FP+ Window reduced to 30 days for non-resort guests

[MrInfinity]

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymag...reduced-to-30-days-for-annual-passholders.htm

The FastPass+ reservation window has been reduced to 30 days for Annual Passholders not staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel.

Thoughts? This is huge. Resort guests now get first access (by 30 days) to booking the primo rides. Or is this old news?

 

[GrimGrinningMom]

I've seen stuff about this for a couple of days and just saw that link earlier. Let the fairness discussions begin...

I'm not sure what I think about it, except that it seems like an understandable business move to entice some into onsite stays. It will likely anger a lot of posters here, but if you step back seems to make sense to try. And they can always reverse out of it if need be.

 

[TDC Nala]

Doesn't bother me as I have been able to book even headliners at much less than 60 days out. In fact I do most of my FP+ the night before and it's worked fine. And it's still 60 if you have a resort stay, right? I don't go down there without a resort stay anyway.

Will have to see how Mine Train works out because while it's new, it will be in great demand.

 

[5Hfan]

Be Our Second Class Guest.

 

[morethananyonex]

Makes sense, although I am surprised they are lumping pass holders in with offsite guests, unless offsite guests will have an even smaller window than that.

At this point in time we found no difference in FP availability booking 60 days in advance vs 30. That may change if offsite guests are given 30 days as well though.

I'm a bit disappointed if the only new perk onsite guests see from this is an extended booking window. I know many people disagree, but I don't view additional FP+ related perks for onsite guests as any different than something like EMH.

 

[DVCFan1994]

Doesn't bother me as I have been able to book even headliners at much less than 60 days out. In fact I do most of my FP+ the night before and it's worked fine. And it's still 60 if you have a resort stay, right? I don't go down there without a resort stay anyway.

Will have to see how Mine Train works out because while it's new, it will be in great demand.

I agree. But it will be interesting to see how availability tightens up as offsiters get earlier access. I changed my headliner choices around a few days before my February trip, no problem, but advance booking was only for onsite then. I am interested to see how much harder day before and same day changes will be when we return next month. I too though am and AP holder who always stays onsite, so in the end, I'm fine.

 

[Jennasis]

I have no problem with this at all. But I totally understand how others would. In The interest of full disclosure we never stay off property as we just bought DVC this past weekend we never will. I'm truly sorry from the off-site folks this will affect.

 

[amg35]

Speaking only for myself, I'm fine with this as I am staying onsite.

I actually wish (possibly selfishly) they would offer extra fast passes as a perk!

 

[Planogirl]

Makes sense, although I am surprised they are lumping pass holders in with offsite guests, unless offsite guests will have an even smaller window than that.

At this point in time we found no difference in FP availability booking 60 days in advance vs 30. That may change if offsite guests are given 30 days as well though.

I'm a bit disappointed if the only new perk onsite guests see from this is an extended booking window. I know many people disagree, but I don't view additional FP+ related perks for onsite guests as any different than something like EMH.

The longer booking window is quite a good perk for onsite guests or at least I think it is. Were you thinking of maybe more FP+ for onsite guests?

 

[faneuil]

I'm fine with it, but I'm a local.

I have zero idea if I'll be at the parks in 60 days - and even if I did, I probably wouldn't know which park.

I just booked the next two weekends, cause I know I'll be there, and I didn't have any issues.

What will be interesting is the next time I have company and they want to go to Disney. They won't be AP holders or onsite guests, so I'll link their tickets to my account, but they might have different booking parameters.

 

[morethananyonex]

The longer booking window is quite a good perk for onsite guests or at least I think it is. Were you thinking of maybe more FP+ for onsite guests?

Would be nice, but I don't know if they could make that work. The booking window perk just strikes me as kind of useless, especially during slower times.

As of now the difference between 30 and 60 has little impact on what you can and can't book. That could all change as offsite guests are able to prebook and more attractions open though. Time will tell how useful this actually is, but it's nowhere near an EMH type perk for me yet.

 

[Planogirl]

Would be nice, but I don't know if they could make that work. The booking window perk just strikes me as kind of useless, especially during slower times.

As of now the difference between 30 and 60 has little impact on what you can and can't book. That could all change as offsite guests are able to prebook and more attractions open though. Time will tell how useful this actually is, but it's nowhere near an EMH type perk for me yet.

I can see that they might want to steer away from the FP+ kiosks as much as possible though so pre-booking of some sort makes sense for everyone. If they shorten the time for offsite to a week or a day or whatever it still might have little impact during quiet times.

 

[MamaBear58]

I don't have an issue with this. An AP is really just one type of ticket. So an AP holder is just like any other ticket holder who has elected to stay offsite.

The fact that Disney acknowledges that it's the most (or one of the most?) expensive ticket and gives AP holders an advantage at 30 days is good marketing...it is a nice benefit to the AP holder but doesn't equate a ticket with a resort stay.

Of course, everything is always changing so who knows what this will be tomorrow.....

 

[ethanwa]

As a local 5 minutes from the parks, I don't think this will be that big of a deal. 30 days out is still a long time, and I'm almost positive we'll still be able to ride the rides we want. They won't all be booked up within that additional 30 days. Many people staying at resorts probably won't even book FP+ in advance, or if they do, it could be just 15 days before they leave.

I have been using FP+ since November (we did a one-night stay to get the bands) and we never really booked past 30 days. And ANY time we have pre-booked FP+, we always get the rides we want.

People pay $1000's to go stat at their resort for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. I pay $500 or so for unlimited access to the parks 5 minutes away form me 365 days out of the year. 30-day window is fine... I can go whenever I want!

Ethan

 

[5Hfan]

Three roped ropes now! 60 days, 30 days, morning of! Talk about tiering!

 

[ethanwa]

Edit: Nevermind.. spoke too soon.

 

[Duck77]

Has anyone noticed that the truncated version the link says "assholders" instead of "passholders?" Because that's some funny stuff right there.

I don't see anything wrong with any company offering perks to people who stay onsite. Think of all the comps people in Vegas get....kind of the same thing. Spend more in the casinos, get the rooms free. Sometimes I think people treat Disney like its a public charity, and not a business.

 

[dwheaton]

Considering that I was thinking it might be day-of, I can handle 30 days out for off-site guests. This is assuming that the 30 days isn't just for AP holders. We're planning to go during the slower (relatively speaking) time in late January 2015, so I think we'll make it work.

 

[wickedgood]

I made all of my fastpass+ selections the day of (even though I was an on-site guest) and had no problem finding passes for all rides at all times. This is not a big deal.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Wow.

I think this is a huge deal once they bring everyone on prebooking.