Potential Changes To Disney's FastPass ($$$)

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RatherGoodBear said:
No word of a lie, just as I clicked on this topic to check the latest posts, my local (clear channel) radio station starts playing "Running With the Devil."

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Ha! That's great. :)

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Gonch, if you think Satan always wins, you didn't read Revelation all the way through. ;)

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And if you think I'm about to read it, you haven't read my posts all the way through. ;)

Word on the street is that Universal is doing surveys that include the following info/questions:

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...we're considering offering some new and interesting technology services in the park and we'd like to ask you a couple of questions about them.

• Can you browse the Internet on your cell phone?
• Do you bring your cell phone with you when you visit theme parks?
• Would you like to have wait times text-messaged to your phone while you're at the park?
• Would you be like to be able to view wait times using the web browser on your phone?
• Would you be like to receive coupons for food and merchandise as text messages on your phone while you are in the park?
• Would you like to be able to acquire coupons for food and merchandise using the web browser on your phone?

If we were to offer any of the services described above, you would probably need to "register" that you were at the park when you arrived and "unregister" when you left (after all you probably wouldn't want to receive wait time messages while you were at home!). This could take five minutes when you got to the park and when you left.

• Based on the features described above, how likely would you be to go through such a registration/unregistration process when you arrived and left the park?
• Do you have any additional comments or thoughts about the opportunity to use your cell phone to get more value out of your park visit?

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So it looks like Universal is also contemplating the technology as a way to add to the park experience. (and for the record - the right answer to the last question is "to reserve ride times" ;) )

But the real doozy comes on a later page. It's a multiple choice question (pay special attention to answer #2) :

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When thinking about your future theme park vacation preferences, which of the following do you think best describes you (and the group you usually travel with)?

• I want a theme park vacation designed especially for adults.
• I want the all-inclusive, entirely pre-arranged theme park vacation experience.
• I want a theme park vacation filled with thrills, chills and great rides!
• I want a value-filled, action-packed theme park vacation where my family can do everything together.
• I want a luxury theme park vacation.

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#2 is quite an interesting choice to me and #5 is pretty interesting as well. ;)

Universal must be at least considering the possibilities if they added those as choices.

Going back to the baseball stadium/concert stadium analogy.

Here's the difference as I see it.

Joe Mama buys a ticket for the last row. He's been there before or at least has some reasonable expectation of where that seat is in relation to the field/stage. They are, after all, fixed entities. The stadium only holds so many people. Whether it's full or empty, the seat he purchased is 'x' ft. from the action.

With VQ the stadium becomes a magical building that can add 30 more rows to the Loge Reserved section on the first base side (or wherever). Now Joe's seat gets pushed back an additional 100 ft. because of these VQ seats that keep magically appearing.

I have no problem paying the higher prices. I just expect more for that money and right now I don't see the value at most parks.

When I pay for a dollar burger off the value menu I could care less about the service, just don't make it any more unhealthy than the mega-corp intended (hold the spit please). When I buy a 25 dollar burger at the swanky steak house, I expect it to be cooked to my specifications on a fresh bun, served on a clean plate and the waiter better not wait until my drink is empty before asking if I want another.

Right now I'm not willing to buy that 25 dollar burger from the mega parks, because I'm not confident that they won't spit on my (illustrative) burger.

This last part doesn't really pertain to Disney per se, more of a rant against the higher price structure that we're moving towards. Basically, I'm not buying it........yet ;)