When You Wish

David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

When You Wish Upon a Star… For Help Figuring Out What’s Going On– March 2025

It’s that time of year again - The season when people like me start digging through last year’s tax records, tallying up expenses, and trying to make sense of the mess before we here in the US start filing state and federal income taxes. For decades, this process has been far too complicated, requiring either expensive software that inevitably gets something wrong, or, if you’ve crossed a certain complexity threshold, a professional to handle it for you. It’s a headache

And yet, it’s an absolute breeze compared to trying to plan a visit to a Disney theme park after an upcoming business trip.

Every few years, my wife and I get the itch to spend a day at Epcot or relive some childhood nostalgia at the Magic Kingdom. And every few years, we realize that what was once a fun, albeit pricey, day out has morphed into an obstacle course of apps, reservations, Magic-Bands, and ever-changing access rules.

This year, we were lucky enough to get tickets from a longtime industry friend who wasn’t using them. Even with that, I feel like I might need to take out a bank loan just to cover everything else. I don’t mind paying for a premium experience – if it’s worth it. But the real problem? They make it so damn hard to even figure out how to use a free ticket.

Welcome to the Bureaucratic Kingdom

Gone are the days when tickets were just…tickets. Now, they exist only in the Disney app – no printable documents or QR codes, or easy transfers – unless it’s to another Disney app. And that app? It requires a high-end smartphone with the latest operating system and security updates. Neither my wife nor I have a phone that meets their ever-growing tech requirements, so the whole thing is useless to us. Instead, we have to stop by the Guest Relations Center on the morning of our visit to get physical tickets – the ones they should have just let us print at home in the first place.

And that’s just the beginning.

The FastPass That Wasn't

Years ago, Disney had a system called FastPass, where you could book a few rides in advance. Then they scrapped it.

Next came Access Plus. But I was just told today that that was retired in 2020.

Now, there are two new options:

1. Lightning Lane – Essentially the old FastPass, except now it costs around $30 per person per day.

2. Lightning Lane Plus – An even more expensive pass that lets you skip the lines at will – but you’re only allowed to fork over those extra hundreds if you’re staying at a Disney resort.

So, if you try to save money by staying at a perfectly nice Hampton Inn or similar (which, by the way, might include breakfast and even character dining at some locations), you’re out of luck. To get the best ride access, you have to stay on the Disney property, and then pay even more for the privilege. It wasn’t enough to give on-resort guests early park access and free handling of their purchases? Now, after upselling them to a resort they’ll likely never pay-off on their credit cards that just earns them the privilege to continue to be upsold?

Are you following this? Because I’m not.

A System Designed to Confuse

Unless you’re a die-hard Disney regular, how are you supposed to keep track of all these constantly changing policies? It’s not like there’s an easy-to-find official list that tells you, “Hey, that thing you’re looking for doesn’t exist anymore – use this instead.” Instead, you waste hours on-line searching for something that’s already been retired, only to find out that the new system requires more steps, more money, and more patience…Oh, and you can’t do whatever it is you need to from a PC anyway, you need to switch to the app, but it only works three days before you arrive so don’t bother even trying…yes the option is there but it won’t work yet.

Honestly, I’m excited for a leisurely day at the park with my wife and grateful for having it with no admission charge. But for the amount of effort it has taken to even get to this point? I think I’d rather be doing my taxes.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

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