Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Grumpy by Birth]

If we're building a list...

Out of state travelers from Arizona should get unlimited fast passes.

You're making it way too complicated. They just need to give ME lifetime front-of-the-line privileges. Easy Peasy.

 

[Lewisc]

A poster earlier in this thread said if everyone gets FPs then nobody has a FP.

The, apparently, discontinued system favored people who are willing to sit on an app. Start wit 60+10 continuing with frequent app refreshes while in the park. Posters ask if they'll lose their FP if they cancel their WDW resort reservation.

This doesn't benefit WDW. Maybe marginal resort reservation.

 

[Jorge123]

What I think Disney should do is do what Universal and all the other theme parks do, thats have a payed system two tiers, one being you get to ride every ride 1 time or have an unlimited pass with no return times. Right now everyone has as opportunity to pick 3 and if youre lucky more than that, but when i have a fastpass and still wait 20 mins or so its not worth it. Disney cant do that your hotel comes with unlimited like universals deluxe hotels Disney has to many. but having a limit to how many they give out will make it worth while. all the other theme parks are doing it. Disney is just behind.

 

[Jorge123]

What I think Disney should do is do what Universal and all the other theme parks do, thats have a payed system two tiers, one being you get to ride every ride 1 time or have an unlimited pass with no return times. Right now everyone has as opportunity to pick 3 and if youre lucky more than that, but when i have a fastpass and still wait 20 mins or so its not worth it. Disney cant do that your hotel comes with unlimited like universals deluxe hotels Disney has to many. but having a limit to how many they give out will make it worth while. all the other theme parks are doing it. Disney is just behind.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

A prediction, based on nothing more than uninformed speculation.

Disney will announce the return of Fastpass+ as soon as the CDC relaxes the social distancing guidelines. The system will, on paper, be the same as it was in the before times: 3 free fastpasses per day, tiering in some parks, the possibility of subsequent fastpasses after you use your first three, advance booking at 60 days for onsite and 30 days for offsite, etc.

But Disney will also simultaneously debut paid fastpasses. These will be anytime/any ride/any park fastpassess--rather than being limited to a particular ride during a particular time window. (There may be a limit on using more than one of them on the same ride. But I hope not.) These will be sold in packs of 3, 6, or 9. Good for one day only, and not transferable from one guest to another--just like an anytime fastpass in the past. The cost will be somewhere around $59 for 3, $109 for 6, and $149 for 9. (That's per person, per day.) They will be available for purchase in advance, beginning the same day that you can schedule your regular fastpasses. Disney will limit the number for sale for each day. They will probably sell out early for crowded days.

Because of the presence of these paid fastpasses, the days of scoring headliner fastpasses, after using your first three, through the refresh method will pretty much be over. Or at least it will be a lot harder to do. Disney will be very cautious in releasing them--or even making them available to someone else after a cancellation. And it might also be even harder than it was before to score a free fastpass for a headliner in advance, since Disney will be well aware that the vast majority of these paid fastpasses will be used on the e-ticket rides.

If the CDC does not relax the social distancing guidelines by the summer, Disney will go ahead and debut the paid fastpasses without yet restoring the free ones (but announcing an intent to do so when the guidelines are changed).

 

[Disturbia]

I think a paid system like that will also overwhelm the system as there are way too many people (like us) who would pay up. That’s why they have a separate paid after hours event (which we loved) so that day guests don’t get too impacted (you could enter early at 7 pm).

I think first bring back the paid after hours events, keep the people who don’t want to preplan and those that don’t like fast pass but don’t want to wait happy. It’s still easy to social distance and keep people safe.

 

[BrianL]

I still think they are more likely to move to a MaxPass style thing. FP is still free, but MP users have a better crack at things.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

I think a paid system like that will also overwhelm the system as there are way too many people (like us) who would pay up. That’s why they have a separate paid after hours event (which we loved) so that day guests don’t get too impacted (you could enter early at 7 pm).

I think first bring back the paid after hours events, keep the people who don’t want to preplan and those that don’t like fast pass but don’t want to wait happy. It’s still easy to social distance and keep people safe.

I agree that they should first bring back the After Hours events. And I suspect they probably will.

As for the risk of paid fastpasses overwhelming the system, that's why I speculated that Disney will strictly limit the number that are available, and they will likely sell out quickly for crowded days. Disney can control the number of fastpasses in circulation in order to avoid overwhelming the fastpass lines. And, over time, Disney would learn how to adjust the pricing in order to maximize their profits. Their goal would be to sell out every day (again keeping the volume low enough to not overwhelm the fastpass lines), and to charge as much as the market will bear.

Alternatively, Disney could offer ride-specific, immediate-use same-day fastpasses that are priced dynamically to achieve the same goal. A fastpass for Small World on a low-crowd day would be very cheap. A fastpass for FOP on a crazy-busy day would be extremely costly. I suspect Disney could easily write code that automatically adjusts the price for a "skip the line right now!" fastpass based on current wait times, crowd size, and demand. If too many people are jumping at buying them, the price will automatically increase. If not enough people are biting, the price will automatically decrease.

 

[Disturbia]

The only problem with the above is Disney IT can barely manage a fixed system, I wouldn’t want them to switch to a dynamic one.

 

[Narcoossee11]

DVC members should get unlimited fast passes.

You are sooooo funny. keep dreaming. As someone i worked with would say"AND I WANT A PONY '

 

[Grasshopper2016]

The only problem with the above is Disney IT can barely manage a fixed system, I wouldn’t want them to switch to a dynamic one.

Yeah, that's part of why I went with the fixed option as my primary prediction, and the dynamic one as my alternative prediction. Ultimately, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney ended up doing both: fixed-price packages of anytime fastpasses sold in advance, and also individual, dynamically priced, skip-the-line-immediately, ride-specific fastpasses sold through the app. But the latter will be much harder to pull off without glitches, and so I would expect it to come later, if at all.

 

[Makmak]

Somebody said it first haha. I do think attraction specific FP would work as other parks are doing that already.

 

[Wakey]

They could give DVC Blue Card members more fast passes per day. That would be a fantastic perk at little cost to them that I’m sure would drive direct sales.

 

[JakeAZ]

They could give DVC Blue Card members more fast passes per day

Why would they do this? As it's been said many times, Disney already has their money.

That would be a fantastic perk at little cost to them that I’m sure would drive direct sales.

There would definitely be a cost to Disney. All those free passes wouldn't be available to sell. Also, it should be crystal clear by now, if you're buying DVC for anything other than a room, you will eventually be disappointed.

 

[JenSop]

Ugh, I hope and pray they don't move to paid Fastpasses. You're basically saying rich people who can afford it will get to go on rides faster than the others. It's kind of icky. I book Disney trips for people, and some of them are on budgets. This just creates another expense.

 

[Disturbia]

Disney did move to giving more options to rich people when they cut the evening extra magic hours and regular hours (no more 11 pm MK closings) and added paid after hour events. I think that is essentially a paid fast pass system and they don’t need anything on top of it (maybe they will increase the price).

 

[Jrb1979]

According to Martin at WDWmagic. He's a very reliable insider. This is what he said

The Fastpass back system was butchered to create the park pass system. Obviously a new one could be created if they wanted to but there’s nothing left to just flip back on.

I would still be surprised if Fastpass as we knew it came back. I wouldn’t surprised if a limited amount of “free” passes were available to soften the blow and then a selection of paid pass options to be sold instead. At least one of these may be heavily limited

 

[CarolynFH]

According to Martin at WDWmagic. He's a very reliable insider. This is what he said

The Fastpass back system was butchered to create the park pass system. Obviously a new one could be created if they wanted to but there’s nothing left to just flip back on.

I would still be surprised if Fastpass as we knew it came back. I wouldn’t surprised if a limited amount of “free” passes were available to soften the blow and then a selection of paid pass options to be sold instead. At least one of these may be heavily limited

Well, that would explain why APs can book only 3 park reservations (as opposed to four, one for each park), wouldn’t it?

 

[tjkraz]

Why would they do this? As it's been said many times, Disney already has their money.

It would be a perk to attract new buyers.

There would definitely be a cost to Disney. All those free passes wouldn't be available to sell. Also, it should be crystal clear by now, if you're buying DVC for anything other than a room, you will eventually be disappointed.

Correction: There would be a cost to DVC. A sales and marketing expense. Same as with the AP discount, Epcot lounge, Moonlight Magic late night parties, etc. All are substantial hits to DVC's operating budget. But they're also a key component of selling 150k - 200k points per month at nearly $200 each.

Whether or not DVC could afford the parks' asking price for paid FPs is another matter. Pre-covid, DVC was hosting a dozen late night parties per year with full park operating staff, transportation, free food, characters, etc.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Well, that would explain why APs can book only 3 park reservations (as opposed to four, one for each park), wouldn’t it?

Meh, isn’t this the same “insider” who confidently predicted back in February that Disney was about to move to a Maxpass style FP system? And then nothing happenned? Also, the idea that Disney somehow “cannibalized” the FP code when creating the PP system such that they couldn’t easily put the fastpass system back into place, even side by side with the park pass system, is ludicrous. That’s not how software engineering works.