Pay Per Ride FP incoming?

[jennyq87]

I can't say I hate this idea for my personal situation. There's just two of us and we're not huge on rides. We have our must-do's, but they're pretty much all in the Tier 1 category, so we often just skipped what we couldn't get FPs for. If we could pay an extra ~$100 or so over the course of a few days and save time standing in line, I'm on board. Having said that, I do think they need to provide some level of free FPs to resort guests as an incentive. Maybe they bring back the 3 free, but beyond that there are paid options? Because if I was a family of 6 and I knew I had no FPs and would be standing in endless lines that I couldn't/didn't want to afford paying to avoid, I'd probably stop going into the parks.

 

[BugsPop]

I don’t see how that even would make sense to put in place at WDW…. Tix at WDW are more expensive to start with, and DLP is more like DL in terms of visiting patterns…

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Wait, what was it before? Just "20 mins"?

Yup, they made the change to include standby about a month ago and everyone was like

I love MaxPass and I'll be so sad to see it go... if it does. I feel like that option is still so recent-ish... maybe they'll just change it at WDW and leave DLR alone... MaxPass was introduced in 2017 right? So I mean five years old I guess.. Maybe it'll switch to just only MaxPass with no free option? My speculation here is based on nothing except my own hopes haha.

 

[abent]

I have nothing positive for thoughts on this. From the position of every cost, and upcharges on everything for families to the extra need for phones for access. I like to dive deep into current park info for my trips, but I know so many don’t. Will this be another layer of confusion for people?

 

[PirateBrigade]

I’d pay it, sorry y’all. I’d pay it all day/every day.

It’s like priority check-in/seating on airlines. I already fork over $$$ to board a plane (that has free check-in bags) first even though it’s literally a few rows ahead on aplane that takes off and lands at the same time for everyone on it.

MaxPass was just a foot testing the water, this is what Disney wanted to do from the beginning. I’m looking forward to not setting 90min timers on MaxPass and just shelling out $$.

I do agree with the above that I’m spending more time on my phone in the parks than I want to (between mobile orders, paying for things, checking wait times, reserving MaxPass, refreshing MaxPass looking for cancelled rides, etc…).

 

[PirateBrigade]

I have nothing positive for thoughts on this. From the position of every cost, and upcharges on everything for families to the extra need for phones for access. I like to dive deep into current park info for my trips, but I know so many don’t. Will this be another layer of confusion for people?

I have nothing positive for thoughts on this. From the position of every cost, and upcharges on everything for families to the extra need for phones for access. I like to dive deep into current park info for my trips, but I know so many don’t. Will this be another layer of confusion for people?

And yes, people will be confused and disappointed they can’t ride XYZ because of VQ, max pass, premiere pass, boarding group, etc…

I was reading a micechat article that people were just showing up to parks without reservations. I read that and said…goodness, that was overcommunicated every step of the way, those folks wouldn’t stand a chance navigating higher orders of Disney complexity.

 

[mouschievous]

I hate it. I don't want to spend double the cost of the ticket to be able to ride. If we're going to do that, then let's go with a small entry fee and ride tickets again. I don't mind paying for MaxPass, but the equivalent of a day's ticket cost is too rich for my blood.

I'm actually a bit worried. We have our first WDW trip planned for January and I'm concerned this will happen there before we go and we'll have to decide between spending a lot more money than planned, or only getting to go on a couple of rides because of long lines.

 

[abent]

And yes, people will be confused and disappointed they can’t ride XYZ because of VQ, max pass, premiere pass, boarding group, etc…

I was reading a micechat article that people were just showing up to parks without reservations. I read that and said…goodness, that was overcommunicated every step of the way, those folks wouldn’t stand a chance navigating higher orders of Disney complexity.

I love “planning” my Disney trips, some may say “overplanning” but I always keep up to date with the changes and plan accordingly. I would even consider happily paying for ”fast passes”. I love the opportunities of every single extra.
What I fear will be lost is the average family experience. To actually enjoy Disneyland it will have to such a preplanned, micro managed trip just to do the things…..we have boarding groups, reservations, mobile orders, photo passes, dinging reservations, all of it can be overwhelming to even myself who enjoys it! The average family that decides to buy tickets and show up i fear is not going to have a “ magical” experience.

 

[kanerf]

My opinion, this should be included with AP (which are bound to cost more when reinstated) and as an add-on to a regular ticket in much the same way as Park Hopper is done today.

 

[sjmac42]

Remember you can get a day ticket to DLP from £40.95 for a dated 1 park ticket (about US$56.50 vs US$104 at DL) to £108.95 for an open dated parkhopper (about US$149 vs US$209 for a dated parkhopper at DL on a Saturday, Christmas pricing not yet showing). Multi day tickets are also much cheaper but their site is down atm so can’t give prices on those. It’s a whole other ballgame with FP over there as entry prices to DLP are significantly cheaper than the US parks, on some cases, nearly half the price. Add MaxPass at DL and it’s often less than half the price to visit DLP.

So the chances of FP costing the same in the USA as they do at DLP are basically zero. Plus as I said earlier, this isn’t new for DLP, paid FP (or including them with an onsite hotel stay) has been a thing at DLP for years. Will we pay for FP in the future, probably yes. Will it be $20 per ride, almost certainly no.

 

[DontSpamMe]

This seems like it will help the standby wait times. I'm guessing most will opt to not pay per ride which means the standby line gets more people on the ride equalling shorter wait times. The fast passers bog down the standby line. I'm cool with waiting 20 to 30 minutes per ride. I really enjoyed how quickly the lines moved a few weeks ago without the fast passers. I've always been impressed with how efficient Disney is at boarding and unloading vehicles. Space mountain is the prime example here.

 

[DisLiss]

I'm getting too old for this.

What I really dislike is the move to near-necessary smartphone use at the parks and the general increase in complexity of the whole setup.

Tech generally doesn't simplify anything, it just lets you complicate things in new ways.

I don't even think it has to do with how old you are. When I read all of this, I think I'm glad that my kids are a bit older now and can use a phone themselves for some of it. Because if I still had toddlers/babies, I would really dislike having to constantly mess with my phone on our trip. I actually think it's worse to be at that stage of your life and have to be constantly messing with your phone while you're trying to enjoy the parks. having little kids with you at WDW is already challenging. I wouldn't have wanted to add all of this into the mix.

 

[disneycat321]

I really loved Maxpass, so I'd be disappointed if this replaces it at DLR.

However, WDW lines are just a hot mess. We weren't huge fans of FP+ (and we did use it well, just weren't fans of how it sucked all the spontaneity out), and the standby lines there were (are? not sure...) just so long they were a joke. I actually wouldn't mind paying this at some of the rides there... (FOP comes to mind immediately.)

 

[azdisneylover]

Just announced for Disneyland Paris.
$10-$18 per ride per person.

Knotts Berry Farms is sounding better and better! More bang for the buck.

 

[Wesley815]

This seems like it will help the standby wait times. I'm guessing most will opt to not pay per ride which means the standby line gets more people on the ride equalling shorter wait times. The fast passers bog down the standby line. I'm cool with waiting 20 to 30 minutes per ride. I really enjoyed how quickly the lines moved a few weeks ago without the fast passers. I've always been impressed with how efficient Disney is at boarding and unloading vehicles. Space mountain is the prime example here.

I agree, however the Virtual Queue part makes me nervous if they start switching attractions to only paid Fast Pass and free VQ (which is basically lottery system at 7am and 12noon).... with no true "standby".

 

[Kender]

I am okay with the old MaxPass system, and would be okay with them raising the price to something like $20 per day to make unlimited fastpass reservations on the phone and have unlimited Photos as part of the package. Having the system structured as per ride/per fastpass is not something I would do.

They already did raise it to $20 before they shut down last year.

 

[Magicbeans]

Universal has to be drooling at a lot of Disney 's greed. I'm sure they are happy to take any and all people that feel priced out at this time.

 

[PirateBrigade]

Universal has to be drooling at a lot of Disney 's greed. I'm sure they are happy to take any and all people that feel priced out at this time.

yeah, but it’s not a perfect substitution, either. If my fam reduces DL trips/days, we are probably going to do redirect that time/money to camping, beach time, or other local museums/activities. Universal, Knott’s, and Six Flags aren’t really high up on our lists.

Basically, Disneyland or bust? Curious if others are in that line of thinking.

 

[Magicbeans]

I'd agree Universal isn't "magic" in the Disney way. Many I agree will simply do other things. Still Universal loves the idea of Disney costing out a certain section of guest.

 

[Karin1984]

In Disneyland Paris Fastpass is also available for

1. Indiana Jones Rollercoaster
2. Phantom Manor
3. Flying Carpets Over Agrabah

Phantom Manor and I think also Carpets are only back up fp rides when others are in refurbishment. They are not part of the normal selection.