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[IvanovaTC]

Am I the only one who thinks that this will make it that much harder to get on your favourite big ticket ride at WDW? Are all the popular rides going to be booked out for most of the day? Does this mean that you will have to book your rides 180 days in advance of your visit, or risk missing out altogether? It's bad enough having to plan for meals that far out, I don't really want to have to book rides this way too. I hope that they don't do this. I'm sure that it would make things easier for park management but I can't see how this will be good for the rest of us.

One of the best parts of a Disney holiday is the spontaneity, after all!

[Jennifer2003]

If this pans out I will be EXTREMELY disappointed.

[Iris]

Let's hope Disney listens to the opinions of the masses.

[JKnott17]

I agree! I do a lot of planning for my Disney trips, but I don't usually follow a touring plan. I can't even imagine having to book my rides in advanced, and would be very upset about longer wait times because I didn't!

[southerngirl1014]

Boo I certainly do not think this is a good idea! I have not heard the rumor of this but I hope it never comes true.
Meal planning is one thing but I like to be walking past something and decide to ride it. I think this will stress people out and cause way more melt downs.

[Caldercup]

This *possible* new feature (remember, it's only been mentioned -- not announced AFAIK) is already being discussed over here:

http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ide-times.html

For further discussion, please add your comments there so we can keep things together.

Thanks!

[chezp]

I'm not hearing many - if any - favourable comments about this idea. I'm wondering if it's been floated out by Disney to see what people's thoughts are and, based on what people are saying, whether it will ever see the light of day...

[WDWJAMBA]

While in theory, I'm sure reserving a ride ahead of time beyond FP for the day sounds good to the planners out there, I just don't like the idea of having my entire vacation mapped out for me like that. :

Food is one thing. I happily lead with my tummy into my WDW trips. And I savor knowing that the end of my day I have XX restaurant to enjoy. I plan my ADR's, scour menus, and make eating a part of my vacation.

I DON'T, however, want my rides to be put into an itinerary that I have to follow. It looks too much like the list of things I have to do each day.

Having everything planned out takes away the magic of my son grabbing my hand and pulling me onto BTMRR for the bazillionth time just because he loves it. Do we ride again and ignore the list? It takes away from those serediptious moments where magical things happen just because of where you are.

Think about how you feel at the start of a new theme park day. It just bursts with possiblity! What will I experience today? Some of our best experiences were things that happened just because.

I don't want a list. I vacation at WDW to get away from my list.

This idea IMO isn't just bad, it's simply awful.

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by chezp

I'm not hearing many - if any - favourable comments about this idea. I'm wondering if it's been floated out by Disney to see what people's thoughts are and, based on what people are saying, whether it will ever see the light of day...

More likely, it's because people are reading some very specific things into a fairly vague statement made to a very different audience than the typical theme park crowd (professional investors). I really doubt that Disney executives intentionally lie to the investment community. That can be a violation of U.S. law. "Trial balloons" would more likely go up at something like a D23 event, or a "plan" leaked to Jim Hill.

Would Disney really think they've come up with a bad idea and abandon ship based on the negative comments folks have made here? I doubt it, unless Disney planned to do just what folks seem to fear. This "doom and gloom" response has been around web communities for as long as they've existed. Rarely does doom fall as folks predict.

Nowhere in Tom Staggs comments did he suggest that people would be required to use this system, or that the existing FASTPASS system was being eliminated in favor of this system, or that, somehow, they were planning to change the very nature of the theme park experience. Everything Staggs referred to is a fairly small extension of popular systems, already in place - FASTPASS, online booking of ADRs, online resort check-in... So what's so revolutionary?

If we were talking about web site design, these are things that would make the site more "sticky" - giving visitors to the site reasons to stay longer and to come back more often. And since these services would almost undoubtedly be delivered at the Disney web site, in part this really is about making the Disney site more "sticky." The more often a Disney guest wants to visit the official Disney site and the more time they spend on that site, the better it is for Disney.

What Staggs described is a system that would allow folks to make advanced plans that they currently aren't able to make, and to have them all coordinated for them at the Disney web site. Anybody who books a Disney cruise should already be familiar with this - online check-in, online booking of Palo and Remy meals, spa treatments, nursery services, and shore excursions... you can even supply the credit card number(s) you'll be using for room charges, in advance. In fact, there's more you can do online than you can with a live DCL reservations agent. Could it be DCL is encouraging us to use the computer and help them reduce their labor costs? Could it be that DCL is already doing the "proof of concept" work on Disney's grander plans? It wouldn't be the first time. DME was a direct adaptation of the DCL ground transportation/baggage handling operation. Airline check-in/baggage check-through at the cruise terminal was available to DCL cruisers for many years before RAC came along at the resorts.

Getting back to the parks... Plenty of folks make ADRs, because they prefer to know they'll have a table at a place where they'd like to eat, in a place they plan to be. I emphasized that last phrase because folks have been making it sound like being in a particular park (or particular part of a park) on a particular day and time is somehow an alien concept. It's not. If you know you'll be in MK on Thursday, and that you'll be somewhere near Liberty Square at dinner time, you may want to make an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. And guess what? Big Thunder Mountain Railroad isn't that far away. It might just work out to get a FASTPASS for Big Thunder 180 days out, too, when you know you're already going to be eating dinner nearby. You may still not want or need to plot out your entire day, but would you turn your back on such a thing if it made sense? It's nice to have a plan, and for that plan to come together nicely. This seems like a more reliable strategy than paying a visit to BTMRR earlier in the day in hopes that you can get a FP that'll be good sometime in the late afternoon, before you head over to dinner.

There are plenty of people who don't bother making any plans. To someone like me, who usually has a work agenda when at a Disney destination, having no plans can be a very luxurious thing indeed. When I don't have an agenda, I'm happy to ride whatever is convenient, eat anywhere the lines aren't too long, and enjoy the serendipity and magic that comes from not being in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything in particular.

However, I know this doesn't necessarily work for folks who get to WDW once every other year, have just four days to spend there, and want to ride as many attractions as possible (or for me, when I have a research agenda). Pre-planning your rides may not be something that's necessary to your style of touring, but that doesn't make it a bad idea for others.

Clearly, there are lots of people who do like to plan ahead. PassPorter wouldn't exist if they didn't. Yet detailed plans (touring plans, ADRs for meals, packing lists, mapping out travel routes, etc.) are not for everyone, either. If everyone believed in them, Jennifer and I would sell a whole lot more books.

Here's my scenario. It's sometime in 2013. You know you're in MK on Thursday, and that you really want a FASTPASS for the new Little Mermaid ride, since everyone says the lines have been so long. You can do as folks might do today, and dash across the park at rope drop to get to the FASTPASS machine. Or maybe, you could get a FASTPASS weeks or months in advance, so you can stroll through the park at rope drop, listen to the Dapper Dans or chat with the Main St. Gossip... And still ride Ariel's Adventure without standing in line for 90 minutes or having a FASTPASS return time of 4:35pm. That's my fantasy, and it sounds pretty good to me.

It also sounds sort of interesting to be able get my Key to the World cards in the mail before the trip. Would it be any less secure than getting my new credit card in the mail? I doubt it. Could I simply drop my luggage with Bell Services and head right to the park? Wouldn't that be sweet (I can hear Crush's voice in my head, "Sweet! Totally righteous, dude!") Even if I don't know which room I'll get when I arrive, it's little different than when I check in now at, say, 10:00am. "Sorry, sir, your room isn't ready yet. Here's your Key to the World. You can go out and enjoy the park, and we'll call you or send you a text message later, when the room is ready." Only this time, maybe you've given your cell phone number to the Disney web site, and the computer sends you that text message with your room number. The keys don't even have to be encoded for a particular room number - they simply have to tell the security system which key opens which door, once the room has been assigned.

I can't see Disney ever making any of this stuff mandatory. How do you enforce it without making a lot of guests dissatisfied? "Sorry, sir, you had to check-in online, I can't give you a room." "Sorry, the ride is closed unless you have a FASTPASS." No, you just get to stand in a longer, slower line. But don't worry, they've added interactive games to the Standby queue that the folks with FASTPASS don't experience. And your kid can watch Disney cartoons while you stand in the resort check-in line.

Disney has always used the carrot approach - encourage guests to do something beneficial to Disney by giving the guests something they want in return. Hate standing in line at a resort because you're itching to get right to the parks? Express Check-in. Want a shorter wait to get a table at a restaurant? ADR. Shorter ride queue/more rides in a day? FASTPASS. Everyone who uses those services helps Disney manage operations more efficiently, and Disney is happy with as much "cooperation" as they get from its guests in return. They keep expanding upon these services in order to get more guests to use them.

Lots of folks had some very strong words about FASTPASS before it went into effect. Very few of them boycotted it once it went into service. Bottom line, once folks knew how to use FASTPASS to their advantage, it didn't seem so bad.

Some folks love to use express check-in at the resorts, other folks won't go near the service. Some folks refuse to make ADRs, some refuse to use FASTPASS. Yet all of them, whether they use ADRS or FASTPASS or express check-in, or not, report a satisfying Disney experience. I strongly doubt Disney is going to abandon this "keep everyone happy" approach.

I happen to think there are a lot of very cool possibilities here. I can't be sure Disney will do things the way I envision, any more than anyone else can be positive that this is a bad idea. The proof will be in the pudding. Of course, if Disney didn't make such great pudding, would we be here talking about it at all?

[Jennifer2003]

Here's my issue with it: You can cancel ADRs if they don't work into your plans as you get closer. Are you going to be able to cancel a Fast Pass you book 180 days out if your plans change? This will impact getting Fast Passes once you arrive at the park. I can see a lot of people abusing this, just like they abuse the ADR system. Not cool with it. At all.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

Nowhere in Tom Staggs comments did he suggest that people would be required to use this system, or that the existing FASTPASS system was being eliminated in favor of this system, or that, somehow, they were planning to change the very nature of the theme park experience.

While there are lots of us who do love to plan, the VAST majority of people who go to WDW open a park map for the first time when they're standing at the end of Main Street, turn to their companions and say "okay, where should we go first?"

[MichaelF]

I like the way it is now. The only thing I would change is they police the expiration of fast passes better.

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by Jennifer2003

Here's my issue with it: You can cancel ADRs if they don't work into your plans as you get closer. Are you going to be able to cancel a Fast Pass you book 180 days out if your plans change? This will impact getting Fast Passes once you arrive at the park. I can see a lot of people abusing this, just like they abuse the ADR system. Not cool with it. At all.

We can all come up with some scenario where, if Disney makes a mistake designing the system, something won't work right. Rather than get upset that our worst imaginings will actually happen, how about figuring that Imagineering does this kind of "what if?" in design sessions all the time, and that they try hard to make it work in an appropriate manner? Disney collects statistics on absolutely everything. They know exactly how many people use their FPs (and ADRs) and how many don't, and they adjust the way the system works to take that all into account. A new system is put through simulations, then they put it into "live test" (soft opening) and make further adjustments before rolling it out to the public at large. And then they keep tweaking - taking guest surveys to measure satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the system, analyzing the stats, watching videos of the queues, interviewing attraction operations cast...

OK, I've always been geeked-out by just how well Imagineering does its job. I spent a long part of my career as an engineer in the entertainment business, and believe me, few organizations do entertainment technology better than Imagineering. They're often way ahead of the curve. (I often tell the story about just how technically advanced Main Street Electrical Parade was when it was introduced, and how, the first time I saw it so long ago at Disneyland, I stood on Main Street with my jaw hanging open in awe, understanding the kind of technical challenges they faced to make it happen.) So I'm always ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. It's sort of like Anton Ego, in Ratatouille, when he drawls sneeringly at his waiter (Linguini), "Surprise me!" Ego surely didn't expect to be blown away by his meal. I, on the other hand, expect to be surprised and delighted when Imagineering is on the job, and gosh darn it if Imagineering doesn't manage to exceed my expectations the vast majority of the time. Take the Disney Dream as an example... Wow!