Disney World FastP confusion...?

Hi like the other people mentioned FastPes are always free, and park hoppers are way over $17. Soarin' doesn't have ride photos. If you are standing looking at the FastP dispensers, directly to your left (only a few feet away) is a counter selling tickets to the Behind the Seeds tour (it was $14 not too long ago, but it may have went up in August like a lot of other Disney prices). Directly behind you (also only a few feet away) is a merchandise counter which I almost guarantee has a few items that are around $17.95. The FastP dispensers are automated (you just stick your ticket in and a FastP pops out), but when the FastPes run out the dispensers are covered with and the person who normally stands over them to tell people how to use them is assigned elsewhere. Sometimes FastPasses run out early in the day, and judging by the number of people getting on at the Epcot monorail station yesterday during park close the park was unusually crowded for this time of year. If the FastPass dispensers were covered and your parents asked at one of those two counters for advise, they people at the counter (especially if they were "Earning their ears", ie new) could have been confused and thought they were asking about a tour ticket/merchandise item (especially the tour ticket). This isn't as unlikely as it may sound, the parks can be just as confusing for a new cast member as for a new guest, and putting the two together can result in just this sort of confusion.