Annual Pass question

[DisneyGuy]

Hello,

as some of you know, i'll be going in August, I booked a studio at the Beach Club Villas under the AP rate - however, I have yet to purchase my ticket - I will be buying it this week - however, it is my understanding that the Disney Stores no longer sell the annual passes and that the only way I can get them is through disneyworld.com, at the airport, and of course, in Disney World. I will probably be buying it on disneyworld.com but what exactly will they send me in the mail? I read that I get a certificate and then I have to get the pass activated at one of the theme parks - is that true? Also, will I need to have that activated BEFORE I check in? or can I just show them the "certificate"/"pass"? Or do I have it all wrong?

thanks in advance.

 

[7thdwarf/dopey]

Hello,

as some of you know, i'll be going in August, I booked a studio at the Beach Club Villas under the AP rate - however, I have yet to purchase my ticket - I will be buying it this week - however, it is my understanding that the Disney Stores no longer sell the annual passes and that the only way I can get them is through disneyworld.com, at the airport, and of course, in Disney World. I will probably be buying it on disneyworld.com but what exactly will they send me in the mail? I read that I get a certificate and then I have to get the pass activated at one of the theme parks - is that true? Also, will I need to have that activated BEFORE I check in? or can I just show them the "certificate"/"pass"? Or do I have it all wrong?

thanks in advance.

Hi DisneyGuy,

You are correct in that the Disney stores no longer sell them. Why not give Disney a call and order it, it may save you a little time, and you can ask questions.
They will send you an "exchange certificate". It is a green plastic card about the size of a credit card. On the reverse side, on the top , is a set of letters and numbers, this is your ID number. You will need "AT LEAST" the certificate/voucher to check in.
Although Disney says it has to be "active" when checking in, I have yet to have a CM inforce that rule. The voucher has always been good enough. BUT, just in case it does happen, its a breeze to shoot over to a park to have it validated. Then just return and check in.
Hope this helps ya .......

 

[DisneyGuy]

thanks for the advice - yes, it's a quick walk over to Epcot from the Beach Club so I could have it activated really fast - will that interfere with the Magical Express service at all though? Am I expected to check in as soon as I get there? - for bag purposes?

Never did the ME before...

 

[gullyf]

Hello,
as some of you know, i'll be going in August, I booked a studio at the Beach Club Villas under the AP rate - however, I have yet to purchase my ticket - I will be buying it this week - however, it is my understanding that the Disney Stores no longer sell the annual passes and that the only way I can get them is through disneyworld.com, at the airport, and of course, in Disney World. I will probably be buying it on disneyworld.com but what exactly will they send me in the mail? I read that I get a certificate and then I have to get the pass activated at one of the theme parks - is that true? Also, will I need to have that activated BEFORE I check in? or can I just show them the "certificate"/"pass"? Or do I have it all wrong?
thanks in advance.

You get a voucher... ours was similar to a credit card, which you trade in for a paper (mylar?) one.
In the past, being required to show an activated AP at check-in seems to have been highly variable. Sometimes you had to show an activated AP, sometimes not. I went through the trouble of leaving everyone at the resort while I went and activated my pass, only to not even have it mentioned at check-in. Activation, however, is a very quick and simple process at Guest Services. When I think of what I went through for Six Flags AP, Disney's is absolutely minimal. Others will have more recent experiences, but obviously there are two potential scenarios: you try, and either succeed or are told to activate your pass, or you plan on activation before you attempt to check-in. I am of the type that would prefer to do the latter. Others will perhaps have more to say...

 

[Hugpug]

I have a problem with having to have to activate before check-in. I travel solo so what do I do with my bags that have not been with me since I will be on MME. Will they hold my bags and let me go and activate my pass. I will be at POFQ and will have to wait for a boat to take me to DTD and activate my pass and then get a boat back. This will more then likly take anywhere from a hour to hour in a half.

 

[gullyf]

I have a problem with having to have to activate before check-in. I travel solo so what do I do with my bags that have not been with me since I will be on MME. Will they hold my bags and let me go and activate my pass. I will be at POFQ and will have to wait for a boat to take me to DTD and activate my pass and then get a boat back. This will more then likly take anywhere from a hour to hour in a half.

Though I have never stayed at POFQ (usually POR, ocassionally WL), they will store you luggage both before you check in and after you check out. Why take the boat? You can activate your pass at any park entrance (I believe) guest services... I just took a bus to Magic Kingdom and it ook less tha 1/2 hour total...

 

[SqueakyMouse]

In May, we were able to check-in for our 8-day stay at AKL with just our voucher. Actually, we didn't even show that. The CM helping us said that he could see on the computer that we had purchased AP's and that was all he needed. However, when we extended our stay by two days and checked-into CSR, we absolutely had to have our activated AP at check-in. I had to run out to the car to collect our AP's before we could be checked-in. I found this very odd since the CM helping us at CSR said he could see that we'd spent the previous week at AKL. If you don't have or want to take the time to actvate your pass prior to check-in, it doesn't hurt to try without it.

 

[briarberry]

Does anyone know if you can get your AP voucher exchanged for an AP at the Disney info area in Ocala? I thought it might be easier to stop there on our trip down. I already have the vouchers but I am worried about being able to check in at POFQ with just the voucher. I would like to check in and then go over to MK and get it activated because we will likely arrive around dinner time and would like to go to MK that evening.
Thanks for any info you have!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Hi, I'm still deciding about purchasing an AP, but I find it odd that if Disney's goal is to try to make our vacation experience as seamless as possible in so many ways, why would they make AP activation so inconvenient for resort guests?

Trekking over to the nearest park to activate your AP before you can even check into your resort is not such a cake walk, especially during busier times, in stifling heat, when traveling with small children/babies etc., or if you are staying at a resort that is not as convenient as say, a monorail resort or epcot resort.

I love Disney, but I don't understand why they would create something as wonderful as ME, only to have the guest be dropped off at their resort and then have to use additional transportation to get an AP activated and then trek on back to the resort to check in. If you are traveling alone with children, can you just see bussing over to MK to activate your passes, only to have the kiddies wonder why they can't stay and see Minnie and Mickey?

I dunno, it seems to me that Disney should have a place to activate APs at the resort. Wouldn't that make the most sense for a seamless vacation experience? Maybe I am not understanding the whole process here and since I am new to this AP business, maybe I'm missing something here.

I know guests may take a chance and try to check in with the vouchers, but you know sometimes check-in lines are long and kids (and adults) are tired from their flights and waking up early. If you wait in a long check-in line for quite some time only to be told, as one of the posters here mentioned, that they did need the activated AP pass, sheesh, it just seems like Disney could be more accomodating to their AP passholders.

Whew! Ok, more than enuf said. If I have my facts straight here, I will email guests services and find out why it is the way it is.

Thanks for reading,
Tink
*edited to add that I did email WDW about this and will update if I hear anything*

 

[gullyf]

Hi, I'm still deciding about purchasing an AP, but I find it odd that if Disney's goal is to try to make our vacation experience as seamless as possible in so many ways, why would they make AP activation so inconvenient for resort guests?

Very good question! If you get an answer, let me know!