Official policy for fastpass plus grace period?

[mrsincredible3]

Is it stated anywhere officially that there is a grace period to arrive early or late for a fastpass plus? I had read on the boards you could arrive 15 minutes late and he pass would be honored. On the phone one cm told me absolutely yes this is true and another told me no, there is no such policy. Inconsistency seems to be quite common among cms, regarding a number of questions I've had. Can anyone confirm or deny he fastpass plus grace period, specifically with something in writing from disney? Thanks. We have small kids and sometimes a bathroom, diaper change or snack meltdown calls.

 

[mesaboy2]

Is it stated anywhere officially that there is a grace period to arrive early or late for a fastpass plus? I had read on the boards you could arrive 15 minutes late and he pass would be honored. On the phone one cm told me absolutely yes this is true and another told me no, there is no such policy. Inconsistency seems to be quite common among cms, regarding a number of questions I've had. Can anyone confirm or deny he fastpass plus grace period, specifically with something in writing from disney? Thanks. We have small kids and sometimes a bathroom, diaper change or snack meltdown calls.

No official policy. The system is now largely automated though, so there are tons of reports of success both 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after--likely programmed into the system. But...I still wouldn't count on it.

 

[Brian Noble]

The point of a grace period is to accommodate people who for one reason or another miss the stated time by a little bit without needing to grant an exception. If that extra time were made public, though, then guests would plan for it, some would miss it, and they'd need to grant an exception!

So, I don't think it is likely we'll ever see an "official statement" that it is allowed.

 

[jahber]

Yesterday when we went to MK my kids and I (who had magic bands and APs) had slightly different FP+ selections than my husband (I had to make his in the park--not fun). As a result, I was keeping too many FP+ windows in my head and arrived 10 minutes too early for me and my kids' FP+ to Buzz, but right on time for my husband's. My kids and I had blue mickeys on the RFID reader, but the CM just waved us through. I didn't realize that we were early, so I asked her what happened. She told me she was allowed to override the blue Mickey because she saw my husband's was green and our window was coming up. At that point I had pretty much had it with FP+ on our very first day of using it, so it was nice of her and definitely a nice surprise.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I can tell you the early window is 5 minutes - we've "tested" that multiple times. At 5 minutes early your mickey head will turn green and they'll let you in.

 

[sethschroeder]

Why not just NOT plan on any grace period (you already have a 1hr window).... like someone else said the grace period is for extenuating circumstances where there was an issue getting there on time.

If something comes up where your kid HAS to go to the bathroom is a 5 vs 10 min grace period going to make a difference? Doesn't your kid still need to go NOW!?

Its nice to hear that CMs have a little power outside of the system by the way.

 

[wisblue]

I can tell you the early window is 5 minutes - we've "tested" that multiple times. At 5 minutes early your mickey head will turn green and they'll let you in.

I used a FP 5 minutes early once too. We were at the ride and as I walked up I said to the CM, "I hear I can do this 5 minutes early", and she said "Yep" as Mickey turned green.

 

[stuntpir8]

We were there last week went 10 minutes early for a FP and got a blue Mickey. The cast member explained we were early and would need to step aside and wait 5 minutes. 5 minutes before our official window Mickey turned green with no intervention from the CM. Grace period seems to be built into the system.

 

[LWdisney]

I do not know the official parameters, but anecdotally … just back and heard CMs explaining numerous times to folks that they could not come early, frequently writing down the person's actual window times … But on the other end, after a BOG reservation went long (could NOT get the check) WE were 10-15 minutes late getting to BTMRR and we still glowed green - no need to explain! Oh, and it was interesting to me that the ADR did not prevent the system from offering me an overlapped FP+ … I thought there was programming to prevent that, but not in this case …

 

[stormtracker]

We were there for 8 days in the middle of January and used FP+ 5 minutes early multiple times with no trouble at all. Never tried one late.

 

[AmyB2006]

We've used ours up to 5 minutes before and up to 10 minutes late. Nothing special needed. Mickey head turned green.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Its nice to hear that CMs have a little power outside of the system by the way.

If you don't light up green, that CM likely will not let you through. It isn't the CM overriding the system, it is the system reportedly allowing people in earlier than their actual reservation. Which, I can also say happened to me as well.