AP Vouchers Adventure

[erikthewise]

What follows is an excerpt from our trip report from last December, in which we had difficulty exchanging AP vouchers for the passes. As a result I will never buy vouchers again as it was much more difficult than buying new passes. (At least I hope so!) Has anyone had a similar experience?

Please forgive the "purple prose". I was trying to make it interesting, but it is still an accurate description of events. Can it really be right to void the vouchers at the *beginning* of the process?

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It’s time to wander up to the International Gate at Epcot and activate our annual pass vouchers. Fortunately the line is short. This won’t take long. The CM at Guest Relations asks for our drivers licenses, and looks at our vouchers. “Why do these two vouchers have different prices?” he asks. I explain that one of the adult vouchers was bought before the September price increase, the other after. “Hmmm.”

He explains that he is going to have to perform a delicate accounting procedure and relates some of the details. Do I understand? “I don’t understand any of this,” I reply. Actually I do understand what he has said, but I don’t understand why it is necessary. The accounting has already been done! The vouchers have been paid for, they are each good for an annual pass, it’s that simple. Nothing he does can change that. Or can it? It occurs to me that I’ve already said too much. This is like going through customs. Just keep your mouth shut and let him do his job.

He has already stamped “VOID” on each of our vouchers. $1300 hangs in the balance. Cold sweat breaks out on my forehead. Our boys are asking why it’s taking so long. The people behind us are getting restless. Another window is opened for everyone else while our case is handled. The minutes pass slowly. Finally, after what seems an eternity, he produces a balance of $0.00, pulls out four annual pass sleeves, prints our annual passes, and hands them to us. I am so relieved! It took about 15 minutes, but it seemed like an hour. Not until the next day did we notice that he misspelled our last name on all four passes, in spite of copying it off our licenses. Should we get it corrected? Not after that experience. Not in a million years.

 

[WDWAurora]

We also had a horrible time with these!!! We went the first day to MK, three of us needing APs (myself and my grandparents) and my boyfriend had a parkhopper. We go to the window at MK: Sorry, we can't. Our computer is down. Go on in, they'll let you in on the voucher. So we go to the gate to get to the monorail, where they look to see if you have a ticket. TWO people come closely examine our vouchers after we explain. They let us in. We get to the real gate at MK. BIG deal. Like 3 supervisors were called over to check us out. We felt like criminals. Then they punched holes in our vouchers (to show we'd used a day) and said "oh, this is what we did yesterday when the computers were down." If you did it yesterday, why is it so confusing now? So we couldn't use fastpass all day, as 3 of us didn't have "real" tickets. GRRR.

2nd day at Epcot, we go to the window. The woman had NEVER seen the vouchers. But she had at least heard of them and vaguely knew what to do. But she kept ringing them up wrong! We had used the DC discount at the Disney store and for some reason the price just wouldn't go through right. So HER supervisor came over and the two of them finally got it fixed. Did I mention she has a VERY strong accent and we haven't yet understood a word she's said? So we finally get to the point where we give her our driver's licenses and (did I mention my DBF is completely going out of his mind waiting for us?) she doesn't get that I'm there granddaughter and that's why my address and last name aren't the same. It was totally over her head. Then she put the wrong date on them (she didn't take out the hole punched day) so we get an extra day from our passes. But what an ordeal! NEVER AGAIN will I buy a voucher!

 

[InstImpres]

I am planning on buying on-site, I assume it should be hassle free?

If anyone has had problems buying on-site can you please post. I am boarder line between an AP and hoppers for cost effect and the hassle could push me one way or the other

Thanks
Sandy

 

[WDWAurora]

Everytime we've had APs before, we bought them onsite, no more hassle than should be expected...they ring you up, you pay them, give them licenses, etc...And you're ready to go! No big deal comparatively.

 

[FINFAN]

So what do you do if your room ressie is at the AP discount rate and you haven't purchased the actual voucher or pass yet? From what I understand, the resorts do not sell the AP vouchers or passes themselves, yet you need to show it at check-in what do you do? My sister is heading down and is planning to get the voucher ahead (for check-in proof) and activate the voucher at the park, but it sounds like this might not be a good plan.

 

[RescueRanger]

We just got back and we had AP discounts on our campsite. They never asked to even see our AP. If they do ask, just show your voucher. It probably won't be a big deal.

 

[diznee25]

So what do you do if your room ressie is at the AP discount rate and you haven't purchased the actual voucher or pass yet? From what I understand, the resorts do not sell the AP vouchers or passes themselves, yet you need to show it at check-in what do you do?

FINFAN,

We are in the same boat too. If we can get AP discounts, our plan is to leave our luggage at the front desk of the resort (Pop Century), and then take the bus to Downtown Disney to purchase our APs. After that, we'll head back to our resort, and check in using our APs.

I

 

[FINFAN]

But what if it's midnight or later, and you can't activate the voucher yet because the parks are not open? I am asking for my sister and they will be arriving after a 2 day drive, really late.

 

[diznee25]

FINFAN,

This is only an educated guess, but I'd assume that if your sister is arriving at the hotel after midnight, that she'd be able to check in, but would have to activate her AP the following morning and go back to the resort to show it to the CM at the front desk.

Hope this helps,

Diznee25

 

[FINFAN]

That makes sense, but seeing as I have never been "lucky" enough to have an AP I know nothing about them. Just enough to get her a great rate, but now I am stressing her out! I am sure this has come up B4 and activating it the next day will be no problem. Do you happen to know of th closest place to CSR to activate the voucher?

 

[diznee25]

FINFAN,

Your sister can activate her AP voucher at any of the parks or Downtown Disney. It looks like the closest place to CSR is Epcot. (You are talking about Coronado Springs, right? Sometimes I forget what some of these abreviations are!)
If you talking about Coronado Springs, then I believe Epcot is the closest place.

That's really great that you're taking the time to find out this information for your sister! You really have nothing to stress over though. Activating APs shouldn't be a problem at all! It's nice that you're looking out for her.

Diznee25

 

[bunnyfoo]

You can always buy an activated AP at the airport (if that's how you're arriving). I did that in May and it only took about 10 minutes. Pretty quick and everyone knew what they were doing.

 

[FINFAN]

Thanks for the info everyone. I will let them know Epcot is the place to try, yes, it is Coronado. She is trying to put together 2 trips, now and Dec. that trip is the main one and this is an add on. When I saw what she could get w/an AP it came out 400 less in their case than FTP and they were hoping to be there a bit B4 the 4th due to crowds. It has all fallen into place quite nicely due to all here at the DIS and Mousesavers. I wish it was us! This is the 7th trip I have pretty much planned for others this year, I am getting a LITTLE impatient wondering when we can go!
I would agree w/the airport except they are driving in. Thanks for the tip tho. I would definitely do that if it were me.
BTW, I called my sis and told her to call resort and explain situation. I will post her answer once she gets back to me.

 

[patsal]

We used the vouchers to get our PAP's and my parents used the vouchers on a separate date to get their PAP's and none of us had any of these problems. Maybe it was a training fluke, and in that case purchasing them there would not have made the situation any better.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I have used vouchers a number of times, yes, it is time consuming, but, I certainly did not encounter anything what has been described here.

I have also used the AP discount at AKL and was never asked for a voucher or an AP.

I have also encountered many CMs with heavy "foreign" accents and I have learned that an accent does not make them stupid, it makes me phrase things so they can understand the idiom of our very difficult to learn language.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Where do you go at the International Gateway just to buy an AP? Guest relations or is there a ticket window that you go to? I'm sure that's a dumb question to some, but I've only had an AP once that I had bought a voucher for, and I also had a bad experience that made me say "never again will I buy a voucher". They sent me some "Florida Resident Renewal Voucher" (Didn't it dawn on them it was wrong when they sent it to Texas?) and I had to send it back and exchange it until they got it right- took me about 8 weeks to get it right. Don't want to buy one at airport, will definitely be at IG.

 

[GoldenOldie]

The ticket window at Epcot's International Gateway is the Guest Relations window as well.

 

[WDWAurora]

Gail, I hope you didn't interpret what I was saying to mean that I thought she was stupid because of her accent. It was just that we couldn't understand anything she said. Nothing to do with her doing anything wrong there...We just never knew what she was asking us to do or telling us about our passes. There wasn't a problem with her understanding us at all, she knew the language very well. And yes, I definitely think it was a training fluke, but I think if we had just purchased the tickets there, it wouldn't have been so complicated, at least in our case, on that day, with that person. Many people have used these vouchers with no problems, but we were at the wrong places at the wrong times, and sometimes that happens. We had a great time anyway, so it doesn't really matter!

 

[CRCrazy]

Our family of five bought vouchers at the Disney Store using our Disney Club discount before our December trip - We had no trouble exchanging them for the real thing at the Guest Relations desk outside of MGM. We arrived at the Contemporary around 1:30 pm - we won't get into what happened with the CM there, and he spoke English just fine!! - finally got our keys, as the room we finally wound up with was ready, at about 2:40 pm. The one thing he did not give me a hassle about was the AP, and we did use an AP rate. He never mentioned it! We decided to skip our PS at the Garden Grill for the Ice Cream Social, as it would have been a struggle to get there with our passes to activate, and our youngest was recovering from a tummy bug - didn't think a big ice cream would make a good first food choice - so we swapped it for a 4 pm PS at the 50s instead.

Hopped a bus to MGM from the CR and no wait at all to swap the vouchers. The CM knew just what he was doing, although we are a St. family - he didn't notice it on my license - only DH's which he entered second - so he voided mine and reprinted it with my sainthood restored! Total time at the guest relations office - less than 5 minutes! We ended up getting to the 50s about 3:20, and they said we could go in early - saved us some money too, as it was lunch, not dinner!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by WDWAurora
Gail, I hope you didn't interpret what I was saying to mean that I thought she was stupid because of her accent. It was just that we couldn't understand anything she said. Nothing to do with her doing anything wrong there...We just never knew what she was asking us to do or telling us about our passes. There wasn't a problem with her understanding us at all, she knew the language very well. And yes, I definitely think it was a training fluke, but I think if we had just purchased the tickets there, it wouldn't have been so complicated, at least in our case, on that day, with that person. Many people have used these vouchers with no problems, but we were at the wrong places at the wrong times, and sometimes that happens. We had a great time anyway, so it doesn't really matter!

Nope, not at all, just retelling my experiences. Which, luckily, have been excellent so far.