Ticket Rumour

[Magic Fanatic]

I had someone tell me today that Disney has begun or will beegin to sell "higher" level ticket that will allow the holder to go to the front of any line. Now I know that the Wishes giveaway had a special version of the fast past, but had not heard of this. I am thinking that this may be something at Universal and they are just confused.

[robhink]

Most likely they are referring to the Universal Express pass which you can pay for the access to get to the front of the line. Universal used to have the Express Line available for all guests but they changed it to hotel guests and those who pay extra for it only.

I don't think Disney is planning on doing that any time soon.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

Disney fast pass is free and anyone who has a ticket to the parks can use the fast pass machines. You don't even have to be staying on property.

[PeterPan]

I will go on record by saying that Disney will NEVER EVER offer an "elite" ticket of any kind. It totally goes against everything Walt Disney personally stood for, and I think the company remembers and honors that.

[tink4me]

I agree completely Peter. Disney has made several changes recently that help increase thier profits, however I do not think that this would be a change that they would make.

[DizneyRox]

I will go on record by saying that Disney will NEVER EVER offer an "elite" ticket of any kind. It totally goes against everything Walt Disney personally stood for, and I think the company remembers and honors that.

I'm equally sure they will offer an elite ticket of some sort.

It's might be the ability to get more than one fastpass at a time, or accelerated return times, or even the ability to get fastpasses all at once at your resort, but I'm pretty confident that DIsney WILL tap into that revenue stream at some point.

We're talking about the home of the $2.00 bottle of water. While it may not be an outright charge, it could be disguised as hotel room increases or something. I think it will be part of the resort stay, maybe deluxe get the ability to hold 3 fastpasses, moderates get 2, and value get one or something.

[Ian]

Honestly, I'm shocked that they haven't done something like this yet.

The distinction in costs between their deluxe resorts and the moderates/values vs. what you actually get for your money is so vague that I would think by now they would have used this as a differentiator.

The only thing is, the deluxes are always packed anyway (it's almost impossible to get in to any of their deluxe resorts unless you book well in advance), so maybe they just don't care.

[Coleby]

I personally hope they don't do something like this. I just got back from Six Flags and they have the pass you can purchase for the day. The funny thing is, even though they bought the pass they still had to stand in line, albeit the exit line, but still. As far as the bottle of water goes, it is a lot better than paying $3.50 a bottle. Anyway, that's just my two cents.

[CleveSJM]

I will go on record by saying that Disney will NEVER EVER offer an "elite" ticket of any kind. It totally goes against everything Walt Disney personally stood for, and I think the company remembers and honors that.

Sorry, Disney already offers a "VIP Fastpass" that allows unlimited use of Fastpass Entrances without the need to obtain a Fastpass Ticket or wait for a time slot.

It's only at the Disneyland Hotel at DLP and only for people staying in the Castle Club and Suites. But it exists...

I say it's only a matter of time before WDW lets people pay $$$ to go to the front of the lines...

As a not-rich person, it is sad...

[BrerGnat]

I don't think there is anything wrong with this sort of thing. I am actually shocked that Disney is not already doing this.

I WILL go on record as saying that if they offered this to me for a price, I'd very strongly consider it, depending on the time of year of my visit. Almost everything in this world has a price tag. This is just one more "convenience" that some people will be willing to pay for, and some will not. I would easily forgo souvenirs or a few table service meals for this privilege.

It should not turn into an issue of the "haves" vs. the "have nots". If Disney offers this, they should fairly offer it to ALL guests (I would be okay if it was only for resort guests), so that everyone will have to opportunity to decide if it is something they want to spend the money on.

Offering it only to "VIP's" who book the suites (the real ones...the big kahuna ones), is unfair, although if they want it to really work where people don't have to wait too long, they have to make it difficult to obtain, I suppose.

I would probably be willing to pay about $20-30 extra per day for this feature. Sure beats standing in lines all day... and time is money!

[cgriff]

Convenience aside... if there are standby lines, single rider lines, "orange" team lines, "green" team lines, regular Fast-Pass lines, and possibly now VIP Fast-Pass lines, then that is a lot of lines to have at each attraction. I think I will go bonkers trying to figure out which line I am supposed to be in!

[JPL]

The rumour I heard states that every guest will still be able to receive 1 free FP with their tickets that part is not going away. They will then offer tiered FPs based on the hotels and level of room you book. For example if you saty at a Value you will be able use your room key to get one additional FP above your ticket FP. Moderates will be 2 additional FPS. Deluxe will be 4 and concierge maybe unlimited. The additional FPs is all goes well will be ordered from your hotel room using the new system they are currently testing. This is why they started the update of the system to allow for these enhancements. I am not sure if they will add an additional paid service like Universal and Six Flags but I certainly wouldn't rule it out.

[DisneyDudet]

I think they should offer lower room rates instead of giving out more FP's. This will entice people on a time crunch to stay at more expensive hotels and pay more money on a Saturday to stay at. These new machines probably cost next to nothing in Disney's eyes. Just a way to make more money.

I'm waiting for Disney to go back to being a family park about wanting to bring smiles to faces of families than to smiles of faces of the higher ups with more money...

[CleveSJM]

I hope it's not "something for everyone." I think it should be a real premium to make it hard to get. As a DIS shareholder, I want them to make a profit. A nice, fat, dividend-providing but fair profit for services rendered.

I would rather them sell 50 a day at $1000 than 500 at $100. Better profit margin and less impact to us normal folks... They need to do a good cost analysis and keep it from impacting the bulk of the park goers.

[wedway fan]

the difficulty i see them having with a VIP-fastpass ticket option is the inability to control the number of fastpasses. with the current setup, disney can directly control the number of FP's per hour and per day. even with JPL's reported rumor about extra FP's by resort level, there's still an ability to control total numbers.

with the ability to pre-purchase VIP-FP tickets that would conceivably be good for any day, any time, there's no way to control the absolute number of people using FP on a given day. i would think controlling the number of FP's is central to the success of the entire system, and that having an abundance of people using VIP tix on one day would eliminate all the benefits those tix offer.

[DisneyFanaticDargon]

Personally I think the system needs tweaking before any additional changes are made. The Fastpass lines themselves, disregarding the Dream Fastpasses, are getting backed up because of the fact that they are letting people in regardless of the time on their Fastpass. As long as the top time is the current time or earlier, they can get in.

The system was obviously designed to only give guests an hour window so only a certain number of people would be physically in the (much shorter) Fastpass line at any given time. By allowing guests to just use their Fastpass at any old time after the top time is valid, it highly increases the number of Fastpass people in the line, particularly after parades, which in turn aggravates people waiting in Stand-By because the Fastpass people are given priority to go first, and since there are so many more of them Stand-By could potentially be waiting up to 10 minutes or more for the Fastpass line to get cleared out at peak Fastpass return times in the day. This also allows people to do with their Fastpasses what the 'One Fastpass at a time' rule was implemented to prevent: the ability of people to build up a couple of Fastpasses throughout the day and then use them all at the end of the day.

My view is that they should go back to only allowing Fastpasses in that are for the current correct time frame. If you know full well you will not be able to make it in that hour window, or have even the slightest doubt that you won't make it, and they're not offering a Fastpass for a time you WOULD be able to make it for certain you either:
A. Wait until the time you want becomes available and come back and get a Fastpass
or
B. Deal with it and wait in Stand-By

If they went back to this style, then there would be far fewer Fastpass people in line, making the system work much more smoothly and be able to accommodate things like the Dream Fastpasses and VIP passes more easily, as these are not included in the daily Fastpass count and therefore add to the line. However, if they do add a VIP Fastpass like the one at Disneyland (I doubt the Dream Fastpasses will still be around after this year), then they should only sell SO many a day, not give them out in unlimited quantities.

[Lizzie]

I really hope they don't do this. I can't imagine the wait in standby line if this happens.

[HallandNash]

I must say that these rumors sound positively atrocious.

[DisneyDudet]

Yeah, this isn't exactly something thats good. I can only hope it costs way too much and it won't make the lines crazy. I've already waited longer in FP lines the past few times I've been compared to when they first came out.

I hope this is really rumors and they are just doing the machines at the parks to be like DLR.

[princessjojo]

...They will then offer tiered FPs based on the hotels and level of room you book. For example if you saty at a Value you will be able use your room key to get one additional FP above your ticket FP. Moderates will be 2 additional FPS. Deluxe will be 4 and concierge maybe unlimited....

This sounds all well and good, I think . I kinda like it right now but haven't thought about it a lot yet . My question though is where does this put the DVCers. Are they grouped with the Deluxes, concierge, or do they have another tier for them specifically? Just a thought.