Annual Passes Resume April 13 (DVC) April 20 (General Public)

[HappyDisneyWife]

Actually they weren't letting anybody upgrade from a pixie pass.

I have always been able to change the level of our passes to fit our next year’s plans. Pixie could definitely be upgraded, but only at the time of renewal. Each time I renewed one over the phone, I was even asked if I wanted to keep pixie or upgrade to a different level? I would be reminded that once a level was chosen, I would be locked into it for the full year- so, no changing my mind & upgrading midway. This was consistent protocol in person & over the phone, but I don’t believe the website would allow upgrade options if new sales were currently suspended.

 

[HIRyeDVC]

What is the actual process of activating APs? Do I have to go to guest services at the park or can I just go straight in to the park and the first day of the pass will start on that date? The AP shows up on my MDE but there is no expiration date

 

[R&RsMom]

Would like to clarify if I am understanding correctly. I have a wholly unused and inactivated Military Salute ticket in MDE for a mid-October 2023 trip. I am contemplating either upgrading the ticket to Incredipass or just buying a new Incredipass and not activating it until after our October trip. 1) if I upgrade the Salute ticket, I will get credit for just the actual price I paid; I am fine with that. But the AP will then be activated in October, and expire next October. 2) if I buy a new Incredipass, I would use the Salute ticket in October, and then activate the Incredipass next trip, let’s say next January 2024. (I have a year from purchase to activate, I believe.) Then I would have the Incredipass until January 2025. I would envision trips at least in January, May, November/ December. If this is correct, I think I’m better off buying the new pass, because it gives my more trips in theoretically cooler months. Does my thinking make sense?

 

[erinch]

Can you explain inactivated pass expiration to me?
I think I want to spring for the incredipass for myself and my hubby. But I m not 100% positive we will make a trip prior to April 2024. It might be fall 2024 with other trips thereafter. If I buy it, and passes are available if needed if activation is more than a year, then that works.

But I was just reading the fine print on the Disneyland Magic Key, and it says an inactivated annual pass can only become a credit for a pass that is the same or more expensive. So does this mean that you could not use the amount of the inactivated magic pass that is expiring to buy other ticket media for that value if they aren’t selling annual passes?

 

[Lehuaann]

Would like to clarify if I am understanding correctly. I have a wholly unused and inactivated Military Salute ticket in MDE for a mid-October 2023 trip. I am contemplating either upgrading the ticket to Incredipass or just buying a new Incredipass and not activating it until after our October trip. 1) if I upgrade the Salute ticket, I will get credit for just the actual price I paid; I am fine with that. But the AP will then be activated in October, and expire next October. 2) if I buy a new Incredipass, I would use the Salute ticket in October, and then activate the Incredipass next trip, let’s say next January 2024. (I have a year from purchase to activate, I believe.) Then I would have the Incredipass until January 2025. I would envision trips at least in January, May, November/ December. If this is correct, I think I’m better off buying the new pass, because it gives my more trips in theoretically cooler months. Does my thinking make sense?

If you have no plans to renew or don’t need the discount/parking perks right away, then it should be fine. Otherwise, you would miss out on a ticket credit/upgrade opportunity.

Can you explain inactivated pass expiration to me?
I think I want to spring for the incredipass for myself and my hubby. But I m not 100% positive we will make a trip prior to April 2024. It might be fall 2024 with other trips thereafter. If I buy it, and passes are available if needed if activation is more than a year, then that works.

But I was just reading the fine print on the Disneyland Magic Key, and it says an inactivated annual pass can only become a credit for a pass that is the same or more expensive. So does this mean that you could not use the amount of the inactivated magic pass that is expiring to buy other ticket media for that value if they aren’t selling annual passes?

Here is WDW’s Pass Expiration fine print (first post includes a link to the full terms).

You can use the expired AP credit to purchase another pass or ticket media priced at equal or greater value, subject to availability.

PASS EXPIRATION: For a new Pass purchase (not a renewal), a Pass is valid for applicable privileges for one (1) year from the date of use of the Pass for first entry into a Walt Disney World®Resort theme park. Pass privileges will not be available until such Pass is activated via park entry; provided, however, that park reservations, as available and subject to associated restrictions, may be made in anticipation of activation of a Pass so long as such Pass has not expired. A Pass will expire if it is not activated within one (1) year from the date of purchase, and upon expiration, such expired Pass may no longer be activated or have park reservations scheduled for it, and any existing park reservations for such Pass will be cancelled. No refunds will be given. The original Pass may not be transferred, and the amount paid for the original Pass may not be redeemed for cash or be used for any other purpose other than the purchase of another Pass or ticket. However, the amount paid for an unactivated, expired Pass may be applied towards the purchase of a new Pass or ticket (subject to availability) at the then current price so long as the new Pass or ticket purchase price is equal to or greater than the amount paid for the original Pass. The then current terms, conditions and benefits associated with the newly purchased Pass or ticket will apply at that time.

 

[Lehuaann]

What is the actual process of activating APs? Do I have to go to guest services at the park or can I just go straight in to the park and the first day of the pass will start on that date? The AP shows up on my MDE but there is no expiration date

I believe new DVC Sorcerer Passes still need to be activated at a GR or Ticket window. At least that used to be the case.

 

[LV2WDW]

I actually emailed customer service as a sort of pre-game and not really anything new but probably not great news for me

While at present, we do not have information aside from that which has been provided by the Walt Disney World official blog page we are able to share that Guests with wholly unused standalone Tickets may upgrade to an Annual Pass. This can be done in person or over the phone only by contacting Walt Disney World

Please note that while partially used Tickets that are still valid may qualify for an upgrade, this will have to be validated in person at a Disney Planning Center, the Disney Springs Ticket Center, Guest Relations, or a vacation planning location. Please be aware that multi-date tickets in which one or more days have been used on dates when a specific Annual Pass would normally be blocked from use would not be eligible to be upgraded to that pass type. Expired or fully used Tickets cannot be upgraded.

If you have package tickets, you may need to purchase the Annual Pass separately, and then modify to a "ticketless" package. Please note that modifying a package within 30 days of arrival will normally result in a change fee.

Genuinely seems like my "best" option would be to just upgrade at the park but the FOMO that it won't last until 4/22. I wonder what the "change fee" is.

 

[lanejudy]

Can you explain inactivated pass expiration to me?

When you buy an AP it will be a “voucher” that needs to be activated at the parks before your AP is “live.” That voucher is good for 12 months from date of purchase - meaning you have 1 year to start your AP.

If you do not activate it within that 1 year period, the voucher expires similar to regular tickets and converts to a credit. You can use that credit towards a new ticket or AP. Generally speaking there is no refund so the new ticket or AP should be equal or higher price - so if you buy an Incredi-pass voucher now but don’t activate within a year and want to use the credit in fall 2024, you run the risk of APs not being on sale then and 10-day tickets costing less than your credit so you could lose money.

 

[lanejudy]

Genuinely seems like my "best" option would be to just upgrade at the park but the FOMO that it won't last until 4/22. I wonder what the "change fee" is.

Modifying a package booking (room+tickets) within 30 days of arrival may result in a $50 change fee if the cost of the package decreases. Do you have package tickets or were they bought separately? My personal opinion is that APs won’t sell out that quickly, but others disagree so I understand your concern.

 

[ILoveMyKellen]

Would like to clarify if I am understanding correctly. I have a wholly unused and inactivated Military Salute ticket in MDE for a mid-October 2023 trip. I am contemplating either upgrading the ticket to Incredipass or just buying a new Incredipass and not activating it until after our October trip. 1) if I upgrade the Salute ticket, I will get credit for just the actual price I paid; I am fine with that. But the AP will then be activated in October, and expire next October. 2) if I buy a new Incredipass, I would use the Salute ticket in October, and then activate the Incredipass next trip, let’s say next January 2024. (I have a year from purchase to activate, I believe.) Then I would have the Incredipass until January 2025. I would envision trips at least in January, May, November/ December. If this is correct, I think I’m better off buying the new pass, because it gives my more trips in theoretically cooler months. Does my thinking make sense?

I’m in this same boat but after thinking about it I just kept my Military Salute tickets to use in November and bought a sorcerer pass outright to activate at a later date. I figured that I could go more often this way and not have to worry about tickets for a while. I wasn’t worried about discounts because we’re DVC as well.

 

[erinch]

Modifying a package booking (room+tickets) within 30 days of arrival may result in a $50 change fee if the cost of the package decreases. Do you have package tickets or were they bought separately? My personal opinion is that APs won’t sell out that quickly, but others disagree so I understand your concern.

So, if needed, could the credit be applied to, for instance, 2 10 day hoppers, or is a 1-to-1 exchange? Thanks so much!

 

[lovethattink]

The parks are going to be PACKED. They were already horrible .
OR
very hard to get a park reservation.

I mostly go on weekdays, and sprinkle in a weekend day here and there. Packed days nowadays haven’t been like pack days of the past. But I can envision those good ole day crowd levels returning. I went and booked a reservation for July 4.

Way back when a 10 out of 10 crowd level was major, major bottlenecks.

There hasn’t been any real issues booking last minute reservations. Even parks that were full eventually showed up with enough refreshing.

And soon we’ll be able to enter in the afternoon without a reservation. (Just not MK without reservation)

 

[jlw3535]

I will be there with my son until April 18. I have an AP but he doesn't, so I bought him parkhopper tickets for this visit. It's so close to the date when new passes will go on sale... I'm wondering if I could extend his ticket by two days and then upgrade it to an AP on the 20th. I won't be there in person at that point, though, so it would have to be done over the phone.

I'm glad they're back, regardless!

I was at Disney in December and had a three-day park hopper. I had an issue and stopped by the customer service center at Disney Springs and the cast member there and I got into a conversation in regards to when the AP sales would resume - long story short, he put a note on my account that if and when AP sales resumed, I would like to bridge that three-day park hopper into an AP. From the conversation (and I am hoping it’s true) - I could call on Thursday and apply the cost of that parkhopper ticket onto an AP that will expire on the date that I first used the original ticket (in my case, Dec 13). This leads me to believe that you could apply the cost of your son’s ticket to the AP without adding extra days - but at the same time, the cost of adding two days would just be applied to the AP anyway. It may be negligible




With three, possibly four, trips to the Orlando area left for me this calendar year, my question becomes whether I apply the 3-day AP to a pass that expires in December, or to just buy an Incredipass when sales activate on the 20th. The fourth of those trips would be in mid-December - the perfect time for me to renew. I’d do the sorcerer or pirate pass now (since I wouldn’t be there for the blockout dates anyway). Math, man.

 

[CarolynFH]

So, if needed, could the credit be applied to, for instance, 2 10 day hoppers, or is a 1-to-1 exchange? Thanks so much!

In the past, it's been a 1-to-1 exchange. Sorry.

 

[LV2WDW]

Modifying a package booking (room+tickets) within 30 days of arrival may result in a $50 change fee if the cost of the package decreases. Do you have package tickets or were they bought separately? My personal opinion is that APs won’t sell out that quickly, but others disagree so I understand your concern.

Oh I can swallow a $50 (split three ways) fee. It's cheaper than adding hopper to my tickets. I actually agree with you considering there are currently only 3 days in the next year that have a single park all booked up. They likely have a lot of APs available.

 

[R&RsMom]

I’m in this same boat but after thinking about it I just kept my Military Salute tickets to use in November and bought a sorcerer pass outright to activate at a later date. I figured that I could go more often this way and not have to worry about tickets for a while. I wasn’t worried about discounts because we’re DVC as well.

That’s sort of my thinking. we have military discount on room and no car. With this specific travelling party, the discounts will be hard to use for more than me; I won’t be paying for everyone. i really liked our recent December trip, and would like to go again that time on this AP.

 

[BroganMc]

I have always been able to change the level of our passes to fit our next year’s plans. Pixie could definitely be upgraded, but only at the time of renewal. Each time I renewed one over the phone, I was even asked if I wanted to keep pixie or upgrade to a different level? I would be reminded that once a level was chosen, I would be locked into it for the full year- so, no changing my mind & upgrading midway. This was consistent protocol in person & over the phone, but I don’t believe the website would allow upgrade options if new sales were currently suspended.

They were not letting anybody upgrade for pixie Pass because they weren't selling any of the other passes. But now they've opened sales for Sorcerer pass. However that is only for DVC members. So they're still not letting anybody who's not a DVC member upgrade from a pixie pass. That will change next week when they reopen annual pass sales for everybody.

 

[lanejudy]

They were not letting anybody upgrade for pixie Pass

WDW has been allowing upgrades from Pixie to other APs at renewal. Not mid-term but it's been possible at renewal.

Starting the 20th folks will be able to upgrade before their renewal period.

 

[ftmill]

We are both FL residents & new DVC owners. (I have a met half a dozen retirees who have moved recently to FL and bought DVC).

On the March 13, I was allowed to upgrade from Pixie to Sorcerer. ( I purchased Pixie in early February and took 2 trips to the parks & used the parking privilege at the parks and the resorts).

We wanted a sorcerer pass because even though retired, we like going to the parks on
Saturdays. We can leave at our leisure and then stay late.

We also needed to schedule for a wedding on a Sunday in May where the wedding party is going to Disney the day after the wedding.

We are also staying a week @ GF and wanted to enter the park on Sunday (I had purchased that ticket separately from Pixie)

I called ticketing on March 13 and they were able to upgrade Pixie Pass AND apply the value of the ticket for Sunday to the upgrade. (it was a 3 hour wait on phone but I had to be home anyway)

I also had after hour tix and I had the impression that I could of applied those also. (could be wrong on this) but only up to the value of the Sorcerer pass.

Conclusion: FL residents were able to upgrade on the 13th IF THEY WERE DVC MEMBERS.

You can not use two passes (AP & Ticketed entry) online and have to use ticketing.

Ticketing could only do the upgrade once they checked for a DVC Y clearance.

I was left with the impression that ALL tickets could have been used to purchase the Sorcerer pass, up to the value of the Sorcerer pass, as long as it was not just a voucher and the ticket for entry or an event and was in the name of the person updating.*
*NOTE all my tickets were in our names and attached to a date in “my experience”.

I thought I would share this positive transaction. The time on the phone was longer than I wanted to. spend but the outcome was exactly what I wanted. This Saturday I want to MK and had a wonderful time. I was able to staylate, park in the park and then park at a resort.

Thank you all for helping us with this.

 

[lanejudy]

I also had after hour tix and I had the impression that I could of applied those also. (could be wrong on this) but only up to the value of the Sorcerer pass.

Generally speaking ticket upgrades are a 1:1 basis -- 1 "old" ticket towards 1 "new" (upgraded) ticket. I'd say you probably received some pixie dust by upgrading an existing AP and rolling another ticket into that upgrade. I'd be highly surprised if you could have rolled additional tickets into that as well, but since it seems to have been outside the normal scope it's possible that CM would have done so. However I would not recommend that anyone expect to be able to combine multiple tickets, whether for an upgrade or a new voucher.