What is the point of paying for Park Hoppers with Fastpass + About This Page:

[Pax]

Originally Posted by JerseyDad

[...] I predicted what it was: A Money Grab.

FP+ doesn't cost guests one single penny to use. Not seeign the money Disney is supposedly grabbing, here.

...it's a way to "coerce" people to stay at the WDW resorts [...]

Seriously, that's the best you can do? ::sigh::

EMH was a resort-guest-only benefit. Dining plans were (and still are) resort-guest-only (and further, serve as a way to encourage more full-service dining, earning Disney more money from the sale of food).

[feonag]

Originally Posted by JerseyDad

......I actually was at WDW last August .....and had the FP+ .....and saw it for what it was ...BEFORE .....the tiers .....before removal of legacy FP+ ....and I predicted what it was: A Money Grab.

...it's a way to "coerce" people to stay at the WDW resorts ....because that's their largest income source. Its a way to lock them in to being on site at WDW ....because that was the purpose of the whole system.

.....before years' end ...you will see more "benefits" related to FP+ dangled before resort guests ...like added FP+'s ....for a price. If Universal can charge for Express Pass ......WDW will cast aside any faux shame ...and slap a price on it too.

....that said ....I don't see any value in a hopper option ....for the price I'm paying, when I can't do what I want to ...in a second park. I'm not going to study or ascribe to any pre-designed "touring plans" because some internet "guru" sees them as gospel and tells me "that's how to 'do' WDW". That's WAY too regimented for a vacation.

.....I too have done ALL of the rides / attractions at WDW ....and don't have anything that's on a bucket list when I go. I blew off 50% of the FP+ reservations we had ....mostly after day 5 of our 10 day trip ...because I didn't like being "controlled".

.....I also didn't sit around looking at my watch waiting for the next FP+ ....we did what rides / attraction we wanted ...and that resulted in many "missed" FP+'s ...because I wasn't stopping to run somewhere else. Again ...something too regimented is just not what I call a vacation.

....I just can't give glowing endorsements to a system that was devised to manage crowds due to a lack of attractions ....all while paring off the value from my high cost vacation.







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I don't see how having fastpass "forces' people to stay on property. There is nothing wrong with a company having perks to get someone to spend money with them. Most companies do this a good business practices. They only way they would be "coercing" you is if Disney did not allow any one into their parks unless they stayed on Disney property. And since it does not cost anything to get a fastpass it can hardly be called a "money grab". Having to wait for your fastpass time has always been the case. In fact the old paper ones were worse since you first had to go to the ride to get the fastpass and then go back to it. At least now when you can pick the time before you can go, you do not have to run back and forth. Also we can plan around times that we usually eat to make sure that the fastpass time does not fall during meals. I have never felt "controlled" since I have free will and decide what I want to do when. Just because there are options does not mean you are forced to do anything. Even Universal has a park hopper option, it seems to be standard if there is more then 1 park. It kind sound like you are a bit jaded for some reason and hating on Disney. IMO Discussing pros and cons is one thing but saying they are money grabbing and controlling sounds a bit personal. Besides that fact that they are a business and want to do what they can to make money, I can't blame them.

[quyrean]

To the topic of the post, can someone give some examples of using fast passes at a second park? I went to disney a couple years ago with park hoppers, and we did not get end up getting fast passes at the second park.

to answer the question: Might want to hop without fastpasses to:

1. see a show at a different park
2. eat dinner in a different park
3. late magic hours - I don't think they have fast passes in late magic hours
4. go on rides by waiting in standby line

[Starwind]

When we have visited WDW in the past, we have always gotten parkhoppers. One trip, we used it to spend every evening at Epcot after the day at another park -- I'm not sure I was in Epcot during daylight at all that trip :-) We would use crowd calculators to help us decide which park to go to in the daytime, and use FPs when needed, though since we travel at low crowd times FP is often not necessary.

Our last trip was in September and we had FP+. We generally booked the FP+ for afternoons and evenings. For Epcot, we booked the FP+ for evenings when we hopped to Epcot after a day at another park. however, legacy FP was still in play for the trip.

Our next trip is in November. We will have 4.5 days in the parks. One day we will attend Mickey's Christmas Party; on that day we have decided we will spend the morning in AK, have lunch at Rainforest Cafe @ AK, wander to AKL to sight-see/Christmas decoration gawk, and then head back to WL for a break and some swimming then off to MK for what will presumably be a "at 1600 you are allowed in with your Party ticket".

However, we have decided we will NOT be getting parkhoppers this year. Instead, other than that day with the party, we are spending a full day at a single park. This means, for example, that on the second Christmas Party day of our trip, we will be at MK, so that day will end early -- but we are going to take advantage of the extra "free time" to swim, to explore some other resorts (Christmas.Decorations!), and to get ready for the cruise leaving the next day. When we return from the cruise, we will be staying at BC, and those days will be all about Epcot and Stormalong Bay :-)

If there were FP+ available for multiple parks for those with parkhoppers, we probably would get a parkhopper for the trip. But since there is not, we won't be.

-SW

[Starwind]

(and, of course, last trip we did our crazy 4 parks in 1 day hopping excursion -- FP and FP+ came in handy for that)

[MollyB]

Originally Posted by JennV

Park hopping would come in handy if you rope drop one park and ride first thing all the rides you want, then make late fp+ at another park for evening. Example go to MK early for all the Mountains then after dinner head to HS for TTM or Fantasmic and you can still pick 2 more like Star Tours or Tower of Terror.

This is EXACTLY what I would do!!

[Luv2plan]

We always get PH's so we have the option open to visit whatever park we want to. We like to hit different parks in the morning than in the evenings/afternoons. Sometimes a morning full of rides at MK is enough rides for us and we'll head over to Epcot for a nice meal, check out Innoventions, shops, shows, etc. I still think the PH's will work great for us regardless of FP+...I don't remember ever counting on being able to get a good FP return time for a big ride (like Soarin' for example) by the time we had hopped over to Epcot in the evening.

That said, I do think it would be nice to have the option open to those with park hoppers to at least be able to try for FP at the second (or third! ) park. I realize it would be too much to ask to be able to plan them ahead of time for the second park, but allow us to go up to a kiosk/access the app and take our chances for whatever's available, just like we would have with legacy fastpass.

We're not going til August, so I'm curious to see what changes they continue to make to the system.

Have fun trips everyone!!

[Beautiful Mother]

Whew--that was a long read getting caught up. I am still befuddled at the new FP+ system and how it will affect our future trips. We got a taste of it last fall as we were chosen to "test" the system. I was not initially impressed with the magic band system as a whole, but as we used the bracelets and managed the few FP's we were allowed, I became a little more impressed.

I will be able to see what effect this has on our touring next fall as we will actually get to spend more than a pre/post cruise there. We are hoppers, though as I become less Kommando and more relaxed with our touring style, I see that this could help me plan our days. Using the FP+ for afternoon/evening touring will be a big benefit, though I will definitely need to resume the color-coded spread sheets before we head out for our trip.

That being said, I think our days of four parks/one day (yes, we've done it TWICE!) may be a thing of the past, especially when touring days are high.

I think what this really comes down to is how can Disney maximize the number of people in the parks and how can they better control the FP system. My dark side says that we will soon be seeing an "Universal" style FP. If you want unlimited FP's then you will need to pay for them. This would definitely make the parks less Disney, but if it pays, Disney will probably try it.

[cbaker36]

We won't be park hopping this time. Going in June. Prices have just gotten too high for our family.
This whole fast pass + thing is a joke. Years ago I got surveyed about it and I told them no then. I hate seeing it and I hate being controlled. I'm told we can change our choices after we get to the park, but I read the cue for getting to the system is really long. As to charging to get more fast-pass, well Disney is just getting to greedy for me, and the place is loosing it's magic fast. This will probably be our last time going.

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Originally Posted by cbaker36

We won't be park hopping this time. Going in June. Prices have just gotten too high for our family.
This whole fast pass + thing is a joke. Years ago I got surveyed about it and I told them no then. I hate seeing it and I hate being controlled. I'm told we can change our choices after we get to the park, but I read the cue for getting to the system is really long. As to charging to get more fast-pass, well Disney is just getting to greedy for me, and the place is loosing it's magic fast. This will probably be our last time going.

The lines are apparently only long at the ones at the front of the park, if you go to other locations there are less people as people tend to go to the first one they see. For example at the local target close to my house there is always a line at then end of the store that has a self check out whereas the area where they put the regular cashers has only 2 cashers on for like 10 registers because no one uses that entrance.

[Lumieregirl]

You can buy more fast passes?


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[WillCAD]

Originally Posted by Lumieregirl

You can buy more fast passes?


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No, you can't. At least, not now, nor have you evern been able to do so for the entire time that FastPass has existed.

There has been some rather cynical and uninformed speculation that FP+ is a prelude to Disney either charging for FP, offering additional FP for a charge, or restricting FP to only on-site Guests. But these are nothing but wild, completely unfounded speculations - exactly the same speculations that were tossed out many people when FP was first introduced fifteen years ago.

For fifteen years, Disney has not restricted FP or sold extras or charged for it. The new FP+ system, being electronic and fully integrated across all of the parks, allows for a lot of flexibility, and could theoretically be programmed to do all sorts of things. We've already seen one major rule change during the testing phase - the addition of the tiered system at two parks - so it is possible that Disney may change the rules again later.

Personally, I expect to see some more tweaks over the summer, as the heavier crowds put the system through its paces and Disney finds more areas that need improvement. My guess is that the tiered system will be expanded to all four parks, and that at some point Disney will experiment with various ways to allow park-hopping, and that additional FPs might be offered as part of promotional room packages (as free dining is now) or dining packages (like the special seating areas reserved for Fantasmic dinner packages), but I doubt that Disney will ever sell any sort of FP upgrades.

[Pax]

I could also see the Tiered thing developing in another way: certain SUPER-popular attractions might be declared "Signature", and take TWO "options" to get - along the lines of how some dining choices work, vis a vis the Dining Plans.

[Lumieregirl]

Thanks Will for the detailed and informative response. It'll be interesting to see how it all works out. For now, for me, it seems like a positive thing because I can have a relaxed morning and arrive to a park later in the day and still have FP for rides that otherwise wouldn't be available (I the old system).


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[LESLIEW]

We used to be ParkHopper people every trip. THE HORROR of having to stay in one park a day? Wasn't happening in my family. I needed my park freedom and I paid for it! Then as my kids grew, admission prices grew,accomadation prices grew, airline ticket prices grew, dining plan price grew, and I had to find a way to cut costs. Our last trip we stayed at a moderate and didn't buy ParkHoppers and I survived. Actually, I may have enjoyed our touring MORE.

Now, I missed Wilderness Lodge, don't get me wrong, but I loved CSR too. I found that by NOT Park Hopping I was more relaxed. I guess its just me, but I was going crazy trying to mark things off my list in the morning at Epcot, going back to the resort for a swim, then rushing back to Magic Kingdom to check more things off my list. I kind of realized alot of my day was spent in Disney Buses.

Now, I think on a long weekend trip or 4 or 5 day trip Park Hoppers may be a neccesity. But if you staying 7 to 10 days I don't think I will get Park Hoppers again. I enjoyed knowing I was going to be in Epcot all day. Now this is just my opinion, but I was a diehard park hopper and my views changed.

Now, I haven't had a trip with FastPass Plus YET. So I will reserve judgement until then...but I remember the days of my "clueless" disney touring when I didn't even understand how the classic fast pass worked and I still managed to enjoy an entire trip, and didn't miss a thing I wanted, without print a paper fastpass.

I think it all goes with how you are mentally preparing for your trip. Yes, its expensive, but you aren't going to do it all in one trip. I think my husband and I are approaching trip 11....and I have still yet to see Beauty and the Beast at Hollywood Studios. LOL