Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Disturbia]

I actually like the idea of someone walking along the lines and selling stuff. I would love to see more food booths at MK.

 

[Disturbia]

The virtual queue idea is really good. I think the Disney genie will utilize this to plan your trip.

 

[Liquidice]

I disagree with both your statement and your sentiment pretty strongly. Fast Passes were instigated to make the parks more enjoyable for people. As crowds increased, they knew they had a line problem. They at first tried the old one, and then went to the new one. I don't think they've made any effort to monetize them at all.

If they were really as intent on gouging as your claiming, why not have people walking along the lines selling drinks or snacks? Why let food and drinks in the parks at all -- many regional parks don't allow outside stuff in. Why offer free ice water at the QSes?

They could charge a lot more than they do and get away with it. Why offer Park Hoppers -- there's no deliberate payoff for that at all? Or they could just triple the room prices and make the park exclusive for resort guests. There's a lot they could do to just gouge people if they really wanted to. They've never come close to establishing what the tipping point is. I'm sure there's a number out there, but I think WDW has been pretty conservative in pushing those limits.

I'm not saying they are immune to it, or that they haven't done some things that seem to be purely for revenue generation. But as an overall organization, i think they are much less aggressive about that stuff at the parks than most companies in their position.

They offer free ice water at the QSes to prevent people from passing out due to dehydration in the Florida heat - and people suing them!

I'll agree though, Disney has some long standing pro-customer policies that were implemented years ago that have not changed. I haven't seen many NEW pro-consumer policies implemented lately though.

But, over time - they've definitely come to expect certain things - such as the price of the ticket alone is not their primary money maker. Believe me if most people were bringing a picnic basket into WDW to save money - Disney would ban them. The only reason they haven't banned outside food and drinks is because not enough people do it to impact their profits. They depend on income from their restaurants, gift shops, etc to make the parks profitable and are not able to operate the parks solely on the price of admission.

I do think there is a balance Disney tries to strike - to give the impression that they're a pro-consumer company that believes in customer service and family values which allows them to keep policies such as allowing outside food around. But the second that is hurting their bottom line is when they'd change the rule. I'm not saying Disney is a monster that only cares about profits (although I get the feeling that it is becoming more and more important under the current leadership) - just that they're a business first and businesses will do what they need to to ensure profitability.

 

[ford91exploder]

What else would I do between trips to Disney except pontificate on new things / things changing at Disney?

But certainly the MickeyViews video has more people thinking about the possibility of a paid FP than before. It could be though that like others have said - they go back to completely the same FP+ or they have something in between the MickeyViews idea and FP+ - and this rumor was leaked out to make people think the worst and something not as bad comes out so people aren't as upset about the change

We all know that FP is dead, otherwise WDW would have simply covered the signage, The day of the paid FP has come and I expect it will be something like 10-20 bucks per person to skip the line, Imagine if the average family uses this thing 4 times in a day that's between $160 and $320 per DAY for doing absolutely NOTHING on Disney's part. Unfortunately people are so desperate to do SOMETHING away from home that this will not even cause a ripple in guest satisfaction. Only curmudgeons like me will call Disney out on it.

 

[ellbell]

We all know that FP is dead, otherwise WDW would have simply covered the signage, The day of the paid FP has come and I expect it will be something like 10-20 bucks per person to skip the line, Imagine if the average family uses this thing 4 times in a day that's between $160 and $320 per DAY for doing absolutely NOTHING on Disney's part. Unfortunately people are so desperate to do SOMETHING away from home that this will not even cause a ripple in guest satisfaction. Only curmudgeons like me will call Disney out on it.

I don't know that fastpass is dead. I'm pretty sure that everyone is running on the same information, which is no information.

 

[Boopuff]

me reading this thread:

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

my prediction of fast pass announced by Thursday will come true. I sense it

 

[Garyjames220]

my prediction of fast pass announced by Thursday will come true. I sense it

what makes u think it will this week

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

what makes u think it will this week

Not sure. Gut feeling of Disney magic. My little glitches of the fast pass icon showing up on MDE. Just many of them lately.

I just figure with the 4th of July holiday coming up about a month from Thursday, it would be the perfect time to announce fast pass returns and fireworks

 

[luv2cheer92]

We all know that FP is dead, otherwise WDW would have simply covered the signage, The day of the paid FP has come and I expect it will be something like 10-20 bucks per person to skip the line, Imagine if the average family uses this thing 4 times in a day that's between $160 and $320 per DAY for doing absolutely NOTHING on Disney's part. Unfortunately people are so desperate to do SOMETHING away from home that this will not even cause a ripple in guest satisfaction. Only curmudgeons like me will call Disney out on it.

... but they did just cover the signage, what did you think they did?

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

For what it’s worth my Mom has paid off her November package and can now see the Fastpass + glitch. I haven’t paid off mine yet for the same exact timeframe and it doesn’t show for me.

 

[tigger2002]

How about a FP lottery? People throw away millions with a zero chance of getting anything in return. At least they might have a small chance of getting a little something.

 

[DisneyDad728]

They cant get rid of APs. This is the only perk worth the blue card. Many retirees enjoy epcot and the countries. Also locals have the epcot after 4 pass for the restaurants there. WDW is much bigger than DL and without the APs their businesses will be impacted.

I hope you’re right about APs!

 

[Disturbia]

Epcot has some machines covered up (reported by Dev (Prince Charming), which look like fast pass plus machines, so looks like no fast passes for our trip in a couple of days, but hopeful for others.

 

[Runnsally]

The vast majority of executives don't make anywhere near "tens of millions of dollars," you know that right?

I'm pretty good friends with a Senior VP at Disney and he makes about $300,000. He's wealthy, but he's not "tens of millions of dollars" wealthy.

He’s definitely not lightening-pass-every-trip wealthy.

 

[slyster]

Tagging along. My thought is I think a lot of people will opt for a paid fast pass. However I like the idea of paying for say 3 rides a day and that’s it. And do a lighting + pass all rides at crazy expensive prices so that only a small
Percentage will pay for.

 

[Rosanne]

Do you feel the same way about dining or hotel acommodation disparity?
Say a family staying club level at Beach Club Resort versus a family of 4 squeezing themselves into a Pop room?
Disney does not allow pool hopping. You can't believe there is no difference in the pool side experience at All Star Sports and The Yacht Club.
A Family eating counter service or deluxe dining every meal?
Disparity in vacation experience is always going to be there.
I believe Disney was allowing their club level resort guests to pay for extra fast passes just before covid closed everything.

I said extreme disparity. Your examples aren't extreme disparity.

 

[Garyjames220]

Not sure. Gut feeling of Disney magic. My little glitches of the fast pass icon showing up on MDE. Just many of them lately.

I just figure with the 4th of July holiday coming up about a month from Thursday, it would be the perfect time to announce fast pass returns and fireworks

well I really hope your right

but I have herd people saying there have seen the fast pass glitches for months now

 

[kristenabelle]

I can’t remember the specific thread, but it was about a DAS-related lawsuit where they had a WDW operations higher-up testify. Wish I could find the language (maybe someone will) but there was whole court testimony about lines, the purpose of FP (or, at least, the publicly stated purpose) and the goal of reducing lines for a more enjoyable experience.
It was super interesting, and I thought of it immediately when reading this. Not saying it means anything now, but it was justification in that court case for adjusting to DAS (so as to prevent FP abuse and thus longer lines for the general public).

 

[Aprilshack]

Anyway, when might Disney actually implement something considering capacity increases?