Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Carol_]

They’ve got to bring something back for onsite or else what’s the point??? Why not stay at a nicer and cheaper hotel offsite and just rent a car? Magical Express is already gone at the end of the year, so many will have to rent cars anyway. We stay onsite and still rent cars too. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for us to stay offsite at a nicer hotel, rent a car, and then maybe use that money we saved with the offsite hotel to buy FPs for shorter stays as someone mentioned above.

Yup. We just stayed offsite with APs and DVC… banking points until there’s a need. We did have two great days at the parks, though!

 

[ellbell]

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there will have to be a free option, at minimum for onsite guests (like universal), and it has nothing to do with people being priced out. I think WDW would actually be asking their best customers to go elsewhere and here's why.

The average length of stay at WDW is 7 days. Personally we go 10-14 days (our first trip we were offsite, all hated it because of the lines, 5/7 of us never returned; DH & I did return to try EMH, loved it, went repeatedly), with early mornings, pool afternoons, and leisurely park evenings sometimes. It's a nice, relaxing two weeks. Thoughts on how we will vacation if FP+ (paid only) comes to existence:

1) If the daily price at a park is now $400-$1200 extra, I will want to get value out of that. Bye bye breezy pool afternoons (one of my favorite parts). If I want to go to the parks as many days as I use to, it's $4000-$12000 extra.
2) I don't want to lose breezy pool afternoons, so I'll just do 4 park days instead of 10 since I can do everything easily if we buy passes and won't need EMH/FP+/14days.
3) If I can do everything in 4 park days, I only need 4 days at WDW, not 14.
4) If I can stroll in when I want, pay to do rides when I want, I may as well stay at an awesome offsite resort. Thinking could end here, and you just saved thousands off your vacation even with the expensive passes with only 4 days at Disney. Here's my own personal next thought:


5) But I don't want to do an entire full day at the park with young kids. What if they are super cranky and I just paid $1200???
6) Universal is now best and cheapest (by far) option for an extended vacation. Hello early mornings, unlimited express pass at a deluxe, pool afternoons, leisurely park evenings (WDW is now way overpriced for a pass similar to universal and offers way less than they use to with no ME, no dining plan, no EMH, expensive FP+).

I'm not even mad at WDW if they do this. I'm not priced out. I just would prefer Universal, because they offer all of the things Disney offers now at $4000-$12000 less.

This what I said. I'd be able to go on a week long all inclusive cruise for what fastpasses would cost. I love Disney but it already costs me a lot more than other vacations, so I'd be disappointed but I'd definitely give someone other than the mouse my money.

 

[mitsukoshi samurai]

What’s next resort fees that include fastpass, pay fp for everybody else

 

[whiporee]

I am taking just this one part of your post to make a point.

Disney will make all that money back and more even if they don't monetize FP. This line of thinking works for the mom and pop shops in your local neighborhood that barely survived during the pandemic. They're the ones who need to make back the lost money and quick. Disney is an enormous corporation that could have absorbed the losses of maintaining everyone at full payroll through the entirety of the pandemic if they chose to do so and still have plenty to spare. Stock price > People. The only reason they're going to monetize it is because they can and want to make even more money as fast as possible in the short-term. More money made means higher stock price, which means higher corp bonuses. There is no other rationality to any decision they make when it comes to money. Long-term they are better off keeping free FP+ as a guest perk for the positive sentiment, and/or as an on-site perk. By monetizing as many things as they can and taking away many of the little things they are doing a ton of harm to future customer sentiment, and they will lose a lot of repeat customers if they have a less than magical experience.

People really need to stop excusing the greed of Disney.

you realize they haven’t done anything, right? You're frustrated that people keep excusing examples of greed that are simply figments of some people’s imagination.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I think that remains to be seen. With the phone lines jammed for hours, I question how “limited” it will turn out to be. My friend and I decided to bag it.



We did MaxPass at DL, loved it.

Oh I liked Maxpass, just much prefer FP+

 

[Wandering Oaken]

They’ve got to bring something back for onsite or else what’s the point??? Why not stay at a nicer and cheaper hotel offsite and just rent a car? Magical Express is already gone at the end of the year, so many will have to rent cars anyway. We stay onsite and still rent cars too. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for us to stay offsite at a nicer hotel, rent a car, and then maybe use that money we saved with the offsite hotel to buy FPs for shorter stays as someone mentioned above.

While I am a staunch advocate for renting a car and not using Disney transportation I doubt the rate of people renting cars will increase significantly. Mears will still be offering the bus service but it will be charging (and I doubt they will get your bags for you) so I am sure there are a lot of people who would gladly pay that fee for the bus ride.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there will have to be a free option, at minimum for onsite guests (like universal), and it has nothing to do with people being priced out. I think WDW would actually be asking their best customers to go elsewhere and here's why.

The average length of stay at WDW is 7 days. Personally we go 10-14 days (our first trip we were offsite, all hated it because of the lines, 5/7 of us never returned; DH & I did return to try EMH, loved it, went repeatedly), with early mornings, pool afternoons, and leisurely park evenings sometimes. It's a nice, relaxing two weeks. Thoughts on how we will vacation if FP+ (paid only) comes to existence:

1) If the daily price at a park is now $400-$1200 extra, I will want to get value out of that. Bye bye breezy pool afternoons (one of my favorite parts). If I want to go to the parks as many days as I use to, it's $4000-$12000 extra.
2) I don't want to lose breezy pool afternoons, so I'll just do 4 park days instead of 10 since I can do everything easily if we buy passes and won't need EMH/FP+/14days.
3) If I can do everything in 4 park days, I only need 4 days at (expensive) WDW, not 14.
4) If I can stroll in when I want, pay to do rides when I want, I may as well stay at an awesome offsite resort. Thinking could end here, and you just saved thousands off your vacation even with the expensive passes with only 4 days at Disney vs 14. Disney changed your trip - not you. That choice would lead to this type of decision for many people who stay for a long vacation. Here's my own personal next thought:


5) But I don't want to do an entire full day at the park with young kids. What if they are super cranky and I just paid $1200???
6) Universal is now best and cheapest (by far) option for an extended vacation. Hello early mornings, unlimited express pass at a deluxe, pool afternoons, leisurely park evenings (WDW is now way overpriced for a pass similar to universal and offers way less than they use to with no ME, no dining plan, no EMH, expensive FP+).

I'm not even mad at WDW if they do this. I'm not priced out. I just would prefer Universal, because they offer all of the things Disney offers now at $4000-$12000 less.

I’ve been thinking along these lines too. We are a family of 4 with two young kids. We only stay onsite because we like to stay close to the parks and inside the bubble - and by that I mean monorail resorts or crescent lake resorts. If we had to pay a fastpass upcharge for 4 people on top of deluxe room prices, we are no longer going to be staying for our ideal trip length which is usually something like 10 days. Yes it’s about the money at that point but it’s also, as you said, about how a lot of these changes will affect the FEEL of our vacation. With two small kids we like to go for longer, because we can take our days slower, spend time at the pool every day, and because of our resort choices, easily get in and out of the parks. If we are starting to feel limited in flexibility, and like we are wasting a lot of valuable vacation time in line, then the amount of money it takes to stay onsite at a deluxe is no longer worth it. I’ve always been 100% onsite only, but I’m not particularly interested in staying at a moderate or value because if I have to take a bus/shuttle/car into the parks anyway I may as well stay off site, where I can get the same perks and a really nice hotel or resort for less than I can get a moderate on Disney property. And then on top of that, since I’d be staying offsite and not getting that Disney bubble I love, I think we could be in and out of Disney in 4 days flat. They would have none of our accommodations money and less than half of the ticket sales they’d normally make off of us. I’ve been saying for awhile though that maybe long stays are not what they’re after anymore. They may be projecting higher profits off of shorter stays with major upcharges.

 

[MansionNut80]

This thread should be titled the FP+ Speculation sensational....

 

[Yankee626]

I cant see Disney charging resort guests for FP service. Actually I can see them giving more fast passes to deluxe resort guests. maybe 5 instead of 3 per day. Disneyland is an entirely different animal. Most of the guests at DL are locals. I can see why a fastpass pay option will work there. I can see Disney charging for fast passes for non resort guests in DW. There has to be an incentive for staying on property besides geography. Disney knows this.

 

[Loro]

you realize they haven’t done anything, right? You're frustrated that people keep excusing examples of greed that are simply figments of some people’s imagination.

Congratulations on completely failing to comprehend my post.

 

[kc51570]

I cant see Disney charging resort guests for FP service. Actually I can see them giving more fast passes to deluxe resort guests. maybe 5 instead of 3 per day. Disneyland is an entirely different animal. Most of the guests at DL are locals. I can see why a fastpass pay option will work there. I can see Disney charging for fast passes for non resort guests in DW. There has to be an incentive for staying on property besides geography. Disney knows this.

As much as I would love Disney to give Deluxe resort guests 5 free FP, I don‘t think they will ever increase the free initial fastpasses beyond 3 (if they keep them free and hopefully they do). I think their club level experiment proved people were extremely willing to pay extra for 3 additional FPs that weren’t subject to the tiering restriction.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Insider on https://www.wdwmagic.com/ forums indicating a possible announcement this week.

 

[Wandering Oaken]

Insider on https://www.wdwmagic.com/ forums indicating a possible announcement this week.

I saw that too. He is not an insider.

 

[Garyjames220]

Insider on https://www.wdwmagic.com/ forums indicating a possible announcement this week.

Where abouts are u seeing this

 

[Wandering Oaken]

Where abouts are u seeing this

It was just some random member saying that "we should hear something sometime this week". This has been said every week for at least a month now.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

It was just some random member saying that "we should hear something sometime this week". This has been said eevery week for at least a month now.

I didn’t realize he wasn’t an insider. He called the fireworks announcement down to the correct day.

 

[figmentfinesse]

Where abouts are u seeing this

on their rumors and news forum in the thread about “FP Won’t Be Returning As Is” (paraphrased). Posted yesterday.

 

[Garyjames220]

I didn’t realize he wasn’t an insider. He called the fireworks announcement down to the correct day.

not sure I believe it after fridays disappointment of big news

 

[Remy is Up]

Disney operates on their own timeline and noone who actually knows anything is posting anything definitive on a message board

 

[Wandering Oaken]

I didn’t realize he wasn’t an insider. He called the fireworks announcement down to the correct day.

Half a dozen others did too. He may be an insider (I highly doubt it) and he may know something but I am not counting on it. (If we are talking about the same person.)