Saw this on Screamscape. Not sure it is being discussed anywhere here yet:
“According to Behind the Thrills a major abuse loophole in the Walt Disney World FastPass program looks like it is about to be closed. According to the report, because guests with on-site hotel reservations could get first dibbs on FastPass reservations 60 days out, some Walt Disney World guests would book a room, make their reservations, and then when they were within the regular 30-day window for regular FastPass reservations for everyone else, they would cancel the hotel reservation and be able to keep the FP reservations. Apparently now Disney is now cancelling those early FastPass reservations.”
Yes! The throwaway thread has been on fire all weekend over this. As well as lively discussions on WDWMagic and DIS. (This site, of course, has the most genteel conversation.)
I read this on WDWNT (a site that I don’t typically have a lot of trust in). I say to Disney - WELL DONE! People who “game” - let’s call it what it really is: abuse - the system piss me off. And I will experience a certain amount of old fashion Schadenfreude when people who used this “loophole” find all of their ill-gotten FPPs suddenly gone
I don’t spend much time at DIS, but I’m a regular on WDWMagic and it can get pretty ugly over there sometimes. I haven’t been over there a lot recently, so I haven’t had a chance to read the threads on this topic…
I think they might have taken them down at the DIS. I looked for them this morning and couldn’t find them. I think perhaps because leading reservations and throwaway rooms were being discussed and those seem to be still allowed.
I would avoid it on both. I’m pretty quiet on DIS after the house-cleaning of 2014… I started getting points for just being friendly with certain posters. It’s better now, but I still don’t trust it.
I have to say, in my many internet wanderings, that’s the only place I’ve ever blocked anyone, and I did it just for their sheer rudeness. You know, if I’m actually debating something I don’t care if someone gets a little heated, but to be smacked out of left field for an simple comment or question is ridiculous.
That person continues to post prolifically to this day.
Just spoke to 2 CM’s who said they know nothing about any of this
Here’s my scenario. We are booked at POP for this March. Have a two day pass (1 day each MK and AK), and we just relax and visit other resorts, Disney Springs, Orlando Science Centre, Canaveral the rest of the days. Got the FP’s I wanted at 60 days out.
My parents have access to a timeshare exchange, and sometimes last-minute deals come up where we only need to pay the taxes for the whole week. This can sometimes be DVC, Wyndham, HI, HGV, etc.
I asked her exactly what would happen to our FP’s if a timeshare came up and we decided to shorten or cancel POP? Should I cancel my FP’s now and re-book them at 30 days (better than losing them at 10 days out).
She said with the room-only reservation I have, nothing would happen to my FP’s.
Even if I get the timeshare, and even despite the CM’s reassurances, this rumor is frightening enough that I will keep POP for the first 2 nights no matter what, and check-in to the timeshare for the last 5 days.
I think that it is great that it happens (as long as it is official). The changes, same type changes done for the Disabililty access card, and the dining reservations. It is to stop abuse of the system, the loopholes. Great! means that others will be able to get some of the harder to get FP+ when something is cancelled.
People need to play by the rules and stop abusing the systems.
But people who employ these loopholes ARE playing by the rules, aren’t they? It’s just that they know the rules better than most people do.
What Disney is doing here is changing the rules, which is certainly their prerogative.
Part of the problem is that Disney doesn’t even publish complete and definitive rules, and people are left guessing, and that’s how these loopholes are found. It’s hard to break the rules when you can’t even find them.
Disney is about the most opaque company I’ve ever dealt with. I doubt we’ll ever hear anything official from them about this. People will just report back and we’ll find about they could or couldn’t do something. That’s why these forums are so popular- because no one ever gets the straight scoop from the Mouse himself.
The problem here, playing by the rules, is that normally, you don’t make a reservation with the intent of cancelling it. People have abused the rules and look for any loophole they can.
If you make a reservation for a stay and then cancel, the reservations, including the FP should be cancelled, not kept as you cancelled the reservation.
I don’t know about the term “abusing” the rules. They are either broken, or they’re not. It’s not up to visitors to interpret what Disney really means with their rules. If they don’t want folks to make & cancel reservations, then they need to change the rules to prevent that.
In most of the free world, laws are meant to be restrictive, not permissive. You get to do what you want until you are told “no”. That’s what people are doing with these types of practices. If Disney wants them to stop, they need to stop them- and I can certainly see why they would- from a business perspective that makes sense. But I don’t blame people for not following rules that don’t exist.
I think it comes down to Disney not anticipating. It isn’t that the loophole was allowed, just not accounted for. As people abused it they now have to make it explicit.
