Don't forget a $10 Monorail/Ferry ticket....one way of course
But remember dreamers, walking is always free!
Don't forget a $10 Monorail/Ferry ticket....one way of course
I might get slammed for saying this, but that was one of the best deals I have ever gotten at a Disney Park! Scheduled buses without having to got though security was worth every penny. I am all for options for FP that allow for a hybrid of options paid and free. That is what the express bus option allowed (buses were free at the front of the park, but you could pay for the perk of express bus). I completely understand why others feel differently.Are you forgetting the paid Express Transportation for park hopping they tried a few years back?
Given the price of a Disney Vacation and the crowds in the park, I would rather cut into food, shopping, or length of stay costs then stop using some Fastpasses for E-ticket rides.
It may be stress free for you as you and many others that have trained meticulously for years for all the hoops that need to be jumped through between advanced bookings for ADRs and FPs (so you need to know exactly what you'll be doing down to the hour 2 months out, and hope what you want is what you get works out).
Every time I sit down with a friend who is trying to plan their first Disney Vacation and start walking them through all of this, they look at me cross eyed and say "what what?!?!? I have to micro-manage all of this stuff?". And then even worse they say "We're going because we want to go to 'Star Wars Land' and you're telling me there's a good chance I won't get to ride the best ride???".
This system might be great for those in the know who go often and have been indoctrinated into the system, have gotten good at it, and it's just accepted that it's what you need to do. But to the average vacationer just trying to plan a stress free and fun family trip, to them it's a confusing and stressful set of hoops.
We never prebooked fps. Due to refresh, drop windows etc, we could generally pull whatever we wanted in a reasonable amount of time. So I'd be all for return of fp+. But, no company after a shutdown is leaving money on the tableI think for my first two trips I was an average vacationer. Heck I'm from Germany, my first trip was christmas 2015 and did book it 45 days before my first day. I only read some infos on the homepage and my travel agent recommend me to book my fastpasses in advance and give me some tips according rides. That was all and I had a blast. During this trip I learned per coincidence (trial and error via app) of same day fastpasses, but didn't use it until my second trip in 2016.
Friends also didn't have any problems after I gave them some tips, and this didn't take hours or needed a university-degree ;-)
This is what many people will do, which is the opposite of what Disney appears to aiming for. I think out-of-touch Disney executives think that most people will gladly just pay more to play, as they want greater average spending per guest. In reality, many of us have a vacation budget, and if one cost goes up, such as whatever version of pay-to-ride they plan to use, another cost will need to go down. That could include a shorter vacation, less expensive hotel (on or off-site), lower-cost meals, fewer or no souvenirs, etc. Just because Disney wants more money from each guest doesn't mean people always have it to spend or in other cases that they will choose to spend more if they do have it. Their business, their decisions, my money, my choices. Some will pay-to-play and others can't or won't. Our current plans are to not renew our AP's and to take only one WDW vacation per year and spend time and money traveling to other places. We cut out a couple of WDW trips this year already and replaced them with trips we are excited about. We still enjoy Disney, but for us it will be more magical if we don't go as often. Let's hope for a system that has some kind of benefit for everyone who loves Disney.
Ap and dvc have to be accounted for as wellOK here is the answer: At 30 days they give out 70% of the Fastpasses to onsite guest (three(3) per day). At 15 days everyone else gets the other 30% (three(3) per day). Just like the old system when you use your three you can try for more. Anytime the Fastpass line is less than say 15 minutes long at a certain ride more Fastpasses are made available for that ride. That way they can use the same software/hardware. Doesn't have to be 70/30 could be 50/50 or whatever those AI engineers decide.
For now ;-)But remember dreamers, walking is always free!
But remember dreamers, walking is always free!
offsiteI think some folks are misunderstanding me.
I don't think paying $10 for one ride ONCE per day would work at WDW. There's just too many rides. It's just too big.
I DO hope we'll have something along the lines of free FPs for on-site guests and PAID FPs for off-site guests.
I did forget this!! I never got to try it. They cancelled it just before my trip. Was it $50 for length of stay? I really wanted to skip the bag check lines and see all the backstage areas.Are you forgetting the paid Express Transportation for park hopping they tried a few years back?
Yes, Universal and Cedar Point, the gold standard in theme parks.Look, it was bound to happen. Disney's two biggest competitors are Universal and Cedar Fair and they've both had a paid access program for years now. It just is what it is. But like I said, they aren't just competition against their business contemporaries here- they're competing against their own VIP programs.
I did forget this!! I never got to try it. They cancelled it just before my trip. Was it $50 for length of stay? I really wanted to skip the bag check lines and see all the backstage areas.
This is what many people will do, which is the opposite of what Disney appears to aiming for. I think out-of-touch Disney executives think that most people will gladly just pay more to play, as they want greater average spending per guest. In reality, many of us have a vacation budget, and if one cost goes up, such as whatever version of pay-to-ride they plan to use, another cost will need to go down. That could include a shorter vacation, less expensive hotel (on or off-site), lower-cost meals, fewer or no souvenirs, etc. Just because Disney wants more money from each guest doesn't mean people always have it to spend or in other cases that they will choose to spend more if they do have it. Their business, their decisions, my money, my choices. Some will pay-to-play and others can't or won't. Our current plans are to not renew our AP's and to take only one WDW vacation per year and spend time and money traveling to other places. We cut out a couple of WDW trips this year already and replaced them with trips we are excited about. We still enjoy Disney, but for us it will be more magical if we don't go as often. Let's hope for a system that has some kind of benefit for everyone who loves Disney.
Look, it was bound to happen. Disney's two biggest competitors are Universal and Cedar Fair and they've both had a paid access program for years now. It just is what it is. But like I said, they aren't just competition against their business contemporaries here- they're competing against their own VIP programs.
Yes, Universal and Cedar Point, the gold standard in theme parks.
A second-rate operation like Disney really should strive to match industry leaders like Universal and Cedar Point.
I did forget this!! I never got to try it. They cancelled it just before my trip. Was it $50 for length of stay? I really wanted to skip the bag check lines and see all the backstage areas.
It was a single-day for $19 or $29 for up to seven consecutive days.
Yes, Universal and Cedar Point, the gold standard in theme parks.
A second-rate operation like Disney really should strive to match industry leaders like Universal and Cedar Point.