Paid FP options coming soon to WDW?

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I have no idea if Disney is going to do paid fastpasses. However I am supremely confident that if they do it won’t be $20.

 

[The Pho]

Isn't Kennywood's like pay $20 and ride all the coasters all day long? Not sure how that compares to paying $20 to get on to one single ride.

Steel Curtain is $20/ ride for just it. That’s alongside the all day all coasters and each coaster once options.

So it’s an individual ride fastpass for the new and most popular ride that operates alongside another system. A fairly good comparison for a potential Disney change.

 

[wareagle57]

That’s far too cheap. Disney isn’t going to charge the same price as Kennywood.

Why not when Maxpass is $15 a day? $50 a day for only 3 rides compared to $15 a day for unlimited rides is a pretty big difference. I know other places get away with it, but getting FP for free has been a Disney staple for so long. I just can’t see enough people putting up with essentially doubling the price of their tickets for slightly better ride selection than you could already previously get for free.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Why not when Maxpass is $15 a day? $50 a day for only 3 rides compared to $15 a day for unlimited rides is a pretty big difference. I know other places get away with it, but getting FP for free has been a Disney staple for so long. I just can’t see enough people putting up with essentially doubling the price of their tickets for slightly better ride selection than you could already previously get for free.

Maxpass isn’t paying for fastpasses. It’s paying for the ability to use your phone to get them. Everyone can still get fastpasses at Disneyland for free.

 

[The Pho]

Why not when Maxpass is $15 a day? $50 a day for only 3 rides compared to $15 a day for unlimited rides is a pretty big difference. I know other places get away with it, but getting FP for free has been a Disney staple for so long. I just can’t see enough people putting up with essentially doubling the price of their tickets for slightly better ride selection than you could already previously get for free.

MaxPass is nothing more than access to the system from your phone. That is very different than fastpasses. If Disney starts charging for individual passes, they’ll be pricing it higher than regional parks because they have the demand for it. They already get away with people spending $250/person for the animal kingdom tour to get Flight of Passage, and a few thousand on VIP tours for them. Those are things they’d likely want to avoid cutting into too much. So they’d try to price it so those don’t lose value while also still reaching a wider audience. And they could do this while also maintaining the free system to some degree.

 

[wareagle57]

Maxpass isn’t paying for fastpasses. It’s paying for the ability to use your phone to get them. Everyone can still get fastpasses at Disneyland for free.

I understand that, but my point is that free system already allows you to do what the paid system would. You can already get the 3 most in demand rides for free with very little hassle or planning. Now that isn’t quite true at WDW so maybe more people would see value in it.

Regardless, I think implementing any type of paid system similar to Universal or Six Flags pricing will drive away a lot of people. And Disney is ok with that. A system that is going to make the day only slightly better for a few, but worse for everyone else is not a good idea IMO. If it is given to all onsite guests then that’s a little better.

 

[mamapenguin]

Why not when Maxpass is $15 a day? $50 a day for only 3 rides compared to $15 a day for unlimited rides is a pretty big difference. I know other places get away with it, but getting FP for free has been a Disney staple for so long. I just can’t see enough people putting up with essentially doubling the price of their tickets for slightly better ride selection than you could already previously get for free.

Maxpass was a $100 add on to my AP.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Steel Curtain is $20/ ride for just it. That’s alongside the all day all coasters and each coaster once options.

So it’s an individual ride fastpass for the new and most popular ride that operates alongside another system. A fairly good comparison for a potential Disney change.

Ahh, haven't been since Steel Curtain opened, there's the difference. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[hertamaniac]

Personally, I'd like to see an à la carte approach. Every attraction has a scan station and the attraction cost is based on popularity. You build your "menu" before going to the parks.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Personally, I'd like to see an à la carte approach. Every attraction has a scan station and the attraction cost is based on popularity. You build your "menu" before going to the parks.

That would be what Disney essentially did originally when there were ticket attractions. It was not popular. People don’t like having to pay per ride and it would make disney world feel more like a carnival.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

That would be what Disney essentially did originally when there were ticket attractions. It was not popular. People don’t like having to pay per ride and it would make disney world feel more like a carnival.

I agree. It becomes really apparent what you're spending and how much each attraction is costing you. For a vacation destination that already has a word of mouth of being too expensive, I think that would be a mistake. For people who are prone to considering the value of everything (I fall into that category), it would really put the cost of things front and center all day long. It would really interfere with my enjoyment of my vacation.

 

[SL6827]

The resort fees will eventually be added. When, who knows, but it is just a matter of time.

 

[hertamaniac]

People don’t like having to pay per ride and it would make disney world feel more like a carnival.

And some people would rather pay per ride especially if it guarantees them a ride on that attraction.

 

[Thecouch]

This genie app coming they might not charge you per fastpass but per itinerary. Isn't genie going to be like tour plans. What if you could have a plan with set fastpass for the day. How much would you pay
Edit example. You go on to genie select your 3 main fastpass rides and get mine train, space mountain, haunted mansion. Then select 2 more lower tier rides, small world, pirates, it then let's you select 2 meet and greats, mickey, a princess. You then book a show, laugh floor. You then select you lunch and dinner locations. Genie then puts a plan together giving you a fastpass time and restaurant booking for all of the aboveand you just follow that for day. How much would you pay per person

 

[TDSAXX]

This genie app coming they might not charge you per fastpass but per itinerary. Isn't genie going to be like tour plans. What if you could have a plan with set fastpass for the day. How much would you pay
Edit example. You go on to genie select your 3 main fastpass rides and get mine train, space mountain, haunted mansion. Then select 2 more lower tier rides, small world, pirates, it then let's you select 2 meet and greats, mickey, a princess. You then book a show, laugh floor. You then select you lunch and dinner locations. Genie then puts a plan together giving you a fastpass time and restaurant booking for all of the aboveand you just follow that for day. How much would you pay per person

$0.00. Because I can do all that myself.

 

[Brianstl]

And some people would rather pay per ride especially if it guarantees them a ride on that attraction.

Disney isn’t going to do anything that turns off a large segment of the market and immediately devalues high margin items like VIP tours and club level rooms. If you want all the rides with little or no waits you can do it now if you are willing to pay the price. If you won’t pay that price, you probably won’t be willing to pay the price that Disney would have to charge al a carte to make up for the revenue they currently make on tours, VIP packages, club rooms, after hour parties, the general public they would turn off from attending the parks, reduced hotel bookings and the money the make from good neighbor hotels for the right to offer 60 day FP+.

 

[Brianstl]

The resort fees will eventually be added. When, who knows, but it is just a matter of time.

Why would Disney add on a $15 resort fee and invite all kinds moaning from their customers when they can raise the price of the room the same amount and get less blowback? Their rack rates went up a tremendous amount compared to last year and it didn’t get anywhere need the blowback the parking fees still gets to this day.

 

[firefly_ris]

Why would Disney add on a $15 resort fee and invite all kinds moaning from their customers when they can raise the price of the room the same amount and get less blowback? Their rack rates went up a tremendous amount compared to last year and it didn’t get anywhere need the blowback the parking fees still gets to this day.

True... but don't understand why they didn't do the same thing with the parking fee.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Why would Disney add on a $15 resort fee and invite all kinds moaning from their customers when they can raise the price of the room the same amount and get less blowback? Their rack rates went up a tremendous amount compared to last year and it didn’t get anywhere need the blowback the parking fees still gets to this day.

And yet, they still did a parking fee and were not deterred at all by the blowback...

I think their rack rate is crazy. Especially with Universal down the street with much, much lower rack rates (admittedly they do have resort fees but still way lower) and you get more space, EP, etc. Universal is opening another gate and there are now people who post on the Uni forums and say they're going to stay at Uni and drive over to Disney for a few days. If I were going to do a combined vacation, no way would I stay at Disney and drive over to Universal. I'd split the stay and be sure to be in a Uni hotel when we are there - the value is so much higher. The only thing keeping me in Disney hotels (now that my kids are out of car seats) is 60 day FPs for headliners. So I could see Disney lowering the rack rate a little and adding a resort fee to make their rack rates not quite so high compared to everything else in the area.

 

[Brianstl]

True... but don't understand why they didn't do the same thing with the parking fee.

Because the parking fee doesn’t impact every guest and it is meant to alter behavior. Disney doesn’t want people driving to the resorts.