Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[New Mouse]

...because there is plenty to do. There are plenty of things to do that don't use fastpass, especially at AK and Epcot.

Sure....those things used to be the a, b, c level attractions ticket attractions. Not things that were designed to get you to come to the parks, but literal filler. At the end of the day Disney does not have enough big ticket items to support a fastpass system for all guests. By making fastpass access easier (fastpass plus), it just magnified how much thats really true.

 

[Mamabun]

Its unlimted use though for resort guests. Disney should implement fastpass for resort guests only... they should have done this years ago.

Its unlimted use though for resort guests. Disney should implement fastpass for resort guests only... they should have done this years ago.

That’s only partially true. It is unlimited use for PREMIUM resort guests. Only 3 hotels (with a total of 2400 rooms) get express pass. If Disney did the same thing it would only be for deluxe hotels, and maybe even only the most expensive deluxes. Everyone in moderate or value would get nothing at all, just like all of the other hotel rooms at Universal.

 

[The Jackal]

I don’t necessarily disagree with you - I think your time in the parks is what you make of it.

If you don’t think it’s true how about this. The MK gets over 20,000,00 visitors a year. Making it the most popular theme park in WDW and the world. It has a lot of rides. At WDW the next most popular park is AK at 13,800,00, then Epcot 12,400,000 and DHS 11,400,00. These are 2019 #’s.
MK has about 20 rides. AK 7 rides, Epcot has 9 rides, DHS 9 rides. I did not include attractions such as shows, just actual rides. MK has almost double the attendance and double the rides of the other parks. Is this just a coincidence? Epcot has the highest park capacity, but it is the third most visited.
I do realize these #’s are pre Star Wars land and DHS is going up for attendance when things get back to normal.

 

[just stella]

Well my family prefers no Fastpass, with all guest being on a level playing field. Has felt much more fair on recent visits. This thread is full of talking about working the system, well what about those who can't or what about for example an elderly couple without the capability. So it is better that the Fastpass stay gone. In my opinion. Visits without it have felt great!!

 

[Jmljasmine]

Well my family prefers no Fastpass, with all guest being on a level playing field. Has felt much more fair on recent visits. This thread is full of talking about working the system, well what about those who can't or what about for example an elderly couple without the capability. So it is better that the Fastpass stay gone. In my opinion. Visits without it have felt great!!

Are your kids under 5? I'm very close to having 4 kids 5 and under. If so, I'd love to hear tips on lines with that age (preferably without electronic devices). Otherwise, I'm not sure it's a possible trip anymore for families like mine. Sadly, I'm not sure any method will have a level playing field for all. Some group will always be left at a disadvantage. This just changes which group that is.

 

[cbianco96]

MK has almost double the attendance and double the rides of the other parks. Is this just a coincidence?

Not disagreeing with your main point that rides and attendance are related, but I think MK would have the highest attendance regardless, since it is the castle park, and for some people (not on this forum), Disney World and Magic Kingdom are synonymous.

 

[helloconnie]

I agree with the statement about resort guests getting FP. If you live in the FL area and can go whenever you want, not getting to ride your favorite ride on a particular visit is no biggie. But, if you travel to WDW and only get to go every couple of years, or once in a lifetime, you want to make sure you get to ride those E ticket attractions. It's hard to manage your very limited time and make sure you ride and see everything you want too if every line is a long wait. So, for three FP selections, that means a line wait of approximately 10 minutes each or 30 minutes in total. Without them, those three rides will now require somewhere around a 30-45 minute wait for each, at best. So you are looking at 1.5 - 2.25 hours waiting in line versus the 30 minutes with FP. That is a significant impact on your time if you only have a couple of days every several years to enjoy the parks.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Well my family prefers no Fastpass, with all guest being on a level playing field

All guests were on a level playing field under the old system. Anyone using google could learn the refresh method, and Disney actively marketed that you could get more fastpasses after the first 3. Now, families with young children who simply cannot wait in 40 minute lines cannot really go.

 

[sandrews0608]

With so little perks for staying on site it would be nice if they brought back the fast pass system for on site guests. On Site guests are paying a premium price even for the value resorts, so it would be a nice perk since Magical Express and EMH is going away. They need this to keep people paying the premium price and not stay off site.

 

[Blondie58]

I like updated facts beter than rumors. I would love for Fastpass to return like it was. This is a personal opinion.

 

[chasgeese]

It’s not just universal. Virtually every major theme park int he US that has reopened has done so with it’s version of line skip intact. Again, Disney would have to expend effort and be creative, but they could surely figure out a way. Hell, even something as simple as just bringing fastpass back for the tier 3 rides would be a huge benefit becuase then they could divert crowds to rides without lines and away from rides with long lines.

Sure, but almost every other park that has such a system has one more in line with Universal than FP. I imagine Disney could bring back something more along those lines, but it would be prohibitively expensive for most guests to buy

There are also no tier 3 rides. That isn’t the point I was making. The point is that fastpass is and always has been a crowd control tool which allows them to switch crowds over from very crowded rides and areas of the park to low crowd rides and areas of the park. If there are rides that have a 2 hour line, and rides that are walk-on where every car isn’t being loaded because there are not enough people, well that is inefficient. Fastpass fixed that to some degree and made everyone’s experience better. They need to bring this aspect of fastpass back. That could mean bringing it back for the non-headliner rides in a park like magic kingdom.

How would Fastpass really help crowd management in that situation though? Most people who visit WDW are not as savvy about FP as people here (not to mention that they probably also trust MDE to the extent they use it so the availability for a FP on a ride with no wait isn’t going to move the needle there either) so I doubt dropping Fastpasses for a ride with no wait is going to have a significant impact on the wait times for other rides.

 

[JakeAZ]

How would Fastpass really help crowd management in that situation though? Most people who visit WDW are not as savvy about FP as people here (not to mention that they probably also trust MDE to the extent they use it so the availability for a FP on a ride with no wait isn’t going to move the needle there either) so I doubt dropping Fastpasses for a ride with no wait is going to have a significant impact on the wait times for other rides.

Make the "included FP" limited to a set amount (of big / small rides) based on accommodations. Make them "anytime". Tier them into "big" rides and small (everything else). Post the FP waits. Let people choose the time, park and ride to use it on. One you use your included ones, everything else is paid for. This will put less FP into play and as people burn through them during the day, the SB lines will move faster.

No more refreshing. No more trying to schedule your FP time with dining time. No more worrying you'll miss your FP window.

 

[chasgeese]

With so little perks for staying on site it would be nice if they brought back the fast pass system for on site guests. On Site guests are paying a premium price even for the value resorts, so it would be a nice perk since Magical Express and EMH is going away. They need this to keep people paying the premium price and not stay off site.

While no one can deny that on-site occupancy at WDW is low, I think that’s more to do with COVID and people not going to WDW in general than guests choosing to stay off-site than on-site. People stay on-site because of the intangibles and wanting to stay in the Disney bubble. Even with the convenience of the location and transportation options and all of the other perks Disney used to offer, the price premium they charged almost never made financial sense compared to staying off-site. Disney continues to charge the premium they charge because they know people will pay it, even with the reduction in perks (especially because it’s likely that a higher percentage of visitors right now are Disney diehards).

I imagine some of the perks, including a new iteration of FP will come back once things get back to normal, but for now, Disney probably isn’t losing enough potential on-site guests to off-site hotels to justify setting a standard of lowering their rates.

 

[New Mouse]

While no one can deny that on-site occupancy at WDW is low, I think that’s more to do with COVID and people not going to WDW in general than guests choosing to stay off-site than on-site. People stay on-site because of the intangibles and wanting to stay in the Disney bubble. Even with the convenience of the location and transportation options and all of the other perks Disney used to offer, the price premium they charged almost never made financial sense compared to staying off-site. Disney continues to charge the premium they charge because they know people will pay it, even with the reduction in perks (especially because it’s likely that a higher percentage of visitors right now are Disney diehards).

I imagine some of the perks, including a new iteration of FP will come back once things get back to normal, but for now, Disney probably isn’t losing enough potential on-site guests to off-site hotels to justify setting a standard of lowering their rates.

If the prices for deluxe resorts were $250, people would fill them. Attendance is lower during covid in general, but Disney has such an inflated price point that they could easily capture most of the market with true pandemic pricing.

 

[gottalovepluto]

While no one can deny that on-site occupancy at WDW is low, I think that’s more to do with COVID and people not going to WDW in general than guests choosing to stay off-site than on-site. People stay on-site because of the intangibles and wanting to stay in the Disney bubble. Even with the convenience of the location and transportation options and all of the other perks Disney used to offer, the price premium they charged almost never made financial sense compared to staying off-site. Disney continues to charge the premium they charge because they know people will pay it, even with the reduction in perks (especially because it’s likely that a higher percentage of visitors right now are Disney diehards).

I imagine some of the perks, including a new iteration of FP will come back once things get back to normal, but for now, Disney probably isn’t losing enough potential on-site guests to off-site hotels to justify setting a standard of lowering their rates.

We’ve had a number of people literally report here they only stayed on-site before but for their COVID-Disney trip they went off-site because of the lack of Disney perks.

 

[Eric Smith]

Make the "included FP" limited to a set amount (of big / small rides) based on accommodations. Make them "anytime". Tier them into "big" rides and small (everything else). Post the FP waits. Let people choose the time, park and ride to use it on. One you use your included ones, everything else is paid for. This will put less FP into play and as people burn through them during the day, the SB lines will move faster.

No more refreshing. No more trying to schedule your FP time with dining time. No more worrying you'll miss your FP window.

I think it would help if they went back to the old school (and Disneyland) way of doing things where you don't pick a FP time; you just get a FP for a time window that they're currently giving out. I think that would remove the incentive for people grabbing up the lower tier FPs just so that they get their three pre-booked ones.

 

[Eric Smith]

If the prices for deluxe resorts were $250, people would fill them. Attendance is lower during covid in general, but Disney has such an inflated price point that they could easily capture most of the market with true pandemic pricing.

Looking at the park pass availability calendar for the month of March, the resort guest bucket has the worst availability of the three with over half the month yellow. We don't know how Disney allocated their park passes between the three buckets, but that might show that people aren't staying off property in droves due to lack of perks.

 

[JakeAZ]

Looking at the park pass availability calendar for the month of March, the resort guest bucket has the worst availability of the three with over half the month yellow. We don't know how Disney allocated their park passes between the three buckets, but that might show that people aren't staying off property in droves due to lack of perks.

There is a surplus of DVC points out there right now. Also, the make up of guests right now are mostly die-hards. Those who will stay on site regardless of what is offered.

There is a very real possibility taking away on-site benefits will have no long term impact on WDW resort occupancy, but it will for my family.

The visits will be less frequent and when we do go there will be less Disney days and more Universal days, with EP, mixed in there.

We also stopped even considering buying DVC. I know we are just one family, but my assumption is we are not alone.

 

[Eric Smith]

There is a surplus of DVC points out there right now. Also, the make up of guests right now are mostly die-hards. Those who will stay on site regardless of what is offered.

There is a very real possibility taking away on-site benefits will have no long term impact on WDW resort occupancy, but it will for my family.

The visits will be less frequent and when we do go there will be less Disney days and more Universal days, with EP, mixed in there.

We also stopped even considering buying DVC. I know we are just one family, but my assumption is we are not alone.

That's understandable, but it's not like perks won't come back after COVID is in the rear view. I'm just saying that based on the availability calendar, it doesn't look like people are choosing to stay off site instead of on site.

 

[JakeAZ]

but it's not like perks won't come back after COVID is in the rear view

What perks do you see coming back or being added?

EMH is gone (yes, they will have 30 min early, but we are nighttime people), DME is leaving, FP is a question mark, but even if it does come back, it will be revamped and most likely add a paid component.

Those are big time benefits that were "included" in the pricing structure. How many families do you think ranked DME as a major factor in buying into DVC? Gone, just like that. Now all those lifetime trips just had an additional expense and hassle added to each trip.

However, your point about resort availability is valid. People are still going.