Charge for FP? Please say it aint so!

KyleAfterAWhile

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
I called a place (will not give the name) and spoke to somebody there about selling my DVC membership via resale. The person I spoke to mentioned to me that by 2020 fastpasses will only be available through purchase. She also said something about people staying in Deluxe will get a few per day, but will have to pay for the rest, but DVC resorts, although they are technically Deluxe in most cases, will not be getting any freebies.

Please, please tell me she has been talking to the random CM or bus driver and there is no truth to this.
 
Count me in as another person who wouldn't be surprised if they started charging in the future. They may follow US/IOA's model, i.e. free to guests that stay in deluxe resorts and make them available for purchase for the rest of the guests.
I agree. Wouldnt surprise me either. Universal does it, so why not disney? They're starting to charge for everything so ya, i can see them going that route.
 


That would be a huge culture shift (and shock) if they did not offer any free to the average guest. If they thought the parking fee was painful, bad press, it's nothing compared to what taking away free FP would be. They've had it this way too long to adopt the Universal model. I really think their only options are to have people pay for FP add ons. Otherwise a lot of people are going to hang up their mouse ears.
 
That would be a huge culture shift (and shock) if they did not offer any free to the average guest. If they thought the parking fee was painful, bad press, it's nothing compared to what taking away free FP would be. They've had it this way too long to adopt the Universal model. I really think their only options are to have people pay for FP add ons. Otherwise a lot of people are going to hang up their mouse ears.

The thing about parking though, it is an industry standard. Every hotel we have stayed in has a parking fee. Required/mandatory valet in some cases.
 
The thing about parking though, it is an industry standard. Every hotel we have stayed in has a parking fee. Required/mandatory valet in some cases.

I have never paid a separate fee to park at a hotel. We usually stay here on arrival night:

upload_2018-4-27_12-49-26.png
Fairly closes to DS and never paid for parking so it's not even everywhere in Lake Buena Vista.
 


Why WOULDN"T they? Disney is the only major theme park company that I know of that doesn't currently upcharge for an option to bypass lines.
 
The thing about parking though, it is an industry standard. Every hotel we have stayed in has a parking fee. Required/mandatory valet in some cases.

My point was not to open the parking debate, just to point out that is was bad press for them and they dealt with a lot of angry people calling. It would be a lot worse if they were to get rid of all included FPs. That said, they could slowly degrade the perk over time like with free dining but I think 2020 would be too soon to accomplish that.
 
When I look at rates of the Disney deluxes they are more than Universal's Royal Pacific. I paid 265 total for weekend nightly rate at RP in December. If the Disney deluxes do get that perk then the rates would go up even more and I can't see how going there would be of value to me. If true, Tokyo Disney is looking better all the time.
 
If that were to happen, we probably would be done with our beloved Disney vacations. They are nickel and diming us to death and the price increases for food, tickets and resorts are becoming more than I am willing to pay. The increase in food prices, alone, over the last couple years are outrageous, IMO.
 
They could but I don't see it because the current setup helps disney out. If you are not in line but have a FP in 30-45 minutes you are likely to then go to a store or someplace and hang out where you might spend money. You can't spend money in line.

I could see giving people on-site more fastpasses or ofter more fastpasses for money but I think everybody will still get some free fastpasses.
 
If that were to happen, we probably would be done with our beloved Disney vacations. They are nickel and diming us to death and the price increases for food, tickets and resorts are becoming more than I am willing to pay. The increase in food prices, alone, over the last couple years are outrageous, IMO.

The big issue to me is how things like the Parking - and then this - would just be additive. Yeah, they charge for it at Universal, but the hotels, for what you get, are much cheaper per night.

If they added this on but then reduced other prices, then fine - but you know that won't be the case
 
The big issue to me is how things like the Parking - and then this - would just be additive. Yeah, they charge for it at Universal, but the hotels, for what you get, are much cheaper per night.

If they added this on but then reduced other prices, then fine - but you know that won't be the case

Just as an interesting point. My daughter's band went to Disney back the beginning of April this year and leading into it I was surprised at how many parents in the band thought you had to pay for fast passes. While I would totally hate it if they did, I don't think there would be the backlash except from those that already know that it's free and use it.
 
I have never paid a separate fee to park at a hotel. We usually stay here on arrival night:

View attachment 319506
Fairly closes to DS and never paid for parking so it's not even everywhere in Lake Buena Vista.

I use to stay there as well. Free parking, free WiFi, cheap but decent rooms for the price.

We use to stay there until one trip one of their maids stole my wife's debit card out of her wallet. Haven't been back there
 
It wouldn't bother me if Disney charged for FP. It would likely significantly lower the wait times.

It's no secret that the introduction of FP+ made nearly every rides standby increase.

I don't go to universal as much as Disney but when I do, it's great how short the waits usually are. Gringotts and Forbidden journey had about a 40 min standby while single rider was 5 min, both would sit at an easily 100+ min wait at Disney. King Kong, 5 min wait, Disney would be 45+. Hulk, 30 min wait, 90+ at Disney.

I'd either keep FP's the way they are, or introduce a similar Express pass like universal if it was going to cut the lines down
 
Just as an interesting point. My daughter's band went to Disney back the beginning of April this year and leading into it I was surprised at how many parents in the band thought you had to pay for fast passes. While I would totally hate it if they did, I don't think there would be the backlash except from those that already know that it's free and use it.

That's true - I think it just becomes part of the cost comparison. Now you need to add that in and for some it makes Disney too expensive, for others they need to take away something else - I think it was just easier to justify the higher cost for Disney when there is/was more included in what you got ... now it is harder to justify
 
Keep in mind, part of the purpose of FP+ isn't to help you skip lines, its crowd management, moving people from more popular attractions to less popular attractions, keeping you out of line and spending money in the shops. If you made people pay for it ... you'd lose part of the big purpose of the system.
 
We have to stand in long lines as Disney saves on cut staff wages, only to then have to pay to avoid these long lines, talk about win-win for Disney's balance sheets. Well at least short term
 
Probably just a rumor or speculation that I think people are just "assuming" Disney will do based on all their other recent things (increase in ticket prices, resort parking, more upsells, etc.). If speculations go around enough, they become 'rumors', if those go around enough, they become 'fact'.

But, I wouldn't be surprised either. The problem is, this (like the resort parking) just generates really, REALLY bad press when you start charging for something that was free for many, many years.
People give Disney huge props for having a free "skip the line" system and it is a big selling point. A lot are shocked they do that .. and that is huge.

If Disney did this, it would lose the magic and appeal to a LOT of loyal customers and push more people to Universal for sure as Disney goes from the top dog to just another theme park in Orlando.

If they changed things to "day of" Fast Passes (like Disneyland) . .I would be okay with charging. Disneyland's system seems a lot easier/fairer even though it costs.

Scheduling things 30-60 days in advance and stressing out about how "maximize" the system for a vacation is silly.


I think the FP+ system is straining under its own weight. The addition of more net new attractions will help it, but just feels like the system is very burdensome (technology wise and guest experience wise)
 

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