Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[LSUmiss]

This all day.

Of course, you can still be in control of your re-rides. It's just that now, you'll have to pay extra. So instead of jumping into that open slot when someone else canceled their time, Disney takes that slot and sells it to the next "paying" guest.

And are we talking rerides per day or per trip? Im talking about the free not the paid. We don’t often try to reride something same day.

 

[anomamatt]

Yes - that's correct - sorry - I thought he was referring to the 3 CL FP's! So you can technically only get 4 tier one's per day.

And given that they don't let you duplicate rides, there is only one park you can get 4 Tier-1 FPs: EPCOT. (DHS and 3 and DAK has 2 Tier-1s).

 

[anomamatt]

Are the AM EMH good? I always have heard to avoid those hours and parks because they are crazy. In general I plan my days to miss those parks.

That is a good plan.

The AM EMH can be OK themselves, but the general rule (which I strongly agree with based on experience) is that the parks with AM EMHs are the parks to avoid that day. That's what all the crowd calendars use as a main metric (along with educated guessing).

if you have hoppers, doing AM EMH and then hopping isn't a bad strategy.

 

[SaharanTea]

And are we talking rerides per day or per trip? Im talking about the free not the paid. We don’t often try to reride something same day.

I think we were talking about re-rides on the same day, but that was a few weeks ago. We were saying you could still do re-rides, but you'd likely pay, given the speculated changes.

 

[SaharanTea]

This was in regards to leveling the playing field.

My guess is the way the 4th FP works. When your only chance of booking a 7DMT, SDD, FoP, etc is at 6 pm or later, then that means your FPs are 3 and done.

But, if you get an early hard to get FP, and get your first 3 all before lunch, then you have all afternoon and evening to get and use FP for lower priority attractions.

The result:
Those with early headliner FP get FP for the lower tiers
Those with late headliner FP get stand by for lower tiers.

This was one way the legacy FP was so much better. Regardless of what time your FP was for, the longest you ever had to wait for the next FP was 2 hours.

Getting shut out of FP for the entire day because you want that late FP really is a terrible system.

To be clear, I am NOT advocating for paid FP. This problem could simply be fixed by mimicking the way legacy FP determined when you could get your next FP.

The original post was talking about leveling the playing field against park commandos. What I think they meant was simply people who get to the parks earlier in the day (some are commandos, many are not).

You're saying you don't understand why you are penalized for spreading your initial FPs out and getting locked out until that last FP is done? I'm not sure I've ever seen someone have this exact complaint. Or at least, I've never interpreted it that way. I've only ever seen people complain that the late FPs are the only ones left when selecting their initial three.

 

[LSUmiss]

The more I think about the "boil the frog" type plan of slowly increasing the heat, the more brilliant this sounds. They can market this price hike as actually a perk and make people happy about the ability to pay more without realizing it is a price hike. My guess is May may be a very subtle change of adding a fast pass or package to allow users buy fast passes for a couple high demand attractions without any other publicized changes. Everyone still gets their three fast passes, nothing to be alarmed about...business as normal. Behind the scenes, pull out those pay ones from the free ones pot. Hard core users may recognize how much more difficult it is to find the fast passes you want, but for most people, everything else stays the same. It is marketed as just a new service offering you don't have to take advantage of. Over time slowly add new pay fast pass options and slowly reduce the free pot until people have been conditioned that to buy them is the only really good way to ensure you get your FP. Eventually once people see virtually no value in the free fast pass service, kill it entirely. No one will care any more because the value has long since been drained out of the system. The entire process is so subtle and behind the scenes there never is a point for the consumer to truly get angry. Before they know it, we are happily paying for our Fastpasses and the frog is successfully boiled.

Kinda like night EMH. It’s so watered down now, it’s not worth. Now if I was that similar experience I need to buy DAH. So when they eventually get rid of it no one will care.

 

[meggiebeth]

Just seen this thread and I’m concerned about how this will be implemented for trips that have already been booked (if it actually happens anyway). Will there likely be a grace period as there was for the recent implementation of parking charges?

I can understand limiting FastPasses more for offsite visitors, but I’d be very surprised if onsite were restricted as much under the rumoured changes. Hopefully there will be some perks afforded to people who do choose to stay onsite?

 

[saskdw]

Just seen this thread and I’m concerned about how this will be implemented for trips that have already been booked (if it actually happens anyway). Will there likely be a grace period as there was for the recent implementation of parking charges?

I can understand limiting FastPasses more for offsite visitors, but I’d be very surprised if onsite were restricted as much under the rumoured changes. Hopefully there will be some perks afforded to people who do choose to stay onsite?

This entire thread is speculation based on a rumor. No one knows the answer to your question.

 

[cmwade77]

This entire thread is speculation based on a rumor. No one knows the answer to your question.

Yep, pure speculation based on a rumor that has been around for years and it never happened, not likely too now, at least not in any meaningful way aside from maybe being able to buy into an earlier booking window or such.

 

[JaxDad]

 

[Doug M]

Yep, pure speculation based on a rumor that has been around for years and it never happened, not likely too now, at least not in any meaningful way aside from maybe being able to buy into an earlier booking window or such.

Boy are you going to have a big surprise coming your way this year.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

I enjoy 84 pages of rampant speculation as much as the next person, but part of me is getting itchy to move from speculation about the endless possibilities to bickering about the actual details.

But then I remember the ominous predictions of our "oracles" and I am patient again. Because I have decided that I have a bad feeling about this...but am trying to keep an open mind...

I keep trying but I cannot imagine a way this rolls out that I'm not going to lose value in some manner (in other words, pay for something that I can currently get for free or can no longer get as much because it's been artificially devalued via staffing/cutbacks on hours, etc.)...but again, open mind.

 

[saskdw]

I enjoy 84 pages of rampant speculation as much as the next person, but part of me is getting itchy to move from speculation about the endless possibilities to bickering about the actual details.

But then I remember the ominous predictions of our "oracles" and I am patient again. Because I have decided that I have a bad feeling about this...but am trying to keep an open mind...

I keep trying but I cannot imagine a way this rolls out that I'm not going to lose value in some manner (in other words, pay for something that I can currently get for free or can no longer get as much because it's been artificially devalued via staffing/cutbacks on hours, etc.)...but again, open mind.

We're just rehashing the same stuff over and over. That's why I've stopped replying to most posts. There's really nothing more to discuss until Disney makes an actual announcement.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I enjoy 84 pages of rampant speculation as much as the next person, but part of me is getting itchy to move from speculation about the endless possibilities to bickering about the actual details.

But then I remember the ominous predictions of our "oracles" and I am patient again. Because I have decided that I have a bad feeling about this...but am trying to keep an open mind...

I keep trying but I cannot imagine a way this rolls out that I'm not going to lose value in some manner (in other words, pay for something that I can currently get for free or can no longer get as much because it's been artificially devalued via staffing/cutbacks on hours, etc.)...but again, open mind.

Right now I'm just hoping that the changes are announced in enough time for people to adjust (like they won't go into affect for at least 60 days). The fact that a lot of precursors to this are popping up and disappearing day to day is worrisome.

 

[Spaceguy55]

With the overabundance of available rooms from about mid May to the the end of the year they might want to give more FP's for staying on property..

 

[TheFloatingBear]

We're just rehashing the same stuff over and over. That's why I've stopped replying to most posts. There's really nothing more to discuss until Disney makes an actual announcement.

It's hard not to keep speculating with it looming, but I do think we covered a great many angles at this point, lol!

Right now I'm just hoping that the changes are announced in enough time for people to adjust (like they won't go into affect for at least 60 days). The fact that a lot of precursors to this are popping up and disappearing day to day is worrisome.

I agree - I have a September trip that I'm thinking of canceling, but have considered re-scheduling to June - but it would be nice to have some more info to help decide. Although I have gotten accustomed to a good Disney blindside over the past few trips! I agree I hope they don't change the goalposts for people within 60 days. And I agree about the precursors, and the other sweeping changes to park policies with limited warnings. Harbingers of more to come, I say!

 

[Tink_83]

Right now I'm just hoping that the changes are announced in enough time for people to adjust (like they won't go into affect for at least 60 days). The fact that a lot of precursors to this are popping up and disappearing day to day is worrisome.

I completely agree if they are going to change the system they should do it in a way so as not to impact people with current FP and plans. Technically because CL get 90 days out right now so you could argue that 100 days or so would be an acceptable amount of time (to allow those guests at CL to decide what they want to do) or at least 70 days (so those in the planning process can pivot appropriately)... that is probably too much to ask but i do think it’s a reasonable request

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I completely agree if they are going to change the system they should do it in a way so as not to impact people with current FP and plans. Technically because CL get 90 days out right now so you could argue that 100 days or so would be an acceptable amount of time (to allow those guests at CL to decide what they want to do) or at least 70 days (so those in the planning process can pivot appropriately)... that is probably too much to ask but i do think it’s a reasonable request

Good point. I forgot about CL. In some cases I'm sure people made the decision to stay at CL for the FPs. It might be hard for them to rebook within 90 days if the option changes significantly.

 

[Iowamomof4]

I enjoy 84 pages of rampant speculation as much as the next person, but part of me is getting itchy to move from speculation about the endless possibilities to bickering about the actual details.

But then I remember the ominous predictions of our "oracles" and I am patient again. Because I have decided that I have a bad feeling about this...but am trying to keep an open mind...

I keep trying but I cannot imagine a way this rolls out that I'm not going to lose value in some manner (in other words, pay for something that I can currently get for free or can no longer get as much because it's been artificially devalued via staffing/cutbacks on hours, etc.)...but again, open mind.

We're just rehashing the same stuff over and over. That's why I've stopped replying to most posts. There's really nothing more to discuss until Disney makes an actual announcement.

I've been tempted to stop following this thread because the rampant speculation is just not interesting to me, but I'm afraid I'll miss it whenever they DO finally announce something! So, I'll keep watching and just skimming through posts quickly a couple times a day and just wait until we get solid info. I see no way this works out for the better for me. We just bought AP's for May 2019-May 2020, so I'm scared now.

 

[SaharanTea]

I've been tempted to stop following this thread because the rampant speculation is just not interesting to me, but I'm afraid I'll miss it whenever they DO finally announce something! So, I'll keep watching and just skimming through posts quickly a couple times a day and just wait until we get solid info. I see no way this works out for the better for me. We just bought AP's for May 2019-May 2020, so I'm scared now.

If something substantive drops, it'll be posted in the News Round Up thread.