Paid Premier Access Replacing Free FastPass at Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris has officially announced Disney Premier Access, which replaces free FastPass in those two parks. In this post, we’ll share details & pricing, how the upcharge line skipping service will work, and discuss the potential implications for Walt Disney World, where a paid replacement for FastPass+ feels like all but an inevitability at this point.
In a number of app-related updates, Disneyland Paris shared that the free Standby Pass is returning. This is essentially a hybrid system that combines a virtual queue with a physical standby line. It allows guests to spend the first part of their wait time for select attractions outside of the queue, and then joining the line for the home stretch.
Standby Pass is available at Disneyland Paris certain times of the day, subject to availability and dependent upon operational needs of the parks. Essentially, it’s offered when Disneyland Paris is running out of physical queue space–so during peak times of busier days. When available, guests can use the Disneyland Paris app to book the next available time slot to enter the physical queue line of an attraction, return within the allocated 30-minute time slot, present the Standby Pass QR code, and stand in the queue for the remainder of that time.
You might recall that late last year, there were rumors that Walt Disney World would implement virtual queues for Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run and Jungle Cruise. Other attractions, like Peter Pan’s Flight and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, actually cut their queues at some points when demand was high. At Disneyland, Indiana Jones Adventure actually did use a virtual queue for several weeks post-reopening.
This was for precisely the same reason as the Standby Pass is offered–those physical queues were running out of space at certain times. While it has ceased being an issue since physical distancing was dropped, it’s also worth pointing out that Walt Disney World is still capping park capacity. So physical space in standby queues could once again be an issue, albeit for different reasons, come October 2021.
Back to Disneyland Paris, those parks will also give guests the option to purchase Disney Premier Access on the Disneyland Paris App. This digital service allows guests to pay to skip the regular queue line for popular attractions, including Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours: the Adventures Continue, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
From anywhere inside the parks, guests can use the Disneyland Paris App to purchase an assigned time slot for the aforementioned attractions. Pricing for Disney Premier Access will be per ride, ranging from €8 to €15 (~$10 to $18) depending on the attraction and day of visit. Think of it like Express Lanes on toll roads–dynamic pricing that increases with demand.
This is not Disneyland Paris’ first foray into paid FastPasses. Three years ago, those parks rolled out “Disney Access One,” which allowed guests to purchase what was essentially an instant FastPass, bypassing the standard multi-hour wait associated with drawing a traditional FastPass and redeeming it. These Access One passes cost €15 per person per attraction, with discounts for Annual Passholders.
A few months after that, Disneyland Paris debuted two new paid FastPass options: the Super FastPass and the Ultimate FastPass. The Super FastPass bundled together thrill rides or family-friendly attractions for one-time line skipping with no set return times. The Ultimate FastPass granted both immediate and unlimited access to all FastPass attractions. The pricing on these options ranged from around $30 for the Super FastPass during off-season to $175 for the Ultimate FastPass during peak season.
It’s also worth noting that the new Standby Pass and Disney Premier Access combo that Disneyland Paris has unveiled is nothing new. Shanghai Disneyland has been using this exact same system for a little over one year.
However, free FastPass still exists at Shanghai Disneyland, which is obviously a critical distinction.
I’m going to guess that there are a fair number of Walt Disney World fans–who have absolutely zero intention of ever visiting Paris or Shanghai–reading this post with bated breath. There’s understandable, as the writing is on the wall. Some form of monetized FastPass is almost certainly coming to Walt Disney World in the not-too-distant future.
Over the course of the last three-plus years, we have heard a number of rumors about paid FastPass coming to Walt Disney World, ranging from preposterous to highly credible. In the last couple of months, the rumblings have become more frequent and detailed, with some major commonalities as well as minor inconsistencies among them.
At one point, the most credible rumor for Walt Disney World was the per-ride Access One system at Disneyland Paris plus various packs (e.g. “Magic Kingdom Mountain Range”) but no unlimited option. Keep in mind that this was years ago–it even predates the announcement of the Disney Genie app.
Given its use at two other resorts, the combo of Standby Pass plus Disney Premier Access is a plausible route for Walt Disney World. Or at least, that same general infrastructure. If current rumors are accurate, branding would likely be different at Walt Disney World but the mechanics would be more or less the same.
Trying to distill all of the FastPass replacement rumors for Walt Disney World and square those with the above announcement for Disneyland Paris is not difficult. In addition to a lot of similarities, it’s likely such a system will be announced in the near future (July or August) and be implemented shortly thereafter (September or October).
What’s unclear is whether Walt Disney World’s replacement for FastPass will debut with or ahead of the Disney Genie app. Nothing I’ve heard directly indicates the two are tied together, but that has been rumored elsewhere–and appears possible. (Disney has brought up the Genie app on a handful of occasions over the last 6 months, suggesting that app is not dead.)
Don’t be surprised if whatever Walt Disney World launches is more convoluted, has its own branding, and more options. As a general matter, all of those things are safe guesses since that’s just how Walt Disney World does things. It’s more of an extended vacation destination than any of the other worldwide resorts where the average guest only visits for a day or two at a time.
At a minimum, it’s likely that Walt Disney World will offer paid line skipping on a per-attraction basis, with a limit on how many ride reservations can be purchased and return time windows that guests can select. That system would undoubtedly use the former FastPass+ line, and likely have a lower adoption rate than free FastPass.
Paid FastPass with lower utilization would in turn necessitate Standby Pass or some form of virtual queue at select attractions. This is because there simply is not enough physical standby queue at many attractions under normal full capacity scenarios.
In the past, FastPass+ caused standby wait times to balloon, which resulted in more guests balking and not queueing up. This was due to the ballpark 80:20 FastPass-to-standby ratio, which meant far fewer guests were in line for a 30 minute posted wait than would be without FastPass. (Without FastPass, standby lines constantly move and are much more pleasant–but they also take up much more physical space.)
Assuming Premier Access is used by fewer guests (a very safe bet if it’s only directly monetized), the ratio will be more balanced or favor standby lines. That would also mean standby queues would see higher utilization levels and regular wait times wouldn’t be as long. Thus, more guests would queue up and additional standby space would be needed.
That still leaves many unanswered questions, perhaps most significantly whether on-site guests at Walt Disney World would receive any kind of access included as part of their resort stay. There has been a lot of chatter about this–not just recently, but over the course of many years. I have not heard anything credible about whether on-site guests might receive anything, but it strikes me as plausible that they would–perhaps based upon the resort tier. However, that’s entirely speculative on my part.
Whether on-site guests receive some level of line-skipping access likely depends upon the degree to which Walt Disney World feels the “need” to incentivize on-site resort bookings. Given how strong those are right now and with early entry and extended evening hours perks debuting this fall, Walt Disney World might go solely for direct monetization on the FastPass replacement.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Walt Disney World hold off on additional on-site benefits until resort occupancy rates drop. In which case, we might see Disney Premier Access (or whatever Walt Disney World calls it) debut this fall and something more beneficial to guests (Disney Genie?) debut towards the end of the 50th Anniversary. Again, entirely speculative.
With that said, it’s still possible that Walt Disney World and Disneyland will borrow features from the MaxPass system that was in use at Disneyland pre-closure. We really liked MaxPass and would love to see that expanded to Walt Disney World, albeit with a free component.
It remains a possibility that the systems rolling out at Walt Disney World and Disneyland will differ from Paris and Shanghai, as well as from one another. All of these parks have their own unique wrinkles, and Walt Disney World in particular is a more complex operation than the other parks, so it might merge multiple systems.
I don’t want to over-emphasize it, but Walt Disney World switching to this system would also have potential upside for guests who were not FastPass+ power users. Far fewer guests will use the ride reservation system if it costs money, which in turn means standby lines will move faster and those wait times will generally be shorter. There’s no way the ratio will be 80:20, because there’s no way that many people will pay to skip the line.
It’s hard to say what the ratio will be, but I’d be surprised if it’s over 20:80 most days. (Unless some access is included for on-site guests, which would totally change things.) By how much will almost certainly depend upon the day and season. If crowds and wait times are lower, fewer people will likely purchase the paid option to avoid long waits. That in turn will mean even shorter standby lines. Conversely, more people will buy on busier days, exacerbating the problem.
With all of that said, we’re opposed to Walt Disney World charging for something that was previously included free of charge as a matter of principle. Regardless of how we feel about individual changes, Walt Disney World’s overall direction is more than a little concerning, and there has been a proliferation of nickel & diming, cutbacks, and price increases over the last several years. It would be one thing if additions and subtractions netted one another out, but Walt Disney World has been burning the candle of fan goodwill at both ends, so to speak.
FastPass+ was not without its faults, but the system also was not broken. The new system probably won’t be as bad as many fans are envisioning, but it’s also an unnecessary “solution” to a nonexistent problem–and one that, like so many other things, will be monetized. There might be minor upsides to this, but the only real winners here will be Disney and those for whom money is no object.
Ultimately, what Disneyland Paris has announced with the Standby Pass and paid Disney Premier Access replacing free FastPass is likely a window into what’s on the horizon for Walt Disney World. Nothing is official at this point, but we would strongly recommend bracing yourself for the (strong) possibility that Walt Disney World will likewise retire free FastPass and roll out something similar–but probably not identical.
Given the proliferation of rumors on the topic in the last couple of months (where there’s smoke…), plus Walt Disney World gradually scaling up park capacity, plus the World’s Most Magical Celebration starting October 1, it’s likely Walt Disney World will make an official announcement within the next month or two, and have the system ready to roll by sometime in September or October 2021. Who knows–maybe the rumors are all wrong and free FastPass+ will return! That’s not what we expect to happen, but we’ve been wrong plenty of times before.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you think Standby Pass and Disney Premier Access will be rolled out at Walt Disney World? Think it’ll be a similar system, but debut with the Disney Genie app and offer its own branding and unique wrinkles? Or, do you think this is all wrong–that FastPass+ will return unchanged later this summer or fall? Do you prefer fast-moving standby lines only, or the FastPass and standby combo? Interested in how Walt Disney World will implement the new system? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I might be the only person who really likes the sound of DPA:
— Shorter wait time in physical lines for riding standby
— The opportunity to get your premium “Fastpasses” at the spur of the moment instead of locking yourself in more than 60 days in advance
— The likely flexibility to get more than a single top tier FP. Able to get a FOP FP, even if can’t book it 64 days in advance
To me, I didn’t like FP+. It created only illusory benefits: Any time you saved on a fastpass attraction, you then lost on longer standby lines at other attractions. Combined with the rigidity of booking 60+ days in advance.
With DPA — You can get actual benefit if you pay for it. You can do it at the spur of the moment. Reminds me of the old paper FP system — people willing to run around the park like crazy could collect and benefit. In the case of DPA, instead of running around like crazy, those willing to pay extra can benefit.
So, Disney has lost it’s magic. From moving EMH to just deluxe resorts to making fast passes “pay to play,” and charging for hotel parking, and eliminating the magical express, and increasing hotel prices, ticket prices, and food prices to the nth degree, where did the magic go? There’s simply no benefit to staying on site anymore. The sporadically running buses simply are not worth it. Disney used to be a luxurious vacation. Now, it’s simply not. For my family of 5, we can take 2 vacations for the cost of 1 Disney trip, OR we can stay off site and save a ton of money. It’s really sad what this has come to and I’m a Disney lover who only started going 7 years ago, so I’m used to the high prices. What I’m not used to is the magic leaving the parks.
If WDW goes to a paid FP system I might pay, but I’ll stay offsite to recoup the difference. $10-15 per ride may not sound like a lot but it adds up if you have a family of 4. I think many upper middle class and wealthy families were willing to justify luxury prices for WDW’s deluxe resorts because of the advance FP+ and ADR bookings, along with conveniences like Magical Express. But with all of those benefits going out the window, why not stay at a hotel that actually offers good service at a lower price? Over the course of 4 trips in 6 years, we were a Disney bubble family, including the Dining Plan, but no longer. Going to USO/IOA this year, and after that, who knows.
I’ve been reading comments, and there have been many excellent points made. First, without question, Disney is a very expensive vacation. We travel all over the US and the world, and when compared with the endless options, without question Disney costs more while offering less. Yes, you are going to a uniquely branded place, which is a legitimate reason for an upcharge, but they take it to a new level. Deluxe resorts are stretching the use of the word “luxury”. They do not compare to outside world luxury locations at all. Food is generally also not worth the price though that is the norm at all theme parks. On top of inflated prices, they have also been whittling away at experience. Taking away things like complimentary parking or airport transportation, rides that aren’t kept up, reducing street ambiance, etc, all eat away at a consumer’s experience. When you charge the prices Disney charges, the consumer should be able to expect more. But, Disney is a massive, wealthy corporation with top business minds working there. They have the metrics, the surveys, every piece of intel to guide them in matters of maximizing consumer expenditure while not eroding customer experience to a detrimental point. It often seems that the pinky doesn’t know what the thumb is doing, let alone the left hand and the right, but it doesn’t matter as long as it all works out to their bookkeeping advantage in the end. Disney is a business, and as along as people keep paying (which they will), Disney will keep making these sorts of decisions.
Personally, it doesn’t matter whether or not we can afford it, we would not pay for a per ride fast pass. 1) I don’t think eroding the experience is right. Disney is continually pushing the bounds here, and I think they have gone too far. 2) I don’t like “pay to play”. I get it from a business standpoint, but that doesn’t make it right from an ethical standpoint. I think business abuses it and society has sort of accepted it because we didn’t have a lot of choice. 3) I don’t want to vacation this way. People often complain about Disney planning, either the hassle of doing it or getting there without having known they needed to. Personally, I’d rather plan beforehand and not be continuously fiddling on my trip. I want to enjoy the fruits of my labors not still be cultivating on my vacation. And, this doesn’t necessarily address the issue for those who didn’t know about pre-planning.
All of that said, they would be dumb to implement a per ride system here. Even though many do live on their smart phones, I don’t think it would work. It’s too confusing, too annoying. A sort of bundled pass would probably sell though. Like 4 passes per person or upgrade to unlimited or whatever, just like upgrading to park hopper or water parks.
Here’s hoping somebody at Disney notices there’s only six FastPass rides at the castle park in DLP (and only TWO at the Studios). This is going to require eliminating a lot of FastPass access at MK and the other parks to it possible for this scheme to work logistically at the US parks.
Personally, I don’t mind having a paid option for those who are willing to do so. I am also a planner and would prefer to book this in advance so I don’t need to be on my phone – but at the same time, I used my Apple Watch vs MB at my last visit and my iPhone to keep track of my family, so tech was inevitable.
We book at least a year ahead in order to determine what we want and what we need to save for or pay as we go. Our next trip is Oct 2022, and we will pay for MNSSHP, dessert parties, DDP, and other add-ons as we wish (and as/if they return). I will be one who gladly pays for shorter wait times vs standing in line. Time is money at Disney and I would prefer that time at an experience or on a ride, not waiting for one.
I do believe they should retain something for those who cannot afford it or don’t feel it necessary to pay, and I hope they determine some way to reward those staying at an on-site resort (as we’ve never stayed off the park in 15 visits). I totally understand Disney is a business and recent times have shown them that regardless of the situation, people will come, and people will pay; I can’t fault them for making changes on that.
@Amy R: You are so right. I just paid $307 plus tax per night for a stay at Universal’s deluxe Portofino Bay for weekdays right after Thanksgiving. This is LESS THAN A MODERATE Disney property, and Portofino Bay is drop dead gorgeous! I’d also point out that you can just pay for one night stay at a Universal deluxe property and get 2 days of unlimited express (front of every line) pass. It is great!
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For Disney, we used reward dollars from Disney VISA to purchase our Boo Bash tickets. We then picked one park only to pay for ourselves (EPCOT for Food & WIne and Ratatouille). Dinner will be *free* popcorn and ice cream at Boo Bash — and our food splurge will be Food and Wine booths at EPCOT. THen we drive home. We’re also staying offsite because I simply can’t justify paying $335+ tax + parking per night for a MODERATE although I ADORE Disney resorts. So costs have already changed the length of our trip and what we choose to do. With increased costs, I guess we’re still on the same trajectory sigh. (We LOVED COVID Disney because we stayed at the Contemporary for $350 per night and enjoyed every nanosecond of staying at the monorail resort, dining, resort hopping, walking to MK, etc. I can’t imagine us doing this again though.)
Tom, do you think those who require the DAS will have to pay for it in the future? If that happens, we would stop coming. No one should have to pay extra due a disability. If wdw gets these paid passes, how will it affect the use of DAS?
We cancelled our trip last year because of Covid & plan to go next February or March. Sadly, it will be my last trip to Disney because of the never ending price hikes and all the perks once offered to those staying in-site now gone. I used Disney gift cards to pay for last year’s vacation, so when I cancelled, the money was refunded to the gift cards. Otherwise, I would seriously consider not going next year. I love WDW, but the magic is apparently only for people with unlimited funds.
Completely agree, Carey. Disney will continue to rob its loyal customer base because people like Leslie G (above) will keep paying. Why would they stop? They are not a charity. There are plenty of customers and first time visitors in the short term. I suspect this about getting the parks ready for sale to the highest Chinese or UAE bidder. We’ll spend our money either in another country or if we do come back to Florida it’ll be USO every time. Not a lot of benefit for the extra cost. Air travel to the US is so expensive just now – its a pipedream anyway.
As a family of six, my wife and four children and I already have a hard enough time finding GOOD affordable resorts on the Disney campus. Taking away the fast pass and replacing that with a pay to ride service will only keep us away from Disney more. Tickets, hotel, plus airline, and now plus transportation, and factoring in paying to ride makes it a headache for a place that we love to visit. At some point Disney has got to get their head out of the clouds and realize that the average American family doesn’t make $500,000 a year in order to go to their parks and give them all of their money. We love to go, but it is definitely getting harder and harder.
If they keep nickel and diming us, I won’t be able to afford another trip. That’s what worries me. The place I love and have so many happy memories of, turning into something that I can’t afford to share with my kids.
If this does happen and Disney does charge for fast passes, I see a lot of people staying off site . What’s the point of staying at a Disney resort if they keep taking things away, like magic express, fast passes and having to pay to park your car at a resort. What’s next Disney, going to start charging for disability access? I see universal studios getting a whole lot busier if Disney keeps nickel and diming everything.
I have had it with Disney, we were planning a vacation for the end of this year for 3 weeks, but I am over their continually adding cost and reducing amenities. I understand that the Florida park supports the other world parks because they don’t make enough to support themselves but now it seems that Disney no longer cares about their customers going to the Florida park at all. Everything that made it fun, relaxing and convenient to be at Disney has disappeared. I use to love going because when I dropped my luggage at the airline terminal to the time I picked it up when I got back home I had nothing to worry about, everything was taken care of and I could just relax and enjoy myself. Now all of that is gone. I’ll be putting my DVC points up for sale and start to look for other places to spend my vacation dollars.
I think even if Disney give one fast pass free per day if you stay on site people would be less aggrieved about having to pay for others, sadly the perks are diminishing and it’s pure greed by Disney.
Thank you for another informative and insightful article. I have said this before in your comments, but I was decidedly NOT a fan of FP+. I thought that the old FP worked beautifully. You didn’t have to plan ahead AND the best rides weren’t only (in reality) available to resort guests with an earlier booking window. Everyone got to the park on equal footing, you went to the ride you wanted to get the FP for, and once your time slot opened up, you could get your next FP. We NEVER waited on super long lines under that system and we went to Disney A LOT, albeit not on weekends or during the summer. It seemed to not have a huge negative impact on the standby line either, like FP+ has. I always wondered why they decided to change a system that was working perfectly. The thing I loved about Disney back then was that it seemed to want to avoid that “haves and have nots” of the paid systems. It seems Disney no longer cares much about the overall guest experience. It’s still building stellar rides, but our last pre-covid experience was terrible. Huge lines and crowds so that you could barely walk through the park. We enjoyed the smaller crowds during covid and we didn’t mind the masks. Kind of glad our passes expired!
Greed will be the demise of the parks. I am thinking about the heads of families that make the financial decisions for the families.
Typically they may not be the Disney person in the family, and if you tell them that they have to pay extra for all of these perks, it will repel them from taking their family to the parks completely. Universal will become the park of choice. If they keep things simple for the folks that pay the bills for the family, they might hold onto these already reluctant folks.
I’ll pay.
Reading a lot of the comments pro this, people are drawing on the flaws of fastpass in WDW. I agree that having to reserve fastpasses 2m in advance is not ideal for WDW and having to get there for ropedrop etc, but for Paris this was never a problem. With the Paris system you only get paper fastpasses on the day, there are plenty to go around, and you don’t have to get there at ropedrop even if you want to fastpass Peter Pan. I personally preferred Fastpass in Paris because it gave you flexibility – hence why those of us who go to Paris regularly are gutted. I am honestly confused why they haven’t just hiked it’s park prices up by €20 or so instead – likely same financial benefit without taking away a free perk. Having to consider paying constantly to skip the lines is surely going to result in reduced customer satisfaction.
Sadly yet another example of WDW missing the point. As a regular visitor from the U.K. we stay on property for the benefits of being a resort guest. As soon as those benefits are eroded it will come down to simple economics for most long haul visitors. Once there is no material benefit to staying on property vs in Orlando or USO then it’s a no brainier especially for repeat visitors. Why spend an extra thousand dollars + to stay in smaller rooms with fewer dining options when you can stay in an offsite hotel, save money on your food and use the difference to pay for these commercially determined “extras”. The EMH looks as if it will go to Deluxe guests only and with on-site parking no longer free the benefits are virtually non existent. We tend to maximise our time at USO by staying one night in a deluxe resort each week to reap the express pass benefits – this will happen to Disney. Very short sighted indeed.