So it finally happened; you can now purchase FP’s at WDW...kinda...

It's not really price gouging if they publish their food prices on the website. Disney is also in-line or cheaper than regional theme parks with their food prices. Besides they allow you to bring outside food in to the park.

In regards to the original article, my first thought was that it is a ridiculous idea. Offering enhanced ride access to a select segment of the population seems to fit the narrative of Disney's distaste for the common man.

But here's the thing, how is this really going to effect the average guest? My guess is that it won't even be noticeable. This is only being offered to a small segment of the resort population. Given that a family of four would have to pay an additional $200 a day for the privilege of booking 3 more Fast Passes. A 5 day vacation would cost an additional $1000 for essentially the same product. I anticipate this would be an attractive option during the extremely busy seasons like Christmas but less so when the crowd levels are not extreme.

“I personally see charging for line-cutting and gouging for food as hidden costs”

“I think that its wrong to allow line cutting for profit.”

Then by all means, stop participating in these luxury days at a theme park. They’re making it obvious they’re not interested in you. For as much as we joke about Disney hating poor people, the reality is that Disney doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor. They just care that you’re going to spend money on their offered luxury. And if you’re not, they really don’t want you there trying too hard when someone else can come in and spend money and not care about what they think is fair or not.

OhioStater said:
It's a perfect plan. They can move Robo-Trump to the gate where he can proudly pronounce to all the poor people that we don't want anyone from those S@#$-hole neighborhoods in the park.

I think it’s been established that when the president (or pope, apparently) say ****hole you don’t have to censor it. ;-)

Edit: obviously Jeff disagrees :-D

It's pretty sad when the standards on an internet forum about roller coasters are significantly higher than the President of the United States.

Our kidding about "Disney hates poor people" aside, I think the company is somewhat sensitive to the perception, at least. I say that because if they're really crunching the numbers, I suspect that they could get away with higher admission prices, which would thin the crowd a little, result in a better experience and maybe maintain current revenue. I think the annual pass pricing they have to stay where they are, because I know locals are feeling a little pinched, and anecdotally, I would say they spend way more than your average Six Flags passholder.

Jeff said:

I know locals are feeling a little pinched, and anecdotally, I would say they spend way more than your average Six Flags passholder.

The 2015/2016 price hikes are why I didn't renew. I know it's still very worth it for many, but it wasn't worth it for us anymore.

And I would also argue the in-park spending amongst Annual Pass locals is leaps and bounds more than a Six Flags or Cedar Fair level... and that is with Disney's shockingly more reasonable counter service food prices than most Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks.

Not that I'm in the market for it, but a quick glance at the webpage indicates about 800 - 900 (depending on your choice) for a Disney season pass. The "Florida Residents" page is currently down; do you get a discount for living close by?

And what was it last year?

Just curious.

Per the article...

The idea originated from guests asking Disney for additional ways to enhance their experience.

So people asked for it, and they got it. With such a small percentage of guests even being offered this perk, I can't fathom anyone noticing or caring.

The gold passes I think are the same for everyone (main parks minus spring break and Christmas-New Year), and the lower passes (weekday select, Epcot after 4) are Florida only. We do gold, which is $559, and this last time we had an extra month. If I had to guess, we probably go about 40 times per year, maybe a dozen during Food & Wine alone. And yeah, we spend a ton of money on food, which is not unreasonable, and even more during F&W.

The main site makes it look like anything other than Platinum and Platinum Plus is restricted to Florida residents.

Weekday Select is $269 now. Mon-Fri admission, minus Spring Break, Christmas-New Year's, and a large chunk of summer. When I did it three years ago it was $189.

I think the fact that everyone is forced to pay for FastPass with no regard on whether one actually uses it is interesting and shows the power of marketing the Pay One Price model. We all know that the billion dollar MagicBands project is being subsidized for years to come by a charge that is baked into the daily ticket/annual pass. I’m confident that the accountants at Disney have computed an average amount to be covered for the development and ongoing support of MagicBands/FP as part of overhead when determining daily ticket prices.

To take this idea a step further, could there ever be an option to NOT use the FP system in exchange for a small discount on tickets? I know it would never happen as people should be out of queues spending $$$ but it's just food for thought. It would be easy to implement since FP is associated to individual tickets/passes and if opting out, a frowning Mickey face would appear when attempting to use the FP system.

I don't like the character meet and greets, so can I get a discounted ticket that doesn't include those?

FP is free because they don't want you getting in long lines (which clearly some percentage of people will do anyway). The accounting has nothing to do with FP or the cap ex already sunk on it. It's a hugely profitable company that routinely spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually. You pay what you pay because the market demands it.

BrettV said:

The main site makes it look like anything other than Platinum and Platinum Plus is restricted to Florida residents.

Gold passes are available to DVC Members. We typically get comparable pricing to Florida residents on the passes.

Jeff said:

I think the annual pass pricing they have to stay where they are, because I know locals are feeling a little pinched, and anecdotally, I would say they spend way more than your average Six Flags passholder.

I plead ignorance on this because I do not know/understand the local's perspective, but why is it deemed OK to not raise the prices of the season passes because the locals are feeling pinched at the current pricing level, when it is deemed good business practice to raise the prices of everything else regardless if those non-locals get pinched out?

Because it's at the threshold where you'd sell fewer passes and the in-park spending that comes with them. I think they're at that ceiling. It's the regular admission where I don't think they've reached the ceiling. It's not about my perspective.

The average WDW guest thinks that FP is a guest service enhancement program. The reality is it is completely a revenue generation initiative. You can’t spend money while waiting in line (unless you are Universal and have beer carts in queue lines; which I think is genius). FP is a currency.

I can see a day (fairly soon) where there will be little or no standby lines at WDW. Everything will be done via a FP reservation. And upsells to purchase additional FP will be introduced and even upsells on upsells for FP for the headliner attractions.

Seriously; who wouldn’t pay $25 for a guaranteed FP on Flight of Passage or Mine Train at the date and time that you want?

And while I earn a decent living, I’m nowhere close to the 1%. But I would totally pay for additional or preferred FP for headliner attractions....

My $0.02: I'm definitely a FOL pass fan. When I visit a remote park, I want to do as much as possible in the time I have there, so I simply view FP as an upcharge to consume more of the park's resources. I don't believe most normal people want to ride 30-40 or more rides in a single day, so I have no problem paying extra for more rides. Makes a nice compromise between POP and individual tickets IMHO.

And hell, they don't even have to be great rides. Some years go we flashpassed SFDK on a Wednesday, simply because we were likely never coming back and we wanted to completely wear the place out on this single trip. It worked - we rode everything in the park, went back and rerode the best half of the rides, went around for another full lap of everything, then eventually devolved into marathoning Roar and Tony Hawk. Why TH you ask? My partner is 6'7" and we figured out if we got our own car, both sat on one side, leaned well into the corner he was in,and caught the three beginning switchbacks "just right," we could have a 100rpm ride. Roar was pretty beat but it was right next door; we could flashpass Roar while on TH brake run and vice-versa, thus allowing for two hours of walk on fun :) The park wasn't crowded, but we still wouldn't have gotten half the rides we did without the FP.

I love pay and free FOL or Q mgt services. I do it at parks I don’t get to often if it’s busy. But honestly I try to schedule park visits for when I won’t need them.

Just returned from a quick Disney weekend. We did Epcot and the MK on Saturday. I made advance reservations for dinner at Epcot, spending all morning in the park. We decided to Fastpass rides at the MK late in the day just to make sure we hit what we wanted. (Pirates, Mansion and Buzz). The kids were pretty relaxed knowing that they would get on those "must dos" which made the parents more relaxed.

The downside to making advanced reservations for all of that stuff is losing the spontaneity. We find ourselves at times indecisive about what to do because of timing. We are bouncing all over the park which can be a little exhausting. But, it is still worth it. If someone has purchased or otherwise procured additional Fastpasses there is no way for me to know that so it isn't anything I will get worked up over.

Florida residents are back into the annual promotion where we can buy 3 days for $159 or 4 days for $179. Those are single park tickets but $53 per day is a steal so anyone down here complaining about prices needs to take a seat.