Non disney hotels getting FP+

[rteetz]

Not good. Not good at all. I'm pissed now, but if I was an AP holder, I would be REALLY pissed

They should let AP holders in on pre booking I mean they are already paying a ton for the AP.

 

[rteetz]

I don't think they have settled on the final version and that is why we have this loooong on-going test phase. And Disney isn't announcing, "Here's how it will be."....because they haven't decided on that yet. When I tested FP+ in Dec. 2012, I was offered tiered choices in all four parks. When I tested earlier this year, there were no tiers. Currently, there are tiered offerings in Epcot, but those limitations aren't imposed in the other 3 parks. So, to me, it really does seem like Disney is testing various FP+ programs.

And they will continue to do that until they find the one that works out the best. After spending a billion dollars on this they want to get it right and have the least amount of problems possible.

 

[mom2rtk]

They should let AP holders in on pre booking I mean they are already paying a ton for the AP.

I think they want to. But just haven't figured out how yet.

I'd be totally ticked to be an AP holder if they don't get pre-booking. But there's no denying they could wreck havoc on the system.

 

[KRFillion]

We are going Jan 13-23. I booked Bonnet Creek months ago, before any of this FP+ started. We have 6 day base tickets.

I have a MDE account and have linked my UT tickets to it. Obviously being offsite I can't make FP+ selections when my window opens in 10 days.

This is our first and most likely only visit so I want to get the most out of it for my kids, ages 8 +5. Can I book a room only reservation at POP for 1 night, Jan 13 and book FP+ for the next 10 days? Probably frowned upon, so don't flame me, just asking the question.

 

[doconeill]

I think they want to. But just haven't figured out how yet.

I'd be totally ticked to be an AP holder if they don't get pre-booking. But there's no denying they could wreck havoc on the system.

I think they know how. They just haven't. They've already activated AP holders (via having a resort reservation), so it can be done.

They've advertised that AP holders will get prebooking in the T&C, and I believe in the Mickey Monitor, so I don't expect them to reneg on it. They just don't WANT them loose on the system yet. Whether it is continued issues with registering APs, them not liking AP holders, etc. is anyone's guess.

 

[rteetz]

I think they want to. But just haven't figured out how yet. I'd be totally ticked to be an AP holder if they don't get pre-booking. But there's no denying they could wreck havoc on the system.

That could be another reason at to why testing has been going on so long.

 

[TDC Nala]

It probably means that S/W guests wont be able to charge back to their rooms or use their bands to open their room doors - but they can use them to enter the parks, and for Fastpass Plus.

Unless WDW lets you link your credit card right to your MDX account, and you just use that to pay instead of a room charge. Then Disney bills you.

 

[ckelly14]

It probably means that S/W guests wont be able to charge back to their rooms or use their bands to open their room doors - but they can use them to enter the parks. .

People currently at the Swan are commenting that you just show your room key at the designated site in the park, use the kiosk but are given paper fast pass slips. They do not have bands, nor are they issued any type of RF media. Still waiting for confirmation on this, as it sounds pretty hokey. How is this testing the FP+ system??

We are going Jan 13-23. I booked Bonnet Creek months ago, before any of this FP+ started. We have 6 day base tickets.

I have a MDE account and have linked my UT tickets to it. Obviously being offsite I can't make FP+ selections when my window opens in 10 days.

This is our first and most likely only visit so I want to get the most out of it for my kids, ages 8 +5. Can I book a room only reservation at POP for 1 night, Jan 13 and book FP+ for the next 10 days? Probably frowned upon, so don't flame me, just asking the question.

Yes, this should work.

 

[TDC Nala]

They did say before that eventually anyone who wants a band will be able to purchase one. They would be given to Disney resort guests and annual passholders (at this point it's just resort guests), but offsite would be given the option to buy them.

Of course, after testing, stuff could change.

 

[f19810]

We are going Jan 13-23. I booked Bonnet Creek months ago, before any of this FP+ started. We have 6 day base tickets.

I have a MDE account and have linked my UT tickets to it. Obviously being offsite I can't make FP+ selections when my window opens in 10 days.

This is our first and most likely only visit so I want to get the most out of it for my kids, ages 8 +5. Can I book a room only reservation at POP for 1 night, Jan 13 and book FP+ for the next 10 days? Probably frowned upon, so don't flame me, just asking the question.

All that I can tell you is that I stayed one day at POP and then a week at Bonnet Creek. I was able to make fp reservations for all of the days on my ticket. I booked this months ago, before POP wad part of the trial. As Disney has proven, they can change things at anytime. If this is the only time that you will be at wdw and you want to make sure that you get to ride everything that you want at convenient times, I would book one night at a value resort. Worst case is that you can only reserve two days, best case is that you can do all ten days.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think they know how. They just haven't. They've already activated AP holders (via having a resort reservation), so it can be done.

They've advertised that AP holders will get prebooking in the T&C, and I believe in the Mickey Monitor, so I don't expect them to reneg on it. They just don't WANT them loose on the system yet. Whether it is continued issues with registering APs, them not liking AP holders, etc. is anyone's guess.

I think they don't know what to do with that increased volume that is going to come on the system. So they are stalling. They might be trying to program in some rules too, like how many days or FPs you can hold at one time, that kind of thing.

 

[ArwenMarie]

People currently at the Swan are commenting that you just show your room key at the designated site in the park, use the kiosk but are given paper fast pass slips. They do not have bands, nor are they issued any type of RF media. Still waiting for confirmation on this, as it sounds pretty hokey. How is this testing the FP+ system??

Maybe the S/D got ticked off and this is some sort of bandaid for now.

 

[doconeill]

I didn't expect that S/D guests would get bands...it would be done by ticket only. But if they are being given "paper FP+", then there is something fundamentally wrong I think. I would have thought they'd just activate FP+ via their RFID park ticket, like it is supposed to work.

I'll know more this weekend, guaranteed.

 

[rteetz]

An interesting point was brought up today on the Disunplugged show. Shaun Thompson said that he thinks this is a test for those who are coming to disney just for a day not for a week vacation. These people wouldn't be planning months in advance. This is disneys way of letting them in on the new system without bands or a resort stay. I'm not saying I agree with that but it makes sense and would give hope to what off site guests would get. Especially those who have been planning for months.

 

[Angel Ariel]

An interesting point was brought up today on the Disunplugged show. Shaun Thompson said that he thinks this is a test for those who are coming to disney just for a day not for a week vacation. These people wouldn't be planning months in advance. This is disneys way of letting them in on the new system without bands or a resort stay. I'm not saying I agree with that but it makes sense and would give hope to what off site guests would get. Especially those who have been planning for months.

Many who stay offsite come for a week or more as well. I stay at sog, technically offsite, but I stay a week just as I would were I onsite.

 

[binkblum]

That sucks for them. Instead of heading to attractions first thing they have to do is find the kiosk to make ride reservations.

Yes, it does stink. Slight benefit for those that are early birds or have young kids. I guess if you aren't early birds during the week of Christmas, then shame on you.

 

[rteetz]

Many who stay offsite come for a week or more as well. I stay at sog, technically offsite, but I stay a week just as I would were I onsite.

But what I'm referring to is guest who are going to drive into Orlando for a day or two. Not everyone that comes to disney is their for a vacation many do come for a day to have some fun. So with that this may be a test to see how they can use the new system to their benefit as well.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

But what I'm referring to is guest who are going to drive into Orlando for a day or two. Not everyone that comes to disney is their for a vacation many do come for a day to have some fun. So with that this may be a test to see how they can use the new system to their benefit as well.

Maybe it is more of a test for guest that show up with no ticket linked to MDE. The only way Disney will be able to have any idea of how many days an off-site guest will visit the parks is if they have a ticket linked in MDE.

Disney would have no way to know if an off-site guest with an AP or NE ticket will be visiting for 1 day or 1 week.

 

[ckelly14]

I agree that this seems like a test just to see how well the system will work for people that show up without FP reserved.

 

[Cafeen]

Maybe it is more of a test for guest that show up with no ticket linked to MDE. The only way Disney will be able to have any idea of how many days an off-site guest will visit the parks is if they have a ticket linked in MDE.

The problem with that is that the user-base at S/D is likely made up of roughly the same ratio of planners vs spur of the moment visitors that the Disney resorts are, and likely the percentages for MDX accounts and usage are roughly similar. As such, using the S/D guests as pilots for that test case is far from ideal and will taint the results in a large way.

The S/D test case is more along the lines of the Disney Resorts test case, only without a Resort reservation inside of MDX. Essentially testing limited day tickets (non-APs) linked in MDX, but no resort reservation tied. This should allow them to make FP+ reservations up to n days out (where n = the max prebooking window) and up to 14 days from start to finish (max length of non-NE ticket).

Stepping right to "No ticket, no MDX" will miss issues contained within other use cases (or find issues that are actually different than they appear.)

To me, especially since all current ticket media is RFID enabled, it seems like something is fundamentally broken within the MM+ system right now with regards to off-site stays. More than likely with the "start date" of the available window. I know when I stayed a couple weeks ago (Pop/CBR), I could not make FP+s for dates before my check-in. I'm thinking that, since S/D guests (and other offsite guests) do not have this Start Date set, it's not allowing them to even start making FP+ reservations (hopefully, the CMs are using special internal accounts to include the count of hand-written FPs in the pool, otherwise FP returns are going to suck this week.)

Disney would have no way to know if an off-site guest with an AP or NE ticket will be visiting for 1 day or 1 week.

This bit, doesn't matter. If you have a ticket linked, it doesn't matter when you start or end your trip. The FP+ booking window is limited (so, you can only book up to 60* days in advance(*this is the current number, but can easily change whenever). The tickets are limited (either by number of days or by the arbitrary "max active" number for APs (which I'm not sure is implemented yet, or if it will be)) preventing someone from just going willy-nilly on the system and reserving FPs for everyday. So, the system doesn't have to care when your resort stay (if any) is, only which days you've made FP+ for.

(As noted above, I think there's currently a Start Date value that gets set with Disney reservations. Likely this was included primarily for testing while limiting to on-site guests. I don't believe it's really needed though for FP+, except perhaps to set a default "Show me this date first" page which the user could then change via the UI.)