Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[motherof5]

I personally like free fast passes and hate to pay for something that is currently free. I'm sure at some point nothing will be free anyone. Nice while it lasted.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This, when we were there in May we got to MK after dinner and were able to book our next FPs right after tapping for that exact time. We probably won’t return if they take that feature away. The only time we’ve ever jumped in a line that had more than 45 minute posted wait was for FOP.

I agree that it works well in MK where there are so many rides ... what if you still had that but then could pay $15 and ride FoP with no wait? One of the rumored thoughts is that the pay feature would only be for top tier attractions

Obviously there are a lot of ways this could be negative but trying to keep positive and think of some potential upsides

 

[Violetspider]

More like a big bag of cash.

True to an extent. Not my cash certainly (accept for myself). Some would spend the extra $ and some wouldn't. That's what will make the organizing/planning a bigger nightmare than it was already going to be. Especially if there are different levels of upcharge to choose from.

I'm already planning on getting fired from this task.... on purpose!!

 

[kandb]

It’s what we do here.

Yeah but usually these rumors are true, unfortunately!!!

 

[Doug M]

True to an extent. Not my cash certainly (accept for myself). Some would spend the extra $ and some wouldn't. That's what will make the organizing/planning a bigger nightmare than it was already going to be. Especially if there are different levels of upcharge to choose from.

I'm already planning on getting fired from this task.... on purpose!!

Good call. I am a planner by nature but WDW is already a massive headache. I once thought how fun it would be to plan for a big extended family trip, but all the craziness the last few years, and now this...no I don't want to join Jack at the Cuckoo's Nest.

 

[anomamatt]

If they had a “Costco version” of this I might be interested. A very large quantity of non-perishable FPs sold at a reduced rate that I could stockpile for multiple trips.

I would back up the Brink's truck for a pile of unrestricted, non-expiring anytimes.

But wait... will I need another freezer like I do when I go to Costco? Maybe I can put all my extra MDEs from Fastpass+ strategizing to good use storing anytime FPs, even once the strategies go away.

 

[snappy]

Reading through this busy thread led me to think about planning a trip to Western Europe in 2020. Just got off talking to my brother who has traveled fairly extensively there during college and for work and personal since then. He gave me a lot to research with more to follow. I think this will turn out well for me.

 

[anomamatt]

Reading through this busy thread led me to think about planning a trip to Western Europe in 2020. Just got off talking to my brother who has traveled fairly extensively there during college and for work and personal since then. He gave me a lot to research with more to follow. I think this will turn out well for me.

I hear you... Every time we vacation somewhere other than Disney, it's so much easier... but somehow I keep wanting to go back.

 

[snappy]

I hear you... Every time we vacation someone other than Disney, it's so much easier... but somehow I keep wanting to go back.

Yea me too, I guess that’s why I am on the disboards. I started going to WDW circa 1978 and before that, DL in 1963 as a kid. It can be an expensive addiction.

 

[danikoski]

If they were to still give the three free at 60 days for the resort stayers, but then have packages to buy for some of the top tier, I'd probably be okay with that. So like $150 or $200 for four top tier like FoP, one SWGE rides, Tron, GotG, Rat, etc, especially if the four passes could be used throughout the trip. I'd actually maybe might consider that for a guarantee to ride...maybe.

In July 2008 I went to DLR. They were doing some sort of celebration, I don't remember what. Anyways, I got to DL at park open and one of the early rides I rode was Pirates. Coming off Pirates, a CM was handing out lanyards with fast passes for every ride that had fast passes. I had already grabbed paper FP for some of the rides. I was able to use those, plus other paper FP, plus the freebie FP. Let me tell you, it was an awesome day at DL. And I will be honest, the 4th FP at WDW sometimes gives me a little bit of the same feeling.

 

[wed100105]

Additional FP's at WDW are free and don't require waiting for any certain times. Get a FP, use it, get another....rinse and repeat. Getting over 10 at MK is easy.

Agree.

Add me to the camp of people who don't want to pay for what I'm currently receiving as part of my package. I have found that I stay onsite now more because I like the 60-day window for booking FP. I personally would rather see FP included for those staying on site and a charge for those staying offsite. (I own at Bonnet Creek so don't start throwing a bunch of hate at me. We've stayed off-site, too.) I'd rather Disney increase my room rate and let me think about the charge in that sense than pay $250 A DAY on top of our tickets. I'm grateful we have military passes. The charge for FP per person would almost equate the ticket price we pay for 5 days of tickets.

I'm going to be irate if we have to pay an extra $1,000 this summer for something that I already thought I had included with my trip. That's over 20% of my total vacation budget!

 

[Amy11401]

It’s always tough when something that you were getting included is now removed/now costs extra. If they started charging from the beginning it might be easier to take - but now it will feel like you are getting less or having to pay more just to get status quo (I am sure they aren’t going to lower the ticket prices or hotel rates - this will be on top)

Guess let’s see how it plays out. If they can make it that you still get some for free and just extra you pay for maybe not so bad (as if it gets you increased access to tier 1 rides, even at a cost, might let you do more in fewer days so some balancing)

One thing I definitely agree with is what @vinotinto said - if I now have to pay, this better work perfectly and I can get FP for the rides I want, with minimal wait, not IT isssues, etc. more forgiving when things are “free”

That's the thing.....it has been free and people are used to planning their trips that way. I know many other Amusement Parks offer paid options but how many of them are parks that people spend multiple days at like we do at Disney? Also how many people actually use those add on options at other parks? See at Disney I feel like I have to have FPs because of the crowds and because we don't go very often. But we are going to Hersheypark this summer and I saw that there is now an option to pay for a Fastpass type thing there too, but there is no way I am buying that....I've done Hersheypark in the past and we go on weekdays and the crowds are nothing like Disney so I don't think the waits have ever been that bad there when we have gone in the past.
I was already thinking about our next Disney trip that won't happen for a few more years....originally I was planning on making it a pretty long trip....like 10 or so days so we could get the opportunity to get headliner FPs and be able to try most of the new stuff. But depending upon what happens with this, we may rethink going for that long of a trip.

 

[Hikergirl]

I can't believe some people say a fp will cost between $25-50 per person. OMG, how many people would pay that amount for 1 ride for their family??? For our family of 5, I am going to spend an extra $125-250 for ONE ride, after paying up to $500 for us to get into the park??? This is insanity!!! We'll probably be returning after the economy goes south, which I don't hope for but I REFUSE to pay these prices, on top of high resort prices, food, parking etc.

I have no problem paying for extra FPs, I pay for front of the line or express at other parks so I'm not against it in general.
However if the cost is outrageous like $25 per FP there is no way I'd do that. No attraction at WDW is worth $125 for our family to ride it.
I know I will be making 2 more trips in the next few years, but after that I don't think I'm going back after those.

 

[soniam]

The Disneyland Paris approach could also be the direction they are headed... My wife brought this to my attention. Here is a chart of how their FP system works and associated cost:

I believe its pricing is also very similar to Universal's ExpressPass.

It's a little more expensive for their unlimited all FP than Universal but not outrageously more. I'm not keen on the prices and would want a discount for hotel stay, but it's not something I would completely balk at, like paying for each individual FP.

We did a split Portofino/Epcot-area CL (honestly can't remember which of the deluxes it was that time) stay recently.

We liked having the included express pass (and wouldn't do US again without EP), but staying on site at US was much more expensive than a CL stay at WDW. At many of the the WDW hotels, regular rooms hold five (plus an infant). Deluxe rooms hold 6. Because the room capacities at US are lower, we had to get two rooms and ended up paying about $1k a night (which was still less than whatever a suite would have cost).

We also were not impressed with how rundown the rooms at Portofino were. Mismatched/dirty light switches (with over cuts in the drywall), dirty floors, shower scum,... The rooms were cleaned but overall looked like they badly needed a refurb. Maybe Hard Rock is better?

Esp if we can get good AP rates at WDW, it makes more financial sense to stay at WDW and Uber to US for a day.

I could see that being more expensive if you have to get more than 1 room. Did you look into the AP rates at all? They almost always offer them, and their 2nd best AP is way cheaper than Disney's, like half the cost or less. Only 1 family member needs the AP for the discount. Checkout the AP rates thread on the Universal forum. We rarely get decent AP deals at WDW though. I have only gotten an AP discount at WDW twice. I have only not gotten an AP rate at Universal once, and the was Columbus Day weekend during Halloween Horror Nights. I have gotten them during Spring Break for 3 years in a row now and the week of Thanksgiving, including Thanksgiving day and Black Friday.

Reading through this busy thread led me to think about planning a trip to Western Europe in 2020. Just got off talking to my brother who has traveled fairly extensively there during college and for work and personal since then. He gave me a lot to research with more to follow. I think this will turn out well for me.

Where are you planning on going? We are going to Spain this summer and have been to a few other places. I love Europe, but the airfare during school breaks can be be ridiculous. The rest is really cheap though.

I hear you... Every time we vacation somewhere other than Disney, it's so much easier... but somehow I keep wanting to go back.

I find WDW easier to plan, because I know the "rules" and I am willing to jump through the hoops I am starting to feel more comfortable with Disneyland. I still don't know how I am going to pick our hotel in Barcelona, and we've been there before, so it's not completely unfamiliar. Plus, I can't buy an Unofficial Guide to Europe or use Touring Plans to create my path through the Louvre I am going to be completely lost if we end up going to Portaventura in Spain. I have been trying to figure out their stupid website. It has very little factual info about anything, except the park hours. I can't even tell what actual benefits, if any, you get buy staying at their hotels.

 

[saskdw]

Martin made a few more posts today. I'm not really feeling the doom and gloom to be honest. Big take aways for me from his latest posts:

1) Pricing and amounts are not set yet. These changes are not written in stone yet.

2) Onsite guests will still have a FP booking advantage when/if/whatever the changes are.

It sounds like they know changes need to be made, but haven't settled on the solution as of yet.

 

[MyHappyPlace17]

For those who are thinking $25-50 for one ride or $150-200 for only four rides ... Nothing personal and no offense intended, but that's insane!! Universal includes Express access to every EP enabled attraction (which is pretty much everything) included with stay at their 3 original deluxe resorts and for purchase to everyone else at a cost significantly less than that and it's for every attraction that day. Like Hikergirl, I have no problem paying for FP access but it has to be reasonable cost comparison to the competition and for me personally, they'd have to do away with scheduling and not exclude any attractions.

 

[snappy]

Where are you planning on going? We are going to Spain this summer and have been to a few other places. I love Europe, but the airfare during school breaks can be be ridiculous. The rest is really cheap though.



I find WDW easier to plan, because I know the "rules" and I am willing to jump through the hoops I am starting to feel more comfortable with Disneyland. I still don't know how I am going to pick our hotel in Barcelona, and we've been there before, so it's not completely unfamiliar. Plus, I can't buy an Unofficial Guide to Europe or use Touring Plans to create my path through the Louvre I am going to be completely lost if we end up going to Portaventura in Spain. I have been trying to figure out their stupid website. It has very little factual info about anything, except the park hours. I can't even tell what actual benefits, if any, you get buy staying at their hotels.

Probably focus on London and Paris during a 10-12 trip (with day trips outside London to see the countryside) or the same amount of time in Italy, focusing on Rome and Venice. We will avoid the summer travel prices since we aren’t tied to summer vacations. I want to spend enough time in each place, so we will limit the trip to two major cities per trip and hopefully do the second trip the following year.

 

[cmwade77]

I have said it before and I will say it again, this rumor has been around for over a decade and never happens, this is simply fake news meant to scare people. I seriously doubt we will ever see anything come of this.

There is a slim possibility that Disney has floated the rumor to see how the discussion forums would take to the idea, but I think they know the public backlash that would happen with this idea.

 

[Planogirl]

If it is truly fake news, we will know soon enough. Meanwhile, it's wise to be prepared imo.

How can Disney continue to compete with anyone even their other parks if the worst of this turns out to be true? It's just bizarre.

 

[SaharanTea]

I agree that it works well in MK where there are so many rides ... what if you still had that but then could pay $15 and ride FoP with no wait? One of the rumored thoughts is that the pay feature would only be for top tier attractions

Obviously there are a lot of ways this could be negative but trying to keep positive and think of some potential upsides

Summer of 2017, we rode FoP seven times on that trip. For my family, that would cost us an extra $420 under your "modest" system for that one ride experience. That was normal park hours, no ticketed events, too.