Who else is glad they do NOT have a trip planned right now?

[dayvewc]

no doubt well pay for it, that will come once the system is completed.

Personally, I think us paying for it will ultimately depend on the revenue increase from the system. If it doesn't meet their target, then I can see some sort of plan to monetize the system.

 

[Sammie]

You seem to know a lot about what Disney wants.

Care to share the source of your knowledge?

The optimist in me wants to believe that Disney really does "want to satisfy as many people as possible".

The pessimist in me thinks they don't really care about satisfying "as many people as possible" as long as they satisfy enough people to have a net positive gain in profits.

The realist in me knows that they aren't going to invest a billion dollars on something unless they are confident they can use it to make back that money and then some. The reality is that they expect to make more than a billion dollars from this "next gen" system. And the only place that money can come from is us. We don't know how we are going to pay for it yet, but believe me, we will pay for it.

Isn't that the goal of all successful large companies. Small companies might truly care if Mrs. Jones is happy over Mrs. Smith, but large companies count numbers not individual persons.

 

[mill4023]

Personally, I think us paying for it will ultimately depend on the revenue increase from the system. If it doesn't meet their target, then I can see some sort of plan to monetize the system.

Revenue increase = monetizing the system

Now if you meant monetizing in the sense of actually selling extra FP+'s, that's different. But like I said, we are paying for it, whether it's directly, like buying more FP+'s or indirectly, like having to stay onsite or move from value to mod or deluxe to get better perks. Whether it's direct or indirect, we will pay for it.

 

[Sammie]

Let's assume for one ridiculous moment this is what happened every day.

How did it impact your day? Did you get run over? Did hoarders steal your FPs?

Actually hoarders took so many, they broke the system. Do you really think Disney would spend a billion dollars on something if it wasn't badly broken.

Whether someone likes this new system or not, Disney changed it because it was not successful with large numbers of people.

I can understand why some don't like the change, for the life of me I can't understand why those same people don't understand why they changed it.

And for the record, I had no problem with the people who got multiple fastpasses for headliners, I had a problem with Disney for having a system that allowed this. So I complained, others complained, many others complained and they listened.

So yes I would rather know each morning before I even go to a park that I am assured 3 Fastpasses to major attractions over the roulette system of the past.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Actually hoarders took so many, they broke the system. Do you really think Disney would spend a billion dollars on something if it wasn't badly broken.

I think Disney would spend a billion dollars on anything they thought would make them a significant ROI, regardless of whether anything was broken or not.

 

[Sammie]

I think Disney would spend a billion dollars on anything they thought would make them a significant ROI, regardless of whether anything was broken or not.

They make their money off making people happy. It is impossible for them to make everyone happy so yes they go for the majority. And yes the majority does and will like the changes.

It simply won't make some DISers happy. They may lose some guests over these changes but someone will take their place.

 

[Angel Ariel]

They make their money off making people happy. It is impossible for them to make everyone happy so yes they go for the majority. And yes the majority does and will like the changes.

It simply won't make some DISers happy. They may lose some guests over these changes but someone will take their place.

I was just commenting on their motivation. I don't buy that they implemented fp+ because fp was broken. Disney wanted to.move ahead with MM+, and fp+ is, imo, their way to get the customer to buy into the whole mm+ program. They would have done this regardless of the state of the fp program,.imo.

If all they wanted to do was redistribute fps to more people (aka fixing the broken.system), they could have added one fp/ride/ tickets and only so many fps/ticket limitations in the existing fp infrastructure.

 

[dayvewc]

Revenue increase = monetizing the system Now if you meant monetizing in the sense of actually selling extra FP+'s, that's different. But like I said, we are paying for it, whether it's directly, like buying more FP+'s or indirectly, like having to stay onsite or move from value to mod or deluxe to get better perks. Whether it's direct or indirect, we will pay for it.

I was thinking revenue increase from the utilization: more people doing more impulse spending, shorter lines so more shopping time, MB accessories, reduced overhead with more exact scheduling needs. As opposed to monetizing the system being: selling additional FP+, requiring higher level resorts for more access! requiring on site stays to have access.

I may not have said it clearly originally, I was thinking the revenue increase from using as opposed to monetizing where you pay (direct or indirect) for access. Makes sense in my head, at least, on what I mean.

I was just commenting on their motivation. I don't buy that they implemented fp+ because fp was broken. Disney wanted to.move ahead with MM+, and fp+ is, imo, their way to get the customer to buy into the whole mm+ program. They would have done this regardless of the state of the fp program,.imo. If all they wanted to do was redistribute fps to more people (aka fixing the broken.system), they could have added one fp/ride/ tickets and only so many fps/ticket limitations in the existing fp infrastructure.

I agree. The $1billion figure thrown out is for the whole system, not just FP+. I think someone decided all the other needed to be done, and FP was added to get guests to use it.

 

[btk2333]

You seem to know a lot about what Disney wants. Care to share the source of your knowledge? The optimist in me wants to believe that Disney really does "want to satisfy as many people as possible". The pessimist in me thinks they don't really care about satisfying "as many people as possible" as long as they satisfy enough people to have a net positive gain in profits. The realist in me knows that they aren't going to invest a billion dollars on something unless they are confident they can use it to make back that money and then some. The reality is that they expect to make more than a billion dollars from this "next gen" system. And the only place that money can come from is us. We don't know how we are going to pay for it yet, but believe me, we will pay for it.

Of course Disney is motivated by money- I believe what Disney wants is to satisfy a larger number of guests so that they return and spend more money. I don't deny that. Disney expects next gen to make them money- I think it likely will and it will definitely come from visitors anyone who doesn't think so is delusional. That doesn't make what I said earlier untrue.

I will state it plainly- Disney is a corporation and is motivated by money- there are things about the new system that appeal to a broader base than the old system- Disney hopes (because they are motivated by money) that broadening the satisfied customer base will result in more money.

 

[donnajherren]

ETA: In the spirit of goodwill, Captain Picard has rescinded his facepalm.

Captain Picard should never rescind his facepalms, for they are glorious, indeed.

In the interest of answering the OP's question, we were planning a June trip, right after the kids got out of school. We've now pushed it forward to October to give them a little time to work out the kinks in their system. I based my decision on feedback from some friends of ours who visited in December and weren't happy with some of the technological glitches they encountered.

It's funny, I spoke to a CM over the phone last year around this time, when I was planning our June 2013 trip. She was super excited--told me all about the new Fastpass + system, and to make sure I watched for the option to go live on my online account. Of course, it never materialized, I assume because of delays in rolling out the system, but I distinctly remember her saying what a boon it would be to my planning, having these three FP+ choices...in addition to the paper FPs we could pull in the parks. Welp. Guess not.

 

[mill4023]

Actually hoarders took so many, they broke the system. Do you really think Disney would spend a billion dollars on something if it wasn't badly broken.

Whether someone likes this new system or not, Disney changed it because it was not successful with large numbers of people.

I can understand why some don't like the change, for the life of me I can't understand why those same people don't understand why they changed it.

And for the record, I had no problem with the people who got multiple fastpasses for headliners, I had a problem with Disney for having a system that allowed this. So I complained, others complained, many others complained and they listened.

So yes I would rather know each morning before I even go to a park that I am assured 3 Fastpasses to major attractions over the roulette system of the past.

If Disney really thought that people getting more than one FP for the same ride was a problem, they could have very quickly and easily modified their system to limit each ticket to only one FP for each attraction.

"roulette system" implies that there was some sort of randomness involved. There wasn't. It was a very straightforward first come, first serve system.

I think you are misguided if you think Disney came up with FP+ in response to people complaining about FP. They saw an opportunity to increase their revenue with a new system. That doesn't mean there was anything broken with the old system.

 

[bjakmom]

If Disney really thought that people getting more than one FP for the same ride was a problem, they could have very quickly and easily modified their system to limit each ticket to only one FP for each attraction.

"roulette system" implies that there was some sort of randomness involved. There wasn't. It was a very straightforward first come, first serve system.

I think you are misguided if you think Disney came up with FP+ in response to people complaining about FP. They saw an opportunity to increase their revenue with a new system. That doesn't mean there was anything broken with the old system.

Totally agree with this! I don't believe that FP+ is about fixing FP- at all. I think it is about selling the whole MB system and making the FP+ work for that.

I can only assume that having all your guests buy their tickets 60 days in advance in order to most effectively use your new FP system has to net WDW a sizable $$ increase. Do all the package people now have to pay off their packages 60 days out rather than 45 in order to book their FP+s? Bingo that's a lot of $$!

 

[SmallWorld71]

If Disney really thought that people getting more than one FP for the same ride was a problem, they could have very quickly and easily modified their system to limit each ticket to only one FP for each attraction.

"roulette system" implies that there was some sort of randomness involved. There wasn't. It was a very straightforward first come, first serve system.

I think you are misguided if you think Disney came up with FP+ in response to people complaining about FP. They saw an opportunity to increase their revenue with a new system. That doesn't mean there was anything broken with the old system.

Totally agree with this! I don't believe that FP+ is about fixing FP- at all. I think it is about selling the whole MB system and making the FP+ work for that.

I can only assume that having all your guests buy their tickets 60 days in advance in order to most effectively use your new FP system has to net WDW a sizable $$ increase. Do all the package people now have to pay off their packages 60 days out rather than 45 in order to book their FP+s? Bingo that's a lot of $$!

This

Saying that Disney was responding to "hoarders" doesn't actually make any sense as once they starting reinforcing their return times you couldn't "hoard" anything.
The "complainers" had the same access they just chose to be miserable and complain instead, I guess.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Totally agree with this! I don't believe that FP+ is about fixing FP- at all. I think it is about selling the whole MB system and making the FP+ work for that.

I can only assume that having all your guests buy their tickets 60 days in advance in order to most effectively use your new FP system has to net WDW a sizable $$ increase. Do all the package people now have to pay off their packages 60 days out rather than 45 in order to book their FP+s? Bingo that's a lot of $$!

This may very well change. But, right now you can book your FP+ even if your package is not paid off.

 

[disbound09]

Went twice in 2013 Once with bands once without. I liked being able to sleep in and still have a FP+ but didn't like only have three FP+ Hoping it all works out before we go again in another year. we are going to Vero to give it all a chance to settle in.

 

[Planogirl]

It's kind of fun to see what people thought back in the day. Yes I know, zombie thread but an interesting one.

 

[larryz]

Geez! Talk about your Tales from the Crypt!!!

 

[Planogirl]

Yep, old as the hills but it's fun to see what people thought back then versus now. Has anything really changed?

 

[larryz]

Yep, old as the hills but it's fun to see what people thought back then versus now. Has anything really changed?

 

[Planogirl]

LOL! It's always good to see the most interesting man in the world.