traylorc
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2009
I loathed the FP+ at WDW and am honestly hesitant to go back. We rode a lot less with FP+ than we did with legacy passes. Not to mention the lines at rides that never had lines before. And we are park hoppers, but not being able to reserve FP's at two parks in one day was ridiculous. I think we ended up doing standby for something we had a FP for because there was no line earlier in the day. It then became a big pain to try and get FP's once we got to the second park.
I hope DL never implements this awful system. I think the ones who love it are the ones who love to plan every minute of their day months in advance. It's not a good system for the ones who want to play it by ear.
I agree with you Lora...the Fast Pass+ system definitely benefits those that plan in advance...but is that really a surprise?
We live in a society that that loves the ability to purchase and plan in advance. Think about all the stories you have heard recently about people trying to pre-purchase tickets for the new Star Wars movie. That movie doesn't open up for two months...yet the sheer volume of pre-order sales crashed Fandango, Movietickets, AMC and various other major websites. I read an article yesterday titled "Star Wars: The Force Awakenings is Obliterating All Movie Pre-Sales records".
When you read stories like that, one can easily understand why companies are racing to implement "pre-planning" / "pre-purchasing" business strategies. How does this relate to Disney?? For many people / families a trip to WDW or Disneyland represents a significant financial expense...therefore people want the ability to pre-plan their trips to make sure they are maximizing their time and experiences in the parks.
Let's be realistic...Disney is not going to do anything that pleases 100% of their customers. The best Disney can do is implement business strategies that appease the majority of their customer base. Obviously...members of Disney management team felt the majority of their customer base would prefer the FP+ system. It is not my intent to disrespect anyone who enjoys "winging it" or "playing by ear"...but realistically those customers that want to play it by ear are at a distinct disadvantage. But if the majority of Disney's customer base feels the Fastpass+ system adds value...then Disney made the right decision implementing the system at WDW. And they should consider implementing at Disneyland. If the Fastpass+ system was a step in the wrong decision...there would be stories discussing the fact that WDW's revenues, margins, profits, and stock price dropped after the Fastpass+ system was implemented. That has not been the case. Based on second quarter 2015 results, Disney's Park and Resort division experienced a 6% and 24% increase in revenues and operating income, respectively. Those results were driven by the 7% increase in attendance and guest spending at WDW. I am not claiming the improvement in financial performance is all attributable to Fastpass+...but it does indicate that the Fastpass+ system is not driving people away from WDW.
At some point...I believe the Fastpass+ will eventually be implemented at Disneyland.