Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[mercuryvenus]

I've seen the fast pass thing come up numerous times lately and they have obviously been working on it since its after the park reservations tab. I don't see it being that difficult to choose your park reservation day, and add fast passes to those dates. I'm not an IT so maybe it is, but they have had a very long time to figure this out, and they most likely are ready to go and choosing to not add it for their own reasons.

There’s a lot of variables to figure out that are fairly technically difficult. Lots of databases that didn’t have to interact before that now do. For example, the park reservations system now has to talk to the FP system, so it prevents you from making a FP selection that is in a park you haven’t reserved for that day. Keep in mind that people will make their park reservations way before their FP selections. This is tough and takes time to get right.

 

[Meglen]

If I could pay 200$ to 100% get a rotr pass one day of my trip for my family of 3 I would do it .
I think stuff like this will be with the genie app.

 

[Miffy]

If I could pay 200$ to 100% get a rotr pass one day of my trip for my family of 3 I would do it .
I think stuff like this will be with the genie app.

I can't believe they'll do this, since it would create a class system for one ride. Even if they limited these guaranteed passes to a certain number, the peasants would revolt. And--100% guarantee? They can't do it, since the ride breaks down often enough that sometimes no one gets to ride.

 

[Loro]

If I could pay 200$ to 100% get a rotr pass one day of my trip for my family of 3 I would do it .
I think stuff like this will be with the genie app.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but the fallout from that would be insane on every level. The long-term effects of it could be devastating as you are basically telling 95+% of your market to go **** itself.

 

[mercuryvenus]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but the fallout from that would be insane on every level. The long-term effects of it could be devastating as you are basically telling 95+% of your market to go **** itself.

Also, it makes no sense. It’s just way too high. Disney already has options for people who want to spend a significant amount of money to get experiences almost no one else can — it’s called VIP tours. They’ve already covered that segment of the market.

Setting that high of a price to skip a line makes absolutely no sense because it’s not accessible to the vast majority of their market. They would simply lose business.

The genie app will probably help people optimize based on options they’ve put in. So you’ll be able to select some rides, input your FP selections and ADRs, etc. and the app will suggest the order in which you should put everything that you haven’t already reserved. It’ll help you optimize the non-FP rides, basically. That’s how I interpret the marketing that they’ve put out on genie.

 

[GoingSince1990]

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but the fallout from that would be insane on every level. The long-term effects of it could be devastating as you are basically telling 95+% of your market to go **** itself.

Disney’s PR department is very cognizant indeed of the blizzard of “GREEDY DISNEY NOW CHARGING FOR FASTPASSES!” that would result from what many here are suggesting. Far, far better to keep FP+ “free” (meaning, included in the park ticket price) while continuing to merrily monetize via tours and paid after-hours (and before-hours) events. And BTW I think the term “lightning pass” is a non-starter as there woukd be way too much snark directed at CMs along the lines of “well THIS isn’t exactly as fast as lightning, is it?”

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

Disney’s PR department is very cognizant indeed of the blizzard of “GREEDY DISNEY NOW CHARGING FOR FASTPASSES!” that would result from what many here are suggesting. Far, far better to keep FP+ “free” (meaning, included in the park ticket price) while continuing to merrily monetize via tours and paid after-hours (and before-hours) events. And BTW I think the term “lightning pass” is a non-starter as there woukd be way too much snark directed at CMs along the lines of “well THIS isn’t exactly as fast as lightning, is it?”

KA-CHOW!

 

[Remy is Up]

There’s a lot of variables to figure out that are fairly technically difficult. Lots of databases that didn’t have to interact before that now do. For example, the park reservations system now has to talk to the FP system, so it prevents you from making a FP selection that is in a park you haven’t reserved for that day. Keep in mind that people will make their park reservations way before their FP selections. This is tough and takes time to get right.

This is correct

 

[Remy is Up]

Disney’s PR department is very cognizant indeed of the blizzard of “GREEDY DISNEY NOW CHARGING FOR FASTPASSES!” that would result from what many here are suggesting. Far, far better to keep FP+ “free” (meaning, included in the park ticket price) while continuing to merrily monetize via tours and paid after-hours (and before-hours) events. And BTW I think the term “lightning pass” is a non-starter as there woukd be way too much snark directed at CMs along the lines of “well THIS isn’t exactly as fast as lightning, is it?”

Or you do a hybrid version. Likely not yet due to platform issues and integration problems, but long term it is viable. Just drop fp+ back in for a bit and once the new ap system, dining plans, tiw, etc is ready , bundle it in.

 

[sdk1231]

Tossing this in for what it's worth and my apologies if it's been discussed and done already. Time machine back to December 2019. I stayed at the Poly, Club Level. I paid XXX amount for 3 FP (in addition to my 3 "free" FP). Observations from that experiment:
1. I was not able to book the 3 paid FP myself. I had to call DSS to do it. The process was extremely easy.
2. The 3 paid FP were able to be booked earlier than normal FP. As such, I got every hot-ticket FP I wanted. The early booking felt like a significant perk.
3. I was also able to book the 3 paid FP in one park and book the 3 regular FP in another park on the same day. I did combinations - morning at DAK using paid FP and afternoon at MK using regular FP.
4. It was expensive, but I felt like it was a good value at the time (over NYE weekend).

 

[oktxregulators2020]

I seriously think Disney will go to a Paid System, Disney has shown that they do not care about the average consumer when it goes to their business because Disney is a place where every time the prices go up people complain and say they quit going but after looking at the parks the past few days. I think the people are back regardless of what the prices will be and I think people will be willing to pay for FP so they don't have to stand in hour long lines during the middle of the day.

 

[Jrb1979]

Also, it makes no sense. It’s just way too high. Disney already has options for people who want to spend a significant amount of money to get experiences almost no one else can — it’s called VIP tours. They’ve already covered that segment of the market.

Setting that high of a price to skip a line makes absolutely no sense because it’s not accessible to the vast majority of their market. They would simply lose business.

The genie app will probably help people optimize based on options they’ve put in. So you’ll be able to select some rides, input your FP selections and ADRs, etc. and the app will suggest the order in which you should put everything that you haven’t already reserved. It’ll help you optimize the non-FP rides, basically. That’s how I interpret the marketing that they’ve put out on genie.

I don't think it will priced that high but I don't think it's coming as FP+ either. Those days are most likely gone. I'm still leaning towards them going the system Shanghai uses. Bundles of FP

 

[sdk1231]

I don't think it will priced that high but I don't think it's coming as FP+ either. Those days are most likely gone. I'm still leaning towards them going the system Shanghai uses. Bundles of FP

I'm not familiar with the system Shanghai uses. What is it?

 

[10CJ]

I have seen people who are in the parks now mention recovery fastpasses. What is the current system for fastpass recovery? Is it ride specific? date specific? Does it appear in MDE or have they gone back to actual paper FPs?

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I have seen people who are in the parks now mention recovery fastpasses. What is the current system for fastpass recovery? Is it ride specific? date specific? Does it appear in MDE or have they gone back to actual paper FPs?

How could recovery fast passes be given out now? like today?

 

[MyHappyPlace17]

I would very much dislike "bundles" and I don't want to schedule time windows. I would love a stress free, customer focused option like Universal's - no time scheduling, just arrive to the attraction whenever you get to it and enter via the Express line. I'm like most everyone else. I don't have an unlimited vacation budget. WDW is very expensive already (and getting more so every day) so I'd prefer not to add to that. However, I would not mind paying a reasonable, fair price if I could use my (however many) FP's whenever and on whatever rides I choose. I really don't understand why Disney is making it so complicated for everyone. Just set a limit for how many are sold for each day/park. You don't raise the price so high that your bread and butter guests can't even consider buying any. Set a fair, reasonable price, build in a % discount for your onsite guests based on resort level (much like they do when they offer room discounts) and set a limit on amount sold so your standby guests are not too negatively impacted.

 

[whiporee]

I seriously think Disney will go to a Paid System, Disney has shown that they do not care about the average consumer when it goes to their business because Disney is a place where every time the prices go up people complain and say they quit going but after looking at the parks the past few days. I think the people are back regardless of what the prices will be and I think people will be willing to pay for FP so they don't have to stand in hour long lines during the middle of the day.

I think Disney cares quite a bit about the average consumer. If they were as Draconian as you suggest, they'd have gone to paid FPs in the first place and never made them free at all. Or at any point until now.

What they aren't likely to do is use a COVID reset to make something that was free into a charge.

The opinions people around here hold about Disney are truly mind-boggling. While Disney is expensive, they've never been guilty of the blantant money grabs people accuse them of. The worst most people say about them is "the parks used to be better because of X" and yet anything anyone can say that makes them look money-grubbing gets upvoted all the time.

 

[PadfootnProngs]

I have seen people who are in the parks now mention recovery fastpasses. What is the current system for fastpass recovery? Is it ride specific? date specific? Does it appear in MDE or have they gone back to actual paper FPs?

I have seen this too! I saw this from a vlogger as recently as a few days ago. It was uploaded into her MDE and was the general "any time FP" that you can get from a CM. She scanned her magic band to use it.

 

[10CJ]

How could recovery fast passes be given out now? like today?

I have seen people say they were given a FP because of a ride shut down. They were in line and CMs cleared the line and were given a FP. I was wondering how that worked. If it is a paper pass that is ride/date specific that is a very different thing than an anytime FP in MDE.

 

[mercuryvenus]

I would very much dislike "bundles" and I don't want to schedule time windows. I would love a stress free, customer focused option like Universal's - no time scheduling, just arrive to the attraction whenever you get to it and enter via the Express line. I'm like most everyone else. I don't have an unlimited vacation budget. WDW is very expensive already (and getting more so every day) so I'd prefer not to add to that. However, I would not mind paying a reasonable, fair price if I could use my (however many) FP's whenever and on whatever rides I choose. I really don't understand why Disney is making it so complicated for everyone. Just set a limit for how many are sold for each day/park. You don't raise the price so high that your bread and butter guests can't even consider buying any. Set a fair, reasonable price, build in a % discount for your onsite guests based on resort level (much like they do when they offer room discounts) and set a limit on amount sold so your standby guests are not too negatively impacted.

The massive difference between universal and Disney is the size of the parks. People go to universal for 2-3 days. They go to Disney for 5-7 days or more. Even $20/person per day would really add up. If Disney priced it like universal does, that would be so expensive that it would be the opposite of “customer focused.”