Throwaway room (read post #2041 or #2710 before posting)

[MistressGracey]

If you are from Canada they do not ship the bands internationally - you would actually have to go to the resort, check in, pick up your magic bands in order to use them...

 

[Planogirl]

Also wondering what would happen if I didn't check in?
The campsites are as low as $80/nt.
Parking for 7 days = $105

It's a win win if I buy a room!

How would this work? Don't the parking passes show the dates that you actually stay onsite and wouldn't you get the pass when you check in? Subtracting the parking fee, you would still pay $66 a night for FP+.

Why not just go ahead and stay onsite one night? I never get the concept of throw away nights and I'm a fan of offsite resorts. I particularly find it confusing when people pay so much for the previously mentioned Universal resorts and drive back and forth instead of using that very nice hotel room.

 

[chartle]

Just for free parking for 7 days it would balance itself out, the FP+ would just be a bonus IMO

But a parking pass is only good for the days of your reservation.

 

[chartle]

Tent or Pop-Up Campsite at Fort Wilderness. Sleeps up to 10, from $49 a night.

Qualifies as "On-Site".

Just don't bring this up in the camping forum here, you will get majorly flamed.

The problem is that there are a limited number of sites, I think 700, you reserve one night in the middle of a week that site is now pretty much useless for the week.

 

[mamabear0222]

Also wondering what would happen if I didn't check in?
The campsites are as low as $80/nt.
Parking for 7 days = $105

It's a win win if I buy a room!

So the Disney agent I spoke to advised that FP is only good for the day before and day after your reservation and free parking is only for the night of your stay. Soooo if people are getting away with the FP for their whole trip and free parking, it's only a matter of time before they catch on and knowing my luck it'll be just when I get there lol

 

[mamabear0222]

If you are from Canada they do not ship the bands internationally - you would actually have to go to the resort, check in, pick up your magic bands in order to use them...

Yes she mentioned that as well.

 

[mamabear0222]

I current have a one night reservation at BC prior to my Dolphin stay in June. I will keep it if it gives me access to FP+ for my vacation (as well as letting the kids experience SAB). I have heard conflicting reports and I am not convinced that they "closed that loophole". I am waiting until the end of March to try it myself. If it doesn't work out, I will simply cancel and stay somewhere much cheaper. I just made a room only reservation, and cancellation is still just 5 days out, so yes you can still get MB's then cancel in time (depending on your moral compass...)

How would you try it out, don't you have to check in for it to work or to try it?
Don't your days on your magic band start the day you check in?

 

[Cals dad]

Tent or Pop-Up Campsite at Fort Wilderness. Sleeps up to 10, from $49 a night.

Qualifies as "On-Site".

Please don't do this. It is very disheartening to try and book a site to actually go camping, see everything is booked solid, and then hear from people there that a a lot of sites sit empty.

 

[mamabear0222]

Please don't do this. It is very disheartening to try and book a site to actually go camping, see everything is booked solid, and then hear from people there that a a lot of sites sit empty.

SO another question, how would it work if I didn't care about the magic bands and bought my tickets elsewhere?

 

[got2lovedisney]

Correct me if I'm wrong...If you don't have a valid ticket attached to your My Disney Experience account, you can't get Fast passes regardless of how many nights you book. We ran into this in October. If they system doesn't "see" that you can get into the parks...how are you going to be able to use a fastpass? You can't. So it doesn't give you the option.
In regards to the parking...parking should only be free until midnight on your check out date. Maybe there's a loophole I haven't heard about but I wouldn't bank on getting a whole week's worth of free parking especially if you didn't even check in.

 

[ArwenMarie]

So the Disney agent I spoke to advised that FP is only good for the day before and day after your reservation and free parking is only for the night of your stay. Soooo if people are getting away with the FP for their whole trip and free parking, it's only a matter of time before they catch on and knowing my luck it'll be just when I get there lol

That makes sense that they closed that loophole and I think I have read that in multiple places. Early on in the testing if I remember correctly...they didn't bring all of the resorts onto FP+ at the same time, so people were booking one night at a value at the front of their trip and it was giving them FP+ access for as long as their tickets were good for.

APs are different, those seem to work after you have a resort stay, this is for regular tickets.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Correct me if I'm wrong...If you don't have a valid ticket attached to your My Disney Experience account, you can't get Fast passes regardless of how many nights you book. We ran into this in October. If they system doesn't "see" that you can get into the parks...how are you going to be able to use a fastpass? You can't. So it doesn't give you the option.
In regards to the parking...parking should only be free until midnight on your check out date. Maybe there's a loophole I haven't heard about but I wouldn't bank on getting a whole week's worth of free parking especially if you didn't even check in.

Yes, you need to link a valid ticket.

I agree on the parking for sure.

 

[ArwenMarie]

How would you try it out, don't you have to check in for it to work or to try it?
Don't your days on your magic band start the day you check in?

To try it, you would attach a valid ticket to a room reservation and then try to book FP+ for the length of the ticket at 60 days out. I think the poster is saying that if they see it doesn't work for the length of ticket, then they will just cancel the room reservation.

 

[mamabear0222]

Correct me if I'm wrong...If you don't have a valid ticket attached to your My Disney Experience account, you can't get Fast passes regardless of how many nights you book. We ran into this in October. If they system doesn't "see" that you can get into the parks...how are you going to be able to use a fastpass? You can't. So it doesn't give you the option.
In regards to the parking...parking should only be free until midnight on your check out date. Maybe there's a loophole I haven't heard about but I wouldn't bank on getting a whole week's worth of free parking especially if you didn't even check in.

You are correct. The only reason I considered it was because someone mentioned it to me. All I really wanted the magic bands for was the ease of use so I didn't have to keep track of park tickets and free parking! lol

FP I could care less about ..

 

[mamabear0222]

To try it, you would attach a valid ticket to a room reservation and then try to book FP+ for the length of the ticket at 60 days out. I think the poster is saying that if they see it doesn't work for the length of ticket, then they will just cancel the room reservation.

I thought you had to have Magic bands to book FP+, not just a valid ticket

 

[CalvaryMike]

From first hand experience, the 2nd week of December. I have a timeshare, but booked one night at a resort. Was charged immediately for the room when I made the reservation. I did this mainly to treat some friends that came with us, but they arrived one day earlier than us. Attached all four of our six days UT tickets to the reservation and received the MB's in the mail. Did all five days FP+ on MDE. Funny, because we really didn't need the FP+ on our trip due to low crowds. We did save 15 minutes here or there, but the hassle of being tied down was a little inconvemient. Our friends went to the park on day one, but they were told they needed to check-in to hotel to activate the MB's. After they checked in, all was good and we were all able to use our MB's for FP+ the rest of the stay.

As far as parking, I've read that some were showing their MB's to the parking attendants to get past the $15 parking fee. We never did or tried that.

 

[Robo]

I thought you had to have Magic bands to book FP+, not just a valid ticket

Indirectly, sort of.
Depends on timing and semantics.

(Below is the current status. Things can change at any time.)

Since only guests staying at a WDW resort can book advanced FP+,
and since MB are only being issued to guests staying at a WDW resort,
it would follow that the MB and advance FP+ go together.

However, you can BOOK your FP+ selections long before your MB are sent to you,
so I guess you could say that you can book advanced FP+ before you have a MB.

 

[jimmysmom74]

I believe you have to check in to get a parking permit, and it will have the dates on it for your stay. Don't know about FP+ but when we used it it was for days on your MYW pass, but we stayed on site. I don't think it is worth it since FP+ is available at AK for offsite already. In 6 weeks it could be to the other parks also.

 

[ckelly14]

To try it, you would attach a valid ticket to a room reservation and then try to book FP+ for the length of the ticket at 60 days out. I think the poster is saying that if they see it doesn't work for the length of ticket, then they will just cancel the room reservation.

Yes, exactly what I am considering.

From first hand experience, the 2nd week of December. I have a timeshare, but booked one night at a resort. Was charged immediately for the room when I made the reservation. I did this mainly to treat some friends that came with us, but they arrived one day earlier than us. Attached all four of our six days UT tickets to the reservation and received the MB's in the mail. Did all five days FP+ on MDE. Funny, because we really didn't need the FP+ on our trip due to low crowds. We did save 15 minutes here or there, but the hassle of being tied down was a little inconvemient. Our friends went to the park on day one, but they were told they needed to check-in to hotel to activate the MB's. After they checked in, all was good and we were all able to use our MB's for FP+ the rest of the stay.

Good to hear directly that this strategy may work. Just to clarify, I am planning to keep the reservation (and check in at the resort) if I am able to book FP+ the length of the ticket. We'll see in a few months...

 

[Sunnywho]

In December, we had fp+ for the length of the ticket (7 days) not the length of the room stay (1 night) for us. The parking pass was only for the actual resort stay (1 night, 2 days).