On site one night of trip and FP issues

[KaptainK]

We are meeting my SIL and her family at Disney the first week of May. They are staying off site until the last night of the trip when they are staying on-site. They have 4 day tickets. MDE is only letting them book fastpasses for the last 2 days of the trip (the 2 days of their on-site stay). We are staying off site and have APs and were able to book FP for all days of our trip. They are new to FP so she just thought they couldn't book those other days.

I had her call Disney and they were told they couldn't book the first days FPs because they weren't staying on site those days, that they would have to wait and get FP in the parks. I said NO that can't be right! She said the guy she talked to said he had worked there 14 years. I told her to call back and see if someone else can help her. It just doesn't seem right to me that she would be punished for staying on site one night over those who stay off site the entire trip. We are less than 2 weeks away from the trip so 60 versus 30 days doesn't matter now.

Any advice? Is this a common glitch?

 

[mom2rtk]

Wrong answer!

 

[hiroMYhero]

If your SIL's family has a package booked, they cannot book for the offsite days prior to the package.

Their tickets do not become active until the day their package stay begins. They will need to activate their tickets at Guest Relations and book their offsite park days' FPs at that time.

 

[hiroMYhero]

This is from @mesaboy2's Superthread:

• Offsite Stay followed by Onsite Package Stay. The 60-day FP booking window will open at 60 days before the check-in date of the onsite package stay and will extend until the checkout date of the onsite package stay. This booking window will not include the dates of the offsite stay because the package tickets are not considered valid until check-in date of the onsite package stay. The ticket portion of the package can be activated up to 10 days prior of the onsite package check-in date (so that the package tickets can be used during the offsite stay).

 

[mom2rtk]

If your SIL's family has a package booked, they cannot book for the offsite days prior to the package.

Their tickets do not become active until the day their package stay begins. They will need to activate their tickets at Guest Relations and book their offsite park days' FPs at that time.

Oops, I blew that. I'm surprised by that!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Oops, I blew that. I'm surprised by that!

Surprised in that you made a very rare error? I actually was surprised!

It's the main drawback of tickets in a package especially with an offsite > onsite stay. Separately linked tickets are the way to go with this type of Split Stay.

 

[mom2rtk]

Surprised in that you made a very rare error? I actually was surprised!

It's the main drawback of tickets in a package especially with an offsite > onsite stay. Separately linked tickets are the way to go with this type of Split Stay.

I'm glad you're here to set things straight!

I'm also glad I read this, as I would sure hate to find this out the hard way. I'm helping a friend plan a trip right now. I'm relieved hers goes from onsite to offsite instead of the other way around.

 

[mesaboy2]

I'm glad you're here to set things straight!

I'm also glad I read this, as I would sure hate to find this out the hard way.

Well, there's like, a whole thread and all.

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, there's like, a whole thread and all.

Any chance you could help me find it?

 

[KaptainK]

Thanks for the info. In this case, they had originally booked an offsite hotel and 4 day tickets and then switched their last night on site. So, the tickets and on site stay were not part of a package together.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Thanks for the info. In this case, they had originally booked an offsite hotel and 4 day tickets and then switched their last night on site. So, the tickets and on site stay were not part of a package together.

If your SIL had purchased the tickets through Disney or her MDE account, she may have inadvertently agreed to convert to a package when she added the onsite night.

If she always had an open 30-day window in her FP area, then her tickets were separately linked. If the FP area was never showing an open window, which appears to be the case, her onsite reservation and tickets were combined as a package.

If she has her receipt for the separately linked ticket, she should call Ticketing again. She should also have her room-only reservation number to also prove a room-only stay.

 

[KaptainK]

If your SIL had purchased the tickets through Disney or her MDE account, she may have inadvertently agreed to convert to a package when she added the onsite night.

If she always had an open 30-day window in her FP area, then her tickets were separately linked. If the FP area was never showing an open window, which appears to be the case, her onsite reservation and tickets were combined as a package.

If she has her receipt for the separately linked ticket, she should call Ticketing again. She should also have her room-only reservation number to also prove a room-only stay.

Thanks, maybe that's what happened. I'll give her this information. She never tried to make her FP reservations until a few days ago when she already had the on site booked. Don't get me started on trying to coordinate this trip with them when I'm a hyper planner and they have been "too busy" to decide which parks they want to do each day.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Thanks, maybe that's what happened. I'll give her this information. She never tried to make her FP reservations until a few days ago when she already had the on site booked. Don't get me started on trying to coordinate this trip with them when I'm a hyper planner and they have been "too busy" to decide which parks they want to do each day.

That's what I figured or you would have already linked her MDE to yours.

If she has received Arcade and mini-golf coupons, she has indeed booked a package.

 

[KaptainK]

Update (for anyone who care, LOL!). SIL called back and eventually asked for a supervisor. They were not able to fix her account so she could book fastpasses for her first 2 days, but they did give her 3 "Anytime, Anything" fastpasses for each of them. Do you know if those can really be used for anything? Like Anna/Elsa, TSMM?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Update (for anyone who care, LOL!). SIL called back and eventually asked for a supervisor. They were not able to fix her account so she could book fastpasses for her first 2 days, but they did give her 3 "Anytime, Anything" fastpasses for each of them. Do you know if those can really be used for anything? Like Anna/Elsa, TSMM?

Yes, her choice of attractions or meet and greets. She can coordinate with your FPs.

 

[KaptainK]

Yes, her choice of attractions or meet and greets. She can coordinate with your FPs.

Amazing! I think that worked out in her favor then. She'll even be able to do Anna and Elsa, which I wasn't able to get FPs for. Maybe being clueless has it's benefits!

 

[hiroMYhero]

And, as soon as she activates her tickets at Guest Relations, she should be able to book FPS using the active ticket entitlements! Very much in her favor and you won't have to worry about her FPs!

 

[KnittingMom]

Thanks, maybe that's what happened. I'll give her this information. She never tried to make her FP reservations until a few days ago when she already had the on site booked. Don't get me started on trying to coordinate this trip with them when I'm a hyper planner and they have been "too busy" to decide which parks they want to do each day.

In my experience, the easiest way to coordinate with another family who have a different planning style is to plan to meet for meals and/or swims. When we travelled in 2009 with my brother's family, I made all the sit down meal plans (we all had free dining and they had only one restaurant request, which I of course honored). We were together at least once a day, and we could use that time to plan for the next day, to make "let's meet at the pool on Tuesday afternoon" plans. Sometimes we all got up from dinner and rode some rides together, but two families do not need to be together all the time.

I have boys and my brother has girls, so I sent them off to the Princess Breakfast at Akershaus while we lunched at the Coral Reef (my kids love the Coral Reef). My sister in law said, "You picked the best restaurants for the girls."

 

[KaptainK]

I agree that it's impossible to keep everyone together, especially with little kids who might need naps. But the only reason we are going to Disney on this trip is to see our family. We live 2 hours from Disney and they live 12 hours from us so meeting them for their trip is going to be the first time we've seen them in a year. I just found out they booked a character meal without asking us and that they moved hotels for the last night. Who knows how much we will see if each other.