AP's Disney Club discount works like this now?!!

[lat]

I called Disney Club this afternoon and asked about buying AP with the DC discount at the end of December before DC closes. I was told that now when you present the AP vouchers to activate by the parks, you need to have a valide Disney Club card. This would mean, I would no longer be able to activate any AP voucher after 12/31/03 and still get the discount. I was told that they will ask me to pay the difference when the AP gets activated after 12/31/03.

In the past, I did not need to present DC card when I activated the vouchers.

I was told that the policy has been changed to the above. Is this really true?

Thanks

 

[Tigger]

I have always been asked for my Disney Club card when activating a new AP or getting my AP renewal.

 

[lat]

I activated our AP voucher bought with DC discount in Feb by International Gateway in Epcot and was not asked to see DC card, only driver's license.

 

[CarolMN]

I've never purchased an AP voucher without getting a DC discount but I have always had to show my DC card to get the DC price on the voucher.

I have never been asked to show my card st WDW when I exchanged my voucher for the activated pass.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Hmmm....this is a little weird....although I don't necessarily agree with it I'm sure it's Disney's way of keeping you from buying the passes ahead of time with the DC discount to use later.....what it really makes me wonder though is if there is not going to be any type of discount available on passes in the future.

 

[frannn]

I was going to buy an additional set of APs this month for the future-whenever- (I already bought a set for my upcoming trip).
How do we find out for sure?

 

[patsal]

I've never had to show my DC card when activating an AP. Maybe they are trying to hedge against people pre-planning with the DC card discount for 2004. However, I doubt they would charge you more since they don't charge the "new" price when someone uses an old hopper pass.

 

[frannn]

First thing I was told is "don't believe everything you read on the internet" (little did he know that we often know more than the CMs do), then I was put on hold so the CM (OK, so I wasn't actually speaking to Mickey) to go speak to the passholder office. The CM told me all I would have to do is bring my expired DC card (that was good at the time of the AP purchase) to show at DW when I activate the passes. I think this is somewhat lame, as I had to show the DC card to buy the passes in the first place, and I don't recall ever having to show my DC card when activating them. Hopefully, if I do purchase an additional set of passes, I'll remember to bring my expired DC card. Better news than being charged the difference, though.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I don't see how they can make this work.

If I purchase passes now... and wait three years to activate them, then do I pay the difference between the discounted price when I purchased and the cost of the pass three years later?

They are creating a nightmare for themselves!!

 

[lat]

my understanding is that the AP voucher is only good for one year (not sure if it starts from the date of purchase), so it won't be good for 3 years later.

i guess as it gets closer, I will call DC again to see what they say. I would love to get the discount one more time before it expires.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Originally posted by lat
my understanding is that the AP voucher is only good for one year (not sure if it starts from the date of purchase), so it won't be good for 3 years later.

Thanks for the info, lat.... I have gone through several AP's (vouchers) and never knew that!

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by lat
my understanding is that the AP voucher is only good for one year (not sure if it starts from the date of purchase), so it won't be good for 3 years later.

i guess as it gets closer, I will call DC again to see what they say. I would love to get the discount one more time before it expires.

To the best of my knowledge, AP vouchers never expire. I just carefully examined mine again (bought it at the end of May, 2003 before my DC membership expired), and there is absolutely nothing on it, or any of the material I was given with it at purchase, that says it expires. It does say on the back that the the activated pass expires one year after the voucher is exchanged.

Since I have never, ever had to show my DC card to exchange a voucher for the pass, I foresee no problem whatsoever with exchanging the voucher even though my DC membership expired prior to activation. If the CM says something different, I will just ask for a supervisor and politely stand my ground. If the voucher has an expiration date, it should be stated on the voucher. If a valid DC membership is required at time of activation, I will be shocked - I've never heard of anyone who said they had to show their card to exchange a voucher and I've never seen anything in writing anywhere that this is the case.

I am 99.9999 % sure it won't be necessary to argue with any of the CMs. There will not be a problem.

 

[lat]

Carol,

Wow, I was told by Disney Club last year when I bought my AP vouchers over the phone that they have to be activated within one year. Now I really started wondering how I can figure out if I can take what CM said for granted.

Really? they don't expire?!!! Does that mean I can buy a ton of these and just use them as I go along with the DC discount?!!!

How can anyone figure out what is really going on here?

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Originally posted by lat


How can anyone figure out what is really going on here?

LOL.... my thoughts exactly! It's amazing how many different stories you can get!!!!

 

[Chip126]

I have never had an AP, but I am certainly getting confused. I will be going in December and am wondering about purchasing an annual pass. Is it really worth it? Right now I am planning on staying at the All Star Movies, but certainly not mind moving to a moderate! However, with an AP, will I be able to stay within the same budget?

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by lat
...(snip)...How can anyone figure out what is really going on here?

lat - In my experience, something a CM tells you verbally (whether over the phone or in person) isn't worth much if the person helping you at a later time happens to disagree or has a different "interpretation" of the rules. FWIW, I've been told that the vouchers don't expire. So I agree, who can know for sure what the policy really is right now?

My advice to you is to send an email and get an answer in writing. That way, you'll have something to show anyone who tells you something different when it's time to activate the pass. If you take the email with you, I'm positive they'll "do it your way"! Of course, I'm assuming that the email says the vouchers do not expire, LOL.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Get mine at the Disney Store and they always give the same speech not refundable and do not expire until one year after activation. i have never had to show a card however, last time I bought one with the discount card it was when they had introduced the new club. They confiscated my free card so there was not way I would have been able to show it at the gate for exchange.
Does this kind of sound like doing your income taxes? So many loopholes and contradictory rules. Does not seem like a big problem to me. So what if a couple of people spend a few thousand dollars each and get a crummy 30 or 40 dollar discount total on thier AP's. I am sure Ap holders spend more in a day in the park to make up for it. Even IF someone purchased Ap's in advance OR God forbid helped someone else out by buying them for a friend isn't the hope of the company to get people into the parks so they can spend?

 

[Gillian]

I had a difficult time getting an answer to the expiration question as well. Even an email asking "Do annual pass vouchers expire?" was answered "yes, 1 year after activation." ugh.

In spring 2001 I purchased 2 AP vouchers (with DC discount) for our trip planned for september. After the attacks, when trying to figure out if we could cancel without losing a lot of money, I tried to find out how long the vouchers were good for. No one really seemed to know! I finally got an email saying they did not expire. I don't know if they've changed the policy or not.

When I activated my pass in March 2002 I was not asked for my DC card.

 

[lizziepooh]

If you buy park hopper passes and the price goes up before you use them, you don't have to pay the price difference. It seems like annual pass vouchers should be treated the same. Our Disney club membership expires at the end of December and our trip is in January. If Disney tries to squeeze more money out of me when we activate our vouchers, I will not be happy!