"Just in case" Fastpasses

[Guest]

May be contentious I know but...

Have been reading through a lot of Fastpass+ threads recently and find that quite a lot of people are regretting the reduction in spontaneity that the Fastpass+ system is bringing to their holiday.

As a result am have seen lots of people making references to booking Fastpass+ "just in case" so that they can keep a bit of flexibility in their planning. Esp for the headliners and the parades / Fantasmic / Wishes etc.

I can understand the logic, but as an offsiter who can only book day by day it is frustrating the heck out of me. Lots of the prime slots are already gone; and I just have this feeling that many of the slots that appear gone to me are appearing in somebody else's "Just in case" file.

If you do this please, please, please can I ask that you cancel the Fastpass+ as soon as you know you wont need them.

I have this concern that I will head to the parks and the standby lines will be rammed with people who couldn't get Fastpass+ allocations and the Fastpass+ lines will be low - because the ones that have been issued wont all get taken up.

Thank you.

[curry1402]

I agree with what you've said. As we're onsite I could book our fp's at 60 days but I haven't booked a single 'just in case' fastpass as I don't think it's fair to others - in the hustle and bustle of the holiday I think I'd forget to cancel them tbh The days we have planned a rest / waterpark day - if we change our minds - we'll have to see what's available at the time

[vanlou]

I have to confess that we have one "just in case" fastpass for Anna & Elsa as although my girls have said they aren't bothered about meeting them, I know what they are both like and they are likely to change their minds when we get there. However I have booked it for the end of the holiday so if necessary I have plenty of time to cancel it. For us going in August I think the fastpasses are going to be precious, so I have no intention if wasting any.

I fully appreciate your point though, and not everyone will think of how it will affects others.

[Guest]

We were off site and I changed FPs lots and lots of times (just in case FPs lol)

Always, always canceled the ones we knew we weren't going to use though

[Big Belle]

This is a good point I confess I had not thought of. The only small silver lining is that if FP+ holders to not show up en masse the standby line will move faster.

[Carrotstickz]

I do wonder if Disney will be monitoring what % get used per timeslot or somesuch. Eg if they hand out 50 FPs for 11-12, knowing that 50 is the max they can take for that timeslot and only 40 got used, would they end up raising it to a higher amount, like 55 FPs being given out?

Just something I was thinking about.

And for what it's worth, there was always FP wastage. It's just easier to get those 'just in case' FPs now, and it's not like you can pass them off to someone entering the park (which we did on occasion under the old system - we might have picked up 4 FPs for something and then decide that we'd rather go back to the hotel for a swim, so we waited until we saw a group of 4 people entering the park and gave the FPs to them instead).

In some ways this new system is great, but in other ways it seems like it's going to be an absolute headache, particularly for people who are staying off site, or who just show up on the day and have no idea. There won't be much, if anything, left.

Anyway, it's a bit off topic, that. I hope you get the fastpasses you need, OP!

[Gill H]

Not got to that stage yet.

We have a plan and will make FPs based on that plan. If we change plans we will just have accept that we might not get to do our 'must do' ride!

The lack of park hopping could be a benefit here. For example, if I decided that life would not be worth living if I didn't ride Toy Story Mania, I could book a TSM FP+ for every day of our trip, just in case. But that would mean I couldn't book any FPs in other parks on those days.

It's interesting to see how WDW will manage it. The same problem used to happen with 'just in case' ADRs but I assume the $10 has helped deter people from doing this and not cancelling.

But no way would they charge for an FP+ no-show!

I do wonder if they could send automatic notifications? In my office, if you book a room, you get a reminder email the day before, saying if you don't need it any more, please cancel.

Could MDE send you an alert the night before maybe? "You have a FP+ for TSM between 10.30-11.30 tomorrow. Do you still intend to use this? If not, please click here to cancel"

Don't know if it is in their future plans but I would think it would be useful.

[Guest]

I think if you miss any fast pass slot they should cancel the rest of that days and the next 2 days.

[mrmoo123]

Not sure how they would get round it to be honest without introducing a 'charge' or some kind of loyalty system - but both would be very unpopular, especially with us brits who can only afford to go once a year.

[Madfish]

If people with fp don't show this will speed up the standby line. But in reality what are the numbers and what impact will this have?

Obviously cancelling will open up the opportunity for others both on and off site.