Disney Makes MAJOR Changes to FastPass System

[shepp]

hey Robb...I agree with you, basically. And I never meant to imply you were filthy rich...I know enough about you to know that you manage to do your trips economically. That having been said, I think that the whole pay-to-butt-in-line thing is pretty stinky. Used to be that if you wanted to get the best out of your day at a park, you'd learn about it and plan your day accordingly. Now all the parks sense there's money to be made, and they're going after it. Disney's hotel-related queue-jumping is actually fairly inoffensive, as these things go. At least it can be argued that better access is an added perk for staying on-property. SFGAdv charging 100 dollars for nothing more than the right to stroll up exit ramps is considerably nastier. If you paid the C-note to the op instead of SFI, it would be called a "bribe," no?

 

And I find the tiering of the hotel perks to be...well, let's say that you're going to a concert. If you pay for the first few rows, you get in before the show starts. Sit a bit further back and you might have to wait till the opening act is done. Back of the good seats, you might have to wait till the headliner's on. Balcony? If everybody else is seated, they'll let you in.

 

I don't begrudge you the right to splurge on a hotel, and if that means better access, have fun. I really didn't men to guilt trip you. But the image of poor little Johnny standing there in 90-degree heat with his frazzled Mom while a real Richie Rich sweeps by and rides whatever he wants is just so...Cruella deVil.

[Wes]

^ Yeah, and doesn't it suck that poor Johnny has to drive around a beat-up car with no AC, while rich Johnny can cruise around in his climate controlled BMW? Poor Johnny has to listen to the radio, rich Johnny has two iPods and an Alpine stereo system. What's your point? That rich people have and get better things? Wow, this grave unjustice hasn't been going on since the beginning of civilization. Disney invented the class system to piss poor people off.

 

Equating health care and legal matters to waiting an extra 20 minutes to ride Space Mountain seems a little far-stretched, doesn't it?

[Carnage]

I don't have too much of a problem with this. Afterall our society is very much based off of the idea that paying more will get you more.

 

I've taken advantage of systems to bypass a line from time to time. At SFNE we worked those q-bots as much as we could. We got many more laps in on Superman that we would have without them.

 

However, I also think that these perks should not interfere with the GP too much. If a trickle of people bypass the line from time to time, no big deal. but I'd be pretty pissed off if I was at the front of the line and had to wait longer as entire groups of people skip in front of me. I've gotten my share of dirty looks from people while using q-bot,etc.

[robbalvey]

^^ Agreed, Wes.

 

I mean, I said my point and overall, I'm just here to help people be able to afford all the park perks!

 

At the end of the day, we're out to have a good time, regardless of how much money people make or who is in what class system. As far as how to plan your day, regardless of the FastPass system, IMO, it's *STILL* about how you plan your day.

 

For example in Japan, we were only able to use FastPass on a select amount of rides because of the crowds and how quickly FastPass sold out. Yet that didn't stop us from stategically planning our day, and the longest line we waited in was about 25 minutes.

 

All I know is that I'm not rich, but I'm able to afford a FastPass upgrade if I want to, and I enjoy helping people be able to do the same.

 

--Robb "I know that FastPass isn't going anywhere, I used to hate it too, but now I've learned to use it to my advantage." Alvey

[SharkTums]

As a former Florida Resident, I feel for my fellow floridians. I know how it feels to go up just for a day trip and have it ruined because everyone else has fastpasses from an early entry or now from staying at a hotel.

 

That's one of the reasons I really liked the way Universal handled fastpass for awhile when they did the "7-9am" entry for passholders and multiday ticket holders. That was incredible! You'd be done by 10am with both parks!!!!

 

Or, when Universal allowed 1day ticket holders to get one express pass at a time, multiday to get 2, and passholders to get 3 at a time. At least those systems helped out the locals.

 

Disney has never been kind to Florida Locals, heck, I never even had a disney pass when I lived there for 10 years!

 

All that being said...I'm so excited that they may make these changes. I LOVE the disney deluxe hotels, but won't usually stay at them because I don't feel that it's worth it...now that it will be worth it I'm excited!

 

Elissa "Mmm Boardwalk Room Service Breakfast" Alvey

[PhishyBrewer]

I don't think I like this thread. I don't want to say anything that would upset anyone.

[coaster1]

Touchy subjects.

 

I'll throw in my two cents, along Robb's lines. We aren't rich .. far from it. But we are good at getting deals. Sure we are stayting at a more expensive hotel for Cedar Point coming up, where we could of gotten a room for $41/night, instead we went for the "budget" hotel of CP resorts, with perks (mainly parking). Yeah it's more than we wanted to spend, as the other nights we are staying at a Comfort Inn and Quality for $49/night. We saved so much money with season passes, we were able to add 2 more parks onto our already crazy schedule.

 

When we go to WDW, sure we would stay at All-Star or even a resort like the Grand Floridian. But if we went with the high end resorts, we'd be sure to bing more people with us as we did in 2001. We stayed 7 nights at Grand Floridian, but ended up only paying the cost of 1 night each just about. Same with Vegas .. staying at Luxor, but we found deals online for $50/night .. so we came out ahead and allowed us to spend the extra money on a trip to SLC for Preservation Con.

[Meteornotes]

Elissa "Mmm Boardwalk Room Service Breakfast" Alvey

 

Never had that, but to me, being at The Boardwalk means easy access to Spoodle's for breakfast! I have no idea if any of the other meal times there are any good, but the breakfast there rules!!!

 

Dave "ate there twice last trip!" Thomas

[shepp]

^ Yeah, and doesn't it suck that poor Johnny has to drive around a beat-up car with no AC, while rich Johnny can cruise around in his climate controlled BMW? Poor Johnny has to listen to the radio, rich Johnny has two iPods and an Alpine stereo system. What's your point? That rich people have and get better things?

 

My point is - if we're talking cars - that a system that would let a BMW simply cruise through a toll booth while a beat-up Yugo was made to wait in a traffic jam - made even worse by letting through the Beemer first - would be intrinsically sorta sucky. And your owning an iPod does not make someone else's old Walkman sound worse. Waiting in park queues is a zero-sum game. Owning autos and iPods ain't.

 

Sorry, but IMO a caste system that inconveniences a majority of parkgoers so the park can rake in more money from those able and willing to spend their way to the front of the line is hardly befitting The Happiest Place on Earth...or even the considerably less joyful Six Flagses.

[robbalvey]

^ You know, I seem to remember long lines BEFORE FastPass systems ever existed.

 

IMO, I don't think lines are THAT much longer than they were 10 years ago. It's not as though FastPass came along and suddenly there were these things called "lines." They were there before, you know!

 

--Robb

[SharkTums]

Come on guys...at least the place won't look like this:

 

 

Elissa "it's Disney, they'll make it work somehow!" Alvey

[PhishyBrewer]

Come on guys...at least the place won't look like this:

 

 

Elissa "it's Disney, they'll make it work somehow!" Alvey

WHERE'S WALDO?

[Wes]

^ Wow. Erm...wow.

 

Shepp, your tollbooth analogy is unsound. Disney is not letting these people "cut in line" just because they are rich...the guests are going to pay for it. It would be entirely possible for a poorer guest to raise the sufficient funds and have the same priority. It's not like Disney just set up a fastpass "The Trust Fund Babies & Oil Barrons ONLY".

 

The term "The Happiest Place On Earth" is a marketing slogan, not a golden rule. Everyone needs to realizes Disney is in this for the money, not to have Mickey and friends deliver you a magical blow job simply because you bought a $50 ticket. They sell you on the premise of happiness, family, magic...blahblahblah. When it comes down to it, they want to extract green bills from your wallet as often and frequently as possible. I'm not saying they should treat their average customers like crap, but that has never ever ever been the case, and there's no reason to think they're going to throw the regular joe out to the wolves simply because they give a little extra benefit to the guests who are paying a premium.

[Homey G.]

It's beyond me why people waste their money at Disney parks anyway. No quality "coaster-worthy" rides. I mean, millions of people wait hours and hours to cram into all the stupid Disney kiddie rides like "It's a small world" and "20,000 leagues under the sea" and "Dumbo's big-assed-ears flying elephant journey". Meanwhile, just a few hours north near Buffalo, New York, 6 gleaming brand new thrill machines are veritable walkons.

[coaster1]

It's beyond me why people waste their money at Disney parks anyway. No quality "coaster-worthy" rides. I mean, millions of people wait hours and hours to cram into all the stupid Disney kiddie rides like "It's a small world" and "20,000 leagues under the sea" and "Dumbo's big-assed-ears flying elephant journey". Meanwhile, just a few hours north near Buffalo, New York, 6 gleaming brand new thrill machines are veritable walkons.

 

Few hours!? Hmm well I prefer Disney because a) Flights are much cheaper to Florida than Buffalo/Toronto area b) Disney does most things right c) The all-around experience, kids seem to be happier at Disney than a Six Flags park d) Better value for my money, not only does Orlando have Disney, but Universal and others are closer and along with Disneyland, KBF and others are within a few miles/hour drive.

[SharkTums]

You're so cute when you're being sarcastic!

 

Elissa "go to work!" Alvey

[Movieguy]

Geez Wes, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but did you really need to use terms like "Magical blow job" to express yours?

 

C'mon, lets keep things civil here everyone.

 

Doug "If I wanted to read nasty posts about the viewpoints of others, I'd go to Thrillnetwork.com" Booth.

[shepp]

Shepp, your tollbooth analogy is unsound. Disney is not letting these people "cut in line" just because they are rich...the guests are going to pay for it.

 

Well, not be overly argumentative, but I was talking about cars, not the income of their drivers. Anybody making 7 bucks an hour can, if he prioritizes and saves, eventually buy a Beemer and whiz through that hypothetical tollbooth, too.

 

Actually, I found the original Beemer/junker analogy unsound. That's as if I were to say, "Disney should lower the prices in their shops so anyone could afford an original animation cel," and I wouldn't say that.

 

In preparation for my trip to SFGAdv, I've been visiting GAdv fan sites and Googling "Q-Bot." Suffice it to say that not everyone is thrilled to watch folks who've spent up to an additional $150 for their day in the park simply bypass queues. While the basic placeholder Q-Bot does result in longer lines at rides, since QBotters can wait in two places at once, what I find more questionable are the Gold Q-Bot and the VIP tours options, the equivalent of WDW giving instant entry to guests at their highest price hotels. Standard Q-bot doesn't actually result in anyone in any particular line waiting longer the way the other options do. And SF's policy of keeping a row for FastLane only, letting seats go out empty of there are no Fastlaners waiting rather than filling them in with nonQ-Botters, lessens ride capacity for the majority. Let them ride cake.

 

Anyway, we'll never all agree on this, so with your permission, I'm bowing out of this thread now...

 

And hey, anybody with a hundred bucks to spare can bypass the mob scene above and get on the next train of Kingda Ka...

[CoasterFanatic]

Ah ..... nothing like a virtual queue debate to really get the blood flowing. The worst part about the whole thread is that *almost* everybody's arguments make sense. The biggest problem that I see is that nobody can never seem to agree on any system.

 

A system that works well for someone else doesn't always work for the other person. I mean, you have to please the locals, destination travelers, day travelers, road trippers, international guests, etc all with the same program.

 

This is where I thought that the "old" Disney system was a real success. The only thing that I would have ever changed was the way resort guests could snag all the passes before the park opened to the GP.

 

Don't even get me started on Qbot, Fastlane, etc....

[blackcurrent]

robb,

You most definatly want to call Disney to book your hotel if you work for an airline as you receive a 50% discount on room prices. Comes in very handy. Go to the disney website take 50% off, next take the UK=US exchange rate so minus approx another 40% and then your talking some VERY good rates. So it is very affordable for me to stay at any of the resorts but I still say it stinks..... but having said that if the pass is working come Sept then I'll sure be using it if given to me.... so I guess im weak

[maliboomer]

Homey G, if you go to Disney for the coasters, you better have something wrong with you.

[Wes]

It's cool...we can disagree on things, as long as you know I'm right. (i keed, i keed). Besides, aren't internet forums MADE for arguing? 8)

 

Really, as anyone who's met me can attest, I'm pretty laid back about everything and I don't take anything seriously. I only argue on the internet when I need to kill time at work.

 

So now hard feelings, kay?

 

PS: Movieguy, I have copyrighted the term Magical Blow Job™. You now owe me $3,500.

[Movieguy]

^ Would you like that by cash or charge?

 

Seriously though, I know arguments are going to come along in these places no matter what, I've got no problems with arguments themselves. I was just trying to make sure that this didn't turn into a flame war, which is why I brought up Thrillnetwork at the end of my last post.

[Homey G.]

The best part about sarcasm is the fact that if executed correctly, it can be an inside joke only a select few can grasp and enjoy.

 

It's like we're the few people who can actually see the "magic eye" picture!

 

Brian sez, "You dumb bastard, it's not a schooner it's a sailboat!"

[socalMAN123]

Disney should make the highest priority hotels option to everyone, but sell it to people that aren't staying in the hotel for more money than the hotel can buy it for. Personally, I think this new Fastpass is going to work perfectly fine (if Disney can handle it is the real deal).

---Brent 8)