AP Only Info Thread Reservation System /Extensions / Refunds

[amk43]

I've found this thread really helpful as I tried to figure out what to do about AP extensions and cancellations last year and about recovery this year, so I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's posted.

Also, I called tonight about recovery and can report that when I called at about 10:50pm Eastern (I called the VIP Passholder number and said "Passholder Help Desk" at the prompt), I waited about 10 minutes on hold and spent about 15 minutes talking to the cast member. He said callbacks were currently taking 17-18 days. I asked about whether if I bought tickets, I could apply them to the price of the new AP, and he said it would be up to the person who called me back, so I think I'm just going to cross my fingers that I get a call back and new APs in time to get good park reservations for mid-August.

 

[DizKids2]

I am 21 days in from my phone call to inquire about recovery passes. I keep seeing people here getting calls back in shorter time periods now. We travel to Disney in 10 days, and from everything I have seen here, we should be eligible. Should I call back or are others still seeing a longer callback timeframe where I shouldn’t worry?

 

[NotTheBatesMotel]

I am 21 days in from my phone call to inquire about recovery passes. I keep seeing people here getting calls back in shorter time periods now. We travel to Disney in 10 days, and from everything I have seen here, we should be eligible. Should I call back or are others still seeing a longer callback timeframe where I shouldn’t worry?

I’d call back. Everyone else I’ve spoken with had a wait similar to mine (16 or so days). Good luck! I know how anxiety-provoking the wait can be.

 

[Kimrlav]

Does anyone know if you can go to the Disney Springs ticket center or guest relations at the park for purchasing a recovery AP? I had a pass that expired during the closure and decided on the refund. Does that make me eligible to purchase a pass? Thanks for any information.

 

[Abby S]

Does anyone know if you can go to the Disney Springs ticket center or guest relations at the park for purchasing a recovery AP? I had a pass that expired during the closure and decided on the refund. Does that make me eligible to purchase a pass? Thanks for any information.

Yes, going to guest relations works!

Crazy story -- I was waiting for our callback for ~20 days. I called back to see if there were any updates and they didn't have anything and said it could take up to 45 days. I'm not sure why there seem to be some folks for whom it's taking forever and some getting callbacks within two weeks.

But I'm making a trip with my daughter in a couple of weeks and there was a room discount I was hoping to snag, so I didn't want to chance not getting renewed in time.

I looked up Spirit airfares from St. Louis (where we live), and found a $30 ticket. I flew down Tuesday at 7am, had our passes renewed at the Ticket Center at Disney Springs by noon (they were able to apply our ticket amounts and got us theme park reservations booked), got my room discount booked at lunch, and flew home at 7pm. I ended up saving money on the room discount by flying down! I recognize I'm very very lucky to have been able to do this -- it was a crazy day, and honestly, a ton of fun. And I just checked today and that room discount is now gone, so it turns out the absolutely insane plan worked out!

Anyway, no clue if that strategy would be viable for anyone waiting, but if you're able to go to Guest Services, it does work!

 

[Kimrlav]

Yes, going to guest relations works!

Crazy story -- I was waiting for our callback for ~20 days. I called back to see if there were any updates and they didn't have anything and said it could take up to 45 days. I'm not sure why there seem to be some folks for whom it's taking forever and some getting callbacks within two weeks.

But I'm making a trip with my daughter in a couple of weeks and there was a room discount I was hoping to snag, so I didn't want to chance not getting renewed in time.

I looked up Spirit airfares from St. Louis (where we live), and found a $30 ticket. I flew down Tuesday at 7am, had our passes renewed at the Ticket Center at Disney Springs by noon (they were able to apply our ticket amounts and got us theme park reservations booked), got my room discount booked at lunch, and flew home at 7pm. I ended up saving money on the room discount by flying down! I recognize I'm very very lucky to have been able to do this -- it was a crazy day, and honestly, a ton of fun. And I just checked today and that room discount is now gone, so it turns out the absolutely insane plan worked out!

Anyway, no clue if that strategy would be viable for anyone waiting, but if you're able to go to Guest Services, it does work!

Thank you so much for the information. I am so glad your day trip to Disney worked for your tickets and reservations. I am waiting for a call back but, the cast member stated it could take at least 6 weeks, and my trip is in 35 days.

 

[summerw]

Apologies if this has been asked and answered. Has anyone had success upgrading their AP while WDW has stopped selling APs due to Covid? I have a FL resident Silver Pass, and my next trip is during the blockout. I would need to upgrade to Platinum.

I have been told no for upgrading our Gold to Silver since I renewed this past February.

 

[Kimrlav]

I wanted to provide an update on my recovery AP process. I was fortunate called on June 10th and received a call back this afternoon (June 18th). Unfortunately, I missed the call, but called back within two hours and had to wait approximately 45 minutes on hold to speak with a cast member. The cast member was able to apply the value of tickets from a canceled trip, but could not apply the value of tickets with an upcoming trip resort package. She processed the AP purchase and then issued a call back for the resort team to change the reservation from package with tickets to room only - received the call back in 30 minutes. It was a great service experience. Now, I am all-set with an annual pass for my next trips scheduled for July and September - and a few more to come. I am happy that this task was accomplished before the trip, now I just have to go to guest services to present the voucher for the actual card.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for the great information.

 

[amdphenom]

My experience:

Called on 7th, told 4? weeks average
Called back today (22nd) and missed the first call. Called back with about 30 minutes on hold with the helpdesk to schedule a new call. Got the new call within an hour.

Was asked which pass I wanted so it was probably a choice but I kept the one I had before.

Back in the Passholder family.

 

[DizKids2]

Thank you to everyone on this thread for your help! I originally called about recovery passes on 5/24. They told me the callback could take up to 30 days. We travel to Disney this weekend, so I called the VIPassholders line and was transferred to the passholder help desk. The gentleman was able to get a hold of the recovery team and they said I was actually on the callback list for today. He asked if they could prioritize my callback and they called less than 5 minutes after we hung up. They were able to apply the tickets we had for the upcoming trip towards our new platinum passes.

One thing to note - she did say that if we had used the tickets she would not have been able to apply their value to new AP's. I had been wondering about this in case we never got a callback and tried guest services once we arrived at Disney. If you need to go the guest services route, be sure to do it at DS, not after you enter a park.

Excited to be passholders again!!

 

[magik]

My experience:

Called on 7th, told 4? weeks average
Called back today (22nd) and missed the first call. Called back with about 30 minutes on hold with the helpdesk to schedule a new call. Got the new call within an hour.

Was asked which pass I wanted so it was probably a choice but I kept the one I had before.

Back in the Passholder family.

This was my experience as well, same initial call date and same call back date. Initial call June 7, got my call back on June 22 (mid-morning). I couldn’t take the call, so they left a message. I called back later on the 22nd, about 3 pm, and after a few minutes of navigating through the automated questions and getting through the phone menu, I was only on hold for a couple minutes before speaking with someone who helped me get a new AP voucher.

 

[onelove8187]

I got my call back yesterday after about 2.5 weeks. I am eligible as I expected; however, they are unable to apply the value of third party tickets to the cost of an AP over the phone... I was assured that they would be able to do it in person at guest services but tend to rely more on data points than individual customer service representatives. She noted that I planned on visiting Magic Kingdom my first day and suggested that I go into the park and upgrade to APs at inside the park, which directly contradicts the advice given above... I am uncertain what to do, I have 4 7-day tickets so if they dont let me apply the value then APS probably are not going to happen. Has anyone had similar experience? Has any one applied the value of tickets purchased through a third party towards the AP? Either over the phone or at a guest services location? I am staying GF first day so it would be highly preferable to do the upgrade at MK vs going to disney springs.

 

[DizKids2]

The tickets I was able to apply this morning were 3rd party tickets, but I had them linked to my MDE already. Are yours linked?

ETA: We were getting platinum passes, out of state. Not sure if that makes a difference here?

 

[onelove8187]

The tickets I was able to apply this morning were 3rd party tickets, but I had them linked to my MDE already. Are yours linked?

ETA: We were getting platinum passes, out of state. Not sure if that makes a difference here?

Mine are linked and I am trying to get out of state platinum passes just as you. I did add a day previously before I knew I wanted APs back. Did you do this over the phone?

 

[DizKids2]

I did my recovery passes over the phone. I had also added a day to our 3rd party tickets. Might be worth calling back and maybe getting someone else on the line?

it is frustrating that they don’t have a consistent policy, unless there is something different between the 3rd parties we used.

 

[onelove8187]

I did my recovery passes over the phone. I had also added a day to our 3rd party tickets. Might be worth calling back and maybe getting someone else on the line?

it is frustrating that they don’t have a consistent policy, unless there is something different between the 3rd parties we used.

dang. that is frustrating... not sure how i can get back a hold of them but i will try calling the number they called from...

 

[CarolynFH]

She noted that I planned on visiting Magic Kingdom my first day and suggested that I go into the park and upgrade to APs at inside the park,

There’s a GR office outside MK (and all the parks) as well, so you could probably upgrade there before you actually enter the park. It’s on the far right of the entrance plaza, inside security but outside the touch points. If you can get to the GR office at DS or at outside any park the day before, you could probably do it there.

 

[onelove8187]

There’s a GR office outside MK (and all the parks) as well, so you could probably upgrade there before you actually enter the park. It’s on the far right of the entrance plaza, inside security but outside the touch points. If you can get to the GR office at DS or at outside any park the day before, you could probably do it there.

I plan on just going to the GR outside of MK since we will be at GF on arrival day and plan on going to MK. None of it is a big deal if it is seamless and works I just dont trust it will work until AP cards are in hand lol. I never would have risked going into MK first but thought it interesting that the customer service rep recommended I do that... debating on trying to call back and talk to someone else.

 

[CarolynFH]

debating on trying to call back and talk to someone else.

Yeah, very often you’ll get different information that way - an ongoing Disney issue.

 

[onelove8187]

Yeah, very often you’ll get different information that way - an ongoing Disney issue.

To be fair that isn't an issue exclusive to Disney.