Annual Pass and Give a Day Promotion

[discott71]

We are going "home" in November this year and may be returning the following October. Being a family of 5, I figured we would benefit from the annual pass. I know DVC members get a discount which is wonderful. We are also paticipating in the "Give a Day" promotion in which I've read the voucher can be applied to upgrading a pass for the week or an annual pass.
Does anyone know if we would be able to combine the DVC discount and apply the Give a Day voucher? That would be a HUGE savings to us! Also, we wouldn't be able to do this untill we got there so we can turn the voucher in. Where would we purchase the annual pass from?

TIA!!

[jimh13432]

I heard there was a way you could donate the "Get a Day" part of your efforts to a charity ala "Make a Wish" or something like that. It would make your day of volunteering doubly nice.

I don't know if you could use the free day to reduce the cost of an Annual Pass.

[jlewisinsyr]

We are going "home" in November this year and may be returning the following October. Being a family of 5, I figured we would benefit from the annual pass. I know DVC members get a discount which is wonderful. We are also paticipating in the "Give a Day" promotion in which I've read the voucher can be applied to upgrading a pass for the week or an annual pass.
Does anyone know if we would be able to combine the DVC discount and apply the Give a Day voucher? That would be a HUGE savings to us! Also, we wouldn't be able to do this untill we got there so we can turn the voucher in. Where would we purchase the annual pass from?

TIA!!

My understanding is the DVC discount on the AP, really isn't a discount, but rather it is a "different rate", which means other discounts can also be applied in addition ot using your DVC discount.

There are some people on here with a little more experience with this, but just to give you an idea.

[Anal Annie]

Copied from the FAQ section on the Give A Day page. It does not mention combining with any other discounts:

May I upgrade my free one day ticket to an Annual Pass or multi-day ticket?
Yes, you may upgrade the free ticket to another ticket type of greater value within the applicable upgrade window. However, you are responsible for the incremental cost and the new ticket may only be used by you. No changes or refunds will be given. The value of the free ticket may not be used to combine or upgrade with a separate single or multi-day ticket.

May I use the value of the free one-day ticket toward the renewal of my Annual Pass or Passport?
Yes, the value of the free ticket may be used to renew your Annual Pass or Passport within the applicable renewal window. You are responsible for any additional costs owed and no change or refunds will be given.

I am looking for info. on exchanging the vouchers for special Fast Passes as mentioned in the email we received. We already have AP's... I found a volunteer organization (a local Food Bank) on the list for our area that 1) DS is old enough to do and 2) also gives him credit for required SSL hours and 3) is available on a day we can actually GO. But I haven't found any details about the Fast Pass thing in lieu of the 1 day admission. We're going the end of March (2 days B4 the blackout dates start) for spring break and a special fast pass would certainly be helpful if I can find out more about it. PLUS he needs to get some of these SSL hours...

[Crystal_27]

Hopefully, Disney will allow the vouchers to be credited against the DVC AP price.

We are debating on whether or not to make a weekend trip to WDW in July to trade in our "give a day" vouchers for Annual Passes. Unfortunately, the vouchers will expire 3 days before the start of our "real" trip in December, so we have a choice to make. However, given that it's going to cost us more to go for the weekend trip than we would be saving with the vouchers, I'm seriously considering donating our tickets instead. We'll see...

[discott71]

Copied from the FAQ section on the Give A Day page. It does not mention combining with any other discounts:

May I upgrade my free one day ticket to an Annual Pass or multi-day ticket?
Yes, you may upgrade the free ticket to another ticket type of greater value within the applicable upgrade window. However, you are responsible for the incremental cost and the new ticket may only be used by you. No changes or refunds will be given. The value of the free ticket may not be used to combine or upgrade with a separate single or multi-day ticket.

May I use the value of the free one-day ticket toward the renewal of my Annual Pass or Passport?
Yes, the value of the free ticket may be used to renew your Annual Pass or Passport within the applicable renewal window. You are responsible for any additional costs owed and no change or refunds will be given.

I am looking for info. on exchanging the vouchers for special Fast Passes as mentioned in the email we received. We already have AP's... I found a volunteer organization (a local Food Bank) on the list for our area that 1) DS is old enough to do and 2) also gives him credit for required SSL hours and 3) is available on a day we can actually GO. But I haven't found any details about the Fast Pass thing in lieu of the 1 day admission. We're going the end of March (2 days B4 the blackout dates start) for spring break and a special fast pass would certainly be helpful if I can find out more about it. PLUS he needs to get some of these SSL hours...

The Fast Pass thing is pretty cool too depending on when you go. I read that you can turn in 1 voucher at a park (before 11am to guarantee you can get this) of your choice. EACH family member will recieve a FP card (up to 5 more besides yourself) that has a certain number of FPs on there. The problem is we won't know ahead of time how many and which attractions are eligible. It is up to them on any given day - it could be 2 per person or 4 per person. So, if you and your family each have a voucher, you can turn 1 in per day at each park and ALL get the benefit! I thought about this too, but since we're going md-November, I don't really think we'll need them since it's suppose to be a slower time of year. Someone on the "Theme Parks and Strategies" board is going late January and said they would report back on this since they're planning on doing it.

[erionm]

I am looking for info. on exchanging the vouchers for special Fast Passes as mentioned in the email we received. We already have AP's... I found a volunteer organization (a local Food Bank) on the list for our area that 1) DS is old enough to do and 2) also gives him credit for required SSL hours and 3) is available on a day we can actually GO. But I haven't found any details about the Fast Pass thing in lieu of the 1 day admission. We're going the end of March (2 days B4 the blackout dates start) for spring break and a special fast pass would certainly be helpful if I can find out more about it. PLUS he needs to get some of these SSL hours...

This information is on the passholder website: disneyworld.com/passholder (http://disneyworld.com/passholder). Once you signon to the passholder website, click on News & Events. There will be a link for Give a Day, Get a Disney Day passholder options.

[Anal Annie]

This information is on the passholder website: disneyworld.com/passholder (http://disneyworld.com/passholder). Once you signon to the passholder website, click on News & Events. There will be a link for Give a Day, Get a Disney Day passholder options.

No place here or there detailed how it's exchanged or redeemed fior the fast passes & I didn't know if it was different than getting a park tix...so I just called Guest Services to clarify. Approx. 2 weeks after our day of service we will receive vouchers via email and we print those & take them along with ID's (need an ID for kids too such as a birth certificate) to Guest Services at the park entrance & turn them in for these special fast pass cards, same as for a park tix. But I certainly hope that they're good for more than just 2 or 3 rides for the day. That does not seem to me like it would be an equivalent alternate to a free day of admission!:confused3 Not to be greedy, but I kind of hope it's good for 5 or 6 rides throughout the day.

[timandlesley]

Ohhhh I hadn't thought of this. We already signed up to volunteer but I just assumed we would use it for the fast pass. We will be renewing our annual passes halfway through our trip in June. If we volunteer as a family, would that be the ticket price off of ALL of our annual passes or just one of ours? Any idea who we could call to find out for sure if it would be honored and how much the DVC annual pass renewal would be after volunteering?
Lesley

[timandlesley]

O.K, so I just called member services and got GREAT news. I CAN use the vouchers for give a day get a day and apply them to our annual pass renewal WITH the DVC discount. They will credit us 79 dollars per adult and 68 dollars per child!!!!:cool1:
-Lesley

[twinklebug]

O.K, so I just called member services and got GREAT news. I CAN use the vouchers for give a day get a day and apply them to our annual pass renewal WITH the DVC discount. They will credit us 79 dollars per adult and 68 dollars per child!!!!:cool1:
-Lesley

Is Disney still offering the 15 month renewals? If not, just curious, when did that end?

[timandlesley]

Is Disney still offering the 15 month renewals? If not, just curious, when did that end?

Yes they are, so with give a day get a day our family of four will be able to get 4 annual passes for only 1,130 and be able to use them this June, this November, June of 2011 and another fall trip in 2011. SCORE!!!!:thumbsup2
Lesley

[discott71]

Yes they are, so with give a day get a day our family of four will be able to get 4 annual passes for only 1,130 and be able to use them this June, this November, June of 2011 and another fall trip in 2011. SCORE!!!!:thumbsup2
Lesley

That's awesome :thumbsup2! Thanks for calling to find out! I'm defintely leaning towards the annual pass now. I'm not sure the ages of your kids, but I think most vollunteer opp. are for 6 and older. In our case, our 5 year old will not be able to participate, but we have a 10 and 7 year old that can. That will bring substantial savings to the annual pass option :thumbsup2!

Thanks again!

[mrebuck]

O.K, so I just called member services and got GREAT news. I CAN use the vouchers for give a day get a day and apply them to our annual pass renewal WITH the DVC discount. They will credit us 79 dollars per adult and 68 dollars per child!!!!:cool1:
-Lesley

Am I correct that you have to be in Orlando to apply the upgrade? My APs expire the end of this month and our next trip is not until August. So I won't be in Orlando during my renewal window. It would be great if I could do the transaction remotely (via mail, over the phone, ect.), but I assume that's not possible. Anyone know for sure?

[erionm]

Am I correct that you have to be in Orlando to apply the upgrade? My APs expire the end of this month and our next trip is not until August. So I won't be in Orlando during my renewal window. It would be great if I could do the transaction remotely (via mail, over the phone, ect.), but I assume that's not possible. Anyone know for sure?

Upgrades must be done on-site.

[Anal Annie]

I am having doubts that we will "get in" now for the thing I signed up for. I selected a local food bank that said it was on Wed. evenings. That worked out to be a pretty good day for our family + it was only 8 miles away so I thought it was perfect. After I submitted my form I then had to also go to their programs website to register and select an activity / date. I had a question about something. (Had to agree to wear a Tshirt for their organization which requires a $15 "donation". I wanted to find out if this was $15 for each of us or what so I could be prepared on how much this "donation" was really going to cost us). ANYWAY, the girl said they're really behind confirming things and that they've literally had hundreds of inquires & forms submitted so far thru the Disney program!!:eek: THEN I found out that the food bank is not EVERY Wed. but only 1 per month so basically our only shot is for Feb. 10 before we go... :headache: I think I should put our name on the list for something else too probably?! WWYD? Search for something else? A lot of them had age restrictions of 15+ which knocks DS out of being able to help. I am afraid we will have trouble finding something now with openings before we go...

So my advice is to sign up sooner rather than later!!

[twinklebug]

Annie, our Greater Boston Food bank up here is the same way - it's only once per month and they require you to "donate" the cost of the T-shirt. I volunteer through work, so someone there is buying up all the T-shirts and giving them to us for free. It seems wrong that they force the donation when you're giving your time as it is.

I like the volunteer opportunities that can get the kids and myself outdoors. Specifically, I'm watching for one to help clean up or restore National park trails. Right now just about everything is taken except for a few things up on the north shore, over an hour drive from here.

Since this program was just released, I'm expecting a surge in applicants Now, closer to the school vacations and again at the start of summer. Keeping a close eye on the site... and you know ... if nothing pops up so be it. The local animal shelter isn't on the site and they still need our hands & backs, feet & the kids supply tons of pats.

[bunny]

Don't wait too long. The person I spoke with told me Disney is only giving away 1 million tickets. She advised me to volunteer by the end of February to assure tickets were still available.

[discott71]

Don't wait too long. The person I spoke with told me Disney is only giving away 1 million tickets. She advised me to volunteer by the end of February to assure tickets were still available.

That's why we're doing ours now even though we're not vacationing untill November.

[timandlesley]

I'm confused by these comments. We are going to volunteer soon but our trip isn't until June. If we get the vouchers from volunteering but then Disney has already given out tickets will we get nothing? I'm confused:confused3. I don't understand why they would have a promotion they are hitting so hard with advertising that is supposed to last all year and only allot such a small amount of tickets towards it.
Lesley

[doconeill]

A lot of these questions have been answered (over, and over, and...) on the Theme Parks forum...

Disney ticketing does not consider the DVC AP price a discount in any way. It is a particular ticket only available to DVC members, just like the FL Resident options. So there is no need to worry about "stacking" discounts or anything like that. Same for renewals.

Yes, you can use the GAD voucher to get a DVC AP or renewal (within the renewal window). You have to turn in the voucher to get the 1-day ticket, USE the ticket, and then you can do the upgrade within the normal 14 days. The "use first" thing is a new requirement and is likely to prevent any sort of abuse like getting the ticket and then saving it for a later time or giving it to someone else.

The Fastpass option for those who already have multi-day tickets is expected to be for the most part identical to the
Birthday Fastpass (http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php#Birthday) from last year's promotion. Haven't heard from anyone who has actually used one yet (we are only 12 days into the year) to know if there are any differences.

As for "running out of tickets", it is expected that Disney is going to limit the number of vouchers, not the number of actual tickets given out. So if you've got a voucher, you should be all set. We have no idea how long the vouchers will be available, and Disney could just decide to extend it if they go early. Some believe that they won't run out anyways.

[kimberh]

The voucher has to be turned in and used on the same day. I was told that the final day for use is Dec 15, 2010. I am thinking Disney has to be counting vouchers. My daughter signed up her family with the Red Cross here.

[dddisrunner]

A lot of these questions have been answered (over, and over, and...) on the Theme Parks forum...

Disney ticketing does not consider the DVC AP price a discount in any way. It is a particular ticket only available to DVC members, just like the FL Resident options. So there is no need to worry about "stacking" discounts or anything like that. Same for renewals.

Yes, you can use the GAD voucher to get a DVC AP or renewal (within the renewal window). You have to turn in the voucher to get the 1-day ticket, USE the ticket, and then you can do the upgrade within the normal 14 days. The "use first" thing is a new requirement and is likely to prevent any sort of abuse like getting the ticket and then saving it for a later time or giving it to someone else.

The Fastpass option for those who already have multi-day tickets is expected to be for the most part identical to the
Birthday Fastpass (http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php#Birthday) from last year's promotion. Haven't heard from anyone who has actually used one yet (we are only 12 days into the year) to know if there are any differences.

As for "running out of tickets", it is expected that Disney is going to limit the number of vouchers, not the number of actual tickets given out. So if you've got a voucher, you should be all set. We have no idea how long the vouchers will be available, and Disney could just decide to extend it if they go early. Some believe that they won't run out anyways.

Thank you for posting this information. I have a question though. If you exchange the voucher for a one day ticket and USE the ticket wouldn't it no longer be valid? I mean you USED the ticket and that was what the promotion was for a 1 day ticket. Also, you surrender the voucher when you get your ticket so how would you prove that you did the give a day, get a day and wanted to apply that to an annual pass?

[doconeill]

Thank you for posting this information. I have a question though. If you exchange the voucher for a one day ticket and USE the ticket wouldn't it no longer be valid? I mean you USED the ticket and that was what the promotion was for a 1 day ticket. Also, you surrender the voucher when you get your ticket so how would you prove that you did the give a day, get a day and wanted to apply that to an annual pass?

When you get the voucher, you in turn get a 1-day base MYW ticket (or its equivalent, since there is the "must be used that day" requirement). It can be upgraded like ANY MYW ticket, which is within 14 days of first use (inclusive). Even if you use all of the days on a MYW ticket, you can STILL upgrade it if it is within 14 days of the day you first use it. It's still a valid ticket, it just doesn't have any park entitlements left on it.

[Anal Annie]

Got our confirmation date for our GAD volunteer time for Feb. 10 and finished our registration with the GAD network. :thumbsup2 I was concerned we wouldn't "get in" because they said they'd been overwhelmed with requests.

[DJmommy]

I am assuming that you could not use the GAD to purchase an annual pass voucher that you do not plan on activating until the following year, correct? We were not planning on renewing our passes that expire when we go in Nov. this year, we were going to purchase new annual passes for August 2011 so that we could get two vacations out of them - Aug 2011 and Aug 2012.

I am assuming that the only option we have is to donate our tickets or get the fast pass option then.

If someone can confirm this, I would appreciate it.

[doconeill]

I am assuming that you could not use the GAD to purchase an annual pass voucher that you do not plan on activating until the following year, correct? We were not planning on renewing our passes that expire when we go in Nov. this year, we were going to purchase new annual passes for August 2011 so that we could get two vacations out of them - Aug 2011 and Aug 2012.

I am assuming that the only option we have is to donate our tickets or get the fast pass option then.

If someone can confirm this, I would appreciate it.

That is correct. Since you have to USE the 1-day ticket before you can upgrade it, you cannot then do anything with it other than to upgrade to another active ticket.

[Anal Annie]

I am assuming that you could not use the GAD to purchase an annual pass voucher that you do not plan on activating until the following year, correct? We were not planning on renewing our passes that expire when we go in Nov. this year, we were going to purchase new annual passes for August 2011 so that we could get two vacations out of them - Aug 2011 and Aug 2012.

I am assuming that the only option we have is to donate our tickets or get the fast pass option then.

If someone can confirm this, I would appreciate it.

I don't think the idea of the program is for people to hang onto these things indefinitely. I think the whole program ends by Dec. 15. So basically use it or lose it. We also have AP's. Ours expire in May and we're going to HHI in August and I don't know right now WHEN we'll be back in FL. So our plan is to use them to get the special fast pass cards on our March trip. I do not think that is an equivalent "value" if it's for only a couple of rides as it sounds like it might be, but I suppose it's better than nothing.:confused3 It's too early right now to have any feedback on those to know tho.