Paid fastpass for Star Wars? I sure hope not...

tentaguasu

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 19, 2002
If the recent rumors of paid fastpass for the new Star Wars rides is true, I fear Disney is making a big mistake. (See article today in WDW News Today)

Many people have complained loudly about the many things Disney has done lately to make more money. There are a ton of new, revenue seeking things by Disney. Dessert parties, preferred seating, etc., etc.

While people get aggravated with those, I get it. Disney is a business, and making money is their job.

But the rumors of paid fastpass for Star Wars are different, particularly if it significantly impacts the number of general fastpasses available as the rumors suggest ("a significant portion of fastpasses will be allocated for monetization.")

Here’s the thing – none of the paid stuff they’ve been doing ever really impacted the “core experience” of most park goers. And the core park experience should not be something that depends on how much you can pay. (The few “buy your way to the front on super high priced tours” and such don’t really impact my experience or the experience of 99.9% of park goers.)

I can’t afford to go on one of the Animal Kingdom’s special safaris, though I’d love to. But that doesn’t impact my ability to enjoy Animal Kingdom as I always have. Adding something special for someone else is OK, even if I personally can’t afford it. (There’s no way I’ll be able to afford the Star Wars hotel, but I’m not mad about them creating it.)

But cutting back access to core park experiences unless you can pay? Or creating different classes of parkgoers with respect to the basic stuff we do inside the parks? Ugh. That’s a huge mistake in my opinion.

It’s not just that I don’t like it -- it’s going to change the vibe and magic of the parks.

One of the things that I love about Disney is how egalitarian it is – we’re all in it together and no one is better or more special than anyone else. (At least once you can afford to get in the door…) We’re all the same inside Disney – race, gender, country of origin, social class, whatever. You can be a weirdo at Disney, and it’s OK. You’re no more or less than a neurosurgeon. Single mom who scrapped pennies to get in has the same treatment on POTC as a rich dude who lives in Palm Beach.

And I think that *really* matters to the vibe of the park. It influences how it feels to be there and is a subtle but important part of the magic. In fact, I think it matters way more than Disney may realize, especially at a time when venues where we can all enjoy being together and the same for a while are so few and far between. I bet at least half of you here would come to blows with me discussing politics, but we can share our love of Tower of Terror. And suffer together in a long line if we’re out of fastpasses. I’m never angry at someone in a fastpass line, because it just means they were luckier, planned better, or chose their passes differently than me. Sure, we may head back to radically different hotel rooms in the evening, but at least when we’re inside the park, it’s a pretty fair place to be.

That creates a sense of “we’re all in this together” that I think is really special at Disney. Being at a place where tens of thousands of people are – just like you – on a fun vacation, eating Dole whips, queueing up for rides, etc. makes us all feel like part of a fun, temporary family of sorts.

But it doesn’t feel so much like a family anymore when big sister gets to buy a bigger slice of the Thanksgiving pie and I have to make due with less unless I can pay up.

If this goes through… well, now it’s one more place in American life where we start to divide up haves and have a lot mores. (If we’re at Disney, we’re all already in the “haves” category.)

(We could argue that the advanced reservations for on-property guests already creates a two-tiered system, but that feels less problematic to me. For one, there are a wide range of price-points on property.)

Come on Disney! Magic is your business. Ultimately it’s your bottom line, too. You don’t outperform Universal because you have better IP or because you have better rides. You outperform Universal because of the “magic” and it’s very real, even if it’s hard to define. Misunderstand or disrespect that magic, and you’re eroding the value of the parks. Not just my emotional value, but your long-term economic value.

Just to be clear, I’m totally against this even if it’s at a price I can afford. I don’t like the effect it would have on the parks, the vibe, and the relationship between guests.

The largely fair, unpaid fastpass system is an underrated but (IMO) hugely important contributing factor to the magic that makes Disney special – and is a benefit to all parkgoers regardless of their economic means.

Don’t screw it up.





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I'm totally against this as well - I think it goes against the entire vibe of Disney. With some minor exceptions, everyone in the park is on mostly equal footing. Changing FP to a paid system (and you can bet it'll be a big price to put it out of the range of most people since a paid system would have to operate like that to work) just takes the experience and puts a huge wedge between classes.

The income equality in the country has just gotten worse and worse and worse. And the way it happens is that those with the means to do so have figured out ways to keep taking larger and larger parts of the pie for themselves and away from others. For Disney to do so on such a large scale would be horrendous. Things such as VIP tours, and the paid club level for a relatively small number of people is fine - but to expand that to everything? It would seriously impact my future trips and I've been a diehard fan for decades.

Disney should really be more in tune with corporate social responsibility - sometimes you don't take every opportunity to monetize or increase prices because doing so would have some sort of negative impact. I truly think Walt would turn in his grave to see FP completely monetized.

Now - if this were a first month or so thing to manage crowds, fine. But I really hope this isn't the new normal. I predicted a few months ago that many of these changes seemed to be pointing to this being the ultimate plan - but it really dismays me.
 
The number of FPs and your ability to access them is already affected by many different things. Onsite vs. offsite, Club Level extra FPs where we're playing for a "better" room AND the extra FPs, 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, etc. It's not surprising to me at all that there will be a paid FP option for this, their biggest opening in years and it's...STAR WARS OMG OMG OMG. ;)
 


I am also here for this. I prefer off site. I'll pay for SWGE FP. I believe it's called 'shut up and take my money.'

1. There is one fast pass line. You won't know who paid or who didn't pay to be in that line unless they are running their mouth in the queue.
2. People are not all the same inside Disney. It doesn't take a genius to see that.

(We could argue that the advanced reservations for on-property guests already creates a two-tiered system, but that feels less problematic to me. For one, there are a wide range of price-points on property.)

It might feel less problematic to you, as someone who from the looks of your signature largely stays on-prop, and therefore gets the perks of 60 day fast pass reservations. Others find it more problematic.
 


Obviously at DL Fastpasses are already “paid” with maxpass... i think if they charged for them at wdw apart from club level their would be massive backlash... it would be best to create some sort of lottery system or use the current 60day plus system as is
 
If the paid-for fp's meant that off-property guests would actually get a shot at a SWGE fp, I'd be all for it! Will depend on the price, however. And I'd imagine they'd quickly sell-out, so it would really be about who has the fastest internet...
 
IMHO, they should have made SWGE a 5th gate or, at least temporarily, limited the capacity the way they do at Discovery Cove. Charge a lot of money and have fewer people inside. With the buzz that's been going on for years surrounding this and the release of more and more info about how AMAZING it is going to be, the place is going to be packed to the gills, which, I personally think, is going to negatively impact the guest experience. I've been in Pandora and TSL during high crowd times. It's not fun and no one can truly appreciate the incredible detail in either of these lands when you are jam packed inside and are simply trying to move from point A to point B. Personally, I wouldn't mind if WDW went with a FP+ ONLY scenario for SWGE. Sort of what you see for timed-entry exhibits at places like the American Natural History Museum or the recent Mickey's 90th pop-up museum in NYC. You pay extra, you enter when it's your time and you can actually enjoy the experience. I'm all for anything that will reduce crowd size and increase the likelihood of a positive guest experience. If that means paying for FP+, I'm fine with that. Even without paid FP+, WDW is going to find ways to ultra-monetize access to SWGE.
 
Obviously at DL Fastpasses are already “paid” with maxpass... i think if they charged for them at wdw apart from club level their would be massive backlash... it would be best to create some sort of lottery system or use the current 60day plus system as is
at DL there's still the option of free fp like before, going to the fp kiosk and scanning your ticket
 
I think WDW should charge for just a chance of receiving a SWGE Fastpass. It would be a SWGE lottery, roughly along the lines of Powerball except with better odds. You could pay ten dollars for, say, a 1-in-50,000 chance of scoring a Fastpass.
 
Disney FPs already have a "tiered" $ amount associated with them.

Staying on site and having 60 day access vs. 30 day access to offsite guests mean that those with 60 day access have paid extra for it (as part of the cost of staying onsite). How many people who are staying offsite will have any shot in hell of getting an FP for either attraction for oh say the first 2 years (or more)? I've read it's still nearly impossible to get an FOP FastPass 30 days out unless you are extremely lucky or spend most of your park time refreshing the app constantly in hopes that one opens up.

So this would just add a third tier to it.

$$ for those willing to outright pay for it.
$ who are paying for it as part of their on site stay (60 days out)
0 for those who are staying off site (30 days out)
 
Like it or not, this might be the inevitable breaking point where paid Fastpass will be a necessity. The FP+ system at WDW is broken imo. Needs lots of fixing. Your chances of getting on even at 60 days are horrid. I would rather just pay for the access so I don't have to deal with the stress of competing with everyone else just to get my foot through the door.
 
I do agree that it will change the over all experience of the guests. I am not necessarily for them making paid for fast passes, as it will make a further gap between visitors. I will admit though, if Disney offers this, I will pay for them....pretty much whatever price they set, I will pay. I'm not a huge SW fan, but DS really wants to experience SWGE....and if it will save me time/ headache etc, then I will do it. We go to Disney fairly frequently, so in recent years we have been inviting along family members to make it a new experience. While we may be willing to pay for this service to save time, I know my extended family members wouldn't. So then that definitely changes things. I hope they don't do this, but if they do I will pay for it. I believe everyone should have an equal chance at fast passes if staying on site, but Disney is going to do whatever is most profitable.
 
Disney FPs already have a "tiered" $ amount associated with them.

Staying on site and having 60 day access vs. 30 day access to offsite guests mean that those with 60 day access have paid extra for it (as part of the cost of staying onsite). How many people who are staying offsite will have any shot in hell of getting an FP for either attraction for oh say the first 2 years (or more)? I've read it's still nearly impossible to get an FOP FastPass 30 days out unless you are extremely lucky or spend most of your park time refreshing the app constantly in hopes that one opens up.

So this would just add a third tier to it.

$$ for those willing to outright pay for it.
$ who are paying for it as part of their on site stay (60 days out)
0 for those who are staying off site (30 days out)
The current system is actually more egalitarian than you give it credit for. The person paying $125/night at All-Star Sports gets the same 60d advantage as someone dropping $700/night at the Contemporary.
 
I’m still not convinced we’ll see paid FP for this. I believe it’s more likely we’ll see paid hard ticket events with capacity controls. Like a version of the Galactic Nights parties.
 
I’m still not convinced we’ll see paid FP for this. I believe it’s more likely we’ll see paid hard ticket events with capacity controls. Like a version of the Galactic Nights parties.
It's pretty much guaranteed that there will be paid events; dessert parties, DAH, tours, dining packages, etc. But I feel they will also try to find a way for paid FP at some point. Disney's general direction these past years has been to go where the money is and people are willing to pay big bucks for extras or less crowded access to rides and shows.

I've seen people on here booking DAH events rather than buying regular park day tickets for their trips. $125 per person times a family of 4 = $500, not including tax, for 3 hours access at a park. If that family books 3 DAH events in one week that's $1,500. Yeah, people will pay for access and Disney knows this.
 

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