I was thinking about the throwaway campsite and was wondering if it would be worth $378 for our May 2020 trip to get the 60 day FPP access.
Ordinarily I would say no, but I am worried still about the crowds for SWGE. I believe I could put our family on the campsite for those nights we would be at Disney.
We are actually staying off property. 5 bedroom house with private pool. There will be 7 of us total.
This is something I’ve been pondering for December 2019. I want MVMCP as we’ve never gone. If I buy 4-6 day tix to wrap around that I’m looking at a lot of days of a campsite… and the price is significantly higher than it was in 2016.
It covers parking and bands.
Bands are, what, $18 each now? And is parking $25/day?
How much over than value would your $378 be?
In my case, the pure cost would be $378, since I plan to get the Annual Pass (which covers parking) and I wasn’t planning to get magic bands. Although, now that you mention it, receiving magic bands would be nice. I just wasn’t sure if you would receive magic bands unless you bought tickets through Disney as well. I was planning to use Undercover Tourist to save some money.
Although, now you have me wondering…perhaps doing this would make the need for the annual pass go away. I’ll have to check the math on that.
I don’t think it’s worth it, and I don’t agree with the practice
I don’t agree with the practice of making the reservation and cancelling it. I was talking about actually paying for and keeping the reservation.
but not using it?
Well, I’d be using it…all except for the part where we actually stay there.
I don’t know. I guess we’ll see how SWGE actually affects things during the traditionally lower CL weeks.
I don’t generally make a reservation without the intention of using it. If I cancel a reservation it’s because my plans have actually changed.
I don’t want to do it if Disney would otherwise fill up those reservations, because then it impacts others. Perhaps what I’ll do is watch the same dates in 2019 that correspond to our trip in 2020. If there are no reservations available by the time the date comes, I’ll have my definitive answer.
Setting that aspect aside, however, is the question of whether or not it financially makes sense considering when we’re going.
I believe it’s very hard for people who actually want to camp to get the campsites, thanks to people booking them not intending to use them. Can you tell that I don’t agree with the practice either?
That’s definitely something I want to know, because I do NOT want to do it if it is keeping someone who actually wants to camp from camping.
This makes me wonder. On a day when the campsites are technically all filled up, I wonder if you drove through how many of them would actually be occupied.
I have zero problem with the practice. It actually benefits WDW. They get their money and no wear and tear on the campsite.
The whole idea of ride reservation (rationing?) took logic out of the picture for me. Maybe I can feel a little sorry for the campers who don’t get their sites, but only as sorry as I always was for people who didn’t rope drop or read up on FP before arriving to the parks.
Both @missoverexcited and @OBNurseNH, to me, have completely valid points in questioning the behavior if it is, in fact, impacting others. I wouldn’t do it if I could be impacting others (not Disney).
So, if the particular days in question are days that Disney wouldn’t usually fill up the campsite, then by doing it I’m simply padding Disney’s pocket book.
But, if Disney DOES fill up the campsites (with campers) usually, then doing the throwaway campsite reservation isn’t harming/helping Disney, but it is harming campers. I do recognize that campsites are the absolutely CHEAPEST way anyone could possibly go to Disney and stay on property. (Technically, you can probably stay off property cheaper, but those folks would then not have the same opportunities of gaining access to on-site benefits.)
So I think they are right to “call me out” on the practice if I were actually taking a campsite from a camper.
At this point, I can’t know if that is the case, so the question is meant to be more theoretical in nature in terms of cost benefit. Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, that Disney suddenly offered for $85/day the ability to upgrade your 30 day FPP reservations to 60 day. Would you pay it? And in this case, would you pay it if you were going the second week of May (which is traditionally one of the lower CL weeks), a few months after SWGE opens.
If the answer is yes, then the question of whether the campsites would be full or not then plays into the decision. If the answer is no, it is moot.
Yes I would.
My typical travel party is 10. My off site 5-bdrm goto house is about $110/night. Another $85/night for bands, parking, and 60 day FP+ Is still well within my accepted budget for that area.
I’ve gotten a lot more strategic since FP+ rolled out.
If the point is to get early access to a rolling FPP window at 60 days, why not do what I did and book a room at one of the All Stars.
It is surely spectacularly unlikely that you are depriving anyone of a room they might otherwise have had. They have thousands (I think?) of rooms between them and are surely never fully booked.
You only need the one room (don’t you?) because you can umbrella the other members of your party.
No way.
This would work if the travel party fit in that room. Mine would not.
I added an extra sentence while you were writing this reply:
That is a way for Disney to stop buying throwaway campground reservations. If the campground is filling up constantly, but it is nowhere near actually being full, then Disney MUST know this and could take action to prevent it. They could do this by offering the ability to buy 60 day FPP reservations for $XYZ.
On the other hand, they could see it kind of like a race. Maybe they do have a problem with people buying the campground and using it as a throwaway. Maybe they just don’t care.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I have not done it. I have stayed onsite for last trip at AoA and have WL booked for our upcoming trip. I have no ill will toward anyone that does it though. The people that want to actually want to use the campground have just as much chance to get the campground site as someone who wants to use it as a throwaway.
Why not?
It depends what the deal would actually get you.
My recent exhaustive study of FPP availability suggests that the only genuinely difficult FPPs to get are FOP and SDD — 60 days is not enough for them. SDD is currently requiring 60+5.
Other popular FPPs (e.g. 7DMT) are easier to get, provided you’re willing to book them at sub-optimal times of day.