First day of use and select AP's

[Zoemakes5]

I thought that I read that if you bought an AP at the park, it didn't matter if your first day was blocked out or not, that you'd get in that day at least, but anyone after that would, of course, be blocked. Is that true, or am I imagining things? Also, how does that work if you park hop or leave and come back, are there any complications?

I guess my next question is, if you can get in on that first day whether it's blocked or not if you buy it at the park, does that apply if you buy it somewhere else? If I get it at the Disney Store or CostCo or someplace else, can I still use the first day of use however I want, or will it be restricted? Or, am I just crazy and it won't work either way?

I'm planning to purchase my DD an annual pass for Christmas, and I want to be able to put the actual pass in the present, but imagine we'd have our first day of use on a black out day......

Thanks in advance!

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm pretty sure you can buy and use the AP on a blocked out day.

But as for putting the pass in the present...since she'll have to have a picture taken to be put on the actual pass, *can* you even get the pass ahead of time?

What about just having a one-day ticket and upgrading on the blocked out day from that? Ooh, how about the one-day ticket, and enough Disney giftcards to cover the upgrade, as a present? That would be fun! (and yes you can use giftcards to pay, we did back in September!)

 

[Zoemakes5]

But as for putting the pass in the present...since she'll have to have a picture taken to be put on the actual pass, *can* you even get the pass ahead of time?

That part I can actually answer. Both Disney Store and Albertson's has little gift card looking things that are the various annual passes, you pay the price and then take it to the parks. I was under the impression that you would just take that in to the park and get your picture taken, etc. I may do as you suggested, though, and just get a day pass and upgrade it later.

Thanks.

 

[bumbershoot]

Aha. Our Costco doesn't sell APs, and our Disney Store is too far away, so I'd never seen an AP until we got one.

 

[Vanvmom]

We upgraded our parkhopper to APs during our last trip on a black out day. The people at the AP processing center told us to wait until the end of the day to do this otherwise we would either have to pay $40 per person to be in the park that day (since it was a blackout day) or, if we decided not to pay the extra $$, they would escort us to the exit gate.

SO... if you purchase your APs on a blackout day, they will not be good for entrance that day unless you pay the additional $40. When you pay this, they give you a paper 1 day park-hopper ticket.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We upgraded our parkhopper to APs during our last trip on a black out day. The people at the AP processing center told us to wait until the end of the day to do this otherwise we would either have to pay $40 per person to be in the park that day (since it was a blackout day) or, if we decided not to pay the extra $$, they would escort us to the exit gate.

SO... if you purchase your APs on a blackout day, they will not be good for entrance that day unless you pay the additional $40. When you pay this, they give you a paper 1 day park-hopper ticket.

Wow, I am really sorry to hear about your experience.

Last year we upgraded to a SoCal AP in the morning of a blockout day without any problems. With the AAA AP promotion last year, our upgrade cost us $5 pp and we received a $10 gift card in return. It is too bad the AAA promotion is only good for any online discounts on APs this year.

-- Suzanne

 

[bumbershoot]

We upgraded our parkhopper to APs during our last trip on a black out day. The people at the AP processing center told us to wait until the end of the day to do this otherwise we would either have to pay $40 per person to be in the park that day (since it was a blackout day) or, if we decided not to pay the extra $$, they would escort us to the exit gate.

SO... if you purchase your APs on a blackout day, they will not be good for entrance that day unless you pay the additional $40. When you pay this, they give you a paper 1 day park-hopper ticket.

That is so odd. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, else, every person has said that you pay the blockout fee at the gate, but then that price is applied to the upgrade.

I'm in the middle of reading a very specific thread elsewhere discussing that very thing. Paraphrasing...'you go on a black out day. You buy the $40 ticket, then when you get in the park, you can upgrade to the AP by handing them the black out ticket ($40) and x dollars.'

 

[fairycat]

Bumbershoot, yes you are exactly right, that is how it goes, how I know is because we have done that very thing for DH with his pass.

Because he had the lowest pass, that had a blackout, I think one time we just upgraded to the higher pass, another time we paid for the blackout at the beginning and then upgraded (we did this at the end of the night at a ticket booth, DH came back and got his upgraded pass another trip since we were leaving). I have never had an issue.

But remember if your current pass and the next level pass are both blacked out yes they make you purchase the black out first, because even with the upgrade your pass does not "allow" you to use the parks that day. Then you would go back and upgrade at the end of the day, which really isn't too terrible since, the lines are very short. I believe there is somewhere inside to do it also. I don't think they will kick you out if you do it before you leave the parks, because your pass shows you entered the parks. (we learned about the rules of once in you stay in, because they mistakenly let DH in on a black out day and though we had to fight to get him into DCA [we had a reservation at Vineyard room] they said because he was shown as in DL he got to go back to DL no problem). So you could upgrade mid-day.

If your current pass is blacked out and the higher pass is not then a simple upgrade is all you need.

 

[deletedpenguin]

You must upgrade, not purchase a blacked out pass, on the day you want to get in. Once you purchase a one day ticket, the full cost of that ticket is put towards an annual pass.

I've done this twice.

 

[Vanvmom]

I think there may be some misunderstanding in what I posted. If you have a park hopper that you want to upgrade to an AP on a blocked out day, you have to pay the $40. There are different situations being talked about in the thread.

This is what we had... a five day hopper ticket with one day left on it and wanted to upgrade to Deluxe AP. We came in on our final day - Thanksgiving. If we were to upgrade them that morning (Thanksgiving day is a black out day for Deluxe passes), we would have had to pay the additional $40 per person on top of the fee to upgrade from hoppers to Deluxe APs and remain in the park that day. We were told to wait until that night as we were leaving the park to upgrade them so as not to have to pay the $40/person black out charge. We asked early in the week about it, then again on THanksgiving day. We also heard the CMs tell someone else this.

If we came to the park with Deluxe APs on a blackout day and paid the $40 to enter the park, then later that day decided to upgrade to premium, the $40 we paid would apply toward the upgrade from deluxe to premium.

Basically, if you purchase an AP that has blackout days, you can't use them (even for the first time) on the blacked out day without paying the $40. We've been AP holders in the past as well. The way we normally get our APs is to utilize a AAA package deal (discounts, perks, etc) for our first trip of the year, then upgrade them to APs while we are at the park. I always upgrade mine to the Premium (the rest of the family get Deluxe), so that we can maximize our discounts.

I hope this info helps in some way.

 

[deletedpenguin]

You CAN update to an annual pass on a day that's blacked out, and still use it without being charged the $40. I JUST did this, and have had this happen once before as well. It sounds like the person you spoke with was misinformed, because not once was I hassled, going between parks or even using it for discounts.