Does an AP have to be 'activated' to get discounts?

[cschaaf]

We're planning a trip at Christmas and I had purchased tickets and booked rooms at RPR. An AP discount popped up and I jumped on it.

The tickets I have, 3-day/2-park, are not upgradeable (long story), so I bought 2 APs (we have 2 rooms and they said you need 2 APs to get the rate for each room). I figured, worst case, we just save the 3d/2p passes for a later trip.

So I think I now will have two options:
1. Use the 3d/2p passes and don't activate the APs until our next trip
2. Activate the APs and use them at Christmas; save the 3d/2p for a trip after the APs expire

Do I have that right? Or are the APs active as soon as I pick them up?

If it's possible to do #1, would the AP discounts still work without the pass be activated? For the hotel? In the parks?

Thanks!

 

[ThemeParkGuy]

Passes must be activated before discounts will be applied

 

[gotomu212]

Passes must be activated before discounts will be applied

How would the hotel know if your passes were activated? We’ve only been asked to show them one time and since I hadn’t picked them up yet I just showed them the website purchase confirmation I had. Other people just held up their card.

 

[cschaaf]

How would the hotel know if your passes were activated? We’ve only been asked to show them one time and since I hadn’t picked them up yet I just showed them the website purchase confirmation I had. Other people just held up their card.

Yeah, this was what I was wondering - and maybe could have said it better.

For the hotel discount, do you just waive your card in the air (like you really DO care)? What about at restaurants? Do they scan the card or just look at it? Is there a date printed on it?

I'd expect the restaurants to verify, but I'm not so sure about the hotels.

To be clear, I am not trying to get around anything. I'm just trying to make the best decision on which tickets I should use and when.

If I activate the AP for this December trip, I'm likely to only get one more use out of it. If I wait to activate on the next trip, I can possibly get one additional trip using the AP.

 

[damo]

You don't need to even have your AP to book a room with the AP discount. You just need to be able to show it during your stay, if they even ask for it. They will just look at it. My AP has no date on it.