News FPs cancelled when Hotel room cancelled

[nickys]

I'm exactly 60 days out today. My trip is 4/29 - 5/5.

But what day of your trip did you get FoP and Slinky? Are you in AK on your arrival day, the day after (60+1) etc. If it’s easier, what dates are you in AK and DHS?

 

[JohnD]

But what day of your trip did you get FoP and Slinky? Are you in AK on your arrival day, the day after (60+1) etc. If it’s easier, what dates are you in AK and DHS?

I'm planning on AK for 5/2 and HS for 5/1. I see your point. However, AK wasn't on my arrival day either during the holidays. HS was, though. My first two days of this trip are Epcot. But like I said, anecdotal.

 

[nickys]

I'm planning on AK for 5/2 and HS for 5/1. I see your point. However, AK wasn't on my arrival day either during the holidays. HS was, though. My first two days of this trip are Epcot. But like I said, anecdotal.

So for the May trip, DHS is day 60+2, AK is 60+3.

For your last trip, what were the respective days? If DHS was 60+1, that’s why it was easier to get an earlier Fp for Slinky this time. Without both sets of information you can’t compare. Unless both trips were planned identically you are comparing apples to bananas.

 

[JohnD]

So for the May trip, DHS is day 60+2, AK is 60+3.

For your last trip, what were the respective days? If DHS was 60+1, that’s why it was easier to get an earlier Fp for Slinky this time. Without both sets of information you can’t compare. Unless both trips were planned identically you are comparing apples to bananas.

What is this? A Gallup survey? I said it was anecdotal. Seriously, I can’t chime in unless I plan a scientifically perfect comparison trip? Well, even if the same days a year apart that wouldn’t work either as SW:GE will be open this year compared to last year.

 

[iowamomof4]

What is this? A Gallup survey? I said it was anecdotal.

You're the one who brought up the difficulty of securing them for your last trip compared to this trip. It's just that they've always been difficult until you're looking at 60+3 or 60+4 and beyond. You're suggesting this trip was easier because of Disney closing a loophole and we're just trying to gather more evidence to see if that could be true or not. No one is trying to badger you, we're just wanting to get the full picture. Sorry.

 

[JohnD]

I simply said it seemed easier and possibly the closing of the loophole could ease it somewhat. I myself said there may have been other factors. I never said the closure was the only reason. But apparently this trip has to be laid out precisely like the last trip. Same park per day. Same FPs per park. No one plans a trip that way. But you can make an observation if it seemed easier to get FPs in general which is what it was for me.

 

[JohnD]

God I hope so...it never made sense to make people pay entry to a place and have a reservation system that made it impossible to get reservations...

“Vacations” shouldn’t require that much work/effort

Why, thank you, Good Sir! As I said, it seemed easier, nothing more. Could it have been partially due to the loophole closure? Possibly. Something else? That too. I never realized I had to provide the same documentation required to get a Driver's License to make that kind of observation.

 

[nickys]

I simply said it seemed easier and possibly the closing of the loophole could ease it somewhat. I myself said there may have been other factors. I never said the closure was the only reason. But apparently this trip has to be laid out precisely like the last trip. Same park per day. Same FPs per park. No one plans a trip that way. But you can make an observation if it seemed easier to get FPs in general which is what it was for me.

Sorry if it seemed like an interrogation, that wasn’t the intention.

It’s just that it could have been simply that the reason it was easier to get them this time is because you were trying for later days. It is common to be able to get a pick of times throughout the day for 60+3 and later for both rides. Any earlier than that gives limited times, such as evening only.

FWIW, I think it’s way too early for any impact on Fp availability to be felt yet as a result of the changes. That will only happen in 2-4 months time.

 

[JohnD]

Sorry if it seemed like an interrogation, that wasn’t the intention.

It’s just that it could have been simply that the reason it was easier to get them this time is because you were trying for later days. It is common to be able to get a pick of times throughout the day for 60+3 and later for both rides. Any earlier than that gives limited times, such as evening only.

FWIW, I think it’s way too early for any impact on Fp availability to be felt yet as a result of the changes. That will only happen in 2-4 months time.

Okay, thanks. 60 days is 2 months, BTW.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I would maybe stop calling them "vacations." This is more about traveling, going to parks, and actually doing things. A vacation is going to a beach for a week, drinking Margaritas all day, and passing out by the evening. Traveling is where you actually are expecting to be productive and stay busy all week.

Yes, if you expect WDW to be a cruise or a beach resort, you might find it overwhelming and taxing. If you think of it like a road trip or taking a tour through Europe, you might be OK with actually putting some work into planning it.

I think you'll find that if you show up to Europe without a plan, you'll be overwhelmed and end up not actually doing anything.

Without spatting...boy, that’s a company line/ defense:

The reason the overtaxed reservation system exists is that they didn’t reinvest anywhere close to enough and actually took guests things offline while there was a significant overall travel growth since the year 2000. That’s just the raw facts. There still isn’t an excuse for that other than they are ok downgrading the experience for everyone based on enjoyment and value.

And Europe is a tad different...sure the courtyard of notre dame or Buckingham palace is a tourist trap....but they are real world places with real people.

WDW is a tax easement encased VACATION compound...no real life occurs there. That’s a big difference.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So for the May trip, DHS is day 60+2, AK is 60+3.

For your last trip, what were the respective days? If DHS was 60+1, that’s why it was easier to get an earlier Fp for Slinky this time. Without both sets of information you can’t compare. Unless both trips were planned identically you are comparing apples to bananas.

You’re grinding this kinda hard, aren’t you?

Contrary to the lecture I received today...this is recreation and shouldn’t require this much stress/attack pattern delta...but...

...I could be wrong....

 

[RSoxNo1]

We actually added a ticket day to our 5 night stay that’s coming up mid March because we landed a super early flight into Orlando.

We had already booked 4 days of fast passes, but when we went to add some random ones to the first day we couldn’t. Needless to say, adding the ticket day broke my MDE account.

The IT fix was to create a mirror reservation and put an “A” at the beginning of the original reservation. Both now show in my MDE account, but the original with the “A” now shows I owe a balance even though I’m paid in full. I was given every assurance it will work out fine.

I can’t wait to see what this means for my family’s fastpasses, as well as room etc. when we land on the 13th.

I think 60+/30+ advanced bookings is potentially prohibiting these additional days.

I ran into the same issues trying to add a day to a MDE ticket purchased pre-date based ticketing but used after. They gave me a 1-day base comp day and then didn't prioritize it so I ended up using one day of my 8 day hopper for an hour and a half in DAK. Ultimately they fixed it by changing the date on the comp ticket to our last day when we weren't going to park hop, but it required my recognizing what happened and multiple trips to guest services.

They've over complicated everything and much of it is unnecessary. All together it adds unnecessary stress to the guests and park ops for marginal cost benefits. I'd love to see how much in additional expenses are incurred as a result of these overly complicated policies and tickets.

 

[xdan0920]

I would maybe stop calling them "vacations." This is more about traveling, going to parks, and actually doing things. A vacation is going to a beach for a week, drinking Margaritas all day, and passing out by the evening. Traveling is where you actually are expecting to be productive and stay busy all week.

Yes, if you expect WDW to be a cruise or a beach resort, you might find it overwhelming and taxing. If you think of it like a road trip or taking a tour through Europe, you might be OK with actually putting some work into planning it.

I think you'll find that if you show up to Europe without a plan, you'll be overwhelmed and end up not actually doing anything.

Sad. The Vacation Kingdom is no longer a vacation. Womp Womp.

 

[xdan0920]

It's a vacation if you want it to be a vacation. A priest at my church made a point once about how a parishioner said, "Well, I didn't get anything out of that." Which caused him to wonder, "Well, how much did you put into it, bubba?" It's enjoyable if you want it to be enjoyable.

Er, I put in a few grand. That not enough?

 

[JohnD]

Er, I put in a few grand. That not enough?

I think you would know how much you're spending before going. But if you want to make yourself miserable, that's your business.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sad. The Vacation Kingdom is no longer a vacation. Womp Womp.

It’s only ever been a vacation...
Even when you’re there for a job...it’s still always been to take your mind off how much they make you work and to get you to get slammed after the meetings end.

And in the case of the PWC interns at the Grand...test the limits of swimming pool sanitary techniques and facilitate the next generation of accountants

 

[xdan0920]

I think you would know how much you're spending before going. But if you want to make yourself miserable, that's your business.

You’re missing the point.

 

[larryz]

You’re missing ducking the point.

FTFY

 

[JohnD]

You’re missing the point.

FTFY

And the point is? Please enlighten me.

If you’re miserable spending money, don’t go.

 

[flynnibus]

This entire digression is nonsense. @LuvWDW2 and @nickys are exactly right. Disney isn't doing the thing that you're all arguing about how they're going to do. Not showing up has nothing to do with it. EVERYONE with any kind of park ticket on their account is entitled to have FastPasses for tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, etc. up to 30 days. Not showing up for your resort stay doesn't have anything to do with your ability to hold FastPasses for the following days. The only thing the resort reservation does is "unlock" days 31-60. Days 1-30 are open for everyone. Even if Disney cancelled your resort stay for failure to check in, you'd just become an "off site" guest eligible for the 30 day FastPass window.

I think this point misses that the FPs were secured not within the 30 day window, but secured with the perk of the 60 day window. Hence, the FP secured with the room is a more valuable asset than any FP secured in the 30 day window. So cancelling the FPs is not the same as 'well just get another...' - but it would also act as a deterrent to just using throwaways that are no longer free, but still 'affordable'. A stronger one would be to blacklist profiles that show repeated behaviors.

Problem is no-shows are complicated with lots of reasons why they can happen that are legit. Disney would be better off to monitor and profile activity that looks like abuse rather than apply unilateral moves like this.