Staying offsite and just booked advance FP+ for next week!

[velvetsqueeze]

We need someone without dining ADR's to try to book FP+ through MDE with tickets linked. There has to be a trigger that lets Disney know when your window starts. If its an ADR basically we're saying you have to have a dining reservation before you can book FP+

That, too. We need some guinea pigs to test both ways! Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

However, I'll bet the combination of dining reservations and tickets purchased gives Disney the 'OK they are definitely coming here' reassurance they want before allowing FP to be booked. Otherwise, people might book up FP reservations for days they have no intention of ever setting foot in a park, which would make a mess. Onsite guests even have to make their room reservations before booking FP.

 

[lugnut33]

Very very interesting. I agree that offsite people should be able to pre-book as well, and as many of us insisted, this had to happen in order to fulfill the mandate of the FP+ program: "Locking people in, who might otherwise spend their money at other parks/attractions" ...

What will be more interesting is to see the impact of this on FP ability, and ride waits, the impact on RD SB times, once all offsiters are able to book.

I have a feeling the complaints about this system have just begun.

Glad off-siters are getting into the program also, but you are touching on the subject I'm most interested in: What happens to FP+ availability once everyone has access to FP+?

I saw it with my own eyes last week that you better book the big rides the day BEFORE you go to the park or you they will not be available because guests arriving at the park that morning will eat up what's available for the major attractions. As long as I booked the night before I got everything I wanted, if I waited until the next day I was left with lower tier attractions.

 

[Karen1999]

I'm going next week as well, and don't have dining reservations yet. Just linked my tix when I saw this post. So far, I can't access FP+, but I'll keep checking back and post here if anything changes. We have military salute tickets, so not sure if that'll affect things one way or another.

 

[MrsRyan]

Me too! It was my primary concern about staying off-site. I was actually kind of bummed that my 3 year old son was going to have to wait in long lines in order to to ride his top rides.

BUT I HAVE FASTPASS+ now too! So excited! March 16-21!!

 

[conniehar90]

Wow - best news I have heard all day. I am heading down in 3 weeks. I have ADR's set up but haven't linked my tickets yet. A little voice just kept telling me not to. I am wondering if this is just a test and you were a lucky one to get chosen or if I will get the option should I link my tickets tonight.

I hope we get some more people posting that they are able to get access for trips in the next couple of weeks.

Congrats to you!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Glad off-siters are getting into the program also, but you are touching on the subject I'm most interested in: What happens to FP+ availability once everyone has access to FP+?

I saw it with my own eyes last week that you better book the big rides the day BEFORE you go to the park or you they will not be available because guests arriving at the park that morning will eat up what's available for the major attractions. As long as I booked the night before I got everything I wanted, if I waited until the next day I was left with lower tier attractions.

I can't remember, based on the booking now, is onsite able to book their entire resort stay at 60 +length of stay? That will be an advantage over everyone else.

 

[JimmyV]

Wow - best news I have heard all day. I am heading down in 3 weeks. I have ADR's set up but haven't linked my tickets yet. A little voice just kept telling me not to. I am wondering if this is just a test and you were a lucky one to get chosen or if I will get the option should I link my tickets tonight.

I hope we get some more people posting that they are able to get access for trips in the next couple of weeks.

Congrats to you!

My money is on you. I think that anyone with a ticket in their pocket and ADRs on the calendar will be able to do this. When people speak of Disney wanting to incentivize people into staying on site, they have to remember that WDW only has 25,000 rooms. At an occupancy average of 3.7 people per room, even if every room were filled, that would be only 92,500 people on property. Subtract out the people who won't be visiting a park on any given day because they are attending conferences, cheering/dance/sporting events, weddings, and people who are just taking a "resort day" and that would leave around 80,000 on site people to go to the parks. Disney wants and needs far, far more people than that in its parks, so it has to do what it can to attract off site people to go to WDW as opposed to any other area resort. If anything, Disney has an even greater desire to "lock in" the off site guests as they are the ones whose attendance is most vulnerable to change. So this whole idea that FP+ is and should be an on site perk has always been nonsense. I suspect that if you show your loyalty by linking ADRs and tickets, they will reward you. At least, I hope.

 

[redrosesix]

I can't remember, based on the booking now, is onsite able to book their entire resort stay at 60 +length of stay? That will be an advantage over everyone else.

From what I've read, just 60 days in advance. So it doesn't work like ADRs.

 

[MagicRat]

DVC member here buying APs for the first time and I already have them linked to MDE. We are going for 3 days (leaving tomorrow and staying 3 nights) off property. I have ADRs for all 3 nights of dinners in the parks. So far I have not received any invite to book any FP+ and I am not happy! Will be more than happy to report if I get an e-mail, but I'm not optimistic. Double

 

[KatieCharlotte]

From what I've read, just 60 days in advance. So it doesn't work like ADRs.

Actually, I was able to book FP+ through my check-out day when I was 60 days from my check-in day for my April trip. Since I'm only spending one night, that only gave me a one-day advantage, but I assume it works the same for longer stays.

I'm glad to see at least some offsiters are getting some prebooking ability as we start spring break season. I would like to see it eventually open to everyone, not just those with ADRs.

 

[2Tiggies]

From what I've read, just 60 days in advance. So it doesn't work like ADRs.

So I'm missing something here and it could be because we stay onsite and I'm not up to speed with the offsite scenario, but how do they know when you are 60 days out if you don't have an ADR and you don't have a reservation at a Disney hotel? How do they confirm your check in date?

 

[Vidia2]

From what I've read, just 60 days in advance. So it doesn't work like ADRs.

It's 60+ length of stay just like ADRs.

 

[FlipHipster]

So I'm missing something here and it could be because we stay onsite and I'm not up to speed with the offsite scenario, but how do they know when you are 60 days out if you don't have an ADR and you don't have a reservation at a Disney hotel? How do they confirm your check in date?

Exactly, there has to be some restrictions. In the past the restriction was that you had to actually be in the park and standing at the FP machine which limits the number of people competing for those FP's. I think we can all see the potential impact of removing those restrictions and opening it up to everyone with a ticket whether they are at WDW or not. But surely Disney saw this coming and has a plan, surely.

right ?

 

[redrosesix]

My money is on you. I think that anyone with a ticket in their pocket and ADRs on the calendar will be able to do this. When people speak of Disney wanting to incentivize people into staying on site, they have to remember that WDW only has 25,000 rooms. At an occupancy average of 3.7 people per room, even if every room were filled, that would be only 92,500 people on property. Subtract out the people who won't be visiting a park on any given day because they are attending conferences, cheering/dance/sporting events, weddings, and people who are just taking a "resort day" and that would leave around 80,000 on site people to go to the parks. Disney wants and needs far, far more people than that in its parks, so it has to do what it can to attract off site people to go to WDW as opposed to any other area resort. If anything, Disney has an even greater desire to "lock in" the off site guests as they are the ones whose attendance is most vulnerable to change. So this whole idea that FP+ is and should be an on site perk has always been nonsense. I suspect that if you show your loyalty by linking ADRs and tickets, they will reward you. At least, I hope.

True, but... if I'm going to stay onsite I need to know that I can book FPs for the attractions I want or I won't be going to the parks that day. Or I may cancel completely, esp since I can get EP for staying at US hotels. So it's not really that I want a perk -- but I do want some minimum service for the money I spend. Even if I try to book only 10 days out, I would expect to get FPs for everything since I can cancel a RO reservation 5 days out.

And I agree -- if you don't link your tickets you won't have a chance to book FPs. I don't see any reason not to link tickets -- there are plenty of posts on here about people linking the wrong ticket or linking it to the wrong person and a simple phone call to tech support will undo everything.

We were attending a competition and our tickets came from group reservations -- we got them less than a week before check in. And even though we had booked our room back in November and had a couple of ADRs, we couldn't book FPs until we linked those tickets. With offsiters being able to book in adv, groups are going to have the biggest issues. Many don't get their tickets until they check in, and some don't get them until the day of competition/tournaments but they have to buy direct from Disney or they won't get special access to the areas the need to get into. Kind of not fair to be onsite, pay for tickets from Disney and not be able to get FPs for any good attractions -- I hope they will change the way they do things. However, I am happy that we can now put them on our magic bands.

 

[Minniesgal]

I hope they don't tie it in to ADRs when the testing is done. As an off site guest I wouldn't mind having to wait until day of to make the FP choices as long as I don't have to use a kiosk!

When we were there in February the kiosks worked great. No waits even on the 14th which was super busy.

 

[redrosesix]

It's 60+ length of stay just like ADRs.

If you're sure about that, I'll go with your answer. We don't have normal tickets and we don't get them 60 days out. But lots of people have posted on here that they could only book each park day 60 days in advance.

 

[lizabu]

I hope they don't tie it in to ADRs when the testing is done. As an off site guest I wouldn't mind having to wait until day of to make the FP choices as long as I don't have to use a kiosk!

I'm pretty sure my FP + was tied in to dining. This is the email I got:

Since you took the time to plan a dining experience at a Walt Disney World Theme Park in advance, we’d like to invite you to test Disney FastPass+ service so you can reserve access to select Theme Park experiences in advance as well! You can do this by helping us test our Disney FastPass+ service* while you’re here!

With Disney FastPass+ service you can lock-in some of your must do fun before you arrive. That means you can enjoy less time waiting in line and more time having fun. Best yet – it’s included with Theme Park admission.

 

[johde]

Exactly, there has to be some restrictions. In the past the restriction was that you had to actually be in the park and standing at the FP machine which limits the number of people competing for those FP's. I think we can all see the potential impact of removing those restrictions and opening it up to everyone with a ticket whether they are at WDW or not. But surely Disney saw this coming and has a plan, surely.

right ?

I am sure the downplaying and increased price of no-expiration option is part of the plan as well. If I buy a 5 day ticket from Disney, I would be able to make 5 days worth of FP+ reservations 60 days out AND all 5 days would need to be within the same 14 day period. So If I was playing around and made FP+ reservations for May 3rd, I would need to cancel them in order to make my real FP+ reservations for June 25th 60 days out. I'm assuming the computer would know I don't have tickets enough for FP+'s on May 3rd and June 25th. That fact alone should take care of the majority of people. All you have left are Annual Pass Holders, who can make FP+ reservations already in advance if they've stayed onsite once, people with a stockpile of tickets or buy them way in the future, and people with no-expiration option.

If it becomes a big problem, Disney could give people one "mulligan" than charge them with using a days worth of FP+'s. So, you'd have a 5 day ticket and you could use FP+ on 4 of them because you made and didn't cancel FP+ reservations too many times.

 

[mom2rtk]

We're finally getting to the part where they rip the Band-Aid off.





Everyone all stocked up on the popcorn? I saw this coming and brought extra.

 

[MirandaB]

We will be staying at the Swan, tickets are linked, have an ADR, but no ability to make FP+
I want a friendly e-mail!