I suppose from a business perspective it's a good idea if people pay for it AND it doesn't have any significant impact on the park's visitor numbers. If people pay for it, but the visitor numbers decline or the hotel occupancy goes down, then it might not be such a good idea.
Historically Disney fans have been very loyal to the brand and have been undeterred by commercial decisions that aren't in the guest's interests, so long as the guests are still happy with the quality of the actual attractions themselves and the sense of show, maintenance etc. There certainly is a lot of love for Disney, Walt, Mickey and the values they stood for, the Disney music, the maintenance and 'day one' presentation, the fireworks shows, the parades, the state of the art audio animatronics etc. There's a lot to love about Disney, but charging guests to skip the queues does go against the philosophy that 'everyone's a VIP'.
Efteling's been advertising quite a bit recently and a few friends who aren't typical enthusiasts have asked me whether they should consider going there instead of Disney. None of them have yet, but if they do it'll be interesting to see how they think it compares and whether they see it as a genuine alternative. Quite a few Brits do go to Port Aventura. Personally I think Europa Park would be my top tip to people looking for an alternative to Disney. I do still love Disneyland though and Disneyland Paris remains a very fine theme park.
