Do "Change Party Fast Passes" violate Disney rules?

[DatFan]

Is their Another site, forum, blog....where we can discuss these subjects without getting exiled and shamed?

 

[CMNJ]

I'm with you. Apparently, all change party functions are technically against the terms of service. I have not even found official documentation that the change party function exists, but we know that it does. What are the official "legal" uses? (even if that excludes everything else)

I don't know that there are any "official" legal uses (as I don't think Disney has actually addressed this issue)

 

[sharonabe]

And if it's against terms of service then how and why is Disney still allowing...whatever it is? And if they are allowing it...why can't it be discussed? If I plan a trip and discover some functionality that I want to ask about, how do I know it's not this thing?

They aren't allowing it, and you won't find it just in planning a trip. It was very specific.

Suffice it to say, if you want to use a FP+, it MUST be attached to a ticket that was scanned to enter the park. Anyone in your party can then use that FP+.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

I don't know that there are any "official" legal uses (as I don't think Disney has actually addressed this issue)

Right. Programmers put a function in. Then gave no instructions for its use. Some uses are legal, and some may apparently lock you out of you MDE. It would be nice to have an official list of the legal ones.

 

[cdnjason]

Reminding everyone to stay within the topic of this thread "Change Party Fast Passes" nothing else should be discussed in this thread.

That's fine. But some of us don't know what new secret FP+ issue is against board policy to discuss. Frankly, I'm not aware of any changes to Disney's FP+ policies. If someone could enlighten those of us who have no idea what is and is not permissible, that could be very helpful. Thanks.

 

[yulilin3]

Suffice it to say, if you want to use a FP+, it MUST be attached to a ticket that was scanned to enter the park. Anyone in your party can then use that FP+.

THIS
I know a lot of you joke/comment about how fast certain threads are locked down. If everyone stays within a subject there will be no need to shut it down.
Further if Disney decides to enforce certain rules we at the DIS must follow those rules and discontinue the threads about breaking said rules.
So, again, as long as this thread stays within the "change of party fast pass" while the person has scanned the ticket to enter the park that day it will all be good

 

[yulilin3]

That's fine. But some of us don't know what new secret FP+ issue is against board policy to discuss. Frankly, I'm not aware of any changes to Disney's FP+ policies. If someone could enlighten those of us who have no idea what is and is not permissible, that could be very helpful. Thanks.

please read this post https://www.disboards.com/threads/discussion-of-circumventing-disney-rules-is-not-allowed.3610017/

 

[hiroMYhero]

I'm with you. Apparently, all change party functions are technically against the terms of service. I have not even found official documentation that the change party function exists, but we know that it does. What are the official "legal" uses? (even if that excludes everything else)

Below is a description of how Change Party works for those who have pre-booked FPs and all involved members of the "party" have entered the park that specific day.

We were in the parks last week. Change party was working fine - as in, all 4 of us were in the park during the day, then DH and LO headed back to the resort, but still had a 4th FP that they hadn't used. I was able to move the fastpasses to me and my teen who were still in the park. I think that is how change party is intended to be used, and it still worked fine for that purpose. As far as I know, that is still within bounds.

Change Party prior to a trip enables Guests to arrange and rearrange their FP group.

Example: Family of 4 pre-books FPs for TSMM when their FP booking window opens 60-days out at 7:00a ET.

One week later, Grandma decides to join in on the vacation. The MDE Manager, Mom, goes in to the TSMM FP and uses the "Change Party" function to Select Grandma and the system, if FPs are available, adds GMa to the Party.

 

[DonaldDuck77]

Below is a description of how Change Party works for those who have pre-booked FPs and all involved members of the "party" have entered the park that specific day.

Change Party prior to a trip enables Guests to arrange and rearrange their FP group.

Example: Family of 4 pre-books FPs for TSMM when their FP booking window opens 60-days out at 7:00a ET.

One week later, Grandma decides to join in on the vacation. The MDE Manager, Mom, goes in to the TSMM FP and uses the "Change Party" function to Select Grandma and the system, if FPs are available, adds GMa to the Party.

Thanks. I understand the function. It's the rules relating to the function that are not clear.

So, there are no "timing" restrictions as long as tickets were used to enter the park that day? Some have suggested that change party must be used by a certain time and others have said all uses of change party are against the TOS.

Any locking MDE issues are only related to attempting to use reserved FP+ on an account that did not use a ticket to enter the park, correct?

 

[yulilin3]

Any locking MDE issues are only related to attempting to use reserved FP+ on an account that did not use a ticket to enter the park, correct?

correct

 

[lark]

Can fastpasses be changed legally before anyone enters the parks? Is this technically possible, permitted by TOS, and permitted discussion here?

Here's a real example -- Dad and Junior are going to go to Blizzard Beach and Mom and Juniorette are going to go to the MK. Dad and Junior decide to leave BB at 2:00 when the park gets too crowded to enjoy. Turns out that Mom and Juniorette never made it to the park and decided on a swim and spa day instead. Dad and Junior's tickets are no good after 14 days anyway and they have an extra day, so they decide, what the heck, if we can use Mom and Juniorette's 5:00 space mountain FPs, it would be worth going over there for the evening. Can Mom and Juniorette legally transfer their FPs to Dad and Junior before Dad and Junior enter the park, so that they can now use that FP? (Or even 10 days before if plans change about who will go in the parks when?)

I think if I understand the discussion above, this is not using a FP that was reserved on a ticket that did not enter the park, because the transfer occurs before Dad and Junior enter the park (and thus they are not getting any extra fasstpasses -- they still only get three, but just get one that was originally reserved on a different ticket before anyone entered the park).

 

[calablovedisney]

I also have 4 FP for TOT, but only 2 in our party of 4 would ride it. I may change 2 of them to another attraction, but there really was not another that all 4 of us would not do together which is why I booked them that way. We were thinking of just switching bands to allow 2 to ride it twice, while the other 2 of us, just use 2 FP+ that day. I didn't know "change party" was an option. If I want to do it that way instead of switching actual bands, I am assuming that can't be done until after they have used to first TOT FP. Is that correct? In that way we wouldn't have to wait around for switching bands and could maybe shop or watch a street show or something. Or can you not do it unless all 3 other FP have been used that day? Sorry if that was confusing.

 

[yulilin3]

Can fastpasses be changed legally before anyone enters the parks? Is this technically possible, permitted by TOS, and permitted discussion here?

Here's a real example -- Dad and Junior are going to go to Blizzard Beach and Mom and Juniorette are going to go to the MK. Dad and Junior decide to leave BB at 2:00 when the park gets too crowded to enjoy. Turns out that Mom and Juniorette never made it to the park and decided on a swim and spa day instead. Dad and Junior's tickets are no good after 14 days anyway and they have an extra day, so they decide, what the heck, if we can use Mom and Juniorette's 5:00 space mountain FPs, it would be worth going over there for the evening. Can Mom and Juniorette legally transfer their FPs to Dad and Junior before Dad and Junior enter the park, so that they can now use that FP? (Or even 10 days before if plans change about who will go in the parks when?)

I think if I understand the discussion above, this is not using a FP that was reserved on a ticket that did not enter the park, because the transfer occurs before Dad and Junior enter the park (and thus they are not getting any extra fasstpasses -- they still only get three, but just get one that was originally reserved on a different ticket before anyone entered the park).

they would need to cancel their fp for the other party to pick them up right away. There's no transfer from guest too guest option on MDE
.

 

[yulilin3]

I also have 4 FP for TOT, but only 2 in our party of 4 would ride it. I may change 2 of them to another attraction, but there really was not another that all 4 of us would not do together which is why I booked them that way. We were thinking of just switching bands to allow 2 to ride it twice, while the other 2 of us, just use 2 FP+ that day. I didn't know "change party" was an option. If I want to do it that way instead of switching actual bands, I am assuming that can't be done until after they have used to first TOT FP. Is that correct? In that way we wouldn't have to wait around for switching bands and could maybe shop or watch a street show or something. Or can you not do it unless all 3 other FP have been used that day? Sorry if that was confusing.

change party is used for adding or substracting someone from your pre booked fp.

 

[JohnneeO]

Some legitimate questions here.

The example that Hiro quotes from the website is great start. Specifically, it addresses change Party "Prior to a trip". When does that "prior to a trip" window close? Is the example given the only valid use of that function? Seems like either a sticky thread for the legitimate use of the change function is in order, or a new section of the FAQ of existing sticky that addresses legitimate use of the change function is needed...

 

[JohnneeO]

THIS
I know a lot of you joke/comment about how fast certain threads are locked down. If everyone stays within a subject there will be no need to shut it down.
Further if Disney decides to enforce certain rules we at the DIS must follow those rules and discontinue the threads about breaking said rules.
So, again, as long as this thread stays within the "change of party fast pass" while the person has scanned the ticket to enter the park that day it will all be good

"and discontinue the threads about breaking said rules"

or

"ret-con them out of existence, so you would never know that things were different in the past, or why things changed, and we don't care about preserving the history of the postings on this site because that's not the purpose of these boards. If you really miss the discontinued threads, then go to the Wayback Machine. Sorry (but not really)."

You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-mah-toe...

 

[FlashFlash100YardDash]

Seems like either a sticky thread for the legitimate use of the change function is in order, or a new section of the FAQ of existing sticky that addresses legitimate use of the change function is needed...

Unless all questions and comments were blocked, the discussion would almost certainly stray into prohibited areas. Who would put all that time and effort into producing such a sticky knowing that the thread stood a good chance of being deleted?

 

[Gillbob316]

Thanks. I understand the function. It's the rules relating to the function that are not clear.

So, there are no "timing" restrictions as long as tickets were used to enter the park that day? Some have suggested that change party must be used by a certain time and others have said all uses of change party are against the TOS.

Any locking MDE issues are only related to attempting to use reserved FP+ on an account that did not use a ticket to enter the park, correct?

Therin lies the dilemma. The "rules" are unclear (If "rules" even exist at all. I'm not sure any do exist specifically addressing any specific uses of this feature in particular. People are just kind of making up whatever works best for them.) The consequences for breaking the unclear rules are also unclear (if any actually exist at all, which is also unclear). Furthermore our ability to discuss said rules and said consequences freely is also very unclear.

Suffice it to say, Change Party can be used in many and varied ways, in many scenarios, none of which I will address specifically, and none of which are specifically outlined in the rules. Some would claim all uses of it are against the rules. Which is silly, because if that were true, the feature wouldn't exist. Yet because the rules don't address it specifically, one could interpret that all uses of it are prohibited. Which yes, is as confusing as it sounds. Still, some would claim all uses of it are within the rules, again, because the feature exists, and no rules really address it specifically. The attitude of the people on this side is... "If it can be used this way, I'm allowed to use it this way, because no rules say otherwise"

Some would call it a grey area in the middle-ground, verging on the dreaded territory of a loophole (which is probably most correct). And whether or not loopholes are or aren't valid often seems a matter of personal opinion. Though at the moment disboards prohibits their discussion. Which is why I'm being deliberately vague and non-specific.

Suffice it to say you can do many things with the change party feature. You won't get a clear answer about which of those things are and aren't prohibited, but boy howdy will you get a lot of opinions and speculation. When and how you can and can't do whatever you plan to do with it is a subject of debate that's no longer easy to discuss without walking on eggshells.

So that's basically the answer everyone is dancing around, from as neutral a POV as I can manage to dance around it myself.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Some legitimate questions here.

The example that Hiro quotes from the website is great start. Specifically, it addresses change Party "Prior to a trip". When does that "prior to a trip" window close? Is the example given the only valid use of that function? Seems like either a sticky thread for the legitimate use of the change function is in order, or a new section of the FAQ of existing sticky that addresses legitimate use of the change function is needed...

When Disney's updates and FP abuse consequences are fully known, Change Party as a legitimate function involving those Guests with tickets, who are planning a trip or who are in the park on a specific park day, will be added to the FP FAQ or to the FP FAQ Addendum. This was discussed with the FP FAQ OP last week.

For the purposes of this thread, the discussion needs to focus on "real" people in MDE who have pre-booked FPs and need to use Change Party either prior to a trip or during the specific park day where all "real" people have entered the park.

The goal is that DISers do not get their MDEs flagged for Change Party abuses which may lead to their MDEs being "locked" thus affecting their ability to book FPs.

And, "real" people does not mean "ticketed phantoms" who have stockpiled FPs but won't be entering any park on the day the Change Party function is used. That discussion is considered a Forum Rules Violation.

 

[cdnjason]

please read this post https://www.disboards.com/threads/discussion-of-circumventing-disney-rules-is-not-allowed.3610017/

Thanks. Sorry. It's tough to keep up with everything on here.