I think paying for a room and just not sleeping there is fully legit.
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LOL. I remember going camping as a child and my mother decided we were done with that and we proceeded to find a motel in the area. The campground did not give us the money back I am sure.
Exactly why my fast passes are in tact. I am still on Disney property after cancelling my lead reservation. I guess the people who are booking, cancelling, and then heading off site were the ones to get Disney’s attention. Once they get this under control, they will try to figure out how to deal with the lead reservations for those who still stay on site.
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The problem with that (from Disney’s point of view, I don’t care) is that it means there are fewer people on property than there could be. So less downstream revenue, a concept I think you know all about, amirite? 
While you might be spending a pretty penny, you’re essentially taking up a spot for someone else who could be doing the same, or would maybe even spend more than you, because they’d be on-site. Of course, that depends on folks who use throwaway rooms still visiting WDW even if that room is taken away. A certain number of them may not, that’s the big unknown number if WDW decides to put an end to it.
To me, if it’s not illegal, I don’t care. It’s a loophole and we’re entirely able to exploit it. Disney is a publicly-traded company whose fiduciary duty lies with its stockholders, not its customers. Making customers happy is how they make the stockholders happy, that’s all. They’re not doing it out of the kindness of their hearts, it’s just a business model.
Our personal business models include doing what is best for our families, and that means maximizing our own situation. Which is what you & I are doing by even visiting this forum.
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Should we call this an unused room?
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I was not aware off this thread until now. I had a leading reservation for my April trip. Booked four days in advance at POP inclusive of the actual dates and my actual at YC. Secured FP at 60 days out from Pop reservation. Waited four days for the YC reservation to hit 60 days. This was literally this morning. I cancelled the Pop reservation and MDE gave me a notice that fast pass reservations associated with this Pop reservation would be cancelled but not tours or dining. Waiting to check tomorrow after the computer gods at Disney have updated the system to see if I still have my fast Passes! Don’t usually use a leading reservation. Usually my stays are 5-7 days so I get my choice on fast passes at the end of the the trip and I don’t bother with a leading reservation. It appears to me that the sweet spot on fast pass availability is at about 4 days but I may be wrong on that. This trip was a spring break add on and only a three day duration. I’m using older magic your way tickets good for 14 days.
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Wow, thanks for doing this experiment. I think it will answer a lot of questions, well, for me anyway! Keep us posted.
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As of 7:44 am EST the aforementioned fast passes are still intact!!! YES!
I wish I could take credit for this test but I completely did this unintentionally! I had NO idea the fast pass loophole was getting closed! Pure dumb luck! I happed upon this thread browsing through tp yesterday and thought I’d share what happens! Glad to be of assistance!
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Anxious to see if they are there tomorrow-please report back. You are our official rat in the lab on this. 
Editing to add this is the only informational thread at this point, Dis got shut down after it turned to shrimp. lol
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It will answer some, but not all. @vldevito still kept a reservation with Disney, which if I understand everything means Disney wont cancel the fastpasses. The true experiment will be if someone goes and makes a reservation for 31 days from today, books fastpasses, then in 2 days cancels the reservation. That will test the system to the fullest.
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Correct! I don’t stay offsite and the true test would be to cancel your reservation within the 30 day offsite fp window. Although, if I’m a bettin gal, I’d speculate based on the notice issued to me upon cancellation, those fast passes in the absence of another onsite reservation would disappear. But if someone is willing to do this I’m sure the offsite guests would appreciate the verification.
What this does verify is if you make a lonnnnnng reservation you can maybe modify and keep fastpasses. IE, if you are staying offsite for 5 days. Make a 14 day reservation with the last 9 being after your last day on site. Modify the reservation down to the 4 days prior to arriving, then once you leave site cancel the reservation. This is like a leading reservation, but on steroids.
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Already tried that. When you modify the dates, you lose your price point on the reservation. So if the 14 day reservation rate was say126.00 average per night, when you modify and delete days it puts you into a higher rate, mine went up from 126.00 per night to around 167.00 per night. My original reservation was made months out and I had a good rate. So yes, you can do it and keep your fast passes, but you risk losing your price point for the resort. I only tried this once, the results of which inspired me to try the leading reservation system which I didn’t realize was a discussion until yesterday!!! 
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Sorry, misread your offsite strategy. Though you were referring to just modifying AND staying onsite! My bad!
I edited my original post from onsite to offsite. My example was for someone staying offsite to get 60 day fastpass access. You wouldn’t care about price point then.
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Yes. I wonder if that would work?
If you ain’t cheatin, you ain’t trying!
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I have leading reservation because there are only 10 of the room type I want at BWI. By the time I find out my final dates, there’s a high chance I wouldn’t be able to modify it for the right dates So I have a leading reservation at DS resort. I have much better chance of changing or cancelling that without messing up my main reservation at BWI.
Of course, who knows if this even applies to DS hotels. So there’s another little quirk that has to be tested.
As of 2/8/19 fp selections are still there!
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Ok, so it was a false alarm then. Phew! my next scheduled cancellation was coming up and I was worried this was official.
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