DVC annual passes- many questions!

[disprincess2213]

We are planning 2 trips to the world between September and November 2016 over the span of about 17 nights. We are thinking DVC APs are the way to go....how do we go about doing this to be able to make FP for our upcoming trip? Do we pay for them online on the member website? Once we pay, do they get linked to the reservation?

I would imagine that even if we purchased them today, they are not "active" until we actually use them, correct?

Also, If we purchase APs today (but don't plan to actually USE them until September), do we automatically get AP perks and deals? Im asking specifically for room discounts to book in November (as we may not have enough points).

Also, I notice many people purchase tickets from undercover tourist and then upgrade to DVC AP once they arrive at the park. Are there any perks to doing this? How does the balance get paid? Is it the price of the DVC AP minus whatever you paid on UT? How does this work?

Thank you and sorry for all the questions!!

 

[drusba]

You can buy the APs now at the DVC discount and use the receipt/voucher number to set them up in your MDE account. You won't get the actual AP until you get to Disney and go to a ticket window or Guest Services at the parks and get them, at which time they will be activated, but the voucher number in your MDE account is all that is needed to make fastpass selections beginning 60 days (if staying on site) or 30 days (if staying off-site) before your arrival.

If you have an MDE account that is connected to your DVC account so that it recognizes you as a DVC Member, you can go to the MDE site, sign on, and then open "Parks and Tickets" at the top left, scroll down to and click on "Annual Passes." That will take you to a page that shows the APs you can buy, including the Gold Pass that excludes Christmas time and Easter time, and you can proceed with your purchase from there, at the end of which the AP vouchers will show up in your Reservations and Tickets section.

Others can probably help better with the the buying of another ticket at a discount from Undercover Tourist and then using it to exchange and pay the price difference for a new AP.

As to using an AP to get an AP room discount at a resort, you do not need the AP in advance. You do, however, need to provide an AP at time of check in, although I am not clear on how that works anymore with the MDE system and magic bands.

 

[ktmo]

I just purchased the Gold Annual Pass for our two trips this year. It was very easy. The passes immediately (or very quickly) showed up on MDE. I can make fast pass selections, even though we don't have the physical ticket.

I thought about buying tickets from Undercover Tourist to save some money, but we are only going for a few days and I really don't want to spend time waiting in more lines.

 

[DIS_MERI]

I used UT tickets to bridge to Gold APs for our November trip. It saved around $35 per ticket (and we got 4 APs). If you use the ticket at least once before you upgrade/bridge, they will give you the gate price of the ticket (rather than the discounted price paid) towards the AP. However, you will be limited to making FPs for the number of days you purchased the ticket for. So, the best deal right now is for a 4 day WPFM Hopper. If you got that, you would save $37+ per ticket, but only be able to make 4 days of fastpasses (you can bridge this to Gold as long as you don't use the waterpark/DQ entitlements). The savings is about 10%, which you can beat pretty easily buying disney gc, so I likely won't bother going the UT route anymore.

 

[Meech Loves Mickey]

I just purchased the Gold Annual Pass for our two trips this year. It was very easy. The passes immediately (or very quickly) showed up on MDE. I can make fast pass selections, even though we don't have the physical ticket.

I thought about buying tickets from Undercover Tourist to save some money, but we are only going for a few days and I really don't want to spend time waiting in more lines.

Do the passes show up on MDE when you purchase them? or when you activate them?

Thanks.

 

[supersnoop]

Do the passes show up on MDE when you purchase them? or when you activate them?

Thanks.

purchase

 

[erionm]

Do the passes show up on MDE when you purchase them? or when you activate them?

If you pre-purchase, the voucher (or will call confirmation) can be linked to MDE to enable advance FP+ selection. You still need to stop at either a park ticket window or guest relations location to active the pass. At activation, the voucher in MDE will be replaced with the actual pass (this should not affect any FP+ selections).

 

[jerseyduke]

Call member services, or ticketing. (I called ticketing because they can accept multiple payment methods - 10 gift cards- where as Member services is limited to 2 - also make sure you get the DVC rate if going through ticketing)

You will get a confirmation number, which will be the first 3 letters of your first name, followed by the last letter of your last name, and then 8 numbers.

Go to MDE and link them, using the above number. The number of passes you purchased will be in your MDE account, and you can re assign them.

They will get activated when you use them. The first time, you are going to have to probably go to guest services and show your DVC card, to verify your membership.

Not sure about the AP, cash room discount question. But from what I have seen, it tends not to be much different from DVC discount. My GUESS is that since the APs will be in your MDE, you will show up as an AP holder.

 

[ktmo]

Do the passes show up on MDE when you purchase them? or when you activate them?

Thanks.

I was able to purchase them online through MDE and get the Gold AP pricing. They showed up immediately on MDE (or almost immediately, maybe a little lag time). I can play around and make fast passes for today, even though they have not been "activated".