Disneyland Resort will charge $10 a day for ability to book Fastpass in-park on mobile device

This is the strangest play ever. I mean, if you couldn't do the same thing at WDW today, maybe they could get away with it, but this is already a PR disaster.

PR disaster? Maybe this is the straw that breaks the camel's back but I'm not seeing it. People will undoubtedly complain. Many will vow never to spend the $10 ("I'll show Disney!"). But they will continue visiting and giving Disney their dollars. Plenty of others will snatch this up without a second thought as a worthy price for the convenience. Watch them "get away with it."

The only part that confuses me here is the timing. The blog states the program won't launch until next year. Why give such a long lead time?

I think the saving grace for this is that the current free version of the paper Fastpass will still be available at attraction kiosks as always. Seems like all they're doing here is giving people the perk of not having to trek back and forth around the park to each physical location by allowing them to tap into the Fastpass network from their phones. $10 isn't a terrible price point and with unlimited Photopass downloads included, one-day visitors will actually be saving about $30.

I think, much like FoL or all the WDW stuff, this will create a huge uproar and then have no noticeable impact at all in park, save for a little bit of convenience to those willing to drop a Hamilton.

What's interesting to me is that I had no idea that Disneyland did not use Magicbands, etc. like Disneyworld. I never gave it any thought, as we travel down to the World, but have no plans to fly over to the Land. I guess I just assumed it was a Disney-chain "thing" (the magic bands).

You learn something new every day.

It seems that MagicBands probably won't happen outside of WDW at this point. OLC apparently has no interest in using them (or MyMagic+) at Tokyo Disneyland. So far Shanghai Disneyland has been using paper FastPass and I'm not sure if there are plans to change anytime soon.

Yep, a PR disaster.

For those that already have the premium annual pass, the photo download thing is already included. So this looks like a pure cash grab. There's no other way for it to be viewed by the hundreds of thousands with the premium passes. The local fanbase is educated (if not often silly about what they get riled up about), so they already know that this technology is available for free at WDW. So yeah, this is really looking bad. You have to remember that adding FP to attractions that don't need it (looking at you Small World and Matterhorn), is a very sore subject 10 years on. So FP+, bands, or whatever incarnation they were planning has always been viewed with healthy skepticism, if not derision. Charging for the privilege of not having to have as many physical machines, paper or worker hours, will be viewed for what it actually is.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if maybe there's this whole other audience out there beyond the educated, local fanbase that they're trying to reach with this perk? Nah, no way.

I remember a year or so ago when there was quite a bit of doom and gloom about annual pass price and blackout date increases at DLR and how the local fanbase was going to up and disappear. I wonder how that's working out?

What's your basis for saying Matterhorn doesn't need Fastpass? I was in the park on a Tuesday and Wednesday in July last summer and it had 60-90 minute lines with both sides running for most of the day.

The same people complaining online continue to spend enormous amounts of money with Disney. This action will likely not change that in a substantial way and Disney is well aware of that. They have no problem letting their guests feel some pain because the same guests keep telling them (both with their dollars and their positive comments about the experience) that they offer a premium product that people can't get enough of - "I wish I knew how to quit you" syndrome.

bigboy said:

I wonder if maybe there's this whole other audience out there beyond the educated, local fanbase that they're trying to reach with this perk? Nah, no way.

missing the point again, but do continue.

I remember a year or so ago when there was quite a bit of doom and gloom about annual pass price and blackout date increases at DLR and how the local fanbase was going to up and disappear. I wonder how that's working out?

The only people saying the AP base would disappear were the idiots howling on internet chat boards. I believe that the actual argument was that Disney was raising price and adding blackouts, yet still keeping the monthly payment option. So, if they were really trying to limit APs they failed, instead they went for the higher cash option rather than the more obvious mechanism which would dissuade those who most likely aren't spending much in the parks.

What's your basis for saying Matterhorn doesn't need Fastpass? I was in the park on a Tuesday and Wednesday in July last summer and it had 60-90 minute lines with both sides running for most of the day.

That park doesn't have the infrastructure (space) to effectively add FP to more rides. That was proven in the Pressler era. If you weren't around then, you'd be wise to go read up on it. There's a new crop of sharp pencil types who are about to repeat that disaster.

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I'd totally be willing to pay an up charge for FP+ reservations if it offered me access to the hard to get marque attractions at the times of my choosing. I'd even pay an up charge for the same type of hard to get dining reservations as well.