When asked to comment on the application a Disney spokesperson told the Orlando Sentinel that FastPass distribution wasn't changing and that they planned to use the technology discussed in the patent for several things.
If you don't already stay on Disney property when you visit Orlando will the possibility of this tiered system make you more likely to do so?
They have three types of fastpasses.
1) Standard Fastpass: You may get one per ride every 2hrs or so. You may have in your hand a fastpass for every ride int he park if you soo desired, but you cannot double up on the same ride.
2) Disney hotel fastpass: Guests staying at the prestigious Disneyland Hotel Paris each receive on fastpass to each attraction per day in the park. This means that you may in essence ride a ride back to back using a fastpass acquired through normal channels. However once you use the ticket given to you at the hotel it is gone.
This is especially useful in the summer months when the fastpasses get eaten up relatively quickly.
3) VIP fastpass: This is a fastpass given to guests who stay in a suite. It is useable an unlimited number of times for the duration of your trip on any fastpass attraction. This fastpass changed my trip! I was able to ride all of the attractions multiple times while still sitting down to relax for an hour any time I wished. We rode Space Mountain Mission 2 no less than 6 times! It was awesome... and it was in July!
Anywho... I understand resistance to the changes. But if this gets Disney to stop raising ticket prices due to increased revenue at the Deluxe resorts isn't it a win for everyone?
Guests of Resort Hotels can use their room keys as unlimited fastpasses.
Oddly enough we didn't always use them. If the lines were only 20-30 mins we preferred to soak up some of the theming. In by-passing the lines with a fastpass you sometimes miss out on that part of the ride experience.
Secondly, I just came back from DLP and stayed at one of their resorts and got no special preferental treatment when it came to getting fastpasses. The only difference I saw was that their fastpasses were good only for an half hour instead of the full hour at WDW.
I saw this first hand when Universal got rid of the Express reservation system. Many pass holders vowed not to renew their annual passes, and others vowed not to reurn to Universal again, in essence because of a piece of paper.
Believe me, I understand why these are popular. I remember when I was kid waiting in long lines for a ride. It's what you had to do, and this is before personal entertainment devices like cell phone games or ipods. (Yes there was a time they did not exist, and dinosaurs roamed the earth.) So of course families are going to eat this up.
Two arguments from the removal of said system at Universal were:
1. The feeling of being a second class citizen.
2. You don't have to pay for it at Disney.
Interesting how this new procedure will pretty much cover both arguments. If you have the money you get to wait in shorter lines, if no lines at all, and to get that priviledge you have to spend a little extra money at the nicer hotels.
For a person on a budget, like myself, not exactly the fairest of deals. But being a local I know when to be at the parks and when not to be in regards to crowds. But not everyone has that option.
Just to get this out of the way, I'm not pro or anti any parks, I like Disney and I like Universal. There are pros and cons to both properties. (Yes I said that there are some cons at Disney.) But there are going to be mistakes we are human.
Of course we don't know if this is true, only time will tell. I would like to know what people think about this.
In college we actually had this discussion. If we were in charge of a theme park would we offer a premium like this if someone paid for it. In the end I think the positives out ranked the negatives, bottom line was money. I think that's what we have here. Not only will the guest pay the extra per night rates but will be more likely to stay on property thus spending all their vacation dollars at Disney. From a business stand point this could be like the most brilliant thing ever. From a PR customer service side, believe me I would not want to be a Guest Redlations person if this would come into play, it can be a nightmare.
However, the business side doesn't really have to handle the guest service side of it. Again it will be interesting to see what happens.
Just my 2 cents. Thanks for reading!! :)
At some point won't Disney price themselves into ridiculousness? It won't be that long before they are charging $100 per day to get into the park. When you stop and think about how many rides you can physically get on in a day, you are paying between $7 and $10 per ride.
Stop and think for a moment... is getting on Winnie the Pooh really worth $7 per person, or $28 for a family of 4, for that 5 minute ride? Would it be worth $10 a person?
When you pay your admission fee you buy into the illusion that you can go on as many rides as you want as many times as you want. But you can only get on as many as there is time to wait in line before the park closes (leaving aside for a moment the issue of how much energy and tolerance you have for standing in line).
I wonder how many people would be as excited about Disney if they really let you know the true cost of each ride as you got on it. Imagine if you had to swipe a credit card or fork over cash at each ride. Would Mom and Dad really whip out 40 bucks for everyone to ride the teacups?
I do like the program that Universal had a couple of years ago. You could pay a flat rate (I think it was like $20 per person) to get a pass that allowed you one fast pass entry to each ride that day. But it was available to anyone and not outrageously priced.
Having tiers, VIP programs or priority based on how much money you spend hurts eveybody else that paid the same money to get in at the park gate.
My two cents....!!!
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First come, first served the fastpass!