Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[DGsAtBLT]

I'm pretty confident that the Disney bean counters aren't factoring in how angry you're going to be if a ride breaks down when they are discussing this.

Really you don’t think they’re considering the heightened expectations of guests who are paying for a specific time slot on a specific ride? Or rather, you don’t think they should be?

I think that’s a major factor to consider in going from a free system to a pay system.

 

[saskdw]

Really you don’t think they’re considering the heightened expectations of guests who are paying for a specific time slot on a specific ride? Or rather, you don’t think they should be?

I think that’s a major factor to consider in going from a free system to a pay system.

I would hope they are discussing what the resolution is if a ride breaks down.

I don't think they are going to factor in increased anger levels from people feeling more entitled.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I would hope they are discussing what the resolution is if a ride breaks down.

I don't think they are going to factor in increased anger levels from people feeling more entitled.

I don’t think entitled needs to be a dirty word when we’re talking about paying nearly $20 a head (my guess higher when this rolls out to the public) to wait in a shorter line, vs formerly doing it for free.

I think it goes without saying people will be less tolerant of delays and breakdowns. I think that is justified.

 

[saskdw]

I don’t think entitled needs to be a dirty word when we’re talking about paying nearly $20 a head (my guess higher when this rolls out to the public) to wait in a shorter line, vs formerly doing it for free.

I think it goes without saying people will be less tolerant of delays and breakdowns. I think that is justified.

I don't disagree with your assessment, but I don't think Disney is using an anger gauge to figure these things out.

I feel sorry for the CM's who are working for $12/hr and have people screaming at them like they made the rules.

I could be wrong here, but I think the focus for disney here will be selling FP packages. Not individual FP's for $20 each.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I don't disagree with your assessment, but I don't think Disney is using an anger gauge to figure these things out.

I feel sorry for the CM's who are working for $12/hr and have people screaming at them like they made the rules.

I could be wrong here, but I think the focus for disney here will be selling FP packages. Not individual FP's for $20 each.

I’m just going with current numbers. $50 for 3 is approximately $17. I think it will be higher and I think a package is likely. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a package that includes a mega headliner and 2+ mid level rides. They love that less valuable than it looks to be bundling thing.

I think Disney would be short sighted to overlook that people have higher expectations when directly paying for something. I don’t think the regular recovery methods are enough. What happens when someone pays for GE FP+ and doesn’t care about anything else in DHS? It rubs me the wrong way when you’re chalking it up to anger as if the guest would be in the wrong.

If they started selling tickets for magical express, people would be expecting quicker service. If they started charging for ADRs, people would expect to be seated on time. If they started charging directly for bus rides, people would expect prompt service and seats. If they started charging directly for the monorail people would be even angrier when stuck on the beam.

I feel like it should be painfully obvious to Disney that when guests know exactly what something costs and are paying exactly for that one thing, they have higher expectations than if it was rolled into the larger cost of tickets, or hotel.

There is a lot of FP related issues that go on, booking issues, ride down time, length of line, times both before and after merge, late arrivals (both the fault and not the fault of the guest), and those kinds of things that will suddenly become harder to take when you’re paying directly for it.

 

[lcc2]

Dont worry about me. And we aren't discussing life and death here. And...my post wasn't dismissing anyone's concerns, it was pointing out how stressed everyone was and how I dont want that so I'd rather just pay. A joke.

I questioned one thing....and my post was pretty polite about it.

I’m not worried about you. I made a statement on a public forum and acknowledged your joke. Just saying be thankful others take the time to find solutions while you joke about it. Come time to do fastpasses in 2020 it should go smoothly for ya...hopefully. You just never know.

 

[saskdw]

I’m not worried about you. I made a statement on a public forum and acknowledged your joke. Just saying be thankful others take the time to find solutions while you joke about it. Come time to do fastpasses in 2020 it should go smoothly for ya...hopefully. You just never know.

In fairness there are no solutions here, just opinions and speculation.

 

[saskdw]

I’m just going with current numbers. $50 for 3 is approximately $17. I think it will be higher and I think a package is likely. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a package that includes a mega headliner and 2+ mid level rides. They love that less valuable than it looks to be bundling thing.

I think Disney would be short sighted to overlook that people have higher expectations when directly paying for something. I don’t think the regular recovery methods are enough. What happens when someone pays for GE FP+ and doesn’t care about anything else in DHS? It rubs me the wrong way when you’re chalking it up to anger as if the guest would be in the wrong.

If they started selling tickets for magical express, people would be expecting quicker service. If they started charging for ADRs, people would expect to be seated on time. If they started charging directly for bus rides, people would expect prompt service and seats. If they started charging directly for the monorail people would be even angrier when stuck on the beam.

I feel like it should be painfully obvious to Disney that when guests know exactly what something costs and are paying exactly for that one thing, they have higher expectations than if it was rolled into the larger cost of tickets, or hotel.

There is a lot of FP related issues that go on, booking issues, ride down time, length of line, times both before and after merge, late arrivals (both the fault and not the fault of the guest), and those kinds of things that will suddenly become harder to take when you’re paying directly for it.

I get it.

You are also in the camp that doesn't want these changes though, so you are a little more revved up about it than some people. I actually agree with most of what you've posted in this thread.

The only difference is I might be willing to pay for extra FP's if I feel it will benefit my family me at a price I'm willing to pay. There's still a chance I could be really upset as well when they announce this. I just choose not to stress about something until the time comes.

 

[lcc2]

In fairness there are no solutions here, just opinions and speculation.

Ya, I figured it would get confusing. Poster combined two topics/threads. We’ll stay on topic here.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I get it.

You are also in the camp that doesn't want these changes though, so you are a little more revved up about it than some people. I actually agree with most of what you've posted in this thread.

The only difference is I might be willing to pay for extra FP's if I feel it will benefit my family me at a price I'm willing to pay. There's still a chance I could be really upset as well when they announce this. I just choose not to stress about something until the time comes.

Just like with every other cost increase and change, I may end up using it if it benefits my family. I’m not sacrificing my vacation out of principle. For example, I despise that Disney moved to hard ticket events instead of EMH but last trip we did DAH in an attempt to buy back some of that time and had a great time. Even if on principle I don’t like that it exists, it does exist and if we can afford it I only hurt us not using it, nothing else changes.

I can’t say whether or not we will buy pay for FP. I can guess it’s likely a no for all but the ultra headliners if there’s no other feasible way to ride them in the long term. I can’t see us directly paying at this point for rides we’ve done dozens of times. That’s my line in the sand.

I’m not stressing, I’m discussing. I’m disappointed at the potential of this impacting my next vacation before the kinks are worked out, like FP+ did to my vacation in 2014, but it’s still a vacation to Disney. They haven’t hit the point with us yet where we go elsewhere.

 

[Farro]

I’m not worried about you. I made a statement on a public forum and acknowledged your joke. Just saying be thankful others take the time to find solutions while you joke about it. Come time to do fastpasses in 2020 it should go smoothly for ya...hopefully. You just never know.

Because I made a fun post in jest, which I think most people understand but you don't even after I explained it, you write a thinly veiled wish that I have a hard time making fast passes in 2020.

Obnoxious.

WTH. It's a Disney vacation planning board. I can have fun with people on here, joke, even have some fiery debates with certain posters, but I really can't stand when people act like this.

(and I've been posting in this thread since it began, I'm not combining anything)

(and I hate myself that I even responded )

 

[orangecuse]

I’m not sure I see widespread success if they go with $50pp for 3 FP+ a day. I mean, thats a huge additional cost to your park ticket for three rides. Club level guests naturally are most likely to have the funds or they wouldn’t be club level. On a whole though, I think many people would balk. My guess would be maybe CL guests end up with 3 extra FP+ for free or no tiers or something that makes that expensive hotel room stay booked. Those guests can still get the paid package available to everyone, but keeps an incentive there for CL booking. (Or it goes to like a 3/2/1 free for CL/onsite/offsite).

I think its more likely Disney does this in slow stages so just as you accept its normal to only have 3 free (no 4th+), they reduce to 2 or take away headliners. First step could just be cutting all free FP+ beyond 3, and offering 5 FP+ (prescheduled, still with tiering or at least no repeats) for $50pp. May seem close to CL now but reduces the pp/per ride cost to $10 instead of $17 and 8 FP+ total (free + paid) makes the guest feel like they now have a full day “secured”.

 

[anneboleyn]

Because I made a fun post in jest, which I think most people understand but you don't even after I explained it, you write a thinly veiled wish that I have a hard time making fast passes in 2020.

Obnoxious.

WTH. It's a Disney vacation planning board. I can have fun with people on here, joke, even have some fiery debates with certain posters, but I really can't stand when people act like this.

I don’t know why that poster is taking what you said so negatively...you obviously weren’t making fun of the people in that thread, you were making light of a stressful situation!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I’m not sure I see widespread success if they go with $50pp for 3 FP+ a day. I mean, thats a huge additional cost to your park ticket for three rides. Club level guests naturally are most likely to have the funds or they wouldn’t be club level. On a whole though, I think many people would balk. My guess would be maybe CL guests end up with 3 extra FP+ for free or no tiers or something that makes that expensive hotel room stay booked. Those guests can still get the paid package available to everyone, but keeps an incentive there for CL booking. (Or it goes to like a 3/2/1 free for CL/onsite/offsite).

I think its more likely Disney does this in slow stages so just as you accept its normal to only have 3 free (no 4th+), they reduce to 2 or take away headliners. First step could just be cutting all free FP+ beyond 3, and offering 5 FP+ (prescheduled, still with tiering or at least no repeats) for $50pp. May seem close to CL now but reduces the pp/per ride cost to $10 instead of $17 and 8 FP+ total (free + paid) makes the guest feel like they now have a full day “secured”.

8 prescheduled, non overlapping FP sounds like such a stressful day! Even the 6 total that CL guests can get seems like it would make for a really rigid day. You’d have to be an experienced Disney guest (without any unexpected hitches in their day) to pull it off well or you’re running all over the place negating time you paid to save. I kind of don’t see large numbers of FP+ being appealing for anybody but the most hardcore planners. And I know quite a few non Disney people who the scheduling of FP as it currently is and even ADRs is too much for “an amusement park”.

I think the benefit of this once it rolls out will be quality not quantity. The ability to ride GE rides, and other major headliners. Possibly with mid level rides thrown in to make the cost look better. I don’t think it will be the ability to schedule a whole day getting people to open their wallets. And when we’re talking about the ultra headliners, especially Star Wars, I think people will pay a lot more than any of us think.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Personally, I think you’ll pay for 4th and beyond. The cost will be dependent on what ride it is. Think mobile ordering for FP.

 

[MamaBelle4]

For me, if it is paid FP only, I will gladly do without. When we went in 2014, I was woefully uneducated and we had no FP prescheduled and still had a terrific time. In fact, the only FP we got was for TSM and that's because a CM at DHS set it up on one of the kiosks for us.

If we want to ride something badly enough, we will wait for it. I will not pay extra for this service and frankly doubt I could realistically afford it. Lets assume it is $20 a FP. I've got a family of 7 (although one is under 3 and will still be for our 2020 trip), so we'll say 6. Is cutting down one ride time worth $120 for us, no. Definitely not.

I'm really hoping this is just a rumor or at most an optional "add on" that doesn't impact the current FP+ system. I understand Disney's desire to attempt to attract deeper pockets by adding upcharges and experiences, but I hate it when they do it in a way that takes something away from the average family, like when they cancelled ADRs for CRT to add an extremely expensive chef experience back in 2016.

 

[focusondisney]

Not only would people be paying for the FP+, but very likely for a specific time. I’m not lenient at $85 a pop for my family (CL Numbers).

Is $85 just your hypothetical number? Because the current CL trial is $50. Just wondering.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Is $85 just your hypothetical number? Because the current CL trial is $50. Just wondering.

I took that number and the approximate $17 it breaks down to per ride and applied it to my family of 5 for discussion sake. Just so I wasn’t pulling a number completely out of nowhere.

 

[Nancyg56]

I’m just going with current numbers. $50 for 3 is approximately $17. I think it will be higher and I think a package is likely. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a package that includes a mega headliner and 2+ mid level rides. They love that less valuable than it looks to be bundling thing.

I think Disney would be short sighted to overlook that people have higher expectations when directly paying for something. I don’t think the regular recovery methods are enough. What happens when someone pays for GE FP+ and doesn’t care about anything else in DHS? It rubs me the wrong way when you’re chalking it up to anger as if the guest would be in the wrong.

If they started selling tickets for magical express, people would be expecting quicker service. If they started charging for ADRs, people would expect to be seated on time. If they started charging directly for bus rides, people would expect prompt service and seats. If they started charging directly for the monorail people would be even angrier when stuck on the beam.

I feel like it should be painfully obvious to Disney that when guests know exactly what something costs and are paying exactly for that one thing, they have higher expectations than if it was rolled into the larger cost of tickets, or hotel.

There is a lot of FP related issues that go on, booking issues, ride down time, length of line, times both before and after merge, late arrivals (both the fault and not the fault of the guest), and those kinds of things that will suddenly become harder to take when you’re paying directly for it.

I agree with you in regards to the "anger factor" that WDW employees are going to be subjected to if paid FP experiences break down. If someone is paying for a FP for the family, it is written onto the plan, much like any other aspect that is paid for, and the expectation of getting what is paid for is there. I read a thread not too long ago about FOE attraction down after a dessert party. The OP had not booked a FP for the attraction because it was in her dessert party package, and was very upset when her family missed the attraction. They were offered Soarin, btu that oen was not what they wanted. I do not think she was unreasonable in her disappointment, there is no language in any contract that will make you feel better if your very longstanding, much anticipated plans go up in flames. Multiply that frustration times however much these paid options may be and that is what Disney can expect when paid for attractions go down.

 

[dlavender]

I agree with you in regards to the "anger factor" that WDW employees are going to be subjected to if paid FP experiences break down. If someone is paying for a FP for the family, it is written onto the plan, much like any other aspect that is paid for, and the expectation of getting what is paid for is there. I read a thread not too long ago about FOE attraction down after a dessert party. The OP had not booked a FP for the attraction because it was in her dessert party package, and was very upset when her family missed the attraction. They were offered Soarin, btu that oen was not what they wanted. I do not think she was unreasonable in her disappointment, there is no language in any contract that will make you feel better if your very longstanding, much anticipated plans go up in flames. Multiply that frustration times however much these paid options may be and that is what Disney can expect when paid for attractions go down.

It like when 7DMT is down during EMM. People are rightfully upset. No one is paying $70-80 pp to ride IASW or the carousel. In those situations they give to FP access until noon. I wonder what the comp would be for 1 paid FP? A few anytimes? They are creating some customer ill will with situations like that Frozen one. But I’m sure if you did an analysis even if they have to give refunds in those situations they are still coming out ahead. At least in the short term.