PDA

View Full Version : New changes to FastPass system coming.



DBJ
05-20-2005, 12:32 PM
Screamscape has a write-up on some planned change. Thought it was disturbing. A snippet.

http://www.screamscape.com/html/industry_news.htm


"If that wasn’t enough Disney is ready to segregate their own on-site Resort guests into different priority tiers based upon which resort you stay at, what kind of room you have, and even how much you are spending while on property. So if a off site guest hits FastPass at Space Mountain and gets a 2 hour return time, an on site guest at All Stars may get to return in 90 minutes, but a guest at the Animal Kingdom Lodge may get to ride in 30 minutes and someone staying in the Presidential Suite at the Boardwalk may get a ticket to just walk right in. To quote a few lines from the patent:

“Spending per guest at hotels can determine different hierarchies of access to Fastpass. Thus, the more that is spent by a patron, the higher the priority can be for Fastpass.”
“Different levels and hierarchies can be applicable at different hotels. Thus, more luxurious hotels can have higher priorities.”
“Where a patron is in a related hotel, a higher priority can be given."

It's targeting WDW clearly, but such a institutional change will roll over to CA eventually. The part I am bothered by is that they are considering only the guest experience vital of those who can outspend everyone else. Anyone going to WDW is spending some decent money, so to make people who book at All-Stars less important than those who stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge is in bad taste to say the least. I mean, guests at AKL are experiencing a great place to stay with more perks than those at All-Stars, but then to extend the perks into the park itself? What a great way to make guests feel unappreciated.

nursemelis374
05-20-2005, 12:44 PM
I am choosing not to worry about it until it is actually here. There are so many rumors out there and the patent application is like a year old.

SCUBAbe
05-20-2005, 01:08 PM
well, they could just charge for them out right like all the other theme parks do...:)

DBJ
05-20-2005, 02:15 PM
well, they could just charge for them out right like all the other theme parks do...:)

Don't give them any ideas! I'm sure they would love to find a way for people to pay an admission fee and an extra fee for the rides.

The only advantage of the SF system at select parks, which is a pay "service", is that the price discourages people from using it in mass amounts.

Pat-n-Eil
05-20-2005, 02:39 PM
Don't give them any ideas! I'm sure they would love to find a way for people to pay an admission fee and an extra fee for the rides.
It seems to me that the original A to E ticket system was just exactly that.

I know there are detractors to the FastPass system (I'm not one of them) and there are proponents of going back to the A to E ticket system (I'm not one of them)..but while the FastPass and Enhanced FastPass systems are the way they are, I intend to utilize them at every opportunity.

Osky
05-20-2005, 02:57 PM
Since I work as a patent agent, I have to make one small note. The article is wrong when it says:


On March 17th, Disney the US Patent Office (http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=FastPass&OS=FastPass&RS=FastPass) granted Disney the rights to several new planned features.

The Patent office has not granted any rights yet, as this is still a pending application. You are protected from the date that you can prove you came up with the idea. Most people go with the filing date. However, it can take three years or more to get a US Patent issued. :eek: Applications are published 18 months after they are submitted, unless the applicant pays even more money for a non-publication request. Publication of an application is different from a patent being granted. Publication means they just make what you sent in available to the public (no review has been completed).

Osky
05-20-2005, 03:08 PM
Got quick on the post button. I forgot to add, they are protected will full rights from the date they filed the application, provided no one else has an issued patent the covers the same material. Many many products go to market before the patent is issued, hence "patent pending". So, I feel that if they wanted to implement this, they probably would have done so by now.

PragmaticIdealist
05-20-2005, 03:24 PM
This may also be just a defensive patent to prevent Universal from more fully utilizing Universal Express tickets in the marketing of hotel rooms.

I have a feeling Disney is more concerned with Universal encroaching on The Company's hotel business. Universal has been able to obtain an advantage by providing special privileges to guests staying on its property, whereas Walt Disney World has so many hotel rooms that the same kinds of privileges cannot be extended to Disney Guests Resort-wide.

FastPass makes a great deal of money for Disneyland because the system puts Guests in shops and restaurants during the time said Guests would normally be standing in a line. When FastPass was first introduced, I heard that the issuance of each FastPass ticket represented an additional $7 in revenue to The Company due to the increase in Guest spending. That figure sounds hard to believe, but I am sure that the FastPass system as a whole probably increases Guest spending, per capita, by at least $7 per day.