Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Brianstl]

The reason I don't like 60 days out is I never stay on property. Its not worth the money and there are cheaper places to stay off site as well as better food offerings.

And this is why Disney won't change the current set up. If you are unwilling to pay the higher hotel prices to get the 60 day booking window, you definitely won't be willing to pay the price that Disney will need to charge to make up for lost revenue for Disney's onsite and partner hotels.

 

[Eric Smith]

Its not made up. He did say FP will still be around but probably going back to more like it used to.

That doesn't quite jive with what you said above about advance booking going away.

 

[Jrb1979]

That doesn't quite jive with what you said above about advance booking going away.

FP is staying just probably going back to day of booking like it used to. At least that's what I gathered from what he said.

And this is why Disney won't change the current set up. If you are unwilling to pay the higher hotel prices to get the 60 day booking window, you definitely won't be willing to pay the price that Disney will need to charge to make up for lost revenue for Disney's onsite and partner hotels.

I would be willing to pay to make up the difference. Every park I go to I but fast pass and pay close to $120 if not more if it's a busy day.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I take it you never go to other theme parks that have a paid fast pass system? I prefer a paid system as it limits the amount of people able to use it. In turn makes the fast pass wait times short.

No haven’t been to universal ... though I keep saying I’ll get there. I honestly disliked FP when it arrived. Now, I like it. I feel like the wait times are reasonable/short. The luxury of not “ having” to get on a ride with an AP, I just catch it next visit. Another Fee...not my cup of tea.

 

[SL6827]

Its not made up. He did say FP will still be around but probably going back to more like it used to.

That was what I was getting at. The old way. I only did like maybe three trips with that method so I don't know if I would like it or not.

 

[Brianstl]

FP is staying just probably going back to day of booking like it used to. At least that's what I gathered from what he said.


I would be willing to pay to make up the difference. Every park I go to I but fast pass and pay close to $120 if not more if it's a busy day.

You will need to, at a minimum triple, that $120. It is probably going to be closer to $500. Disney is going to have to make up for all the money they will lose from VIP tours, club level bookings, lost ticket sales to limited ticket events, people buying tickets for less days because they can do the parks in less time, money partner hotels pay to participate in the 60 day booking window and the money they will lose on bookings at Disney hotels. I don't think you really have any appreciation for how much Disney would actually have to charge for it to make financial sense for Disney.

 

[firefly_ris]

I've definitely re ridden things multiple times in a day at Disney, it's not impossible.

 

[Jrb1979]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

 

[Eric Smith]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

I feel like the drawbacks of this pay for play system have been discussed on this thread.

 

[J-BOY]

I've definitely re ridden things multiple times in a day at Disney, it's not impossible.

Exactly. It's incredibly doable with the current setup, especially so for someone only looking for thrill rides, like the previous poster is.

Animal Kingdom -
FoP: Rope drop + pre-book FP for at least two rides, plus another if you enter queue at the end of the day.
EE: single rider + pre-book FP + get FP throughout the day for basically as many rides as you'd like with minimal wait.
Magic Kingdom -
Pre-book FP for one of each mountain. Rope drop 7DMT if necessary. Get FP for others throughout the day pretty easily.
EPCOT -
Test Track: rope drop + pre-book FP + single rider. Basically every other attraction is accessible with minimal wait, or by getting FP throughout the day.
Hollywood Studios -
RRC/ToT: pre-book FP or get FP throughout the day.
SDD: pre-book FP or rope-drop, or both.
RotR: no other alternative. You can hardly get one ride in already.
MF:SR: pre-book FP or rope-drop, or single rider.

 

[J-BOY]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

There's no way that would be free, because you can't skip the line when everyone else is doing the same. That's what a standby line is.

If you want a paid option, they already offer one - VIP tours. You don't even have to talk to the tour guide. Just tell them "I want to ride every ride over and over again" and they'd be happy to oblige.

Regardless, you've shared your thoughts on this thread many times, and everyone else has shared their own. Not much to discuss, especially so when you're the only one with your opinion and all arguments have been brought up again and again. Let's keep in mind that this thread was already at 110+ pages and was buried and ignored over a year ago.

 

[GoingSince1990]

You will need to, at a minimum triple, that $120. It is probably going to be closer to $500. Disney is going to have to make up for all the money they will lose from VIP tours, club level bookings, lost ticket sales to limited ticket events, people buying tickets for less days because they can do the parks in less time, money partner hotels pay to participate in the 60 day booking window and the money they will lose on bookings at Disney hotels. I don't think you really have any appreciation for how much Disney would actually have to charge for it to make financial sense for Disney.

Yep. An all-you-can-ride paid-for unlimited FP would probably need to cost $500 per person minimum, going up to maybe $700 or $800 on peak days.

 

[CanadaDisney05]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

1) The reason it works at other parks is because they don't see the same type of crowd levels Disney does on an average day.

2) The 3 fast pass per day system is fantastic for Disney for a few reasons.

a) Who doesn't want to get free front of the line passes? It's a good selling point.
b) On site guests get an advantage.... Gives more incentive to people to stay on site. More money....
c) This one I think is the real reason..... With only 3 per day, and planned out 60 days in advance, people see that they won't be able to get fast passes for all the rides they want. So what do they do? They try and stay an extra day or two. That's another day of theme park tickets, food, hotel, merchandise, etc....

Lets just say they went with the paid fast pass. Theme park ticket = $100 per day. Fastpass++ = $120 per day. Maybe you spend $60 of food that day. So in total they get you to pay $280 for a one day, offsite stay.

or.....

They give you fast pass for free. In order to get all the fast passes you want you need to stay onsite for 2 nights and pay for two days of park tickets. Tickets = $200, Hotel = $500, Food = $120. In total they now have $820 from you.

The current system creates an incentive to stay longer, stay onsite, and spend more money.

The Max Pass system works in DL because most people are locals (just like every other amusement park). The amount of people willing to pay extra for a fast pass system is limited so they can sell a limited quantity without upsetting anyone.

 

[mattpeto]

I'm a fan of the current FP+ system, but I also enjoy speculating what could be coming down the line.

I think a Virtual Queue system and FP+ could be the next evolution of a new FP system. There's some valid hints here: MDE had a section for virtual queues before Covid, so it may have been in the works.

Certain attractions (one per park - Rise, Tron, GotG, FoP) gets a VQ. The new VQ system is pre-booked so rope-dropping isn't necessary.

VQ = based on your park reservation, they tell you when to show up with a 1 or 2 hour window.
FP = you select your time. But you may be limited one pre-planned per day.

To maximize the benefit, you'll need to stay onsite. Onsite guests would get 1 VQ and 1 FP per day. Day of FP can be gotten for resort guests after the 1st one is consumed. Offsite guests can get day of anytime FP after 3 pm.

For the stable rides (not Rise still), after all VQ are consumed, open the standby line for it.

 

[chasgoose]

I have to say that Disney has done a great job in convincing so many people that Fastpasses are "free" as opposed to "included in the ticket price". The FP+ system cost billions, and there is not a wealthy benefactor somewhere who has paid for it all.

FP+ along with Magic Bands more than cover their costs with the data they allow Disney to gather on its guests. Disney's ability to track guest activity on a granular level and better plan their operations to run more efficiently and squeeze every opportunity to make money that they can. Disney ticket prices have gone up because guests are still willing to pay for them, not because of benefits like FP+.

 

[Farro]

I've definitely re ridden things multiple times in a day at Disney, it's not impossible.

On our 2017 trip we went on Goofy's Barnstormer twice in a row!

 

[Moliphino]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

We know how it works. It would have to be ridiculously expensive at Disney, as others have pointed out.

2 or 3 times isn't hard to do. What I am talking about is riding things 8 to 10 times in a day as well as everything else. Last time I was at Cedar Point I managed to ride all 18 coasters at least once plus on 4 of them ride 6 to 8 times. That's kind of day I like at an amusement park. Thats the benefit of a paid fast pass system.

I don't think there's any ride I'd want to ride 8-10 times in a day. Maybe just stick to Cedar Point if that's what you like.

 

[Krandor]

For those who have never been to other parks that have a paid fast pass system I will go over how it works and why I would like Disney to implement a similar system but free.

At almost every other park that has the paid system you never book times for rides. You get a wristband and go into the fast pass queue like you would at Disney. The bonus is you can use it for every ride as man's times as you want. If Disney could go to a system like that I ask what would be so bad about it.

If you make it free to everybody it is simply a straight virtual queue system which we may see implemented when the parks open. It doesn't make anything fast other then when you show up at the ride. If FoP is 3 hours you'll still sit in a 3 hour line just virtually which is still going to make doing headliners multiple times in a day almost impossible.

it works at other parks because if only 10% of the people have it they can get faster access. If everybody has it then it is standby without having to stand in line and you still won't do all rides in a single day and multiple headliners in a single day.

And the other issue with that is if the people who would be in a 3 hour FoP line now can Wait anywhere for their FoP time to come up where are you going to put them?

 

[DisneyAuntie12]

Even if it was possible, I'm not entirely sure Disney would want for people to be able to jump on every ride quickly. I think the limited access is part of what makes them so appealing to people (kind of the way a kid thinks his friends toys are the absolute best, then loses interest when he has them at home and can play with them any time.) I was thinking about this recently when wondering why Avatarland, Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land have such a limited number of rides - 2 or 3 each. For sheer number of rides, it seems to me that you would get a ton more by just visiting a boardwalk amusement park at any beach. It made me wonder if this is by design - fewer rides with limited availability (vs. the type of experience where you empty your wallet on a bunch of tickets and then let the kids run wild for a few hours). Otherwise it seems like they would have added additional 'small rides' (vs. the headliners) to thin out crowds at each attraction.

 

[rteetz]

I have no idea what in the world is going on here. Why does every thread lately have to be a Disney vs. X lately?