Buying an AP voucher when you have a current AP?

[starshine514]

Our APs expire at the end of February. We don' intend to go again until May, so I intend on buying new APs, rather than renewing. I would like to purchase vouchers before the extra month offer expires on February 11 (I read I just have to redeem by November). When I go online to purchase, it makes me choose the guest that the AP is for. Since our APs haven't expired (and they are all linked to my account), will they treat this as a renewal and extend our expiration dates automatically, rather than as a new AP voucher?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Hmm...I have bought vouchers online in the past when I had an active AP but not recently (we ended up renewing this year). I do know that you had to select the option to pay in full. Then I remember being offered a choice to buy a "gift" voucher AP which I did not have to add a name to. The thing is though that I may not have been inside my renewal window when I last did this, and it has been a couple years, so I don't know what the options look like these days.

 

[starshine514]

We aren't yet in our renewal window. They won't automatically apply it, right?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

We aren't yet in our renewal window. They won't automatically apply it, right?

I honestly don't know how they've got things set up right now. If you're not in your renewal window, then you shouldn't be able to renew and you wouldn't be paying a discounted rate, so it should be a new pass. I didn't have to assign names though last time I bought new AP vouchers. Theoretically I would think you should be able to buy gift vouchers for friends and family and not have to assign a name at purchase.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I entered doing the same for myself and it is letting me buy a new pass (not renewing) for myself. It is also letting me do payments. The only concern I have is that nowhere does it say that I can activate it later. I don't want to have 2 APs that work at the same time. I will be there in person soon. If the lines aren't too long, I think I will go to the ticket booth and ask about it. I would be fine buying on payments now and not activating until I need to, which would likely be July - September, but since they start taking the payments today and it doesn't say that I can activate the pass later, I am not feeling good about it.

 

[starshine514]

I honestly don't know how they've got things set up right now. If you're not in your renewal window, then you shouldn't be able to renew and you wouldn't be paying a discounted rate, so it should be a new pass. I didn't have to assign names though last time I bought new AP vouchers. Theoretically I would think you should be able to buy gift vouchers for friends and family and not have to assign a name at purchase.

You have to assign names now. I can choose people from my account or add a new person, but there is no gift option like I remember seeing years ago.

 

[starshine514]

I'm wondering if I should have DH buy them through his account instead. Even with our names and birthdays, they still shouldn't really be allowed to just automatically assume we are the same people and link them up, right? He doesn't have us in his account, nor do I have him in my account.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

You have to assign names now. I can choose people from my account or add a new person, but there is no gift option like I remember seeing years ago.

Yeah. It's changed I guess. Last time I bought APs online while I still had active ones was February 2015 and names didn't have to be assigned back then. They have really tightened everything up. I was going to suggest online chat with a CM just for reassurance, but that seems to have been disabled. That leaves e-mail I guess if you want something in writing. You could maybe purchase AP cards in a Disney store if they are still doing that, but I don't know if they do that anymore and that doesn't help you really if a Disney store is a long/unreasonable drive from where you are. It doesn't make sense to me though that they would assign two overlapping APs to the same people, and it's not a renewal so they shouldn't just automatically extend. But I really don't know how Disney has their systems set up, and it would make me nervous too with that much money being outlayed.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Try calling the AP Hotline to see what they say about current policy on this. At least you will know the answer to your question before you commit the money toward the vouchers.