I would book universal early…I looked for week before Thanksgiving (and week of) and also for Christmas and all of the Express Pass hotels are completely sold out already…If they do bring back FP+, i think they are tied to your hotel booking so would need to make 2 different sets of FP+ reservations (for the first day and then for the second part of the trip) since the hotel nights are not consecutive
Yes, although it isn’t Max Pass it’s just the old paper FP system. No app involved.
Yes…Main point was unlike DL, Paris has a non paid option and paid option where the paid option allows for “reserved” or guaranteed rides where MaxPass does not (cant make FP reservation until you are in park and there’s possibility they are sold out depending when you enter)…I would guess that WDW is likely to adapt a modified DLP version where it could offer free FP for deluxe resorts/platinum tier AP, discounted paid FP for moderate resorts and paid FP for value resorts or AP/daily guests and free MaxPass for everyone else …since it is more of a tourist destination (has over 30 hotels if you include partner hotels) as opposed to DL is more of a local destination WDW has the demand for advanced FP bookings and my guess is people are willing to pay for it
Agreed.
DLP paid option is limited in availability. It is is not uncommon to see that one or more of the paid options are unavailable for your dates. So they only sell a fixed number of them for each day, first come first served.
Therefore there will always be FPs available on the day, obviously not necessarily for all day for all rides of course. Space Mountain might run out of FPs by noon.
Pretty sure if you book a last minute resort reservation even at the more expensive hotels you are not guaranteed to be able to buy the paid FP option.
Personally I don’t think they will make that distinction between resorts.
I do know they are looking seriously at the 80/20 % split between FPs and stand-by. I think they want stand-by or at perhaps stand-by and on-the-day FPs to become the norm.
Not everyone will be able to buy the paid option. And I don’t think not all onsite guests will be able to. I definitely don’t see them offering a discount on the paid option for anyone. You either get one or you don’t. Fixed number per park per day, when they’re gone they’re gone.
I think it’s possible they might allow onsite guests to book a couple of free advance FPs. And then it’s one at a time, the same as everyone else.
But that I think depends on how far along the development of the new system is.
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I half agree with you (and its probably just semantics on the other half)
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Point is, I think WDW will have an option for you to buy FP to guarantee a ride or rides in advance because the demand is there from tourists/hotel guests (MaxPass does not guarantee that despite it being a paid option)
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I think they will make distinction between resorts…WDW is hurting right now because of limited hotel bookings (see Chapeks comments on last eps call that they are hurting due to tourists not traveling and only locals occupying the parks)…WDW main 2 advantages to booking on site hotels (listed on their site, according to them) are advanced bookings of FP+ and EMH…I dont see how WDW will be able to have their hotels book at premium price levels with no offerings, especially after that #1 incentive has always been free since it was instituted…so yes, maybe Deluxe resorts/DVC/platinum AP get 3 free advanced FP bookings and others have to pay but i think they will have to incentivize hotels guests with some version of free/discounted FP offerings
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Maybe it’s Deluxe/Platinum AP/DVC get 3 FP+, Moderate 2 and Value 1 and then you can buy more after that…That way is limits FP+ 80/20 problem, still gives incentive for hotel guests and puts more $ in their pockets by selling FP
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Same with us for march. If something isn’t in place we will skip.
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I really wish I could share your confidence that all WDW Resort guests will get some kind of FP perk when they return.
I think the free FPs might be a possibility.
But cast your mind back to how they rolled out park reservations. Resort guests who didn’t have tickets got no advantage, they were SOL. Those who already had tickets, regardless of whether they were staying onsite or not, got to book first. Even those with onsite reservations for the opening day of the parks ie: DVC members who didn’t have tickets were left wondering if they would be able to go to the parks at all (and unable to cancel because their points would be lost). There was zero priority given to onsite guests.
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Wasnt there a point when they were transitioning from paper FPs to a mobile or go to any kiosk option? Before they started advanced FP picks? Maybe my memory is slipping but I remember this being the best. No running around to each ride to get FP then back tracking to said ride?
When Park Passes were first introduced anyone with a hotel reservation was guaranteed a park pass at the expense of AP holders and day of ticket buyers. A good deal of AP holders were shut out for the first month or so because Disney was prioritizing hotel guests (and they still are). They only began releasing more park passes to the AP bucket after they determined that the demand for hotel guests doesn’t take up the available inventory. Disney has more hotel rooms than they ever have. Their occupancy has struggled in the past during difficult times and a lot of analysts are predicting that it could take as many as 5 years to recover from the pandemic. FP doesn’t cost them anything. Why wouldn’t they use the #1 incentive for hotel guests to book if it doesn’t cost them anything to fill those rooms?
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We too won’t go until some sort of Fastpass is in place. I’ve been playing around with my touring plans that I had in place for our canceled May 2020 trip and now attempting to update them for our rescheduled May 2021 trip and they just don’t work without Fastpass.
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Yes but those who had resort reservations couldn’t buy tickets if they didn’t already have them.
So whilst onsite guests with tickets or APs could book, so could anyone else with tickets. They then started selling new package stays for the rest of 2020, so those guests also got priority. They simply didn’t care about any resort guest who didn’t have a ticket or offsite AP holders.
What you’re saying makes sense. But they showed they didn’t really care about people staying at their resorts. They didn’t say “don’t worry, you’ll be able to buy a ticket before the parks open, and there will be room for you”. Those tickets didn’t go on sale until about 3 days before the parks opened.
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They didn’t shut out resort guests. They prioritized hotel guests over all others. The only reason they didn’t sell more tickets right away is because they had already sold more than the revised capacity numbers (25% of park capacity) that the state allowed and they couldn’t shut people out that had already bought them. If they could have, they would have given priority to resort guests over AP holders They have proved that by the way they distribute park passes now. If the hotels were full and they could only have 25% capacity, the vast majority of park pass availability would be given to resort guests and AP holders would have limited availability like they did in June and July
It’s paid…like Universal. very similar. I was supposed to go in Sept and booked the Disneyland Hotel Club room just to get it for every day (and for the stinking view of the castle from your balcony…come on…how can I not fork over cash for watching the fireworks from my balcony) and have a secret entrance into the parks too. I was ready to give them my money and then 2020 said NOPE!
So I guess I should says it’s paid or get a club room at Disneyland Hotel or a suite at the others and you get unlimited the same way Orlando does Deluxe hotels in general.
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I disagree, they did shut those specific resort guests out.
They chose to prioritise those who had already bought tickets. Fair enough, they were free to do that.
But later they allowed people to book new package stays and book their parks before their existing resort guests.
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I believe under the “old” system, once you leave for a couple nights and then come back your days start over. That is to say … when you go back to a Disney on-site hotel after Universal, I believe for FP+ purposes you start over again at 60, 60+1, 50+2, etc (which is not a good option for FP+ purposes if FP+ is in effect then).
Correct.
A move offsite breaks the FP window and you start again with the second onsite stay.
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