I will way that this entire thread has added yet another reason why I hate the FPP system.
I agree.
Length of stay booking, capped at 14 days max and ALSO capped by tickets.
However, if you have a 14 day stay, but only a 10 day ticket, you can book any 10 days within your 14 day window.
Yeah, in a thread titled Hypocritical rant.
No he doesn’t. He likes to write self-deprecating posts about himself and his Disney experiences.
I understand that. But as I now feel under attack by you, I’ll add the following.
I don’t feel bad about booking a throwaway room. And for the following reasons.
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People who book the cheapest rooms at Disney for the duration of their stay get FPPs at 60 days + length of stay. The cost per person of the cheapest rooms can be as low as — what? — $50 a head. So a ten day stay will cost them $500. They are rewarded with early FPP booking.
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I’m spending $500 on one meal. Yet I get no bonuses. No early FPP for that massive contribution to Disney coffers. And I’m additionally spending well over $500 on one room for one night. Which gets me 60 days on my last two days only.
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So there are quite likely people who successfully booked SDD over the last weekend who are spending far fewer dollars at WDW than I am, yet I can’t attempt to book SDD until next week.
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My “throwaway” room will cost me about $50. So I’m not ripping Disney off by booking a room and cancelling five days out and paying nothing.
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I will have had the booking for about three months total before I return it to the system. I don’t buy the argument that there’s a traumatised family out there whose dreams of going to WDW are shattered forever because I booked one room for one night in a 1,920 room hotel on an estate with over 35,000 rooms.
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Am I gaming the system? Yes. Everyone does this in their lives all the time. Life is riddled with inequality and unfairness. In the grand scheme of Disney gaming, this isn’t like the people who got themselves additional FPPs over the standard allowance of three by using multiple bands/cards. I’m trying to book my FPPs early.
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And the reason for that is this vacation is costing me around $7,000. You can be damn sure I’m going to make sure I get the best experience I can. And I’m doing so by paying to hold a room reservation for three months so that I can get some FPPs literally five days earlier than I otherwise would have been able to. (Remember: I have a reservation I’m keeping. But it’s at the end of my trip. My throwaway booking allows to me to get FPPs for the beginning of my trip.)
You can only make 14 days when your window opens.
But the next day you can book for day 15.
The next day for day 16.
And so on. So you can hold more than 14 days at a time, but you can only book the initial 14 days at once. Then a rolling window.
Can you explain a bit more?
When was your one night resort stay? At beginning or end?
And I’m not sure I understand what you meant exactly.
If I were to guess, I’d guess you had a one night stay with tickets attached as a package. So you couldn’t book for days earlier than your check-in day.
Matt’s tickets aren’t attached, so his window will open up any days between “now” and his 60 day window.
I’m not sure I understand your point.
The booking window of my throwaway room advances by one day each day. It’s now reached the first day of my stay, and so I’ve booked FPPs for that day. Tomorrow I can do the next day, and so on.
By the beginning of next week, the 60 day window for my “real” booking will open up. My understanding is that this will then “legitimate” those earlier FPP bookings, allowing me to cancel the throwaway room — and lose my deposit in doing so.
You should have been able to book both days, check-in and check-out day.
Thanks to a misunderstanding of how things would work when I booked the room, I booked it for a week before my first actual day. So I didn’t get the benefit of an initial two day window.
My stay was one day and the tickets were separate. But it was a one day ticket. Maybe I’m confused about how it all works, I just want him to be sure he’s going to be able to keep his FPP that he makes this week.
When I went in to look at the days before our stay, just to scope out the FPPs available, it wouldn’t let me in until the 30 day mark or the 60th day from my stay. So, it could be a different scenario.
I have two reservations. The first one is for before my stay. The 60 day window opened a few days ago and has slowly marched towards the beginning of my stay. It has now reached that point, so I’m booking FPPs for days that fall after the day the room is booked for and so are therefore within its window. In about a week the 60 day window will open for my second stay, which is for the end of my trip. By then, the FPPs I booked today (for example) will fall inside that new window and so will be covered by it. At that point, the original booking and its window becomes redundant.
So MDE saw your ticket. It was a valid ticket (unattached to a package), so was good for a day visit (i.e.: offsite) anytime.
The system would let you look for any day in the next 30 days. But no further than that, as that is as far ahead you can book for.
Until bingo, you hit 60 days before your stay. Now you can book either for arrival day or leaving day. You only have one day so cannot book more than one day’s worth of FPs.
In Matt’s case, it is different because he’s now past his first stay somthe window is rolling on each day.
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Yes, I understand that. What I don’t understand (although could be perfectly correct) is how he will keep the FPPs for the days before his stay starts once he cancels his throwaway date. Doesn’t that put the dates he wants to keep before the stay at greater than 30 days?
I’m guessing I just don’t understand the nuances of the rules, here. I thought he would have to hold the throwaway booking until the 30 day window opened in order to keep those dates. That’s what’s confusing me.
Without my second reservation that would be true. But the dates I’m now booking will fall within the 60 day window afforded by my second reservation.
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I didn’t realize they just had to be around your booking, not after your booking. Well, I’m glad it’s all working out for you. Good luck for tomorrow’s picks.
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So you’re saying you’re better than me because you have more money to spend?
I worked very hard and now I’m not able to, so I have to live off my social security insurance. I have to scrimp and save to give my family what I can, and if you stayed at a value resort instead of one night at the CR you could have stayed longer, and had FPP longer.
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I don’t see where he ever says he thinks he’s better than someone who has less money than he does. It’s his money. If he wants to spend $600 on one night at the Contemporary then what’s it to you?
We are a family of five and have now been saving for two years for our WDW vacation that will be in December. We’ll have approximately $5000 for our holiday. While I may be a little envious that @profmatt has so much cash to spend on a vacation I’m not begrudging him it. He’s made his life choices and we have made ours. Ours include children and putting money in their college funds and yes, taking them on a Disney vacation while they’re still little even though, obviously, it is not as easy for us as it is for some.
Maybe when he is also not able to work and living off of Britain’s equivalent of SSI he’ll regret spending $7000 on a holiday to WDW and wish he had saved it. Maybe not. Let him live with the consequences of his actions and stop judging how he spends his money. We are each accountable for our own actions and while I personally wouldn’t book a room in order to reap the benefits of it and then not pay for it because I think it’s ethically wrong, I am not the judge of someone who does.
You sound like you’re trying to pick a fight with someone who has more money than you. The grass is greener where you water it.
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Mathematicians are logical applying the appropriate language to convey the message to the recipient. If you can’t dazzle them with your brilliance then baffle them with your bull$hit.
I’m not saying that at all.
My point was simply this. Two people can both spend $500 as part of their WDW holiday. One could get 60+10 days of FPP, the other could get only 30. Where’s the logic? Where’s the fairness?
I’m a family of one. Well, two: me and my dog. I’m financially responsible only for the two of us. I make fairly good money, I pay my bills on time, I have savings, I have a personal finances spreadsheet that makes my WDW spreadsheet look like child’s play. I own my car outright.
Is $7,000 for a holiday a lot? I know families that spend a lot more. And those that spend a lot less. We have a phrase in the UK (perhaps it’s universal) — “you can’t take it with you”. And I could die tomorrow. So, you know. Yay for a great vacation once a year. (Well, and some sneaky weekends away, too!)
Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.
When your family of five books a room, you pay the same as me. Yet you get fifteen FPPs a day. I get three.
It’s really difficult to be clear what’s fair and what isn’t.
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If you pay for the room in order to get the 60+ window and don’t cancel it then I have no problems with a “throwaway” room. I don’t think it matters if someone sleeps there if they are paying for it. Paying for a room, whether you sleep there or not, is using the room and the benefits that come with it. For me, the ethicality (is that a word?) of it is tied to the intent to take the benefit without the cost. But that is for me. I am not judging you. For me, it would be wrong to do that because I think it’s crossing a line with intent. For you, you feel that you’re paying the penalty fee and that therefore you are paying for the benefit of 60+ FP. I’m not sure how I feel about this, being that you are British and do pay a cancelation fee. I know I think it’s wrong for people to do it who don’t have to pay anything.
I think this is awesome and that you are entitled to do what you want to with your own money. I think it’s wrong for people to judge you for how you spend your money. It’s yours. Like I said, we’ve made the decision to have kids and to put our money elsewhere. You have you and your dog. I’m glad you get to have a nice holiday!
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As I mentioned in the other thread, I was just trying to be funny. Went horribly wrong. My bad.
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