Disney to cancel FPs if room is cancelled

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Disney IT, that's why.

Possibly. If true, I go back to my other comment about them hiring people from here.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Also, Disney has not (and likely will not) made any announcement about these FP changes. All this discussion was initially driven by a post on WDWMAGIC. While the post is reputable and there have been some substantive changes by disney, this whole idea of timelines and phases is our own narrative.

True. I should have said leaked. The CMs have been telling split stay people that this was the way it's always been which obviously isn't true.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Possibly. If true, I go back to my other comment about them hiring people from here.

I am not an IT person. I am not a technology person.
I wonder out loud why it seems that Disney IT did not run some "typical" scenarios under some bogus account names to "test" their system.
Actually, I think most of us believe they did.
So if that is the case, why did they say there was going to be a change when it was not ready for prime time? (rhetorical)

 

[jlundeen]

I am not an IT person. I am not a technology person.
I wonder out loud why it seems that Disney IT did not run some "typical" scenarios under some bogus account names to "test" their system.
Actually, I think most of us believe they did.
So if that is the case, why did they say there was going to be a change when it was not ready for prime time? (rhetorical)

just wanted to add "AGAIN" to your rhetorical question...

 

[Spaceguy55]

Here is something from the FP+ info page, has the the part in bold always been there ?

Learn more about FastPass+.
Valid theme park admission required. FastPass+ attractions and entertainment experiences, the number of selections you can make and available arrival windows are limited. Making advance FastPass+ selections requires online registration.

 

[cel_disney]

Well, in a way they have. Guests who booked throwaway rooms can no longer get a rolling 60-day window for the days following the night that they booked. They get 60+1, which is their LOS.

Something else To chew on: Disney rarely makes official announcements when it comes to closing loopholes and they didn’t do it this time, either. However, the word was leaked out thru trusted bloggers. I’m looking at this as being similar to when they changed their TOS to specifically remove GLFP as an option. It’s still possible to use GLFP...for maybe a day...but then the offenders get thrown in FP Jail and need to contact Disney to get bailed out. When they call, they are reminded of the TOS and given a firm lecture along with making them declare that they understand their transgression. A repeat offense could get their account permanently locked. There was a post about this very issue just this past week on the TPAS.

I would not be surprised if something similar is coming down the pike. The guest who got caught GLFPing was able to do so on their visit but when they tried to make FPs for the next visit, they learned that accounts were locked. Maybe people who think they’re safe by booking FPs using leading reservations now could find themselves in FP Jail on their next trip.

What is GLFP? I’m not familiar with that term?

 

[Spaceguy55]

If and that's a big IF..we assume that IT can close all the loopholes , I think the throwaway room 60+ one is the main target and will produce the most available fp's for SWGE.
Onsite guests with true split stays shouldn't be penalized now or then.

 

[jbb4me]

We do split stays almost every trip (we own at two DVC resorts) so this news is obviously distressing. I understand there is still much to come about this, but I'm wondering if I need to make back-up reservations for our length of stay for our Nov. 2019 and Jan. 2020 trips just in case we decide to go the one-resort route instead. Am I allowed to hold both a DVC reservation and a non-DVC hotel reservation for the same time period under the same names?

 

[Marionnette]

The language has been there since at least July, 2017

 

[crvetter]

What is GLFP? I’m not familiar with that term?

I think it was a “strategy” (or to be honest a loophole/exploiting a flaw) originally discussed on here about getting FastPasses for “fake” guests. You would then use the FastPass for yourself, the real guest, then switch over to the “fake” guests account after using your FastPass. I could be wrong but I think this is the one being discussed. But then Disney cracked down and if caught using a FastPass for someone that didn’t enter the park could lead to a ban.

This was also used with other “strategies” discussed on DIS that then allowed multiple sets of 3 FastPasses being booked at 60 days in advance.

 

[cel_disney]

If and that's a big IF..we assume that IT can close all the loopholes , I think the throwaway room 60+ one is the main target and will produce the most available fp's for SWGE.
Onsite guests with true split stays shouldn't be penalized now or then.

I agree with this. I also believe the rolling 60 was a real problem - for both FP and campground revenue. Campground rooms were being sold and freebies (MB and Parking) were being used - but the additional revenue from guests onsite at FW was not being made. No one shopped at their store/restaurant etc. And guests that wanted to do so - were often blocked out from Availability.

I think this was happening at more than just FW - the rolling 60 happened everywhere...

 

[Marionnette]

What is GLFP? I’m not familiar with that term?

Generator Linked FastPass. It was the practice of using the ticket or MB belonging to someone else who had not used their ticket to enter the park that day. Abusers would reserve their own FPs and then FPs for the other person(s) who were not in the park. They could then get 3 FPs for ever unique MB they had.

It was alleged that the biggest abusers of this practice were TAs who would buy a number of APs, set up phantom names in their MDE profiles and then book FPs using those phantoms. Then they would offer “extra Fastpasses” for a price to their clients. They would give their clients the phantoms’ MBs to use during their trip and then deactivate those MBs when the trip was over.

 

[cel_disney]

Good Morning Dissers...Quoting myself to just report that so far - nothing has happened to my FP for the ‘leading reservation’ that I cancelled on thursday. No email and the FP are still there for April 9th.

My FP window for these days has correctly been removed. (I have an AP so I can make FP for next 30 days plus my trip)

Since it’s been 3 nights - I am assuming that Disney is not checking for this 60/30 day case yet - so decided to try one more thing...Modifying the FP!!

It let me get all the way thru the process bringing up the screen to replace old with new- and then I got the red bar ‘something went wrong screen’. After attempting to exit the screen - it said ‘There are no more times available for the attraction you selected’. The next option it gave me was to ‘pick a different experience - at which point the app crashed. After a restart - the FP from April 9th are all still there.

Wil be interesting to see if this triggers anything different to happen. This was a legit split stay and I will really be at Disney in april - arriving now on the 11th. I have FP for Buzz, Splash and SDMT for the 9th that I really should cancel at some point so that others can grab them but I don’t mind one more round of experimenting if anyone has an idea of what to do.

One funny note from this: Barnstormer FP and Splash Mountain we’re suddenly gone for this day - could there be so many people experimenting that we have grabbed all of them??

Another update - as suggested - I tried to modify my FP on the website instead of the app and I was NOT able to.

It gives me the following message:
Sorry, We are unable to finalize this FP+ selection so you will have to start over.

I tried changing the time at Buzz and also changing to a new attraction.

 

[Marionnette]

I agree with this. I also believe the rolling 60 was a real problem - for both FP and campground revenue. Campground rooms were being sold and freebies (MB and Parking) were being used - but the additional revenue from guests onsite at FW was not being made. No one shopped at their store/restaurant etc. And guests that wanted to do so - were often blocked out from Availability.

I think this was happening at more than just FW - the rolling 60 happened everywhere...

The “freebies” still exist. People are still booking throwaway rooms or campsites. The only way for a Disney to circumvent that would be to institute a minimum LOS at their resorts. But then people like myself, who book a DVC stay (or any deluxe resort) and find cheaper airfare the night before won’t be able to book a single night leading up to their longer stay. And room assigners could find themselves with a number of orphaned rooms. It’s likely that even though Disney is aware of the throwaway room practice, they also know that financially the cure is worse than the curse.

 

[cel_disney]

The “freebies” still exist. People are still booking throwaway rooms or campsites. The only way for a Disney to circumvent that would be to institute a minimum LOS at their resorts. But then people like myself, who book a DVC stay (or any deluxe resort) and find cheaper airfare the night before won’t be able to book a single night leading up to their longer stay. And room as signers could find themselves with a number of orphaned rooms. It’s likely that even though Disney is aware of the throwaway room practice, they also know that financially the cure is worse than the curse.

I agree with your points here - but the rolling 60 encouraged way more people to do the throw away room for only a single night.

 

[Runnsally]

I am not an IT person. I am not a technology person.
I wonder out loud why it seems that Disney IT did not run some "typical" scenarios under some bogus account names to "test" their system.
Actually, I think most of us believe they did.
So if that is the case, why did they say there was going to be a change when it was not ready for prime time? (rhetorical)

Disney did not say there was going to be a change

 

[jlundeen]

Disney did not say there was going to be a change

Didn't several phone CMs state that it was changing? That's what I THOUGHT I read early on in this whole fiasco....

 

[Runnsally]

Didn't several phone CMs state that it was changing? That's what I THOUGHT I read early on in this whole fiasco....

As far as I can tell, (when asked) some cast members have said that split stays have have two FP booking windows. That’s it. Hardly an announcement and nothing new about FP cancellation.

 

[jlundeen]

As far as I can tell, (when asked) some cast members have said that split stays have have two FP booking windows. That’s it. Hardly an announcement and nothing new about FP cancellation.

But didn't they also say that if you needed to change your reservation, you needed to be sure your reservation dates covered your FPs or you would lose them.... sorry if I remember this incorrectly, we've been around the block with this nonsense for a while now, and it's hard to remember way back when it started.....

 

[rteetz]

But didn't they also say that if you needed to change your reservation, you needed to be sure your reservation dates covered your FPs or you would lose them.... sorry if I remember this incorrectly, we've been around the block with this nonsense for a while now, and it's hard to remember way back when it started.....

This all started with a tweet that said Disney was going to cancel FPs if you cancelled your resort stay. So far that hasn’t been the case. In the mean time a new issue with split stays has popped up as well as a glitch where people have been able to book before 60 days.