60 Day Fastpass Window for Offsite Hotels

[Master Yoda]

I admittedly change my reservation a ton( when Starwood lowers their rates then I sometimes switch) but by 60 days before my stay I am typically locked in.

Most people do. The scenario I just described was incredibly common when I was a TA. On a rare occasion I would have a client make a reservation once. The vast majority changed their resort at least once between making the initial reservation and their trip.

 

[nickys]

It is my understanding that the system is not setup to work that way.

The reservation is all you need to be granted access to the system at a particular date. Once you have access, the connection to the reservation is no longer needed. It works the same way for dining.

The reason for doing this is Disney guests change their reservations at what could be called an alarming rate and it is much easier to have dining and fastpass separate from the resort reservation. So when Mrs Smith changes her PORS reservation to CS because she is worried about mosquitoes, only to change it to CBR 3 days later because of construction worries, followed by a change to WL a week later because of a room promotion, then back to PORS to save money on the next day...the databases for dining and fastpasses will be unaffected.

However what would be quite easy to do is to do a scan matching MDE data with the FP data; if there's no attached reservation any fps more than 30 days ahead are cancelled. Heck, even I could write that for them and it's 10 years since I wrote any code; any trainee programmer could do it.

 

[Master Yoda]

Write a cron that nightly checks FP+ reservations against hotel reservations -- any that don't match up go into review; any that are reviewed that don't link to a MDE account with reservations in that window are cancelled.

Don't you think they have thought of that as well?

Disney would much rather deal with a few people that game the system than having to deal with a family on their their 7 day, once in a lifetime trip whose dining and fastpass reservations went "poof" in the database.

 

[larryz]

Don't you think they have thought of that as well?

Disney would much rather deal with a few people that game the system than having to deal with a family on their their 7 day, once in a lifetime trip whose dining and fastpass reservations went "poof" in the database.

If I had never experienced Disney IT, then yes, I think I might think they might have thought of it.

But I've been on a Disney website.

 

[Master Yoda]

If I had never experienced Disney IT, then yes, I think I might think they might have thought of it.

But I've been on a Disney website.

Disney IT is no more inept than any other large company.

Just like in the parks the GOP is to avoid confrontation. If a level of security has the chance to mess something up for a normal paying guest playing by the rules, it is not going to be implemented until they have no other choice. (eg free drink refills at the resort)

 

[larryz]

Disney IT is no more inept than any other large company.

Just like in the parks the GOP is to avoid confrontation. If a level of security has the chance to mess something up for a normal paying guest playing by the rules, it is not going to be implemented until they have no other choice. (eg free drink refills at the resort)

Oh, I don't know... I've never had any issues on the Amazon website, no matter whether I've just been browsing or actually buying. Disney, on the other hand, routinely serves up "Someone ate the page!" right in the middle of browsing and buying... it's why I won't bother trying to book online any more.
ETA: Here's an example...

 

[DisneyJoe]

Don't you think they have thought of that as well?

Disney would much rather deal with a few people that game the system than having to deal with a family on their their 7 day, once in a lifetime trip whose dining and fastpass reservations went "poof" in the database.

Far too many already go "poof" without explanation that we need to call in and fix.

 

[Master Yoda]

Far too many go "poof" without explanation that we need to call in and fix.

Exactly. Now imagine an automated auditing system place on top of that.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Disney IT is no more inept than any other large company.

I disagree, but I will leave it at that.

 

[ChrisM]

If this is true, I'd think something else has to be coming to "offset" this as an on-property perk.

Some form of paid FP system? More than 3 pre-booked FP for certain resort levels?

 

[DisneyJoe]

If this is true, I'd think something else has to be coming to "offset" this as an on-property perk.

Some form of paid FP system? More than 3 pre-booked FP for certain resort levels?

Perhaps moving FP for Disney-owned to 75 or 90 days?

 

[mikejs78]

Perhaps moving FP for Disney-owned to 75 or 90 days?

Or, better yet, removal of tiers...

 

[Horizons '83]

Perhaps moving FP for Disney-owned to 75 or 90 days?

That would be nice, you have to think they would have to up their "perks" for on-site if they are giving another handful of offsite hotels the same benefit.

 

[JoeCamel]

Oh, I don't know... I've never had any issues on the Amazon website, no matter whether I've just been browsing or actually buying. Disney, on the other hand, routinely serves up "Someone ate the page!" right in the middle of browsing and buying... it's why I won't bother trying to book online any more.
ETA: Here's an example...

Far too many already go "poof" without explanation that we need to call in and fix.

I disagree, but I will leave it at that.

Now if they just spent a little more money on it I bet they could get all the pieces working together - reliably!

 

[nickys]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed this isn't accurate.

My fear is though that this could lead to a "new on-site perk" of being able to book extra fastpasses for "a small upcharge" per person, per night.

 

[MisterPenguin]

If they are going to do this, it would have been nice if they did it three weeks ago since I'm staying at Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace Disney Springs™ Area the beginning of December.

One issue of making it work is getting MDE to recognize your reservation. For the Swolphin, it sometimes happens automatically and sometimes not and you have to put in your reservation number. Either way it can be one to three days before the reservation hits the MDE system and grants you the resort perks.

This means MDE has to sync up reservations at all those other hotels, too. Good luck with that.

 

[GoofGoof]

The FP are tied to the ticket media not the resort reservation. The resort reservation just unlocks the earlier access.

I read they even had issues tying the reservations back to specific active park tickets. Apparently some scammers were booking extra FP reservations using additional tickets that they didn’t even use to enter the park. For example, an AP holder also has a 1 day ticket. They book 3 FPs with their AP and 3 FPs with their additional 1 day ticket. On the day they enter the park they use the AP but the 1 day ticket is not used and they use all 6 fast passes while in the park. If you make and cancel a hotel reservation too you can book all 6 at 60 days out. No wonder it’s so hard to get certain FPs even at 60 days out. It would be nice if they could fix that loophole by linking the reservations directly to a ticket media and not allowing them to be used unless that ticket was actually used at the front gate first.

For the hotel reservations they should just have a way within your MDE account to switch the hotel reservation number used to book the FPs. If you switch your hotel reservation with Disney it should automatically update with the new reservation number in your MDE account linked to your FP reservations. If you cancel a hotel reservation without making a new one you should get a notification that says your have 48 hours to enter a new valid reservation number or your FP reservations will all be cancelled. End of scam.

 

[coasterphil]

? Staffing to change the FP+ window from 30 to 60 days for offsite? EMH I could see having staffing, but FP+ booking window shouldn't require additional staffing.

The booking window isn’t the only perk that’s changing.

You can look at this as a quick cash grab by Disney and/or an admission that they think their resort business is tapped out. Secure enough that they don’t worry about cannabalizing their revenues, but not strong enough for them to be able to run even higher rates.

Remember, the hotel plaza properties are paying rents just like the Disney springs retail/restaurants, so Disney has a vested interest in them making money if they think their hotel business has plateaued and won’t be affected. The more those hotels make, the more Disney makes. Cashing checks is easier than operating businesses.

 

[matt9112]

The booking window isn’t the only perk that’s changing.

You can look at this as a quick cash grab by Disney and/or an admission that they think their resort business is tapped out. Secure enough that they don’t worry about cannabalizing their revenues, but not strong enough for them to be able to run even higher rates.

Remember, the hotel plaza properties are paying rents just like the Disney springs retail/restaurants, so Disney has a vested interest in them making money if they think their hotel business has plateaued and won’t be affected. The more those hotels make, the more Disney makes. Cashing checks is easier than operating businesses.

i want to cash checks.....nobody ever lets me cash checks.

 

[monykalyn]

or example, an AP holder also has a 1 day ticket. They book 3 FPs with their AP and 3 FPs with their additional 1 day ticket.

It would be nice if they could fix that loophole by linking the reservations directly to a ticket media and not allowing them to be used unless that ticket was actually used at the front gate first.

It HAS been fixed-you can only use fastpasses from tickets that were used to enter a park that day. There is a possible "loophole" on this though, and any savvy MDE user could figure it out.
The rolling 60 day window from an onsite reservation continues through the end of the onsite reservation.