Warning! New FP Limits for Passholders with Multiple Stays - NOT Split Stays: READ Post #484

[ShadeDK]

This is one of those issues where I appreciate having the DIS - because there is almost no way I'd have known this was even a thing until after it happened (and then wouldn't have even known what "it" was). Hoping it's fixed soon, but I'll post my experience when my June window opens next week if there are issues as well as any follow-up with Disney. Thanks to those tracking this.

What's the AP event on 4/28? I tried google and didn't find anything (but Disney's website appears to be nothing but Stitch this morning).

The PP had it right - it's the V.I.Passholder event. And also think you're right that it shouldn't affect your MK day really at all.

 

[jkohmi]

I'm kind of in the same situation... I don't know if the AP's all would mention it in a letter/email if it would help or not. I do think if more people with regular tickets noticed it was this way and complained something may be done. I doubt it would take that long for them to fix, but I have a feeling they are working on a lot of other things right now and this may be low priority to them.

I think it's going to take a lot of affected people calling before they even realize something is legitimately wrong. I just called the AP line and explained that I have a stay in June with a 60-day window that opens tomorrow and a stay in July with a 60-day window that opens 5/7 and am concerned about the July window not opening *even if I don't make any FPs at all for the June stay* due to reports online, and GS immediately said it wouldn't be an issue since I'd have 7 days of FPs available for the July stay. After 35 minutes on the phone and checking with other people, GS insists that there is no issue - that the people saying this must just have FPs booked for their first stay and be confused by the rules. I also said that the reports were coming from people with non-date-based tickets, not just AP holders, and GS didn't really have a response for that.

I know the phone cast members generally don't know details of what's going on anyway, but I am guessing the number of people affected by this so far has been very small, especially since most people affected probably have FPs booked for the first stay so GS just assumes it's the 7 day limit that's blocking their second window. They really might not know that there's an issue yet.

 

[jkohmi]

I just had GS unlink my first stay in MDX. As much as I want to provide a valid data point, I can't risk anything going wrong with my July trip bc it's multiple families traveling together, and it's going to be hard enough to get FPs even if everything goes correctly. Sorry, everybody!

 

[Ninja Mom]

I just had GS unlink my first stay in MDX. As much as I want to provide a valid data point, I can't risk anything going wrong with my July trip bc it's multiple families traveling together, and it's going to be hard enough to get FPs even if everything goes correctly. Sorry, everybody!

I'm sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced like this by the incompetence of Disney management, who are allowing the problems to happen. It's a sad reflection on what Disney is becoming, especially for their loyal guests.

I hope you will consider following up with an email to Guest Services addressing your concerns and the choice that you were forced to make in light of the incompetence on the part of Disney. You are in position to bring this to their attention, hopefully to effect a positive change. Thank you for taking the time to keep those of us on the Dis Boards informed. You are on your way to helping even more people if you can send that email.

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Chief Executive
George Kalogridis
CEO
P.O. Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
(407) 828-2600
george.kalogridis@disney.com”

~NM

 

[jkohmi]

I'm sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced like this by the incompetence of Disney management, who are allowing the problems to happen. It's a sad reflection on what Disney is becoming, especially for their loyal guests.

I hope you will consider following up with an email to Guest Services addressing your concerns and the choice that you were forced to make in light of the incompetence on the part of Disney. You are in position to bring this to their attention, hopefully to effect a positive change. Thank you for taking the time to keep those of us on the Dis Boards informed. You are on your way to helping even more people if you can send that email.

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

~NM

I'll definitely email them. I let all of the GS people I talked to today know that I appreciate their "it should be fine; call back if it doesn't work that day" reassurances but am just too concerned about this possible glitch messing up my multigenerational trip to risk it. The CM I asked to unlink the reservation did acknowledge that the recent updates to system have been glitchy lately.

If the July trip was a normal trip, I totally would have risked it and just called if the second window didn't open, but it's such a huge deal trip for my family. *sigh*

 

[hiroMYhero]

This is one of those issues where I appreciate having the DIS - because there is almost no way I'd have known this was even a thing until after it happened (and then wouldn't have even known what "it" was). Hoping it's fixed soon, but I'll post my experience when my June window opens next week if there are issues as well as any follow-up with Disney. Thanks to those tracking this.

@mesaboy2 has been tracking this for quite some time and the FP FAQ was last updated on March 1st:

- Annual Pass (AP) holders have similar benefits as onsite guests when staying at an onsite resort. The primary difference is that AP holders can book up to 7 days of FPs at all times, and more if the length of the onsite stay is greater. Multiple trips within a short period can confuse MDX and result in unpredictable FP Booking behavior.

 

[cmwade77]

I'm sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced like this by the incompetence of Disney management, who are allowing the problems to happen. It's a sad reflection on what Disney is becoming, especially for their loyal guests.

I hope you will consider following up with an email to Guest Services addressing your concerns and the choice that you were forced to make in light of the incompetence on the part of Disney. You are in position to bring this to their attention, hopefully to effect a positive change. Thank you for taking the time to keep those of us on the Dis Boards informed. You are on your way to helping even more people if you can send that email.

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Chief Executive
George Kalogridis
CEO
P.O. Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
(407) 828-2600
george.kalogridis@disney.com”

~NM

Also, contact George on LinkedIn, I know he tends to read those messages personally.

 

[mesaboy2]

@mesaboy2 has been tracking this for quite some time and the FP FAQ was last updated on March 1st:

I’ve been reading along for a while and am not completely sure anything here is new. APs and FPs have always been a bit of a crapshoot unfortunately, and multiple trips of any type (onsite or off) have never played well for these guests.

 

[kes601]

I’ve been reading along for a while and am not completely sure anything here is new. APs and FPs have always been a bit of a crapshoot unfortunately, and multiple trips of any type (onsite or off) have never played well for these guests.

I can't speak for the history of it as we just became AP holders in November, but we had no issues having FPs for Dec 28-31, Jan 19-21, and Feb 16-18. The trips showed up as one would expect.

 

[mesaboy2]

I can't speak for the history of it as we just became AP holders in November, but we had no issues having FPs for Dec 28-31, Jan 19-21, and Feb 16-18. The trips showed up as one would expect.

Now that sounds like a glitch.

 

[tramps’lady]

I’ve been reading along for a while and am not completely sure anything here is new. APs and FPs have always been a bit of a crapshoot unfortunately, and multiple trips of any type (onsite or off) have never played well for these guests.

I can't speak for the history of it as we just became AP holders in November, but we had no issues having FPs for Dec 28-31, Jan 19-21, and Feb 16-18. The trips showed up as one would expect.

we had no problems last year. had an onsite trip every month and windows opened like normal. i didn't encounter any trouble until i schedule fast passes for a march trip after i had scheduled my April/May trip. i initially lost the ability to even make new fastpasses for my april/may trip. then that was fixed and then i encountered the june trip not opening at all. will be interesting to see what happens at the 30 day mark after april 11 if individual days start opening after the first scheduled trip.

 

[fla4fun]

I can't speak for the history of it as we just became AP holders in November, but we had no issues having FPs for Dec 28-31, Jan 19-21, and Feb 16-18. The trips showed up as one would expect.

I had December and January trips with similar dates and did not have any issues with FP. That is the only time of year I have trips that close together. The rest of the time there is more than 60 days between trips. I think it is something fairly recent and I hope they resolve the issue soon.

 

[SnowChaser]

I'd reported here earlier about my March trip interfering with my May FP boooking. I emailed Guest Services about how frustrating that was and to report a bad phone experience on the day I tried to book. They called me back and offered Anytime FP for most days of my trip, for everyone in my traveling party.

The Guest Services CM (who was awesome, btw) said my not being able to book was a result of Disney trying to "fix" the previous system that was letting passholders book more than 7 FP days at a time. When I told her that I'd only had 4 FP days booked, but my window still didn't open, she said, "Oh."

The Anytime FPs are really helpful. It's possible they would have offered Anytime FP for every day of the trip, but Disney IT had made some non-modifiable FP for me already. The Guest Services CM said, "Looks like those days are busy already." I wasn't about to ask for more at that point! I was not excited about the non-modifiable FP, but aside from being locked into the time slot, they're great-- I could still book all tiers for my 3 regular FP.

 

[kes601]

The Guest Services CM (who was awesome, btw) said my not being able to book was a result of Disney trying to "fix" the previous system that was letting passholders book more than 7 FP days at a time. When I told her that I'd only had 4 FP days booked, but my window still didn't open, she said, "Oh."

Again, they don't know their own rules. Their FAQ on their site specifically says AP holders can book up to 14 days with a resort stay. Grrrr.......

I really hope they don't "fix" the 7 day bookings before I book for my 14 day trip next week. If they do that may be becoming 7 at Disney and a few at Universal.

Glad they helped you out though.

 

[vinotinto]

I'd reported here earlier about my March trip interfering with my May FP boooking. I emailed Guest Services about how frustrating that was and to report a bad phone experience on the day I tried to book. They called me back and offered Anytime FP for most days of my trip, for everyone in my traveling party.

The Guest Services CM (who was awesome, btw) said my not being able to book was a result of Disney trying to "fix" the previous system that was letting passholders book more than 7 FP days at a time. When I told her that I'd only had 4 FP days booked, but my window still didn't open, she said, "Oh."

The Anytime FPs are really helpful. It's possible they would have offered Anytime FP for every day of the trip, but Disney IT had made some non-modifiable FP for me already. The Guest Services CM said, "Looks like those days are busy already." I wasn't about to ask for more at that point! I was not excited about the non-modifiable FP, but aside from being locked into the time slot, they're great-- I could still book all tiers for my 3 regular FP.

Thanks for reporting, but I'm not really liking what I am hearing here. Passholders that were previously able to book more than 7 days had all onsite stays. Those with even a single day that wasn't associated with an onsite stay were immediately limited to 7 days (and that included Disney Springs hotels). What I am hearing is that they are not going to make the distinction anymore of onsite vs offsite stay. I mean, why does it matter to Disney that a stay is continuous or not? If it's onsite, then they should all be treated the same.

 

[kes601]

Thanks for reporting, but I'm not really liking what I am hearing here. Passholders that were previously able to book more than 7 days had all onsite stays. Those with even a single day that wasn't associated with an onsite stay were immediately limited to 7 days (and that included Disney Springs hotels). What I am hearing is that they are not going to make the distinction anymore of onsite vs offsite stay. I mean, why does it matter to Disney that a stay is continuous or not? If it's onsite, then they should all be treated the same.

In all honesty, I suspect the CM again didn't know what they were talking about......my best guess is they were thinking about how passholders would game the system and CANCEL resort stays but still keep the FP selections. That would have been a way for them to get around the 7 day limit. That was the whole point of the changes to the system (linking advance FPs to resort stays).

 

[jkohmi]

Guest services called me in response to me emailing them about my June trip possibly impacting my July trip yesterday. After a long conversation about it what people have been reporting and my concerns about being locked out of a really important July stay due to a not important June stay, I did end up relinking the June trip and booking a day of fastpasses for it (my 60-day window opened today), and I'll call if my July window doesn't open. GS said that "in theory" one day of fastpasses booked for my first day at Swan in June will trigger the 7-day limit for my Poly stay but the Poly stay should still open, and I should be allowed to book 6 days of FPs there and then be allowed to do same day fastpasses for June trip as my pre-booked day drops off (which was my original goal) since I'd never be above the 7-day limit. We'll see what really happens...

 

[hiroMYhero]

Now that sounds like a glitch.

The ‘glitch’ was the unintended 60-day rolling FP window. As Stay#1’s window rolled and meshed with Stay#2’s window, Stay#2’s window opened 1-day early. The rolling essentially made Stay#1 to Stay#2 an extremely long Split Stay and those with multiple close stays benefited from these unintentional Splits.

Anyone, regular or AP, now with one onsite stay has a hard close of their FP window. Whether it’s 1 day of FPs or 14 days of FPs, the hard close of the window prevents the too close Stay#2 window from opening until the guest actually checks out of Stay#1 as confirmed by @vinotinto.

@jkohmi - the hard close of your Swan window will not allow Poly to open unless Disney alters their “window opener” which is the actual checkout from your Stay#1/Swan. Be ready to call Disney IT when your Poly window is supposed to open.

Disney cancels any FPs that are 60 to 31 days prior to the booked FP date when there is not an onsite stay linked to the MDX Profile. FPs are not linked to onsite stays - FPs are Canceled only if the system notes a lack of an onsite stay within the MDX Profile between days 31-60 days out from the pre-booked FPs.

 

[tramps’lady]

The ‘glitch’ was the unintended 60-day rolling FP window. As Stay#1’s window rolled and meshed with Stay#2’s window, Stay#2’s window opened 1-day early. The rolling essentially made Stay#1 to Stay#2 an extremely long Split Stay and those with multiple close stays benefited from these unintentional Splits.

Anyone, regular or AP, now with one onsite stay has a hard close of their FP window. Whether it’s 1 day of FPs or 14 days of FPs, the hard close of the window prevents the too close Stay#2 window from opening until the guest actually checks out of Stay#1 as confirmed by @vinotinto.

@jkohmi - the hard close of your Swan window will not allow Poly to open unless Disney alters their “window opener” which is the actual checkout from your Stay#1/Swan. Be ready to call Disney IT when your Poly window is supposed to open.

Disney cancels any FPs that are 60 to 31 days prior to the booked FP date when there is not an onsite stay linked to the MDX Profile. FPs are not linked to onsite stays - FPs are Canceled only if the system notes a lack of an onsite stay within the MDX Profile between days 31-60 days out from the pre-booked FPs.

so, basically anyone who wants to stay on property with stays less than 3 months apart would be out of luck getting fastpasses for their stays except for the first one within that 60 day period, if i understand this correctly. if that is Disney's intention, we will definitely be rethinking our annual passes and the amount of money we spend to stay on site. seems set up to discourage repeat visits, which i just can't wrap my mind around. Very sad.

 

[hiroMYhero]

i understand this correctly.

Correct. The subsequent stay’s window won’t open until the guests have checked out of Stay#1.

Disney makes odd decisions to keep crowd levels down. For DLand, Disney admitted they did away with SoCal APs and raised ticket prices in an attempt to reduce visitors.

For WDW, it’s hard to say if the intent of closing a 5-year glitch was specifically to decrease AP attendance or to just close out that wide open rolling window where anyone with valid tickets could book FPs for any upcoming offsite visit within 60 days.