Fastpass return or replacement?

[AnnaKristoff2013]

To be fair, when I suggested unlimited I meant the way fast passes used to be. You got 3 free then when they were used up you could get one at a time until the park closed. Not unlimited where you could fire off one ride after another like a VIP’er.

Oh, that makes sense.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

It is far from unusual to stop quite often on Omnimover-style rides due to them needing to stop so people who have mobility difficulties can get on. I've experienced that on and off for as long as I can remember, many times even more than that.

Right, I agree. But if you just spent $80 for your family of four to ride that ride and it stopped 6 times? They'd better staff up their guest relations stands.

 

[Stephy811]

The billion dollar cost of FP+ has always been “baked” into the already exorbitant ticket cost, meaning we have all been paying for FP+ from day 1 of FP+ existence. All these crazy rumors are just that, crazy rumors and I believe most to be hogwash, or click-bait depending on the rumor source. With no factual knowledge available to the public people seemingly are losing their minds. Odds are FP+ will return much as it was, but probably restructured with on-site Guests to be more favored than off-site Guests than previously, along with the park reservation requirements factored in… There is just no way something “complicated” will be introduced, the lines at Guest Services would be insane and major blow back would be inevitable. If any major changes are made, it would need to lean towards simplicity and elegance, not complicated. Me personally, other than they issued too many FP’s sometimes, FP+ is great just how it is/was. I hope it comes back just slightly “improved” – no need to reinvent the wheel.
D

As many others have said, the only true solution… a 5th gate; Or significantly expanded parks with more attractions to spread the crowds.

Boy do I hope you are right!!!

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

You can't have every ride in every park be only available with a fee or VQ

I hope you're right...

 

[luv2cheer92]

Right, I agree. But if you just spent $80 for your family of four to ride that ride and it stopped 6 times? They'd better staff up their guest relations stands.

I get that, I just don't think it's something they can control. Especially since it is something that should be expected could potentially happen on those kinds of rides.

 

[ellbell]

The speculation regarding fastpass gets more and more outlandish everytime someone makes up some new prediction. I would take the rumors filter out 95% of it and then take what is left with a grain of salt. It's even worse than what the rumors were of the new DL AP was suppose to be.

 

[Cabius]

As many others have said, the only true solution… a 5th gate; Or significantly expanded parks with more attractions to spread the crowds.

The problem is that when they add more parks, or more attractions, it also draws bigger crowds who stay longer. Otherwise it doesn't even make sense for them to do it!

If they are going to build their way out of it, they probably need to build a whole other resort, in Texas or on the mid-atlantic coast. Even then they'll get some net increase in traffic, but hopefully less than the new capacity they add.

 

[Garyjames220]

The speculation regarding fastpass gets more and more outlandish everytime someone makes up some new prediction. I would take the rumors filter out 95% of it and then take what is left with a grain of salt. It's even worse than what the rumors were of the new DL AP was suppose to be.

apparently the source of today’s rumours are normally right and was more less spot on the paris version I herd

 

[ellbell]

apparently the source of today’s rumours are normally right and was more less spot on the paris version I herd

Yea I'm sure and they also had predictions about the DL AP. Everyone was way off with that one but sure. They have also made predictions about fp previously that haven't happened. If you guess enough times you're bound to be right eventually.

 

[Marionnette]

I'll probably spin up a separate thread to discuss this article series, but part of me is really sympathetic to Cory Doctorow's arguments in this series of essays that everything Disney has done since abandoning the ticket books has made things worse.

I don't know if it's possible to get back to the old park psychology -- people's expectations are just different now, and that Genie can't be put back in the App (err, bottle) -- but attempts to solve the problems of too much demand by inducing even more demand, well, that's not working out so well.

I do recommend reading this entire series of articles. I have definitely quibbles, and he has a particular view of Disney history, but overall it's a very interesting story to tell.

Very interesting read. Thank you for posting the link. I'm looking forward to part VI next week.

 

[Cabius]

Very interesting read. Thank you for posting the link. I'm looking forward to part VI next week.

I started a thread here if anybody wants to discuss in more detail (separate from the ongoing discussion re: immediate FP+ rumours).

https://www.disboards.com/threads/cory-doctorow-on-crowds-at-disney-parks.3848440/

 

[ST1TCH]

This thread was the first mention I've seen of Disney Dish and Jim Hill/Len Testa. Though Len Testa does sound familiar. Is there a certain Disney site they're affiliated with? They presented it so matter of factly without much involved speculation so they seem pretty certain this is how it's going to go based on a "source". As I said, no clue who they are so no idea their track record on rumor speculation.

Ah, nevermind, just googled it myself, Len runs Touring Plans. I'd actually be pretty nervous if I were them as this Genie seems to be trying to steal market share from them.

 

[Garyjames220]

Yea I'm sure and they also had predictions about the DL AP. Everyone was way off with that one but sure. They have also made predictions about fp previously that haven't happened. If you guess enough times you're bound to be right eventually.

well to be honest I hope u are right and they are wrong as it looks a nightmare

 

[Garyjames220]

How can u have lightening plus with only one fast pass queue there the now

 

[luv2cheer92]

This thread was the first mention I've seen of Disney Dish and Jim Hill/Len Testa. Though Len Testa does sound familiar. Is there a certain Disney site they're affiliated with? They presented it so matter of factly without much involved speculation so they seem pretty certain this is how it's going to go based on a "source". As I said, no clue who they are so no idea their track record on rumor speculation.

Len Testa runs Touring Plans. Jim Hill doesn't have a super great track record, but Len has been right before. Still would take it as a rumor for now.

 

[Cabius]

This thread was the first mention I've seen of Disney Dish and Jim Hill/Len Testa. Though Len Testa does sound familiar. Is there a certain Disney site they're affiliated with? They presented it so matter of factly without much involved speculation so they seem pretty certain this is how it's going to go based on a "source". As I said, no clue who they are so no idea their track record on rumor speculation.

Len Testa runs touringplans.com and is pretty great when it comes to data, crowd calendars, and optimizing your time in Disney parks.

Jim Hill is more the rumours-and-inside-scoops guy and he takes big swings with a lot of home runs and a lot of big misses. He's called some big news before, and also said a lot of things very confidently that never actually came to pass.

 

[vicarrieous]

How can u have lightening plus with only one fast pass queue there the now

lightning pass would be like FP + and give you a window when you come back while lightning plus would mean you can enter the "fp lane" immediately.

 

[Marionnette]

Len Testa is also the author of the "Unofficial Guide to..." series of guidebooks to various Disney destinations. I always found his irreverent approach to visiting the parks very entertaining. The "Dumbo or Die" advice was particularly amusing and dates back to when there was only one Dumbo attraction in Fantasyland.

 

[whiporee]

So the only person i know with info told me this today:

What we've been talking about -- at least at my level -- is the Genie system. When a guest makes their park reservation, they'll be given the chance to make three "wishes" from the Genie. The Genie will then do its best to grant those three wishes. A guest would say "Genie line (instead of Fast Pass) for Space Mountain in the morning, and the Genie will offer them that. The guest can then say okay, or say no and the Genie will try again. It'll go wish by wish until all three are granted in one way or the other.

She said the park reservation system is here to stay, but Genie can mesh with it. She didn't know about paid wishes or extra wishes after the three are done -- she said they'd been working on a little "no wishing for more wishes" animation. One thing she said that could be a real drawback is that ADRs could be considered wishes, but there's been pushback on that.

She said the stuff in Paris and Shanghai just don't apply here.

She's midlevel, and I don't know how much she actually is tuned into, but she was willing to tell me what she knew today, so that was nice of her.

 

[Garyjames220]

What’s genie plus mean