Warning! New FP Limits for Passholders with Multiple Stays - NOT Split Stays: READ Post #484

[CaLuCa]

I apologize if you explained this in another post but when are your stays and how far apart are they? Did your second window open and also since you did get through, what solutions did they offer you. Did they book your fastpasses for you manually if you were not able to do it yourself?

I am local and basically we went to DW every weekend in March. Stays were Friday through Sunday or just Saturday night. We stayed a combo of DS, SOG, and actual Disney hotels. Since getting our AP at Christmas we've been 11 over night stays. I have run the gamut of holding 15 fp at one time to being locked at 7 with remaining other on site days that could potentially have fp. I currently have a Saturday night stay at Coronado in late April, a weekend stay at Hilton Palace, a Saturday stay at the B, and a long weekend stay club level at BWI all for May. I was able to get a combination of "multiple experience" fp (not valid for TSL or Pandora) for a couple of days and time specific non-modifiable fp for the other days and "all day" ride specific ones because half my family already had fp made. I spent multiple hours on the phone with multiple CMs.

I at one point had the two May stays at DS hotels windows open (blue and clickable), but couldn't make fp due to the 7 limit. Then they disappeared. The stays remained on MDE, but are not blue on the fp calendar. I was able to piggyback or umbrella under my dh and 2 kids for the early May Hilton Palace stay and get fp for myself and other 2 kids. I never could get the B Saturday night to open and there wan't anyone to piggy back for that one. The email to Kalogridis helped with getting fp for that date.

At this point, I have become frustrated with a very lackluster Caribbean beach stay, paying to park at the resorts (I know, not a new thing, but it still doesn't sit well with me), and the whole 7 day limit when I pay to stay on site and can't access that benefit. Also, I did some "experiments" with morning emh and regular entry. It was basically the same, other than losing the hour and maybe one ride. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE emh. It's a great benefit. We take full advantage of it and get there early. I can see the writing on the wall though, and as my kids get older it will harder to drag them out. That said, I have some of my BEST disney memories at a 7 am MK emh. I would purposefully stay on property to take advantage of 7 am emh.

While growing frustrated with those things, I also got much better at scoring FP last minute. This, along with the 4 kids getting bigger and Disney rooms being small or TWO being even more expensive and the laundry list of other things, has led me to research off site places. We have a stay first weekend in June in a 2 bedroom resort west of Disney. We love Disney. I've been going for 40 years. I've brought 6 month old babies and 4 kids by myself prior to even living in Florida. We've been on 3 disney cruises. But the things are adding up. I am excited to see SWL, I can't wait for the BatB sing along, GoG (even though I haven't seen any of those movies) looks amazing, etc. We will still go, but as life changes and Disney keeps increasing costs (restaurants and room rates) and fees (ie, parking charge at hotels...I can totally see this at deluxes, but WHY for the values and mods), our method of visiting will change. We are lucky to live close. We go a lot and I still plan on going a lot. Where we stay and how much we get nickel and dimed will determine how much on site we do. AND how they fix this. If I am limited to 7 on or off site without a major hassle of phone calls, why would I pay extra to stay on site?

 

[CaLuCa]

I did want to get clarification on one thing, the FP they are giving, they are fixed, specific FP, right? You tell them what to book, and they book them for you, like the CL FP?
Not anytime FP?

Sometimes. I have "multiple experience" ones that are good all day any park, but exclude Pandora and TSL. I also have "any time" ride specific ones that the times I wanted to match other family members were not available. These are non-modifiable. I have gotten, but do not currently have, the fixed, ride specific, time specific ones that resemble what they do for the CL fp.

 

[jbentley]

Wow! You do go a lot. I am jealous. lol However, I am not jealous of all the BS you are putting up with and I completely understand every point you make. They aren't making it easy for their most loyal customers and I'm not a fan in the direction they are going with all of the items you mentioned. If my second window doesn't open, is their a trick or a way to bridge the two so that they do?

 

[vinotinto]

Anyone making FPs for second onsite stay later this week or next week? Wondering how soon we’ll find out if it’s fixed-or not.

 

[AngiTN]

Angi,

Just curious because I think it will make me feel a little less worried, but you seem pretty confident that this issue won't affect me? What is different about my stay than some of the others who have multiple stays with a break in between. My 2 day break between them is smaller than most but what makes mine different where I won't have an issue? Just wondering because I'm trying to convince myself to not worry about it and that maybe my trip won't be affected. Thanks

Oh, I wouldn't call it confident so much as hopeful.
Anyway, what is different about your stay is that all of your dates fall within a 30 day period.
I know I have several trips that are close together but they never all begin and end within 30 days. 60 days sure, but not 30 days.
There's usually 30 days or so between our trips.
That is the main, to me, very significant difference.
But, I could also be very wrong too. It may not mean a single thing. I just hope for your sake, and others like you, that it is different.
But that 30 days is a "magical" time due to the way they have it set up for locals to book their FP
As long as you never want more than 7 days and don't book anything not associated with a non-Disney owned resort stay, which is what @CaLuCa keeps running in to. The system has never allowed FP to be booked with a mixture of on-site and off-site (which include anything at a non-Disney owned property) for more than 7 days. This new change has nothing to do with that. 7 days has always been the limit for those guests. It's just the way it is.

 

[CaLuCa]

Anyone making FPs for second onsite stay later this week or next week? Wondering how soon we’ll find out if it’s fixed-or not.

I have a DS hotel for mid June that I haven't even added to MDE because of this mess. Plus, I'm not sure I'm keeping it. I can put it in there and see if the window will open.

 

[AngiTN]

I have a DS hotel for mid June that I haven't even added to MDE because of this mess. Plus, I'm not sure I'm keeping it. I can put it in there and see if the window will open.

Because it's a DS hotel, and not a Disney hotel, I'm afraid it won't matter anyway

 

[CaLuCa]

Wow! You do go a lot. I am jealous. lol However, I am not jealous of all the BS you are putting up with and I completely understand every point you make. They aren't making it easy for their most loyal customers and I'm not a fan in the direction they are going with all of the items you mentioned. If my second window doesn't open, is their a trick or a way to bridge the two so that they do?

I have always loved Disney. I get moved when I walk out of the train station and see the castle. I adore the planning (not this mess). I love getting up early for rope drop and even the madness to get to SDD. When my husband retired from the military, I jokingly said we should move to Florida so we could go to Disney more. He is not a Disney fan, but goes about 30% of the time. He is currently hoping I'm going to gorge myself on this and then want to move on to something else. Silly, silly man.

 

[AngiTN]

Anyone making FPs for second onsite stay later this week or next week? Wondering how soon we’ll find out if it’s fixed-or not.

I will be making some in 10 days but in my case it's a trip with 1 less guest than our last trip with FP currently booked. So I'm not sure it would show anything, or not.

 

[vinotinto]

I have a DS hotel for mid June that I haven't even added to MDE because of this mess. Plus, I'm not sure I'm keeping it. I can put it in there and see if the window will open.

I will be making some in 10 days but in my case it's a trip with 1 less guest than our last trip with FP currently booked. So I'm not sure it would show anything, or not.

Thank you both, but both of these are exceptions- the Disney Springs hotels are not Disney owned and automatically trigger the 7-day AP rule and the different people in AngiTN’s reservation means the guests in the next reservation will be umbrellaed.

Anyone with a second onsite reservation in late June that can report back? Or is jbentley with an early July ressie the next?

 

[jbentley]

Oh, I wouldn't call it confident so much as hopeful.
Anyway, what is different about your stay is that all of your dates all within a 30 day period.
I know I have several trips that are close together but they never all begin and end within 30 days. 60 days sure, but not 30 days.
There's usually 30 days or so between our trips.
That is the main, to me, very significant difference.
But, I could also be very wrong too. It may not mean a single thing. I just hope for your sake, and others like you, that it is different.
But that 30 days is a "magical" time due to the way they have it set up for locals to book their FP
As long as you never want more than 7 days and don't book anything not associated with a non-Disney owned resort stay, which is what @CaLuCa keeps running in to. The system has never allowed FP to be booked with a mixture of on-site and off-site (which include anything at a non-Disney owned property) for more than 7 days. This new change has nothing to do with that. 7 days has always been the limit for those guests. It's just the way it is.

Ahh, I get it. That makes sense. It makes me feel better but again you are correct, it may not mean a thing. I too think it is significant that both of my stays are together in 30 days. My offsite days we are staying at the hard rock at universal so we won't even be on property. I would love if I had thirty days open up from the window of my first stay but if not as long as that second window opens I'll be happy. If not I'm sure I'll be on the phone most of the morning.

 

[Turksmom]

Anyone making FPs for second onsite stay later this week or next week? Wondering how soon we’ll find out if it’s fixed-or not.

My FP window for my June stay(YC) should open Sunday. I have 4 days of FP booked for an onsite (CBR) 4/27-5/1.

 

[vinotinto]

My FP window for my June stay(YC) should open Sunday. I have 4 days of FP booked for an onsite (CBR) 4/27-5/1.

Awesome, you're going to be our guinea pig and let us know if they fix it by end of this week, as promised.

 

[bookbabe626]

Anyone making FPs for second onsite stay later this week or next week? Wondering how soon we’ll find out if it’s fixed-or not.

The 30 days of blue dates just reached my checkin date for my May stay (first stay is this weekend).

I cannot book for May 17 (checkin day) due to the 7 day limit. I have FP booked for May 18-20, the other days of that stay, but those are still greyed out. (Those were booked during a different glitch - second window opened then closed a couple days later.)

So I’m assuming nothing has changed yet.

 

[bookbabe626]

.

 

[tramps’lady]

an update on my case. I was originally booked at FW for April 27 to may 10 and then June 5 to 11. I had 9 fast pass days booked for the April/may trip. just changed the April/may trip to April 28 to May 2 at GF and cancelled a bunch of fast passes. I now only have 3 days booked. My June window did not open and I can't see past May 17 (the 30 day window). But I can and always could book fast-passes from May 10 to whenever the 30 day window closed. the system is still majorly screwed up.

 

[get_us_to_WDW]

What’s not fair is having to book the dregs of what’s left once you realise the problem, call the Ap line and wait on hold. Once that’s all done, say goodbye to FoP, SDD, Frozen, Mine Train.

EXACTLY!!!!!

 

[vinotinto]

The 30 days of blue dates just reached my checkin date for my May stay (first stay is this weekend).

I cannot book for May 17 (checkin day) due to the 7 day limit. I have FP booked for May 18-20, the other days of that stay, but those are still greyed out. (Those were booked during a different glitch - second window opened then closed a couple days later.)

So I’m assuming nothing has changed yet.

Remind me again, I think I had already asked this, but with so many people and stays, I've forgotten. You are staying at YC CL, right? Do you have any CLFP booked? Where are your other stays?

 

[get_us_to_WDW]

This bit is the part I still don't understand... what do they say when people show them, or read to them Disney's own website that says onsite stays are treated as any other? It's is clear on their site; "Passholders with reservations at a Disney Resort hotel can start making FastPass+ selections up to 60 days prior to check-in for the entire length of your stay." There is no 7 day limit for on-site stays I don't see how that can be read any other way?

I was told (very firmly and very smugly) that the "length of stay" rule only applies to continuous stays. I was told that this has been the AP policy since the FP+ system was first introduced. I asked to speak to someone else and was told "they're just going to say the same thing." Total nonsense.

I was talking to a co-worker about this whole situation (a big Disney fan like me) and we concluded that when the 60 window abuse issue was "fixed" the front line CMs were told "You're going to have tons of people calling and saying they can't book FPs the way they used to be ale to. This is because we fixed a lot of loopholes that were getting abused. Be firm in telling callers that the new IT constraints are a reflection of the true policy and the way things were supposed to be working all along." Or something along those lines. So the front line CMs stick to this script. If the caller gives up - oh well. If the caller persists and demands to speak to a supervisor - then maybe, just maybe they'll actually listen and assist you. Of course all of this takes a lot of time and causes the guest a ton of frustration. It's one of those "I can't believe I spent this much money to be treated this badly" moments.

Having a resort reservation and ticket media is supposed to give you the significant benefit of booking FPs at the 60 day window for your length of stay. This is an extremely time sensitive benefit. If it doesn't work exactly as it is supposed to at 7am, its value plummets. Even if you eventually find someone to help you (after waiting on hold and probably getting transferred a few times) - the value is already diminished, many sought after FPs will be gone. The CM inserted FPs are inflexible and the "multiple experience" FPs don't include many of the best, new attractions.

I really hope this is fixed tomorrow. There is a lot of trust that needs to be restored.

 

[hereforthechurros]

I am local and basically we went to DW every weekend in March. Stays were Friday through Sunday or just Saturday night. We stayed a combo of DS, SOG, and actual Disney hotels. Since getting our AP at Christmas we've been 11 over night stays. I have run the gamut of holding 15 fp at one time to being locked at 7 with remaining other on site days that could potentially have fp. I currently have a Saturday night stay at Coronado in late April, a weekend stay at Hilton Palace, a Saturday stay at the B, and a long weekend stay club level at BWI all for May. I was able to get a combination of "multiple experience" fp (not valid for TSL or Pandora) for a couple of days and time specific non-modifiable fp for the other days and "all day" ride specific ones because half my family already had fp made. I spent multiple hours on the phone with multiple CMs.

I at one point had the two May stays at DS hotels windows open (blue and clickable), but couldn't make fp due to the 7 limit. Then they disappeared. The stays remained on MDE, but are not blue on the fp calendar. I was able to piggyback or umbrella under my dh and 2 kids for the early May Hilton Palace stay and get fp for myself and other 2 kids. I never could get the B Saturday night to open and there wan't anyone to piggy back for that one. The email to Kalogridis helped with getting fp for that date.

At this point, I have become frustrated with a very lackluster Caribbean beach stay, paying to park at the resorts (I know, not a new thing, but it still doesn't sit well with me), and the whole 7 day limit when I pay to stay on site and can't access that benefit. Also, I did some "experiments" with morning emh and regular entry. It was basically the same, other than losing the hour and maybe one ride. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE emh. It's a great benefit. We take full advantage of it and get there early. I can see the writing on the wall though, and as my kids get older it will harder to drag them out. That said, I have some of my BEST disney memories at a 7 am MK emh. I would purposefully stay on property to take advantage of 7 am emh.

While growing frustrated with those things, I also got much better at scoring FP last minute. This, along with the 4 kids getting bigger and Disney rooms being small or TWO being even more expensive and the laundry list of other things, has led me to research off site places. We have a stay first weekend in June in a 2 bedroom resort west of Disney. We love Disney. I've been going for 40 years. I've brought 6 month old babies and 4 kids by myself prior to even living in Florida. We've been on 3 disney cruises. But the things are adding up. I am excited to see SWL, I can't wait for the BatB sing along, GoG (even though I haven't seen any of those movies) looks amazing, etc. We will still go, but as life changes and Disney keeps increasing costs (restaurants and room rates) and fees (ie, parking charge at hotels...I can totally see this at deluxes, but WHY for the values and mods), our method of visiting will change. We are lucky to live close. We go a lot and I still plan on going a lot. Where we stay and how much we get nickel and dimed will determine how much on site we do. AND how they fix this. If I am limited to 7 on or off site without a major hassle of phone calls, why would I pay extra to stay on site?

Holy moly that is a LOT of Disney. At some point it makes a whole lot of sense to see/do other things and stop playing the game.