AP Sales Paused

[WaltFanRob]

Any word on if DVC members are allowed to purchase them APs still?

 

[npatellye]

Any word on if DVC members are allowed to purchase them APs still?

All new AP sales (except for Pixie Dust passes) are temporarily suspended. Non-FL resident DVC members will not be able to purchase new passes at all. FL residents can purchase new Pixie Dust passes but nothing else.

DVC members with existing passes will be able to renew, as will all other current passholders.

 

[eandt]

At what point is Disney going to go too far And people stop going. for us Disney may have just hit that point

My wife is livid and is questioning going back to Disney ever again let alone buying more dvc

We were just about to add points in order to make more than 1 or 2 trips a year, this will put the kibosh to that until we see where it leads. Shame but our bank account loves it.

 

[RyMickey]

Posted this in another thread on the main parks board, but posting here too as this thread may provide more specific DVC info in the days to come...

I recognize that it’s our fault for not making the purchase earlier, but as DVC members going down in two weeks, we feel pretty slighted by this news out of nowhere. Three of our party have AP’s, three don’t and were going to order them this week.

So, what does this mean for Disney? Well, we’re scaling back our time in the park and spending our money elsewhere. I realize six of us make no difference in the grand scheme of Disney money, but we refuse to pay for a six day ticket and then subsequent annual passes for our two trips next year. So they’ve likely lost our money and we'll be purchasing a Sea World Fun Pass that grants us access to that park until December 2022 for $85. We'll then be visiting Legoland in the spring and maybe Kennedy Space Center in the fall with a re-visit to Sea World, spending less time at Disney although not fully cutting the cord.

I say this only to note that Disney will indeed lose out on $$$ from us. If we weren’t DVC, we would not be making these trips and honestly, we’re looking into exploring other DVC options now beyond the parks - Aulani, etc. (And the fact that the passes are still not an option for DVC members to purchase is just awful…another ding to the ownership “privileges.”). I can envision DVC trips with ventures out to Universal in the future rather than going to Disney.

Disney just feels "dirty" to me anymore -- open up annual passes last month only to shut them down again unannounced is nothing but a pure money grab on their part. And yes, I guess they'll win a bit -- we're not denying a 2 and 4-year old a chance to see the castle for the first time so they'll get the "bigger money" of a single day ticket from some of us, but we are denying the little ones the chance to see it multiple times. And we're not eating sit down meals and we're not purchasing many souvenirs. It's not quite as "cutting the cord" as much as some, but just as Disney is declining by degrees, I'm pulling back by my personal degrees.

I'm incredibly irritated by this latest news, but it's just a drop in the bucket of the awfulness that is Disney in the past ten months or so. I'm angry...but I think I'm saddened more than anything else.

 

[limace]

Continues to make that blue card less and less worth it. Here’s a discount on an AP we aren’t selling.

 

[suebeelin]

I would be pretty upset- no warning, too.

we plan on going into the parks between 24-27 days within a year— two 2 week trips.

If we didn’t have an AP……. Cost prohibitive!

 

[dclpluto]

another blow to dvc members. They could of left it open to dvc but no you see they care more about Florida resident s than dvc owners. I got my annual pass two months ago but it’s not right what they are doing to dvc members.

 

[houseofduck]

I am not believing that park reservation availability is the reason for this pause. Before purchasing any ticket on Disney’s web site, there is a big warning message to check park availability before purchasing your ticket or annual pass. If you check availability, you would see whether or not purchasing an annual pass makes sense. Are we not able to decipher Disney’s availability calendar?

 

[motherof5]

I imagine this will really mess up a number of potential purchasers this week that intended to upgrade day tickets to an AP at the end of the week.

And more people will buy pass when back in sales as they are going to be panic sales.

 

[AdamsMum]

It will catch up with them.

Will it though? I remember Pete Werner on one of the DVC shows... "What? It's going to cost how much? That's ridiculous! Here's my credit card."

Every time they start something like this, I get mad and start thinking I won't spend that much on Disney. It's been happening to me from the moment they started restricting benefits for resale, and my points are all grandfathered., but I'm still going. How long til they push me over the edge?

 

[JETSDAD]

another blow to dvc members. They could of left it open to dvc but no you see they care more about Florida resident s than dvc owners. I got my annual pass two months ago but it’s not right what they are doing to dvc members.

They didn't leave the Sorcerer pass open to residents though either. The only pass they left available is a resident only pass that has a lot of blackouts so won't have the same impact on crowds during busy times/days.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Continues to make that blue card less and less worth it. Here’s a discount on an AP we aren’t selling.

That and currently white card members get the same discount too.

 

[TCRAIG]

As DVC members that go every 6 months for 10 days, we are in a bind now. We buy our APs, go in September, February and again the week earlier in September to get a third trip out of them. The. Let them expire and rebuy before March and start over. Therefore only having to buy every 18 months but going twice a year. Now in a bind because our passes expire in February. So if they are still paused, do I renew and lose out because I will only get 2 trips out of it, or let it expire and take a chance that they will sell them before September?? I don’t want to take a chance of losing them. Hopefully they resume before then. I’ve heard some people being told early next year and some saying sometime in 2022.

All I can offer - in 20/20 hindsight - is I’m so so so glad I never let our passes expired during the Covid closure and have no plan on letting them expire going forward…Historically, Disney has shown they will take care of their AP holders but maybe not so much for “POTENTIAL” buyers…

 

[Sparky984]

That and currently white card members get the same discount too.

Current blue card benefits include a blue card and not being told you need a blue card.

 

[Suzabella]

And more people will buy pass when back in sales as they are going to be panic sales.

I think this is exactly the intent. They know most who are traveling over the holidays will have purchased their passes in order to secure park reservations. When they come back, it will boost sales in the end to help 1st quarter numbers. I don't expect the 'pause' to last after holidays.

 

[Sandisw]

another blow to dvc members. They could of left it open to dvc but no you see they care more about Florida resident s than dvc owners. I got my annual pass two months ago but it’s not right what they are doing to dvc members.

The FL resident pass that was left is pretty much useless the rest of 2021. The two other FL resident passes were also paused.

Frustrating but it’s not about DVC. We are a small set of guests and this goes beyond that. We knew it could happen.

 

[sethschroeder]

Just glad I bought my January APs already and hadn't waited any longer.

 

[HopperFan]

All I can offer - in 20/20 hindsight - is I’m so so so glad I never let our passes expired during the Covid closure and have no plan on letting them expire going forward…Historically, Disney has shown they will take care of their AP holders but maybe not so much for “POTENTIAL” buyers…

While I'm okay from a financial point of view that I didn't keep my AP during the pandemic closure ... wow when they reopened with LOW crowds, and my DS's program being closed most of rest of 2020 - we could have really burned that thing up.

Lesson learned. Bought new one the minute it went on sale and we won't be letting it lapse again.

Now my Universal AP I usually do a year on, a couple years off, a year on ...... that will likely continue until the new park opens. Then if $$ permit I'll likely keep that one too.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Park reservation system is completely to blame. It’s shutting out group A and letting in group B because the dollar sign on my head isn’t big enough for Bob that day.

As I understand it, Group A (current AP holders) can still make reservations for any open day.

At the same time, they are reserving space for those people who will be booking into a Disney resort and intend to go to the parks. It would be very, very disappointing trip to book a stay at the Grand Floridian at rack rates, and then told you can't actually get into a Disney park while staying at a Disney owned hotel on the monorail loop on Disney property. The level of fail there is significantly more than denying a few locals who didn't purchase AP's in the 4 months they have had time to do it.

And yes, unfortunately there are people like DVC and other frequenters who are caught in the cross-fire. But in this world and this pandemic, you do have to choose your evils.

In the same position, as a leader, if my people told me I had to choose between disappointing some locals who didn't purchase AP's, and disappointing people who travelled here from Europe on a once in a lifetime trip to Disney staying at a Disney hotel, you can bet your last pair of socks I would make the same decision - as would almost every other successful business leader in the world.

And that decision sucks. It sucks for them to make it. It would suck for me to make it and I would hate it to the depths of my soul. But nonetheless, it has to be made and there it is.

 

[Sandisw]

As I understand it, Group A (current AP holders) can still make reservations for any open day.

At the same time, they are reserving space for those people who will be booking into a Disney resort and intend to go to the parks. It would be very, very disappointing trip to book a stay at the Grand Floridian at rack rates, and then told you can't actually get into a Disney park while staying at a Disney owned hotel on the monorail loop on Disney property. The level of fail there is significantly more than denying a few locals who didn't purchase AP's in the 4 months they have had time to do it.

And yes, unfortunately there are people like DVC and other frequenters who are caught in the cross-fire. But in this world and this pandemic, you do have to choose your evils.

In the same position, as a leader, if my people told me I had to choose between disappointing some locals who didn't purchase AP's, and disappointing people who travelled here from Europe on a once in a lifetime trip to Disney staying at a Disney hotel, you can bet your last pair of socks I would make the same decision - as would almost every other successful business leader in the world.

And that decision sucks. It sucks for them to make it. It would suck for me to make it and I would hate it to the depths of my soul. But nonetheless, it has to be made and there it is.

Very well said. There is really no win win for everyone involved.