“New” Fastpass+

[4077]

Me thinks (in my silly head), this was always the plan….

“We want to have paid Fastpass+, but we can’t just instantly go from free to paid for the same thing. Let’s call our new thing Genie+ and Lightning Lane and make it a bit different with early daily wake ups… people will complain and eventually we will say that we have heard you and are giving you the ability to plan 3 rides ahead of time to avoid wake ups each day… sure we’ll change it slightly (only 7 or 3 days ahead), and names will still be different, but we’ve basically succeeded in going round the horn back to Fastpass+ with a fee……”

​

 

[champagne&disney]

And folks are already writing on the boards that they will do throwaway campsite reservations to get around this for offsite guests.

 

[bama_ed]

And folks are already writing on the boards that they will do throwaway campsite reservations to get around this for offsite guests.

People were doing this back when it was FastPass+ (digital FP reservations - first 3 of them) 60 days before arrival ....

.... IF ....

.... you had an on-site Disney room/resort reservation.

So yes, @champagne&disney , I agree with you - we were walked through an intermediate step from FP+ to $G+ to get to $FP+ (under a new name).

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Bama Ed

 

[Tink-osophy]

Re. The 'throwaway' campsite booking. Couldn't Disney just cancel passes booked with that reservation if no one turns up to camp there? A sudden burst of one night bookings could draw their attention. Do many people camp for just one night?

Just wonderin'.... Probably someone who knows more about it can answer.

 

[champagne&disney]

Re. The 'throwaway' campsite booking. Couldn't Disney just cancel passes booked with that reservation if no one turns up to camp there? A sudden burst of one night bookings could draw their attention. Do many people camp for just one night?

Just wonderin'.... Probably someone who knows more about it can answer.

I would hope they do this

 

[bama_ed]

Re. The 'throwaway' campsite booking. Couldn't Disney just cancel passes booked with that reservation if no one turns up to camp there? A sudden burst of one night bookings could draw their attention. Do many people camp for just one night?

How do they know that they didn't camp there? Who is paying for the Disney Cast Member to go by at 5am to see that all sold sites are in fact occupied? And if not occupied, families have travel issues and call the Fort and say, "we're coming but it will be tomorrow" and they pay the balance due. Stuff like that. You don't want to kick folks off if they have a valid exception (previously noted) on their reservation. Or folks head for home early in the morning. Or they took their Class B and drove out to a 24-hour Denny's for breakfast b4 heading to Universal that day. Who knows for sure?

And it's not just one-night reservations. It's a one night campsite reservation per park day. But if they plan to do the parks (and even hop) 3 days in a row, it's a single 3-night reservation (or technically 2 nights since their check-out day qualifies them as well). Technically each night's reservation provides 2 days of benefits (the day you arrive/check in and the day you check out).

So it's like a "two-fer" as we used to say at the grocery store I worked at as a kid. It's a 2-for-1 deal. A two-fer. People doing this also will choose the least expensive site (Tent) level available and if none of those are, then Full sites, and on up the cost tree till they get what they want.

There is a silver lining to the throw away strategy that might actually benefits us campers in some cases but I won't post it online. But @champagne&disney , since you'll be at the DISMeet in person, I'd be fine sharing it in person then. I hope I will be able to explain it clearly enough - but it's still an outside shot.

ED

PS - And yes, I've booked 1-night reservations for camping (really) before. We drove from Alabama to the Fort, spent 1 night, the left the next morning for Key West. And did the same in reverse. That's why there are two loop numbers in the March 2011 trip listing in my signature and the KW reference. It may have been 13 years ago, but the room/site booking angle hasn't changed in that respect.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I knew someone would know. I had a feeling it wouldn't be simple!

 

[tiggerdad]

Ah! The Throwaway discussion!



This has been an off and on failure by Disney for years. Those of us legit trying to get campsites being blocked by people looking for loopholes. However, as Disney has continued to skyrocket costs folks have to find any way they can.

 

[jbrostek]

Since the move to paid service we have not used G+ once. We have use LL once at animal kingdom. With this new cost for fast passes, we have decided that we are there often enough that if the wait is not worth it then we don't wait. If it means we leave the parks earlier, that's what we do. I suspect we will continue this way because we have yet to see any value in paying for fastpasses outside the random moments.

 

[Sjm9911]

I am going to pony up the $$$. I fear it will be more then the G+. I at least had a good system with the old fastpass. Unfortunately, for this trip we got park hoppers to make use of the G+ stacking. Now we don't need them. Any way to pick my pockets.

 

[Teamubr]

Any way to pick my pockets.

I think Disney already did.

j