August 16th? Annual Pass Announcement??

[thewholeshabazz]

So because I live within a 30 minutes drive of the parks, I should have to pay full price all the time? I don't think so.

Disney could quickly and easily stop people from buying out new merchandise. Scan their AP in order to get the discount and then track the items they purchase. Cap that at a certain number of items so they can't just buy it all.

I also live within 30 minutes of the park. I look at having an Florida Resident AP as just a trade off with all of the traffic and other disruptions the parts bring to our area.

Also, Disney doesn't care who buys the merch and what they do with it after it's purchased. Keep that in mind. All they care about is someone buys it. I don't like resellers, and the price gouging they do, but if you think Disney cares, you would be wrong.

 

[Devil13]

The system is somewhat backwards in my eyes with out-of-state vs in-state prices, especially if they are looking to cut down crowds.

I'm paying WAY more for a pass that requires me to take a 3 hour flight down and stay at one of their hotels and buy their food when, theoretically, someone in-state can show up every day, go on one ride then go home for lunch.

I try to get down 3 times a year for a total of maybe 25 days, max.

Why not have APs based on park days instead of location similar to to day passes, but where you can pick your days? Have them come in packs of 10 days, still require reservations and let me pick the days throughout the year. Use 'em or lose 'em.

There's your crowd control.

Am I whining? Yes! Can I/you/anyone just choose not to go? Yes!

 

[dclpluto]

I don’t think Disney will be selling new annual passes in august. It was going to happen and I hope it still does but with this delta I don’t see it happening. Again hope I’m wrong.

 

[BorderTenny]

I don’t think Disney will be selling new annual passes in august. It was going to happen and I hope it still does but with this delta I don’t see it happening. Again hope I’m wrong.

Possibly a moot point, since I (and I'm guessing many others) won't be buying new annual passes with the current mask mandate in place.

 

[1lilspark]

FWIW APs can only hold 3 parks at a time unless they have an on site stay and when there were capacity restrictions if they wanted to go to studios or most parks on weekends they needed to reserve well in advance

I do agree on purchase limits being less than 10 items and/or a way to crack down on APs being personal shoppers/ebay resellers and making a fast $$$ I have stories of being approached by ebay resellers during Epcot’s 35th not pretty

 

[TinkerBelle_325]

They are selling new AP’s to anyone that had an AP during the pandemic and either let it expire or opted for a refund. We had new APs that we activated in Dec 2019. We got them refunded in summer 2020. Then in early 2021 I called to inquire about new passes. They were very clear that the pass I was buying was NOT a renewal. It wasn’t charged at renewal price and doesn’t expire based on the date of my previous pass. In MDE it appears as a voucher that is valid until Dec 31, 2099. I paid the 2019 full price for it (Platinum Pass) and it won’t activate until I am next at WDW and activate it at Guest Services.

If they were planning to completely overhaul the WDW AP program like they are doing for DL, why bother selling NEW APs to previous passholders? They could simply have made an announcement like DL that they were ceasing selling APs, no renewals, nothing.

I think you’ll see them start to sell APs again at some point before Oct 1st. And I must admit I found the Aug 16th date on the site interesting as well. I guess we’ll see if it really means anything in a few weeks.

 

[jdkdorn]

I check in that day If! If this happens, I wonder if I can upgrade my multi day ticket since I'll be back for runDisney in February for Princess.

Use one day first and upgrade in the park, if you used one day you get full current value of the ticket you purchased. That is important of you purchased a discount ticket or "before price change," ticket. We always buy from a place suggested by Mouse Savers, and have always followed this suggestion. BTW Animal Kingdom has the fastest and nicest Guest services for changes to tickets...EPCOT and MK and a nightmare.

 

[stuffed withfluff]

Use one day first and upgrade in the park, if you used one day you get full current value of the ticket you purchased. That is important of you purchased a discount ticket or "before price change," ticket. We always buy from a place suggested by Mouse Savers, and have always followed this suggestion. BTW Animal Kingdom has the fastest and nicest Guest services for changes to tickets...EPCOT and MK and a nightmare.

Thank you so much!!!! This is excellent guidance!!!

 

[starry_solo]

Use one day first and upgrade in the park, if you used one day you get full current value of the ticket you purchased. That is important of you purchased a discount ticket or "before price change," ticket. We always buy from a place suggested by Mouse Savers, and have always followed this suggestion. BTW Animal Kingdom has the fastest and nicest Guest services for changes to tickets...EPCOT and MK and a nightmare.

This doesn't happen anymore.
@Robo can tell you more about it, but using one day doesn't get you current value of the ticket, especially now since they have date-based tickets, etc.

 

[Robo]

Use one day first and upgrade in the park, if you used one day you get full current value of the ticket you purchased. That is important of you purchased a discount ticket or "before price change," ticket. We always buy from a place suggested by Mouse Savers, and have always followed this suggestion.

Sorry, but as starry_solo said, this is not true.
(Actually, "using a ticket one time before upgrading" was never a requirement for getting a better upgrade price.)

 

[fla4fun]

I think you’ll see them start to sell APs again at some point before Oct 1st. And I must admit I found the Aug 16th date on the site interesting as well. I guess we’ll see if it really means anything in a few weeks.

I was thinking they might wait until just after the actual anniversary date, especially since they had to reinstate mask policies in the parks. If that hadn’t happened, I probably would have agreed with you on the timing.

The wording to me indicates that they won’t sell any new passes any earlier than the 16th, but it doesn’t sound like the 16th is a firm date for sales to reopen. That was a deliberate choice of wording by Disney. They won’t lock themselves into a date in advance unless they are 100% sure, and things are still too unpredictable right now.

I also wish there were better quantity restrictions in place for AP merch purchases. Even as a local, things are often sold out before I can get one. It’s frustrating, but as others have said, Disney doesn’t care. I just don’t buy anything from resellers, so I am not supporting their behavior.

 

[Cynner]

They are selling new AP’s to anyone that had an AP during the pandemic and either let it expire or opted for a refund. We had new APs that we activated in Dec 2019. We got them refunded in summer 2020. Then in early 2021 I called to inquire about new passes. They were very clear that the pass I was buying was NOT a renewal. It wasn’t charged at renewal price and doesn’t expire based on the date of my previous pass. In MDE it appears as a voucher that is valid until Dec 31, 2099.

Ahhh! Now I’m going to have to do serious thinking about if I want to swap up my 6 day tickets for Oct 1 to an AP. I was going to get one to start in July ‘22, and maybe I’ll just get an AP and let it sit until then. I have 4 days left of a legendary 10 day never expires ticket (which actually expires in 2030 now). And I know that math is not worth the upgrade to an AP. I may do another trip between Oct 1 2021 and July 2022, (Galactic Cruiser is calling my name), and our never expires tickets would be perfect for that.

 

[bsmcneil]

It seems that Walt Disney World will be selling Annual Passes again soon. In the announcement that "passholders will no longer receive complimentary magic bands" Disney stated this applied to “Annual Pass purchases and renewals made August 16, 2021 and beyond.” This implies that Annual Passes will finally be available for purchase again by the time August 16th rolls around.

Wondering why they used this specific wording regarding the 16th, it would seem to be an official cut off date and renewal period.

If I were to guess, this probably isn't about when they will be selling them (though I could be wrong) but about having a cut off date for complementary magicbands related to August 15 (the day before, which gave them about 2 weeks so as to not completely surprise people who might be purchasing in the next two weeks).

 

[deannaf87]

Disneyland legacy passholders got notification that there will be announcement tomorrow for something called "Magic Key". Could have some clues to future APs at WDW too. Announcing tomorrow after 1pm PST.

 

[DLgal]

I have to wonder at this point if the new Magic Key program is going to include ALL domestic Disney parks. I find it curious that this date of Aug 15 for Magic bands coincides with the expiration date of the DL legacy passholder discounts. We don't have Magic bands here in DL and I wonder if the new program will include admission to both WDW and DL.

 

[deannaf87]

I have to wonder at this point if the new Magic Key program is going to include ALL domestic Disney parks. I find it curious that this date of Aug 15 for Magic bands coincides with the expiration date of the DL legacy passholder discounts. We don't have Magic bands here in DL and I wonder if the new program will include admission to both WDW and DL.

That could actually be genius on Disney's part, especially for Disneyland. Make Magic Key absurdly expensive (to price people out) with the excuse of "you get WDW and DL!", knowing it would rare for DL APs to go to WDW.

 

[DLgal]

That could actually be genius on Disney's part, especially for Disneyland. Make Magic Key absurdly expensive (to price people out) with the excuse of "you get WDW and DL!", knowing it would rare for DL APs to go to WDW.

I go to WDW every year so I would LOVE this!

 

[boop0524]

Man I really hope an announcement is coming soon! We live out of state and not DVC, but are close and could have save so much money this year with APs. (Many of us in this boat, I know). The lack of communication or knowing what to expect has been frustrating though

 

[robinb]

I don’t think Disney will be selling new annual passes in august. It was going to happen and I hope it still does but with this delta I don’t see it happening. Again hope I’m wrong.

I hope they do too. I have a trip planned for October 1st and I won't go if I don't have APs. I went back in May and it almost killed me to pay nearly the the same for a 10-day PH than I would for a Gold AP (we're DVC). We have plans for next May too and I don't want to paid in May 2021, pay AGAIN in October and AGAIN in May 2022. My DH thinks I'm going to cave and he might be right, but as of today I don't want to pay Disney 3 times in a year.

As for Delta, I dunno. They opened up more park reservations for October 1st a day or two before they announced masks were back. I was able to grab a 10/1 reservation at the MK that had been "sold out" for months. IMO, park reservations are the best way to keep crowds down and it seems that they're not particularly interested in that.

 

[Pooh's World]

I hope they do too. I have a trip planned for October 1st and I won't go if I don't have APs. I went back in May and it almost killed me to pay nearly the the same for a 10-day PH than I would for a Gold AP (we're DVC). We have plans for next May too and I don't want to paid in May 2021, pay AGAIN in October and AGAIN in May 2022. My DH thinks I'm going to cave and he might be right, but as of today I don't want to pay Disney 3 times in a year.

As for Delta, I dunno. They opened up more park reservations for October 1st a day or two before they announced masks were back. I was able to grab a 10/1 reservation at the MK that had been "sold out" for months. IMO, park reservations are the best way to keep crowds down and it seems that they're not particularly interested in that.

Hotel prices have been plummeting in August and now September as many people cancel their reservations.