Staying offsite and just booked advance FP+ for next week!

[redrosesix]

We're finally getting to the part where they rip the Band-Aid off.





Everyone all stocked up on the popcorn? I saw this coming and brought extra.

We're going to need a lot...



but it will be fun watching these posts roll in

 

[practicallyperfect77]

We're going to need a lot...

popcorn: opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

Mmmm - love me some popcorn! I am very happy to hear it sounds like off site will be able to prebook. Shall be interesting for sure to see the the run on TSMM and Soarin' at 60 days out.

 

[redrosesix]

We will be staying at the Swan, tickets are linked, have an ADR, but no ability to make FP+
I want a friendly e-mail!

Testing phase ie. some guests get to participate and others just get ticked off.

hope that's not the case for you though so hope this helps...

ETA: I have no idea if this is the case. I would call Disney if something doesn't come up close to your ADR date

 

[FlipHipster]

We're finally getting to the part where they rip the Band-Aid off.





Everyone all stocked up on the popcorn? I saw this coming and brought extra.

I predict throwaway room threads being replaced with throwaway ADR threads

 

[FlipHipster]

I am sure the downplaying and increased price of no-expiration option is part of the plan as well. If I buy a 5 day ticket from Disney, I would be able to make 5 days worth of FP+ reservations 60 days out AND all 5 days would need to be within the same 14 day period. So If I was playing around and made FP+ reservations for May 3rd, I would need to cancel them in order to make my real FP+ reservations for June 25th 60 days out. I'm assuming the computer would know I don't have tickets enough for FP+'s on May 3rd and June 25th. That fact alone should take care of the majority of people. All you have left are Annual Pass Holders, who can make FP+ reservations already in advance if they've stayed onsite once, people with a stockpile of tickets or buy them way in the future, and people with no-expiration option.

If it becomes a big problem, Disney could give people one "mulligan" than charge them with using a days worth of FP+'s. So, you'd have a 5 day ticket and you could use FP+ on 4 of them because you made and didn't cancel FP+ reservations too many times.

I suspect you are right, something similar to the current AP restrictions. However, I would submit that all these complicated business rules are contributing to the rollout issues. I can't imagine how they keep track of it all. If you have 3 days of this but only 2 days of that and its a Tuesday with a full moon and you booked your ADR 10 days ago then you can ride. Otherwise you need this or that and 1 day of this blah blah blah..
I feel for the front line. I am going to hug the first CM I see and tell them its going to be ok we can get through it.

 

[lugnut33]

I can't remember, based on the booking now, is onsite able to book their entire resort stay at 60 +length of stay? That will be an advantage over everyone else.

Might be an advantage, but I sure as heck hope it doesn't come to having to book 60 days out or no major attractions will be available. That has been my biggest fear since this whole new FP system came out. I see it going the way of ADRs in that sense. Sure, you'll always be able to get It's A Small World fastpasses, but the new Mine Train might become the new Cinderella's Royal Table.

 

[lugnut33]

When we were there in February the kiosks worked great. No waits even on the 14th which was super busy.

We were there at a not so busy time last week and the kiosks were flooded. We saw multiple half hour + lines at the kiosks. They need to allow these people to use the on-line service so they can reduce the lines at the kisosks as well as reduce the number of CMs they have working them.

 

[redrosesix]

I predict throwaway room threads being replaced with throwaway ADR threads

Exactly And since you can cancel 24 hours before with no penalty, it would be crazy not to do it.

 

[velvetsqueeze]

Exactly And since you can cancel 24 hours before with no penalty, it would be crazy not to do it.

Ah, but perhaps Disney will cancel your FP reservations when you cancel the ADR reservation? I can see that happening.

You would have to pay the $25 no-show fee (I can see them raising that price, too). Book the ADRs at non-buffet places and then go eat dessert or a cup of coffee. They can't dictate how much you spend at the meal, right?

 

[lugnut33]

Wouldn't it just be easier if they doubled the cost of park entry?

 

[2Tiggies]

I predict throwaway room threads being replaced with throwaway ADR threads

I predict more of both. And lots more popcorn!! And eventually, something really strong to wash it down with. Anyone have the recipe for those kick-butt Lapu Lapu's?

 

[dfb]

Might be an advantage, but I sure as heck hope it doesn't come to having to book 60 days out or no major attractions will be available. That has been my biggest fear since this whole new FP system came out. I see it going the way of ADRs in that sense. Sure, you'll always be able to get It's A Small World fastpasses, but the new Mine Train might become the new Cinderella's Royal Table.

If everyone gets the ability to prebook then I think FP+ will fall in the same realm as ADRs. The rope drop will just be moved 60 days before instead of morning of and electronic instead of physical. The only variable remaining would be how many FP+s will/will not be reserved for "day of" planning, therefore creating a second rope drop. The same people complaining they never could ride TSMM because they couldn't get up for rope drop will now complain because they couldn't stay up til midnight 60 days out to prebook TSMM.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I think everything is going to be pretty fluid over the next few months.

Who knows what data they find from the magic bands?

Also, maybe only 7 days out for offsite guests, with a ADR and tickets? Maybe 4 FP+ for onsite guests? Maybe 5 FP+ for Club Level? Pay more, get more.

Wish they would include the S&D as onsite guests, it is my 2nd favorite place to stay.

 

[JimmyV]

When we were there in February the kiosks worked great. No waits even on the 14th which was super busy.

But from Saturday through Tuesday that followed, the kiosk lines were a complete joke by 10:00 each day. Not sure why the 14th was so different, but the lines built to 45-60 minutes over the next 4 days. Remember, with novices taking upwards of 5 minutes to link tickets, pick attractions at unwanted times, and then changing them to the actual, wanted times (which is the preferred strategy), a line only has to be 9 people deep to be a 45 minute line. We saw lines that were easily 30 people deep.

I predict throwaway room threads being replaced with throwaway ADR threads

If you book a resort room in order to take advantage of the 180+10 feature for ADRs, and then cancel your resort reservation, your ADRs get wiped out too. No reason to suspect that they will not do this with whatever reservation you relied on in order to be able to pre-book FP+. It would be a risky strategy to cancel an ADR 25 hours in advance only to find out that you lost all of your FP+s. I am guessing that the computer would read your last ADR as your last day at WDW and would calculate your FP+ dates off of that. So as long as people keep one, single ADR toward the end of their trip, they will probably be OK. No real reason to play around with ADR cancellations. People have to eat, right? So just make an ADR toward the end of your trip and keep it. Cheaper to make an ADR at Via Napoli or 50's PT and order a small pizza or fried chicken than it is to absorb the cancellation fee.

 

[2Tiggies]

Wish they would include the S&D as onsite guests, it is my 2nd favorite place to stay.

Right now I just wish that they would get a consistent, functional system in place, communicate clearly what is going on and let us get on with our planning. It's so difficult to plan something when you feel you have no option but to plan every move, yet the rules keep changing from one day to the next, Disney dont' announce anything so nobody knows what is official and what is speculation or a loophole and they can chop and change on the hour at will because they have this blanket excuse called 'testing' which means "WE CONTROL YOU. SUCK IT UP."

 

[JimmyV]

If everyone gets the ability to prebook then I think FP+ will fall in the same realm as ADRs. The rope drop will just be moved 60 days before instead of morning of and electronic instead of physical. The only variable remaining would be how many FP+s will/will not be reserved for "day of" planning, therefore creating a second rope drop. The same people complaining they never could ride TSMM because they couldn't get up for rope drop will now complain because they couldn't stay up til midnight 60 days out to prebook TSMM.

Yep. That is it in a nutshell. We don't know if the system will trickle out FP+ times so that people who are 30 days out will get a crack at some prime rides, or 20 days out, or the day of arrival (which I assume they will have to, but only Rope Droppers will get those.) Once the Mine Train comes online for FP+, we will all have a better idea. If all the FPs are up for grabs at midnight 60 days out, and they only allocate, say, 12,000-13,000 per day (same as RnR and BTMRR), those FPs are going to be gone in a flash. With summer attendance at 50,000+ per day, only 25% of people at most are going to get FPs for the ride and there will be stiff competition between 50-60 days out. People trying to book the day before will have no shot unless the system rolls out more passes.

 

[lugnut33]

There is no way they are going to hold back on the amount of fast passes they release. Just imagine you have someone booking a trip at 58 days out, they get online and can't book any major rides. They will call back and cancel. All available inventory will have to be there at 60 days out. Once it's gone it's gone.

 

[2Tiggies]

There is no way they are going to hold back on the amount of fast passes they release. Just imagine you have someone booking a trip at 58 days out, they get online and can't book any major rides. They will call back and cancel. All available inventory will have to be there at 60 days out. Once it's gone it's gone.

But they can't increase the capacity of the rides. I'm interested to see how they are going to pull this one off. Offsite guests make up the vast majority of guests in the park. Basic math says they must do. So if there are all these queues now and it's currenly only onsiters able to book, when it opens up for everyone how is the system going to cope? I'm trying to figure out why it coped before FP+ but it's buckling under pressure now But it is. There are going to be some very unhappy guests at the parks in the coming months the way things are headed unless Disney pulls a really impressive magic trick out from up their sleeve.

 

[JimmyV]

There is no way they are going to hold back on the amount of fast passes they release. Just imagine you have someone booking a trip at 58 days out, they get online and can't book any major rides. They will call back and cancel.

Doesn't this example prove why they should hold some back? If word leaks out that your entire WDW vacation has to be booked more than 60 days out or else you won't get any good FPs, won't this undermine the market of last minute bookers, local FL residents and AP Holders who might otherwise decide to make a last minute decision to go to the parks? If you lived in Orlando and knew that you could never ride the Mine Train, Toy Story Mania, Space Mountain, Rock-n-Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror unless you pre-booked those 60 days in advance, don't you think that would severly impact your decision to buy an AP? They absolutely have to hold some back for that family who books 58 days in advance, or, as you suggest, they won't come.

 

[dfb]

There is no way they are going to hold back on the amount of fast passes they release. Just imagine you have someone booking a trip at 58 days out, they get online and can't book any major rides. They will call back and cancel. All available inventory will have to be there at 60 days out. Once it's gone it's gone.

According to the Disney Folks I spoke with that is what they are doing! If not people offsite wouldn't have an opportunity to get any major FPs. For certain on busy days.