Trial Club Level Fastpass+ Purchase Program Planning & Discussion

[Dallasmomoftwo]

I got an email from DSS today - 10 days after I had originally emailed them about cancelling my May trip. They are cancelling my fastpasses and refunding the money. The CM who emailed me said that DSS would be in touch with me about my August trip once normal operations resume. Of course, no one knows when normal operations will resume. I'm not holding out any hope that I will be contacted before my 90 day window opens, but I did email back and ask how the situation would play out if normal operations have not resumed when my window opens and then fastpasses are already booked by others by the time DSS is able to contact me about the August trip. I'll update if I hear back.

 

[Dallasmomoftwo]

I got a response to my question about booking Club Level fastpasses for a future trip. Here's what it said:

While we hope we will be able to be able to book these experiences again, we do not have any information as to if/when it would restart. With so much uncertainty, we simply do not know. You are correct though in that when bookable, it is all based on available inventory.

I can say, we will all be excited to return to a new normal!
Wishing you good health and safety,

Not encouraging for being able to book the fastpasses we want for club level.

 

[GillianP1301]

I got a response to my question about booking Club Level fastpasses for a future trip. Here's what it said:

While we hope we will be able to be able to book these experiences again, we do not have any information as to if/when it would restart. With so much uncertainty, we simply do not know. You are correct though in that when bookable, it is all based on available inventory.

I can say, we will all be excited to return to a new normal!
Wishing you good health and safety,

Not encouraging for being able to book the fastpasses we want for club level.

This is not great news. My 90 days is about 6 weeks away. The extra fastpasses is the main reason I chose CL. I'm in a wait and see situation like everyone else, but if we get to 90 days out and parks are still closed, I may just pull the plugged on my August trip and try again for next year. I also have a backup plan for a December trip that I would most likely not do CL for though.

 

[vinotinto]

I got a response to my question about booking Club Level fastpasses for a future trip. Here's what it said:

While we hope we will be able to be able to book these experiences again, we do not have any information as to if/when it would restart. With so much uncertainty, we simply do not know. You are correct though in that when bookable, it is all based on available inventory.

I can say, we will all be excited to return to a new normal!
Wishing you good health and safety,

Not encouraging for being able to book the fastpasses we want for club level.

I appreciate you posting their response. My 90 days from checkout is next week. They are not going to be open by next week and they cannot create inventory that isn’t there (which we knew, but it’s still good to see reconfirmed), so it’s helpful for me to know CLFP will not be a thing for my trip, even if WDW is open by July.

The irony is that the FP availability has been severely reduced. So if there was ever a time for CLFP, this would be it, LOL.

 

[CogsworthTN]

I appreciate you posting their response. My 90 days from checkout is next week. They are not going to be open by next week and they cannot create inventory that isn’t there (which we knew, but it’s still good to see reconfirmed), so it’s helpful for me to know CLFP will not be a thing for my trip, even if WDW is open by July.

The irony is that the FP availability has been severely reduced. So if there was ever a time for CLFP, this would be it, LOL.

My 90 days from checkout was April 4th. So...probably this is not going to happen for our July 2-11 trip. With not having the extra FP's and a chance of Disney cutting CL budget; not sure I want to take the chance on a limited offerings in the club level lounge. What are your feelings on this?

 

[whiporee]

I am probably wrong, but I have a feeling they are going to replace what would have been the booked CLFPs with anytimes for the people who were unable to get through to signature services, especially if you were rescheduling a cancelled trip where you had previously purchased them. I think they will do it case by case and not advertise it, but at this point anytimes don't really effect "inventory" and my guess is it's a relative small number. Don't know for sure, but that would be my best guess right now.

 

[Dallasmomoftwo]

@CogsworthTN - I personally will not keep my club level stay if the extra fast passes aren't part of it. That is the main reason I booked club level.

@whiporee - I sure hope you are right! That would be a good way to handle people not being able to book their CL fast passes. I'm still not entirely sure why those FP's cannot be booked for those with upcoming club level stays. I understand that there are fewer CMs working and those that are working are doing so from home. But if they are allowing people to make club level stays, then why can't these guests email DSS and have them make their club level fast passes? Maybe Disney is worried about having to cancel them if the parks can't be open this summer. But that has to be a very small percentage of cancellations compared having to cancel all the hotel rooms, tickets, and packages that people are purchasing now for stays starting in June if the parks will not open for those stays.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I am probably wrong, but I have a feeling they are going to replace what would have been the booked CLFPs with anytimes for the people who were unable to get through to signature services, especially if you were rescheduling a cancelled trip where you had previously purchased them. I think they will do it case by case and not advertise it, but at this point anytimes don't really effect "inventory" and my guess is it's a relative small number. Don't know for sure, but that would be my best guess right now.

I really don’t see that happening. 2 reasons
1) Few people even know about this program, the customers they’ll lose for discontinuing it are minimal
2) General FP availability is very restricted right now- Disney wants fewer FPs out there, not more.

 

[whiporee]

I really don’t see that happening. 2 reasons
1) Few people even know about this program, the customers they’ll lose for discontinuing it are minimal
2) General FP availability is very restricted right now- Disney wants fewer FPs out there, not more.

The only reason i think they'd do something is because the people who booked Club Level to get into this program did so in good faith. My reservation CM confirmed it was still in place. They may not choose to continue it, but I do think that if CMs were telling people about it -- and it was available to Club Level guests who got it booked before the shutdown -- then WDW will make an effort to make it right for the rest of us. Might not happen, but I can hope until it's proven otherwise.

The other thing we don't know whether they are limiting the flow of FPs or not. F0or all I know, the FPs I wanted but couldn't get on my 60+days had been taken by people with longer 60+ days. I don' think we'll ahve that answer until/if WDW closes the last week of May and those people who were doing 60+7+ are cancelled amd maybe those FPs show up. But we won't knwo that for a while.

 

[DisPhanatic]

I have my first club level stay booked for late August. I had to reschedule an April trip (which was not club) and upgraded. It made the sad news of rebooking better

Having never stayed club level, can someone help me follow this fast pass conversation?
- If I don't pay extra, do I book myself? Is this 60 days or 90 days in advance? Are there any club level benefits if you don't pay the $50 extra?
- If I do pay the extra, does DSS have to book my fastpasses? Do they just book the extra ones or all of them? Are both at 90 days or the extra at 90 and the regular at 60?

Trying to figure out how this all works and which option to go with. Thanks!

 

[whiporee]

The only way to get the extra FPS is to pay the $50 per person per day. DSS has to make the extra ones, and they can make them up to 90 days out from your check out date. they can make your regular FPs 90 days out, too. if you want to wait, you can make your regular ones at 60. Only DSS can modify the club FPs at any time.

there are some club benefits like the lounge and concierge service, but I don’t know of many others.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I got a response to my question about booking Club Level fastpasses for a future trip. Here's what it said:

While we hope we will be able to be able to book these experiences again, we do not have any information as to if/when it would restart. With so much uncertainty, we simply do not know. You are correct though in that when bookable, it is all based on available inventory.

I can say, we will all be excited to return to a new normal!
Wishing you good health and safety,

Not encouraging for being able to book the fastpasses we want for club level.

It's never been a publicized or promised-to-continue program, so I'm not surprised they answered that way. I do think they will continue it once the parks reopen, though. Not doing so would be leaving easy money lying on the table, and that isn't Disney's way.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Are there any club level benefits if you don't pay the $50 extra?

Club level guests typically stay on an exclusive floor of their resort, or in a separate building (at multi-building resorts). They typically check in at the concierge desk rather than the general check-in desk, and when you need something (for instance, we lost a magic band once), the concierge can take care of it for you. Club level guests can also borrow a dvd player and dvds from the concierge desk if they wish. When you arrive at your room, there is typically a printed itinerary of your My Disney Experience plans waiting for you, along with a box of themed chocolates. Club level guests get evening turndown service, and bathrobes.

Club level guests get access to the club lounge at their resort, from the morning their check-in day to the evening of their check-out day. The lounge serves light breakfast foods (toast, bagels, boiled eggs, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, etc.), snacks at lunch time (cookies, chips, sometimes mini-sandwiches, etc.), appetizers at dinner that you can make a light meal out of, and desserts. And full-day access to canned & bottled drinks from the fridge. We enjoy the lounge a lot because unlike at restaurants you can just drop in when you like, sit where you like, don't have to order, etc. It's peaceful. We do make full use of it as we're not commando park tourists anymore, and we no longer feel the need to have lots of table service meals at WDW. When we do eat at the parks, it's usually for lunch, and we complement that with a breakfast & light dinner at the lounge.

 

[DisPhanatic]

The only way to get the extra FPS is to pay the $50 per person per day. DSS has to make the extra ones, and they can make them up to 90 days out from your check out date. they can make your regular FPs 90 days out, too. if you want to wait, you can make your regular ones at 60. Only DSS can modify the club FPs at any time.

there are some club benefits like the lounge and concierge service, but I don’t know of many others.

This is exactly the information I was seeking. It sounds like there is no downfall to letting them make your regular FPs since you can do 90 days in advance instead of 60. How does this work? Do I email with my dates, times, and rides? Call and they do the FPs while we are on the phone? If they make my FPs at 90 days, can I then modify them through the app or online with my account?

I am definitely concerned with making my reservations at 60 days given the limited available people have been seeing for June. We haven't been in years (i.e. we haven't see Pandora yet!) and really have some rides we do not want to miss.

Thank you!

 

[whiporee]

This is exactly the information I was seeking. It sounds like there is no downfall to letting them make your regular FPs since you can do 90 days in advance instead of 60. How does this work? Do I email with my dates, times, and rides? Call and they do the FPs while we are on the phone? If they make my FPs at 90 days, can I then modify them through the app or online with my account?

I am definitely concerned with making my reservations at 60 days given the limited available people have been seeing for June. We haven't been in years (i.e. we haven't see Pandora yet!) and really have some rides we do not want to miss.

Thank you!

For my experience, It’s all on the phone. One of the downsides of them is you can’t change the CLFP on the app. You change the other three on the app, though, once within 60 days.

one of the real benefits of this is you can make the CLFP at different parks. And your can make more than 1 tier one. This gets a little confusing sometimes when booking them and changing them later.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is exactly the information I was seeking. It sounds like there is no downfall to letting them make your regular FPs since you can do 90 days in advance instead of 60. How does this work? Do I email with my dates, times, and rides? Call and they do the FPs while we are on the phone? If they make my FPs at 90 days, can I then modify them through the app or online with my account?

I am definitely concerned with making my reservations at 60 days given the limited available people have been seeing for June. We haven't been in years (i.e. we haven't see Pandora yet!) and really have some rides we do not want to miss.

Thank you!

The program isn’t running so CL guests are booking at 60 days plus trip like everyone else right now.

If the program is running when you go you would generally call DSS up on your 90 day mark and go through it with them on the phone and submit your payment. Definitely book your normal FP for those days too at that time. (You can only make regular FP selections at 90 days for the days you purchase the CL FPs.)

Something everyone needs to remember: this program could majorly change when/if they bring it back...

 

[gottalovepluto]

I have my first club level stay booked for late August. I had to reschedule an April trip (which was not club) and upgraded. It made the sad news of rebooking better

Having never stayed club level, can someone help me follow this fast pass conversation?
- If I don't pay extra, do I book myself? Is this 60 days or 90 days in advance? Are there any club level benefits if you don't pay the $50 extra?
- If I do pay the extra, does DSS have to book my fastpasses? Do they just book the extra ones or all of them? Are both at 90 days or the extra at 90 and the regular at 60?

Trying to figure out how this all works and which option to go with. Thanks!

Here is a link to the thread on discussions about Club Level at WDW. It's fairly active thread and I've found everyone to be quite nice

Late August- ohh... you'll have to keep an eye here to see if DSS re-opens the program over the next month and a half. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[whiporee]

The lounge serves light breakfast foods (toast, bagels, boiled eggs, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, etc.), snacks at lunch time (cookies, chips, sometimes mini-sandwiches, etc.), appetizers at dinner that you can make a light meal out of, and desserts.

You gotta figure that stuff will be gone when they reopen, though. Out of everything, I think open air and unsupervised food -- and even buffets -- will be a major casualty to the virus for a long time.

 

[CogsworthTN]

You gotta figure that stuff will be gone when they reopen, though. Out of everything, I think open air and unsupervised food -- and even buffets -- will be a major casualty to the virus for a long time.

I am thinking the same. I really don’t see how the CL lounge could serve the food that once was offered. Definitely hand sanitizer station and possibly a CM serving the food, but the logistics of it all.
We are scheduled for July 2-11. We have already given in to the fact we will not get good FP’s for this trip, but if we also lose the amenities the lounge once offered; we may just change to a regular room for this trip.

 

[whiporee]

I am thinking the same. I really don’t see how the CL lounge could serve the food that once was offered. Definitely hand sanitizer station and possibly a CM serving the food, but the logistics of it all.
We are scheduled for July 2-11. We have already given in to the fact we will not get good FP’s for this trip, but if we also lose the amenities the lounge once offered; we may just change to a regular room for this trip.

That's another reason I think they'll do something new for CL. if you lose the food in the lounge, and you lose the CLFPs, and even social distancing is going to mean the lounge itself is less desirable, what real point is there for the extra hundred a night?