I could be confused, but here’s one scenario why we need to keep track of it.
We get a new touring plan request from a user who is in the park. They’ve told us they’re holding no FPPs. There are two possibilities:
They’ve made 0 FPPs and can make 3 right now, subject to tiering rules.
They’ve used all 3 before deciding to create a touring plan. Now they can make 1 rolling FPP at a time, with no tiering rules.
Those are both possibilities, right?
ahhh okay, that does make sense. Thanks for the clarification.
Sounds like a drop down or radio button with "have you used any today? " would solve that
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. The first time you enter FPP information, if it’s 1 FPP AND it’s the day of your visit, we ask a question like “Is this one of your advance FPP reservations?”
If you enter 2 or 3, we know the answer to the question already.
If you’re not yet visiting the park, then we know the answer to the question already, too.
@Len if you are making your first 3 reservations, at a kiosk, you still have to follow the tiering rules.
@SteveBloom - thanks. I’m assuming that any initial set of FPPs, done in any device, will follow the FPP tier rules.
@Steve and @Mr_Itty - another scenario:
I’m inside a park. I’ve made 0 advance FPP reservations before I got there. I start making a FPP reservation. I assume I have to make 3, either through the app or kiosk.
Is there any way, through the app or kiosk, that I can end up with exactly 1 FPP reservation at the end of this process?
If the answer is yes:
Should Lines assume that the user has done this intentionally, in order to access untiered, day-of FPPs sooner?
Thanks for the help.
Len
Not through the app or kiosk, but you can through the website, including the mobile website. I did it myself just yesterday, while I was in the park. The website allows you to cancel just one or two of your initial set of 3, whereas the app requires you to cancel either all or none.
It’s hard for me to imagine a user doing that unintentionally, it requires quite a few clicks/taps to get it done. And yes, the benefit is that you get access to untiered day-of, and also repeats. ie, I could book Space Mountain along with two I don’t care about during my initial 3, cancel the two I don’t care about, ride Space Mountain, and then immediately get another Space Mountain FP+ at the kiosks. So it’s not just DHS and Epcot this applies to.
Cool. Thanks @Mr_Itty.
So if I’m the Lines app, and a user submits a touring plan for today, with 0 FPPs entered, then I think I need to do a couple of things:
The answer to that question is going to be 0, 1, 2, or “3 or more”
If the answer is 3+, then I know they can’t make any more advance FPPs. I can assume they’re in a day-of situation, right?
If the answer is 0, then I know they can make up to 3, and I can let the Optimizer figure out how many they should make and where. That is, the Optimizer will decide when to stop using advance FPPs and switch to day-of.
But if the answer is 1 or 2, then I need to know whether they’re intentionally using the strategy you describe above, right? Because if they are, then I don’t want to recommend getting more advance FPPs, since that may require them to cancel the 1 or 2 they’ve already got (if they’re not available).
Another question, just to confirm:
Is it possible to enter the park having made 0 advance FPPs, and immediately be in a day-of situation?
Not quite sure I’m following this one. If you have 1 or 2, you can’t make any more until those 1 or 2 are used or expired (or cancelled via the website, as described above). In other words, it’s not that it “may” require them to cancel, it will require them to cancel.
No. If you have not yet made your initial set, your only option is to make your initial set (subject to the no-duplicates and tiering rules). You must use at least one of that initial set AND either use or cancel the others, before you can do any day-of one-at-a-time no-tiers duplicates-okay selections.
I had a scenario in mind for that, but it may not be important now.
@sarah suggested a possible way to avoid all of these what-if scenarios:
In Lines, where we ask you to enter in your existing FPP reservations for your plan, we’ll add two new options:
For the first 3 FPPs, we’ll have a checkbox that says “This is an Advance FPP reservation” and it’ll be turned on by default. You can either turn it off (if you know something Lines doesn’t), or we can manage it automatically (like if we know you’ve park hopped and previously used FPP at the earlier park).
We’ll also allow you to specify something like “I’m intentionally not using this FPP choice” for FPP #2 and FPP#3 in the drop-down list of FPP attractions. This is so advance users can use the make-and-cancel strategy and still get suggestions for day-of FPPs from the Optimizer.
I think that’s all the information we’d need to have the Optimizer make valid suggestions. What do you think?
I think this is the best thread I’ve read in some time. Loving this.
I think you got it @Lentesta.
@Mr_Itty rocks.
Only problem I foresee is not-so-savvy users being confused.
But a little more user input can avert a lot of faulty software assumptions.
I’d go with what @sarah suggests.
I do think some “drop-down instructions” if one clicks on some “help” or “advanced options” on the web site version would help also.