Friends and Family Discount

[busywdwfan]

I am planning a trip for Thanksgiving week that a relative will book using his CM discount. After reading all of the posts in this thread, and seeing that my reservation will be a room only one, what is the best way for me to purchase tickets so that I can link them to the room only reservation prior to arriving in the hopes of getting some FP+ scheduled (if there are any available at this late date). I've never booked this way before. I've only done MYW packages with tickets and reservations on my own.

 

[wilkeliza]

I am planning a trip for Thanksgiving week that a relative will book using his CM discount. After reading all of the posts in this thread, and seeing that my reservation will be a room only one, what is the best way for me to purchase tickets so that I can link them to the room only reservation prior to arriving in the hopes of getting some FP+ scheduled (if there are any available at this late date). I've never booked this way before. I've only done MYW packages with tickets and reservations on my own.

Buy the tickets online and they will automatically link to the room.

 

[busywdwfan]

Thanks!

 

[jenfur]

My daughter will be using her maingate passes for three of us when we visit in 3 weeks. However, there are three days that we will need to buy tickets due to blackouts. We will buy a 3-day hopper and we need to use the 3-day for a Sunday and then the following Friday and Saturday with the maingates being used Monday-Thursday. Can that work with magic bands and if so how?

 

[wilkeliza]

My daughter will be using her maingate passes for three of us when we visit in 3 weeks. However, there are three days that we will need to buy tickets due to blackouts. We will buy a 3-day hopper and we need to use the 3-day for a Sunday and then the following Friday and Saturday with the maingates being used Monday-Thursday. Can that work with magic bands and if so how?

As long as you are staying on property the 3-day park hopper will be on your magic band. On days you are entering with the paid tickets use your MB at the entrance. On days you are using the maingate your daughter will give you a "guest" card to tap at the entrance. Use that to enter every time you enter a park that day not your Magic Band. As long as you remember not to tap your Magic Band at the front on a day you don't want to use your ticket you will be fine. Main Gate passes are not linked to magic bands (only the CM portion is at the moment) so the guest card will keep it separate. You can still use your MB for fastpasses as well as using the CM guest card for Fastpasses as well so you could essentially get two sets of 3 each day you use the guest pass.

 

[jagoffee]

As long as you are staying on property the 3-day park hopper will be on your magic band. On days you are entering with the paid tickets use your MB at the entrance. On days you are using the maingate your daughter will give you a "guest" card to tap at the entrance. Use that to enter every time you enter a park that day not your Magic Band. As long as you remember not to tap your Magic Band at the front on a day you don't want to use your ticket you will be fine. Main Gate passes are not linked to magic bands (only the CM portion is at the moment) so the guest card will keep it separate. You can still use your MB for fastpasses as well as using the CM guest card for Fastpasses as well so you could essentially get two sets of 3 each day you use the guest pass.

Interesting. I would like to make sure I understand you last point. If I plan on purchasing a three day pass and us a CM main gate pass for another 2 days are you saying I can get fast passes for all 5 days even though I am entering the park with a CM on two of those days?
Thank you.

 

[MickeyMinnie1971]

Interesting. I would like to make sure I understand you last point. If I plan on purchasing a three day pass and us a CM main gate pass for another 2 days are you saying I can get fast passes for all 5 days even though I am entering the park with a CM on two of those days? Thank you.

I'm not the PP, but I can try to answer this. My husband is a CM. Yes, CM can now make advance FP. Normally it is only for 7 days in advance, but if we have a resort stay or are planning with someone with a resort stay it is supposed to be 60 days. I have a friend visiting the end of January. We have added each other as friends/family and her resort reservation is linked to my MDE. I'm hoping when 60 days rolls around I will be be able to book the FP. I don't think she would be able to since the guest tickets wouldn't show on her MDE.

 

[wilkeliza]

I'm not the PP, but I can try to answer this. My husband is a CM. Yes, CM can now make advance FP. Normally it is only for 7 days in advance, but if we have a resort stay or are planning with someone with a resort stay it is supposed to be 60 days. I have a friend visiting the end of January. We have added each other as friends/family and her resort reservation is linked to my MDE. I'm hoping when 60 days rolls around I will be be able to book the FP. I don't think she would be able to since the guest tickets wouldn't show on her MDE.

Thanks for answering the question. My phone isn't letting me reply right now (says I'm logged in but then when I go to do anything says you must be logged in) so I had to wait until I had access to a computer.

Since your husband is a CM do you know if guest passes can also be linked to MDE yet?

To clarify what I was saying, I am not sure if guest passes are link-able so what I was saying was on days that you enter with the guest pass you can go to a kiosk and get FP+ selections on the CM's guest pass and then immediately get another set of 3 from the kiosk on your MB. These are not pre-selected though so you are at the mercy of the day of bookings. If you can indeed at the guest passes now the CM can prebook for your and then you can still take you magic bands to an in park kiosk and get three day of fastpasses. This means you would be working with 6 that day instead of the standard 3.

 

[MickeyMinnie1971]

Only the CM and spouse passes can be linked to a MB. The guest passes can be linked to MDE, but cannot be linked to a MB. The CM will have to prebook the FP for you on the guest passes using their MDE account.

 

[jagoffee]

I'm not the PP, but I can try to answer this. My husband is a CM. Yes, CM can now make advance FP. Normally it is only for 7 days in advance, but if we have a resort stay or are planning with someone with a resort stay it is supposed to be 60 days. I have a friend visiting the end of January. We have added each other as friends/family and her resort reservation is linked to my MDE. I'm hoping when 60 days rolls around I will be be able to book the FP. I don't think she would be able to since the guest tickets wouldn't show on her MDE.

Thanks for answering the question. My phone isn't letting me reply right now (says I'm logged in but then when I go to do anything says you must be logged in) so I had to wait until I had access to a computer.

Since your husband is a CM do you know if guest passes can also be linked to MDE yet?

To clarify what I was saying, I am not sure if guest passes are link-able so what I was saying was on days that you enter with the guest pass you can go to a kiosk and get FP+ selections on the CM's guest pass and then immediately get another set of 3 from the kiosk on your MB. These are not pre-selected though so you are at the mercy of the day of bookings. If you can indeed at the guest passes now the CM can prebook for your and then you can still take you magic bands to an in park kiosk and get three day of fastpasses. This means you would be working with 6 that day instead of the standard 3.

Thank you both for attempting to make me understand, but I am still not sure I understand correctly.

My bother is the CM. I do understand if we use his free passes we should be able to use FP+ in advance if we link them to our bands. We will also be using his gate passes ( I understand the difference), so I think I understand that will not be able to get Fast Passes on those gate tickets until we actually enter the park.
Relative to being able to get six fast passes. If we all have a magic bands we can make a three fast pass + reservation for each of us 60 days in advance using those bands independent of whether we link any tickets to the bands? And we can use the fast passes in the park even if we do not use the bands to enter the park? Some of us would be using my bother's gate passes to enter. Since we will be using a combination of purchased tickets, his regular free passes, and 3 gate passes per day our strategy will be complicated. He does not have a lot of experience using his passes and our previous usage was pre Fast Pass + implementation. I am just surprised that Disney would allow you to use a Fast Pass without using the ticket linked to your band or to even allow one to make Fast Pass + reservation for more days than the number of tickets linked to the band. Therefore I want to make sure I am understanding what you are saying.
You are suggesting making and using using three Fast Pass + reservation without using a ticket linked to your magic band and getting three additional Fast Pass + reservation on the gate pass tickets for a total of six?

Our approach is also complicated by the fact that since we are visiting from June10-20 we have to be concerned about black out dates at the Magic Kingdom with the gate passes, but that is a different topic.

I know I am asking some very detailed questions and I thank you in advance of taking the time to answer.

 

[wilkeliza]

Only the CM and spouse passes can be linked to a MB. The guest passes can be linked to MDE, but cannot be linked to a MB. The CM will have to prebook the FP for you on the guest passes using their MDE account.

Sorry I was being confusing. By link-able I meant to any MDE. So if it is linked to the cast members MDE account so they can pre-book then at least a CM can prebook by 7 days since it is possible the resort will not be on the CMs account since it is Friends and Family discount not the cast member discount.

 

[jagoffee]

Only the CM and spouse passes can be linked to a MB. The guest passes can be linked to MDE, but cannot be linked to a MB. The CM will have to prebook the FP for you on the guest passes using their MDE account.

I did not see this post prior to writing my posts. CMs also get a limited number of passes that can be given to others and unlike the gate passes they do not need to be present. Are these like the spouse passes?
Thanks.

 

[wilkeliza]

Thank you both for attempting to make me understand, but I am still not sure I understand correctly.

My bother is the CM. I do understand if we use his free passes we should be able to use FP+ in advance if we link them to our bands. We will also be using his gate passes ( I understand the difference), so I think I understand that will not be able to get Fast Passes on those gate tickets until we actually enter the park.
Relative to being able to get six fast passes. If we all have a magic bands we can make a three fast pass + reservation for each of us 60 days in advance using those bands independent of whether we link any tickets to the bands? And we can use the fast passes in the park even if we do not use the bands to enter the park? Some of us would be using my bother's gate passes to enter. Since we will be using a combination of purchased tickets, his regular free passes, and 3 gate passes per day our strategy will be complicated. He does not have a lot of experience using his passes and our previous usage was pre Fast Pass + implementation. I am just surprised that Disney would allow you to use a Fast Pass without using the ticket linked to your band or to even allow one to make Fast Pass + reservation for more days than the number of tickets linked to the band. Therefore I want to make sure I am understanding what you are saying.
You are suggesting making and using using three Fast Pass + reservation without using a ticket linked to your magic band and getting three additional Fast Pass + reservation on the gate pass tickets for a total of six?

Our approach is also complicated by the fact that since we are visiting from June10-20 we have to be concerned about black out dates at the Magic Kingdom with the gate passes, but that is a different topic.

I know I am asking some very detailed questions and I thank you in advance of taking the time to answer.

Sorry I realized I was not being very clear. Here is the break down in the simplest form I can provide as there are 2 scenarios possible at the moment.

Scenario #1: you buy a 3 day park hopper and your brother has his guest passed linked to his MDE account for pre-booking.

60 days out you can make FP+ selections for 3 days. It will not matter what 3 days as the system will not know when you plan on actually using the tickets and FP+ does not remove an entry upon use even if you did not us that ticket to enter the park. So you can have 3 days worth of prebooked fastpasses from your 3 day park hopper that you schedule on your MDE. These will be linked to your Magic Band. However it would be best to stick with them being the days you plan on using the tickets so you don't get confused later.

Now 7 days before the days you plan on using your brother's guest passes (main gates) he can schedule you 3 fastpasses for each day you will be using the guest pass. It is important that he schedule them for the actual day you want to use his pass because you will not have access to adjust any of these FPs only he will.

Your trip has arrived. (the following is all pretend and may not exactly match your schedule)

Day 1- Guest Passes blacked out so you use your ticket. You have already prebooked FP+ through your my disney experience so you enter with your magic band and use only your magic band for fastpasses.

Day 2- Enter with Guest pass. Your brother has preselected fastpasses for the day and you enter the turnstiles with his guest passes (not your magic band) and then you can tap his guest passes for your FPs. Now wait you have magic bands linked to a different account than those guest passes! This means you can take your magic band and go to a kiosk and schedule 3 day of fast passes! Yay extra fast passes. Now you have 6 (3 prebooked on guest pass and 3 day of on magic band).

Day 3- Guest pass so same as Day 2

Day 4- Guest Pass blacked out so you use your ticket. Same as Day 1 enter with your magic band and use the fastpasses you prebooked for today at 60 days out.

Day 5 Guest passes blacked out so same as Day 1 and Day 4

Day 6- Guest pass works so same as Day 2.

This is the scenario that is most likely to happen. Scenario 2 is similar to Scenario 1 but for whatever reason your brother is not able to prebook you fastpasses. All that changes is that on Days 2, 3 and 6 you would take his passes and your magic bands to the kiosks in park and only be able to book day of fast passes. However, since they are linked to different accounts you can get a set of 3 for each card and band thus 6 per a person for the day.

IF that isn't clear PM me and I will try and make it more clear. This isn't the way the system is suppose to be used (but nothing is stopping you so a lot of CMs do it) so it can be hard to grasp.

 

[wilkeliza]

I did not see this post prior to writing my posts. CMs also get a limited number of passes that can be given to others and unlike the gate passes they do not need to be present. Are these like the spouse passes?
Thanks.

Those are not like spouse passes. Those are comp tickets and can be linked to MDE at any time and are only subject to the information written on the voucher. The voucher itself says do not link to MDE but it works perfectly fine so everyone ignores that.

 

[MickeyMinnie1971]

Thank you both for attempting to make me understand, but I am still not sure I understand correctly. My bother is the CM. I do understand if we use his free passes we should be able to use FP+ in advance if we link them to our bands. We will also be using his gate passes ( I understand the difference), so I think I understand that will not be able to get Fast Passes on those gate tickets until we actually enter the park. Relative to being able to get six fast passes. If we all have a magic bands we can make a three fast pass + reservation for each of us 60 days in advance using those bands independent of whether we link any tickets to the bands? And we can use the fast passes in the park even if we do not use the bands to enter the park? Some of us would be using my bother's gate passes to enter. Since we will be using a combination of purchased tickets, his regular free passes, and 3 gate passes per day our strategy will be complicated. He does not have a lot of experience using his passes and our previous usage was pre Fast Pass + implementation. I am just surprised that Disney would allow you to use a Fast Pass without using the ticket linked to your band or to even allow one to make Fast Pass + reservation for more days than the number of tickets linked to the band. Therefore I want to make sure I am understanding what you are saying. You are suggesting making and using using three Fast Pass + reservation without using a ticket linked to your magic band and getting three additional Fast Pass + reservation on the gate pass tickets for a total of six? Our approach is also complicated by the fact that since we are visiting from June10-20 we have to be concerned about black out dates at the Magic Kingdom with the gate passes, but that is a different topic. I know I am asking some very detailed questions and I thank you in advance of taking the time to answer.

Hopefully since your trip isn't until June all of this will become clearer between now and then. Like I said in an earlier post I have a friend using my husband's friends and family discount the end of January. She is using our guest passes the entire trip since there shouldn't be any block out dates, so we are hoping the 60 day window automatically opens up since her reservation is showing in our MDE. Only time will tell.

 

[jagoffee]

Hopefully since your trip isn't until June all of this will become clearer between now and then. Like I said in an earlier post I have a friend using my husband's friends and family discount the end of January. She is using our guest passes the entire trip since there shouldn't be any block out dates, so we are hoping the 60 day window automatically opens up since her reservation is showing in our MDE. Only time will tell.

Thank you for taking the time to explain the process in this post and your previous post. I now have a much better understanding.

Those are not like spouse passes. Those are comp tickets and can be linked to MDE at any time and are only subject to the information written on the voucher. The voucher itself says do not link to MDE but it works perfectly fine so everyone ignores that.

Thank you

 

[BlondeBelle]

Well, I'm pretty much in shock, but I just called to add a day and check on dining discounts. She found a code that actually lowered our total by several hundred dollars, so I added Memory Maker.
I'm thrilled and a little worried that she may have applied the wrong code. I wish we got email confirmations on these things, like the original email that went out! The web info system is just so cryptic and limited, but with the savings I'm getting, I can live with that.
Oh, and for reference, I'm staying at the Wilderness Lodge at the end of January. Thanks for sharing information here, I would have never bothered to check for any further discounts!
EDIT: forgot to mention that it did not lose my dining reservations. We are still a few days to early to book fast pass.

 

[LSUxStitch]

I'm probably booking F&F hotel reservation for the second week in January, 11-17, and wondering if anyone knows what the % is or if there are Dining Plan discounts during this time.

SERIOUSLY appreciate all the awesome knowledge in this thread.

BlondeBelle, what type of discount did you guys get?!?! Congrats

 

[KerryCM]

I'm probably booking F&F hotel reservation for the second week in January, 11-17, and wondering if anyone knows what the % is or if there are Dining Plan discounts during this time.

SERIOUSLY appreciate all the awesome knowledge in this thread.

BlondeBelle, what type of discount did you guys get?!?! Congrats

You really should have the CM check availability and discounts for you. I do know the Holiday discounts are out until Feb. 12th. very easy for them to check on the HUB.

 

[LSUxStitch]

You really should have the CM check availability and discounts for you. I do know the Holiday discounts are out until Feb. 12th. very easy for them to check on the HUB.

She is, I'm just being impatient and wondering if anyone else had booked a similar vacation so I could start throwing some numbers together to see which resort will be within budget for us and if it's a better deal than the Dining that's being offered through Disney.