tentaguasu
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2002
If the recent rumors of paid fastpass for the new Star Wars rides is true, I fear Disney is making a big mistake. (See article today in WDW News Today)
Many people have complained loudly about the many things Disney has done lately to make more money. There are a ton of new, revenue seeking things by Disney. Dessert parties, preferred seating, etc., etc.
While people get aggravated with those, I get it. Disney is a business, and making money is their job.
But the rumors of paid fastpass for Star Wars are different, particularly if it significantly impacts the number of general fastpasses available as the rumors suggest ("a significant portion of fastpasses will be allocated for monetization.")
Here’s the thing – none of the paid stuff they’ve been doing ever really impacted the “core experience” of most park goers. And the core park experience should not be something that depends on how much you can pay. (The few “buy your way to the front on super high priced tours” and such don’t really impact my experience or the experience of 99.9% of park goers.)
I can’t afford to go on one of the Animal Kingdom’s special safaris, though I’d love to. But that doesn’t impact my ability to enjoy Animal Kingdom as I always have. Adding something special for someone else is OK, even if I personally can’t afford it. (There’s no way I’ll be able to afford the Star Wars hotel, but I’m not mad about them creating it.)
But cutting back access to core park experiences unless you can pay? Or creating different classes of parkgoers with respect to the basic stuff we do inside the parks? Ugh. That’s a huge mistake in my opinion.
It’s not just that I don’t like it -- it’s going to change the vibe and magic of the parks.
One of the things that I love about Disney is how egalitarian it is – we’re all in it together and no one is better or more special than anyone else. (At least once you can afford to get in the door…) We’re all the same inside Disney – race, gender, country of origin, social class, whatever. You can be a weirdo at Disney, and it’s OK. You’re no more or less than a neurosurgeon. Single mom who scrapped pennies to get in has the same treatment on POTC as a rich dude who lives in Palm Beach.
And I think that *really* matters to the vibe of the park. It influences how it feels to be there and is a subtle but important part of the magic. In fact, I think it matters way more than Disney may realize, especially at a time when venues where we can all enjoy being together and the same for a while are so few and far between. I bet at least half of you here would come to blows with me discussing politics, but we can share our love of Tower of Terror. And suffer together in a long line if we’re out of fastpasses. I’m never angry at someone in a fastpass line, because it just means they were luckier, planned better, or chose their passes differently than me. Sure, we may head back to radically different hotel rooms in the evening, but at least when we’re inside the park, it’s a pretty fair place to be.
That creates a sense of “we’re all in this together” that I think is really special at Disney. Being at a place where tens of thousands of people are – just like you – on a fun vacation, eating Dole whips, queueing up for rides, etc. makes us all feel like part of a fun, temporary family of sorts.
But it doesn’t feel so much like a family anymore when big sister gets to buy a bigger slice of the Thanksgiving pie and I have to make due with less unless I can pay up.
If this goes through… well, now it’s one more place in American life where we start to divide up haves and have a lot mores. (If we’re at Disney, we’re all already in the “haves” category.)
(We could argue that the advanced reservations for on-property guests already creates a two-tiered system, but that feels less problematic to me. For one, there are a wide range of price-points on property.)
Come on Disney! Magic is your business. Ultimately it’s your bottom line, too. You don’t outperform Universal because you have better IP or because you have better rides. You outperform Universal because of the “magic” and it’s very real, even if it’s hard to define. Misunderstand or disrespect that magic, and you’re eroding the value of the parks. Not just my emotional value, but your long-term economic value.
Just to be clear, I’m totally against this even if it’s at a price I can afford. I don’t like the effect it would have on the parks, the vibe, and the relationship between guests.
The largely fair, unpaid fastpass system is an underrated but (IMO) hugely important contributing factor to the magic that makes Disney special – and is a benefit to all parkgoers regardless of their economic means.
Don’t screw it up.
ReplyForward
Many people have complained loudly about the many things Disney has done lately to make more money. There are a ton of new, revenue seeking things by Disney. Dessert parties, preferred seating, etc., etc.
While people get aggravated with those, I get it. Disney is a business, and making money is their job.
But the rumors of paid fastpass for Star Wars are different, particularly if it significantly impacts the number of general fastpasses available as the rumors suggest ("a significant portion of fastpasses will be allocated for monetization.")
Here’s the thing – none of the paid stuff they’ve been doing ever really impacted the “core experience” of most park goers. And the core park experience should not be something that depends on how much you can pay. (The few “buy your way to the front on super high priced tours” and such don’t really impact my experience or the experience of 99.9% of park goers.)
I can’t afford to go on one of the Animal Kingdom’s special safaris, though I’d love to. But that doesn’t impact my ability to enjoy Animal Kingdom as I always have. Adding something special for someone else is OK, even if I personally can’t afford it. (There’s no way I’ll be able to afford the Star Wars hotel, but I’m not mad about them creating it.)
But cutting back access to core park experiences unless you can pay? Or creating different classes of parkgoers with respect to the basic stuff we do inside the parks? Ugh. That’s a huge mistake in my opinion.
It’s not just that I don’t like it -- it’s going to change the vibe and magic of the parks.
One of the things that I love about Disney is how egalitarian it is – we’re all in it together and no one is better or more special than anyone else. (At least once you can afford to get in the door…) We’re all the same inside Disney – race, gender, country of origin, social class, whatever. You can be a weirdo at Disney, and it’s OK. You’re no more or less than a neurosurgeon. Single mom who scrapped pennies to get in has the same treatment on POTC as a rich dude who lives in Palm Beach.
And I think that *really* matters to the vibe of the park. It influences how it feels to be there and is a subtle but important part of the magic. In fact, I think it matters way more than Disney may realize, especially at a time when venues where we can all enjoy being together and the same for a while are so few and far between. I bet at least half of you here would come to blows with me discussing politics, but we can share our love of Tower of Terror. And suffer together in a long line if we’re out of fastpasses. I’m never angry at someone in a fastpass line, because it just means they were luckier, planned better, or chose their passes differently than me. Sure, we may head back to radically different hotel rooms in the evening, but at least when we’re inside the park, it’s a pretty fair place to be.
That creates a sense of “we’re all in this together” that I think is really special at Disney. Being at a place where tens of thousands of people are – just like you – on a fun vacation, eating Dole whips, queueing up for rides, etc. makes us all feel like part of a fun, temporary family of sorts.
But it doesn’t feel so much like a family anymore when big sister gets to buy a bigger slice of the Thanksgiving pie and I have to make due with less unless I can pay up.
If this goes through… well, now it’s one more place in American life where we start to divide up haves and have a lot mores. (If we’re at Disney, we’re all already in the “haves” category.)
(We could argue that the advanced reservations for on-property guests already creates a two-tiered system, but that feels less problematic to me. For one, there are a wide range of price-points on property.)
Come on Disney! Magic is your business. Ultimately it’s your bottom line, too. You don’t outperform Universal because you have better IP or because you have better rides. You outperform Universal because of the “magic” and it’s very real, even if it’s hard to define. Misunderstand or disrespect that magic, and you’re eroding the value of the parks. Not just my emotional value, but your long-term economic value.
Just to be clear, I’m totally against this even if it’s at a price I can afford. I don’t like the effect it would have on the parks, the vibe, and the relationship between guests.
The largely fair, unpaid fastpass system is an underrated but (IMO) hugely important contributing factor to the magic that makes Disney special – and is a benefit to all parkgoers regardless of their economic means.
Don’t screw it up.
ReplyForward