I inadvertently tested a question which was raised a few pages ago. I booked a throwaway room (campsite) for the purpose of booking the FD bounceback for Dec 2019. I didn't realize this was not allowed. When I book a reservation, I do so for a combination of benefits that come with the cost, and sometimes the benefits I want don't include actually sleeping in the room. As long as you pay in full and don't try to scam anyone by cancelling or trying to get out of paying, I didn't think it mattered. Apparently Disney is on the lookout for people who book a room for the purpose of booking a future stay bounceback and has decided that particular benefit requires you to actually step foot in the room. The initial guy I spoke with was friendly and chatted about my one-night stay asking if I booked it solely to book the bounceback offer, saying he had heard that from lots of others. I laughed and replied with a 'might have' or something similarly non-committal (while I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, I also didn't want to put him in an awkward position if he had been told otherwise). He asked which resort we were looking at and how many day tickets. I told him this stay would be the first of our next round of annual passes after a year break. He suggested banking tickets for future use by AP holders. He checked availability then put me on hold a while. When he came back, he said it was available but I would have to call back after our current stay was activated. I said 'so after the 3pm check-in', he said yes or even tomorrow.
About an hour later I got our room assignment via text, had already done online check-in, so no problems there. I called back a couple hours later and got the same guy. He put me on hold a couple times, then transferred me to guest services who said that I was not eligible to book the bounce-back because I had not actually gone to the resort. They checked with the front gate and no one on the reservation had scanned entrance. He said the initial guy I spoke with had been required to follow-up because of what I said to him, and that he could have gotten in trouble for booking a reservation for someone who wasn't eligible. I asked what made me ineligible when I had reserved and paid for my stay just like anyone else. The terminology on the brochure says it is for 'Guests of select Walt Disney World Resort hotels', but he said that the bounceback offers were only for those guests physically onsite, booking and paying for a stay wasn't enough.
I'm really disappointed because it's not feasible to swing by Orlando from Texas just for a night or two in Aug. Last year we did visit during the dates that the FD bounceback was offered, but it was towards the end of the offer, and the dates/resorts we wanted were gone. Hopefully there will be availability when the public offer comes out in April, but by then I'm sure room and ticket prices will have gone up again. Or maybe I'll get a PIN code (yeah right, 15 years and still hasn't happened
).
Of course, I didn't think to look any of this up on the disboards until AFTER I had already tried it
. So, for anyone else interested, here is my data point!