Walt Disney World turns on Fastpass+ for annual passholders

My only guess is that they may want to give Magicbands without a normal pass to passholders in the future, or maybe have renewals automatically apply to existing bands? I have a distinct feeling it's another thing that wasn't completely thought out in the planning stages.

Starting to think my 1-2 year guess on correcting the flaws may have been off by a year...or two.... ;~)

There was just an analyst on CNBC discussing Disney parks. I wasn't paying too much attention, but he did mention that the Magic Bands were "keeping people in the parks".

I see the bands benefiting the park because of the expected increase in per capita spending (make it easier for people to spend money and they will spend more), the eventual improvements in people flow once they figure out the sweet spot with the fast pass plus, and I do agree with the notion that the bands will ultimately lead to Disney being able to provide a tier system of benefits to people in a much more convenient manner for them.

However, I'm not quite following how the bands and fast pass+ are "keeping people in the parks". I'm not sure if he meant for more days or more hours per day. I've been there for a week once since the bands were introduced. I never thought to myself, "boy I was going to go to Sea World today but now that I have this wristband I feel like staying on property". The only thing I can think of is that the fast pass plus system is more resort guest friendly and resort guests are more likely to spend all of their vacation at Disney than non-resort visitors. Any thoughts on how this is a keep people in park benefit to the company?

Hypnosis. That's why they cost $1B.

I think the biggest factor is setting up reservations in advance for resort guests. If a resort guest can set up their fast pass times for each day of their trip why go somewhere else? If I know on any given day I can go to a WDW park and not wait for the rides I most want to see and set up my reservations weeks in advance, why leave property to drop more money on the other parks where I'll more than likely be waiting in long lines or paying for their skip the line type passes?

I also think it makes people feel more invested in their vacation at Disney and makes it more effortless to simply stay on property and have everything tied to the magic band with no concern for paper tickets, cash, credit cards, and all that stuff you'd need elsewhere in the "real world".