Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[zuzustargal]

I stand corrected.

Resort bookings are high. Room rates
are high. Resort perks are low. Win Win for Disney.

I agree - Disney has won big due to Covid. EMH were a way of pushing people to certain parks by making it seem like a perk. The park pass reservation system has now eliminated the need for EMH because Disney now has total control of who goes where...at least until 2:00pm. The new 30 minute "perk" was invented to appease those of us rope droppers. Disney has learned that we will put up with a lot and still spend big money just to be there.

 

[jordan13402]

I agree - Disney has won big due to Covid. EMH were a way of pushing people to certain parks by making it seem like a perk. The park pass reservation system has now eliminated the need for EMH because Disney now has total control of who goes where...at least until 2:00pm. The new 30 minute "perk" was invented to appease those of us rope droppers. Disney has learned that we will put up with a lot and still spend big money just to be there.

All it cost them to finally pull the trigger on these changes was a Billion dollar loss while the parks were all shut down

 

[Dis Dragon]

It was a large monetary loss for the closure and the ramp up back to normal park occupancy, but it gave them the chance to change things that they otherwise would've had an extremely difficult time (if not impossible) to take away/implement. It was a win for park revenue going forward. The biggest example is the end of the AP's in Disneyland. This gave them the leverage to discontinue several extras and figure out a pay to play system for FP.

 

[cakebaker]

All it cost them to finally pull the trigger on these changes was a Billion dollar loss while the parks were all shut down

Silver linings....Of course they wouldn’t have chosen to do it this way, but guests proved to them that they could make huge cuts and they’d still pay. Had people stayed away after re-opening we’d be seeing a much different WDW today.

 

[HuskieJohn]

If I were a WDW executive I would reduce FP+ per ride by 10%, bring back the 3 free FP+ for everyone (giving onsite guests first dibs as it was before) then monetize the 4th 5th and 6th FP+ at $25 per Tier 1 FP+ and $15 per Tier 2 FP+ ($25/$15 for a single FP+ not all 3). After the 6th FP+ you are no longer able to receive any more in any park for that day.

Guests are only able to reserve (pay) for an additional single FP+ after you use your first 3 free ones in the park

Using their app you would input which rides you want to do and it would give you a list of the available FP+ times for those rides.

 

[ST1TCH]

Maybe it was in this thread, I cannot find it at the moment, but something was stated that I think completely got passed over. Could have been another thread, hard to keep track.

Someone was at HS and actually kept track of the # of people that were going into the Slinky Dog FP line and counted close to 300 in a 1hr time span (I think, something along those lines). Seems that would surely point to some type of quiet FP testing going on, wouldn't be that many disabled, tours, special people?

 

[Wandering Oaken]

If I were a WDW executive I would reduce FP+ per ride by 10%, bring back the 3 free FP+ for everyone (giving onsite guests first dibs as it was before) then monetize the 4th 5th and 6th FP+ at $25 per Tier 1 FP+ and $15 per Tier 2 FP+ ($25/$15 for a single FP+ not all 3). After the 6th FP+ you are no longer able to receive any more in any park for that day.

Guests are only able to reserve (pay) for an additional single FP+ after you use your first 3 free ones in the park

Using their app you would input which rides you want to do and it would give you a list of the available FP+ times for those rides.

I would like this.

 

[Lewisc]

Maybe it was in this thread, I cannot find it at the moment, but something was stated that I think completely got passed over. Could have been another thread, hard to keep track.

Someone was at HS and actually kept track of the # of people that were going into the Slinky Dog FP line and counted close to 300 in a 1hr time span (I think, something along those lines). Seems that would surely point to some type of quiet FP testing going on, wouldn't be that many disabled, tours, special people?

Child swap uses FP. How many famlies have one Child who doesn't ride? I imagine there could be that many.

 

[Wandering Oaken]

Child swap uses FP. How many famlies have one Child who doesn't ride? I imagine there could be that many.

Great. Now I have to borrow someone's toddler.

 

[cakebaker]

Great. Now I have to borrow someone's toddler.
View attachment 584205

I cried the day my grandson reached the height requirements for every ride. Rider swap is even more valuable now. I tried to talk my daughter into having another baby, but it was a no go. I bet she regrets that decision now when we could really use it!

 

[Gary Stocker]

Great. Now I have to borrow someone's toddler.
View attachment 584205

It worked for Cal on the Titanic.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

The biggest example is the end of the AP's in Disneyland. This gave them the leverage to discontinue several extras and figure out a pay to play system for FP.

I'm really interested to see how this membership thing is structured at Disneyland and will the locals embrace it or revolt? Will it favor the locals still or be at least a little bit more towards non-locals. It's something I'm watching because I wonder if anything will make its way to WDW or if things at WDW will influence what they do at Disneyland.

 

[Dural]

All it cost them to finally pull the trigger on these changes was a Billion dollar loss while the parks were all shut down

Yes, COVID hurt the parks business and the movies business, but it also tremendously helped the new streaming business which is likely the future of the company. Disney's market cap went from ~250bn right before COVID in 1/2020 to ~320bn today mostly due to the performance of the new streaming platform. They also have over 15bn cash on hand. A loss at the parks for one year really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things with this company and really shouldn't be something we, as guests, should even think about. It's been decades since the parks are what kept the company afloat.

 

[silverace]

Yes, COVID hurt the parks business and the movies business, but it also tremendously helped the new streaming business which is likely the future of the company. Disney's market cap went from ~250bn right before COVID in 1/2020 to ~320bn today mostly due to the performance of the new streaming platform. They also have over 15bn cash on hand. A loss at the parks for one year really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things with this company and really shouldn't be something we, as guests, should even think about. It's been decades since the parks are what kept the company afloat.

yes totally agree

 

[Dis Dragon]

Rider swap is weird to me how it's implemented. My daughter hates ToT, but my son loves it. We were going to register for rider swap the last time we were there but they would make my daughter stand in the 80+ minute line with us, as she meets height requirement. If she was shorter she wouldn't have to... How is that fair? We ended up not doing it and one parent just had to do without riding.

 

[Dis Dragon]

I'm really interested to see how this membership thing is structured at Disneyland and will the locals embrace it or revolt? Will it favor the locals still or be at least a little bit more towards non-locals. It's something I'm watching because I wonder if anything will make its way to WDW or if things at WDW will influence what they do at Disneyland.

The thing is, the locals have no choice but to embrace it. They will definitely shift it towards non-locals because that's where they cash in. The DL AP was such a value, you could drop in whenever you wanted as a local and it changed the demographic of the park to even be a detriment to non-locals. If you've been to WDW and DL you can see how that plays out in the guests at the park.

 

[bunnm09]

The thing is, the locals have no choice but to embrace it. They will definitely shift it towards non-locals because that's where they cash in. The DL AP was such a value, you could drop in whenever you wanted as a local and it changed the demographic of the park to even be a detriment to non-locals. If you've been to WDW and DL you can see how that plays out in the guests at the park.

Yeah we've been to DL once and it was very interesting to see the very different dynamic out there. On weekdays the crowd would pick up substantially once you got to late afternoon and school was out and you'd see floods of teenagers in large groups together. Definitely a locals park in California

 

[cakebaker]

Rider swap is weird to me how it's implemented. My daughter hates ToT, but my son loves it. We were going to register for rider swap the last time we were there but they would make my daughter stand in the 80+ minute line with us, as she meets height requirement. If she was shorter she wouldn't have to... How is that fair? We ended up not doing it and one parent just had to do without riding.

If you read the guidelines on the website, you are allowed to get a swap just because someone in your party doesn't want to ride- sounds good, but it just isn't working that way in the parks and honestly, I don't know how it could. It would lead to unbelievable abuse. But here's the description:

"If Guests in your party can’t or don’t want to board an attraction, you don’t have to miss out!
If a child does not meet the height requirement or a Guest does not wish to board a particular attraction, no problem! With Rider Switch, one adult can wait with the non-rider (or riders) while the rest of the party enjoys the attraction. When the other adult returns, they can supervise the non-riding Guests, and the waiting adult can board the attraction without having to wait in the regular line again!"

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you've been to WDW and DL you can see how that plays out in the guests at the park.

We felt that way too where there was just a different vibe. One thing we noticed is the signage was different. In WDW they def. seem to cater to people who may not know how to navigate the parks and we found that at DLR they sorta expected you to know more, understandable if looking at it from a locals park. I was honestly astonished how inexpensive it would be for someone to add MP to their AP. There were a few other things too.

 

[TexasChick123]

Maybe it was in this thread, I cannot find it at the moment, but something was stated that I think completely got passed over. Could have been another thread, hard to keep track.

Someone was at HS and actually kept track of the # of people that were going into the Slinky Dog FP line and counted close to 300 in a 1hr time span (I think, something along those lines). Seems that would surely point to some type of quiet FP testing going on, wouldn't be that many disabled, tours, special people?

Disability Access Service uses that FP line too.