I have been following FP+ threads closely, and this idea about offsite FP+ booking has me asking some questions, which may be obvious to some:
1) For onsite stays, it is clear to
MDE when you will be at Disney and thus will use FP+. If you are doing a split onsite/offsite stay (8 days, 4 on, 4 off), will the system allow you to book FP+ past your onsite stay or before your onsite stay? How would MDE know?
If they do indeed allow offsite to prebook, it won't matter. You can only go 60 days out. I think onsite guest will be able to do 60 days plus the length of their stay but off-site will have to come in each day at 60 days to make their's.
2) For offsite stays, it seems they are using ADRs as a "trigger" right now. What has me thinking is that MOST offsite people will not be booking ADRs. If they open this up live and an offsite guest has a 7-day ticket linked and no ADRs, what is to stop them from booking FP+ for times they are NOT going to WDW at all? For example (assuming the system is live) I link my tickets in April, but I am not planning on going until July, could I book FP+ in June, then just not show up? When will those FP+ be returned to the system, if ever? Would I then lose the ability to book for my actual dates in July if I do not cancel? I guess I am asking if anyone knows if there will be a penalty in place if you book FP+ and don't use them. Would those people then not be able to use FP+ at all, even when they get to the park?
I don't think this will be a big problem. AP holders than have already had an onsite stay to get their MBs have already had this ability to do this. I also don't believe their will a penalty unless it became a huge problem. Too much backlash. What would happen if your flight got cancelled or any other hundreds of things that could go wrong that would keep you from the park for that day. If you woke up in your room and had a child throwing up, I'm not sure you would think about cancelling FP+s you made 60 days ago.
3) Will the days allowed for booking FP+ be limited to the days on the linked ticket?
Yes So on a 5-day ticket that expires 14 days after first use, would there only be 5 days I could book in that 14-day window, assuming MDE does not know what my plans are? Or in a 7-day window, as I have seen for AP? Or would it allow me to book every day? And what is that trigger for the first day?
I would think you could book and 5 days within 14 days of that first booking since the system would know that 21 days later that ticket would be expired. If you have a 5 day with no expiration date could book any 5 days as long as it was only 60 days out. They could book 70 days out. Right now the trigger seems to be an ADR but I could see that even that could go away and if you had a ticket linked, you could book any day you wanted as long as it was 60 days or less out. But if you have that 5 day ticket and booked one day on June 1, you couldn't book another day for June 30 because that ticket would expire before June 30 if you used it on June 1. That would not be true if you had no expiration.
4) I wonder if they will give FP+ booking preference to onsite guests on days of high attendance, like Easter or July 4th, just as they do when the parks reach capacity. It would stink to have your FP+ booked as an offsite guest, and then not even be able to get into the park.
I don't think having a prebook FP+ will get you into the park if it is closed due to capacity. From my understand an ADR would not get you in the gates either in that same case.
For disclosure, I am an AP holder and DVC, and we always stay onsite. We were there in early Nov 2013, but we chose NOT to use FP+ and stayed with KTTW cards to use in the FP kiosks, even though we had Magic Bands. Going again this May, and will be forced to use FP+. So I have no opinion of the system yet. And I have no problem with anyone staying offsite using FP+. I am all about pre-planning!
But my general concern is that if the FP+ system is opened to anyone with a ticket linked to MDE, but the system has no method to tie in actual dates of a vacation, there will be abuse of the system. People will book FP+ they never intend on using. There will be artificial depletion of FP+, similar to the problems with ADRs until recently, where people would book and never show up. I am hoping there is some control mechanism in place, and maybe that is what they are doing with this test. It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the coming weeks as more offsite folks are invited to participate.
I understand!! 
