Not to reopen that can of worms but...

[3DisneyFanz]

Really? I'd like to know your source for that information.

That wasy understanding but if I'm wrong then that's an unintentional boost to the program for them and creates artificial inflation in resort numbers to provide the board to help hide the real impact of the program.

 

[itchin2go]

That wasy understanding but if I'm wrong then that's an unintentional boost to the program for them and creates artificial inflation in resort numbers to provide the board to help hide the real impact of the program.

I don't have any inside information, but I booked a throwaway, kept it, and paid for it. I booked one at Universal too. The whole point of the throwaway at WDW is that for less than the cost of magicbands and parking you can just purchase a throwaway. Then you get resort perks to boot. I originally did it so I could book FPs at 60 days out. If I'm willing to book a throwaway for this privilege, no way am I willing to chance losing those FPs by cancelling it.

 

[RVY]

As a local resident, FAST PASS+ has proven to be outstanding! I can arrive at the front gate at 10 am. Take the train to Frontier Station and first ride Splash Mtn. Then a quick walk to ride Thunder Mtn. A relaxing lunch, A walk to BLY and then an Ice Cream cone as I head for the park exit or perhaps Epcot by 1:30.

After I realized how easy it was to "alter" the original fast pass+ wait times and taking into consideration the allowable "late" time
ride arrival allowance It was smiles from ear to ear. Last week the stand by line at Splash Mtn. was actually backed up to its starting point. Yet with Fast Pass+ there was NO wait at all. A simple walk on.

Perhaps it may be selfish, but if most people want to wait 45 minutes+ to ride an attraction in 93* weather, so be it.
When Disney begins to allows 4 or 5 Fast Pass+ per day, life at the parks will be even better! At least for me. The system works!

 

[itchin2go]

As a local resident, FAST PASS+ has proven to be outstanding! I can arrive at the front gate at 10 am. Take the train to Frontier Station and first ride Splash Mtn. Then a quick walk to ride Thunder Mtn. A relaxing lunch, A walk to BLY and then an Ice Cream cone as I head for the park exit or perhaps Epcot by 1:30.

After I realized how easy it was to "alter" the original fast pass+ wait times and taking into consideration the allowable "late" time
ride arrival allowance It was smiles from ear to ear. Last week the stand by line at Splash Mtn. was actually backed up to its starting point. Yet with Fast Pass+ there was NO wait at all. A simple walk on.

Perhaps it may be selfish, but if most people want to wait 45 minutes+ to ride an attraction in 93* weather, so be it.
When Disney begins to allows 4 or 5 Fast Pass+ per day, life at the parks will be even better! At least for me. The system works!

I feel like the summary here is that FP works great for people who are ok with only riding 3 rides a day. And I get why that's a successful day for you. If I were a local resident, it might be wonderful for me too. But everyone's circumstances are different.

We drive two days to get to WDW. We go once every year or 2 years. We pay roughly $60 per day for tickets. 3 rides per day at MK is not a successful day for us. Lucky for us, we rope drop and ride most things standby so we're not relegated to only riding 3 rides or waiting in interminably long lines. So far, for us, rope dropping has enabled us to essentially FP-proof our vacations. Whatever system is in place is not critical to us. Others were heavily dependent on FP- and their vacations have been very affected by the new system.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I'm learning to live with using FP+. I was really happy about it for the Wishes FP+ area. I really liked that spot. I'm still not a big fan though. I could do so much more with the old system.

My next solo trip I've decided to only spend 2 nights at Disney and the other 2 will be at the Hard Rock Hotel. Originally I was just going to go over there for Disapalooza but I remembered how nice it was to tour those parks with the express pass and not have to deal with ADR's so I booked there instead of staying at Disney the whole time.

 

[JanaDee]

That wasy understanding but if I'm wrong then that's an unintentional boost to the program for them and creates artificial inflation in resort numbers to provide the board to help hide the real impact of the program.

I agree with you in that it shows an artificial boost to occupancy numbers, but I believe that most people that book a throwaway room don't cancel it, because if they did, they'd also lose the fastpasses they booked at 60 days.

 

[maxiesmom]

I feel like the summary here is that FP works great for people who are ok with only riding 3 rides a day. And I get why that's a successful day for you. If I were a local resident, it might be wonderful for me too. But everyone's circumstances are different.

We drive two days to get to WDW. We go once every year or 2 years. We pay roughly $60 per day for tickets. 3 rides per day at MK is not a successful day for us. Lucky for us, we rope drop and ride most things standby so we're not relegated to only riding 3 rides or waiting in interminably long lines. So far, for us, rope dropping has enabled us to essentially FP-proof our vacations. Whatever system is in place is not critical to us. Others were heavily dependent on FP- and their vacations have been very affected by the new system.

I love FP+ and I get on way more than 3 rides a day. If someone is only getting on 3 rides, then they are spending most of their time at their hotel. Or touring on Christmas Day and not getting to the park until noon. If I only got on 3 rides a day I would probably hate being at the parks.

 

[momof2n2]

I don't have any inside information, but I booked a throwaway, kept it, and paid for it. I booked one at Universal too. The whole point of the throwaway at WDW is that for less than the cost of magicbands and parking you can just purchase a throwaway. Then you get resort perks to boot. I originally did it so I could book FPs at 60 days out. If I'm willing to book a throwaway for this privilege, no way am I willing to chance losing those FPs by cancelling it.

Me too! Although I booked a campsite. If their campsite numbers go up, maybe they will increase campsites and there will be even more available to throwaway??

 

[maxiesmom]

Me too! Although I booked a campsite. If their campsite numbers go up, maybe they will increase campsites and there will be even more available to throwaway??

More likely they are figuring out some way to deal with the throwaway bookings and stop them from happening.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Really? I'd like to know your source for that information.

Pretty sure they mean guest cancels. Don't know if it is most, but some do cancel
Their rooms once they get inside of 30.

But then again, I don't know
What fee they would incur. ?????

 

[JanaDee]

More likely they are figuring out some way to deal with the throwaway bookings and stop them from happening.

As long as Disney gets the money for the room, they aren't going to do anything about throwaway rooms.

 

[itchin2go]

Pretty sure they mean guest cancels. Don't know if it is most, but some do cancel
Their rooms once they get inside of 30.

But then again, I don't know
What fee they would incur. ?????

No fee, but I would be afraid to lose the FPs. Getting those at 60 days out was the main reason I did it.

And too, I booked in part for the magicbands and free parking. Not sure what would have happened to the bands, but I wouldn't have gotten the free parking. Some people with throwaways also did it in part to access EMH for 2 days. If you cancelled, you wouldn't get that.

I'm sure some do cancel. I know some don't. I just thought PP alleged that most cancelled, and I didn't know that this was the case, so I wondered where the info came from. I read and posted in that throwaway thread a lot, and my perception was that people were keeping the reservations. I think perhaps some have the wrong idea about the "throwaway". I think many, if not most that posted in that thread did the math and realized that for the cost of a throwaway, you got bands and free parking for 2 days, in addition to the other perks that came with the booking. If the math was anywhere near breakeven, it was a no brainer. But cancelling wasn't part of the plan.

I had actually booked my tickets with my throwaway through Disney. So if I had cancelled the whole thing, I would have lost my FPs for sure.

 

[itchin2go]

More likely they are figuring out some way to deal with the throwaway bookings and stop them from happening.

As long as Disney gets the money for the room, they aren't going to do anything about throwaway rooms.

Yeah - I don't think is at the top of their list of pressing problems ... if it's even on a list at all.

 

[momof2n2]

More likely they are figuring out some way to deal with the throwaway bookings and stop them from happening.

As long as Disney gets the money for the room, they aren't going to do anything about throwaway rooms.

Yeah. I agree with JanaDee. I can't imagine they would care. Like, restaurants don't care if you buy the meal & throw it away when you leave the counter.

Now - I DO agree they might be trying to eliminate any residual perks people may be retaining with partial cancellations.

 

[itchin2go]

Yeah. I agree with JanaDee. I can't imagine they would care. Like, restaurants don't care if you buy the meal & throw it away when you leave the counter.

 

[Luckybee]

I agree with you in that it shows an artificial boost to occupancy numbers, but I believe that most people that book a throwaway room don't cancel it, because if they did, they'd also lose the fastpasses they booked at 60 days.

Actually one doesn't lose the fp's if you cancel the throwaway or any other room you've booked which quite frankly did surprise me(unless it is a package). On our last trip we were booked to spend our 1st few days at the Poly where are friends wanted to stay. Within the 60 day window but before the 30 day window opened we ended up cancelling (after our friends backed out from the trip) since we were able to get a luxury suite at the Waldorf for less than a garden room at the Poly .

Although we couldn't make any changes to our fp's already booked until the 30 day window opened we retained those fp's.

A true throwaway does not involve cancelling the room. Although I am a proponent of the throwaway strategy I have never been a proponent of booking for fp's then cancelling the room. That does cost Disney money, and I am surprised that they allow fp's under those circumstances to remain.

 

[itchin2go]

I love FP+ and I get on way more than 3 rides a day. If someone is only getting on 3 rides, then they are spending most of their time at their hotel. Or touring on Christmas Day and not getting to the park until noon. If I only got on 3 rides a day I would probably hate being at the parks.

Well, PP is a local resident, so popping into a park and riding 3 rides may be a good thing in that situation. Other situations where I've seen this are arrival and departure days, or more accurately, "partial days". 3 rides at night on arrival day may be ideal for some, especially when they are 3 rides that you would NOT have been able to ride easily under FP- (because of long lines or the FPs had all been distributed by then).

For us, on our last trip, there was one day when we planned a resort day, but we wanted to go to DHS that night just for dinner and Osborne Lights. The original thought was no rides. At some point, it occurred to me to go ahead and book FPs anyway. Because of FP+, Star Tours and TSMM were possible for us that night. That was probably the one time where I saw a definite advantage to FP+. But that's not a typical day for us.

Regardless, you are right that 3 rides is not ideal in most situations.

* To clarify, I wasn't trying to say that if you like FP+, you must be ok with only 3 rides per day. I would not try to paint everyone with such a broad brush. But for sure, if you ARE ok with just 3 rides (for whatever reason, local, partial day or anything else), then FP+ is going to work great for you. I hope I'm making sense. I'm on day 5 of the worst cold ever. My voice is gone, and I'm overcompensating by typing too much here!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I feel like the summary here is that FP works great for people who are ok with only riding 3 rides a day. And I get why that's a successful day for you. If I were a local resident, it might be wonderful for me too. But everyone's circumstances are different.

We drive two days to get to WDW. We go once every year or 2 years. We pay roughly $60 per day for tickets. 3 rides per day at MK is not a successful day for us. Lucky for us, we rope drop and ride most things standby so we're not relegated to only riding 3 rides or waiting in interminably long lines. So far, for us, rope dropping has enabled us to essentially FP-proof our vacations. Whatever system is in place is not critical to us. Others were heavily dependent on FP- and their vacations have been very affected by the new system.

I think that is a misunderstanding on your part. One great thing about being local IS the popping in and popping out. Many times we locals do only go for a ride or two or whatever. This has been in ALL phases of fast pass.

What the local you quoted is now they can go in at 10. It DOES make popping in and popping out easier. FP+ is NOT restricting then to only 3.

We pop in for rope drop sometimes. FP+ sometimes and both for others.

Today, we popped in for an AP poster distribution, a quick standby ride on RNR and then wandered over to EPCOT where we had fastpasses waiting.

How do you draw the conclusion that they are limited to ONLY three rides period?

 

[itchin2go]

I think that is a misunderstanding on your part. One great thing about being local IS the popping in and popping out. Many times we locals do only go for a ride or two or whatever. This has been in ALL phases of fast pass.

What the local you quoted is now they can go in at 10. It DOES make popping in and popping out easier. FP+ is NOT restricting then to only 3.

We pop in for rope drop sometimes. FP+ sometimes and both for others.

Today, we popped in for an AP poster distribution, a quick standby ride on RNR and then wandered over to EPCOT where we had fastpasses waiting.

How do you draw the conclusion that they are limited to ONLY three rides period?

I have not expressed myself very well, and for that I apologize. I think my comment has been taken out of context.

I was replying to 1 previous poster, a self-described local, who recounted popping into MK and riding 3 rides (train, Splash, BTMRR, I think), as an explanation to why he/she loves FP+. Just to that 1 poster.

I tried to explain better in a later post. My point was not that if you like FP+, you MUST be ok with only 3 rides. I don't think that's true - not even a little bit.

Conversely, though, if only riding 3 rides is a good day for you, then of course, you'll love FP+. You can book 3 premium rides ahead of time and ride them with little to no wait.

There are plenty of other kinds of people who will like FP+. I've read accounts of people who had tons of luck with 4th and 5th and 6th FPs. Those people are not ok with only 3 rides and they like FP+.

Edited to add: We ride most everything standby and we certainly do more than 3 things. I don't think the new system limits you to only 3 things. I hope I didn't say that, because that would make me sound really stupid.

 

[WillAustin]

How do you draw the conclusion that they are limited to ONLY three rides period?

My guess is that he's saying that if you don't want to wait in lines, you might only get 3. I don't think that's realistic, but I see how it applies to our family. We used to get multiple headliners and other FPs every day of the trip, never waiting in a line over 20 minutes. During busy times that is almost impossible now because more of the FP slots are being used already.

EDIT: I see Itchin2Go answered you.

You can book 3 premium rides ahead of time and ride them with little to no wait.

Well...1 premium and 2 others in the parks where FP matters more.