VQ permanent for ROR

[Thecouch]

Actually, fp is not better for Disney, it keeps more people in lines and also slows up the standby line which in return keeps those people in lines longer and Disney dont make money when people are waiting in lines. The less time people stand in line equals more time in shops and restaurants spending money. The whole intent of the vq is so people can continue to shop, eat and spend money whilst waiting for their time to ride.

I would say FP does the same. While some people might wait in stand bye for 60min plus the majority of riders use fastpass (I hear around 80% on some rides). So fastpass users can have the same free time as the boarding pass people and you could even say as it has set times people will morelikelybook sit down restaurants

 

[charmed59]

Fast Passes are a plus for those spending money on the resorts who like long term planning. The longer the stay the better the chance of getting hard to get fast passes. Virtual ques are a plus for those early risers who may or may not be staying onsite. It gives people who say “hey, let’s go to Disney tomorrow!” a reason to go.

If Disney is filling onsite resorts to their potential but finding park revenues are still down, then widening their potential park clientele is a good idea.

 

[SirBill]

I would say FP does the same. While some people might wait in stand bye for 60min plus the majority of riders use fastpass (I hear around 80% on some rides). So fastpass users can have the same free time as the boarding pass people and you could even say as it has set times people will morelikelybook sit down restaurants

With FP you can just show up to the park shortly before your FP time. With a BG, it brings people into the parks earlier (to get a BG) but then also brings them back later again for the ride, so more total time in front of merchandising opportunity...

Those people let in to Hollywood Studios early, to get a BG... they are all shopping or getting food/drinks at a time none of them would be there if they had a fast pass.

 

[Miffy]

I'd prefer they do away with VQ all together and just stick with FP.

Hi, @JETSDAD! Have you been at DHS since RotR started? I was there last week and did RotR twice. This is not just a ride, it's an experience. People, including me, were standing in line at 5 a.m. just to get into a boarding group. The BGs have been filling up by maybe 1/2 hour after park opening the last week.

I like FP+ too (sometimes) and I certainly like it when I get to ride FoP again as my 4th FP+ of the day . . . but if right now, with the popularity of RotR, this went to FP+ and a standby line and eliminated the VQ, then it seems to me that it would be actually impossible to get a FP+ for RotR unless you were staying onsite and had a trip that was going to last at least a week.

There are still 3- and 4-hour standby lines for FoP--the only thing that's sort of comparable to RotR--yet it is possible to get a FP+ for it, with persistence. One day last week, my sister and I got our 4th FP+ for FoP while we were standing in line waiting for our seat assignment for FoP! With the way things were last week with RotR, if there were a standby line, it would've been 8 or 9 hours long--or as long as WDW would've let it be.

I don't want to put any spoilers here--there are plenty of other places to find out just what RotR is--but RotR is the most innovative ride/experience I've ever seen at WDW and my guess is that as more people experience it, more people are going to want to experience it, because word of mouth is powerful advertising.

WDW may very well go to a FP+ system or some combination of FP+ and VQ and standby. We'll see.

 

[SirBill]

Hi, @JETSDAD! ... more people are going to want to experience it, because word of mouth is powerful advertising.

WDW may very well go to a FP+ system or some combination of FP+ and VQ and standby. We'll see.

I totally agree that as word of mouth gets around the popularity of this thing will shoot up... there are already so many YouTube videos from popular Disney related channels that totally praise this thing, that's stuff that people will see before visiting.

Your last note had me imagining some humorous future system, where you'd have to get a FP+ ahead of time, in order to have a chance at getting a boarding group on the day...

 

[JETSDAD]

Hi, @JETSDAD! Have you been at DHS since RotR started? I was there last week and did RotR twice. This is not just a ride, it's an experience. People, including me, were standing in line at 5 a.m. just to get into a boarding group. The BGs have been filling up by maybe 1/2 hour after park opening the last week.

I like FP+ too (sometimes) and I certainly like it when I get to ride FoP again as my 4th FP+ of the day . . . but if right now, with the popularity of RotR, this went to FP+ and a standby line and eliminated the VQ, then it seems to me that it would be actually impossible to get a FP+ for RotR unless you were staying onsite and had a trip that was going to last at least a week.

There are still 3- and 4-hour standby lines for FoP--the only thing that's sort of comparable to RotR--yet it is possible to get a FP+ for it, with persistence. One day last week, my sister and I got our 4th FP+ for FoP while we were standing in line waiting for our seat assignment for FoP! With the way things were last week with RotR, if there were a standby line, it would've been 8 or 9 hours long--or as long as WDW would've let it be.

I don't want to put any spoilers here--there are plenty of other places to find out just what RotR is--but RotR is the most innovative ride/experience I've ever seen at WDW and my guess is that as more people experience it, more people are going to want to experience it, because word of mouth is powerful advertising.

WDW may very well go to a FP+ system or some combination of FP+ and VQ and standby. We'll see.

Even much closer to the opening of FOP we were able to get FP's night before and multiple times each day we were at AK. We were riding FOP 3-4 times per day. We haven't had a chance to ride RotR yet but I don't want to ride it only once per day and have to arrive before/at opening to be able to ride it once, later. With FP I can plan around a certain time and can ride top attractions multiple times so yes, for me I would rather have FP's available.

 

[Thecouch]

If Disney is filling onsite resorts to their potential but finding park revenues are still down, then widening their potential park clientele is a good idea.

I think attendence was down but revenue up last year

 

[PetePanMan]

Fast Passes are a plus for those spending money on the resorts who like long term planning. The longer the stay the better the chance of getting hard to get fast passes. Virtual ques are a plus for those early risers who may or may not be staying onsite. It gives people who say “hey, let’s go to Disney tomorrow!” a reason to go.

If Disney is filling onsite resorts to their potential but finding park revenues are still down, then widening their potential park clientele is a good idea.

I do wonder about impact on demand for Disney onsite accommodation if VQ system is expanded without any benefit to onsite guests.

 

[Jennytoon]

The biggest argument against VQ replacing FP+ long term is that VQ is simply an updated version of the old Fastpass system. Yes, you don't get your return time when you are first assigned your boarding group, but it has every other flaw of the original Fastpass system including the need to get to the parks at RD.

Boarding groups being gone a half hour after the park opens is not different than TSM fastpasses being gone 45 minutes after the park opens. Sure, there are downsides to the FP+ system. But with the original FP we never rode TSM until our third visit to the parks because with small kids we couldn't a) get to the parks early enough to get a FP return time that wasn't b) too late for us to stay (with our little kids). Admittedly you could still ride TSM standby, and I expect standby will be added to ROTR at some point while the VQ is still in operation before it switches over to FP+.

No system will please everyone. But Disney has already voted for the "people want to sleep in on vacation" paradigm over the "early bird gets the worm" paradigm when they replaced the original FP with FP+ at WDW. I don't see them going backwards.

 

[Alynw]

The biggest argument against VQ replacing FP+ long term is that VQ is simply an updated version of the old Fastpass system. Yes, you don't get your return time when you are first assigned your boarding group, but it has every other flaw of the original Fastpass system including the need to get to the parks at RD.

Boarding groups being gone a half hour after the park opens is not different than TSM fastpasses being gone 45 minutes after the park opens. Sure, there are downsides to the FP+ system. But with the original FP we never rode TSM until our third visit to the parks because with small kids we couldn't a) get to the parks early enough to get a FP return time that wasn't b) too late for us to stay (with our little kids). Admittedly you could still ride TSM standby, and I expect standby will be added to ROTR at some point while the VQ is still in operation before it switches over to FP+.

No system will please everyone. But Disney has already voted for the "people want to sleep in on vacation" paradigm over the "early bird gets the worm" paradigm when they replaced the original FP with FP+ at WDW. I don't see them going backwards.

Nobody is saying their going backwards nor is anybody saying their getting rid of fp. I even said they will keep the current fp system. I merely stated that for all the new popular rides with boarding groups that Disney will make the fp option a pay fp. U will still have the fp option like always, they will be free like normal on all your normal rides but rides like ROR that use the vq system, they will have pay for fp option.

 

[glocon]

I know many people out there don’t care about re-riding, they don’t mind just doing something once. But we are a huge re-ride family. This VQ will only give us the opportunity to ride once per day which is why I hope it doesn’t stay around forever. I get why it’s there now but truly hope it’s not permanent. Most times we are at AK we ride fop at least twice, sometimes three times. Same with mine train.

 

[Lewisc]

RotR has a lot of downtime. FP, with a stated return time, wouldn't currently work.
Disney has a few rides which run at capacity
A guest who rides more then once means another guest can't ride.

 

[Alynw]

I know many people out there don’t care about re-riding, they don’t mind just doing something once. But we are a huge re-ride family. This VQ will only give us the opportunity to ride once per day which is why I hope it doesn’t stay around forever. I get why it’s there now but truly hope it’s not permanent. Most times we are at AK we ride fop at least twice, sometimes three times. Same with mine train.

And u would be able to re-ride if u like expect u wont have the standby wait of 3hr like FOP...if u want, u can pay for a fp and pick ur time to ride ROR and then also show up early and get boarding group, now u ride twice with no waiting, only difference is u have to pay for the fp for this specific ride. Like all fp, once u use it ur welcome to get another if there available. With this system u could actually ride multiple times without any waiting. Again, this is just my theory of what is to come, that's all, might never happen but there are no signs nor has there ever been anything saying vq was only temporary and with Disney already using all 3 of these methods, I see no reason to not think they will combine them for all new upcoming rides and even add in the more popular rides with extreme wait times.

 

[Opie100]

Disney wouldn't have built FP+ into Galaxy's Edge attractions unless the VQ was intended to be temporary. FP+ helps Disney sell rooms, so it's a safe bet to remain for the foreseeable future.

 

[VandVsmama]

I think that any talk of boarding groups being permanent are total speculation at this point unless someone has some real insider information...and by insider info, I'm not referring to "a friend of a friend knows a CM who heard this rumor at work."

 

[rteetz]

Disney wouldn't have built FP+ into Galaxy's Edge attractions unless the VQ was intended to be temporary. FP+ helps Disney sell rooms, so it's a safe bet to remain for the foreseeable future.

Though Disney has gone back on things they've done like that before. I agree that its unlikely however and really more about controlling this attraction until its consistently running well.

 

[Alynw]

I think that any talk of boarding groups being permanent are total speculation at this point unless someone has some real insider information...and by insider info, I'm not referring to "a friend of a friend knows a CM who heard this rumor at work."

I never once said anything about having inside information so not sure what ur even talking about, I clearly stated, several times at that, this is just my theory on what I think Disney might do in the future. Nothing to do with secret info, just my opinion and I'm all for friendly conversation. I believe Disney with adjust the tiers again for certain rides, I think they will add a tier for paid fp's only, then tier 1 and tier 2 rides. For top tier paid fp's, those will also have the option of the vq system. This way, all rides have a free option to ride but some will also have a paid premium fp option as well.

 

[Alynw]

Disney wouldn't have built FP+ into Galaxy's Edge attractions unless the VQ was intended to be temporary. FP+ helps Disney sell rooms, so it's a safe bet to remain for the foreseeable future.

My theory still requires a fp line and the use of the fp system. I'm just merely suggesting that Disney might charge a fee for the fp to ROR and keep the vq as the free option. Whether they charge a fee or not they still have to have a fp line. This way the guest get a free option to ride and a premium option to ride, both with no waits. Free option is the vq boarding groups and premium is a paid fp where u choose ur time. This also solves the problem of so many guests that cant ever get a fp for the main rides. This way, if all the paid fp get sold out, they still have the option to go early and get a boarding group where they can still ride without the long wait times. So whether or not they do as I suggest, they still have to have the fp line.

 

[Opie100]

Once Disney engages the FP+ system at RotR it will effectively already be charging a fee, as guests will need a resort reservation to book them before they run out, just like 7DMT and FOP.

 

[Alynw]

Once Disney engages the FP+ system at RotR it will effectively already be charging a fee, as guests will need a resort reservation to book them before they run out, just like 7DMT and FOP.

I definitely see this and more likely than not, your probably spot on.