AP sales…

[tiana1989]

Phew! Finally caught up with this long and interesting thread. But I’m in the camp that they’ll be back. Especially in WDW, where APs don’t overload the parks in the same way they do at DLR. I know there’s been a lot of talk about the “local FL resident”, but the central FL population just doesn’t look the same as southern CA (probably why they even have zip code specific passes in CA). I live in the panhandle, and there are plenty of AP magnets on people’s bumpers up here! But we’re a 4 hour drive away from Disney where I’m at, and it’s even further for other panhandle cities like Pensacola and Panama City. Miami and other major hubs in South FL are also 4 hours away. So while there are a ton of local APs who can drop by for dinner after work, a lot of us operate more like tourists because heading to WDW means booking a hotel and staying for a while. We started off spontaneously deciding to do a weeklong Christmas trip somewhat last minute in 2019. That turned into “this was amazing, we have to do Christmas here every year”, and then very quickly became smaller trips every month or two, in addition to our bigger Christmas trip. Good luck to Disney analyzing our data because our trips range from staying deluxe and booking a bunch of ADRs to weekend quick trips off site where we maybe buy a dole whip and some spring rolls lol. We somehow never make it out without merch, though. We started talking DVC last year, but then we got engaged and have to save up for our wedding first (which, of course, we’re also doing at Disney, so there they go getting another giant bucket of money from us), so our DVC purchase is going to be delayed a little longer.

Anyway, my long point is that just looking at others’ comments and my experience, I think it would be difficult for Disney to completely do away with APs because broad generalizations of any group, whether it’s DVC members, FL residents, non-residents, whatever is going to cut a chunk of people out, and there will be people within that group who give Disney lots of money. And as much as I love Disney, if they get rid of APs, it would change my Disney-bounding significantly and that planned DVC purchase would be off the table.

 

[jimim]

I could get deleted for this comment but I agree with Sandisw - it's a whole can of worms on the DVC boards. Too many people buying too few points that barely allow then to stay once every other year IF THERE IS AVAILABILITY for too few studios.

For people like me with 1000+ points, losing the APs would be devastating.

I only have 300 PTs and it is wrecking me. You know the points scale with 300 PTs I can get 21 days in a studio easy. I need those passes too. Buying 3 weeks of tickets would suck. Lol

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

I only have 300 PTs and it is wrecking me. You know the points scale with 300 PTs I can get 21 days in a studio easy. I need those passes too. Buying 3 weeks of tickets would suck. Lol

300 points is a real number. I had 350 for 28 years. I'm talking about the under 100 folks that bank and borrow and go once every 2-3 years. You definitely need those APs.

 

[mistysue]

I only have 300 PTs and it is wrecking me. You know the points scale with 300 PTs I can get 21 days in a studio easy. I need those passes too. Buying 3 weeks of tickets would suck. Lol

We're similar, separate tickets for 2 trips last year HURT. We canceled our third trip and rented the points out. I didn't want to repeat this year so we booked a family member a room and have one trip rather than the 2-3 we want.
We're already seriously discussing next year using DVC as only a hotel to go to other parks, as we're feeling ripped off by the time we get to an 8 or 9 day park hopper. And we are guests who do two to three table service meals per day while we're onsite/in parks plus buy merch every time we step into a park.

And Disney didn't get an even exchange when we booked for family, they were going either way. They simply lost the second or third time we would also be there.

 

[CraigInPA]

The uncertainty of whether AP's will return is currently preventing me from booking my 2023 trip. Both my wife and I don't want to go unless AP's are offered, since we have a 2024 trip planned with family members and wanted to get both trips in with one AP purchase each.

 

[Pooh12863]

We're similar, separate tickets for 2 trips last year HURT. We canceled our third trip and rented the points out. I didn't want to repeat this year so we booked a family member a room and have one trip rather than the 2-3 we want.
We're already seriously discussing next year using DVC as only a hotel to go to other parks, as we're feeling ripped off by the time we get to an 8 or 9 day park hopper. And we are guests who do two to three table service meals per day while we're onsite/in parks plus buy merch every time we step into a park.

And Disney didn't get an even exchange when we booked for family, they were going either way. They simply lost the second or third time we would also be there.

My wife and I have kept our AP's current through renewal so the current system really hasn't affected us yet. Just for grins I figured the cost of the vacations I have booked at regular ticket prices for each trip and for my wife and I the next 9 months would cost us $8000 plus tax. Yea Disney, that ain't gonna happen. I can get us Universal/Busch Gardens/Sea World AP's for half of that. I won't be selling my DVC as I enjoys our trips to Florida too much but without AP's I have no need for Disney theme parks. That said I'm sure AP's will return at some point.

 

[mistysue]

My wife and I have kept our AP's current through renewal so the current system really hasn't affected us yet. Just for grins I figured the cost of the vacations I have booked at regular ticket prices for each trip and for my wife and I the next 9 months would cost us $8000 plus tax. Yea Disney, that ain't gonna happen. I can get us Universal/Busch Gardens/Sea World AP's for half of that. I won't be selling my DVC as I enjoys our trips to Florida too much but without AP's I have no need for Disney theme parks. That said I'm sure AP's will return at some point.

We had a short planned lapse for late 2019/early 2020. Worst. Timing. Ever. We then planned three trips- Feb 2021, May 2021, Oct 2021. In the summer I still didn't know if APs would become a thing, we cancelled trip #3 and rented out the rooms, then found out we could have finally gotten APs, but didn't have another trip plan until this May... it's been a giant mess for us, and of course I didn't buy vouchers right away thinking it wouldn't be a huge issue, so here we are. The last bit, totally my fault, but I shouldn't have to invest in ticket vouchers to take a family vacation... any other vacation place floating that idea would get laughed out of business, but with Disney it's like "oh, your fault for not throwing down $4K just in case"

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

APs not being around is really difficult. We're one of those low point families that banks and then tries to go every other year. We just went in March to burn some points we would've otherwise lost and tickets cost 3k. We were planning on going again in December and that will cost us another 3k in tickets alone. Honestly? I'm not sure we can swing it and we might end up renting the points instead

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[New Mouse]

Well at this point and for a while now the park pass system and capacity caps are in place because of Disney and have nothing to do with the government.

I'd have to imagine blocking an annual passholder from any park aside from a true blackout date is legally considered fraud at this point.

 

[Sandisw]

I think we probably saw the effect of the California passholder lawsuit at work today. The blogs are reporting that overnight the passholder bucket of park reservations was severely reduced. It was. Then, just hours later almost all of it was put back and passholders were green lighted again. I suspect some enterprising mid level Vice President of something or other thought he or she would balance out the available reservations and move a bunch of availability from the AP bucket to tickets and resort buckets. What a great idea and to maximize profits too! Wrong! Legal said we could not do that because we have already sold those spots to passholders who might still want to make reservations. So, a few hours later the passholder buckets were refilled again. That is further proof that somebody very high up has been told they cannot prioritize ticket sales and ticketed resort guests over passholders. Doing that effectively adds blockout dates to passholders of all tiers.

Or it was simply another example of Disney IT glitches at work.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[RoseGold]

I'd have to imagine blocking an annual passholder from any park aside from a true blackout date is legally considered fraud at this point.

I mean not unless they hit capacity, which did happen on some of the Spring Break dates, I thought. This just means the cheapskate APs aren't cut off before the other guests, which I'm sure isn't what the mouse intended.

 

[jimim]

300 points is a real number. I had 350 for 28 years. I'm talking about the under 100 folks that bank and borrow and go once every 2-3 years. You definitely need those APs.

I know! I'm going nuts in this holding pattern. 1 day I can care less next day I'm ticked off then someone at work mentions Disney to me and I'm sad. all my friends are still going. . . well one still has passes so he is good the other has no problem paying for ticket after ticket after ticket. it sucks.

 

[Pinnochio]

We're already seriously discussing next year using DVC as only a hotel to go to other parks, as we're feeling ripped off by the time we get to an 8 or 9 day park hopper. And we are guests who do two to three table service meals per day while we're onsite/in parks plus buy merch every time we step into a park.
They simply lost the second or third time we would also be there.

This exactly....our three trips per year will now become one (it would be zero but for the grandkids who come once per year on winter break)....

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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[bakerworld]

A new wrinkle for us is we're upgrading our villa selection to 1Br without purchasing more points. This means we'll be enjoying WDW less. 2021 proved to us that we can enjoy the parks with MYW tickets for about the same cost of the 2019 AP. The Park Reservation system reduces the convenience of the AP, actually - IMO - the Park Reservation system is a reduction of all conveniences. If I have to reserve the park we're visiting and cannot hop until 2p, considering we barely leave the room before 10a, then I might as well purchase 4D MYW tickets and use it over our 6D stay. Not having the AP actually increases our use, and enjoyment, of Disney Springs without causing me to feel I'm wasting $$$ - ditto PH tickets.

While we miss the AP, it's not like we can enjoy the parks on a whim. We can't enter a park 20 minutes before closing, as we previously did, unless we can obtain a Park Reservation.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

We can't enter a park 20 minutes before closing, as we previously did, unless we can obtain a Park Reservation.

At least the way they are currently doing AP buckets, unless you are going at Christmas or Thanksgiving, you absolutely still can get a last minute Park reservation for the AP bucket, including late during the day of. I think this is the fear of the lawsuit at work, but AP’s in Disneyworld definitely have priority over day guests right now.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Well, there are some research numbers out now from the US Travel org. Hang onto your socks! They say polls show eighty-five percent of Americans polled plan to travel this summer. About half expect to take two weeks off. I did not understand their fly or drive numbers. Other sources say Disney is the number one destination. Still other articles say international arrivals doubled. So, I am guessing this travel surge is not going anywhere soon. Disney World resorts are now all open. Looks like Disney had this intel. The effects of a recession or another pandemic wave are not discussed yet. But with current forecasts and the California litigation moving at a snail’s pace, I am not hopeful that new annual pass sales will come online anytime soon. I went back and double checked the exact language from Disney when they paused sales. They said they “expected” sales of APs sometime in 2022. No certainty or promises there. They would monitor. Once summer is over, there is usually a lull starting in mid-September. But as we saw, the January/February lull never happened in 2022. After the early fall slower season it heats up again for the end of year holidays. Unlikely Disney would make it easier for bunches of lower profit, space-available guests then. Forecasting is always uncertain. But, I could realistically see the “pause” in new annual pass sales extend into 2023. I could be wrong.

Yeah, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that they aren’t bringing AP’s back until they announce a settlement of the class action (and I’d say it’s a near lock it’ll be settled). They don’t need to sell the top tier AP’s right now to fill their parks.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

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