Disney to cancel FPs if room is cancelled

[PrincessV]

I’ll be curious to see how this shakes out after the 30-day window. There are times that I cancel a room res within 30 days because I need to save $$ by staying offsite, or not staying overnight at all and making it a day trip (I’m local-ish). My AP gives me access to FP within 30 days on its own, but what if I booked my FPs at 40 days out, because my room reservation allowed me to, and I cancel my room at 28 days - do my FPs still get canceled & I’ll need to start over? Or do they stay because I’m within my AP 30-day window? That could get confusing if Disney doesn’t explain it well.

 

[carlamouse]

Oh well...I knew it would happen sooner or later. So now your options for low-waits on headliners are:

1. Stay onsite with paid parking (if you have a car) and disney transportation (60-day FastPasses)
2. Stay at Disney Springs (Hotel Plaza Blvd.), paid parking (or not), (60-Day FastPass?)
3. Stay offste and camp in parking lot at your park of choice and storm the gates at 5:00 a.m. (30-Day FastPass)
4. Avoid the headliner attractions a few years until the novelty wears off.

 

[starry_solo]

Already discussed here, although under the incorrect term of "throwaway room"

https://www.disboards.com/threads/throwaway-rooms-no-more-disney-to-cancel-fps-if-room-is-cancelled.3732429/unread

 

[mamaofsix]

I’ll be curious to see how this shakes out after the 30-day window. There are times that I cancel a room res within 30 days because I need to save $$ by staying offsite, or not staying overnight at all and making it a day trip (I’m local-ish). My AP gives me access to FP within 30 days on its own, but what if I booked my FPs at 40 days out, because my room reservation allowed me to, and I cancel my room at 28 days - do my FPs still get canceled & I’ll need to start over? Or do they stay because I’m within my AP 30-day window? That could get confusing if Disney doesn’t explain it well.

I think the idea of this announcement is, yes, your fp's would get canceled and you would have to re-book them. You are within the 30 day window, but the fp's you booked were hard to get, 60 day fp's. Too many have been booking rooms & fp's and then canceling to get a refund, which does take advantage of the system. AP's would not figure into the equation, as anyone who has bought a ticket gets access to that 30 day window. So an AP would not be a benefit to you if you canceled your room reservation.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I’ll be curious to see how this shakes out after the 30-day window. There are times that I cancel a room res within 30 days because I need to save $$ by staying offsite, or not staying overnight at all and making it a day trip (I’m local-ish). My AP gives me access to FP within 30 days on its own, but what if I booked my FPs at 40 days out, because my room reservation allowed me to, and I cancel my room at 28 days - do my FPs still get canceled & I’ll need to start over? Or do they stay because I’m within my AP 30-day window? That could get confusing if Disney doesn’t explain it well.

From the linked article:
“It’s worth noting that this was already done in most cases where guests canceled before the 30-day window entered validity. Guests who then cancelled their resort reservation after this point never had any FastPass reservations deleted. This will change on Monday.”

 

[Brett Wyman]

I’ll be curious to see how this shakes out after the 30-day window. There are times that I cancel a room res within 30 days because I need to save $$ by staying offsite, or not staying overnight at all and making it a day trip (I’m local-ish). My AP gives me access to FP within 30 days on its own, but what if I booked my FPs at 40 days out, because my room reservation allowed me to, and I cancel my room at 28 days - do my FPs still get canceled & I’ll need to start over? Or do they stay because I’m within my AP 30-day window? That could get confusing if Disney doesn’t explain it well.

Really not sure what's confusing here. Your 30 day AP window has nothing to do with your resort reservation 60 day window. They 100% should get cancelled in that scenario since the purchase that allowed you to book at 40 days is the cancelled room reservation.

 

[cakebaker]

I’ll be curious to see how this shakes out after the 30-day window. There are times that I cancel a room res within 30 days because I need to save $$ by staying offsite, or not staying overnight at all and making it a day trip (I’m local-ish). My AP gives me access to FP within 30 days on its own, but what if I booked my FPs at 40 days out, because my room reservation allowed me to, and I cancel my room at 28 days - do my FPs still get canceled & I’ll need to start over? Or do they stay because I’m within my AP 30-day window? That could get confusing if Disney doesn’t explain it well.

What you’re talking about is exactly what they’re putting a stop to. It’s pretty clear. If you gain 60 access by booking a reservation, you lose those fp’s when you cancel. I would think 30 days before your reservation you’d know if you could afford it or not. Just cancel before your 30 day window and no problem. If they weren’t going to cancel all FPS regardless of when the Reservation was cancelled, those that do this would just wait till day 29 to cancel.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

A few people have mentioned the one night campsite bookings. If Disney wanted to put a stop to that, it would be easy enough to enforce a 2 or 3 night minimum for those bookings. In fact I’m surprised they even still allow it with the booking algorithms they have in place to prevent orphaned rooms.

 

[mamaofsix]

It doesn't stop the booking and paying for a night and not showing up, though. I can see that loophole being the next to somehow close.

I can see them doing this, but it would be an inconvenience to guests who have become accustomed to online check-in. For example, at campsites where I live in Ontario, you must physically show up the first day of your reservation and receive a park permit in order to not lose your campsite. In our case, though we only used Disney's campsites for day use, I did show up to check -in.

However, even instituting a "show up or lose your reservation" policy would have a hitch - in that they're not going to go around to every room or campsite after someone has physically checked in to see if that someone was staying there each night. That would be time consuming and costly for Disney - and also an invasion of privacy. Such a policy would also not address the very real fact that, even if not used all night long, a client DID pay for that room / site. What about those who stay in the parks or Disney Springs until all hours of the night and are barely in their rooms? What about the bridal party who is booking a room for day use only in order to get dressed, and won't be using it that night? What about travel agencies like The Dis who book rooms for filming / reviewing purposes but do not actually sleep there? What about folks like our family who booked a campsite as a place to go and relax and have naps mid-day, not just for the magicband/free parking /fp perk? It would be quite impossible for Disney, or other guests, to make a judgement call as to what constitutes proper use. You pay, you get the perks. That's how it works.

I completely understand the objections to using a throwaway room unethically by canceling last minute, but I really do think that if someone has legitimately paid for the right to use it, Disney is not going to 'close the loophole.' Because it's not technically a loophole

And I agree with the PP. In our case, we booked 3 nights at the campsites.

 

[Runnsally]

The part that is still unclear to me is whether the system will link the 60-day-window FP to a specific resort reservation that must be maintained in order for the FP to remain valid, or (I think more likely) just make sure that any FP booked at the 60 day window can be associated with any resort reservation for the same time period. These two things are very different in practice.

 

[piccolopat]

I understand what you are saying, but just think how many people do split stays. They might stay at Disney for a few nights, then switch to Universal, then back to Disney, for example. All the while still quite possibly attending Disney parks on the days they are staying at Universal. Or, what about those who book a few nights on property and then stay with a friend or relative for a few nights after? It would be so confusing on the fp system for those people to book half of their trip's fp's at 60 days and then wait until 30 days out for the other days.

If they are legitimately paying for at least one night at Disney, I feel that they should have access to the 60 day window for the duration of the tickets purchased, but that's just my opinion.

I don't see why someone staying at a Universal hotel should get the same benefits as someone staying onsite Disney just because they *might* return to a Disney hotel or go to the parks while they are staying offsite. In your example, each of the Disney stays would access the 60 day window based on the separate check in dates. The 30 day window should apply when they are staying offsite, same as everyone else.

 

[anomamatt]

From the linked article:
“It’s worth noting that this was already done in most cases where guests canceled before the 30-day window entered validity. Guests who then cancelled their resort reservation after this point never had any FastPass reservations deleted. This will change on Monday.”

But there is enough wrong with their statements about what happened pre-2/4 that it's hard to trust what they say will happen after. It didn't matter when you cancelled pre-2/4, the FPs never went away. You could cancel at T-minus 59 and the FPs were not cancelled.

 

[anomamatt]

Related to these changes...

does anyone know _with certainty_ that the "umbrella" method for "sharing" a 60-day window is supposed to be allowed by WDW? The general consensus here (disboards) is that the umbrella is intended by WDW, but do we know that for sure? Curious because depending on how they implement this new policy, it could impact umbrella-booked FPs.

 

[chiisai]

The part that is still unclear to me is whether the system will link the 60-day-window FP to a specific resort reservation that must be maintained in order for the FP to remain valid, or (I think more likely) just make sure that any FP booked at the 60 day window can be associated with any resort reservation for the same time period. These two things are very different in practice.

Do you mean they cancel the first on-site booking, but then book a different on-site resort with the exact same dates?

 

[eeyoresmom]

Well this is more for me personally to worry about. Any ideas how this scenario may play out? I made a reservation at ASMu because the DVC room we needed was not available. I made our fast passes at 60 days. We were wait listed for a DVC room which just came through. So now I have a regular suite at ASMu and the DVC room. I am going to cancel the ASMu room. Will the system see that we are onsite those days or will all of our fastpasses automatically get wiped out?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Well this is more for me personally to worry about. Any ideas how this scenario may play out? I made a reservation at ASMu because the DVC room we needed was not available. I made our fast passes at 60 days. We were wait listed for a DVC room which just came through. So now I have a regular suite at ASMu and the DVC room. I am going to cancel the ASMu room. Will the system see that we are onsite those days or will all of our fastpasses automatically get wiped out?

I don't think anyone will know the answer to this until the new policy is actually in place. Hopefully you will have clarification on Monday.

 

[chaoskids]

Already discussed here, although under the incorrect term of "throwaway room"

https://www.disboards.com/threads/throwaway-rooms-no-more-disney-to-cancel-fps-if-room-is-cancelled.3732429/unread

Ah! Thank you. I rarely visit the rumors board so missed it.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Do you mean they cancel the first on-site booking, but then book a different on-site resort with the exact same dates?

If I'm reading the pp correctly, then yes. I end up doing that for a lot of trips, either because a different resort with a better rate becomes available, or I change to a split stay which cancels the original reservation for two new ones, I believe. Come to think of it, even if you rebook the same resort, same dates to get a better rate or free dining or something, I think it creates a new reservation.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I also have added dining to an existing room only room, that gives an entire new reservation number because it becomes a package. Hopefully the FPs would remain.

We will see what happens, but good to see this before Galaxy's Edge.

 

[Marionnette]

Well this is more for me personally to worry about. Any ideas how this scenario may play out? I made a reservation at ASMu because the DVC room we needed was not available. I made our fast passes at 60 days. We were wait listed for a DVC room which just came through. So now I have a regular suite at ASMu and the DVC room. I am going to cancel the ASMu room. Will the system see that we are onsite those days or will all of our fastpasses automatically get wiped out?

I'm curious to see an answer to this as well. It's not unusual for DVC owners to switch things up inside of 60 days because inventory opens up and wait lists come thru. I also have an AllStar reservation for the first few days of my April visit because there weren't any studios available for those nights. If they come thru, I'll be replacing the CRO reservation with a DVC reservation. I'll still be staying onsite, just not as a cash reservation. I would hope that those FPs would not get canceled.