AP renewal help needed, please!

[stitch34]

I'm just getting myself more and more confused!

Okay... the kids' APs are good through August 18th.

We arrive on Sept 17th - which by my calculations is exactly 30 days after our APs expire - we'll still be okay to renew them, right, even at exactly that 30 day mark?

Planning on free dining - which means getting 1-day tickets, which I really want to apply to renewal of APs. Don't want to be holding onto those 1-days, want to get rid of them.

Big question is: can I renew by mail/online (however you do it, never did before!) before August 31st, get my renewal rate, get the 15 months and then I get a voucher for my AP.......... and then when go to activate that voucher when I arrive in September, there's no way I can apply those 1-day tickets to those APs then and be credited that, can I?

If so, would be great.

Otherwise, I'm thinking my options are either renew before August 31st and get the 15 months..... OR, forget about the extra 3 months (which would be nice to have!) and renew APs when get down there to apply those darn 1-day tickets to them.

Also.... if renew when down there on 17th - being at exactly 30 days am I cutting it too close? Worry about if have flight issues and can't arrive till day later, then am outta luck at getting my renewal rate at 31 days out, aren't I?

 

[BrettS]

You do certainly have an interesting situation there. By my calculations you would be at day 30 on September 17th, but you might want to give Disney ticketing a quick call just to confirm that they don't count the expiration day as day 1 or something silly like that. You can call Disney ticketing 407-566-4985 and choosing option 2. Unfortunately I think they're only open M-F though.

Also, there is no way to renew over the phone and get credit for a ticket you don't yet have in your posession. If you renew by phone by 8/31 you will get the 15 months, but you won't be able to get credit for the 1 day ticket you'll be getting in September.

The other thing to consider is that the renewal rate is about 11/12th of the cost of a just buying a new AP. You can think of it as paying for 11 months, but getting 12 months. However, if you renew right on the 30 day mark you're not going to get any use out of that 'free' month anyway because the renewal will just change your expiration date to 8/18/11. If you really want to get credit for that 1 day ticket, you might consider just buying a new AP when you get there in september so you can get a full 12 months out of it. Of course you can get credit for your 1 day ticket if you do that.

As I see it, you have three options...

Renew by phone by 8/31. You'll pay the full renewal rate of $478.19 (including tax), but then the AP's will be good until 11/18/11.

Renew at the parks on 9/17. You'll still pay the renewal rate, but you'll get credit for your 1 day ticket, so you'll pay a total of $394.05. In this case your AP's will expire on 8/18/11.

Buy a new AP at the parks on 9/17. You won't be able to pay the renewal rate, but you'll still get credit for your 1 day ticket. Here you'll pay a total of $436.65 and your AP's will expire on 9/17/11.

Now, if I was in your situation I would take a close look at the expiration dates. If you think you'll be taking a trip between 9/17/11 and 11/18/11 then I would definitely pay the higher price and renew by phone and get the 15 month deal. Your 1 day ticket won't expire, so you can always use it for renewal next yearr. However, if you know you won't be taking a trip then, then don't pay that high price.

Along the same lines, if you think you'll be taking a trip between 8/18/11 and 9/17/11, but not after 9/17/11 then pay the middle price and get a new AP.

However, if you know you won't be coming back for a while after 8/18/11, then wait until you get there to do the renewal and pay the cheapest price.

Also note that the prices I quoted were for adult (10 and over) AP's. If your kids are under 10 then the prices will be slightly less, but the price differences among the three options will still be similar.

HTH,
Brett