Throwaway room (read post #2041 or #2710 before posting)

[Eeyore's Wife]

We have relatives who stay at Bonnet Creek when they visit the World. This past trip they were going to be here during free dining. So, they booked the smallest room at Bonnet and then booked a room at CBR. While not officially a throw away room, as their teenagers slept there, they did spread out the privileges. The Mom and Dad used the bands for free parking and used all of the Table Service credits. The teens used the counter service credits and they all had several meals all together at the Condo to round out the week of food. "On Paper" there were four people staying at CBR, but in reality just the 19 and 18 year old "adult kids" stayed there.

In all, they were able to avoid the parking fees at Disney for a week, get 28 table service credits for adult use, booked their ADR at 180+10, got 28 counter service meals, got 28 snacks and got to book their FP+ at 60 days. They were really happy with the results and plan to try and replicate the experience again next year if free dining overlaps with times when their kids are out of college.

In all, they got more bang for their buck by having phantom occupancy in a room.

 

[kdzgon]

No not a lot of extra FPs!
It's still 3 per person.

We are traveling with a party of 8 and booked a throw-away room for our party rather than 2 value rooms. We'll be sleeping in a house. I didn't cancel the room. We'll be effectively onsite guests for those two days (check-in and check-out).

I already spoke with the campground to verify where our site is. I paid for a premium site so that we could park in our site and possibly have our mid-day break at the campsite. (Check-in day will be a MK day).

I also spoke with IT so they could help me split the reservation across two MDEs.

None of this was done in secret, or behind Disney's back. They got money out of me that they wouldn't have

I wasn't commenting on the morality nor was I accusing anyone of doing anything "behind Disney's back". My previous comment was that I couldn't imagine throwaway reservations would have enough effect [on the FP+ system] for Disney to worry about but then someone responded that campsites allow up to 10 per site. If a lot of smaller parties added the maximum number of guests (physically present or not), that would mean 30 FP (3 x 10 potential registered guests, real or imagined) per site. At 30 per site, that would have a greater effect than I was originally imagining.

 

[kguenther8]

Has anyone with a single night at a throw away room been able to book adr's 180+10? I need this clarified please. I have read both ways,...length of stay, or as long as you have a resort stay of any length. Which is it?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I found this post which seems to be in line with my experience that it is length of stay but I would call a CM and try to get them to help you. You might have to call more than once.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/wa...-dvc-reservation.3373183/page-5#post-53203970

 

[ckelly14]

My experience in June was a single day throwaway gives you ADR's for the check-in and check-out days only (essentially, 180+1). You could make another reservation for your length of stay then just cancel it, but you would be a naughty boy or girl....

 

[may1787]

You could make another reservation for your length of stay then just cancel it, but you would be a naughty boy or girl....

Actually, I talked to the guest relations contact recently and she said Disney fixed this about a year ago. When you cancel the stay, you lose all of your ADRs and fastpasses.

 

[kguenther8]

I just booked my ADR's. I can confirm it will only let you book ADR's for length of stay, and CM can't override that (they seem to be able to see what I can see). Both CM's offered to get Guest services to try, but I didn't push it. The CM I spoke with said that cancelling a reservation would not affect ADR's. And I know it hasn't changed them in the past, when I switched resorts mid-stay. Can someone confirm this still applies?

 

[ArwenMarie]

I just canceled an onsite stay for this coming August, and I kept my ADRs.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Actually, I talked to the guest relations contact recently and she said Disney fixed this about a year ago. When you cancel the stay, you lose all of your ADRs and fastpasses.

Last August, I had an onsite stay booked with tickets purchased and attached separately. I canceled the onsite stay (because we couldn't go that week due to my husband's work schedule) and the prebooked FP+s stayed. The booking window did close (I was between 60 and 30 days) so I couldn't change them again until 30 days, other than canceling them. Maybe it was a glitch that I kept them but thought I would share.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Last August, I had an onsite stay booked with tickets purchased and attached separately. I canceled the onsite stay (because we couldn't go that week due to my husband's work schedule) and the prebooked FP+s stayed. The booking window did close (I was between 60 and 30 days) so I couldn't change them again until 30 days, other than canceling them. Maybe it was a glitch that I kept them but thought I would share.

Thanks for sharing and it wasn't a glitch. It is how Disney's system is programmed for FPs.

I had scheduled FPs and then reassigned tickets to others in the MDE listing and the FPs remained, even though the tickets were reassigned to others. I didn't research if the FPs would eventually disappear, but, it is interesting how the FP system is set up.

 

[itchin2go]

Actually, I talked to the guest relations contact recently and she said Disney fixed this about a year ago. When you cancel the stay, you lose all of your ADRs and fastpasses.

This is not true, and I think it's covered a couple pages back. ADRs have always remained even if you cancel or change your hotel reservation. I know someone else will have more precise information, so please chime in, but I think ADRs are attached to a phone number, not a hotel reservation.

Fastpasses are a different story, but if your tickets are separate from your hotel reservation, I think there's a good chance they'll remain. If you cancel a package with tickets, I could see them being wiped out. This issue is complicated by the fact that FPs have disappeared for no reason at all. So it's difficult to really *know* what will happen. If someone is hoping to book a room to get FPs and then cancel the reservation, I can't recommend this as a sound strategy. It may work, but it may not.

I don't know if the above quote is fear-mongering or just the result of a misinformed CM. Either way, it's not true.

 

[trstno1]

Actually, I talked to the guest relations contact recently and she said Disney fixed this about a year ago. When you cancel the stay, you lose all of your ADRs and fastpasses.

I can also report from personal experience just a couple of weeks ago that this is not true. All of my ADR's and fast passes remain in place despite canceling my reservations.

 

[itchin2go]

I can also report from personal experience just a couple of weeks ago that this is not true. All of my ADR's and fast passes remain in place despite canceling my reservations.

Were your tickets stand-alone tix ... not part of a package? So you just cancelled your room only reservation?

 

[trstno1]

Were your tickets stand-alone tix ... not part of a package? So you just cancelled your room only reservation?

Sorry - I should really try to be more specific. Mine was a room only reservation with stand-alone tickets. I have heard that you do lose your ADR's and fast passes if you cancel a package.

 

[itchin2go]

Sorry - I should really try to be more specific. Mine was a room only reservation with stand-alone tickets. I have heard that you do lose your ADR's and fast passes if you cancel a package.

No - you're fine! I was just clarifying for anyone who was wondering. The more information, the better everyone can plan.

Yeah- if you cancelled a package, you would be cancelling your tickets, and I think FPs are attached to a ticket (at least that's my simplistic way of looking at it).

 

[RustManFan]

I saw somewhere that Disney was thinking about cancelling all ADRs and FP+ times if a reservation was cancelled?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Highly unlikely because:
- ADRs are not directly linked to an onsite room reservation. Any Disney guest is entitled to book ADRs 180 days in advance.
- FPs aren't directly linked to an onsite room reservation. Any guest with a valid ticket linked to MDE can schedule FPs in advance.

 

[natenapril]

Our first night isn't throw away but just wanted to follow up All 10 days opened up for us at the 60 day mark for our first value night We are using military tickets

We are using the Salute tickets. We decided to go down a night before our BC reservation. We booked a night at AOA and we cannot book FP for more than the day of our stay at AOA

 

[trstno1]

I saw somewhere that Disney was thinking about cancelling all ADRs and FP+ times if a reservation was cancelled?

Eventually Disney will fix this loophole, but I doubt it will happy quickly. Disney has known about this issue for over a year. Disney knows they need more fast pass availability in every park except possibly the Magic Kingdom. If this problem could be fixed easily, then it would have already been fixed. There must be something inherent in the system that causes problems when this issue is fixed. Just my two cents.

 

[keepmoving4ward]

Something odd happened down at the OK Corral last night, or best known as the infamous fastpass+ system.
We are doing a split stay, with our offsite stay being the first week, and our onsite stay being the second week. We did this (offsite 1st, onsite 2nd) without thinking about the implications since that's the way we've always done it.

We were curious as to how this would open up our Fastpass+ 60 day and our 30 day marks on the fastpass+ calendar. I posed this question on the DIS, and the consensus was that at the 60th day from our onsite check-in mark, the calendar would stay grayed out from the 31 day mark to the 59 day mark, and be open at 60 days until the end of our onsite stay.

Wellllllll, it didn't happen that way! Instead, the calendar opened up to allow us to book EVERYTHING, all the way up until the last day of our onsite stay. So instead of having to come back at 30 days each night for our first week, we booked our second week onsite stay AND our first week offsite stay all in one shot. So essentially, all the rest of March; all of April; and most of May (up until our last onsite day), were available to book fastpasses!

It looks like everyone is buying throwaway rooms for the first part of their vacation, when instead it might benefit you all to book it for the last day of your vacation instead. I can only assume that no one has ever tried the offsite/onsite combination, and have only tested out how the onsite/offsite method works?

Just thought I'd share my experience, might change which method works best for you .