Best place to have Annual Passes activated?

[Ptarmigan6]

Hi all,

Though our family is a bunch of Disney veterans, we're newbies to APs. Do you have any suggestions on which park/guest services is the best place to have your annual passes activated? We'll be visiting in mid-June, so I know there will be crowds everywhere. Any thoughts on going to TTC vs a specific park vs Disney Springs? We're hoping to visit a park for a few hours after activation, so I lean towards a park. Does Guest Services open before the parks do?

Thank you!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does Guest Services open before the parks do

About 90 minutes prior to park opening.

 

[Robo]

You can activate an AP at any Guest Relations -or- any Ticket Window.

Those will be open at the parks and TTC:
90 minutes before "regular" hours.
30 minutes before AM EMH begins.

 

[rebekahw]

I activated mine at the TTC Sunday evening and there were several windows open with zero lines. It was around 5:30 I think. There were a lot of people at the windows this morning when going to the MK, though.

 

[Ptarmigan6]

One more followup... (THANK YOU all for your help so far!) Regarding magic bands for AP holders, can we order them at home before our trip? I'm confused by the wording. It almost seems like we can't request them until AFTER our first trip activating the passes. Is this right?

 

[Disneytam]

One more followup... (THANK YOU all for your help so far!) Regarding magic bands for AP holders, can we order them at home before our trip? I'm confused by the wording. It almost seems like we can't request them until AFTER our first trip activating the passes. Is this right?

As far as magic bands for your AP you won't be able to get them until after you activate the passes. I always think it's nuts that we get our AP MB after we return home from our first trip using the AP. We love using the International Gateway at EPCOT to activate our AP since there is never a wait in line. Of course we also stay at the Boardwalk Inn so this comes in handy as well. I would recommend NOT using the Guest Relations at the MK unless you want to stand in yet another long line. We once did that and it took a long time and every time we go into the MK we look over and the line is always crazy long over there.

 

[Ptarmigan6]

Ugh, I feared that. So no magic bands for an AP if you're stay offsite. How do you use the fastpass+ system then? Do you use the physical Passholder card? Also, how do you get the discount for any AP purchases (like food, souvenirs etc)?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You don't need a magic band to use fastpasses. You can use your ticket card that you will be given when you activate. you can use that card for discounts also. And if you want to have a magic band you can purchase one. There are a lot of graphic ones now that you can't get through MDX.

 

[ciera321]

Hi all,

Though our family is a bunch of Disney veterans, we're newbies to APs. Do you have any suggestions on which park/guest services is the best place to have your annual passes activated? We'll be visiting in mid-June, so I know there will be crowds everywhere. Any thoughts on going to TTC vs a specific park vs Disney Springs? We're hoping to visit a park for a few hours after activation, so I lean towards a park. Does Guest Services open before the parks do?

Thank you!

Are you staying on property? This might be the difference for us, but we bought our AP vouchers in February and will activate them in May, and our MBs are on the way to us now. I linked them to our MDE when I bought them. ETA - sorry just re-read your last post.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Unless it is different now, they won't send you a band until after your pass has been ACTIVATED. Not when you still have a voucher. However, if you are staying onsite you will be able to customize and receive additional bands with the resort reservation. If you stay offsite you'll have to wait for activation to have them send you bands.

even if you stay onsite and receive bands from the resort stay, once your pass has been activated you can request an additional band.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

Ugh, I feared that. So no magic bands for an AP if you're stay offsite. How do you use the fastpass+ system then? Do you use the physical Passholder card? Also, how do you get the discount for any AP purchases (like food, souvenirs etc)?

They give you a temp passholder card when you activate them, at least that's what I rec'd. You use that card for "included" parking as well. That serves as your discount card.

Regarding the magic bands, you don't have any magic bands from previous trips? You can use those if you do. You won't receive the others until you activate your ap and then login and select your magic bands.

 

[Ptarmigan6]

One more question (aiieee...) so when you order your AP online, they give you a voucher. Do you just show the voucher to the parking attendant at a park in order to get free parking, or are you out of luck for the first day? I know it's $17 dollars or so, but that's a few dole whips!

 

[Robo]

One more question (aiieee...) so when you order your AP online, they give you a voucher. Do you just show the voucher to the parking attendant at a park in order to get free parking, or are you out of luck for the first day? I know it's $17 dollars or so, but that's a few dole whips!

You can order the voucher to be mailed to you, or you can order it "will-call."

Either way, when you get to parking, just pay the attendant and keep your RECEIPT.
When you get the AP activated, you can get a full refund for parking that first day at the same time.

 

[Ptarmigan6]

You can order the voucher to be mailed to you, or you can order it "will-call."

Either way, when you get to parking, just pay the attendant and keep your RECEIPT.
When you get the AP activated, you can get a full parking refund at the same time.

Thanks!

 

[loves to dive]

You can also activate it at the ticket windows, sometimes those are less crowded than GS at some of the parks. I activated my first one at GS at MK, it was mid afternoon in Sept. and I'm guessing I waited in line for about a hour. Learned my lesson and activated my renewal at a ticket counter at Epcot, again mid-afternoon and I walked right up.

 

[MinniesYooHoo]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I have a question. We just purchased our APs on Tuesday evening (First time owning them). They immediately showed up on my MDE account and we made Fastpass+ ressies. It then prompted me to customize our Magic Bands. What is that all about if we aren't able to do anything with them until they're activated? I'm so confused!

 

[Robo]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I have a question. We just purchased our APs on Tuesday evening (First time owning them). They immediately showed up on my MDE account and we made Fastpass+ ressies. It then prompted me to customize our Magic Bands. What is that all about if we aren't able to do anything with them until they're activated? I'm so confused!

The MBs to which they are referring are your regular WDW Resort MBs.

Your APs WILL be able to be used with those regular MBs for this trip (once you activate the APs at a guest relations.)
You will also get an AP CARD (at the Guest Relations during activation) that must be shown when you are getting AP discounts during this trip.

THEN, after you return from this trip, you need to customize your "AP MagicBands."

(And, you don't need to worry about why… it's just a "Disney thing.")

 

[MinniesYooHoo]

OK. So all of my arrangements are good to go and we will have our AP Magic Bands for our trip in December if I'm understanding correctly. Thank you!

 

[Shellyb84]

We went to Disney Springs our arrival night and activated our APs there and bought our TIW card. No wait at all.

 

[Ptarmigan6]

We went to Disney Springs our arrival night and activated our APs there and bought our TIW card. No wait at all.

Where in Disney Springs did you do the AP exchange? World of Disney?