State of Fast Pass Return (or replacement)

[Lollipop's Mom]

Im not going to have a 14 hour travel day and $1200 in flights to Orlando for 3-4 days!

 

[Nabas]

i think Disney's gold has been tarnished for a while now, just my opinion of course, as someone that has been going since the beginning

Like you, I’ve been going for decades, and for decades, Disney was the unquestioned industry leader.

Then Michael Eisner lost control and after he left, it seemed like Bob Iger was willing to coast for most of his tenure. WWOHP was better than anything Disney had done in the 21st Century.

But Iger seemed like he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and within a few nears, more projects had been announced than anytime since the 1990s.

It felt like Galaxy’s Edge and ROTR put WDW back on top, but with the cancellation of DME, charging for parking, the end of FP+, evening extra Magic Hours for Deluxe Resort Guests only, and now the rumored cash FP replacement, it feels as if Bob Chapek is treating his “Guests” like ATMs.

 

[lazerprincess]

Yes agree here too! If it was $X per day to use the old system, that sucks but okay I will see what we can afford and go less days and eat less TS. If its $60+ per RIDE (for a family of 4)? Thats absurd.

That is literally how MaxPass works. Pay $10 a day to add it on.

 

[dato63]

I 100% agree with this. I didn't go the 1st time until 2019 and it was overwhelming. Heck I started to plan 2x before and stopped bc it was too much. The extended fam we go with prefer to wing it and are happy to let me do all the planning. which I've become pretty good at. But then I stress at finding the balance between making sure we hit all the things on our list and being too militant with the schedule. When we went in March this year I absolutely loved the lack of planning required bc there were no FP and dining was only 60 days. It was so much more enjoyable being able to only have to know what park I was going to on what day ahead of time. Then all I needed to worry about while there was rope dropping to get the hard ride at each park. I am very much looking forward to our next vacation which is Universal and having express pass so I don't even have to worry about rope dropping. Don't get me wrong, even with all the planning Disney is fun, but it in no way feels like a vacation because of all the planning and pounding the app while your there trying to get more fp.

My DDs went in March 2020, with the school orchestra. They were unable to book FP before going, so were doing it on their phone while there - and loved it. They loved it so much, that when I was looking at FP+ tiers (thinking FP+ would return before trip) they asked me not to book anything. They liked the freedom of doing in on the go - and not planning ahead.

I warned them we are going over Christmas - so the crowds at Christmas are going to be worse than whatever they saw March 2020.

I don't know. I suppose if we have to pay for passes, it may be that we look into doing more days at Universal than we were already planning. We are far from locked in at this point, so just hope we know something more concrete than rumors, or what is going on in other countries soon.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Yea you stay 4 days instead of 7 and spend the same amount of money anyway since you’re paying for FP. Win win for Disney.

see that doesnt work for me. I dont do shorter disney trips anymore because they dont make sense for us. We like to take at least 1 week long vacation throughout the year, and we'll do some other stuff for shorter times that are much cheaper. But i'm not going to spend what i would for a week at disney for 3 or 4 days, i dont care if i get to ride the same amount of rides or not. I'll just find something else to do and not bother with Disney then.

 

[Roxyfire]

But who knows, it could come back at $50 a day.

$29pp was a steal
$50pp is what I would expect to see it come back, just spitballing.

But they did not really market it well so it just didn't take off I guess. Too bad, it was great.

 

[vicarrieous]

That is literally how MaxPass works. Pay $10 a day to add it on.

Maxx Pass is more than one ride though.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

If Disney does an expensive per ride fastpass then it will just show that Disney doesn't want trips to last longer than 2-3 days. I'm surprised they still give discounts as you add days to your ticket.

Just remember folks, Disney makes lots more money on dining and hotel stays when folks have longer trips. Any system they implement they will want to balance with not deincentivizing longer stays onsite and more dining. They wont set up a system where you can stay offsite at a holiday inn and drop hundreds on pay to play fastpasses with the savings you kept from staying offsite.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

see that doesnt work for me. I dont do shorter disney trips anymore because they dont make sense for us. We like to take at least 1 week long vacation throughout the year, and we'll do some other stuff for shorter times that are much cheaper. But i'm not going to spend what i would for a week at disney for 3 or 4 days, i dont care if i get to ride the same amount of rides or not. I'll just find something else to do and not bother with Disney then.

I agree. I would just go somewhere else for a week. I’m not bothering to travel to Orlando for 3-4 days (unless it was a bonus Disney trip but not for our usual “big” trip). It’s not worth it for us either. Even when I’ve looked into universal trips I’m looking at 5-6 day stay. 4 park days and some chill time.

 

[dez1978]

My DDs went in March 2020, with the school orchestra. They were unable to book FP before going, so were doing it on their phone while there - and loved it. They loved it so much, that when I was looking at FP+ tiers (thinking FP+ would return before trip) they asked me not to book anything. They liked the freedom of doing in on the go - and not planning ahead.

I warned them we are going over Christmas - so the crowds at Christmas are going to be worse than whatever they saw March 2020.

I don't know. I suppose if we have to pay for passes, it may be that we look into doing more days at Universal than we were already planning. We are far from locked in at this point, so just hope we know something more concrete than rumors, or what is going on in other countries soon.

I mean as a high schooler I wouldn't have minded being glued to my phone all day (if I'd have had one then lol). But as an adult with kids I'd much rather be paying attention to what my kids are enjoying than spending the time trying to check for FP on my phone.

 

[Karin1984]

Disney released this for Paris first so they can look at public opinions.

They already have this system for four years in Shanghai. I think they think it can also work for a European audience.

 

[ATL Gator]

I still long for the days of the "ticketed" FP machines - I didn't mind being the "walker" that traversed the whole park getting FPs when we were allowed to get another one. Ready for lunch?, wait let me get some more FPs; time for dinner?, hold on let me get some more FPs. You could even use them AFTER the hour-long window had passed - CMs didn't mind. By late afternoon we would have a collection of FPs that we could use for the rest of the day. Then one year the CMs started cracking down on "expired" FPs. Next came the horrible FP+ system where everybody acted overjoyed that Disney was given them 3 FPs per day?! We used to be able to get a dozen FP tickets a day with the old system. Later, we enjoyed going to Disneyland and DLP because they hadn't switched to FP+. This grumpy old man misses the old days...

 

[Karin1984]

You could even use them AFTER the hour-long window had passed - CMs didn't mind. By late afternoon we would have a collection of FPs that we could use for the rest of the day.

That didn't work in Paris, the CMs always stuck to the times. If your window was 12:00 - 12:30, then you couldn't enter earlier and it was up to the mercy of the CM if they would except you after 12:30.

 

[DougEMG]

We come from the west coast, so our trips are always around 3 weeks and we stay at a DVC resort. I don't like waiting for more than 20-30 minutes for a ride and I also don't think 2 minute rides are worth paying $10+ per person just to have a shorter wait. If something like this comes to WDW, then my days of going to WDW are over and I will look somewhere else to spend my vacation dollars.

 

[ATL Gator]

That didn't work in Paris, the CMs always stuck to the times. If your window was 12:00 - 12:30, then you couldn't enter earlier and it was up to the mercy of the CM if they would except you after 12:30.

They've always been sticklers about entering the FP line early regardless of the park. Most people didn't know that you could use the 12-12:30 pass at 8 p.m. if you wanted to - they didn't care. Until all of a sudden they did.

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

I still long for the days of the "ticketed" FP machines - I didn't mind being the "walker" that traversed the whole park getting FPs when we were allowed to get another one. Ready for lunch?, wait let me get some more FPs; time for dinner?, hold on let me get some more FPs. You could even use them AFTER the hour-long window had passed - CMs didn't mind. By late afternoon we would have a collection of FPs that we could use for the rest of the day. Then one year the CMs started cracking down on "expired" FPs. Next came the horrible FP+ system where everybody acted overjoyed that Disney was given them 3 FPs per day?! We used to be able to get a dozen FP tickets a day with the old system. Later, we enjoyed going to Disneyland and DLP because they hadn't switched to FP+. This grumpy old man misses the old days...

I did Tokyo Disney in March 2019 and they had a hybrid system. As a hotel guest that booked a package, I had 8 “anytime any attraction” paper FastPasses I could use. There were a few restrictions: couldn’t use if for the most popular attraction in either park. Then they also had paper FastPass machines that resort and day guests alike could go to day of.

I can see the new WDW system emulating this but in a digital capacity. You get a pool of free passes as a resort guest/AP/DVC owner, and then you and offsite guests can access a pool of day of passes. They key will be whether or not those day of passes are free. At Tokyo Disney they were. But at Shanghai they have been using DPA and now they’ll do the same at DLP.

It is a perfect example of different approaches for different properties:
- California = MaxPass - high number of local attendees, lower cost option, digital, day of
- Tokyo = Free FastPass - high number of local attendees, free option, day of with limited exceptions for resort guests, day of, some attractions are virtual queue & lottery based like RotR
- Shanghai and Paris = Disney Premier Access - mix of local and tourist, smaller number of attractions, pay to ride system, with some option for virtual queue at least in Paris
- WDW - This is purely speculation from a program/execution perspective. But it draws mainly a tourist audience, has the most attractions of any Disney resort worldwide. Any system likely benefits “loyal” or onsite guests and offers fewer advantages for offsite or day guests. I’d wager a hybrid of free and pay, possible pre-booking for resort, but day of for offsite/day guests

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Im not going to have a 14 hour travel day and $1200 in flights to Orlando for 3-4 days!

Yup. We don't even have that long of a travel time but as a rule I just am not paying for flights for four people (anywhere) to only stay 4 nights. The vacation payoff just doesn't offset the flight costs.

 

[Moliphino]

I still long for the days of the "ticketed" FP machines - I didn't mind being the "walker" that traversed the whole park getting FPs when we were allowed to get another one. Ready for lunch?, wait let me get some more FPs; time for dinner?, hold on let me get some more FPs. You could even use them AFTER the hour-long window had passed - CMs didn't mind. By late afternoon we would have a collection of FPs that we could use for the rest of the day. Then one year the CMs started cracking down on "expired" FPs. Next came the horrible FP+ system where everybody acted overjoyed that Disney was given them 3 FPs per day?! We used to be able to get a dozen FP tickets a day with the old system. Later, we enjoyed going to Disneyland and DLP because they hadn't switched to FP+. This grumpy old man misses the old days...

You could get a dozen FP+ a day, too. You could pre-book three and then make as many as you want after you use those and NOT have to run all over the park to hit a machine.

 

[ATL Gator]

You could get a dozen FP+ a day, too. You could pre-book three and then make as many as you want after you use those and NOT have to run all over the park to hit a machine.

Color me skeptical that 12 FPs are possible during a busy day with FP+. I will study up on how to do it and try to master it but I still prefer the old system...

 

[Grasshopper2016]

So long as they limited the amount of people who could buy in an hour, and kept the price low, they would clean up.

If they go with single-ride, instant fastpasses, I think their goal would be to limit the amount of people, but not keep the price low. Disney would have to severely limit the number sold, so as not to turn the standby lines into standstill lines, and infuriate everyone who can't or won't pay for a fastpass. But Disney would still be looking to maximize their profit. So the price would be set (perhaps dynamically as the lines increase) at the highest level at which Disney could sell out the limited supply.