Non-resort guests can not reserve FP+ early

[Planogirl]

The attendance numbers are interesting. Particularly when it comes to the wide disparity in attendance at the Europeans Disney parks! But that aside, how is attendance measured when hopping is allowed? Is the first park of the day counted or both?

 

[wisblue]

The attendance numbers are interesting. Particularly when it comes to the wide disparity in attendance at the Europeans Disney parks! But that aside, how is attendance measured when hopping is allowed? Is the first park of the day counted or both?

I asked this once before and was told that hoppers count toward the attendance at each park visited. That is relevant when looking at overall ride and FP capacity because, with the current rules, not everyone who visits a park will be eligible for any FPs.

 

[Planogirl]

I asked this once before and was told that hoppers count toward the attendance at each park visited. That is relevant when looking at overall ride and FP capacity because, with the current rules, not everyone who visits a park will be eligible for any FPs.

That makes sense. I can see many who visit AK and DHS hopping over to MK later on which just inundates that park even more.

 

[johde]

Back to the original topic, I think it's also worth noting that we are coming up on the one month mark since legacy FP was disabled at AK (time flies!) and off-site guests are still limited to in-park FP+ selections.

As a counter point, it's been mentioned before the possibility that allowing prebooking anywhere opens up prebooking everywhere. . Look at AP and in some cases MYW ticket holders who have stayed onsite. Once their ticket was eligible for prebooking during their stay it was also eligible for prebooking after their stay. At this time canceling a reservation revokes those privileges. But post stay, the tickets still work for prebooking.

The results from a 1 park test/rollout may not be predictive of the final product. If we go through the go through the spring break/Easter season all 4 parks having FP+ and offsite guests being restricted to the kiosks only, then we can say it will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future.

 

[dayvewc]

As a counter point, it's been mentioned before the possibility that allowing prebooking anywhere opens up prebooking everywhere. . Look at AP and in some cases MYW ticket holders who have stayed onsite. Once their ticket was eligible for prebooking during their stay it was also eligible for prebooking after their stay. At this time canceling a reservation revokes those privileges. But post stay, the tickets still work for prebooking.

The results from a 1 park test/rollout may not be predictive of the final product. If we go through the go through the spring break/Easter season all 4 parks having FP+ and offsite guests being restricted to the kiosks only, then we can say it will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future.

That is my thought exactly. I just don't easily see a way for them to open only some parks for pre-booking for only some guests. The all or nothing route on MDE would be the simplest way.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think that fact that APs can still book after a resort stay means that they will probably be able to prebook in the future without a resort stay.

I'm wondering about this...let's say you have active MagicBands linked, as many of us do now. If you link a ticket to our account (not an AP), does it unlock FP prebooking? I don't think so. That tells me that offsite, non-AP tickets won't be able to prebook.

 

[angboys3]

I have to say their business plan worked in our case. We decided to move on site just for the fast passes. We were staying off site by Universal as we were going there first. After checking out prices such as paying for parking, we decided to move to Port Orleans for 3 nights as it wasn't that much more a night.

We felt it was worth it as we were going at a peak time right after New Year's and wanted to stay late at the parks as they were open to 1am. Overall the fastpasses worked well at MK and we liked being able to move our times around on the phone vs having to walk across the park as we made the decision to leave mid day and come back till 1am to ride.

The lines at HS were quite long though. We used to ride TOT and rock in roller coaster twice. Only got 1 ride in this time on those rides and rock in roller coaster we had to wait in the regular line as we chose Toy Story for our fastpass plus. We went to rock in roller coaster at RD by the time we got out the line was over by TOT. So that park is kind of crazy right now. Fastpass plus ,I think made it worse, but it was also our first time this close to the holidays.

Glad we had the fastpass plus option but it is becoming an elitist system for people who an afford to pay the extra money.

 

[dayvewc]

I think that fact that APs can still book after a resort stay means that they will probably be able to prebook in the future without a resort stay.

I'm wondering about this...let's say you have active MagicBands linked, as many of us do now. If you link a ticket to our account (not an AP), does it unlock FP prebooking? I don't think so. That tells me that offsite, non-AP tickets won't be able to prebook.

Is it a "don't think so" or a "definitely can't"? The first is no evidence, but the second is an actual indication.

 

[Laketravis]

I think that fact that APs can still book after a resort stay means that they will probably be able to prebook in the future without a resort stay.

I'm wondering about this...let's say you have active MagicBands linked, as many of us do now. If you link a ticket to our account (not an AP), does it unlock FP prebooking? I don't think so. That tells me that offsite, non-AP tickets won't be able to prebook.

Are you thinking that a room reservation is required to unlock the FP prebooking?

I've got a couple of active MB's in my MDE account as well, but no park tickets. But when I did have a room reservation, the days that I could pre-book FP corresponded to the number of nights of my stay, not the number of days the park tickets were for.

So I was given the opportunity to pre-book FP over the span of 14 days (the length of that particular reservation) as long as the aggregate was not more than 10 days (the number of days the tickets were for).

Sure seems like the pre-booking ability is indexed to the number of nights of on-site accommodations, although I don't know what the scenario is when the on-site reservations are for less than the number of days the tickets are for, nor am I clear on what happens with AP's.

 

[dayvewc]

Are you thinking that a room reservation is required to unlock the FP prebooking?

I've got a couple of active MB's in my MDE account as well, but no park tickets. But when I did have a room reservation, the days that I could pre-book FP corresponded to the number of nights of my stay, not the number of days the park tickets were for.

So I was given the opportunity to pre-book FP over the span of 14 days (the length of that particular reservation) as long as the aggregate was not more than 10 days (the number of days the tickets were for).

Sure seems like the pre-booking ability is indexed to the number of nights of on-site accommodations.

Sounds more like it was tied to the ticket days since you couldn't book for more days than you had park admissions. And was the last day of your stay more than 60+10 days ahead of when you tried booking? That might indicate if the perk for onsite is +10 or + length of stay.

 

[Laketravis]

Sounds more like it was tied to the ticket days since you couldn't book for more days than you had park admissions. And was the last day of your stay more than 60+10 days ahead of when you tried booking? That might indicate if the perk for onsite is +10 or + length of stay.

Right, it wouldn't let me book more FP days than the number of days the tickets were for, but it wouldn't let me book on any days that my on-site room reservation was not for.

I think I'm explaining that correctly - my room reservation was for 11/23 thru 12/7, (14 nights/15 days) and those were the only days that I could pre-book FP+ for, up to a total of 10 days which was equivalent to the 10 day PH tickets.

So it was definitely indexed to my room reservation as that was the only block of days it would let me schedule FP within.

And no, I couldn't access FP until the 60 day mark.

 

[dayvewc]

Right, it wouldn't let me book more FP days than the number of days the tickets were for, but it wouldn't let me book any days that my on-site room reservation was for.

I think I'm explaining that correctly - my room reservation was for 11/23 thru 12/7, (14 nights/15 days) and those were the only days that I could pre-book FP+ for, up to a total of 10 days which was equivalent to the 10 day PH tickets.

So it was definitely indexed to my room reservation as that was the only block of days it would let me schedule FP within.

And no, I couldn't access FP until the 60 day mark.

So, just trying to clarify I'm understanding it correctly. You could book any of the days of your stay, up to the number of days on your ticket? Did you do all the bookings on 9/23? Or did you try to change them when you got closer to checkin? And would it not let you book before your arrival date nor after your departure date (assuming you checked again after 10/8)?

 

[Laketravis]

So, just trying to clarify I'm understanding it correctly. You could book any of the days of your stay, up to the number of days on your ticket?

Correct. Only the 15 days of my on-site stay could be "opened" in order to schedule FP+ and then I could only schedule up to 10 days for FP+. They didn't have to be contiguous but they had to be within the window of my on-site stay.

Did you do all the bookings on 9/23?

Can't recall the exact date but it was when the countdown on MDE hit 60 days, the ability to schedule FP+ was enabled.

Or did you try to change them when you got closer to checkin?

Oh yeah - on an almost daily basis

And would it not let you book before your arrival date nor after your departure date (assuming you checked again after 10/8)?

It would not.

 

[TeamSy]

I have always suspected that FP+ will be used as a perk for onsite guests much like EMH and Magical Express. I'm not sure if long-term it will be restricted to day of as it will be at the start but I do think it will be made better (longer window, different tiering, higher number) to use it as a way to try and move off-site visitors on-site.

I know if I was in charge I'd make as many perks as possible for onsite guests only (or at least better for onsite guests) and would further incentivise them based on length of stay instead of just being on-site. It seems like the smart business decision.

I totally agree with this. We're not ones to always stay onsite OR offsite. They are both equally appealing to us. Maybe offsite a little more just because we find offsite hotels to be more luxurious and offer better in room amenities.

Truthfully, the only reason we ever stay onsite is for convenience in terms of ME. We love not having to rent a car, period. An extra hour here or there isn't a huge deal, IMO. I always thought Disney should offer onsite guests MORE than they currently do, and booking FP in advance is another small, but nice perk.

 

[dayvewc]

Correct. Only the 15 days of my on-site stay could be "opened" in order to schedule FP+ and then I could only schedule up to 10 days for FP+. They didn't have to be contiguous but they had to be within the window of my on-site stay.

Can't recall the exact date but it was when the countdown on MDE hit 60 days, the ability to schedule FP+ was enabled.

Oh yeah - on an almost daily basis

Correct.

Hmmm. It may just be the difference in AP's then. This is my first year with one. When I went over Halloween, I couldn't book anything before my checkin, but I've been able to book after my stay.

I _thought_ I had read on another thread that people with regular tickets and MB's had been able to book left over days after their stays also.

 

[Laketravis]

Hmmm. It may just be the difference in AP's then. This is my first year with one. When I went over Halloween, I couldn't book anything before my checkin, but I've been able to book after my stay.

I _thought_ I had read on another thread that people with regular tickets and MB's had been able to book left over days after their stays also.

There could be a difference because my length of on-site stay exceeded the number of days my tickets were for. So that's one dataset.

Had I only booked one night but had 10 day tickets, I can't say what the result would have been but that is definitely another dataset.

Then there are AP holders like you, the conditions being you have the AP but haven't stayed on site yet (dataset), you have the AP and are scheduled to stay on-site (dataset), or you have the AP and have already stayed on site but don't have any upcoming on-site reservations pending (your current dataset).

I bet we could matrix this all out and get a better picture of the logic

 

[dayvewc]

There could be a difference because my length of on-site stay exceeded the number of days my tickets were for. So that's one dataset.

Had I only booked one night but had 10 day tickets, I can't say what the result would have been but that is definitely another dataset.

Then there are AP holders like you, the conditions being you have the AP but haven't stayed on site yet (dataset), you have the AP and are scheduled to stay on-site (dataset), or you have the AP and have already stayed on site but don't have any upcoming on-site reservations pending (your current dataset).

I bet we could matrix this all out and get a better picture of the logic

I have to agree that there are a whole bunch of different data sets in play, not to mention the glitches that could double (or more) each set outcome.

I think the only real problem is expecting logic from Disney IT!

 

[Laketravis]

The other thing to consider is that in all cases, it took a room reservation to open up the ability to pre-book FP's.

In the case of off-site guests who only purchase tickets, what would the trigger be to open up pre-booking and how long of a window would they be given to pre-book in?

I have to think that the purchase of the tickets would be the trigger (what other metric could be?) and the window of opportunity presented would have to be perpetuity since the tickets are valid forever until they are first used, correct?

Just a couple more reasons I don't see off-site guests being able to prebook.

 

[dayvewc]

The other thing to consider is that in all cases, it took a room reservation to open up the ability to pre-book FP's.

In the case of off-site guests who only purchase tickets, what would the trigger be to open up pre-booking and how long of a window would they be given to pre-book in?

I have to think that the purchase of the tickets would have to be the trigger (what other metric could be?) and the window of opportunity presented would have to be perpetuity since the tickets are valid forever until they are first used, correct?

Just a couple more reasons I don't see off-site guests being able to prebook.

I think the trigger would be the linking of tickets to the MDE, and the window would be a rolling 60 days from today until the first FP is booked. At that point, the window would continue rolling for 14 days unless the NE option is included. Which would instead keep a 60 day rolling Window until all admission days were booked.

 

[Laketravis]

I think the trigger would be the linking of tickets to the MDE, and the window would be a rolling 60 days from today until the first FP is booked. At that point, the window would continue rolling for 14 days unless the NE option is included. Which would instead keep a 60 day rolling Window until all admission days were booked.

Yep, that would certainly work.