not a fan of fast pass plus

[Krissy562]

Some of us think it's a bad idea only because it takes away from someone who might have actually wanted it to use to stay in. It's not like they're unlimited. I would feel sorry for the family who couldn't book because someone used what they needed as a throw away.

It's great that you have sympathy for folks that don't get what they want or need. I'm truly not being sarcastic, but I am having a hard time understanding where/how you would decide to draw the line.

Assuming that paying your "fair share" for the limited resource isn't enough; that it has to be used in a way that satisfies a particular standard...
Is it acceptable for a single person stay at the campground for a weekend, even though they are keeping that family from using it for their week-long vacation?
Would it have been ok for someone single/family to reserve the campground for a week to get the FP+ EMH and parking perk, use it as their "base" to hotel hop from Universal SW, Disney, etc as long as they stayed there...maybe one night? Would that be enough? Would it be worse?

I've never booked a "throwaway reservation" but I did do something similar, and I'd be curious to see where this would fall on your scale:

DH, DD and I had never been to Universal, but wanted to take advantage of FOTL and particularly Early Entry to Harry Potter We had 3 day tickets to Universal for the first time ever and a 7-day Disney Ticket. We booked a 3 night Priceline stay at a yucky and cheap I-drive hotel before our stay at POFQ because it was the weekend following President's Day and Disney rates were stupid - Universal's were stupid plus. We stayed the first night at the I-Drive place, left the bulk of our stuff there but spent 1 night at Royal Pacific, then came back and spent the third night at the I-Drive place. On the Fourth we moved to POFQ.

Was that wrong, because a family couldn't book the yucky hotel room we didn't stay in that one night? Should we have packed up our 11 days of clothes and stuff and moved it twice to avoid taking the room we weren't using, away from a family who could have?

Who gets to make the call as to whether or not I am using something I paid for, in the way that "some of you" would think is ok or a "bad idea?"

 

[mummabear]

How can it be cheating if the guest is spending money.

IMHO it is only cheating if you book FP+'s beyond your paid stay. However this is what Disney is allowing (right now anyway) so technically people are not doing anything wrong.

 

[mummabear]

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[morethananyonex]

IMHO it is only cheating if you book FP+'s beyond your paid stay. However this is what Disney is allowing (right now anyway) so technically people are not doing anything wrong.

How can you call that cheating when Disney themselves deem it Disney legal?

That's like saying it's cheating to feed your 2 year old from the buffet at a buffet restaurant for free because you feel it's wrong even though Disney has determined the rules and the rules state it's fine.

Cheating would be figuring out some way to book FP+ after your stay if Disney didn't allow it. You might not like it, but that doesn't make it cheating or wrong.

 

[mummabear]

How can you call that cheating when Disney themselves deem it Disney legal?

That's like saying it's cheating to feed your 2 year old from the buffet at a buffet restaurant for free because you feel it's wrong even though Disney has determined the rules and the rules state it's fine.

Cheating would be figuring out some way to book FP+ after your stay if Disney didn't allow it. You might not like it, but that doesn't make it cheating or wrong.

I said myself that Disney is currently allowing it so it is not technically wrong.

 

[morethananyonex]

I said myself that Disney is currently allowing it so it is not technically wrong.

You also said in your opinion it's cheating. If something is not wrong how is it cheating? That makes no sense to me.

 

[Joe Dirt 1972]

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[aubriee]

This just sealed it for me: We are not going in March.

We've been on the fence waiting to book. There is no way in heck I am waiting in any kind of line like I see here. We'd be staying at Swan and buying a Premier Pass so wouldn't be able to reserve anything prior to our trip.

How can any of this be a positive thing?????

We are thinking the same thing. We have annual passes and want to get one more trip out of them before they expire in the spring. We are currently booked for March 21-31st, but will be staying offsite. I really do not want to even go to WDW. We have APs for both WDW and Universal, as well as Fun Passes for Sea World. We will probably spend most of our time at Universal and Sea World. We were at WDW in early Dec and Sept (again staying offsite) and saw how negatively FP+ affected our trips. Now with even more people using FP+ and no FP- available, I can see how it's going to be even worse. I just really feel like we are through with WDW at this point.

 

[aubriee]

That is probably the longest FP return line I've seen in a long while, if ever.

This suggests to me, as I've long suspected, that it takes longer for each FP holder to scan their band/ticket for the green Mickey than it does or a CM to eyeball a group of 3/4/5/6 or more paper FPs.

Back in November someone posted a picture of the FP line for Space Mountain that showed it going outside almost to the People Mover. About the same time I saw a You Tube video showing the FP line again out almost to the people mover and some man standing close to the CM close to the entrance and you could hear the man saying, "But I have a fast pass for this". The CM kept telling him to go to the back of that line as that was where the FP line started. The man just couldn't seem to comprehend that a FP line could be that long and kept standing there saying, "But I have a fast pass". He finally just walked off.

 

[aubriee]

I have a feeling those Fort Wilderness campsites that start at $49 a night for up to 10 people are going to be booked solid in the very near future.

They already are. We checked for our March trip. Throw away reservations are looking better and better for people who actually prefer to stay offsite. Only thing is for March 21st, when we would do it, the cheapest camp site is a preferred tent site and is $149.00 a night (even with an AP discount).

 

[aubriee]

I know you are not the only one to suggest the "throwaway" camp site but I have a real problem with that idea.

#1 No matter how you try to justify it, you are trying to cheat the system!

#2 As someone who has camped at FW previously, (with youngest DS in a dome tent) I know there aren't that many partial campsites in the first place. To have someone book one, for 1 night, just to get in on the benefits of FP+, isn't very nice. I would hate to think a family who was wanting to camp would not be able to do so because the sites were bogusly (I made that word up! ) booked.

With all this talk about "throwaway" campsites I imagine it will just be a matter of time before Disney closes that little "loophole" and requires the length of stay to be equal to the number of days on your park tickets.
TC

As an annual passholder that stays offsite, I disagree. We are seriously thinking about booking one of those 'throw away campsites' and feel absolutely no guilt about it. For March 21st, using the AP discount, the cheapest campsite they have is a premium tent site that is $149.00 for the night. Again that's using the spring discount for AP holders. If I'm willing to waste $149.00 for a campsite I have no intention of using that is my business. Disney should allow annual passholders who choose to stay offsite to book FP+ prior to their trips. From what I've read, once I get one 'onsite' stay under my belt, then I will be able to book FP+ for any subsequent trips, even if I stay offsite. How is it fair, that an AP holder who happened to stay one night on site last fall, can now book FP+ for all their subsequent trips, even if they are staying offsite, while the rest of us staying offsite are being treated like the proverbial red headed step child?

Disney can not require the length of stay to be equal to the number of days on your park ticket, because where would that leave annual passholders? We have park media for 365 days a year and an angry as I am at WDW right now, I might just be tempted to book FP+ for every single day I could, keeping 365 days/year booked. I believe right now AP holders can book for up to seven days (if they have at least one 'onsite' stay under their belt, since FP+ started). Which brings up another point. Since we stay for eleven days each trip, how is it fair that AP's are being punished by being allowed to book only seven days of FP+, but someone who stays onsite and buys just a one day park ticket can book for as many days as they want? We paid a heck of alot more for our annual passes than onsiters who buy just a one or even seven day base ticket. Yet we are being treated like second rate guests.

 

[aubriee]

If the off site guest books one night cheap for access, I actually think it sucks worse for on site. They are paying those crazy prices for less while off site is getting deluxe accommodations for less money and now off site can pretty much get all of the perks that on site, but emh by just spending the extra $100 for the 1 or 2 week vacation. I don' think free parking(b/c is is really free when you are paying that much for a motel or one of the deluxe hotels?) or transportation(everyone can use it and many don't want to) is a perk. I'll say pools are a perk if you are staying at deluxe, but otherwise off site wins out there too b/c the pools are just as nice and you get your own private pool if you stay house/townhouse. I know some will still say the bubble, but if you pick the right off site home you are immersed in WDW theming. I think Disney has crapped the bed on this one.

I agree! As I said before we are seriously considering booking a 'throw away' room or campsite, just to get the magic bands and our annual passes in the system. We would still be staying offsite though. We can afford onsite and did multiple times a year for years. Then last year we discovered offsite and have never looked back. We do not want to stay onsite. Why should we, when we can pay $60.00 or $100.00 per night for a fully furnished condo at Bonnet Creek. We are still within the Disney gates, maybe five minutes from DS and Epcot. We hate Disney transportation, so don't consider that a perk, and would be renting a car anyway. With our AP's we get free parking at the parks. We don't do night time EMH, so the only onsite perk that we would use, might be morning EMH and most of the time we didn't even use them if my elderly mom was with us. Why wouldn't we pay less to stay at Bonnet Creek, which is a deluxe resort with five pools, pool slides, two lazy rivers, mutliple hot tubs, free mini golf course, lots of kids activities, kids water playground, a separate living room with fully equipped kitchen, a washer/dryer, and jacuzzi tub and separate huge walk in shower. This past Dec we paid $60.00/night for a one bedroom at Bonnet Creek, but was offered a two bedroom for just $70.00/night. Even a deluxe resort at WDW couldn't come close to what we had at Bonnet Creek, much less a value resort.

This past Sept was a solo trip. I checked the price for a value resort using my AP disount. Then out of curiosity I checked for a one bedroom condo at Bonnet Creek. I didn't need that much space, but when I found the one bedroom BC condo was cheaper than even a WDW value resort, I went with it. Why would I pay over $100.00 per night for a tiny value room, when I was able to get a fully equipped condo at a much nicer deluxe resort that was closer to the parks for just $74.35 per night? Disney may think they are going to be able to force folks like me back onsite. Nope, they are simply insuring that we are going to continue offsite, not renew our AP's that we have had every single year since 2004, and will just find more things to do offsite. There are just too many things to do in central Florida to stand in long lines at WDW all day. They are really making a mistake pissing off AP holders (offsiters/locals) like they are.

 

[disneymac000]

Can I ask how many days were on your tickets?

Oh, I should mention. There are many here on these boards that think this is a really bad thing to do and is cheating.

4 days were my tickets and I booked 2 days at the campsites and i don't care. I spent my money for something I won't even use so disney will be happy they got extra money from me. they are the ones who matter not the ones who think i cheated...and would the same people be complaining if i booked a room at lets say the Art of Animation or POP Century just not to use?

 

[aubriee]

We are going for 25 nights from 6th August this year. will be our 11th trip and the first time we wont be going to Disney. I just cant face paying a £1000 for tickets and get less than I did last year. We absolutely love Disney but we go at a busy time so the FP is an important part for us. I refuse to stay on site anymore when you can stay at Bonnet Creek in a 2 bedroom for $140 a night and have 5 pools, 2 lazy rivers and lots of entertainment for the kids thrown in. Just a no brainer compared to a tiny room at Disney or a very expensive DVC room. (Although I do just love SSR, its 4 times more expensive than Bonnet Creek). So we are going to spend a week at St Petes Beach and then have 2 and a bit weeks in Orlando actually taking things alot slower than usual. Will go to DC, SW and AQ. Will spend 1 night at a Universal hotel to get front of line access. The big difference at Universal is that even in the summer you can get everything done in 2 days riding all the rides multiple times. It will cost us £160 for 3 of us to have 2 days of front of line which I think is a bargain when you think how much it would cost to buy the express pass. You cant compare this to staying onsite at Disney to get FP+ as it really isn't comparing like with like. My husband doesn't even stay in the Universal room and goes back to Bonnet Creek and meets my son and I again the next day.

That is pretty much what we did in Dec. I was solo at Bonnet Creek in Sept and saw how FP+ negatively affected my trip. I usually go to WDW 4-6 times every year and at least one of those trips are solo trips. Yes, I admit I was always one of the uber FP users on my solo trips. I made every rope drop and grabbed fast passes as fast as I could to use later in the day. Once WDW started enforcing fast pass times, I was not thrilled, but accepted it. Now I am not even able to get decent fast pass times because onsiters are booking them ahead of time. In Sept I paid just $74.30 for a one bedroom condo at Bonnet Creek, then in early Dec we paid just $60.00 for a one bedroom. With those prices we had no problem booking a night or two over at Universal for front of the line passes and early entry and just leaving the condo empty. In Dec my mom really wanted to go back to Bonnet Creek, saying the room at HRH just seemed so small after the condo. I reminded her how much smaller the WDW resort rooms were than the Universal resort rooms. She said there is no way we could ever go back to staying onsite as those rooms are just too tiny for three adults.

When I came back from my Sept solo trip, I told my husband and mom how FP+ had made both fast pass and standby lines alot longer than we were used to at that time of the year and how the few FP- I got had really late return times that I couldn't even use, because I am never in the parks that late. They said we should give it one more try.

The Dec trip was worse than the Sept one. With my mom's poor health we had trouble getting to rope drop so good fast pass times were long gone, even though we'd get there just shortly after rope drop. We were able to get only one fast pass all week with a decent return time and surprisingly that was for Soarin the one day she was able to make rope drop. We spent a half day in MK and DS, before getting so frustrated we just left and then a whole day in Epcot where we rode a total of three rides (Soarin, Mission Space, and then we used single rider for Test Track). At that point we were so frustrated with not getting to ride like we usually do, that we didn't even bother going back to the parks the rest of the trip. We usually go to AK at least twice each trip, but didn't even bother going over there at all this trip. In an eleven day trip we usually spend nine days at WDW and two days at Universal. Knowing how FP+ negatively affected my Sept trip, I went ahead and bought those $92.00 Fun Passes that give unlimited access to Sea World for the year. I am so glad I did. We spent a couple of days over there, an extra third day at Universal, a day at the beach, then a couple days doing things like a monster truck ride over at Showcase of Citrus and an airboat ride. That is stuff we normally don't do, but we couldn't see spending the trip standing in long lines at WDW. I have no desire to go back, but my husband wants to get at least one more trip out of our APs before they expire this spring. We will be renewing our Universal AP's but have no intention of renewing our WDW APs. I stopped off in two guest services when I was there in Sept and then we stopped off again in Dec to tell them exactly why we would not be renewing our AP's for the first time in nine years and why we would no longer by making trips down there 4-6 times a year. We'll still be going to central Florida, just won't be wasting money on APs for WDW.

 

[larryz]

ANNOUNCING:
The newest Specialty Dining Opportunity....Lunch with an Imaginexec. You get to spend your whole dining experience trying to understand what they've been thinking. Only drawback is that you have to use one of your FP+ "entitlements"

I'm waiting for the "Lunch with an ex-Executive" offer...

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm waiting for the "Lunch with an ex-Executive" offer...

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Totally off topic but mom2rtk, I was checking out some of your flickr pics. WOW! You have some beautiful pics! Do you take Disney pics for a living??

 

[Laketravis]

There is already a thread debating the moral and ethical repercussions of reserving and paying for a campsite but not actually (gasp) sleeping at it:

Throwaway Rooms

 

[Joe Dirt 1972]

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[mom2rtk]

Totally off topic but mom2rtk, I was checking out some of your flickr pics. WOW! You have some beautiful pics! Do you take Disney pics for a living??

Thank you so much. That's very high praise. But no, photography is just a hobby I enjoy.