Trial Club Level Fastpass+ Purchase Program Planning & Discussion

[GoGoBeans]

Knowing the number of pre-booked FPs for Stay#1, determines the answer for the # of “regular” FPs for Stay#2.

7 or more booked “regular days” for Stay#1 will block you from pre-booking regular FPs for Stay#2.

When you do add on regulars for Stay#2, it will affect the “regular” FP booking for Stay#3...unless they fix this pre-booking problem for regular FPs.

Head exploding!

June is 4 days, August is 7 days and September is 5 days.

For this scenario let’s assume a 9/1 checkout and 6/1 for the 90 window (that may not be the actual count of 90 days, just using these dates for simplicity).

If my June stay is 6/15 and will already have used up 4 days of my 7 by the time my 6/1 window opens. I’d have 3 days left and short the 4 days for my August stay. I think that’s what you’re saying.

Planning on 3 days of the paid, so I assume with the above that I could get my 3 days of regular booked with my 3 days of paid.

But I would be hosed if I was lucky enough to get a CM that was willing to book ALL days of my FP even for the non paid days (which seems to be hit or miss as it is anyway).

I assume I could call back after my 4 days in June (either day by day, or at the end) and hope that a CM could book FPs for my non paid days, although that seems like an unlikely outcome.

Or wait and book everything for August after my June trip clears, which will be before the 60 day normal window however I’d lose ~ 3 weeks of the advantage of 90 day booking.

At least if I’m understanding everything correctly.

 

[ZZUB]

To clarify some information in my head: when you call to book your 90 day paid FPs, they will also book your so-called free FPs for the same days? But your free FPs can't repeat your paid ones? But is it true that after you hang up with DSS you can go into MDE and change your free FPs to double up the paid ones? Can you do that immediately or do you have to wait until your 60 day window opens?

Will DSS make all of your free FPs or just for the days you're paying for them?

 

[hiroMYhero]

If my June stay is 6/15 and will already have used up 4 days of my 7 by the time my 6/1 window opens. I’d have 3 days left and short the 4 days for my August stay. I think that’s what you’re saying.

Your 4 pre-booked regular days for the June trip will allow you to pre-book your 3 Extra Days regular FPs @ your 90 day CL window for August.

Because of the 90 day window designation, you’ll be blocked from booking your regular 4 days of FPs for August until you “use a day, book a day” during June. Or, when you 60-day booking window opens, whichever occurs first.

For your 90 day booking of September trip, you’ll be limited to Extra FP booking only because you’ll be maxed out of regular FP booking by having 7 for August pre-booked.

 

[GoGoBeans]

Just talking out loud about booking strategy with these FPs.

I booked some last week (had a great call with DSS BTW, the CM really knew her stuff).

I made all my Extra FPs first, then the regular ones after that. We're morning park goers so tend to book FPs starting not too far after park opening. We usually "stick to the plan" early, but then after that we'll just let things flow. So I purposely made the Extra FPs early since I feel I'm less likely to want to tinker with them and won't have the need to call. Then I'll have my three regular ones left and able to modify myself if needed (both before the trip as I finalize plans or day of).

Guess I'll find out if that's a good plan or not!

Similar to you, I was thinking of doing the paid ones early. Mine are tweens so we shift a bit to the right with a later start. Usually up and pushing up against the time breakfast ends in the lounge. Hit the parks/FPs with a bite to eat at the park. Usually we’re back at the resort for some pool time and evening apps. Then perhaps a later ADR. Some days the lounge is enough, other days there are our fave ADRs that we want to hit. The rest of the evening we go with the flow.

 

[whiporee]

when you call to book your 90 day paid FPs, they will also book your so-called free FPs for the same days?

Yes.

I don't know the answers to the other questions because I didn't try. But they did offer to book all six of my FPs on the day I was using the club service.

 

[whiporee]

For anyone has used the viewing areas for ROL and Illuminations, how early did you need to arrive? Is the location fairly limited, or can you arrive +- 15 minutes before the show starts and get a good spot to see?

 

[GoGoBeans]

Your 4 pre-booked regular days for the June trip will allow you to pre-book your 3 Extra Days regular FPs @ your 90 day CL window for August.

Because of the 90 day window designation, you’ll be blocked from booking your regular 4 days of FPs for August until you “use a day, book a day” during June. Or, when you 60-day booking window opens, whichever occurs first.

For your 90 day booking of September trip, you’ll be limited to Extra FP booking only because you’ll be maxed out of regular FP booking by having 7 for August pre-booked.

Incredibly helpful. Thank you!

That’s a buzzkill that my June stay will impact what I was hoping could have been a coup with getting all 7 August days booked in one fell and early swoop. Sigh.

Thankfully August won’t impact September as I’m not planning on doing the paid days for that trip. That’s a girls only trip with the focus on food and wine. Cheers!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

To clarify some information in my head: when you call to book your 90 day paid FPs, they will also book your so-called free FPs for the same days? But your free FPs can't repeat your paid ones? But is it true that after you hang up with DSS you can go into MDE and change your free FPs to double up the paid ones? Can you do that immediately or do you have to wait until your 60 day window opens?

Will DSS make all of your free FPs or just for the days you're paying for them?

As much as it pains me to respond given your sports affiliation (and past comments my way), I will take the high road and help you out.

Yes, when you call to book your Extra/Paid FPs, they'll book your three Regular FPs on those same days as well. They won't book your Regular FPs for days you are not booking the trial program, you'll need to wait for the 60 day window for those.

Note, you don’t have to book your three Regular FPs when you call, it’s at your discretion.

They won't book repeats, but once you hang up you can manually change any of your Regular FPs, including duplicating an Extra/Paid FP. Some people have been told by DSS not to do that, but the early reports seem to indicate it didn’t cause any problems.

Hope that helps.

 

[mmtwinmama]

Hi- we are here now. Just letting everyone know that utilizing the CL texting service has helped with adjusting the extra FPs. We were able to send a text to switch our TOT extras to Toy Story while we were at MK today for tonight. I received a quick response and got what we wanted within 15 min.

So far these extras are totally worth it. We arrived yesterday and did all 4 parks. Without them we wouldn't have been able to pull it off. Our first FP was 12:30-1:30. We did:
Flight of Passage 12:30-1:30
Toy Story (I changed RNR to TSMM while on Magical Express) - after tapping I booked Haunted Mansion 8:30-9:30.
TOT
Soarin 4-5
Test Track 5-6
Back to Poly and unpacked and shared a Twilight Feast plus lounge apps
Haunted Mansion 8:30
It was so fun!

 

[ZZUB]

As much as it pains me to respond given your sports affiliation (and past comments my way), I will take the high road and help you out.

You're a better man than I Gunga Din.

I just went to a better college.

I'm funning with you of course! I appreciate the answers. And that's not a left handed compliment.

 

[binkee12]

Thank you for this information! The lack of someone to contact after 5pm is concerning, for sure. Generally all of my extra fast passes are later in the day, so I can try for a 4th after the regular are used. I hope they can come up with a good solution.

Can I ask, where did you actually end up checking in for the Illuminations viewing in Germany? I'm not too familiar with that area, but do you remember where it ended up being? Also, was HEA the viewing you ended up missing?

There were a few private events in front of Germany with little tables and those areas were roped off the cast members tending to the Rope had red lights. There was one area that had blue lights and that turned out to be the correct area also at Fantasmic the person with the blue lights was also the correct area so perhaps that's what should be looked for. It's hard to describe where it is. It is a little cut out with walls on both sides lanterns at the end and about six or seven feet across attaching a picture but it is a little bit hard to find. I saw happily ever after Monday night but we also had it booked for Wednesday night and we did not go back Wednesday night . I purposely booked the regular fast passes in the morning because I thought then I could get a fourth Fastpass later however if I did it again I would definitely put the club levels early because there's no way to change them after hours

 

[binkee12]

Thank you for this information! The lack of someone to contact after 5pm is concerning, for sure. Generally all of my extra fast passes are later in the day, so I can try for a 4th after the regular are used. I hope they can come up with a good solution.

Can I ask, where did you actually end up checking in for the Illuminations viewing in Germany? I'm not too familiar with that area, but do you remember where it ended up being? Also, was HEA the viewing you ended up missing?

because we were having a hard time finding it we got there pretty late I would say within less than 10 minutes of the start time for illuminations there was only one other family in the area so we had plenty of room it's basically a little cut out from the walkway over the water with railings on either side and two lanterns at the end of the railing on the water side

 

[binkee12]

It was really chaotic at Fantasmic trying to find the location because they have a FastPass entrance and a non Fastpass entrance and you can't get into the Fastpass entrance by scanning your magic band because you don't have a traditional Fastpass but we had to wind up doing what show our phone saying we had a reserved viewing and then we got into the regular Fastpass section. It was very crowded so out of all the viewings I went to I would say definitely get to Fantasmic early there was hardly anyone in the areas for happily ever after and illuminations but the Fantasmic is regular bleacher seating with tons of people

 

[EEva]

Hi- we are here now. Just letting everyone know that utilizing the CL texting service has helped with adjusting the extra FPs. We were able to send a text to switch our TOT extras to Toy Story while we were at MK today for tonight. I received a quick response and got what we wanted within 15 min.

So far these extras are totally worth it. We arrived yesterday and did all 4 parks. Without them we wouldn't have been able to pull it off. Our first FP was 12:30-1:30. We did:
Flight of Passage 12:30-1:30
Toy Story (I changed RNR to TSMM while on Magical Express) - after tapping I booked Haunted Mansion 8:30-9:30.
TOT
Soarin 4-5
Test Track 5-6
Back to Poly and unpacked and shared a Twilight Feast plus lounge apps
Haunted Mansion 8:30
It was so fun!

When you texted, was it before 5pm? I can't remember if the texting service is all day or just until 5.
I think I'm just going to keep my extras for later and hope for the best. my kids are 11 and 13, so

because we were having a hard time finding it we got there pretty late I would say within less than 10 minutes of the start time for illuminations there was only one other family in the area so we had plenty of room it's basically a little cut out from the walkway over the water with railings on either side and two lanterns at the end of the railing on the water side

Thank you! We will look for the blue lights.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

The CL texting service goes until 10pm.

@mmtwinmama - Are you absolutely certain it was your Extra/Paid FPs that they could modify if you texted them? I know they can do regular FPs (that's normal) - if they can in fact adjust Extra/Paid ones, that's a good option.

For those that might not know, DSS and the CL CMs you text with while a guest are two different things. The texts go to CL CMs sitting at the CL desks. Those folks and DSS are sort of separate worlds in the Disney universe, generally speaking.

 

[EEva]

The CL texting service goes until 10pm.

And you find the number to text from the welcome sheet you get at check in, right?

 

[veeraltolia]

Sorry to ask this if its already been answered, but does anyone know when this trial is going to end? We are planning a September trip, but I don't necessarily want to book CL if this trial will be over by then.

Also, has anyone done this program and stayed at the Alcove suites at Swan /Dolphin?

Thanks!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

And you find the number to text from the welcome sheet you get at check in, right?

Yes, it will be there. I'm relatively certain they all have it now.

In my experience CL CMs don't go out of their way to explain the service, so don't be surprised if it goes unmentioned. But it's available to you.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Sorry to ask this if its already been answered, but does anyone know when this trial is going to end?

No word on an end date yet. I sort of feel it could be like Express Transportation and all of a sudden go away, but who knows!

 

[gottalovepluto]

When you texted, was it before 5pm? I can't remember if the texting service is all day or just until 5...

I thought the resort concierge teams answered the texts. IF that’s the case they should be available until 10pm.