Gold Pass

[Uncranky Donald]

You could try. It would give an actual experience report which is rare likely because the DIS is a small subset of total membership. Like others I don't know if it provides a definite answer for two reasons. One - I do think that the CM's now use the computer system to verify eligibility although not positive and if they don't then what happens could just depend on the training of the CM and would still vary from one to the other and two - if they do use the computer system DVC might have some sort of link between the two memberships to you as a common owner of a qualified and an un-qualified membership. So it might recognize you as qualified using the resale number via a connection to the direct. If it came up using the resale number you could always ask the CM how they verified.

Totally understood, so many variables it seems, you're right, very likely that the name would register somewhere in their systems as a qualified member.
If it is a legit IT problem thats pure shenanigans. If I had bought a resale and then confusingly saw the ability to purchase a Gold pass and did so for my entire family while planning my vacation only to get there and have to shell our 100's to make up the difference...oooh doggie, I do not want to go to there, as Liz Lemon might say

 

[CMNJ]

One direct, one resale, two different UYs. Don't many people have the same scenario though? Say I go to activate and "happen" to show the resale member card first, if they accept it then resale owners are good to go,(or a CM messed up I get it) if they say nope they aren't and I show them the direct DVC card and I am fine. Ehh, whatever, I was just trying to understand why it's such a mystery at this point in time.

Out of curiosity is your 2nd membership "card" (the resale that is not eligible) the white one other resale buyers have mentioned or the blue one direct purchasers have? I ask because I also have 2 memberships now (one is post 4/4/16 and a different UY) but in my DVC.com account the digital membership card looks the same for both memberships (and our new contract digital cards says we have been members since 2009 but we closed this past fall). Obviously we did not receive the physical cards for the 2nd (ineligible) membership but my understanding is the digital is just as good for proof and not only does it look identical but it says we have been members since long before the restrictions were enacted. I think they do check eligibility (because it seems like it takes a while to activate the already purchased passes) but have no actual proof that they aren't just manually checking that the DVC card is there and matches the photo ID.

Not at all. What we do have is lots of info to suggest this is not accessible to unqualified members based on reasonable interpretation of the info available, MS communications (3rd hand) and at least one report of someone who bought and was not allowed to activate (3rd hand). I wouldn't be surprised if we had some of each the next year or so where some WERE allowed to activate and others are not. You could buy back in resale to try to prove your point if you want.

Obviously I know MS has given conflicting info to others in the past but when I had to call them last summer to purchase my family's gold APs the rep I spoke to was adamant that new resale owners did not qualify for the gold AP. For some reason the system was not letting me buy it online at the time (website glitch) and the very first thing member services asked when I called was if I was a resale owner because if so I wasn't eligible. This was prior to me buying my second contract and I explained I was an owner before 4/4 and was definitely eligible. Still MS had to review my account and determine I was eligible prior to selling me the gold passes.

Also on another thread there was a poster recently who had incorrectly purchased the gold pass (apparently they bought it using a DVA and supposedly the cast member confused DVA with DVC and offered to sell them the gold pass to save them money). When the person realized the error and called ticketing again they were told they would not be able to activate the prepurchased gold pass without a valid DVC card or Florida resident identification. Rather they would have to pay to upgrade to the regular AP when they arrived to activate the pass. So it would seem that regardless of how one was able to make the purchase they will be required to prove eligibility in order to activate it.

 

[Uncranky Donald]

Out of curiosity is your 2nd membership "card" (the resale that is not eligible) the white one other resale buyers have mentioned or the blue one direct purchasers have? I ask because I also have 2 memberships now (one is post 4/4/16 and a different UY) but in my DVC.com account the digital membership card looks the same for both memberships (and our new contract digital cards says we have been members since 2009 but we closed this past fall). Obviously we did not receive the physical cards for the 2nd (ineligible) membership but my understanding is the digital is just as good for proof and not only does it look identical but it says we have been members since long before the restrictions were enacted. I think they do check eligibility (because it seems like it takes a while to activate the already purchased passes) but have no actual proof that they aren't just manually checking that the DVC card is there and matches the photo ID.

Resale is literally brand-new, as of this past month. Nothing has even changed in our DVC account yet so I can not physically see what it will actually look like. The current one, physically is the standard blue one and now I am even more curious to see what will happen because what you're describing that you see doesn't even make sense, unless it will just always retain the original "direct" purchase date on it, regardless of when you purchased it..right? I will happily fill you in though when the "card" appears in my DVC account

 

[CMNJ]

So when DVC switched to the new member cards (digital and hard cards mailed out last year) for some reason we (and others from what I've read here) had the correct "owner since" date on our physical cards but incorrect date on our digital cards (member since whenever the contract was initially sold by Disney to the first buyer). I was curious after closing our second contract what the white card resale buyers mentioned looked like so I pulled up my member card with my ineligible membership and was surprised to find it was identical to my other membership card and indicating I'd been a member for many years. Even odder I haven't looked at my digital card for my original contract in months so I just actually looked at it again. I swear that when they first launched the digital cards it used to say we'd been members since like 2000 but now it shows 2009 also.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So when DVC switched to the new member cards (digital and hard cards mailed out last year) for some reason we (and others from what I've read here) had the correct "owner since" date on our physical cards but incorrect date on our digital cards (member since whenever the contract was initially sold by Disney to the first buyer). I was curious after closing our second contract what the white card resale buyers mentioned looked like so I pulled up my member card with my ineligible membership and was surprised to find it was identical to my other membership card and indicating I'd been a member for many years. Even odder I haven't looked at my digital card for my original contract in months so I just actually looked at it again. I swear that when they first launched the digital cards it used to say we'd been members since like 2000 but now it shows 2009 also.

We have two UYs that started with resale purchases and our old cards used to have what I believed to be the original purchasers date for the Member Since. When the virtual cards came out those dates were gone and both memberships now showed new more recent dates for a long time although it was a date well after we became members. I haven't looked for awhile to see what it is now but it had changed again around the time we finally got the new member cards. Their database management is a bit scary at times.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

Friends of ours who bought resale after April just flew home Saturday. They were able to buy the gold passes online but when they went to activate they were denied. They showed the CM the online card, the CM looked them up in the computer and told them they were not eligible for the DVC gold pass. They were prepared for this situation, but asked to speak to a supervisor for clarity. The supervisor came over and told them that resale members after April 4 are not eligible for the DVC Gold pass.

 

[CMNJ]

Friends of ours who bought resale after April just flew home Saturday. They were able to buy the gold passes online but when they went to activate they were denied. They showed the CM the online card, the CM looked them up in the computer and told them they were not eligible for the DVC gold pass. They were prepared for this situation, but asked to speak to a supervisor for clarity. The supervisor came over and told them that resale members after April 4 are not eligible for the DVC Gold pass.

Thanks for the report

 

[Matty B13]

Friends of ours who bought resale after April just flew home Saturday. They were able to buy the gold passes online but when they went to activate they were denied. They showed the CM the online card, the CM looked them up in the computer and told them they were not eligible for the DVC gold pass. They were prepared for this situation, but asked to speak to a supervisor for clarity. The supervisor came over and told them that resale members after April 4 are not eligible for the DVC Gold pass.

Did they ask why they could purchase it online if they weren't eligible? Seems to be a pretty big mistake with the money involved in annual passes.

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

Did they ask why they could purchase it online if they weren't eligible? Seems to be a pretty big mistake with the money involved in annual passes.

I didn't ask. They knew that they might not be able to complete the transaction going into it so they were prepared to pay the difference.

 

[Nie0214]

Did they ask why they could purchase it online if they weren't eligible? Seems to be a pretty big mistake with the money involved in annual passes.

It's the same with Florida resident. Which is why they only issue a voucher so you have to go there and prove eligibility. You'd think they could do this digitally in 2017...

 

[Maistre Gracey]

It's the same with Florida resident. Which is why they only issue a voucher so you have to go there and prove eligibility. You'd think they could do this digitally in 2017...

However, when you purchase a resident ticket you can toggle between "residents", and "all guests". It makes it perfectly clear because the resident options disappear when you press "all guests".
Seems silly they don't do the same thing on the Member site.

MG

 

[erionm]

However, when you purchase a resident ticket you can toggle between "residents", and "all guests". It makes it perfectly clear because the resident options disappear when you press "all guests".
Seems silly they don't do the same thing on the Member site.

MG

You can't purchase passes directly from the member website. The 'Purchase Online' button takes you to disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes. As I posted earlier, the pass purchase page (apparently) only sees that have a DVC Club ID assigned and assumes you are a full member. I'm an associate member (no card, no member benefits), but I have the DVC price purchase options because I have a Club ID assigned to me.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

You can't purchase passes directly from the member website. The 'Purchase Online' button takes you to disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes. As I posted earlier, the pass purchase page (apparently) only sees that have a DVC Club ID assigned and assumes you are a full member. I'm an associate member (no card, no member benefits), but I have the DVC price purchase options because I have a Club ID assigned to me.

But they could have a "press here if you purchased resale after xxx" button.
Sounds silly but that's the way the resident thing works. At least it wouldn't be misleading.

MG

 

[erionm]

But they could have a "press here if you purchased resale after xxx" button.
Sounds silly but that's the way the resident thing works. At least it wouldn't be misleading.

MG

Resident tickets/passes are based on ZIP Code which is obviously easier for Disney to code than trying to extract member type or resale status from an unrelated database.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Resident tickets/passes are based on ZIP Code which is obviously easier for Disney to code than trying to extract member type or resale status from an unrelated database.

Not for me... I can go online, put in zero personal information and have the resident options ready to purchase. Perhaps it uses the location of my phone??

MG

 

[erionm]

Not for me... I can go online, put in zero personal information and have the resident options ready to purchase. Perhaps it uses the location of my phone??

MG

Your address is part of your MDE Profile.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Your address is part of your MDE Profile.

I'm not using MDE. I'm just using the mobile Disney site.

MG

 

[Dean Marino]

You can't purchase passes directly from the member website. The 'Purchase Online' button takes you to disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes. As I posted earlier, the pass purchase page (apparently) only sees that have a DVC Club ID assigned and assumes you are a full member. I'm an associate member (no card, no member benefits), but I have the DVC price purchase options because I have a Club ID assigned to me.

This is correct - HOWEVER, one may CALL DVC Member Services to purchase a Gold Pass.
Based on OUR experience, two days ago? I strongly suggest that you DO.

Background: We are DVC Members, direct Disney purchase, no resale. My wife and I hold active Platinum Passes, exp April 2017.
We WANTED to renew to GOLD - as we never GO to WDW during the crowded blockout times.

DVC, via phone, could do all of this. And gave us the 13 month Gold Pass Renewal. Our new APs are loaded into our profile, and honored for FP reservations - DVC did this as well.

Our cost for a renewal "downgrade" resulted in an apx $400 annual savings, vs two Platinum renewals.

Main point: NONE of this could be done online. The MDE Website was far too primitive to even OFFER a Platinum to Gold Renewal. To boot? The PRICES were different. The later element was shocking to us.

So - All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong - I would STRONGLY recommend that DVC owners AVOID Web AP purchases or renewals. Instead? Go through the effort of CALLING DVC, at...

(800) 800-9800

 

[Maistre Gracey]

This is correct - HOWEVER, one may CALL DVC Member Services to purchase a Gold Pass.
Based on OUR experience, two days ago? I strongly suggest that you DO.

Background: We are DVC Members, direct Disney purchase, no resale. My wife and I hold active Platinum Passes, exp April 2017.
We WANTED to renew to GOLD - as we never GO to WDW during the crowded blockout times.

DVC, via phone, could do all of this. And gave us the 13 month Gold Pass Renewal. Our new APs are loaded into our profile, and honored for FP reservations - DVC did this as well.

Our cost for a renewal "downgrade" resulted in an apx $400 annual savings, vs two Platinum renewals.

Main point: NONE of this could be done online. The MDE Website was far too primitive to even OFFER a Platinum to Gold Renewal. To boot? The PRICES were different. The later element was shocking to us.

So - All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong - I would STRONGLY recommend that DVC owners AVOID Web AP purchases or renewals. Instead? Go through the effort of CALLING DVC, at...

(800) 800-9800

I don't think there's any trick to the downgrade... you're just paying to renew an annual pass the way I see it. Unless there's something odd about the website that I'm not aware of.
The price difference with tax looks to be about $109 per pass.

MG

 

[Dean]

But they could have a "press here if you purchased resale after xxx" button.
Sounds silly but that's the way the resident thing works. At least it wouldn't be misleading.

MG

I don't think it's any secret that Disney's IT is a little slack at times but it's also possible that DVD wants the uproar to get people's attention. Kind of like bad publicity being better than none at all. Still, I think it's reasonably clear DVD's intent for anyone who's aware there are limitations though I could see someone without any awareness of the resale limitations being caught off guard. And I do think it's a little "Mickey Mouse" to allow one to purchase but not activate it in this situation.