

Just thought it would be fun to reflect on the fact these debates have been going a while, and some people here were correct from the start, and how terribly Disney has addressed concerns seen like ... a year and a half ago !?!!?

Will it make the rides as difficult to do as trying to get seating at a sit-down restaurant?

Already making comparisons to ADRs and worried about capacity to be able to get the FP+s you want !!!

What many think of as being able to "pre-plan your FP's" will likely not happen in such a way as to be very satisfactory to most guests... even "planners."

Why?
Just imagine how many FP's could even be made available during any given day for a popular attraction (think, Toy Story Mania or Soarin') that all of the guests who want that FP on their day at that park (and not during their dinner, or being at another show or attraction, or timed too early or too late in the day) to even be able to get an "advance FP" for that attraction.

There are simply not enough "FP seats" available to make everyone happy on almost any given day.

I see this as a potential nightmare.

,

Look Robo was already talking about Capacity !!! And predicted what many people are reporting, not happy with 3 FP+s

I was thinking we may see the re-introduction of e-ticket style classifications. The rides would be divided into categories based on popularity and each person would get a specific amount of "tickets" to reserve rides in each category.

Dang Someone nailed that they were reintroducing Tiers !!!!

NextGen is the New Coke of Disney.

Is this the first comparison of FP+ to New Coke !?!!? Jennasis ftw !

How exactly will WDW accommodate those that don't have iPads or smartphones?

And yup, it was already being asked, its ok, just stand in the "kiosk" line for 45 mins to start your day !!!

I'm sure it will only be a free service for those staying onsite. Which is a near financial impossibility for our family.

Already speculation on treating the off-site guests like the redheaded step children they are !!! (This one still isn't fully resolved)

I had a long convo with two CMs on my last trip about nextgen- one in an official cm/guest capacity, one with my BFF.

It won't replace FP, you won't have to book all of your rides- you will be limited to a certain amount. It will actually decrease wait time- if they only have X number of xpass reservations for a given day, they can tinker with how many fast passes to distribute for rides that day.

Oh look oh look, we were already talking to CMs about it !!! And we were already denying that it would replace FP- !!! To think some people held on to this until... a month ago !?!?!

No one has said that you HAVE to reserve your ride time in order to ride anything. It definitely will not replace standby lines, and I seriously doubt it will completely replace in-park FP. From everything I've read it seems like there will be a limited number of pre-visit ride reservations available online. I would assume that there will be a limit to the number of rides you can reserve in a day.

Oh and there were Disney defenders about !!! "Hey you can always ride standby" And ... "no way its replacing FP-" Although this poster was right about a few things

One of two things will have to happen:

1) they will take NexGen spots from the existing FP spots. That's not a winner in my book.

or

2) they will make them in addition to the existing FP spots. That means more people going in through FP, which means fewer in through stand-by.

Rides have a constant capacity. It has to come from somewhere.

If this is a free perk, it has to be in very small numbers, or only for deluxe resort guests or some such thing. There are so many more resorts at Disney than at Universal, the numbers could easily overwhelm the system.

Or if it's a paid perk, they'll have to price it high enough that the number of people taking advantage is self-limiting.

Neither of those deals gets me really excited.

Mom2rtk was also already talking about Capacity and talking sense !!! She also already didn't like it !

Have to get some work done, but dang that was fun !

 

[mom2rtk]

Mom2rtk was also already talking about Capacity and talking sense !!! She also already didn't like it !

I should quote this over on the thread yesterday where someone accused me of only taking my stance against FP+ to disagree with her.