APs are coming

[MouseFiend]

We are new DVC members who joined during the pause in AP sales. We have a trip coming up in December that falls under the new pass block out dates. Is it possible to buy park hopper tickets, use them on the block out dates and then upgrade to an annual pass on the last day of our trip (applying the ticket cost to the new DVC AP)? I know we may not know if it's possible under the new program with all of the new "rules" but was it possible with the old program?

 

[Madame]

So no Genie included, even at the highest tier?!?

 

[CWTC]

This gets tricky. In the past, I've seen renewals upgraded to the next level when they changed the terms/types of annual passes. But this announcment specifically says that you can renew to the existing/current pass before September 8th if your in you're in your renewal window. That seems to indicate that activating a renewal after the 8th would still be considered the current version with all the current perks. But a brand new (not a renewal) voucher? That's going to be an edge case, so ... good luck.

oh well. I mean, either way we want an AP: we have a 10/2021 trip and 5/2022 trip booked. I’ll just be a bit cranky if I am forced to upgrade our APs AND pay the 99$ photopass fee.

Edited: I’m not sure if these are new vs renewal vouchers. They are covid recovery APs so we had APs, got a refund in 2020 due to covid, then got the recovery voucher earlier this year. They should be new vouchers, i think, not renewal?

 

[Madame]

We are new DVC members who joined during the pause in AP sales. We have a trip coming up in December that falls under the new pass block out dates. Is it possible to buy park hopper tickets, use them on the block out dates and then upgrade to an annual pass on the last day of our trip (applying the ticket cost to the new DVC AP)? I know we may not know if it's possible under the new program with all of the new "rules" but was it possible with the old program?

Yes. We did this often - I teach so breaks are when we can travel. We upgraded our tix on the way out of the park on our last day/night. Epcot world showcase was the best at this we found. No clue about it going forward

 

[quandrea]

I’ve been wishing for years that they’d let dvc members buy that weekday pass at $399. It would be perfect for us.

I just emailed guest communications asking for this pass to be extended to dvc owners. We won’t buy passes at the new rate. I’ve hit my price threshold. Resort only stays going forward with the odd park day every few years.

 

[TinkB278]

Yes. We did this often - I teach so breaks are when we can travel. We upgraded our tix on the way out of the park on our last day/night. Epcot world showcase was the best at this we found. No clue about it going forward

What do you mean by Epcot world showcase was the best at this?

 

[sethschroeder]

Also, any word on Tables in Wonderland?

Guess is January for anything regarding food changes. Dining Plan for sure is coming back but TIW is not a guarantee but with more places opening I could see it returning with Dining Plan.

 

[Madame]

What do you mean by Epcot world showcase was the best at this?

The ticket booth CMs there always seem knowledgeable & experienced at upgrades. I always know to the cent how much it should cost & had issue with the dollar amount quoted at other guest services booths (MK for example).

 

[Lisa75]

Do we know if there is special DVC pricing for the Incredipass and it’s renewal yet? Thanks.

 

[DenLo]

Do we know if there is special DVC pricing for the Incredipass and it’s renewal yet? Thanks.

Not yet. There is nothing on the DVC website so far. I expected that they would not announce a discount the same Disney announce the new pass names and pricing.

 

[Cabius]

I just priced out for my potential 2 trips in the next year.... the annual pass will cost $160 more than tickets for those trips. Now we do get a 20% discount on food and merch... so adding that in, it is worth it. But not much savings to be honest, especially without photopass included.

I'm in the same ballpark. I figured I'd get ONE AP - pay the extra $99 for Photopass, get the 20% discounts - and just buy discounted tickets for the rest. Plus, we're staying off-site for one trip so the parking will be well worth it... but my kids won't be driving or buying anything, so why bother upgrading them?

 

[mlayton14]

In addition to the price increase , don’t forget the genie+ charge that inevitably be coming
Also don’t forget that the dining is “up to” 20% off, wouldnt count on the TIW level of discounting on food/beverage

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

I'm really curious if people using tickets at Thanksgiving are able to upgrade to Sorcerer at the end of the trip. Hopefully they're not closing that loophole since they're still allowing ticket upgrades.

 

[Leight19]

So running the numbers it seems like the dvc pass is 25% more expensive (40% if you add on the photopass). I’m trying to run numbers now but we had planned to do the one trip a year staggered to buy dvc annual pass every other year. Does this even work out now or is it cheaper to just buy two 7 day tickets? I love dvc but now officially regret buying dvc direct as I don’t see us ever getting any value out of the main advertised perk.

 

[LisaRN97]

And just our luck - we recently came back from WDW and had asked about the AP and upgrading our current tickets...of course they said they didn't have a date. Now we are 29 days too late to upgrade to the AP....and it would have been less than $300 a person to upgrade.....

 

[glocker]

I will say- the ability to add water parks/more to the $899 pass is nice. That was one thing that annoyed us about the Gold pass- we had to do a major upgrade to get water parks or buy a separate pass, it's just less messy to buy it as one object.

But you could always buy a WP AP for $99.00.

 

[AmishGuy91]

So running the numbers it seems like the dvc pass is 25% more expensive (40% if you add on the photopass). I’m trying to run numbers now but we had planned to do the one trip a year staggered to buy dvc annual pass every other year. Does this even work out now or is it cheaper to just buy two 7 day tickets? I love dvc but now officially regret buying dvc direct as I don’t see us ever getting any value out of the main advertised perk.

Same boat. We bought direct in March because we assumed the AP would be of value to us and knew DVC prices would only go up. Now I'm failing to see how we benefit from the new AP, at least in the next year. Should have waited or just bought resale

 

[kmorlock]

Wow, that’s a pretty significant price hike and making Photopass another add-on charge? Isn’t adding the Photopass the reason they gave for hiking it $200 a few years back? So, now that’s taken out and the price increased even more! We were included in the recovery AP offer. I wonder if we can still take advantage of it before Sept 8th?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Has anybody noticed the new monthly payment options that appear to be available to DVC members now?

 

[starfrenzy]

With MemoryMaker
$1399 plus tax for Incredi(Platinum) pass
$999 plus tax for Sorcerer(Gold) pass

Difference: $400 plus tax


The difference between the regular AP and the one blue card members could get was *checks notes* $485 plus tax according to our dear Sandisw.

That does seem to decrease the AP savings for blue card members.
*edit: I guess only one person in the party needs MemoryMaker, so a bit more savings on the ones that don't add it.

Maybe I won’t have a direct add-on as high a priority after all.