Not me! Getting rid of FastPass would greatly reduce the overall waits at every ride / attraction in the parks. It would make planning easier - IMHO
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My guess is that there will be a couple āfreeā FP for the less desirable rides and then there will be Tiers of paid FP (and packages) with the price rising as more decreeable rides were included.
So essentially, isnāt a WDW Boarding Group a DLR Fast Pass in that you have to make it in the park on the day.
Except they donāt give you a return time and it might turn out there isnāt a return time?
And a virtual queue is that same experience but they offer it three times a day?
Does anyone think that more attractions will get these?
The big problem with having more and more rides using VQs is that it then forces the park to have to be able to handle more capacity OUTSIDE of the lines.
Traditionally, amusement parks need people to be standing in lines so that it frees up open spaces to make the place feel less crowded.
Now, when overall numbers are lower, it isnāt a big problem, because you then shift those same folks into the stores or restaurants. But neither stores nor restaurants can really handle the large influx of crowds that would normally be standing in the ride lines for busier days. Plus, everyone has to eat, and it was already the case that most eateries were hitting max capacity a lot of the time anyhow, so I donāt think you can actually shift people into those venues.
So, what do you do with all the people? You have to stick them in lines.
Having just a FEW rides with VQs is fine, because it shifts those people just into other shows/rides that maybe donāt otherwise fill upā¦but then that leads to greater dissatisfaction because rides that typically would have shorter waits now have longer waits. Put another way, every time a person who wants to ride ROTR isnāt in line, they are likely in line for something else, adding wait time to all those people who are NOT waiting for/riding ROTR.
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I really want to ālikeā your post, but alas ā¦ principles.
So I will just say that I agree with your post.
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Traditionally, amusement parks need people to be standing in lines so that it frees up open spaces to make the place feel less crowded.
That is the opposite of what Walt Disney wanted. He observed that people standing in line werenāt spending money on food or souvenirs.
On the general topic of fast passes, Iāve read that pre-fast passes, the headliners had longer lines, but everything else had minimal lines. What fast passes did was to spread the crowds and the lines around to most of the rides. Which has the same flavor as the coupon books with rides labeled "Aā, etc. Of course, if the current grand-poobah is guided by Walt Disney is a question.
True, to a point. But people will only spend so much and eat so much. If you want to remove people from the lines entirely, you have to have a whole lot more shops (with unique merchandise) and a whole lot more places to eatā¦but I think if you have too many, it wastes space because, again, youāll just not use the capacity in the eateries, etc, as a result. (This is why, for example, Aunt Pollyās is only open during the busiest of days.)
Right. So whatās happened is that by shifting waits, it is making EVERYONE have to wait a whole lot longer even for minor rides. So, for example, the rides more aimed at kids, with the lower waits before, now have longer waits.
I will point out that ālonger linesā didnāt necessarily mean longer waits, though. Without the FPP line taking up a significant amount of capacity, the standby line moves at a quicker pace. You might end up waiting the same overall (since those FPP people would now be in the Standby line with you), but the line would be moving much more quickly, making it FEEL shorter.
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Personally, I like the UOR system.
You can be genpop and do standby for every ride, or you can get an Express Pass. The EPās can be for one park or both, they can be for one ride on each attraction or multiple rides on each attraction. Guests at the luxury hotels get them free.
Or you can do a non-private VIP tour, which gives you direct-to-front-of-line access, or you can do a private VIP tour.
Very roughly EPs are around $150 a day, non-private VIP tours are $300 and include an EP for when the tourās over. Not cheap, but outstanding experiences in all cases.
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So I would think that FPP time windows are what gets people to shop, eat, and spend more money while they wait for the next FP? For example well we have 30 minutes until next FP so I canāt really wait in a really long line for a different ride so we might as well grab some food or look at souvenirs.
Granted I have only been to Disney World one time in January 2-9 in 2020 but the FP system worked great for us and we never waited in a stand by line for more than 15 minutes or so. We actually waited longer for character meets than any ride. I do not see Disney making a change anytime soon because the challenge for them is going to be how to get people to come once they can reopen with full capacity whenever that happens.
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One thing UOR does that I canāt see Disney doing if they tried something similar. UOR limits the number of express passes that it sells. I just canāt see Disney showing that restraint. The UOR system only works if they donāt sell so many passes that they piss off both the pass buyers because then they still have to wait in long lines, and the non-pass buyers who basically couldnāt get on a ride and therefore donāt want to go at all. .
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I do recall this being discussed on āWelcome back to another addition of Disney Dish with Jim Hill ā¦its me Lenā.
This may be the opportunity Disney is looking for to monetize the FPP system at WDW.
Speculation was the club level guests would get additional FPP, that can most likely now be modified to club level people get āxā number of FPP reservations. They could tier it based on the room category you are staying in. This would encourage others to pay more by upgrading their rooms and inciting those that stay off property to move on property.
For new rides, I could see them using the Boarding Group system to manage the crowds. In addition, those with premium resort reservations would get a ride reservation in advance.
Disney never throws away ideas, they just dust them off at a later date. I could see them using a version of the Max Pass system from California in Florida. However, they most likely would need to modify it so they do not impact the additional advantage given to those that stay on property in club level rooms.
Itās been discussed on Disney Dish and other places, in the past, that a paid MaxPass system for all is a strong possibility. A rumor for an onsite guest perks would be a hybrid model of scaled FPP for resort guests only with the option to still purchase MaxPass. Depending on the resort level each guest would get a certain number of prebooked FPP per day of visit. (Value resorts get 1 FPP / Moderate 2 FPP / Deluxe 3 FPP / Club 4+) Those numbers are just guesses / starting points.
APs would have the option to upgrade into a MaxPass as in DLR.
Early Entry would still be available for on-site guests as well.
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Early entry (aka, EMH) has lost its value over time. The limited days as to which parks offer it means you get a lot of resort guests going all at the same time. I think Early Entry would be a better perk if they offered it in every park each day so that it spreads the resort guests across the parks. But thatās just my opinion. Disney hasnāt asked me (yet) how I feel about the matter for some reason!
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I agree, but it only has to ālookā like a perk to the general public. It doesnāt have to actually be one. Thatās the whole issue with FPP in general. It looks like a good idea / āperkā, but in reality it just slows everything down.
We are more savvy than most visitors who only visit one or twice in a lifetime.
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This makes a lot sense.
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Josh at EZWDW debunked the notion that EMH is a determing factor in selecting a park to visit.
Its an heavy duty read but worth the time:
https://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/does-it-really-matter-which-day-of-the-week-you-visit-each-walt-disney-world-theme-park/
I think this is exactly how they will use FP with the genie. Ask a series of questions about your family and their preferences and then offer you a package of free FastPasses and then how you can upgrade this for more.
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Whenever FPs return Iām pretty certain there will be a paid option available. āNowā is the perfect time to introduce it.
From what I can gather they are still mulling over several possibilities.
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Oh yes indeed! I have studied the TP DLR fast pass distribution charts and been involved in many a discussion about best order and when different rides run out on different days and crowd levels.
I did Disney before any FP and had a great time.
I did Disney with legacy FP and had a great time.
I did Disney after the advent of FP+ but before you could link single-day CM passes in advance - or be Main Gated in by a CM on a day - so there was no way to book them ahead. And had a great time - even over the week between Christmas and New Year.
Iāve done Disney with FP+ with an AP (and with an on-site stay/ticket package) and honestly missed the spontaneity of the other trips. Granted in terms of parks that is gone right now anyway, but.
You can still have an amazing day and ride all the things - yes, even the headliners (ok, I donāt do Studios as it focuses on my two least favorite franchises so itās an easy pass for me) at AK - without being so stressed out and structured with FP+ and ADRs dictating your day.
Or at least some of us can.
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