DVC AP discount

[pditullio]

Do you buy your AP through MS, or just wait till you get to the parks?

If through MS, online or on phone?

Thanks in advance.

 

[EeyoreEma]

We bought ours at the park, since we didn't have our DVC membership cards until we picked them up from Saratoga Springs when we got down there. It worked out fine for us that way.

 

[WeLoveAriel0505]

Always have just bought it at Guest Services. Works great and pays back dividends with discounts, etc.

 

[FigmentLady]

We got ours at Guest Services

 

[dianeschlicht]

We always order ours online.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

Last year I did both just to spread out the costs a bit

 

[erionm]

A couple of reasons on would want to purchase online or by calling MS are:
a) avoid an upcoming price increase. The last several price increases have been in early August.
b) spread out the cost of multiple passes over several months. i.e.: pre-purchase 1 exchange voucher every month or two.

If you do purchase online or by calling MS, you still have to go to a guest services location to pick up your actual AP. Pre-purchasing only gets you a confirmation number or exchange voucher if you pay a processing fee.

 

[mousefan1972]

A couple of reasons on would want to purchase online or by calling MS are:
a) avoid an upcoming price increase. The last several price increases have been in early August.
b) spread out the cost of multiple passes over several months. i.e.: pre-purchase 1 exchange voucher every month or two.

If you do purchase online or by calling MS, you still have to go to a guest services location to pick up your actual AP. Pre-purchasing only gets you a confirmation number or exchange voucher if you pay a processing fee.

Our APs expire August 14th (my DD's birthday!) and we will be in Disney August 10-16. However, I want to renew them before the price increase. Should I call MS sometime after July 14th to do the renewal, then pick them up when we are there? Will that work? I've only ever bought or renewed APs onsite before, so I'm not sure what to do. Thanks.

 

[erionm]

Our APs expire August 14th (my DD's birthday!) and we will be in Disney August 10-16. However, I want to renew them before the price increase. Should I call MS sometime after July 14th to do the renewal, then pick them up when we are there? Will that work? I've only ever bought or renewed APs onsite before, so I'm not sure what to do. Thanks.

You can either call MS or renew online using the passholder website (disneyworld.com/passholder). The passholder website says you can renew up to 60 days before and up to 30 days after your current AP expires. When you pre-purchase a renewal, you will get a confirmation number that you take to Guest Services where you would get your new AP.

 

[Sandisw]

I ordered mine online via the member website and just did the will call window.

This year, I may try to buy the ticket through Undercover Tourist and then upgrade when I get there. It won't save a lot, but I have to order tickets for other guests coming with us anyway, and figure why not!

 

[locodemickey]

I ordered mine online via the member website and just did the will call window.

This year, I may try to buy the ticket through Undercover Tourist and then upgrade when I get there. It won't save a lot, but I have to order tickets for other guests coming with us anyway, and figure why not!

How much money does that save? I will need to buy 3 adult and 2 child APs (we are DVC memebers). Which ticket is the best to buy (the most savings when converted to an AP)? If it saves a decent amount of money, I may do that too. TIA

 

[twinklebug]

How much money does that save? I will need to buy 3 adult and 2 child APs (we are DVC memebers). Which ticket is the best to buy (the most savings when converted to an AP)? If it saves a decent amount of money, I may do that too. TIA

Last time I did this I believe it saved about $14 per person. For 3 of us it came to $42 saved.

Sign up for the mousesavers newsletter. Once a month she sends out a special email link to discounts that seem to be the best around. Each pass will show the savings over purchasing it at the window. Choose the one that will maximize the discount without going over what you'd pay for the AP.

I believe we also have to use the passes to go into a park once before the exchange too. Forget why that is.

 

[Sammie]

I ordered mine online via the member website and just did the will call window.

This year, I may try to buy the ticket through Undercover Tourist and then upgrade when I get there. It won't save a lot, but I have to order tickets for other guests coming with us anyway, and figure why not!

A recent guest was denied this option, I would make sure you can still upgrade before making your purchase.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Last time I did this I believe it saved about $14 per person. For 3 of us it came to $42 saved.

Sign up for the mousesavers newsletter. Once a month she sends out a special email link to discounts that seem to be the best around. Each pass will show the savings over purchasing it at the window. Choose the one that will maximize the discount without going over what you'd pay for the AP.

I believe we also have to use the passes to go into a park once before the exchange too. Forget why that is.

I looked at doing that, but quite frankly, I didn't think the savings was enough to make it worth the hassle.

 

[Sandisw]

A recent guest was denied this option, I would make sure you can still upgrade before making your purchase.

Thanks for sharing. Do you mean they were denied being allowed to upgrade or just denied the savings after using it to bring it to gate value?

If it is just the value, then I am willing to take a chance. It is just two of us from the group that will upgrading to AP's so maybe a savings of $30.

If I didn't get that, I would be okay, as long as they still let me upgrade the ticket to the discount DVC AP with credit for what I paid. I will be ordering a total of 6 - 8 passes so the savings for every one else is the reason I am going through UT.

 

[LaurenT]

Thanks for sharing. Do you mean they were denied being allowed to upgrade or just denied the savings after using it to bring it to gate value?

If it is just the value, then I am willing to take a chance. It is just two of us from the group that will upgrading to AP's so maybe a savings of $30.

If I didn't get that, I would be okay, as long as they still let me upgrade the ticket to the discount DVC AP with credit for what I paid. I will be ordering a total of 6 - 8 passes so the savings for every one else is the reason I am going through UT.

If you check the theme parks strategies board, you'll see a very long thread about a woman who tried to upgrade her UT ticket to an AP renewal (says something like "stuck in AK after GS ruined my ticket") - she wound up with a couple of CM's who had no idea what they were doing and it all turned into a big mess. But most people have no problem.

 

[Sandisw]

If you check the theme parks strategies board, you'll see a very long thread about a woman who tried to upgrade her UT ticket to an AP renewal (says something like "stuck in AK after GS ruined my ticket") - she wound up with a couple of CM's who had no idea what they were doing and it all turned into a big mess. But most people have no problem.

Thanks! I will check that out. I don't want to have any issues upgrading. Like I said, if the savings are not allowed, no big deal, but if they didn't let me get the upgrade, well than that just won't work.

Maybe I will just not chance it.

 

[DeerIsleDisney]

We're heading down next week and planning to buy our APs at Guest Services. Member services suggested this as the most convenient way to do it, since we aren't looking at a price increase this time of year. We won't have to hassle with vouchers or the possibility of losing them.

 

[DebbieB]

The past 2 or 3 times I bought an AP, my next trip was in the fall. The prices went up at the beginning of August, so when I saw the price increase was coming, I bought mine right before online. The last time I used will call rather than having a voucher mailed. You do have to have your DVC card when you pickup the actual pass, they have to key in your member # (I guess the computer verifies that your membership is still active).

 

[henderkm]

We ordered our 6 day parkhopper tickets from UT last June before we purchased into DVC.

We soon discovered that we would most likely make more than one trip to WDW in a year and decided to upgrade to AP. We used the tickets for park entry and visited GS to upgrade the next day. The CM gave me credit for the full price the ticket would have been worth on the day I purchased the AP even though I purchased with a discount and there had been a price increase.

This is not something I would plan to do in advance, but it worked out for us this time.