Disney to cancel FPs if room is cancelled

[TheMaxRebo]

I don't know about 30 days, but I've never had any problems at 60 days doing them mid morning. I've never got up at 6am to do my FP's and never had any problems. Although for this next trip in December with SWGE open I might get up early just to be on the safe side.

we general stay off site so I am booking at 30 days out - and we normally have pretty large groups (this past trip there were 11 of us) so obviously challenges in getting the top FPs in this situation

I do get up to book as early as I can on the 30 day out and I was able to get everything I wanted except for Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, and either of the new Toy Story Land rides .... by later in the day when I checked some of the Magic Kingdom Mountains and maybe a few others. Other issue is just less choice of what time you get so have to adapt plans a bit to what is available but was able to make things work

 

[saskdw]

we general stay off site so I am booking at 30 days out - and we normally have pretty large groups (this past trip there were 11 of us) so obviously challenges in getting the top FPs in this situation

I do get up to book as early as I can on the 30 day out and I was able to get everything I wanted except for Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, and either of the new Toy Story Land rides .... by later in the day when I checked some of the Magic Kingdom Mountains and maybe a few others. Other issue is just less choice of what time you get so have to adapt plans a bit to what is available but was able to make things work

I suspect it is that way most of the year. This year we are going at Christmas time. It might be tough at 30 days Christmas week. Especially SWGE.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I suspect it is that way most of the year. This year we are going at Christmas time. It might be tough at 30 days Christmas week. Especially SWGE.

I think SWGE is going to be hard even at 60 days with those rides gone by 65+ days or even more with club level being able to buy FP they can book at 90 days out

My goal with SWGE is to see what they offer with hard ticketed events (pre-park opening or after close, etc.) and do that and look to offset with saving money elsewhere

 

[saskdw]

I think SWGE is going to be hard even at 60 days with those rides gone by 65+ days or even more with club level being able to buy FP they can book at 90 days out

My goal with SWGE is to see what they offer with hard ticketed events (pre-park opening or after close, etc.) and do that and look to offset with saving money elsewhere

I'm really hoping for an after hours event, but they have never run those Christmas week.

 

[JenniferYoung44]

That’s very doable still. Last year I went 12 times, only two of them were planned more than a week out. One of which was only a matter of hours from booking to getting on the plane. I watch for JetBlue sales and when airfare is $100 or less round trip we sometimes just go, even if it’s just a day or two. It’s way more relaxing and we have no issues getting food or fastpasses or hotel rooms.

True but I think it’s different for someone who goes 12 times per year vs someone who only goes every other year or every few years. At 12 times a year it’s easier to say who cares if I miss _____, ill catch it next time.

 

[siren0119]

True but I think it’s different for someone who goes 12 times per year vs someone who only goes every other year or every few years. At 12 times a year it’s easier to say who cares if I miss _____, ill catch it next time.

100% true. I live close enough to a Six Flags location that we can go multiple times a year - missing a couple of rides, shows or experiences is no big deal because we know we'll be back soon.

Disney is a whole other plate of spaghetti. We've been lucky enough to book 2 trips in 3 years, but we are headed for a LONG break in between trips after that. What we miss this time, we won't be able to reclaim anytime soon.

 

[The Pho]

True but I think it’s different for someone who goes 12 times per year vs someone who only goes every other year or every few years. At 12 times a year it’s easier to say who cares if I miss _____, ill catch it next time.

It is, but only on the very short trips did I really miss anything that I do on any normal trip. The length of trip mattered more there than planning time. This year I went down for marathon weekend. We booked nothing until after Christmas, and had no dining reservations or fastpasses set up until day of. There were no issues eating where we wanted or riding what we wanted. We did every ride that was open, except Small World, and most of the shows. We never waited more than 30 minutes.

 

[tlmadden73]

The downside to planning "ahead" of time is the disappointment when the thing you want to 'reserve' is still not available when you try to do it at the exact first moment you can. Hopefully removing this "room cancellation loophole" helps clear up those high demand FPs like FOP and SDD, though truly the only thing that will help that is more attractions at those parks (which DHS is fixing in a few months).

So what's the next loophole? People take the path of least resistance and try and find ways around restrictions.

 

[Ariel620]

I think the planning is the best part and apparently there is something to that! Apparently the planning and anticipation can make you happier then the actual trip!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-make-the-most-of-vacation_n_5755b42ae4b0eb20fa0e906d

I love the planning! So much, that I keep tweaking and tweaking until it's perfect! I know that sounds crazy, but I also know that my plans will change no matter how perfect they are (rain, and need for naps, sleeping in, etc). But the planning is part of the fun!

 

[NJlauren]

I love the planning! So much, that I keep tweaking and tweaking until it's perfect! I know that sounds crazy, but I also know that my plans will change no matter how perfect they are (rain, and need for naps, sleeping in, etc). But the planning is part of the fun!

Doesn’t sound crazy to me! I plan and plan and plan some more then we get there and I say screw it all my plans go out the window!

 

[ScrapYap]

@cruisinalong
Your sarcasm is duly noted. Have a Disney Day!

This is the kind of thing you can expect to happen out in the cold, cruel world. You are missed in warmer climes.

 

[anomamatt]

But let's say I'm planning on staying at Disney for 4 nights next year, 2020. Pretend it's April 1-5. Now let's say I really want Galaxy Edge FastPasses. I could easily try to book 6 nights at another resort from March 24-31. That would mean I could book my FastPasses on September 24 instead of waiting for October 1 to book. Then I could cancel the first reservation and keep them. That's one of the scams Disney is trying to end right now. It's people booking dummy reservations to get earlier FastPasses. I think guests are going to lose their FastPasses if they book with earlier dates and then cancel that reservation.

If this is what you think, how do you explain the rumors of a 48 hour warning (that can be corrected by adding an onsite stay)?

Let's be realistic here... Disney cares about $$$. They don't want people booking on-site rooms and actually staying off site. So they will cancel FPs if you have no onsite room and it's >30 days out (maybe... depends if these rumors are true). But Disney doesn't really care about people booking FPs early, unless it somehow costs them money. As many have posted, having a FP "shortage" benefits Disney because you will be forced to stay longer, or buy expensive add-on experiences.

We have very little information, so in the end this is all wild speculation. Heck, the "news" reports on this all trace back to a single twitter post. This might all be fake news.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If this is what you think, how do you explain the rumors of a 48 hour warning (that can be corrected by adding an onsite stay)?

Let's be realistic here... Disney cares about $$$. They don't want people booking on-site rooms and actually staying off site. So they will cancel FPs if you have no onsite room and it's >30 days out (maybe... depends if these rumors are true). But Disney doesn't really care about people booking FPs early, unless it somehow costs them money. As many have posted, having a FP "shortage" benefits Disney because you will be forced to stay longer, or buy expensive add-on experiences.

We have very little information, so in the end this is all wild speculation. Heck, the "news" reports on this all trace back to a single twitter post. This might all be fake news.

I think we'd be better served to just close this thread as it's veering off track to things like "how can people possibly request vacation days 6 months in advance" and "I'm not going as often anymore due to (insert 3 random factors)"...And more recently how to plan and effectively use FPs.

OR maybe we should treat it like the DOG FRIENDLY debacle of 2017 and make this thread limited ONLY to real-life reports of people who have had FPs deleted due to this "change" (which again might be nothing at all).

This thread has served it's purpose...a change might be coming. Until we know actually what that is we just have a bunch of bad advice being handed out. People here are just trying to book their FPs and make sure their split stay FPs are safe if they have to cancel a part of their trip, or that they can change their reservation to a new resort or take advantage of a discount without being penalized...and to me, at this point, none of those folks have anything to worry about.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The downside to planning "ahead" of time is the disappointment when the thing you want to 'reserve' is still not available when you try to do it at the exact first moment you can. Hopefully removing this "room cancellation loophole" helps clear up those high demand FPs like FOP and SDD, though truly the only thing that will help that is more attractions at those parks (which DHS is fixing in a few months).

So what's the next loophole? People take the path of least resistance and try and find ways around restrictions.

Personally though I'd rather find out ahead of time if I can get a FP for a ride and if not then pivot or plan rope drop or just know we might not get on that attraction and prepare for that. Vs the old way where you'd have to rope drop to get a FP for a popular ride and even if you got it you'd not know what time the FP return would be for - or maybe miss out on it if all the FP were distributed for the day - but you wouldn't know until the day came.

To at least know either way ahead of time makes it much less stressful for me

 

[Marionnette]

If this is what you think, how do you explain the rumors of a 48 hour warning (that can be corrected by adding an onsite stay)?

Let's be realistic here... Disney cares about $$$. They don't want people booking on-site rooms and actually staying off site. So they will cancel FPs if you have no onsite room and it's >30 days out (maybe... depends if these rumors are true). But Disney doesn't really care about people booking FPs early, unless it somehow costs them money. As many have posted, having a FP "shortage" benefits Disney because you will be forced to stay longer, or buy expensive add-on experiences.

We have very little information, so in the end this is all wild speculation. Heck, the "news" reports on this all trace back to a single twitter post. This might all be fake news.

But, if my hunch is correct, Disney may be set to roll out a modified version of the CLFPs wherein onsite guests could pay for an added advantage to book their FPs earlier...for a moderate price. And if that turns out to be the case, they would indeed be losing money if people book leading reservations just to get that advantage for free.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Personally though I'd rather find out ahead of time if I can get a FP for a ride and if not then pivot or plan rope drop or just know we might not get on that attraction and prepare for that. Vs the old way where you'd have to rope drop to get a FP for a popular ride and even if you got it you'd not know what time the FP return would be for - or maybe miss out on it if all the FP were distributed for the day - but you wouldn't know until the day came.

To at least know either way ahead of time makes it much less stressful for me

This is the boat that I'm in now. We'll be going to DLR here soon (and likely another trip or two hopefully one after SWGE opens up there) and I find myself having to go back to my experience back in 2011 in WDW. I've got to think about Morning Magic (which we were offsite in 2011 so EMH at WDW was not an option nor was paying for EMM as it wasn't there back then) and if I want to attempt to do that, then there's MaxPass to think about and the original way of obtaining FP. For all the concern and worry I had about the logistics pre-booking FPs, etc because I hadn't done it before I now find myself nervous about the opposite

 

[anomamatt]

But, if my hunch is correct, Disney may be set to roll out a modified version of the CLFPs wherein onsite guests could pay for an added advantage to book their FPs earlier...for a price. And if that turns out to be the case, they would indeed be losing money if people book leading reservations just to get that advantage for free.

Yep, could be. But if WDW wanted to sell earlier access to FPs (not more, per se, but just early booking), I would guess they would just shut down length-of-stay FP booking entirely (it's really the only way to "fix" some of these "loopholes", but it also opens up a massive planning nightmare (having to book FPs on individual days at 60-days out -- people think planning is bad now...).

Though they could add pay for 90 days and leave length of stay booking at 60+14. 90 days is, after all, before any possible loophole can book them.

But my point is that the rumored changes the thread is talking about are not needed to be made to add a pay-for-early-access system. But I'm leaning toward this all being fake news.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is the boat that I'm in now. We'll be going to DLR here soon (and likely another trip or two hopefully one after SWGE opens up there) and I find myself having to go back to my experience back in 2011 in WDW. I've got to think about Morning Magic (which we were offsite in 2011 so EMH at WDW was not an option nor was paying for EMM as it wasn't there back then) and if I want to attempt to do that, then there's MaxPass to think about and the original way of obtaining FP. For all the concern and worry I had about the logistics pre-booking FPs, etc because I hadn't done it before I now find myself nervous about the opposite

yeah, we had the same experience our one trip to DLR (this was before MaxPass) that we were back to stressing about how to get the FP for Radiator Springs (and a few others) and then when we did what time would they be for, etc.

It can be great if you have more time and don't really care, etc. - but as that was likely our one and only (or at least only one for many years) trip there we really wanted to fit in what we could.

 

[Runnsally]

If this is what you think, how do you explain the rumors of a 48 hour warning (that can be corrected by adding an onsite stay)?

Let's be realistic here... Disney cares about $$$. They don't want people booking on-site rooms and actually staying off site. So they will cancel FPs if you have no onsite room and it's >30 days out (maybe... depends if these rumors are true). But Disney doesn't really care about people booking FPs early, unless it somehow costs them money. As many have posted, having a FP "shortage" benefits Disney because you will be forced to stay longer, or buy expensive add-on experiences.

We have very little information, so in the end this is all wild speculation. Heck, the "news" reports on this all trace back to a single twitter post. This might all be fake news.

You had me until fake news.

 

[anomamatt]

You had me until fake news.

Wdwnt doesn’t have a strong track record. And there is virtually nothing else being said anywhere. Aside from the tweet that wdwnt based their article on.

The cancellation warning/notification messages have not changed online either. Yet, at least.