As people have pointed out, those with onsite reservations will get first shot at park reservations. Then AP holders. And then everyone else, possibly Florida residents ahead of anyone elsewhere.
This new system is clearly not just as a result of Covid. No way could it have been designed, built and tested. I suspect Covid was the chance to introduce it because it solves a lot of their problems.
After all reserving a park is not that different from step 1 of FP booking, “ choose your park”.
Where Covid affects it is whether they can give everyone onsite a park for each day of their stay. Which is why AP holders have been warned they might find it hard to book. As the park capacity ramps up, so will resort bookings, so it doesn’t look too good for AP holders for a few months.
And of course, with ADR booking moving to 60 days, FP booking when it returns will have to move. And they could bring in changes to FPs at the same time.
Disney see a benefit to FPs. They also see a benefit to giving those staying onsite some perks. We’ll just have to see what happens.
I agree 100%. They’ve been moving in this direction for quite some time. It has always puzzled me why they’d have so many room discounts all the time, and yet be building more capacity.
I guess I had figured they were ramping up room capacity in order to eventually start restricting attendance and improving the experience for on-site guests. If they have fewer guests, they’ve got to get more money out of each of them.
Well, this is their chance to get those rooms filled, perhaps at rack rate, and capture all the associated revenue, which is tremendous. Far, far greater than the cost of a ticket and some food and souvenirs which are purchased by day guests.
I think the end goal is a mega all-inclusive resort.
This sounds plausible, especially is a global recession doesn’t take place. They will have to change marketing procedures though. And I can’t imagine the price tag on it. There aren’t THAT many rooms. Unless certain parks are closed a day or so a week…
I wonder what it would do to Kissimmee proper? All those unused hotel rooms? Maybe Uni builds more gates?
It would certainly be the last nail in the coffin for my preference of DLR.
And DLR already has a similar app running for those with the Flex Pass AP. With the Flex Pass you do get free days where you can just show up, but for weekends you have to make a reservation for day and park (you can choose both parks). So the technology was already in place for this, it just had to be adapted and maybe expanded.
DLR could never require on-property In order to visit. I have a big family and I want a house for vacation.
We visited DLR in 2018 as part of our NY to CA road trip and it stole my (already jaded) heart from WDW.
Went back to WDW for a wonderful vacation in November… but we wax poetic for DLR
DL is very different than WDW. DL is more compact and surrounded by local community w/ limited on-site resort space. So, requiring an on-site reservation there would be very limiting. WDW has over 5,000 DVC rooms alone (I think) plus how many other resorts… Our last family trip we booked four rooms with DDP at Movies to accommodate our group. Probably more expensive than renting a house in the area but we love being on property with transportation and the ambiance of resort life.
They are building something that I think will be DVC on site at DLR. But it still won’t compare with DW. It will be in the Downtown Disney area where ESPN used to be - closer to the Disneyland Hotel. I hope that DLR continues to be more of an off-site resort. I think it will because so much of their support comes from locals.
Last year my daughter and I went to Disneyland for a couple of days at the end of her semester (she goes to college about an hour (without traffic) away). We rented an airbnb in Garden Grove that was a little mother-in-law suite. It was so nice and cost us about $65/night. I’m not kidding. And we just took an uber to the park each day. About $10 and 10 minutes. It was heavenly and super cheap. Nicer than most hotel rooms also.
Last August, we had my daughter’s three friends with us on our road trip to take her back to college. I rented another airbnb a little further away from Disney. It was a guest house and all six of us stayed there for around $100/night. The commute to DLR was a little longer and we had to pay for parking but still well worth it.
Finding these types of deals makes going to DLR often a reality for us, so I know exactly what you mean!
On one aspect I agree with you - they definitely had this idea on the drawing board already, and the Covid-19 shutdown gave them a prime opportunity to implement it. But they could have easily fast-tracked it out of the proposal stage and designed/built/tested an MVP release by now. The fact that they are doing a phased roll-out leads me to believe that the on-site guests will essentially be beta testers.
You said that they could not have gone through design/build/test - i.e. they were already developing this before Covid-19. I think that it is possible that this was still in the “wish” phase and they seized the opportunity to quickly turn it into a reality.
I’ve been thinking about this all day, and it makes sense…
Look how many people willingly pay for dining plans, knowing it doesn’t save them money, but they like the convenience of it. (I’m speaking specifically of those that know it doesn’t save them cash. I know in the right situation it can.)
I could see Disney going in on the exorbitantly expensive packages where everything except souvenirs is included.
Well, when I do the math, I realize that the ticket part of our package was a mere fraction of the total amount we spent, and we had a steep discount at the BWI- somewhere between 30-35%. And then there were the meals, Minnie Van, and some clothes we bought at the horrifically expensive Fjording in Norway (I justified that we will use them for a long time, and we will)! and some other ticketed events and the CLFP. We just didn’t have enough time so I wanted to make things as easy as possible and that meant $$$. I think our tickets were maybe 20% of our total bill. Yikes.
So really, to Disney, we spent like 4 or 5 families who stayed off-site. With the Galactic Starcruiser, the CBR coming online, I just think the math could work. Because they’d capture almost ALL of the revenue a family would spend in Orlando, not just the ticket, some souvenirs and meals, which really are just the tip of the spending iceberg.
I hadn’t really thought of this, but you’re right. And if Disney did that, they could get rid of all the staff and infrastructure involved with point-of-service payment at restaurants.
When I think back about our trip last year, I just can’t help but think they were at a tipping point (before COVID). It’s just so darn expensive, but for a lot of people the experience just doesn’t match with the financial outlay. Disney can’t be all things to all people.
Arriving on the city bus would be the only way to do it, in my book. The parking is too steep! There are also some meet-up groups that meet once a month at one of the parks. Whoever wants to can join and do the park with the group. I’ve never done that, but thought about it!
I had an annual pass that expired in January and can fly basically free due to my bestie being employed by an airline and flight benefits. So a few times during the year I had my pass, I flew down in the morning, ubered to the park, spent a few hours, ubered back and flew home. Magical days by myself just poking into corners we were always too busy to check out. I will probably buy another annual pass at some point but I did kind of reach a saturation point. This break (haven’t been since January 26 - not that I’m counting) will make me appreciate it that much more when I can go back.
I could not do make-believe every single day. Yowsers.
@Pod - I remember in the past being told WDW “needed” the off-site guests as much as the on-site ones bc they only had so many on-site beds. In order to get enough $ from just onsite, I would then estimate, they’d need to increase the over-all expenditure, right? It would become harder and harder to create a truly “value” trip and remain onsite, unless a much more pronounced caste system were to emerge for onsite and that could overcomplicate thing? I’m thinking out loud here, er, sort of.
I think it is totally do able. In essence expect visitors to treat every trip like a once-in-a-lifetime trip, even if it is annually or bi-annually. To be an even more boutique experience. Although - maybe they would be able to cut down overhead if they are having fewer bodies in the park at a time… ??
Interesting thoughts.
I’m in no hurry to return though. I can’t get a clear enough picture of what WDW will be in the foreseeable future (I’m for sure not alone!).
It was a social club, seniors living singly, gathering to sit on benches and people watch and schmooze with CMs, like the long-time piano player. Maybe wonder where George is today until someone remembers he’s watching a grandkid graduate from something, etc.
I DON’T want to live in SoCa but this sounds great to me, otherwise.
