Rumor: Paid FPs imminent

You really don’t think people who see Spalsh/Space at 0(FP)/60 will behave differently than people who see them at 30/30? That every single person who would have ridden them both at 30/30 will still ride them both at 0/60? I don’t understand why you don’t think a huge number of people would just pass on the 60 minute wait and go do something with less demand?

I mean I objectively win because I went with a crew of 7 people for 7 days the week before Christmas and never waited more than 30 minutes (and only once for that long) and we didn’t miss anything we wanted to do (save the UP bird show, but not a big loss there), so it clearly wasn’t all perception.

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They absolutely will. And come back later to do it when the line is (potentially) shorter.

Not the same time period, but we’ve done 7 people for 6 days at Disney and never have to wait more than 30 minutes as well. Ironically, one time we got in line for Space Mountain and the people who had a FP actually had a LONGER wait (by a few seconds) because the lines were so short that the folks with a FP had to pause to have their FP scanned whereas the standby line just walked through. It was kind of funny, although, not the norm! :slight_smile:

@ryan1 I’m really not following your line logic.
When at the parks I rode and rode and rode. I barely waited on individual lines. Now maybe we waited more overall, but we did so in short increments and rode everything we wanted to over all. Maybe we waited more than people who only waited for three rides, but did so at an hour each and then got frustrated and let early? Or just watched shows. If I wait 10 minutes times 20 rides, yes I did wait more overall, but I did more, too.

Or not at all, thus decreasing the overall demand for the most popular rides for the day.

He’s very intimidating! I tried to joke around with him, but I was wearing a Leia shirt and Chewie ears and he was not a fan of mine. Sons were wearing Darth Vader and Kylo Ren shirts, but he didn’t appreciate it when they asked about his grandfather!

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There is only so much ride capacity. Fast Passes do NOT increase ride capacity (or “wait capacity”, really, if you include non-ride lines). They just shift it around. The only reason you might get in MORE rides in the day is having a good Touring Plan, taking advantage of same-day FPPs (which most people do not), or having a lot of people just not using their FPPs that day.

Any given individual can find a way to make their day go smoother since the FPP system is in place. You would be stupid NOT to use it because otherwise you are throwing away “free” line savings. BUT, the point is that if there were NO FPP system in place, the overall wait time in the park for the average guest would not increase. It would just shuffle around where they wait and how slowly the line moves. So, for example, in the case I mentioned that I actually paid attention on PPF, with a standby line 300 people deep, the person would wait 60 minutes to get on. But if there were no FPPs, then the same standby line could be 1800 people deep and they would only wait 60 minutes. The throughput of the standby line increases dramatically.

BUT, the perception of a “long line” might scare people away from the ride, so they skip it and go do something else. This means that you generally have fewer people in the long standby lines, which means you wait less time overall for the same ride in standby without FPP…but that time is made up by the fact that never get to “skip the line” anywhere else.

As a counterpoint to my own argument, I’m sure there are a lot of people who FP say, Spaceship Earth, that really have no desire to ride it, but “hey, we can get on with no wait so why not?”

That said, I’m also sure there a whole lot of people who don’t get FP’s for FoP or SDD and don’t ride it at all because of the long standby waits. People who would gladly have gotten in a 90 minute line for it.

Yeah. This actually is another reason I don’t like FPP so much. Because those who REALLY want to ride something a lot will be more willing to wait. But those who aren’t as committed won’t. That means that, overall, the standby wait (again, without FPP) is actually shorter overall. This is how I am at other amusement parks. For example, at Cedar Point, I’m willing to wait 1 1/2 to 2 hours to ride Millennium Force. And so I do. But I wouldn’t bother waiting long for Top Thrill Dragster. (Maybe 20-30 minutes max.) Yet, if I had a “Fast Pass”, I’d ride it even though I don’t care. This then makes the line longer for those who really DO want to ride it and are willing to wait.

As we were walking by people standing in long lines, my DH kept asking why other people weren’t using FPP and was I sure I didn’t have to pay extra for it. I told him perhaps they used their FPP on other rides, but I suspect a decent percentage of WDW guests don’t use FPP because they don’t understand how it works or assume they have to pay for them. I’ve talked to people who didn’t have a clue how it worked…

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I think the TP folks have said that 15-20 min. is about the most people are willing to wait for an “ok but not great” ride, which is why they don’t use them to gauge crowd levels. The waits increase to 20 min. and then stop rising, because they’re not worth it. So definitely some rides are being ridden just because people need to get a tier 1 FP out of the way, and would not otherwise ride it if the wait were over 15-20 min. We’re doing that with Living With The Land, and in fact may just tap in and be on our way.

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Oh my goodness!! Your DD is so adorable!!

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No! Do the ride!!! At the end in the room before you get out of the car there is an extremely cool fun bunch of stuff. Which I won’t spoil here.

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Ride!

Well, I’ve done it before and nothing stands out in my mind, unless there’ve been changes in the last few years. Maybe my tastes are just quirky? :joy:

In the room at the bottom of the service elevator, before the elevator turns to the exit door, look around at all the stuff in the room.

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This is an interesting conversation from a newbie’s point of view.

This is exactly my scenario. As much fun as I’m having planning our trip, I know we’re not likely to ever go again. We’re middle class. We don’t go on vacations. I’m carefully calculating the cost of food and I’m carefully choosing extras. Because, I’m indeed fitting in as much as possible in 5 days. Then we’re going to Universal where I’m looking forward to a more laid back vacation before heading back home. I’ve never seen Disney as an attainable vacation, but we were presented with an opportunity and seized it.

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Jaymeknits enjoy yourself :orange_heart:

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Thanks! It’ll be amazing and I’m so grateful my husband bought me “the highest rated planning guide” (his words…the guy loves research) and that it led me to this group. TP has been an invaluable resource! Love this group!

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I said “Bye Ben” when we were leaving our Kylo meet and greet. Kylo gave me the slow golf clap and told us something along the lines of I don’t go by that name any longer. He said something else, I will ask my wife what he said. I will edit this post after she reports back.

Edit:
Talked with my wife and she corrected me. He did not say anything about not going by that name. Kylo said “That name means nothing to me” while slowing clapping.

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This is me! I’m happy to report that it looks like at least one of my children may be agreeing with me that getting up early will help maximize the fun. However, one of them will gladly sleep until noon and show up later with Dad. How the other one turns out remains to be seen.

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