Currently, one of the biggest and in my opinion most
interesting rumours going around the Disney Fan Community concerns the
possibility of Disney introducing a paid version of their Fastpass system. For
those unfamiliar with the system in question, Fastpasses, which were introduced
in 1999 are, as the name suggests, passes which get you through long lines
quicker, and onto selected attractions at the Disney Parks without having to
wait in the usually longer standby or singles lines. Fastpasses are obtained by
inserting your park ticket into a Fastpass machine outside selected attraction
entrances, which will return your ticket as well as printing you a Fastpass
ticket stating the one hour time window in which you must return to the
attraction. For example, if you arrived at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom at
11.00am, you could walk to an attraction such as Splash Mountain, seeing that
the Fastpass return time is between 2.45pm and 3.45pm. You could then get a
Fastpass from the machine, and then are free to enjoy the rest of the park
until your return time, returning at your allocated time to enjoy Splash
Mountain with minimal wait. There are, however, limits to the amount of
Fastpasses distributed each day, with the return time window being put five minutes
further back after a certain number of passes are distributed. Limits are also
put on the amount of Fastpasses each person can obtain, you can only obtain
another Fastpass when the first Fastpass’ return time arrives, or after two
hours, whichever is first.
The rumour which I mentioned above is that Disney may
introduce a version of the Fastpass system where you pay for your Fastpasses.
It’s almost definite that a Fastpass reservation system is going to be
introduced, as Disney filed a patent for such a system a few years ago, but
have done nothing much more since. Obviously, in order to charge for
Fastpasses, Disney would have to offer something more, and not merely what they
are already giving people for free. This interesting rumour has been around for
quite some time, but died down slightly. However the recent decision by Disney
to begin enforcing the return times completely (until recently they were quite
flexible about when you returned, and mostly turned a blind eye if you were
late, now, if you turn up late and the attraction was open when your return
window was in effect, you will usually be turned away), has meant that this
rumour has once again become a talking point amongst Disney Fans.
The rumour says that this paid version would be called the
‘VIP Attraction Add-On’, and would cost about $150 (roughly £90). It would be
similar to the systems found at Universal and SeaWorld parks, in that it would
only be available to a limited number of guests, and would provide unlimited
access to the Fastpass lines at participating attractions.
There was always the possibility of a system similar to that
of Merlin Entertainment’s Thorpe Park, where guests can purchase in advance or
at the park itself, passes to skip the lines at Thorpe Park’s many popular
attractions. They offer passes for individual rides as well as different ride
combinations (this, I think, would work well at Disney, for example the Magic
Kingdom could have a mountains combination available for purchase, including
Space, Splash and Big Thunder Mountains), and the Thorpe Park passes also have
a return time. This would be good, especially for attractions such as Toy Story
Mania, which is usually relieved of all its Fastpasses pretty soon after park
opening. However, as I mentioned earlier, it looks like a system where you
could reserve a Fastpass is already on its way, and this, alongside the fact
that the Thorpe Park system would basically be a paid version of the current
system, which doesn’t need updating, makes this possibility redundant, although
some elements (such as the attraction combination tickets which don’t cover all
attractions), could be used if Disney do go ahead with the system.
However, if the system is given the nod by the people in
charge at Disney, it’s most likely that it will be the first variation of these
systems which I described. If introduced, it will probably have considerable
effects on the parks, which would probably still be felt for a good many years,
as returning guests will have to adapt to the system, as well as obviously the
parks themselves. This would not only involve people actually getting used to
the new system, but also things like queue lines being reconfigured, as well as
all the other things the system would bring. Despite this, it’s mostly unclear
what the exact nature of these effects, as well as their duration, would be, as
the only thing which might give us a vague indication is the use of Gold
Fastpasses once in the parks, where an extremely small number of Gold
Fastpasses, which allowed you unlimited visits to the Fastpass queue at all the
attractions at the park you were in for that day (they were won at competitions
inside the parks), were given out. This, alongside a couple of other times
where small amounts of similar passes have been available, as well as the systems
at other parks, which are dramatically different to the Disney Parks, fail to
give a proper prediction of what might happen.
Unfortunately, as just about every other article on this
subject will tell you, a paid Fastpass system in any form wouldn’t really work;
it wouldn’t be particularly feasible in many people’s opinions. It would be
hard to control the crowds, as all the guests who purchase the paid Fastpass
would be given freedom to return as they please, which would make the crowds
unpredictable. For example, in an ideal world, if there are 1000 guests with
Paid Fastpasses in the park at a given time, they would ideally be dispersed
evenly around the park, experiencing the attractions which their Fastpass
allows them to, with maybe 50 lining up for each attraction, allowing for
guests who have the passes, but aren’t experiencing Fastpass attractions at the
time. However, the system would give these guests the freedom to go where they
want, when they want, which creates the possibility of all Fastpass guests
going to an attraction at once, which potentially means longer queues than the
standby line. This, as well as a list of countless other factors, impossible to
list here in its entirety, means that the system most likely wouldn’t work
without some major tweaks to the one people are talking about. As if that wasn’t
enough, bringing in the system would make something that is currently free
(this helps attract more visitors), cost money, which wouldn’t go down well,
especially in the current economic climate, when everybody’s trying to save
money. Having this sensational perk free of charge is part of what sets Disney
apart from its competitors, and to suddenly make people pay for it would
destroy that distinction.
So overall, it seems that if a system similar to the one
I’ve described is on the way at Disney, it certainly won’t be soon. Like I
said, this rumour is being talked about a lot at the moment on loads of Disney
Fan Websites, Blogs and Podcasts, there are some great articles on this
subject, which are all extremely interesting, and it’s definitely worth reading
some of them!
Thank you for reading, and apologies for the delay before
this post, I will try to post on the blog at least once per fortnight from now
on!
