Why did they cancel my fastpass?

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If I order and pay for a steak, but am served a cheeseburger....... is that a first world problem?

Sometimes steak runs out and they can't serve it to you. Comparing it to a dinner seems rather silly and quite indicative of how minor this is.

We aren't even at the 30 day window. It sure is disappointing, but it is not the end of the world.

 

[Cormoran]

Sometimes steak runs out and they can't serve it to you. Comparing it to a dinner seems rather silly and quite indicative of how minor this is.

We aren't even at the 30 day window. It sure is disappointing, but it is not the end of the world.

Maybe it's not a big deal for locals that are able return to WDW and ride SM on April 29th , when the ride re-opens. But for visitors who visit less frequently and spend thousands on their vacations, it may be pretty annoying. WDW asks that their visitors make ride reservations, I think it's only fair that WDW finalize their park hours and renovation schedules prior to the 60 day mark. Obviously, this is not an emergency since the renovation is not scheduled until the end of April. IMO it another example of poor customer service.

 

[mom2rtk]

Sometimes steak runs out and they can't serve it to you. Comparing it to a dinner seems rather silly and quite indicative of how minor this is.

We aren't even at the 30 day window. It sure is disappointing, but it is not the end of the world.

So you're ok with paying for steak but have a cheeseburger substituted? Because that was the example I used.

Sorry you find it all silly. I imagine as a local who can pop in on any given weekend, it might indeed seem silly. But many of us fly in once a year (at great expense), or even less, and don't have the opportunity to do next week what we happen to miss this time.

 

[Love Tink]

Ok the first world problems meme has a place but lets be honest for a moment. Pretty much any problem on this message board (not counting those on the community board discussing non-disney things) are first world problems.

No - even those things people are discussing on the community board are first-world problems. By definition. Because we live in a first-world country.

Trouble with your day care provider? First-world problem. Sexual harassment by your boss? First world problem. Finding out you need a root canal? First world problem. Kid involved with drugs? First world problem.

"First world problem" is not synonymous with "unimportant." So stupid the way people use that expression.

If you want to discuss your issues finding potable water or all the recent local deaths from malaria you might want to find another forum.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

So you're ok with paying for steak but have a cheeseburger substituted? Because that was the example I used.

Sorry you find it all silly. I imagine as a local who can pop in on any given weekend, it might indeed seem silly. But many of us fly in once a year (at great expense), or even less, and don't have the opportunity to do next week what we happen to miss this time.

1. You did not pay for a ride on Space Mountain.
2. No one is "stuck" with the assigned FP (aka the cheeseburger) and can select something else if they like.
3. The analogy is a poor one.

I would find it silly flying from Virginia to make the comparison. (In 4 years, we could only come once.) Things were closed on our vacation during that time. Disappointed, yes. Mountain out of mole hill, no.

Pirates will be closed the entire summer as well. Closures happen. If folks have an issue that closures happen and wish to condemn a company for them, they are welcome to do so. But it doesn't make it the end of the world.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I just called the number in the email again, started with a very general statement "I got an email that my Fastpass had been changed", and the CM immediately replied "Did you have a Space Mountain Fastpass in April?" So it sounds like they're getting a lot of calls about this.

Anyway, she also told me it will be closed April 20-28 - the same thing they told AzzySpazbourne yesterday. The Disney website doesn't have the closing listed at all, and as of a few minutes ago you could still get FPs for the 25th, so it sounds like the whole thing is still in flux.

Did they offer you a 4th FP?

I still think that is a fair gesture and encourage folks to request one.

 

[hpriamson]

Did they offer you a 4th FP?

I still think that is a fair gesture and encourage folks to request one.

They did not. I hinted about getting one "Is there anything you can do to help me out?", but she did not offer. Maybe I'll call back and flat out request one. But according to AzzySpazbourne's post yesterday, he/she was told a 4th FP "was not likely".

 

[mom2rtk]

1. You did not pay for a ride on Space Mountain.
2. No one is "stuck" with the assigned FP (aka the cheeseburger) and can select something else if they like.
3. The analogy is a poor one.

I would find it silly flying from Virginia to make the comparison. (In 4 years, we could only come once.) Things were closed on our vacation during that time. Disappointed, yes. Mountain out of mole hill, no.

Pirates will be closed the entire summer as well. Closures happen. If folks have an issue that closures happen and wish to condemn a company for them, they are welcome to do so. But it doesn't make it the end of the world.

As I said, as a local, I can see why you would find it "silly". You have a different perspective.

Disney asks people to "lock in" their choices 60 days out. I just think that once you do so, they owe you something in return. They owe you the respect and consideration to plan their closures 60 days out (barring an urgent safety need).

What if the person who just got cancelled had a family discussion and decided as a group to choose Space over 7DMT? No problem at all if they know 60 days out that Space will be closed. They just go with their 2nd choice. But now they find out the 7DMT spots are gone? Or are only available late at night, or during a previously scheduled ADR?

My issue is not that Space will be closed. It's that it was closed within the 60 day window.

Was POTC announced within the 60 day window?

 

[wisblue]

So you're ok with paying for steak but have a cheeseburger substituted? Because that was the example I used.

Sorry you find it all silly. I imagine as a local who can pop in on any given weekend, it might indeed seem silly. But many of us fly in once a year (at great expense), or even less, and don't have the opportunity to do next week what we happen to miss this time.

The steak/cheeseburger comparison is not a good one because that is the essence of your meal. One ride is not the essence of a trip to WDW. A ride being closed for refurbishment or going down unexpectedly has always been a factor in a Disney vacation. In this case, people know about it 45 days in advance and can pick a different FP to replace the one they selected.

I don't see this as a FP+ problem or a first world problem because I don't see it as a "problem". It is at most a minor inconvenience or annoyance that an adult should be able to cope with pretty easily. Sure, it's an inconvenience that arises in the context of FP+, but the same kinds of inconveniences happen all the time. Like if you go right to RNRC at rope drop and find that the ride is down and by the time you hustle over to TSMM the standby line is 30 minutes long already. If you had known RNRC was going to be down you would have gone right to TSMM and had a shorter wait.

What would you do about that? Complain about it and let it affect the rest of your day or accept it and move on. On our recent trip to Disneyland we arrived at 7 AM knowing the crowd was going to be huge (week between Christmas and New Year's) and SIX different attractions that we went to in the first 90 minutes (Space, Buzz, Matterhorn, Indy, POC, and HM) were down when we first went to ride them. And paper FP didn't help because they weren't issuing them while the rides were down. We had planned to pick up a FP for Indy, and when we came back a little later the standby line was already up to an hour and it took us about 15 minutes to get through the line to get a FP. So, we had to rearrange our plans but we still managed to do every one of those rides as the morning went on.

If you expect every last detail of your Disney trip to go exactly according to plan, you are likely to be disappointed. That has always been true and always will be.

 

[mom2rtk]

The steak/cheeseburger comparison is not a good one because that is the essence of your meal. One ride is not the essence of a trip to WDW. A ride being closed for refurbishment or going down unexpectedly has always been a factor in a Disney vacation. In this case, people know about it 45 days in advance and can pick a different FP to replace the one they selected.

I don't see this as a FP+ problem or a first world problem because I don't see it as a "problem". It is at most a minor inconvenience or annoyance that an adult should be able to cope with pretty easily. Sure, it's an inconvenience that arises in the context of FP+, but the same kinds of inconveniences happen all the time. Like if you go right to RNRC at rope drop and find that the ride is down and by the time you hustle over to TSMM the standby line is 30 minutes long already. If you had known RNRC was going to be down you would have gone right to TSMM and had a shorter wait.

What would you do about that? Complain about it and let it affect the rest of your day or accept it and move on. On our recent trip to Disneyland we arrived at 7 AM knowing the crowd was going to be huge (week between Christmas and New Year's) and SIX different attractions that we went to in the first 90 minutes (Space, Buzz, Matterhorn, Indy, POC, and HM) were down when we first went to ride them. And paper FP didn't help because they weren't issuing them while the rides were down. We had planned to pick up a FP for Indy, and when we came back a little later the standby line was already up to an hour and it took us about 15 minutes to get through the line to get a FP. So, we had to rearrange our plans but we still managed to do every one of those rides as the morning went on.

If you expect every last detail of your Disney trip to go exactly according to plan, you are likely to be disappointed. That has always been true and always will be.

That entire post misses the mark. I'm not saying having Space closed is a deal breaker and would "ruin " a trip. I'm saying that closing it within the 60 day window is inconsiderate. I'm saying that if they choose to make ride reservations available at 60 days out, they need to commit to their ride closures 60 days out (barring unforeseen safety issues). That's all.

Does it surprise you to know that we have a lot of fun at Disney?

 

[wisblue]

That entire post misses the mark. I'm not saying having Space closed is a deal breaker and would "ruin " a trip. I'm saying that closing it within the 60 day window is inconsiderate. I'm saying that if they choose to make ride reservations available at 60 days out, they need to commit to their ride closures 60 days out (barring unforeseen safety issues). That's all.

Does it surprise you to know that we have a lot of fun at Disney?

The post I quoted and responded to said nothing about that. You made the cheeseburger/steak analogy and I responded to it. If you are now agreeing that that was not a legitimate analogy, and that this whole thing really is not that big a deal, then OK.

I agree that Disney should make every effort to schedule ride maintenance far enough in advance so that nobody is even offered the chance to make reservations for that ride. We don't know why this has been done this way. Maybe it relates to some tangential work (not relating to safety of SM). But, considering the real impact of this on anyone's trip, I just can't get that excited about it. This isn't even a blip on the radar compared to the TSMM FP only episode, which I did think was inappropriate.

My standard for looking at these things is to do my best to think about how I would react if this happened to me. Getting a cheeseburger instead of steak would be totally unacceptable and I would refuse to pay for it. Having all of my FP reservations disappear at the last minute would upset me and I would be pressing Disney to do something to replicate them, or do something to make up for them. This I would shrug off, pick another FP, and move on.

I know that you HAD fun at WDW when you used to visit, but I'm getting the impression now that you don't think it is a good value anymore. I'll wait for you to report when you try visiting WDW with FP+ in place. As far as I know, you haven't done that yet.

 

[mom2rtk]

The post I quoted and responded to said nothing about that. You made the cheeseburger/steak analogy and I responded to it. If you are now agreeing that that was not a legitimate analogy, and that this whole thing really is not that big a deal, then OK.

I agree that Disney should make every effort to schedule ride maintenance far enough in advance so that nobody is even offered the chance to make reservations for that ride. We don't know why this has been done this way. Maybe it relates to some tangential work (not relating to safety of SM). But, considering the real impact of this on anyone's trip, I just can't get that excited about it. This isn't even a blip on the radar compared to the TSMM FP only episode, which I did think was inappropriate.

My standard for looking at these things is to do my best to think about how I would react if this happened to me. Getting a cheeseburger instead of steak would be totally unacceptable and I would refuse to pay for it. Having all of my FP reservations disappear at the last minute would upset me and I would be pressing Disney to do something to replicate them, or do something to make up for them. This I would shrug off, pick another FP, and move on.

I know that you HAD fun at WDW when you used to visit, but I'm getting the impression now that you don't think it is a good value anymore. I'll wait for you to report when you try visiting WDW with FP+ in place. As far as I know, you haven't done that yet.

That discussion was carried forward in post 108. You might want to finish the thread before jumping in next time.

 

[Cormoran]

I agree that Disney should make every effort to schedule ride maintenance far enough in advance so that nobody is even offered the chance to make reservations for that ride. We don't know why this has been done this way. Maybe it relates to some tangential work (not relating to safety of SM). But, considering the real impact of this on anyone's trip, I just can't get that excited about it. This isn't even a blip on the radar compared to the TSMM FP only episode, which I did think was inappropriate.

Obviously, this was not an emergency. If it was, I don't think anyone would have an issue. But guests are expected to make ride reservations 60 days out. Do you really think it is too much to expect Disney to plan maintenance closures prior to the 60 day window opening? This is poor customer service, and there is really no excuse for this.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

As I said, as a local, I can see why you would find it "silly". You have a different perspective.

Disney asks people to "lock in" their choices 60 days out. I just think that once you do so, they owe you something in return. They owe you the respect and consideration to plan their closures 60 days out (barring an urgent safety need).

What if the person who just got cancelled had a family discussion and decided as a group to choose Space over 7DMT? No problem at all if they know 60 days out that Space will be closed. They just go with their 2nd choice. But now they find out the 7DMT spots are gone? Or are only available late at night, or during a previously scheduled ADR?

My issue is not that Space will be closed. It's that it was closed within the 60 day window.

Was POTC announced within the 60 day window?

Please stop using my state of residence as an excuse to discredit my observations.

Also, are you visiting during this time frame?
Why is it "your" issue? That baffles me.

 

[mom2rtk]

Please stop using my state of residence as an excuse to discredit my observations.

Also, are you visiting during this time frame?
Why is it "your" issue? That baffles me.

You don't think the fact that you are a local AP holder affects your perspective on this?

 

[juliekzp]

Just called again, and again she said it's going to be down April 20-23. I told her that others have been told 20-28, but she was completely confident it's only 20-23. Weird.

And sure, maybe this is a first world problem, but maybe you don't have a autism spectrum kid who would be devastated if Space Mountain is closed.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If this were the only change Disney made within the FP+ window, yeah, I'd shrug it off. But it's been a habit of theirs. Park hours changing within that 60 days frequently, changing the entire EMH schedule well within the 60 day window, now rides being closed w/I that 60 day window. I agree that it is inconsiderate. It's not about not getting to ride Space, IMO, it's about Disney's lack of consideration for the planning they are now wanting and advocating that their guests do. Guests do that planning and then Disney decides "hey, we're going to change things up on you now" - whether it's ride access or park hours or EMH. It's frustrating for people, and I can understand why.

 

[Cormoran]

Sometimes steak runs out and they can't serve it to you. Comparing it to a dinner seems rather silly and quite indicative of how minor this is.

We aren't even at the 30 day window. It sure is disappointing, but it is not the end of the world.

But you are a local who can in fact go to the parks anytime. So if this happened to one of your FP+ reservations, you could always catch the ride on your visit next time.

Most of the people on these boards are tourists who spend thousands of dollars every time they visit Disney. So your dismissal of the loss of a reserved FP+ reservations as being "silly" or minor may be true for you as a local. On the other hand, it's aggravating for a tourist. Additionally, I have not read any posts on this thread from any of the switcheroo victims saying their vacation is ruined or it's the end of the world. I have read expressions of disappointment, nothing else.

 

[cakebaker]

Just called again, and again she said it's going to be down April 20-23. I told her that others have been told 20-28, but she was completely confident it's only 20-23. Weird.

And sure, maybe this is a first world problem, but maybe you don't have a autism spectrum kid who would be devastated if Space Mountain is closed.

I'm asking because I'm not familiar with dealing with autism issues- but what do you do when a ride goes down unexpectedly while you're there? And isn't it better that you know in advance rather than it happen without notice at all?

 

[cakebaker]

Obviously, this was not an emergency. If it was, I don't think anyone would have an issue. But guests are expected to make ride reservations 60 days out. Do you really think it is too much to expect Disney to plan maintenance closures prior to the 60 day window opening? This is poor customer service, and there is really no excuse for this.

Could you tell us why the ride is being taken down inside the 60 day window? I can't. I'm going to assume it's because it has to be done and that had it come up before 60 days, they would've scheduled it. I can't begin to tell you what circumstances would cause that because I'm not an expert in these things and neither is anyone else here. You can choose to believe they did it just because they don't care if they make their guests unhappy, but that's the only other reason. Either it couldn't be avoided or they don't care. There's no other reason. You choose the latter, I choose the former.

This definitely falls under the category of stuff happens. Adjust, move on. I think they ought to give those affected a 4th fp. I think it should be more uniformly applied rather than people having to call and press for it. But it only affects those at 60 days out, no off site guests are affected as far as scheduling in advance, and there's plenty of availability for other choices. Even SDMT for some. I'm sure it's frustrating. I was very disappointed to find that POC is going to be down while we're there. I was very disappointed on our last trip because the Tiki Room was down without notice our entire trip- I had planned a great deal on seeing it with my grandson for his first time. But a few minutes of whining and I moved on.

One can make the argument that it's things like this that prove a 60 day window is bad. I might agree if this happened constantly, but it doesn't. There may be another example of this recently, but other than a glitch with A&E that was corrected, I don't recall it.
But stuff happens. This is irritating, but it's not a let's dump FP+ or get rid of the 60 day window worthy.