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

[eeyoresnr]

OP or other that have received invitation to book FP+ , are you able to book the FP reservation for lunch at Be Our Guest as well?

 

[DisneyFive]

.

 

[bcrook]

I agree - people will cancel vacations over this. I guess we have to wait and see if it starts to happen.

The math has been the same for the last 18 months. There is no way out of this. The ride capacity can't handle this. The only way it is going to work out well is if only 40% of the guests decide to use FP+, but I think we can see that this is not going to happen anymore. And Disney hasn't even started hyping this yet.

Value season is probably safe though.

 

[velvetsqueeze]

OP or other that have received invitation to book FP+ , are you able to book the FP reservation for lunch at Be Our Guest as well?

I didn't try to book BOG lunch. I didn't see it on the list, but then I wasn't looking for it either. Sorry I'm not much help on that one.

It's possible that it is booked up this close to when we will be there (next week).

 

[JimmyV]

ADR's do not get wiped out if you cancel the resort stay...

Mine always have. Three times out of three when i planned a stay and then had to cancel or reschedule. If they didn't why wouldn't every person book a room, then book ADRs and then cancel the room if they were going to stay off site. That would buy them an extra 10 days head start on hard to get ADRs.

 

[velvetsqueeze]

Sure. I don't know how it will work either. It let me select FP+ attractions on MDE but I don't have magic bands. I guess I'll figure it out on Friday. Maybe you just wave your card in front of the scanner thing. I'll let you know.

BTW...sorry if I wasn't supposed to answer. I thought maybe you wanted feedback from everyone who got an invitation so you could figure out how it works.

Please keep us posted on how it goes on Friday! I won't know until Sunday when we are at DHS. We fly in on Saturday but are going to just chill, shop, etc.

And I think everyone appreciates your feedback as well as mine! The more info, the better!

 

[velvetsqueeze]

It's bedtime for me, so if I skipped anyone's question I apologize. I can barely keep my eyes open. :sleepy:

I'll check back through the posts in the morning and answer any questions I didn't answer tonight.

 

[clsteve]

Sure. I don't know how it will work either. It let me select FP+ attractions on MDE but I don't have magic bands. I guess I'll figure it out on Friday. Maybe you just wave your card in front of the scanner thing. I'll let you know.

BTW...sorry if I wasn't supposed to answer. I thought maybe you wanted feedback from everyone who got an invitation so you could figure out how it works.

Don't be sorry! I thought it was just me being confused..! (which happens several times a day, btw ).

Much thanks for answering- off-siters need as much info as you can give.

No MDE from a previous stay. No MB's (our tickets are the credit card ones). We are not receiving MB's. No further contact requested, but I'm sure they will email the snot out of me over the next year. The email didn't state how I would use the FP's, but I already know that I will use the RFID-enabled ticket card the same way as the MB's: just hold it up to the Mickey and wait for it to turn green.

Thanks so much - and since you're going so soon, if you get a chance to check the app while you're in the Park and have full abilities- it would be a really good sign for off-siters

 

[eeyoresnr]

Mine always have. Three times out of three when i planned a stay and then had to cancel or reschedule. If they didn't why wouldn't every person book a room, then book ADRs and then cancel the room if they were going to stay off site. That would buy them an extra 10 days head start on hard to get ADRs.

that's a really good point!

 

[Shaden]

The top number of on site guests is probably around 90,000 at 90%+ capacity (based on 25000 rooms). In peak time I would imagine there are about 200,000+ Total guests wandering around.

So ... even at max, less than half the people in the parks are onsite ?

Ok. Still pretty much plays the point out ... offsite FP+ booking ... MASSIVE impact

 

[clsteve]

I was sitting with my friend who got the same email yesterday. We went through the steps. It was exciting to see it unravel.

He had an AP.
No MagicBand, one not being shipped.
He has not stayed on site.
He could book out 60 days.
He could only schedule 7 days of FP like an AP
He set up his MDE account in December. He has been checking everyday since his 60 day mark - jan 17.
He has several ADRs.

He WAS irritated by the interface and how he had to go through so much to re arrange choices. I told him to join the club. . He even had a personal coach sitting by him!

I'm very happy he at least gets a chance to jump in the pool! Even if the water's still a little shallow....

Seems positive they're moving some on off-site before the big rush. It'll be interesting to see if there are any limitations with the app in park, etc., at the start and when/if it's announced. Marketing has to be chomping at the bit to get the full campaign rolling....

 

[Shaden]

I was sitting with my friend who got the same email yesterday. We went through the steps. It was exciting to see it unravel.

He had an AP.
No MagicBand, one not being shipped.
He has not stayed on site.
He could book out 60 days.
He could only schedule 7 days of FP like an AP
He set up his MDE account in December. He has been checking everyday since his 60 day mark - jan 17.
He has several ADRs.

He WAS irritated by the interface and how he had to go through so much to re arrange choices. I told him to join the club. . He even had a personal coach sitting by him!

The Bolded is EXTREMELY true when you are booking large or multiple groups with differentiation of ages and Ride/attraction styles ... this took about 5 hours for me in total ... for a group of 11

 

[ThisIsMyName]

I was there last week as an off-site guest and I was selected in the park to be part of a test to get to use the app / pre-book FP+ for the rest of my trip.

They were looking for off-site guests with the MDE app account (which I had set-up). They linked my tickets and those of my group and then I was good to go.

So half my trip I had to use "kiosks" and the other half I got to use the app/prebook. My experience was having the app and pre booking was way better. First day at HS arrived at park 9:30 and no FP+ were left for Toy Story. Mon. at MK at 9:30 no FP+ for Enchanted Tales with Belle. I didn't experience any waits at "kiosks" . . because they weren't really Kiosks just CM with Ipads helping you. The busier it was, the more staff they added. The rest of trip I could pick my times/change them more easily ahead of time and play around with options. When the CM help you they sort of jam you into slots you might not really want and then you can't change them easily without the app.

In general we spent too much time worrying about FP times and making stupid time slots we couldn't keep if we wanted to try to hit attractions in a logical order.

We ended up waiting an hour for both Toy Story and Belle and it wasn't a big deal at all. . .(esp. compared to the 4 hours we waited to see Anna & Elsa). You're better waiting 30 minutes than walking 30 minutes in a crowd to get to your FP+ time.

 

[FlipHipster]

There is no CM or CS involvement. Your MDE system will book what it can book. This is nothing new. When people book cruises, residents of different states and/or different countries see different pricing all the time. A person from AZ who books a 7 day cruise on the same day as a person from NC might get a completely different price based on where the cruise line is targeting its marketing at any given moment. And people on cruise chat boards complain all the time. But as long as the system's computer detects that they are from AZ, or the UK, they are going to get the AZ or UK price and there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

I'm sure they will be ecstatic when that memo comes down.

I hope its all true, I love having options. If I can stay offsite and book our FP, that's a big win. We can stay in a house and hang out by the pool all day, way cheaper. Show up in the evening for our 3 rides instead of spending all day in the parks spending money and stuff.

 

[bcrook]

So ... even at max, less than half the people in the parks are onsite ?

Ok. Still pretty much plays the point out ... offsite FP+ booking ... MASSIVE impact

I agree with both of your points.

 

[ThisIsMyName]

Although I'll add the CM doing the FP+ were very helpful and patient and tried to work with you but you feel sort of pressured to just be like "Okay!" when they set up the times for you.

I also think with the app there are a lot of non tech savy people who will have a hard time learning it same day.

I did find the wait times on the MDE app to be pretty accurate which was very helpful. Some of the non official wait time apps were way off. I wish the MDE app would include character wait times.

 

[bcrook]

I'm very happy he at least gets a chance to jump in the pool! Even if the water's still a little shallow....

Seems positive they're moving some on off-site before the big rush. It'll be interesting to see if there are any limitations with the app in park, etc., at the start and when/if it's announced. Marketing has to be chomping at the bit to get the full campaign rolling....

my friend is relieved. And now the pendulum shifts again. I will be interested to see if there are any limitations too.

 

[redrosesix]

So ... even at max, less than half the people in the parks are onsite ?

Ok. Still pretty much plays the point out ... offsite FP+ booking ... MASSIVE impact

Ok wait... If offsiters get to book in advance, they'll be booking the same fp's they would have booked day of. Or was everyone thinking offsiters were coming into the parks, taking a look at the kiosks and saying"nah, I'll pass. I don't want to use fp+"

While I think there are going to be issues I'm thinking we've already seen most of the impact.

But does anybody else feel like a mouse in a maze?

 

[redrosesix]

Although I'll add the CM doing the FP+ were very helpful and patient and tried to work with you but you feel sort of pressured to just be like "Okay!" when they set up the times for you.

I also think with the app there are a lot of non tech savy people who will have a hard time learning it same day.

I did find the wait times on the MDE app to be pretty accurate which was very helpful. Some of the non official wait time apps were way off. I wish the MDE app would include character wait times.

With that many people in line I would feel a lot of pressure to just take what popped up.

But interesting about TSMM and ETWB. If fp's were gone by 930 that means they ran out a lot earlier than with fp-

 

[toddd]

We just got this as well, I made sure to tie all out ADR and tickets to the My Disney experience app just in case it might help make this happen. Got the email mon. asking us to check and be sure all our res. and tickets were on the app and they would let us know on the 6th or 7th that we have been picked, well I checked tonight and the FP+ has been unlocked and we are good to go. Our first day in the parks is Mar.12, so close but good times are still available.

Its our first time staying off site(kids want to see Harry Potter) so I was a little worried about how the FP+ would go so this helps. Im still not in love with the idea, but I may warm up to it if they give more then 3, ditch tiering and get the park hopping straigtened out.

Cheers, Todd