Resort Class Could = Fast Pass

[ChrisFL]

Sorry brunoflipper, but NOTHING is about keeping up with the jones'. USF had its chance with tons of usf upporters (even here on the DIS) saying how Disney needs to worry, how USF is so much more hip, so much better...But USF is causing absolutely no ill effects on WDW and WDW isn't paying any attention to what they do. They are simply another park in Orlando. Even the FOTL perk given by USF is a non factor because virtually everyone knows with WDW's size this simply can't be done.

I actually think that Disney DOES think about the effect that USF has, or else we wouldn't be seeing things like the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Mission:Space, and Everest.

But as far as the FOTL for hotel guests, agreed Disney has waaay too many hotels for that to work

 

[Peter Pirate]

You're right Chris, Disney surely knows what the public is looking for and in that vein it would be true that obviously Disney does keep tabs on USF as well as all of the other competetors...But not our of fear or necessity, more like research.

 

[Plus4206]

They all keep tabs on each other.USF saw what Disney was doing and realized that trying to be another WDW would not work. They saw that Disney had left the thrill market wide open and they smartly capitalized on it. Disney in turn said "Hmmmm... " .

 

[disrailfan]

1) All guests can get at least two FP for the day(say 2 for Value, 3 for Moderate, 4 for Deluxe, 5 for Concierge). This limit is for all 4 parks total, so you can't get 20 FP if you are Concierge.

3) Make sure DVC is at least considered a Moderate in the above listed condition(hey, I'm a DVC member )

Wow, Only a moderate for DVC? I am a member too and while I kind of understand where you are coming from. Compare the amount of money that we have already given Disney for our Vacation Club purchase. not too mention that if I am staying on cash nights I am paying far more than any moderate? Just some thoughts!

 

[disrailfan]

I have a question? Didn't Jim Hill get kicked out of Disneyland for giving "Unauthorized" tours? Maybe this is just aimed at getting people stirred up and writing letters to Disney?



Just my other 2 cents worth.

 

[robsmom]

"Now, of course, they could always set the distribution to 5,000 for deluxe and 0 for all others, but what's the point in that? Remember, the goal of Fast Pass is to keep us out of the queue and spending money in the park. They really don't want anyone to be in the queue at all, if they can help it.
[/QUOTE]

If the goal is/was to keep people out of the lines to spend money then the idea of getting your higher paying guests out of line makes good business sense. If you are Disney leave the budget guest who is not able to buy expensive souveniers or food in line and get your big spenders out of the lines and into the stores and restaurants.

I don't agree with the premise that everyone pays the same to get into the park. If people pay a premium to be on site vs a comparable hotel off site and they do this to get some perks/priviledges in the park - they are basically paying more for the park. it may be a hidden cost and not as obvious as charging for fastpasses but it is a charge.

Having done Universal with the FOTL on a busy weekend, i have to say that they have totally created a class system within the park. Having FOTL made it one of the best park experiences every but watching those without made me realize that i will NEVER go to Universal without it. I didn't buy the passes but i got FOTL because of what i paid for a hotel room. Trust me, i paid for the benefit. But class systems exist in tourism all the time. First class, business, coach in flyiing, standard rooms, deluxe, rooms with views, suites, concierge at hotels. The entire tourism business is built on providing different levels of service to meet different needs. I don't see the difference with FP.

 

[rocketriter]

Gotta say that if a class system does develop, I'd expect excellent treatment as a DVC member. I can see ranking below Concierge--maybe--but not below anything else. Disney's got a big chunk of my money to invest, I'm paying yearly dues, they've got my commitment to come to the parks frequently over a many-year period, they're putting me up in multi-room suites at the Beach Club. So I'd expect to rank a lot higher than "moderate." La-de-dah! Does that mean I think there should be a class system at the parks? No, it doesn't, beyond the classes that exist now (staying off-site, staying on-site, staying Concierge). But if there is, I'd expect to rank reasonably well.

 

[FANTASMIC!]

He's not spinning, he's applauding the business sense of Al Weiss.

Agreed! This is good buniness and is to attract people to stay on property and to stay at more expensive hotels. I think it's Geniness!

 

[chernabog]

Okay, so let's apply some of this "the more you pay, the more you get" logic. I'm a DVC member. Using a conservative amount of spending $2500/trip/year over the 42 year span of my membership and then adding the $15,000 for points, I'll have spent $106,500 by the time I croak. Now using the "logic," that should give me the right to knock down Dopey or Tigger, put on their costume and prance around the park for the entire day! I mean, give me break!

Although, Walt was a businessman, remember his intentions were to build a park that children AND adults could enjoy together! It had nothing to do with how much money you spent or whether they stayed at the Contemporary or Howard Johnsons. Walt Disney's intentions are light years apart from the current "regime."

As for Al Weiss being a financial genius, I would beg to differ. Any of these schleps that have been associated with Eisner should be run out of town. These knuckleheads are the reason that the Walt Disney Company is now the Walt Disney Corporation!
This is just another example of their "corporate bigotry."

 

[SoCalKDG]

Wow, Only a moderate for DVC? I am a member too and while I kind of understand where you are coming from. Compare the amount of money that we have already given Disney for our Vacation Club purchase. not too mention that if I am staying on cash nights I am paying far more than any moderate? Just some thoughts!

I didn't want to get too greedy, you know.

Even if everyone got 3 FP's equally across the board(all onsite customers), I'd be a happy camper if I could reserve them the night before on my TV. Being able to choose my FP for 11-12, 12-1, and 1-2 so I can sleep in, then not have to run around the park once I got there to get the FP would be great. Do a half day at the park, then back to the hotel for some R&R.

 

[mark&sue]

We are DVC members (with 400 points and live in UK) and have just come back from WDW and we stayed a few nights at Hard Rock Hotel. We could not believe the difference the front of the line room key made and promised ourselves to go back to a universal hotel for a couple of nights next time we go to WDW thus saving some DVC points at the same time.

When we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel we thought it was very overpriced with small rooms compared to DVC. The staff were aggresive and very rude. The front of the line pass changed our minds and all of our party said it would be worth the extra money to pay for the front of the line pass (especially Memorial Day weekend!). Our youngsters in our group wanted to ride spiderman again and again. It was just amazing to go at a busy time and go on anything you wanted as many times as you wanted. Thus more time to walk back to the hotel for a nice afternoon/evening by the beach with a cocktail!!

If Disney were to introduce the same thing and did not include DVC members surely this would put off a lot of potential new members. Some may even wish to sell. These front of the line passes really make a difference at a busy time of the year.

There are some days you stay at a Disney Resort and don't even go to the parks will this be figured into the calculations?

I look forward to seeing how this works out but have an open mind. May have to use some of the DVC points for stay for say two nights in conceirge at one of the deluxes on the days we intend to go to magic kingdom and animal kingdom once EE opens!!! After all we are saving points during our trip whilst we stay at Universal!!!!



Susan

 

[Laurajean1014]

I personally don't have a problem with this concept at all. In fact, I like it. I do think that Disney resort guests should get a little more bang for their buck considering that even the values are typically more expensive than some moderate offsite hotels. Why not entice the buyer? In the business world, this is a smart move. Disney, like any other business, needs to make money to remain in the game. Let's not forget that Universal does exactly this concept. You stay onsite, you get better front of line priviledges. If you choose to stay elsewhere, you have the option of purchasing different "fast pass" level benefits. If you choose to not make that purchase nor stay at their hotel, you still get "fastpass" benefits, but not as frequently.

I totally agree.

 

[Forevryoung]

I posted this awhile back on another thread.

So you can get unlimited (or nearly unlimited or whatever) fastpasses if you stay concierge-

Hypothetically, I could save up my money, stay a long weekend conceirge and do all the rides I wanted to as fast as possible. Then I would go home not spending any money on anything else because I spent all the money on my hotel room If I could knock off all the major rides in a few hours at each park and still have time to relax. Why would I stay off site (like I just did) for a week and go to the parks every day and take my time? I got tired of standing in line. Concierge would fill up fast!

 

[TDC Nala]

If the goal is/was to keep people out of the lines to spend money then the idea of getting your higher paying guests out of line makes good business sense. If you are Disney leave the budget guest who is not able to buy expensive souveniers or food in line and get your big spenders out of the lines and into the stores and restaurants.

How about the budget guest who has more to spend in the parks because they spend less on the room?

 

[SoCalKDG]

I posted this awhile back on another thread.

So you can get unlimited (or nearly unlimited or whatever) fastpasses if you stay concierge-

Hypothetically, I could save up my money, stay a long weekend conceirge and do all the rides I wanted to as fast as possible. Then I would go home not spending any money on anything else because I spent all the money on my hotel room If I could knock off all the major rides in a few hours at each park and still have time to relax. Why would I stay off site (like I just did) for a week and go to the parks every day and take my time? I got tired of standing in line. Concierge would fill up fast!

Since conceirge costs 6-8 times what a budget hotel costs, you'd still pay more for your two days then you would for a week at a budget. Combine this with the fact that FP only makes up less than 1/4 of all the rides, something like this wouldn't gain you that much at WDW. Disney would love for you to do this.

 

[rocketriter]

How about the budget guest who has more to spend in the parks because they spend less on the room?

There are many conflicting "how abouts." The one that touches our family is, "How about the family who chooses the parks more often as a vacation destination because fast passes make the experience more fun and less annoying?" In this case, fast passes are consistent with other aspects of the parks, like the incredibly expensive popcorn machines, that could never be justified on a cost-against-income basis but that improve the park experience enough to create a very desirable, memorable and repeatable vacation.

 

[bicker]

"How about the family who chooses the parks more often as a vacation destination because fast passes make the experience more fun and less annoying?"

Well, I think the impact of that is pretty consistent regardless of who you are. (It's one of the few things like that, perhaps. ) So other factors -- factors that have a greater variability of impact -- would generally predominate with regard to making the right business decision. A factor such as the one you mentioned merely buffers the impact of other factors -- it doesn't countermand those other factors.

 

[BethA]

As DVC members we would also hope to be included. As the price for DVC grows this would be a great selling point, but DVC does not always get treated the same, even though they got all our money (plus interest) up front.

 

[bianca66]

Just to comment on Peter Pirate's post -
I would think the exisitence of MGM Studios is a fine example of how Disney has been paying attention to US. I would think, as a big corporation competing with another one in very close proximity, they had better pay attention to US and probably do. If you go to the tripadvisor.com boards, there are loads and loads of people who simply find Disney attractions not up to par w/US. Basically, most vacationers go for a week to ten days to Orlando area. With that amt. of limited time, you are forced to choose between the big two - WDW or US/IOA - not to mention the latter has much better prices and you can get that flexticket that also incl. SeaWorld and Busch Gardens AND Wet 'n Wild and it is substantially cheaper than Disney. While I've never been to US, it became obvious to me, during my pre-trip research, that US and Disney are in direct competition w/one another.

 

[disrailfan]

Just got back from the world this weekend. Spent 8 days there and talked to as many CM's as I could. At least 4 of the 10 I talked to indicated that the Fast Pass Machines are going to be coming out of the parks. two of them indicated that Disney Resort guests would be able to get their fast passes for the day from their respective resort. This sounds to be right in line with what the patent application talks about. They did not indicate how they would be distributed and only one CM gave me a speculative date of by June of 2006 that this would happen.

This is what I know, will have to wait till my trip in December to see if this holds true and there are any other signs that this is happening.

Later,


DisRailFan