WDW To Enforce FP+ Rules

[BlindChow]

Whenever I hear Disney say they'll ban people for something like this, I always assume they mean it like when parents threaten to "cancel Christmas" to get their kids to behave. They're hoping the threat causes a change in behavior, but the chances of it actually happening seem very slim...

 

[freediverdude]

I wonder how guest relations has been getting along...

 

[disney4life2008]

Next they need to enforce cleaning the bathrooms. My last few times to animal kingdom and magic kingdom, certain bathrooms have been untouchable. The men stalls that is. Idk what it is but flushing the toilet should be required. I know they are automated but still.

 

[flynnibus]

There is nothing in the ToS that prohibit a guest from purchasing a new MagicBand from a retail location inside the park, opening the package and proceeding to a kiosk to link FastPass+ entitlements. It's not stealing. It's called being creative.

When you game the system against its intended use to a gain not intended to exist - that's cheating, not "creative"

Disney doesn't have to allow this to happen... they can simply make a band be required to be linked before it will work for FP and replace one in use

 

[flynnibus]

You should try actually reading the ToS before you comment about it.

View attachment 208941
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/park-experience-terms-conditions/

But Disney doesn't want to stop selling upgraded magic bands in the parks. They want to sell little johnny that Star Wars band to replace his freebie. The system has to account for this valid (and Disney desirable) use case... and still allow for gift purchases.

 

[Kman101]

Next they need to enforce cleaning the bathrooms. My last few times to animal kingdom and magic kingdom, certain bathrooms have been untouchable. The men stalls that is. Idk what it is but flushing the toilet should be required. I know they are automated but still.

I have to agree. I think overall the parks are kept clean for the most part, I see tons of janitorial castmembers. But there's often never an attendant in the bathroom and honestly they aren't kept up with that well, not that I expect perfection all of the time with them, but I've seen a decrease in service here. I see bathroom attendants in airport restrooms, Universal often had them (I remember one poor guy trying so hard to keep one of the restrooms clean). Maybe instead of three castmembers trying to empty the same trashcan, one can monitor the bathrooms ...

 

[flynnibus]

A lot of them over there have extra tickets and vouchers lying around because they pre-buy for next year and stuff to avoid price increases when they hear prices are going up. Yes they are insane, but there's a lot of **** plan and budget every trip to the minute people over there.

So the expiration at end of year must be putting them into a tizzy

 

[freediverdude]

Next they need to enforce cleaning the bathrooms. My last few times to animal kingdom and magic kingdom, certain bathrooms have been untouchable. The men stalls that is. Idk what it is but flushing the toilet should be required. I know they are automated but still.

Yea, gone are the days when every restroom seemed to have a dedicated person keeping it tidy all day.

 

[flynnibus]

Disney supposedly was fixing this problem by requiring that the ticket used to schedule the FP now be used for entry. But since I have yet to see one single report of anyone being denied a FP or having their account locked, I don't think Disney IT was able to really shut it down. I think this was all a big head fake from Disney. I think that "we'll lock your account on a system sweep tonight" was supposed to scare people from trying.

There is no way Disney was going to enable something that destructive to be automatic and with a low threshold. Worst they do would be to put a hold on things and send you to GS. More than likely it would just flag your account and if you are a repeat offender... then freeze things and send you to GS.

Disney is way too conflict adverse to do this en mass. They just want to let people know the risks involved... and will save the ban hammer for some examples while collecting the data on just how bad of a problem it is and who those people are.

 

[freediverdude]

So the expiration at end of year must be putting them into a tizzy

Yes there are people who would buy 5 or 10 years worth of no expiration tickets at a time- now they can't do that kind of thing anymore.

I was just thinking, another way to get around all this and still have 2 sets of fastpasses without having to transfer any or use one set first, would be to have 2 separate identities with Disney. Two separate my Disney experience accounts, 2 separate tickets, make everything separately. And then go through the turnstiles twice, go through once as normal, walk around the train station and exit, then discreetly come back in again with the other magicband. Of course you'd be paying to enter twice, so it wouldn't be cheap. But if they don't require an ID for full price tickets it might be able to be done. No discounted second ticket though like FL Res or DVC. And your name and address would have to be slightly different. I bet some of those people with lots of disposable income will try it. I would think with a family of 4 it might approach VIP tour cost though.

 

[TTA94]

I am all for WDW switching to paid FPs, or at least a option to purchase a FP for a very popular attraction, for example Flight of Passage which is very difficult to obtain.

Another issue Disney should enforce is guests "sitting on" FPs that they may not actually use. I'm sure the majority of guests do not go and hit the cancel button when they know they will not be going to those attractions or shows. Its probably mostly AP/locals that do this.

 

[azox]

I am all for WDW switching to paid FPs, or at least a option to purchase a FP for a very popular attraction, for example Flight of Passage which is very difficult to obtain.

Another issue Disney should enforce is guests "sitting on" FPs that they may not actually use. I'm sure the majority of guests do not go and hit the cancel button when they know they will not be going to those attractions or shows. Its probably mostly AP/locals that do this.

I can see your point on some sort of FP cancellation policy.

I have mixed feelings about this as I have been in situations where we missed a FP reservation at WDW for many different reasons. I think dinging people for choosing not to use their FP would just add even more stress to the vacation. This option existed before even with the paper FP's so I would like to think it's factored into the number of FP's they give out (ie. some percentage will be no show) At least the skipped reservation means the standby line gets to move forward

I would also say, if they did decide to start enforcing the idea of people having to cancel FP's, then they should open up the 30 day limitation on AP's for booking FP's. As it is new attractions for AP holders are next to impossible to book with the 30 day limitation.

 

[LAKid53]

I am all for WDW switching to paid FPs, or at least a option to purchase a FP for a very popular attraction, for example Flight of Passage which is very difficult to obtain.

Another issue Disney should enforce is guests "sitting on" FPs that they may not actually use. I'm sure the majority of guests do not go and hit the cancel button when they know they will not be going to those attractions or shows. Its probably mostly AP/locals that do this.

I've missed FPs during my visit for various reasons. I try to remember to cancel ones I know I'm not going to use.

Are we now wanting Disney to ding folks who don't use a FP selection like Dining dings no shows for ADRs?

 

[LAKid53]

I can see your point on some sort of FP cancellation policy.

I have mixed feelings about this as I have been in situations where we missed a FP reservation at WDW for many different reasons. I think dinging people for choosing not to use their FP would just add even more stress to the vacation. This option existed before even with the paper FP's so I would like to think it's factored into the number of FP's they give out (ie. some percentage will be no show) At least the skipped reservation means the standby line gets to move forward

I would also say, if they did decide to start enforcing the idea of people having to cancel FP's, then they should open up the 30 day limitation on AP's for booking FP's. As it is new attractions for AP holders are next to impossible to book with the 30 day limitation.

We gripe now about the reliability of the system. Can you imagine if Disney had to build in some type of automatic cancellation? Which does occur after the fact. But you have to delete that FP if you want to make another one, at least that's been my experience...

 

[drizgirl]

Yes there are people who would buy 5 or 10 years worth of no expiration tickets at a time- now they can't do that kind of thing anymore.

I was just thinking, another way to get around all this and still have 2 sets of fastpasses without having to transfer any or use one set first, would be to have 2 separate identities with Disney. Two separate my Disney experience accounts, 2 separate tickets, make everything separately. And then go through the turnstiles twice, go through once as normal, walk around the train station and exit, then discreetly come back in again with the other magicband. Of course you'd be paying to enter twice, so it wouldn't be cheap. But if they don't require an ID for full price tickets it might be able to be done. No discounted second ticket though like FL Res or DVC. And your name and address would have to be slightly different. I bet some of those people with lots of disposable income will try it. I would think with a family of 4 it might approach VIP tour cost though.

I doubt there's anything stopping anyone from buying 2 sets of tickets, entering the park with both, and using FP from both. If Disney thought there was a market for this,they'd probably be promoting it already. But people don't want that and haven't been doing that. They have been using a second set of tickets they don't use for entry so they can keep using them over and over. Eventually they can use the entrance benefits for a trip down the line if they so desire.

Or they are using bands from their AP bands because they can double up their FPs for free.

 

[drizgirl]

I wonder how guest relations has been getting along...

Probably business as usual. Because I still don't think Disney is doing anything different (other than requiring tickets for FPs made in the parks at the kiosks).

 

[DisneyCane]

Another issue Disney should enforce is guests "sitting on" FPs that they may not actually use. I'm sure the majority of guests do not go and hit the cancel button when they know they will not be going to those attractions or shows. Its probably mostly AP/locals that do this.

I don't think that "sitting on FPs" is much of an issue. I assume that the rate of unused FP is relatively constant and that they can easily account for it in the available inventory. For an AP, especially a local, sometimes you plan to go to the park and something happens last minute. There shouldn't be a penalty for this.

A couple of days ago I booked FPs at MK in the afternoon. The plan was to go to AK in the morning, ride FoP on standby, then grab some lunch and head to MK. Well, after waiting in line for FoP for almost 2 hrs, they had the building evac. Then I waited on line for another 45 minutes at guest relations and was given a FP to return later if it opened.

Since I figured it would reopen in a few hours, we decided to have lunch and go see a movie at Disney Springs. When the movie ended, FoP was back up and running so we went back to AK to ride it. We had other evening plans so I didn't reschedule the MK FPs. Other than Pandora, there weren't really any waits at AK so there was no reason to try and book FPs at AK.

I didn't cancel the FPs just in case we decided to try and go to MK for a while after AK. By the time we made the decision not to, we were already 1/2 way into the window for the second pass. I didn't really think it was worth the effort to cancel the last pass so that somebody might get to book something 1/2 hour before the slot.

I wasn't "sitting on" the passes but there were events that changed my plans last minute and I ended up wasting them. Any other times in the past where I've not used FPs were similar. I would have every intention of going and then something would come up. I don't think I (or an other AP) should be punished for trying to use my AP in a somewhat spontaneous fashion. Under the old paper system, this wasn't an issue. With FP+, if there is any likelihood of going to the parks on a particular day, I need to reserve FP+.

If there was a punishment for "wasting" FPs, they would have to also do something like reserve a certain number of FP slots only for APs that can only be booked day of or something like that. With FP+, you can't enjoy a day without having the 3 FP bookings set up in advance.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I had no idea this was even a thing until all the news about it. I would not have done it, had I known though. I still will always say paper fastpasses were better. We did not have to make and plan for what we were doing 60 days out other than dining, and if something happened we did not need to use them, we had the option of giving them away. It just seemed better all the way around. I hate FP+. It was a much better day when people were racing to get fastpasses at a machine, rather than staring at a phone the whole time walking into people. I get it is how it is now, but people literally walk around like zombies on their phone now. It is a vacation, make memories, don't end up having to go home and see what it was that you did. Just my thought on it. :-/

Yes, Yes, Yes, you hit the nail on the head for me! Thank you!

 

[TTA94]

I don't think that "sitting on FPs" is much of an issue. I assume that the rate of unused FP is relatively constant and that they can easily account for it in the available inventory. For an AP, especially a local, sometimes you plan to go to the park and something happens last minute. There shouldn't be a penalty for this.

A couple of days ago I booked FPs at MK in the afternoon. The plan was to go to AK in the morning, ride FoP on standby, then grab some lunch and head to MK. Well, after waiting in line for FoP for almost 2 hrs, they had the building evac. Then I waited on line for another 45 minutes at guest relations and was given a FP to return later if it opened.

Since I figured it would reopen in a few hours, we decided to have lunch and go see a movie at Disney Springs. When the movie ended, FoP was back up and running so we went back to AK to ride it. We had other evening plans so I didn't reschedule the MK FPs. Other than Pandora, there weren't really any waits at AK so there was no reason to try and book FPs at AK.

I didn't cancel the FPs just in case we decided to try and go to MK for a while after AK. By the time we made the decision not to, we were already 1/2 way into the window for the second pass. I didn't really think it was worth the effort to cancel the last pass so that somebody might get to book something 1/2 hour before the slot.

I wasn't "sitting on" the passes but there were events that changed my plans last minute and I ended up wasting them. Any other times in the past where I've not used FPs were similar. I would have every intention of going and then something would come up. I don't think I (or an other AP) should be punished for trying to use my AP in a somewhat spontaneous fashion. Under the old paper system, this wasn't an issue. With FP+, if there is any likelihood of going to the parks on a particular day, I need to reserve FP+.

If there was a punishment for "wasting" FPs, they would have to also do something like reserve a certain number of FP slots only for APs that can only be booked day of or something like that. With FP+, you can't enjoy a day without having the 3 FP bookings set up in advance.

I do agree there are some guests that have legit reasons for not canceling, but im sure there are guests that know hours in advance that they will not be using their FP selections or even going to the park and they do not cancel allowing others a chance to get those times.

 

[DisneyCane]

I do agree there are some guests that have legit reasons for not canceling, but im sure there are guests that know hours in advance that they will not be using their FP selections or even going to the park and they do not cancel allowing others a chance to get those times.

I'm sure that happens but I would think that this "no show" percentage is very consistent and can easily be taken into account when determining the FP+ inventory. APs can only have FP+ bookings on 7 days at any time. I doubt there are many people just sitting there and booking all 7 days for no reason just to take up as many slots as possible.

People (especially paid guides) gaming the system is a MUCH bigger issue than "no shows." The people gaming the system are ending up with more FPs than they are entitled to. Somebody "sitting on" a FP booking doesn't really get anything out of it unless they truly have no life and get some kind of enjoyment by thinking that they are keeping somebody from getting a FP.