Charge for FP? Please say it aint so!

We purchased the CL FP+ for 8 of our 10 park days on our upcoming trip in September. Yes it was a little expensive totalling $1704 after tax but we have young girls (7 & 4) and they both like thrill rides as well as the classics but like us, they like to take their time. This way we were able to schedule ahead of time and don't have to worry about the refresh trick to get more rides which in turn lets me focus more on the actual vacation and my kids and less time looking at my phone. Is it worth it? I'll know after we get back. But with this being a pilot program I think it's a test to see how many people are willing to pay. If it draws in a lot of people then I think Disney will eventually switch to paid FP system which really isn't a bad thing. Less people using the FP system will mean the standby line will move faster.
 
Well here is some fuel to this fire:
https://wdwnt.com/2018/07/fastpass-...-new-test-in-disneyland-paris/#comment-113557
Fastpass Available To Purchase During New Test In Disneyland Paris


To me FP system itself was never one to distinguish between those that have "special privilege" and all the rest. The way that I see FP is that everyone has the same opportunity to educate themselves on the system...everyone has the same opportunity to make use of the system...regardless of financial circumstance. The person staying in a value resort will have the same opportunity as the person staying in the deluxe resort to make use of the FP system.

If there is a distinction it is between those who stay on Disney property, and those that stay off site. But that distinction only translates to the booking window period opening earlier for resort guests. This pay-for-play system would truly be the beginning of the end. Such a move (while a definite money maker) will break even more of the level playing field that we all play on.

The "free" FP system is one of the things that set WDW apart from any other park. I couldn't say wether the FP benefits queue management, customer spending, and/or guest experience. But, I love it. And its loss would be a very distinct black eye on a place and experience that had always been positive and magical to me.
 

The "free" FP system is one of the things that set WDW apart from any other park. I couldn't say wether the FP benefits queue management, customer spending, and/or guest experience. But, I love it. And its loss would be a very distinct black eye on a place and experience that had always been positive and magical to me.
But the bean counters know they are leaving money on the table by not trying to make FP a money maker.

It is pretty obvious that people are willing to pay for ways to skip lines/get good seats .. between Early Morning Magic, Disney After Hours, the holiday parties, dessert parties, etc. etc. - people are willing to throw $60-100 (in addition to their normal park ticket) to have a special experience to skip lines.

It's not hard to imagine people would be lining up to pay $15-20 a fast pass to help skip an extra line or two during the day.
 
Maybe Disney wants to become more of an elite destination. That could help them deal with crowds while making them even more money. They certainly seem to be trending that way.
 


I can definitely see them going to day of only, the present system doesn't work well at all as who knows exactly what time they will want to ride a particular ride 30 to 60 days in advance? I don't even know more than an hour or two in advance what my body will be able to handle.

Day of is the way to go, they won't get rid of magic bands, as they will still want to be able to track exactly where you are at any given moment on Disney Property (and yes, they can do that, they even tell you they can when you order your magic bands), but I can see them going day of only and I can see paper FPs or perhaps instead of paper FPs, you have to go to the attraction to get a return time and if you want to be able to book through the app you will have to pay extra.

The bottom line is I don't see them getting rid of free FPs, but I do see them monetizing them.
I much, much, much prefer the current system of making them ahead of time. And I know tons of people have said the same thing on here in the past. It's so much nicer going into a day knowing that I have some FPs already made, compared to having to run around the park from ride to ride, get there and not like the available return time. I can't even fathom going back to that, it would probably be enough to significantly decrease the number of trips I take. Having to go the attraction to get FPs is the absolute worst way to do it IMO. That may even be enough to stop me from going back at all.
With the current system I can get any ride I want, usually for whatever time I want day of anyway, with 1 or 2 exceptions. But being able to make those 1 or 2 exceptions in advance is worth it to me. But being able to change the return time from my phone is the best part.

What I think would be the optimal way to monetize it is to keep prebooking 3 free, then charge to prebook more than that. Then anything you want to add on day of would still be free as well.
 
Maybe Disney wants to become more of an elite destination. That could help them deal with crowds while making them even more money. They certainly seem to be trending that way.


My impression as well.

I'll just be spending my two weeks slumming it doing some solo travel if Disney goes the route that makes me feel unwanted as a lower-middle-class prole.
 
Well here is some fuel to this fire:
https://wdwnt.com/2018/07/fastpass-...-new-test-in-disneyland-paris/#comment-113557
Fastpass Available To Purchase During New Test In Disneyland Paris


To me FP system itself was never one to distinguish between those that have "special privilege" and all the rest. The way that I see FP is that everyone has the same opportunity to educate themselves on the system...everyone has the same opportunity to make use of the system...regardless of financial circumstance. The person staying in a value resort will have the same opportunity as the person staying in the deluxe resort to make use of the FP system.

If there is a distinction it is between those who stay on Disney property, and those that stay off site. But that distinction only translates to the booking window period opening earlier for resort guests. This pay-for-play system would truly be the beginning of the end. Such a move (while a definite money maker) will break even more of the level playing field that we all play on.

The "free" FP system is one of the things that set WDW apart from any other park. I couldn't say wether the FP benefits queue management, customer spending, and/or guest experience. But, I love it. And its loss would be a very distinct black eye on a place and experience that had always been positive and magical to me.
What?! $17.50 for one single FP attraction. Please tell me I’m reading that wrong.

Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little.
 


What?! $17.50 for one single FP attraction. Please tell me I’m reading that wrong.

Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little.

Maybe not for your average ride, but I could definitely see people coughing up $17.50/each to "skip the line" for FoP or once it opens SWGE. Heck, for SWGE, they could charge $100 and people would probably line up to pay it. Personally, I'd rather they do more upcharge after hours (after normal hours, not just close 3 hours early and call it "After Hours") stuff rather than monetizing FastPasses.
 
WDW is charging CL customers $50 a day for 3 additional FP+ if they want to purchase them now.
 
WDW is charging CL customers $50 a day for 3 additional FP+ if they want to purchase them now.
Which is pretty close to the 17.50 per ride but doesn’t include the free souvenir with the Paris passes. I would have gladly payed he 50 with the nighttime reserved seating, but now that it is discontinued, I don’t know if I would. Probably for a couple of days, especially if I could get FOP at 90 days.

I can say that I am a DVC owner, but if they made FP free for Deluxe resorts, but paid FP for DVC, I would definitely sell my membership (not that I could if they did that).
 
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.
But universal offers express after 4 on the top level AP and unlimited express for some of their resorts.

And I LOVE MaxPass at DLR!!!!!!!
 
I guess the reason I don't see this happening is that they recently opened up FP+ to 60 days for some non-Disney area resorts. It them seems odd that they would take it away from DVC resorts and other Disney resorts. The backlash would be... ugly.
 
I am not a fan of them doing this, but I really hope if they do they learn from Universal a bit and do offer some sort of advantage for staying onsite... preferably something included in the room package and not an upcharge on the room. Another on-site benefit. It works at Universal... we stayed at Port Royal specifically because they had this option and it was that important to us.

That said, if this further raises the price of going to Disney, our trip to see the Star Wars area may be our last for quite some time. We've already stopped going to the parks as much as we used to because of what I consider to be unreasonable price hikes on tickets. We're going on Fall Break this year, but we've diverted most of our previously every other year trips to cruises and other destinations. Charging for fast passes would just add fuel to this fire for me and drive me further away.
 
. Another on-site benefit. It works at Universal... we stayed at Port Royal specifically because they had this option and it was that important to us.

It works at Universal because it's smaller and they only have 3 deluxe resorts. As much as I might like to see it, I don't see how it could work at Disney.
 
It works at Universal because it's smaller and they only have 3 deluxe resorts. As much as I might like to see it, I don't see how it could work at Disney.
They could include a certain number of passes based on resort. But unlimited wouldn't work due to the amount of rooms Disney has. And since even Club 33 doesn't get unlimited, I don't see that ever happening.
 
The extra fast passes that can be purchased with a club level stay are the first step in Disney making this a perk for top tier stays, they will charge even more for the rooms and we will pay. My wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in the garden cottages at the boardwalk and purchased the extra fast passes and were able to book all of our fast passes 90 days out and it was amazing! We were able to schedule our days exactly the way we wanted and it was worth every penny. I am looking forward to this becoming a club level perk!
 
Is this $17.50 for additional FP+, or would this mean that the 3 free ones are off the board and you have to buy any/all that you desire? I know that this is not set, but wondering what the test looks like in Paris.
 
Just because Disney can do it, doesn't mean they should. Staying at club level is not in my future, and I don't appreciate the thought of Disney making me stand in long lines because I can't afford to purchase fast passes. If it comes to that, I'm out.

I don't think WDW will take away the free FP+ which is the hook that Disney uses to get people excited about going to WDW. It also helps Disney to manage crowds and staff popular attractions accordingly. However, with so many new 1st tier attractions already in the park and some more in the work, paid FP+ has its charms. My family got to use it during our recent trip. We don't go to WDW often. We were there in 2016, then this year, and I don't think we will go back until 2021. We can only go during summer and the weather/crowd makes it unbearable to wait in line. So we bit the bullet and bought the CL FP+ to make sure we rode all the 1st tier rides during our trip...

I wonder what you think about Universal Studio which does not even offer free express pass and price tag for these passes starts at $70 pp/pd, which is a lot! If you don't buy the passes, you have to stand in line... no other way around.
 

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