Clarification regarding annual passes

[amystevekai&bump]

hi all

I've recieved two emails from WDW customer service in the last few days & they contradict things I've read here on the boards and elsewhere, and having spoken to WDW customer services in the past and knowingly been given incorrect info, I am more inclined to believe what you guys tell me!!

So please for my piece of mind, could someone please confirm the following regarding the Gold annual passes (we aren't Florida residents but are DVC members from the UK)

1) I paid for my annual pass over the phone & have a will call no to collect the tickets when I arrive - can I collect them at the Transportation & ticket Center? Or can they only be collected a Guest Relations at either Disney Springs or one of the main four parks?

2) Does my pass begin from the date that I collect my ticket or from the day I first use it to enter a park?

3) is the pass valid for 365 or 366 days?

As I say, disney have now given me the same information twice (that I must collect the tickets from either the 4 parks or Disney Springs, that the tickets don't start until the time they are first used to enter a park & finally that they only last for 365 days) - this info contradicts what I've been told here and elsewhere, so I just wanted to get some definitive answers if I could!

Many thanks for any help

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

1) I paid for my annual pass over the phone & have a will call no to collect the tickets when I arrive - can I collect them at the Transportation & ticket Center? Or can they only be collected a Guest Relations at either Disney Springs or one of the main four parks?

2) Does my pass begin from the date that I collect my ticket or from the day I first use it to enter a park?

3) is the pass valid for 365 or 366 days?

1) Yes. The TTC ticket booths, or the ticket booths at any park, can process your will call just the same as Guest Relations can. Bring your will call number, the credit card you paid with, photo ID for all adults age 18 and up, and your DVC card.

2) The AP will be activated the day you go to a ticket booth or Guest Relations and pick it up, even if you don't enter a park that day.

3) A pass activated today, June 10 2016, will be valid through the end of the day on June 10 2017. Substitute the date you pick up your pass and you have your expiration date.

 

[NancyIL]

1. I don't know.

2. I believe your pass becomes active when you collect the ticket

3. The ticket is good for 1 year - whether that is 365 days or 366 (leap years). If your AP is activated on July 1, 2016, it will expire on July 1, 2017.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

1) Yes. The TTC ticket booths, or the ticket booths at any park, can process your will call just the same as Guest Relations can. Bring your will call number, the credit card you paid with, photo ID for all adults age 18 and up, and your DVC card.

2) The AP will be activated the day you go to a ticket booth or Guest Relations and pick it up, even if you don't enter a park that day.

3) A pass activated today, June 10 2016, will be valid through the end of the day on June 10 2017. Substitute the date you pick up your pass and you have your expiration date.

1. I don't know.

2. I believe your pass becomes active when you collect the ticket

3. The ticket is good for 1 year - whether that is 365 days or 366 (leap years). If your AP is activated on July 1, 2016, it will expire on July 1, 2017.

Thank you both - so I read that as the passes last 366 days - if you can us them on both June 10th 2016 & june 10th 2017 for example, then by my reckoning that's 366! Disney have categorically told me that the pass will be valid for 365 days! - the only reason that I'm making a fuss, is because we've bought an annual pass to use for two years in a row (two weeks this August & two weeks next August, so it plays a part in our travel dates!)

The other contributing factor is whether I collect the pass the day before we go to the parks - with Disneys answer it makes no difference as its only when I enter the park that the 'clock' starts counting down, but from your posts the date I collect the tickets is key & would cost me some days for my second trip if I wasn't careful!

I do find disney so frustrating - why is it so difficult for them to employ staff that know their stuff!!

 

[Doug M]

Sounds like 1 year and a day. Remember a year is jan 1 to dec 31 not jan 1 to jan 1. If the ticket is good day you get it and the same calendar date the following, really it is 1 year plus a day, 366 or 367 days depending on leap.

 

[supersnoop]

Yes, annual passes are good for a year plus a day. They like to say "and today is on us!" when you pick it up. So, normally 366 days, or 367 if the period includes February 29th.

 

[doconeill]

The other contributing factor is whether I collect the pass the day before we go to the parks - with Disneys answer it makes no difference as its only when I enter the park that the 'clock' starts counting down, but from your posts the date I collect the tickets is key & would cost me some days for my second trip if I wasn't careful!

It's true for non-annual passes in general. On a MYW ticket, the 14-day expiration timer starts when you enter the park the first time. So they are probably just confusing it.

APs are different. Once you pick them up (which you have to do as they verify and enter in your information, etc.), you can get discounts, etc. without entering a park. So they need to be "active" at that point.

 

[hakepb]

FYI, If you have an MDE account and magic bands for your DVC room, they will link those together. They should also give you a physical AP discount card.

You will then able to customize new AP Magic bands to be mailed later (they look like the resort ones. )
All of your linked resort and AP Magic bands will have identical functionality.

They can issue a plastic RFID card for the AP, but I never got one last year, and my Magic bands worked well.

 

[NancyIL]

Sounds like 1 year and a day. Remember a year is jan 1 to dec 31 not jan 1 to jan 1. If the ticket is good day you get it and the same calendar date the following, really it is 1 year plus a day, 366 or 367 days depending on leap.

An AP is good from the date you obtain the ticket until the same date one year later. A calendar year is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 - which is either 365 or 366 days. But - one year from today (June 11, 2016) is June 11, 2017 and a year ago today was June 11, 2015. We're splitting hairs on what constitutes a year!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

It's true for non-annual passes in general. On a MYW ticket, the 14-day expiration timer starts when you enter the park the first time. So they are probably just confusing it.

APs are different. Once you pick them up (which you have to do as they verify and enter in your information, etc.), you can get discounts, etc. without entering a park. So they need to be "active" at that point.

That is really helpful thank you - getting a proper explanation like that, helps make the differences between passes make more sense - thank you.

FYI, If you have an MDE account and magic bands for your DVC room, they will link those together. They should also give you a physical AP discount card.

You will then able to customize new AP Magic bands to be mailed later (they look like the resort ones. )
All of your linked resort and AP Magic bands will have identical functionality.

They can issue a plastic RFID card for the AP, but I never got one last year, and my Magic bands worked well.

That's good to know, thank you. I wonder whether we will be able to get our new AP magic bands mailed, as we live in the UK, probably not.

 

[CarrieR]

No, but if you're in Orlando for two weeks you *may* be able to get them mailed to your hotel... if you customize immediately.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

No, but if you're in Orlando for two weeks you *may* be able to get them mailed to your hotel... if you customize immediately.

Ooh that's worth asking about I think! Thanks

 

[cigar95]

. . . . . . . We're splitting hairs on what constitutes a year!

this question comes up often. the ambiguity comes from the phrase "expires on". To avoid confusion, Disney simply has the pass still valid on the day it expires. It ends up giving the guest an extra day, which probably rarely gets used. (Note that when one renews, one doesn't get yet another extra day the second year.)