Fastpass at Disney is ear-marked for change

[Bobsledwheels]

I think it has potential but only for fastpass booking on the day. If you go to the park and once you arrive you sign up for a few fastpasses on your phone on their internal wifi then fine. That avoids too much planning in advance - gets past roaming charges and also stops people from signing up for a fp and not using it.

Also that would get past the two tier thing. This way you could also limit the number of fp's a person has at once.

I think it needs a lot more work before it becomes reality!

The Thorpe one isn't too bad - though they have trouble making the ride wait times update in real time - the cache just doesn't allow for it. Huge hurdle to overcome there for Disney...

[blusteryday]

Originally Posted by Bobsledwheels

I think it has potential but only for fastpass booking on the day.

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The announcment from Disney indicated peoplr could plan out Fastpasses for their entire stay before they arrived

[junpit]

Hi

I work in this area and don't think this will be a bad thing. The issue here is that the FP is always tied to a park ticket and I can't see that changing as otherwise you could issue a load of FPs and abuse the system.

The most probable way that a smart phone will be used is a wireless network (again can be open to abuse) and bluetooth which is my preferred guess. Bluetooth is more widely available. It wouldn't surprise me if WDW release an app that can be used within the confines of the disney parks for booking FPs. ie user stands at a point in main street and can launch the app and get his fastpasses for a ride. In addition the MAC address is available over bluetooth and hence they could lock it down to prevent abuse. They would need to be printing some kind of identifier on each ticket so that the ticket could be linked inside the app.

Its gets a bit interesting however in terms of whether WDW wish to charge for this. They have always resisted charging people for the ability to issue advance tickets for rides unlike universal who launched express many years ago. I remember getting the equivelant of a fastpass for ET and suddenly finding out out 2 years later that it was not possible any more and you had to pay for this service.

I could see WDW deciding to sell an enabler ticket in the future to be bought which you could use with your phone to do this kind of stuff. Let hope not however!

-Darren

[Stu]

It's reported that Disney are investing up to $1 billion on this and it isn't going to be restricted to just FastPass.
The idea is that yo can plan your whole vacation before you get to Walt Disney World.

As well as FastPasses you would be able to book seats for a show, book or change dining reservations, even send requests back to your hotel and check-in online.

I think this will be a few years away as they will need to look for future technologies rather than the present ones that will undoubtedly be outdated quickly.

[Greyfriars]

There is something very Big Brother about this. The day I plan every aspect of my holiday to a regimented timetable will be the day Hell freezes over.

[Guest]

I agree Greyfriars, it would be a night mare...you would only have to stop for an extra ice-cream and miss your slot on one ride on a full-fp booked day and it would be all over!
I hate universals system for on site guests priority ...looks like Disneys going there too.

[Guest]

How would this work for first timers? Bit intimidating. I wouldn't know where to start.

[lecras]

Found it - this is a patent originally filed in 2006. In summary what the patent proposed back then was to give Disney resort guests the option of booking Fastpasses for the same or the following day (max 24 hours out) using their in-room digital TV. Once a Fastpass was booked, you could send it to a cell phone where it would be displayed digitally. As a resort guest, it also mentions the option of using your KTTW card to retrieve your pre-booked Fastpasses at a normal Fastpass machine. It is suggested that you would be able to swap your FP for one at a different time or for a different ride altogether once you were in the park. Fastpass machines would still be available as normal for anyone who didn't use the digital facility, and a proportion of the FPs would always be withheld for in-park distribution.

There are mentions of a potential tiered system, where Disney resort guests would get a higher digital Fastpass priority than day guests. Same as Universal really, except there is no mention of day guests having to pay for Fastpasses at Disney. There are also mentions of possible tiering within Disney's own resorts, with Deluxe guests getting higher priority than Value or Moderate guests.

The patent is available at the link below if you're interested, bearing in mind that it's a few years old now, and that nothing in the patent is set in stone. patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...RS=20070203763

Charlotte

[gala]

For someone with the techcy expertise of a gnat, this is my worst nightmare. It is bad enough having to book ADRs months ahead of time but having to regiment and organise my FP slots would not appeal to me in any way, shape or form.

Margaret

[lecras]

Originally Posted by gala

For someone with the techcy expertise of a gnat, this is my worst nightmare. It is bad enough having to book ADRs months ahead of time but having to regiment and organise my FP slots would not appeal to me in any way, shape or form.

Margaret

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But the thing is, under this proposal you wouldn't have to - you would simply have the option to if you wanted. There would still be Fastpasses available (still for free) in the parks.

Charlotte