Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Fido Chuckwagon]

This is what I read.. https://insidethemagic.net/2021/03/disney-removes-fastpass-ad1/

Yeah but the Space mountain fastpass sign has been covered since reopening, and someone else posted proof that the Safari one had been too. The article is wrong.

 

[jkh36619]

Fastpass wasn't a bad system but it had it's issues. Had they set a finite number per ride per day it would have been better. Dropping additional FP's throughout the day along with dealing with ride breakdowns and FP returns is where it failed. Take for instance if Dinosaur broke down for an hour or 2. You would receive an anytime FP that would be good for any ride excluding maybe Navi or FOP. Well, most would flock to Everest which is already dealing with a full allotment of FPs for the day. At that point Standby would become brutal.

Again, The idea of the system is good, but it needs a major overhaul.

 

[Jrb1979]

Fastpass wasn't a bad system but it had it's issues. Had they set a finite number per ride per day it would have been better. Dropping additional FP's throughout the day along with dealing with ride breakdowns and FP returns is where it failed. Take for instance if Dinosaur broke down for an hour or 2. You would receive an anytime FP that would be good for any ride excluding maybe Navi or FOP. Well, most would flock to Everest which is already dealing with a full allotment of FPs for the day. At that point Standby would become brutal.

Again, The idea of the system is good, but it needs a major overhaul.

Make it like every other park in the country and charge for it. On-top of that get rid of the time based system. Charge $100 per person per day and it would limit how many buy it so it shouldn't affect standby wait times too much

 

[WickstarRunner]

Make it like every other park in the country and charge for it. On-top of that get rid of the time based system. Charge $100 per person per day and it would limit how many buy it so it shouldn't affect standby wait times too much

Respectfully, people don't spends thousands to go to every other park in the country. $100 per person per day would be a drop in the bucket for most people going to WDW. If it's going to remain it needs to go more towards a Universal model in which only those staying on site have access to it.

 

[Jrb1979]

Respectfully, people don't spends thousands to go to every other park in the country. $100 per person per day would be a drop in the bucket for most people going to WDW. If it's going to remain it needs to go more towards a Universal model in which only those staying on site have access to it.

Everyone has access to it at Universal. The only thing is those staying in the premier hotels gives it to you for free. Personally I have always thought it was a stupid system in that everyone could have it for free. A skip the line system really only works when it's limited to how many can use it.

 

[New Mouse]

Everyone has access to it at Universal. The only thing is those staying in the premier hotels gives it to you for free. Personally I have always thought it was a stupid system in that everyone could have it for free. A skip the line system really only works when it's limited to how many can use it.

Correction. Those staying on site get it as part of their higher room.rate

 

[jkh36619]

Respectfully, people don't spends thousands to go to every other park in the country. $100 per person per day would be a drop in the bucket for most people going to WDW. If it's going to remain it needs to go more towards a Universal model in which only those staying on site have access to it.

A family of 4 with a 7 day ticket would be $2800. I wouldn't call that a drop in the bucket but we are probably heading in that general direction.

 

[SusanDK]

I understand that people have different touring styles. I understand that people value different parts of their parks experience. I understand why the super planners liked FP+. I understand why more spontaneous people didn’t.

We are spontaneous and far preferred FP+ to the previous system. Since we are not rope-drop visitors and often like to visit in the afternoon for just a few hours, with the old system, the fast passes were frequently gone by the time we arrived, or if available, had a return time for several hours later which we didn't want to wait around for. It was frustrating, for example, to arrive at Epcot and power walk to Soarin' only to get there and see that there were no fast passes left, or it would be 2 pm and the return time was 8 pm when we'd be long gone.

With FP+, we could schedule fast passes for the afternoon or evening, and we could schedule up to three within a short period so we could pop into the parks for several hours in the afternoon or evening and still enjoy a few rides. Maybe we didn't get the top headliners (I still haven't ridden FOP or SDMT, and TSM was open for years before we ever rode, lol) but we could schedule things like Soarin', Splash, Safari, Pirates, etc. and avoid long queues.

Since we are now local AP holders, we would not like to see future FP only being available for resort guests, nor would we like to see a daily cost that would make it unreasonably expensive for a short visit, like the daily rate for Universal's express pass. However, we love the Universal premier pass that allows use of the express line after 4 pm. We'd pay more for a Disney AP that included some limited use of FP like that.

I agree with other posters who say that Disney needs to come up with a system that is fair and efficient for all types of guests, whether staying at resorts or not, planners vs. spontaneous, rope droppers vs. late arrivers, day-long commandos vs. half-day visitors.

 

[Eric Smith]

We are spontaneous and far preferred FP+ to the previous system. Since we are not rope-drop visitors and often like to visit in the afternoon for just a few hours, with the old system, the fast passes were frequently gone by the time we arrived, or if available, had a return time for several hours later which we didn't want to wait around for. It was frustrating, for example, to arrive at Epcot and power walk to Soarin' only to get there and see that there were no fast passes left, or it would be 2 pm and the return time was 8 pm when we'd be long gone.

With FP+, we could schedule fast passes for the afternoon or evening, and we could schedule up to three within a short period so we could pop into the parks for several hours in the afternoon or evening and still enjoy a few rides. Maybe we didn't get the top headliners (I still haven't ridden FOP or SDMT, and TSM was open for years before we ever rode, lol) but we could schedule things like Soarin', Splash, Safari, Pirates, etc. and avoid long queues.

Since we are now local AP holders, we would not like to see future FP only being available for resort guests, nor would we like to see a daily cost that would make it unreasonably expensive for a short visit, like the daily rate for Universal's express pass. However, we love the Universal premier pass that allows use of the express line after 4 pm. We'd pay more for a Disney AP that included some limited use of FP like that.

I agree with other posters who say that Disney needs to come up with a system that is fair and efficient for all types of guests, whether staying at resorts or not, planners vs. spontaneous, rope droppers vs. late arrivers, day-long commandos vs. half-day visitors.

If you power walked to Soarin and the wait was 30 - 45 minutes would that work for you? Part of the reason that people feel like they must have fast passes under the FP+ system is that FP+ made the standby lines ridiculous.

I think you can look to MaxPass to see how Disney would handle some kind of paid fast pass at Disney World. They offer MaxPass as a paid add on to your annual pass as well for $125 per year. I assume you'd see a similar arrangement for Disney World.

 

[SusanDK]

If you power walked to Soarin and the wait was 30 - 45 minutes would that work for you? Part of the reason that people feel like they must have fast passes under the FP+ system is that FP+ made the standby lines ridiculous.

I think you can look to MaxPass to see how Disney would handle some kind of paid fast pass at Disney World. They offer MaxPass as a paid add on to your annual pass as well for $125 per year. I assume you'd see a similar arrangement for Disney World.

Wow, I was unaware of MaxPass, thanks for this information. I would jump at the chance to pay $125 per year extra on our WDW APs for MaxPass.

 

[Eric Smith]

Wow, I was unaware of MaxPass, thanks for this information. I would jump at the chance to pay $125 per year extra on our WDW APs for MaxPass.

It works really well for Disneyland. I'm not sure how well it would work in Disney World because of the differences in the amount of locals, but I think it would work better than FP+.

 

[Moliphino]

It works really well for Disneyland. I'm not sure how well it would work in Disney World because of the differences in the amount of locals, but I think it would work better than FP+.

I haven't used it, but it also works better for people who rope drop. It's just the paper fastpass system with the ability to book on the app.

 

[glocon]

I think the problem with what other parks do is that WDW is so much bigger and has so many more visitors than any other park in the world. What works somewhere else is probably not going to work there. WDW is a different beast and some Imagineer is going to have to figure out something exclusive to WDW.

 

[Jrb1979]

I think the problem with what other parks do is that WDW is so much bigger and has so many more visitors than any other park in the world. What works somewhere else is probably not going to work there. WDW is a different beast and some Imagineer is going to have to figure out something exclusive to WDW.

It can work. Get rid of timed FP and severely limit how many are available. I don't know what the obsession is for having times to ride attractions is cause IMO that's part of the issue with FP. There is ways to make it similar to Universals system but limit it to 1/4 of the days attendance. With the reservation system in place they have a good idea how many will be in the parks.

 

[Eric Smith]

I haven't used it, but it also works better for people who rope drop. It's just the paper fastpass system with the ability to book on the app.

I’ve used it. It’s not necessary to rope drop to make use of the Disneyland system.

 

[Moliphino]

I’ve used it. It’s not necessary to rope drop to make use of the Disneyland system.

Even for RSR? MaxPass didn't exist yet when I last went in 2016, but the line to get a regular fastpass for it was insane first thing in the morning. We gave up on fastpass entirely for it and rode single rider. It was like the TSMM rush all over again.

 

[glocon]

I love Universal, and only stay in the the deluxe resorts, mainly for the ep. love love love it. If WDW could figure out a way to make it work for them, I think we wouldn’t be able to afford it. But I sure would try.

 

[Eric Smith]

Even for RSR? MaxPass didn't exist yet when I last went in 2016, but the line to get a regular fastpass for it was insane first thing in the morning. We gave up on fastpass entirely for it and rode single rider. It was like the TSMM rush all over again.

We never had trouble with RSR with MaxPass. We wouldn't rope drop, but we'd usually get in to the park within half an hour of opening. If you think about it though, that's not too much different than trying to get a fastpass for the top ride in a park under FP+. You'd have to reserve it later in your trip to have a prayer of getting one.

 

[shafke]

Even for RSR? MaxPass didn't exist yet when I last went in 2016, but the line to get a regular fastpass for it was insane first thing in the morning. We gave up on fastpass entirely for it and rode single rider. It was like the TSMM rush all over again.

Yes, we had the same thing on our trip to DL. Huge line for FP distribution and all gone in about an hour or so.
We ended up doing RSR during early entry and lucked out in a way.
Our 1st ride glitched out just before getting to the town... we sat for a few minutes before the ride started up. We get back to the loading platform and were offered the opportunity to stay on. Ride glitched out again on the 2nd go through. Again was able to stay on for a 3rd ride. Alas, the 3rd time had no problems and we had to get off.

 

[ellbell]

A family of 4 with a 7 day ticket would be $2800. I wouldn't call that a drop in the bucket but we are probably heading in that general direction.

If they are charging 100 dollars per day per person people will sacrifice staying onsite to buy it. That 2800 is basically the difference in a on property moderate vs off property