Buying the "Front of the Line"

2hapykdz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 30, 2015
I hate to be negative, but I think it's just a matter of time before you'll be able to purchase a Premium Park ticket that will enable you to Fast Pass everything. Fast passes are a great tool to maximize ride efficiency.....but if you can pay to skirt all the long lines, it just sends the wrong message. One of the reasons I don't like Universal is that you can buy your way off lines. Thoughts??
 
The concept of the fast pass was to get folks out of the lines, and into the gift shops and restaurants.

I can see a maxpass type of system working in Florida, as it has basically a loop counter. So you use a fastpass, and can't use a new one for another hour. So it would force you to do something else.

However, if you can pay to stay on rides every minute of the day, I'm not sure that helps the bottom line.
 
One of the reasons I love Universal if I can book a great resort (love Hard Rock) usually for less than an equivalent accommodation at WDW and get express pass for free! It makes our Uni trips so easy! Why would I dislike something that makes our vacation easier?
This is how we feel too. We are going to start renting our DVC out and use that money to book Uni trips at their resorts to get the FREE front of line pass. Tired of spending all the money at Disney and only get 3 FP a day that we have to prebook two months out.
 


As they continue to test out this new purchase system in club level, I think we'll eventually get to some type of all inclusive ticket. It could be as simple as a guaranteed ride on all FP+ enabled rides in that park for the one day. If Disney wanted to keep people moving around and buying things, they could set things to a max use of 2 per hour. If you wanted the full benefit, that keeps you in the park longer where you are more likely to spend money.
 
Just don't think that the Disney way should be that you get to ride more than the next family if you make more money than they do.

Obviously it has already started to turn a little away from that, but still.

Although, I might be a hypocrite when I say I'm going to do the EMM in June when we go, but at least it's not running when non buyers of EMM enter the park.
 
I hate to be negative, but I think it's just a matter of time before you'll be able to purchase a Premium Park ticket that will enable you to Fast Pass everything. Fast passes are a great tool to maximize ride efficiency.....but if you can pay to skirt all the long lines, it just sends the wrong message. One of the reasons I don't like Universal is that you can buy your way off lines. Thoughts??

One of the things that draws us to Universal is that we can stay at a deluxe resort there and have unlimited Express Pass included with our stay. We wouldn't go there without it.
 


I hate to be negative, but I think it's just a matter of time before you'll be able to purchase a Premium Park ticket that will enable you to Fast Pass everything. Fast passes are a great tool to maximize ride efficiency.....but if you can pay to skirt all the long lines, it just sends the wrong message. One of the reasons I don't like Universal is that you can buy your way off lines. Thoughts??

You already can, it's called a VIP tour. They have these at Disney (and many other parks) and you can definitely get to the front of the line and it definitely costs a lot. But if someone wanted to do get on a lot of rides without a lot ot waiting, a VIP tour would probably be way more fun and "valuable" than buying 3 extra fastpasses per person, per day, just my opinion though.

People tend to equate Express Pass with a FOTL experience and it isn't. It's just a separate "faster" line, similar to fastpass. The difference is, one use it on demand either unlimited amounts of time or one time per ride. But the line for each still exists, the express pass puts you in a shorter line, with (theorhetically) fewer people.
 
The concept of the fast pass was to get folks out of the lines, and into the gift shops and restaurants.

I can see a maxpass type of system working in Florida, as it has basically a loop counter. So you use a fastpass, and can't use a new one for another hour. So it would force you to do something else.

However, if you can pay to stay on rides every minute of the day, I'm not sure that helps the bottom line.

In my novice opinion...it seems like they are somewhat de-emphasizing merchandise sales in the parks.

That's against the game plan that disney invented/patented. But I would say two things:

1. It's easier to predict other things...the street likes that.
2. There's nothing to sell...people buy more consumer products each day at home and Disney has streamlined their merchandise into oblivion...it sucks, frankly.
 
You already can, it's called a VIP tour. They have these at Disney (and many other parks) and you can definitely get to the front of the line and it definitely costs a lot.

The VIP tour is not get in front of the line pass, the booking reservation specifically points that out. It’s a FP+ ticket. If the attraction you want to go on has a 20 min fast pass line you have to wait your 20mins. You do not get to cut the people on the FP line.
 
Universal's crowding problems are nowhere near as horrendous as Disney's. Very few rides between the two Universal parks will have the massive 1-2 hrs waits unless it's a brand new recently opened attraction or it's one of the busier times of the year. And with only two parks with tons of attractions equally distributed, the lines are eased a bit. And they have more time during the year when Express Passes are not even necessary. I think the only ride I waited more than 30 mins on was the Hogwarts Express, but that's a ride that can only run one train at a time and is not equipped to handle large crowds.

Disney is obviously another story. Far too many rides are impossible to do without an FP even during the quieter times. Limits would be required if Disney did their own version of this.
 
A bit confused on booking times. Always thought you couldn't book a fp that conflicted with another fp's time (and to my understanding you can't unless you've scanned the previous one and are able to move following ones up earlier). Is that correct?
 
The VIP tour is not get in front of the line pass, the booking reservation specifically points that out. It’s a FP+ ticket. If the attraction you want to go on has a 20 min fast pass line you have to wait your 20mins. You do not get to cut the people on the FP line.

Wait all that money and they don't even skip the line? I could've sworn that I've seen plaids taking people in to the ride through the exits but that could've been something else instead.
 
I'm so down for this. I would have done VIP already, but I don't want to be with a VIP stranger all day. If I could just pay to do it; I'd be in. LOVE Universal's system.
 
I'm not sure what I saw the other day, but while in the FP+ line at FOP a group of 10 people came in through a back door and walked right onto the ride. Certainly looked like a VIP group because a cast member was leading the way.
 
Just don't think that the Disney way should be that you get to ride more than the next family if you make more money than they do.

Obviously it has already started to turn a little away from that, but still.

Disney has never been egalitarian. Remember they started with the lettered tickets? Now some can only afford 5 days onsite, which might not guarantee you a fop fast pass. Others can’t afford onsite. Others can’t afford Disney at all. Those with more money always have, and always will be able to do Disney better. Since Disney is a private corporation, not a publically subsidized charity I don’t find that unseemly at all.
 
I'm not sure what I saw the other day, but while in the FP+ line at FOP a group of 10 people came in through a back door and walked right onto the ride. Certainly looked like a VIP group because a cast member was leading the way.
Was it in the afternoon/evening? If so, it could have been the AK tour.
 
Just think about what you personally would be willing to buy and pay for.

I paid $19/person for myself, wife and son (and infant daughter) to use a Magic Express bus to hop from DHS to MK for ONE day. We were there on a quick two day trip and didn't want to be stuck in DHS all day. It was quick, no hassle, and getting dropped off right inside Tomorrowland was worth every penny and easily saved us 60 to 90 minutes from doing that all ourselves in our own car.

People are willing to pay a premium for PPO breakfasts (sometimes they don't even bother showing up for) just to have a jump on rope drop.
People are willing to pay $60+/person for breakfast and unlimited rides on SDMT, Peter Pan and Pooh.
People are willing to pay $250/person for the AK tour giving them a super fast pass to every major ride in AK (including Flight of Passage).
People are willing to pay $100+/person for these "night" events (including parties) where lines are significantly shorter.

So, I can see them selling a Fast Pass "premium" upgrade.
For a fee, your 3 Fast Passes turn into "anytime anywhere" fast passes. No need to hassle with scheduling, no tiering .. .. just walk up to a ride and hop on.
After those three are used, you schedule your fourth fast passes as normal.

I would pay for that .. though it does depend on how much it would cost.

I just don't think the system can handle selling an all day fast pass. It would have to be REALLY expensive to prevent them from just being gobbled up and ruining the experience for the "peons" using the normal Fast Pass system.
 
I agree with the OP...but Disney has got to do something about the crowds. It used to be that you could find an "off-season" time to visit WDW when wait times weren't outrageous. Now, there is effectively no "off-season." Star Wars Land is really going to make this an even worse problem.
 

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