The fast pass "rumor"

[kdonnel]

When Disney opened AK, OKW still had the free passes. They did not offer that option to go to AK to those with the free passes even though many of them complained and DVC management had the direct choice whether to do so our not.

They did not allow you to visit the AK with any media purchased prior to its opening. That was not something special against DVC tickets. We had some park hopper tickets we bought before the AK was open. We had to pay to upgrade the tickets to get admission to the AK.

 

[Dean]

They did not allow you to visit the AK with any media purchased prior to its opening. That was not something special against DVC tickets. We had some park hopper tickets we bought before the AK was open. We had to pay to upgrade the tickets to get admission to the AK.

I don't believe that's accurate. The initial decision by Disney was to not grandfather, but they quickly changed it so that those with multi park passes, including AP, were granted admission to AK as part of their pass, without any additional cost.

 

[jarestel]

I don't believe that's accurate. The initial decision by Disney was to not grandfather, but they quickly changed it so that those with multi park passes, including AP, were granted admission to AK as part of their pass, without any additional cost.

It's still happening. A few months ago, a friend travelling with us had an old admission ticket from 1990 or so, and they upgraded and accepted it as admission to AK at no charge.

 

[bicker]

They didn't grandfather old media that quickly. They very consistently forced folks with old admission media to upgrade in order to get into Animal Kingdom for quite a while.

 

[CharlesTD]

In 2001 my wife and her family used old tickets that had 2 days on them the old punch tickets. They used them to get into AK and had no problems so I have no idea why people are saying they didn't allow the use of old media for entrance.

 

[raidermatt]

Universal only has two parks, while Disney has four, so providing FOTL access to deluxe resort guests may not be all that much different.

I'm too lazy to look up the numbers right now, but I'm pretty sure Disney still has a higher "on-site room : park" ratio, so I do think this would be at least more of a challenge for Disney.

Obviously the DTV convenience could be given to all on-site guests, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't, assuming its rolled out at all.

When it comes to "extra FPs", they could include all on-site guests by simply allowing them to get FPs at more frequent intervals, or maybe allowing 2 during the same intervals. Certainly that would decrease the number available to off-site guests, but wouldn't shut them out completely, and would also not muck up the current distribution system.

But it being offered on a much more select basis wouldn't surprise me either.

 

[bicker]

Universal only has two parks, while Disney has four, so providing FOTL access to deluxe resort guests may not be all that much different.

I'm too lazy to look up the numbers right now, but I'm pretty sure Disney still has a higher "on-site room : park" ratio, so I do think this would be at least more of a challenge for Disney.
...
But it being offered on a much more select basis wouldn't surprise me either.

Indeed: I was specifically referring to deluxe resort rooms.

 

[colleen costello]

Somehow I have missed hearing this rumor and I don't see a thread about it elsewhere. Could someone take a minute and fill me in? Would extra fastpasses be part of booking a package at WDW?

 

[lilkitty819]

Hi
I also would love to know about it

 

[bicker]

The rumors stem from the fact that Disney is patenting a whole bunch of permutations of FastPass technology, that involve providing advantages to higher-margin customers.

 

[kdonnel]

I don't believe that's accurate. The initial decision by Disney was to not grandfather, but they quickly changed it so that those with multi park passes, including AP, were granted admission to AK as part of their pass, without any additional cost.

We must have visited during that short period of time when they made us pay to upgrade the tickets. I assure you we paid to upgrade the tickets.

 

[Dean]

We must have visited during that short period of time when they made us pay to upgrade the tickets. I assure you we paid to upgrade the tickets.

I believe you but they did make the change fairly quickly, sorry you got stuck. I also know that the CM took a while to catch up and that some people had to pay the same day others didn't.

 

[Dean]

They didn't grandfather old media that quickly. They very consistently forced folks with old admission media to upgrade in order to get into Animal Kingdom for quite a while.

It was talked about for a while but much of it was prior to the opening. I think the period between AK opening and the courtesy upgrade was only maybe a month, two at the outside. Maybe others remember for certain. But they DID grandfather the old tickets. Still, DVC themselves made a conscious decision not to offer that option to DVC members. It was specifically discussed at board meetings and the decision was made not to offer the option. I'm sure there would have been a cost to DVD to do so. I guess we should remember this was just after (if I recall correctly) the new purchasers at OKW and VB DID NOT have the pass option, else I think the decision would likely have been different.

 

[SoCalKDG]

I actually think there might be more incentive to give DVC members FP then even someone staying in a Deluxe. Whats the one thing you hear members talk about? "I'm staying at such and such and we aren't even going to a park". Or "We go a couple days, but just enjoy the resort". Offering FP to DVC means we visit the park, we buy tickets to the park, we buy merchandise and food at the park. Get my drift. We DVC'ers go all the time. Being at the resort itself means alot to us. Disney wants our money. They need us in the parks. A couple FP seems like a very cheap way for Disney to get us into the park. Don't you think?

 

[bicker]

It was talked about for a while but much of it was prior to the opening. I think the period between AK opening and the courtesy upgrade was only maybe a month, two at the outside.

That's incorrect. It was much longer than a month -- well over seven months as a matter of fact. As reported to RADP by Kenny Cottrell when it happened, it wasn't until the beginning of the next year that Disney started upgrading passes for free. Disney was specifically interested in providing enough time to ensure that the vast majority of outstanding admission media that would ever be used had been either used or upgraded, prior to ending the upgrade program.

 

[Dean]

I actually think there might be more incentive to give DVC members FP then even someone staying in a Deluxe. Whats the one thing you hear members talk about? "I'm staying at such and such and we aren't even going to a park". Or "We go a couple days, but just enjoy the resort". Offering FP to DVC means we visit the park, we buy tickets to the park, we buy merchandise and food at the park. Get my drift. We DVC'ers go all the time. Being at the resort itself means alot to us. Disney wants our money. They need us in the parks. A couple FP seems like a very cheap way for Disney to get us into the park. Don't you think?

I think Disney is thinking the other way. They usually have enough people going to the park, I actually think Disney would rather have people staying on property and NOT going to the parks.

That's incorrect. It was much longer than a month -- well over seven months as a matter of fact. As reported to RADP by Kenny Cottrell when it happened, it wasn't until the beginning of the next year that Disney started upgrading passes for free. Disney was specifically interested in providing enough time to ensure that the vast majority of outstanding admission media that would ever be used had been either used or upgraded, prior to ending the upgrade program.

I don't believe it was 7 months after opening but it really doesn't matter, the principle's are the same.

 

[lenshanem]

http://www.jimhillmedia.com/mb/articles/showarticle.php?ID=1449

I had to search around for this. I've been outta the loop and this surprised me. I didn't know what ya'll were talking about! Maybe this link will help some of us who didn't know about the rumor.

Anyway, not sure I like what I read in that article. Sounds a little like Vegas to me. Not very Disney like. From what I gathered the amount of fastpasses you receive is not only based on the level of resort you stay at, but also the amount of your spending. So I'm assuming the fastpasses will be connected to your room keys and the amount given based on your room charges. (We never use our room keys to charge!) Kinda tacky to me.

 

[kathleena]

I think Disney is thinking the other way. They usually have enough people going to the park, I actually think Disney would rather have people staying on property and NOT going to the parks.

I have to disagree on this one because of how they have set up and promoted the MYW tickets. They have made it very cheap to go to Disney parks on the days you purchase above 5 days. That is encouraging people to keep going to the Disney park on extended trips. Setting up a FP system to discourage going to the parks would counter that effort. Wouldn't make business sense to sabotage your own program. So it would make sense to me that the FP would encourage park visits.

 

[lenshanem]

I gave given this more thought.

This system would let the spoiled rich kid whose parents take him to the GF concierge every year virtual walk ons to all the popular rides that he has probably been on many times before, but the poor kid whose parents saved up forever for their once in a lifetime trip to WDW staying at Pop Century the longest waits for those same rides cause they didn't have the large amount of cash like the first family did. Extreme example, but I'm making a point here. So not all kids would get the same experience at the parks, but their parents paid the same in price for admission - just some kids got the fancier resort with more souvenirs to take back home. OK...

One thing to think about, too is if you pay for your park tickets on your room charge how many fastpasses will you get from that? I think many of us DVCers buy APs before our trip? So we wouldn't get that large amount of money charged to our room right off the bat like others.

We went to Six Flags last summer and they have a similar system, called Q-Bot or something like that? You have to pay for it. It was something ridiculous like $100 for a family of 4 for one day! I thought it was so tacky and rude, that stupid park had already gotten like $200 from our family for about 4 hours worth of time before we left. (Not impressed with the Six Flags...) On the same lines, $100 for a family of 4 at WDW for a WEEK would seem more fair to everyone and I'd be willing to buy.

Now, I must admit I'm a hypocrite here cause I'm not gonna turn away fastpasses if they give them to us DVCers.

Just making some points...

 

[lllovell]

I think that Disney taking away the benefit from people staying at the value and moderate resorts will NEVER happen. There are too many rooms there and on a daily basis, those hotels are their bread and butter.

What I see with this system is a base level (which will NOT be lower than the average number of Fast Passes available per day now - so lets say 3 for example) at the Values, maybe one more at the Moderates and 2 more at the Deluxe level. I also think that what is more important about this program is that you would be able to SCHEDULE your Fast Pass times, not simply get what ever is next available when you get to the machine. You could schedule all 3 in the late afternoon for example and spend your mornings at the pool or do it the other way around. Either way, it would probably greatly enhance the people who actually would use the system's time value inside the parks.

There is no guarantee that they will take away the current system. I see it being implemented where walk-up users (be they onsite or off) will get a certain amount of FP tickets per day on the same old first come first served basis where and people staying onsite will have already made their "reservations" the day before and will simply need to show up when its time to ride.

There is a general assumption made by many that people in the lower tier would be treated poorly. I don't see that happening. I simply see (as is the trend in all hospitality industries at the moment) people that spend more and more money are given better perks. It already happens at WDW now (concer. level, those that can afford 10 day MYW tickets get in for a cheaper price than those that can't, ME and EMH which are for onsite guests only, etc) only they are trying to attract more and more of those folks spending more money elsewhere to stay onsite (be it at the GF or at Pop).

We are always talking about DVCers being a captive audience. People staying onsite who rode ME to get to the parks are truly the captice audience Disney is looking for. ALL onsite guests will benefit from a program like this. (and I am not convinced at all that off site guests will suffer if they leave the current program in place - they still would have a good chance at a FP for most of the day).