The reason I am meh on it is because access has always been tiered at Disney. If you book at a Disney hotel, the nicer the hotel the better access you got at least for the past few decades. This is another luxury service for their very expensive hotels which is what they are catering to - people staying at Disney resorts. While Disney has always had mass appeal, the parks (and theme parks in general) make much more money from their $400+ a night resorts than from ticket sales to the general public. Business always, always gravitates to hooking whales regardless of industry.
And I can’t imagine a time when mass culture wasn’t tiered. You know a lot more about the history of pop culture than me (obviously), I’m kind fo curious what you mean? Geographic locations might be the single most class-tiered thing we have in society, did something used to be different for theme parks or for Disney?
I’m confused. Why can’t you just arrive at the appointed time with a normal pass? Does the Fastpass let you do anything other than queue at the back of the line?
It’s a bit confusing unless you’ve used their system.
Let’s say you want to ride something. The rides have two lines: one you can just queue in and one for Fastpass. You can just get in line, or you can get a Fastpass that’ll say “come back between 1pm and 2pm”. You come back within your window, get in the Fastpass line, and now you’re queueing only with the people who “reserved” that time. So there’s still a line, but it’s usually only 5 mins or so, and you’re on the ride.
You get three of these every day to start out with. Once you’ve used them up, you get another one, and so on. The new system lets VIP/rich people get more to start out with every day. It’s not a line-cutting method.
Now, the article points out that Universal really does do it differently. For $100 (I think) you get a VIP pass that lets you just walk up to any ride and go to the front, whenever you want to, no reserved times or anything. It really messes up the regular queue and really is “rich people going to the front”.
It is, and it’s also free; I don’t think a small number of rich families getting a few extra passes will affect things much at all; the system is built to adjust itself as needed.
I went to Universal recently on a very slow day, with 5-10 minute waits for the rides (if at all), and there were a bunch of despondent looking people wearing “VIP Pass” tags who’d shelled out $100+ each to bypass the nonexistent lines.
I actually just priced out a summer vaca for my family of 5.
We have to book a suite/condo to fit the 5 of us now a days, so a full week with park passes runs $10,200. Add the dining options and that jumps to $12k, $13k, and $14k respectively. The average middle income family can’t swing that but maybe once during the lifetime of your kids.
That being said…if you told me after I had paid 14k for the week that I could tack on an additional $1000 and we could all cut the lines and get on rides quick, then why wouldn’t I pay it? It’s a nominal additional fee compared to the total cost and it would greatly increase the enjoyment of the experience not having to wait two hours in a line.
This being said…There are much cheaper options off park (obviously) and in some cases much nicer as well. Adding in the cost of renting a car or driving there (if feasible) can still be a far more affordable price tag. Additionally the option then exists to purchase 2-3 day passes to Disney and Universal and split your time, or also take in other area attractions at your leisure.
I also (having taken my kids to Universal, Disney World, and Land) would argue it is more about timing of when you go. We took our kids to DW off peak season in May one year. Yes they were out of school for a week but the impact was minimal as it was end of the year and the park capacity was at a much lower volume than other times of the year (August is also a low volume time given the temps).
It’s not a bad idea on Disney’s part to offer the additional fee for fast pass tickets and even fees to upgrade that to “faster pass” tickets…that is a smart business offering in my book. It’s the exorbitant park passes prices and lodging prices that I feel they are truly gouging people on and while doesn’t necessarily mean people cannot go at all, it definitely curbs repeat attendance for most.
I took my kids to Universal last year and the fast pass was included with the hotel. You also get early park admission and sometimes you get to stay late.
Big Deal. Disney has done things like this since the day it opened.
Most of you aren’t old enough to remember when Disneyland offered guided tours in small groups that included ten of the rides. Those tours had a special admission gate on every ride and went right in.
Try not to be surprised next time you fly when you notice some people are allowed on the airplane first and have better seats etc because they paid a hell of a lot more for their ticket than you did.
Best thing to do with seriously rich people is to turn them upside down and shake them until money falls out and that’s what Disney is doing.
The best way to experience Disney is to bring a baby. Then you can wheel the baby around in the stroller, sit and drink coffee, and hold everyone’s junk while the rest of the family has “fun”. Sure, you pay $100 for the experience, but it really is the only way to do it.
Call me crazy, but I think the best way to enjoy Disney is to, er, have fun. Without quotation marks. But I imagine that if I was a parent to a small baby, getting the time to just sit down for awhile would be pretty worthwhile, too.
I hate amusement parks with a passion. Stand in line for a 2 minute thrill, and some of the coasters actually hurt (have old neck injury from car accident). So when the rest of the family wanted to go, I would find a way like this to make it tolerable. They always need someone to hold their stuff, and most importantly, pay for everything. Funnel cakes and pronto pups make it fun for me.
