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

[supergoofy]

What loophole is there for ADRs? (Not that I'm looking for one, but the only one I was aware of was that people were able to make multiple ADRs for about the same time so that they could basically keep their options open and wait until the last minute to decide where to eat but that this was pretty much closed by the introduction of $10 cancellation fees if you cancelled less than 24 hours before.)

Make an onsite hotel reservation for your visit.

At 180 out book your ADR's for 180 + 10

When time gets close cancel your room(for us offsite folks)



Maybe it doesn't work now but from what I have read ADR's and room are separate. So canceling a room doesn't cancel ADR's.

 

[disneynewbee]

If they haven't fixed this I hope they do. If enough people try this (create and cancel a multi day vacation just to get the fp prior to the 30 day window) Disney might just decide to scrap the idea and go back to their original set up. Then everyone will be upset but what do they expect Disney can't have all these people cancelling last minute. Not to mention all the people who need or want a room and can't get one due to fake trips booked. I think it's fair that those who stay onsite get a head start on the fastpasses after all a lot more of their vacation budget is going to Disney.

 

[michelle06]

How many days out are you from your trip ? In other words are you trying to book more than 60 days out from your offsite days because that is a problem some have had. Reason I ask is that I just helped my neightbour set up his fp's 2 days ago, he was able to book his throwaway day of arrival and his next day both 60 days out but had to wait until today to book the 1st of his offsite days(which is now 60 days from then). It still let him book 60 days out for that day though and he'll be going day by day for the next 3 days I expect.

Now 59 days.

We also did this. We are staying one night on site at AOA and then spending a week off site. We purchased our one night room and 7-day park tickets at the same time and we were able to make all of our FP reservations on a rolling basis 60 days out.

We arrive in 32 days and have everything set up and ready to go!

I guess maybe it's a rolling 60 days. I have 3 nights onsite booked and a 5 day ticket linked. So, I was able to book 3 days of FP+ up to check-out day. I could have booked 4 days of FP+ but we are not going to parks on check-in day. So, we will have 2 days of Disney off-site. We are not planning to cancel or game the system at all, these are actually our plans. So, I think Tuesday will be 60 days out from our off-site stay. So, I will try again then. Otherwise, it will be 30 days out. I'll update on Tuesday and let everyone know what happened.
Thanks!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

If they haven't fixed this I hope they do. If enough people try this (create and cancel a multi day vacation just to get the fp prior to the 30 day window) Disney might just decide to scrap the idea and go back to their original set up. Then everyone will be upset but what do they expect Disney can't have all these people cancelling last minute. Not to mention all the people who need or want a room and can't get one due to fake trips booked. I think it's fair that those who stay onsite get a head start on the fastpasses after all a lot more of their vacation budget is going to Disney.

It wouldn't bother our family a bit for Disney to go back to the old system but know that isn't all families and not at all what this thread is about.

The idea with the throwaway rooms were they were NOT going to be cancelled. You would reserve the room, pay for the room but never stay in the room. Disney would still be paid for that room and you would sleep somewhere else. I'm sure Disney hates taking money from the folks that have done this.

 

[Alesia]

I guess maybe it's a rolling 60 days.

Yes, it is a rolling 60 days.

 

[wareagle57]

Yes, it is a rolling 60 days.

What exactly do you mean by a rolling 60 days?

 

[Alesia]

What exactly do you mean by a rolling 60 days?

You can book FPs for the entire onsite portion of your trip at 60 days from the first day. For any additional offsite days that you have tickets for, you have to wait to book FPs 60 from the actual date.

 

[Luckybee]

It wouldn't bother our family a bit for Disney to go back to the old system but know that isn't all families and not at all what this thread is about.

The idea with the throwaway rooms were they were NOT going to be cancelled. You would reserve the room, pay for the room but never stay in the room. Disney would still be paid for that room and you would sleep somewhere else. I'm sure Disney hates taking money from the folks that have done this.

Yes exactly right !
And we're still planning on doing a throwaway in order to get the 60 days. For awhile we had planned on simply adding a few days at the beginning of our trip and staying on property but , called me spoiled, we would have spent somewhere around $2500 for 3 nights just for a room at a Deluxe plus meals etc. For much less than that we're using a week of our timeshare and trading into Marriotts Oceana Palms on Singer Island in an OF 2 bdrm top end luxury condo on the beach. So yep...we'll do our throwaway and Disney will be happy in that they'll get money from us that they wouldn't otherwise get...in other words we wont cancel our ressie.

 

[hsmamainva]

You can book FPs for the entire onsite portion of your trip at 60 days from the first day. For any additional offsite days that you have tickets for, you have to wait to book FPs 60 from the actual date.

Yes. We booked a Friday night on-site and we are checking out the next day (Saturday) -- we are then staying offsite from Saturday to Saturday.

I was able to make FP reservations for both Friday and Saturday at the 60-day mark (I think it was on a Monday). I then had to wait until Wednesday to make our FP reservations for our Sunday park plans ... And then log on the next day (Thursday) to make our FP reservations for Monday's park day etc. I did this every day until I arrived at our 7th park day.

It's the same thing you have to do off site for ADRs. We can't book 180 + 10. We have to log on each day - at 180 days - and book that park day's ADRs.

 

[disneynewbee]

It wouldn't bother our family a bit for Disney to go back to the old system but know that isn't all families and not at all what this thread is about.

The idea with the throwaway rooms were they were NOT going to be cancelled. You would reserve the room, pay for the room but never stay in the room. Disney would still be paid for that room and you would sleep somewhere else. I'm sure Disney hates taking money from the folks that have done this.

I know that was the original plan with the throw away rooms but many people on this post have talked about canceling them last minute now that they are allowing off site guests to book in advance. If everyone starts doing that they may go back to not letting offsite guests book in advance. I'm sure Disney doesn't care if they are taking money for rooms not used but they will care if people start cancelling last minute. The thread is about Disney closing the loophole so I do think this is all relevant to why they need to close it.

 

[Suellen]

If enough people start doing this (canceling At the 30 day mark) I bet they will make the deposit non-refundable on one night stays.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

I know that was the original plan with the throw away rooms but many people on this post have talked about canceling them last minute now that they are allowing off site guests to book in advance. If everyone starts doing that they may go back to not letting offsite guests book in advance. I'm sure Disney doesn't care if they are taking money for rooms not used but they will care if people start cancelling last minute. The thread is about Disney closing the loophole so I do think this is all relevant to why they need to close it.

It seems unlikely that Disney will not allow off-site guest some kind of pre-booking. One of their main stated goals of the programs was to lock guest into their parks before leaving home. Off-site guest are at a much bigger risk of not visiting a Disney park once arriving in Orlando than an on-site guest. Would it not seem that Disney should be more concerned about locking off-site guest in. Of course they can't give off-site more than on-site when it comes to booking time table but neither can they afford to lock them out either. I'm not an IT person but it would seem to be an easy thing to stop but Disney hasn't done so yet.
I could see them having those FP+ cancel if the throwaway room is cancelled making the guest have to start over if they are within the 30 days or they might would move the full refund for a cancellation up but to completely shut out off-site guest from pre-booking and forcing them all to use the kiosks in the park doesn't seem very likely. My guess would be this is not a huge problem for Disney. Most people won't go through the trouble to do anything like this. I would think a Disney resort rarely runs at 100% capacity so running out of rooms probably isn't a huge problem either. I understand the campgrounds are a bit different. Combine that with the percentage of guest doing this would seem to be not a huge thing that Disney would be worried about.

And as of right now, it seems to still be working. Our family very well may get a throwaway room but I will not be cancelling it. With the savings for 2 days of parking and the purchase of MBs, even though we really don't need them, we would be very close to even saving money.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

If enough people start doing this (canceling At the 30 day mark) I bet they will make the deposit non-refundable on one night stays.

I could see this happening. But there can't be huge numbers of this happening though. And besides, at least Disney then knows you are locked into their parks during that week and not driving down the road to see some of the new attractions. Hard to change your mind after putting down money on non refundable tickets. Lose a little money from that guest but have them in your park spending money or take the risk of not getting any of their money.

But yeah, if there were really big numbers of people doing this, I could see Disney making that first night non-refundable.

 

[michelle06]

OP here - I promised to update after learning that I may be able to book 60 days in advance of the off-site portion of my trip. Well, in fact, the first day of my off-site portion did open up! So, yes, maybe a throwaway room does work. Remember I was not doing a throwaway room- so please no criticism here. I am simply doing a partial on-site/ partial off-site stay and when I saw that my off-site days were unavailable, I wrongly made the conclusion that I would not be able to book my full ticket in advance.

So, you can book all on-site days 60 days in advance. If your ticket is longer than your on-site stay, you will be able book the additional days one at a time when each day is 60 days out.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[jrjankowski8]

This is what happened with me too. Booked the first night of my stay at POP, then the rest off. Since I have an AP, I was able to book 7 days

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

OP here - I promised to update after learning that I may be able to book 60 days in advance of the off-site portion of my trip. Well, in fact, the first day of my off-site portion did open up! So, yes, maybe a throwaway room does work. Remember I was not doing a throwaway room- so please no criticism here. I am simply doing a partial on-site/ partial off-site stay and when I saw that my off-site days were unavailable, I wrongly made the conclusion that I would not be able to book my full ticket in advance.

So, you can book all on-site days 60 days in advance. If your ticket is longer than your on-site stay, you will be able book the additional days one at a time when each day is 60 days out.

Thanks for all the help!

Thank you for reporting back.

 

[SnowBelleAlice]

OP, perhaps you should change the title of your thread

 

[Tuffcookie]

I have a "throwaway" campsite reserved and paid for. Even now, that S/D guests have been granted 60 days away privileges, I do not want to take a chance that if I cancelled I would lose what FP+ attractions I had booked. I also got the MBs. If someone does book a "throwaway" room/campsite and then cancels at the last minute, the only fair thing would be for Disney to bill them for the MBs. Maybe that would be a way for them to close this, so-called loophole? Once MBs get mailed, no cancellations or you will pay for the MBs.

And also, for the record I have already done the on-line check-in but I do plan on appearing at the camp grounds, in-person, to complete registration. In know several posters have told me it is not necessary to go that extra step if you have done the on-line registration but I want to be sure!

TC

 

[Running_Bell]

I like that the closed this loop hole.

Now if they would do it for ADR's

Amazing what dishonest lengths people will go.

 

[OtherScott]

Amazing what dishonest lengths people will go.

What's dishonest about booking a room and paying for it?

Hint: "loophole" wasn't closed because it wasn't a "loophole."