Annual pass pricing -- DVC is no longer the best discount for some

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

Like many, I've been scouring the internet and calling Disney to figure out our best course of action for the DVC annual pass vouchers and pre-paid Memory Maker we've already purchased for our trip coming up in three weeks.

DVC Member Services told me I'd have the option to activate the passes without any upgrade or change, and they'd work exactly as the former annual passes did (e.g., no blackout dates and no PhotoPass downloads). Or, I could choose to upgrade to one of the new pass options at Guest Relations, and pay the difference. If I decide to do this, I'm told I'll be able to get a refund on the Memory Maker we purchased.

I thought I was all set. I was going to cancel the Memory Maker, leave one pass unchanged, and upgrade one to a Platinum to get the photos.

Now I realize I'll get a better deal if I purchase my annual pass through Shades of Green. (The DVC discount used to be better than the SOG discount for APs, but that's no longer the case.) Now I have to see if I can convince Guest Relations to refund one of my AP vouchers and my pre-paid Memory Maker so I can head to SOG to get a voucher there.

For those who are still crunching the numbers and trying to decide which pass is best for you, here's the spreadsheet I created this morning to see everything at a glance.

 

[nabi]

Excellent spreadsheet, thank you. I purchased and activated an AP two days before these changed- have more things to evaluate now for renewal.

 

[edk35]

I never even thought to look at SOG prices for AP's. So you can only get that NICE GOLD AP discount if you are a resident of FL????

 

[edk35]

I wonder why SOG is not doing a discounted Gold pass for military? IS that only available to FL residents and DVC members and that's why? I do see the nice discount for the Platinum Pass. That is a much bigger discount than the DVC price. 619 and no tax vs. 691.19 that DVC gets.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Like many, I've been scouring the internet and calling Disney to figure out our best course of action for the DVC annual pass vouchers and pre-paid Memory Maker we've already purchased for our trip coming up in three weeks.

DVC Member Services told me I'd have the option to activate the passes without any upgrade or change, and they'd work exactly as the former annual passes did (e.g., no blackout dates and no PhotoPass downloads). Or, I could choose to upgrade to one of the new pass options at Guest Relations, and pay the difference. If I decide to do this, I'm told I'll be able to get a refund on the Memory Maker we purchased.

I thought I was all set. I was going to cancel the Memory Maker, leave one pass unchanged, and upgrade one to a Platinum to get the photos.

Now I realize I'll get a better deal if I purchase my annual pass through Shades of Green. (The DVC discount used to be better than the SOG discount for APs, but that's no longer the case.) Now I have to see if I can convince Guest Relations to refund one of my AP vouchers and my pre-paid Memory Maker so I can head to SOG to get a voucher there.

For those who are still crunching the numbers and trying to decide which pass is best for you, here's the spreadsheet I created this morning to see everything at a glance.

From all reports if you have DVC deluxe AP vouchers that you bought prior to the change then they will be activated as Platinum. They no longer have the Deluxe pass product so they can only activate the closest equivalent which is the platinum and you would have the memory maker. This is also what a ticketing CM has been posting and people have been confirming was done for them. It's only the active APs that will continue as they were without blackout dates and no photos pass until their expiration unless they are upgraded to one of the new passes.