Possible good news for offsiters and FP+

[Disney_Princess83]

You must have tickets linked to make FP+ reservations in advance. Your voucher should be able to be added to your MDE though

A few questions.

1) Do offsite guests need to have tickets linked in order to use FP+? We buy vouchers at our local Disney store and turn them in at the gate for tickets. So technically, we don't have tickets until we get there. How do we get around that (other than using UT)?

2) Assuming the answer to 1) is no, I'm guessing ADRs would trigger FP+. And I'm guessing Disney is assuming the ADR date is the first day you can do FP+. Assuming you can make "reservations" 60 days before your ADR date, how many subsequent days will Disney allow you to make reservations?

 

[dayvewc]

I think we will have to wait until next weekend to see exactly how it will work, but I don't see any problems with the questions you have asked.

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?

Simple, for illustration purposes, we will allow that our fantasy family has purchased an 8 day non-expiring ticket. Once they are 60 days from their first park day (regardless of whether they are staying on-site or off-site first) they will be able to start booking FP+. They can then book another day each day until they have booked 8 days of FP+ OR reach their 14 day window when the tickets expire. The exception will be when their on-site stay starts, at which point they can book their FP+ for the length of stay (4 days).

To break it into cases,
1) our family is planning a 4-day on-site stay followed by 4 days off-site with initial check-in on April 7. On February 6 (60 days previous) they can book 4 days of FP+ (corresponding with their on-site stay, and allowing the on-site perk similar to ADR's of the +10). Then, beginning on Feb 10, they can book a FP+ for April 11, Feb 11 for Apr 12, Feb 12 for Apr 13 and Feb 13 for Apr 14.
2) our family is planning a 4 day off-site stay followed by 4 days on-site with initial check-in on April 7. On Feb 6 they can book for Apr 7, Feb 7 for Apr 8, Feb 8 for Apr 9, and Feb 9 for Apr 10. Then on Feb 10 (corresponding with their on-site check-in) they can book their remaining 4 days.

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 think they are using the ADR's as a "trigger" for notification purposes only right now. Given that when people have changed their ADR's their booking window changes, it may appear as though the reservation capability is linked to the ADR, but I think it is simply a misunderstood fault of the system for notification. Disney does not know when you will be arriving, so they are using what information they do have (that you will be dining with them) to let you know that you can begin booking 60 days previous. So, here our fantasy family is staying for 8 days off-site, with a check-in on April 7 and a single ADR scheduled for the last day (April 14) as the "Good-bye to Disney Dinner" the system only know that they will be in the area on that 1 day, so it is alerting people that they can begin pre-booking 60 days before they arrive (which will be Feb 6 btw), but 60 days prior to the reservation is Feb 13, so that is the date the system uses as it is the only date it has to work with.

For the other part of the question, I do not foresee their being a penalty to the pre-booking and not using right now. Other than, to use your example, you link your tickets in April and make reservations in June, even though yo won't be there in July. When May arrives you cannot make any reservations since either 1) you have used all your days in June to book fictitious reservations (with a NE ticket ) or 2) it is past the 14 day window from your first reservation, so your ticket is no longer valid (if you did not book all your days available in June and you do not have the NE option). or 3) you can book what days remain on your ticket if you did not book them all in June and you have the NE option. Unused FP+ will be released back into the system at the end of their window, unless canceled earlier by the user. I anticipate that Disney will estimate a percentage of people will simply not use their FP+, so while their goal will be for 80% of ride capacity to be pre-booked, they will actually allow 90% to be pre-booked guessing that approximately 10% of guests will fail to show. (I am using numbers here to illustrate, I do not have actual numbers that Disney is planning to use). Worst case scenario, Disney will allow 100% of anticipated ride capacity to be pre-booked, which would mean that the standby line will be 12 hours long from park open. I cannot see a situation where they can allow more than 100% of capacity to be pre-booked, however, even though they will anticipate some number being unused. Unlike airlines who overbook, guests will not be in the same situation of "Oh, I'll just ride tomorrow instead if you provide me a free admission."

3) Will the days allowed for booking FP+ be limited to the days on the linked ticket? 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?

Yes. This is the only way it will work. And it would have to be a 14 day window for normal tickets, or up to the total ticket days left on NE tickets. The reason (and this is my guess) that AP are limited to 7 days is because otherwise they could book every day of the year 60 days in advance on the off-chance they can get an escape weekend or trip. Since I believe that the average stay is estimated at a week, that would explain why AP's are limited to 7 days.

The "trigger" for the first day is the first day you book. Once that first day is booked, the system will start a dual count where it counts down the number of days you have remaining on your ticket, and counts up to 14 days from your first booking, unless you have the NE option which would disable the 14 day limit.

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.

It will be given, but not directly. (Meaning that if an on-site person attempts to book JC, it won't cancel an off-site guests reservation). IMHO, it will be a perk of staying onsite in that you will be able to book 60 days + length of stay. So, people arriving on Good Friday and staying onsite can book Easter Sunday 62 days in advance, whereas off-site people will have to wait the additional days to book. These extremely high volume times will be when it will be really beneficial to staying on-site, as you will have that "length of stay" ability to book putting you days ahead of offsite people.

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 don't see an artificial depletion occurring because I think that Disney will intentionally allow "overbooking" of the ride with the anticipation of some number of missed FP+'s just in the normal course of the day. I can see a situation where if you have a week's worth of FP+ booked and miss all of them for 2 or 3 consecutive days then the rest will be canceled to allow them to be re-released into the general pool. I'm basing this on the possible situation where a person, in good faith, plans a trip but at last minute is unable to go. Car wreck, plane crash, death of a family member, canceled flights, etc. beyond the control of the guest. While I would think many people would be conscientious to cancel their reservations, some may not and some may not be able to. (I tend to travel by myself, if I had a trip planned but died unexpectedly, there is no one who could access my MDE to cancel the reservations even if they knew about them). However, in cases of a simple delay, Disney would want to allow them to miss more than just 1 day before canceling the remainder. For example, the guest may have booked for their arrival day, but due to flight delays or congested traffic do not arrive in Orlando in time to make them, but will be in the parks the next day.

Does anyone see any faults with the reasoning? I'm willing to be convinced problems will arise, but I do not think they will be the ones raised here.

(Not meaning to sound snarky on the last sentence, but I really think that if we can imagine problems, someone at Disney probably has as well and they will have plans in place to account for them [yeah, I may be an over-optimist here]. The real issues will be the things that happen that no one has thought of yet.)

 

[myonlysidekick]

Are you saying they can start selecting them on April 7th or they can start using the ones they booked 60 days before on April 7th. My understand was that the start date for selecting FPs would be Feb. 6 which is 60 days before April 7 which would be the first day the actually FP+ would be used.

Kateandkids reported that she saw a start date for making FP+ selection of Feb.22 which was 60 days before her first ADR. When she went it and made a new ADR for one day earlier, it changed the date she could start her FP+ selection by moving it one day earlier. My understanding was she did not have an AP or a MB. It seems each person's start date is based on when their first ADR is.

Staying off-site March 30-April 5, 2014. No AP,no tickets yet. My first ADR is April 1. MDE gave me the option to click on Fastpass+page. Clicked on and the message was "you may choose fastpass+ April 8, 2014 My tickets should be arriving soon, maybe after I link them to MDE, it will change. Wish me luck!

 

[WendyZQ]

Just tested this myself:

We're staying off-site Feb. 18-25, have tickets linked (from UT) and have ADRs set up on MDE.

Here's what I get when I go to https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/ and click on the locked FastPass+ link:

"You may begin making FastPass+ selections for your vacation on April 8, 2014."

If I click on FP+ from the dropdown, I get a pop-up that says:

Good News!
More Guests are becoming eligible for FastPass+ testing every day, so you may already be—or may soon become—able to request FastPass+ selections.

To see if you can participate in the test, complete these steps to make your FastPass+ selections.

Link Your Disney Resort Reservation

If you are still unable to access FastPass+ service online, it means you are not yet eligible.

However, you may become eligible in the near future. Please try again later to make your FastPass+ selections from the My Disney Experience page.

If you’re not participating in the test, you can still enjoy the current FASTPASS service.​

Excited that off-siters are going to get advanced FP+ booking soon. But bummed that we're going to miss it. You'll find us at the kiosks.

 

[erddig]

ok I have a bit of a different example of my experience

I had an onsite reservation for Presidents week, made ADR's and FP+, due to an odd set of circumstances. We had to cancel our on site reservation package, everything but ADR's were canceled. Magic Bands shipped and received well before we had to cancel. Magic Bands are still in the system assigned my individual family members, waiting to be linked to tickets.

MDE is asking me to link my tickets to make my FP+ reservations. No message with dates is showing up. I don't have my tickets yet so I can't link them. My MIL is buying them for all of us at SoG, she is already in FL but won't be traveling to Orlando for another 11 days.

I also noted the speed of the MDE is MUCH faster and I didn't get a "blip" or "glitch" all day.

A note when I went into my DH MDE account, it asked me to either put in my Disney Reservation or ADR confirmation number. Seems like either will activate the FP+ process in combination with linked park tickets. I only wish I had my tickets now to test my theory'

 

[sethschroeder]

WORST NEW EVER!

So now basically as a on-site guest your telling me I need to get up at like 6am to book my FP+ for the first day otherwise I will lose out to all the people NOT spending money on a hotel at Disney.....

I am okay with 1-2 days early but all those doom and gloom posts about FP+ being "sold out" could potentially come true now where in previous to this I thought it was nuts that FP+ times would be used up with only on-site guests reserving early.

 

[mom2rtk]

WORST NEW EVER!

So now basically as a on-site guest your telling me I need to get up at like 6am to book my FP+ for the first day otherwise I will lose out to all the people NOT spending money on a hotel at Disney.....

I am okay with 1-2 days early but all those doom and gloom posts about FP+ being "sold out" could potentially come true now where in previous to this I thought it was nuts that FP+ times would be used up with only on-site guests reserving early.

No, not 6 AM, silly. That's for ADRs.

You'll have to be up at midnight if you want first access to FP+ at 60 days.

 

[myonlysidekick]

Just tested this myself:

We're staying off-site Feb. 18-25, have tickets linked (from UT) and have ADRs set up on MDE.

"You may begin making FastPass+ selections for your vacation on April 8, 2014."

If I click on FP+ from the dropdown, I get a pop-up that says:

Good News!
More Guests are becoming eligible for FastPass+ testing every day, so you may already be—or may soon become—able to request FastPass+ selections.

To see if you can participate in the test, complete these steps to make your FastPass+ selections.

Link Your Disney Resort Reservation

If you are still unable to access FastPass+ service online, it means you are not yet eligible.

However, you may become eligible in the near future. Please try again later to make your FastPass+ selections from the My Disney Experience page.

If you’re not participating in the test, you can still enjoy the current FASTPASS service.​

Excited that off-siters are going to get advanced FP+ booking soon. But bummed that we're going to miss it. You'll find us at the kiosks.[/QUOTE

Looks like April 8 is the "magic" date for the off-siters! The day after we leave Disney World! We still plan on having a great vacation with all of our kids, their spouses and the grand-kids. We WILL find the magic!

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

WORST NEW EVER!

So now basically as a on-site guest your telling me I need to get up at like 6am to book my FP+ for the first day otherwise I will lose out to all the people NOT spending money on a hotel at Disney.....

I am okay with 1-2 days early but all those doom and gloom posts about FP+ being "sold out" could potentially come true now where in previous to this I thought it was nuts that FP+ times would be used up with only on-site guests reserving early.

~LOL. It's okay to share. I've always said from the beginning that Disney wasn't going to do this -- because it's so un-Disney like. I think it's great news for everyone!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

WORST NEW EVER!

So now basically as a on-site guest your telling me I need to get up at like 6am to book my FP+ for the first day otherwise I will lose out to all the people NOT spending money on a hotel at Disney.....

I am okay with 1-2 days early but all those doom and gloom posts about FP+ being "sold out" could potentially come true now where in previous to this I thought it was nuts that FP+ times would be used up with only on-site guests reserving early.

No, not 6 AM, silly. That's for ADRs.

You'll have to be up at midnight if you want first access at 60 days.

Don't forget that onsite you will get 60 plus 10.

Now where is the love?

 

[sethschroeder]

~LOL. It's okay to share. I've always said from the beginning that Disney wasn't going to do this -- because it's so un-Disney like. I think it's great news for everyone!

Well issue is there isn't really any "extra" perks for staying onsite as Extra Magic Hours is about the only thing of benefit. I felt that reserving FP+ ahead of everyone staying off-site was a huge benefit.

I still love staying onsite just saying for the money it would be nice to get some extra perks over off-site people. I just feel that if you book a room your a lot less likely to change last minute than those off-site stayers who say "I need a FP+ for April 4th"

I 100% agree with a couple other posters that if you stay offsite your ticket needs to be locked in with no changes if you start booking FP+

 

[sethschroeder]

Don't forget that onsite you will get 60 plus 10.

Now where is the love?

That is still part of the benefit to get the +10 days aspect, so its only a fight for the 1st day.

The biggest thing I see though is where people right now could schedule pretty much anything for tomorrow with no issues its going to be very very very slim picking with all off-site guests able to schedule 60 days out.

I will wait and see but I feel this is going to fall into the anti-FP+ peoples court of having to lock in your rides at 60 days or risk missing out on getting a FP+ even remotely to when you want one. (Especially if everyone starts to catch onto the Rope Drop and Park Hop to your late FP+'s)

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

That is still part of the benefit to get the +10 days aspect, so its only a fight for the 1st day.

The biggest thing I see though is where people right now could schedule pretty much anything for tomorrow with no issues its going to be very very very slim picking with all off-site guests able to schedule 60 days out.

I will wait and see but I feel this is going to fall into the anti-FP+ peoples court of having to lock in your rides at 60 days or risk missing out on getting a FP+ even remotely to when you want one. (Especially if everyone starts to catch onto the Rope Drop and Park Hop to your late FP+'s)

So are you saying that you are seeing the side that all the off-site guest have been dealing with? It isn't a good feeling is it?

 

[nugov2]

Don't forget that onsite you will get 60 plus 10.

Now where is the love?

Have you seen that officially posted that on site will get 60 plus 10 for FP+? I haven't and I am skeptical if it will be an option. WDW has always said the FP+ was for all ticket holders and not just on site, so I'm not 100% sure that is the plan. I can see why they'd give that perk and don't think it is wrong, but just not so sure it will happen. I know this is a big burst of the on site camps bubble since so many were sure this would be a perk for only them and off site would be stuck with only the kiosks, but this IMO is exactly what they have always been saying. Perk for park guests...and I always felt they meant all of them or they would be upsetting way too many people.

 

[mesaboy2]

Have you seen that officially posted that on site will get 60 plus 10 for FP+? I haven't and I am skeptical if it will be an option. WDW has always said the FP+ was for all ticket holders and not just on site, so I'm not 100% sure that is the plan. I can see why they'd give that perk and don't think it is wrong, but just not so sure it will happen. I know this is a big burst of the on site camps bubble since so many were sure this would be a perk for only them and off site would be stuck with only the kiosks, but this IMO is exactly what they have always been saying. Perk for park guests...and I always felt they meant all of them or they would be upsetting way too many people.

I think there are reports of this going on already.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Have you seen that officially posted that on site will get 60 plus 10 for FP+? I haven't and I am skeptical if it will be an option. WDW has always said the FP+ was for all ticket holders and not just on site, so I'm not 100% sure that is the plan. I can see why they'd give that perk and don't think it is wrong, but just not so sure it will happen. I know this is a big burst of the on site camps bubble since so many were sure this would be a perk for only them and off site would be stuck with only the kiosks, but this IMO is exactly what they have always been saying. Perk for park guests...and I always felt they meant all of them or they would be upsetting way too many people.

I thought that has kind of what has been going on already. I thought onsite guest could book FP+s for the length of their stay starting at 60 days. But I have no first hand knowledge of this.

 

[nugov2]

I thought that has kind of what has been going on already. I thought onsite guest could book FP+s for the length of their stay starting at 60 days. But I have no first hand knowledge of this.

I have seen 60 days, yes...just not 60+10 like the 180+10 ADR perk on site gets.

I think there are reports of this going on already.

OK, my bad. I haven't seen people booking that far out, but I know that while I have been following this I am not probably on top of it all. I don't think that many people are going to book that far out where it will become an issue. We stayed off site and booked right at 180 for our ADR's and got 2 BOG, CRT, CM and Ohana plus other non hot spots. We went mid June. I think lots of people are big planners, but a lot are not.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Well issue is there isn't really any "extra" perks for staying onsite as Extra Magic Hours is about the only thing of benefit. I felt that reserving FP+ ahead of everyone staying off-site was a huge benefit.

I still love staying onsite just saying for the money it would be nice to get some extra perks over off-site people. I just feel that if you book a room your a lot less likely to change last minute than those off-site stayers who say "I need a FP+ for April 4th"

I 100% agree with a couple other posters that if you stay offsite your ticket needs to be locked in with no changes if you start booking FP+

Don't worry. I think this means tiering by resort is coming. Just a hunch.

 

[ckelly14]

Don't worry. I think this means tiering by resort is coming. Just a hunch.

I knew there was something we could continue to speculate about! Whew! I thought after offsite access was confirmed, we'd have nothing to argue about. I was wrong!!

 

[magicbob]

I knew there was something we could continue to speculate about! Whew! I thought after offsite access was confirmed, we'd have nothing to argue about. I was wrong!!

We can also speculate/debate about whether opening up pre-booking for ALL guests will result in the slots selling out (at least for the most popular rides) at the 60 day mark (or at some point between T minus 60 and D-Day) as predicted by the "Negative Nelly Naysayer Doom & Gloom FP+ Haters Club Usual Suspects." *

Well, I should say you can debate that. I'm still abstaining/recusing myself.



* Someone will now post that they are holding some slots back for "day of." That's been repeatedly asserted as "fact" but I've not seen any definitive source other than someone repeatedly posting this based on speculation with very thin anecdotal evidence.