Possible new reservation options for AP holders

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[kc51570]

That would be consistent with using park reservations and buckets to throttle passholders. Chapek sees passholders as “space available” guests. (“Space-A” guests)

Now if this is the sale of “day-of” or short notice (day or two before) park space, then add this “afternoon entry” idea to the reality that better dining reservations and ride reservations are gone by then. Dining sells 60 days before. Genie+ and $ILL are sold at midnight day-of, but are cherry picked and the best often sold out by 7:10 a.m. to resort guests. Off-site guests (the ones most likely to use afternoon entry) cannot even select Genie+ rides until they are physically in the park. So if they come in the afternoon, the practical reality is they are limited to standby lines for dining and rides. This is consistent with the goal of treating annual passholders as surplus park space fillers at the absolute bottom of the guest value list.

Off site guests can get genie + selections at the same time as on-site guests and they can stack if they aren’t coming until the afternoon. They cannot purchase the ILL rides until the park is open which is only one ride in each park right now. They don’t have to be physically in the park but most (definitely ROTR) sell out by then.

 

[Liquidice]

Think of it like an "A" List and a "B" List like you might have for weddings. If your "A" List can't make it, then you have availability for the "B" list. The "B" list in this case are the APs unfortunately.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Thank you for the correction of info, Anna.
Update: Are you sure? I know I have read that off-site guests (not in Disney partnership hotels like Swan/Dolphin) had to be in the park before they could pick Genie+ and ILL$ rides. Did they recently change to allow all guests to choose at 7:00 a.m. day of? Maybe a recent switch?

Yeah, I’m sure. We did a lot of revenge travelling this past year including two stays at the Sheraton Vistana and one at Bonnett Creek. The only thin you can’t book at 7 am when you are offsite are ILL$. Those can be booked at park open. Nothing requires that you be physically in any park to book (except the VQ for GOTG at 1:00 PM).

 

[RoseGold]

OOOHHHH I see you Mickey! This is the response to the lawsuit. You’re not “blacked out” you just can’t go until 5. See, you can totally book it right now, starting at 5. I mean if you wanted to go in the morning, you should have tried months ago.

They’re going to block us like the cheap cockroaches we are. Hope you’re excited about your new after-5 AP.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Jrb1979]

Yep. Today was a big red-letter day when the September 8, 2021 character passes became eligible for renewal. No change announced. No new APs on sale again.

This is probably a lawsuit reaction. In the lawsuit the plaintiff has filed a second amended complaint, Disney answered and plaintiff is now pushing for class certification.

All new sales of APs and all renewals have been cut off at DLR.

Mickey is performing an “Ursula” act at Disney World. You “poor unfortunate “souls” who now have a “Pixie /Weekdays After 5” AP.

I agree with you. At the same time as bad as they treat AP holders, they can get away with it cause they keep going back no matter how bad they treat you.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Mrs.AMC]

I can only assume this is something that is only impacting local AP who do not use on site resorts.

As someone who is not local and who never plans a single day drop in trip I haven’t had any impact on not getting in to Disney.

We plan short notice trips all the time. Just planned our July 4 trip about 3 weeks out. But, we stay on property. I guess that’s why we’ve never had any problems with availability?

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Mrs.AMC]

I have been watching and for the time period you describe there was still availability so that is not relevant. I was not just talking about 1 day drop-in visits. It is true most off-site guests are limited to 3 to 5 days and it is absolutely not dependent on an issue of not planning far enough in advance. We do not know how the afternoon entry rumor is going to work. It has not been released yet. From the supposed "insider" posting on another blog, it was supposedly going to be offered to passholders and cast members. Their motivation in doing so is probably speculation at this point.

By the way, "short-notice" in my book is "day-of", day-before or a few days before (under a week). If you were limited to holding 3 reservation days at a time, how far out would you plan -- staying onsite or not? Because if you use them all 3 weeks in advance, it means you cannot make any reservations at all during that 3 week interim period.

I’m back in the too dense to understand room. The last paragraph is totally over my head. Then again I think I’m very happy in that room, I am not having issues with not being able go to the park I want on any day that I want to go. I’d rather be too dense to understand than understand because I’m having issues getting park reservations when I need them

I do hope a solution is found for those who are impacted

Well I really hope they get rid of it. I may not have any problems accessing parks when or how often I want it doesn’t mean I like the reservations. I hate it

 

[sheilafri]

Anna is right.

At WDW, all guests can purchase Genie+ starting at midnight and make their first selection at 7am, whether they are staying onsite or not. Individual Lightning Lane purchases however (for E-Ticket rides like Rise of the Resistance, Flight of Passage, Cosmic Rewind, 7DMT) are only available at 7am for Resort guests and are available at park open for everyone else.

This is why so many are disillusioned with WDW right now. It’s too complicated. Each individual rule might seem logical but when you put all the ins and outs together, you can’t just go and enjoy without a feeling that you’ve really messed up.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I have been watching and for the time period you describe there was still availability so that is not relevant. I was not just talking about 1 day drop-in visits. It is true most off-site guests are limited to 3 to 5 days and it is absolutely not dependent on an issue of not planning far enough in advance. We do not know how the afternoon entry rumor is going to work. It has not been released yet. From the supposed "insider" posting on another blog, it was supposedly going to be offered to passholders and cast members. Their motivation in doing so is probably speculation at this point.

By the way, "short-notice" in my book is "day-of", day-before or a few days before (under a week). If you were limited to holding 3 reservation days at a time, how far out would you plan -- staying onsite or not? Because if you use them all 3 weeks in advance, it means you cannot make any reservations at all during that 3 week interim period.

I just gave one recent example of one trip we planned. I can go through a long list but it’s not needed. We simply aren’t speaking the same “language” somehow. Facing the same problems. So to speak

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[Jrb1979]

I’m back in the too dense to understand room. The last paragraph is totally over my head. Then again I think I’m very happy in that room, I am not having issues with not being able go to the park I want on any day that I want to go. I’d rather be too dense to understand than understand because I’m having issues getting park reservations when I need them

I do hope a solution is found for those who are impacted

Well I really hope they get rid of it. I may not have any problems accessing parks when or how often I want it doesn’t mean I like the reservations. I hate it

If you're an AP holder staying on property you will rarely have an issue getting a park reservation.

It's local AP holders and off site AP holders that have the issue. This new offering is supposed to help with that.


For example under the old system AP holders would book Epcot for the day so they could hop at 2 to the park they actually wanted. With the new system they can book the park they want at noon or 5pm and not tie up morning capacity for a park they aren't actually going to.

It's not necessarily to help AP holders but to open more availability to resort guests and multi day ticket holders.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[New Mouse]

If you're an AP holder staying on property you will rarely have an issue getting a park reservation.

It's local AP holders and off site AP holders that have the issue. This new offering is supposed to help with that.


For example under the old system AP holders would book Epcot for the day so they could hop at 2 to the park they actually wanted. With the new system they can book the park they want at noon or 5pm and not tie up morning capacity for a park they aren't actually going to.

It's not necessarily to help AP holders but to open more availability to resort guests and multi day ticket holders.

The system is designed to lower the amount of all day ap reservations available to allow day guests and resort guests a better overall experience. It's not meant to help ap holders.

 

[Jrb1979]

The system is designed to lower the amount of all day ap reservations available to allow day guests and resort guests a better overall experience. It's not meant to help ap holders.

That's what I said. It's meant to open more availability to the high value guest over the lower value guest

 

[Liquidice]

The 3 or 5 Park Pass limit is definitely annoying, especially when staying offsite. I'm DVC but occasionally we like to take short trips and don't always have enough points but I have Marriott Elite status too and could use points to book with Marriott. Swan and Dolphin are sold out already for example in early December, so I'm booked at Flamingo Crossing and Swan/Dolphin are very expensive (when using Marriott Points).

It would be nice if these 12pm/5pm reservations were considered "bonus" reservations (maybe they only offer them on certain days?) and don't count towards the limit, but if they do offer them ahead of time, I suspect it would count towards your limit. Unless they "enhance" the park pass and say give you 5 all day park passes and 5 afternoon park passes?

Guess we'll have to wait and see when this actually launches what the change will be.

 

[Jrb1979]

The 3 or 5 Park Pass limit is definitely annoying, especially when staying offsite. I'm DVC but occasionally we like to take short trips and don't always have enough points but I have Marriott Elite status too and could use points to book with Marriott. Swan and Dolphin are sold out already for example in early December, so I'm booked at Flamingo Crossing and Swan/Dolphin are very expensive (when using Marriott Points).

It would be nice if these 12pm/5pm reservations were considered "bonus" reservations (maybe they only offer them on certain days?) and don't count towards the limit, but if they do offer them ahead of time, I suspect it would count towards your limit. Unless they "enhance" the park pass and say give you 5 all day park passes and 5 afternoon park passes?

Guess we'll have to wait and see when this actually launches what the change will be.

I think it will be bonus reservations cause I don't think they will be offered everyday. From the way I read it, it's going to used to fill in unused capacity. Disney wouldn't know that til day of or night before.