Help me!!! re:buying ap's at Disney store**UPDATE**

[elgerber]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone gotten vouchers that are not green? My first vouchers a couple of years ago were green, but the ones I got this time when I ordered through DC have characters on them. I got 4 vouchers (they say exhance/not valid for admission on the back), each with a different character on them and the 100 years of Magic logo. Very cute.

Erika

 

[ALostBoy]

Hi Elgerber,

The AP vouchers I just received this
week were the green ones I have not
heard of the picture ones. The picture
tickets I have had before are usually
hoppers. Maybe this is a new change.
Would be cool instead of just the green.

 

[elgerber]

Alostboy,

It must be new, because the pictures on them are exactly like the hoppers that I picked up for some family at TDS. They are cute, I hope the real APs we exchange them for are as cute, our previous ones were boring.

Erika

 

[Mic]

elgerber-
Until I purchased this ugly green thing from the Disney store this week, I had always ordered our AP's directly from Disney, paying the shipping charge($3-10) and getting the old "Magic Kingdom Club" discount(free through hubby's employer). When they discontinued the Magic Kingdom Club and replaced it with the Disney Club(for $30 a year), I decided to let our AP's lapse(yep, all 6 of 'em) in favor of taking a year off. The plan was to make 2 trips in 12 months, then wait 12 months before buying a new AP and getting 2 more trips. That works fine for the rest of my family, but I miss Epcot! Anyway, the "vouchers" that Disney sent to my door turned out to be the actual passes, but they had not been "validated". Upon arrival, we would take these vouchers to any guest services window at the parks, and have them "scanned" while the CM entered our information into the computer(name, address, phone, Birthdate). The CM would then hand that same pass back to me(now "encoded" with my bio), to use(even the renewals were handled this way.) In June we purchased 8 4-day hoppers for my daughter's 14th birthday celebration, and my recently-purchased AP had the same design as the hoppers, just like in the past. So you can imagine my surprise when I was handed a neon green "exchange certificate" at TDS! All I could think was "My daughter is not going to like this". I am personally hoping she can "exchange" it for the new Donald-with-the-paint design(way cool!)

 

[MELSMICE]

Sounds like all kinds of different things are happening to different individuals. Here's how ours went:

We heard the AP prices were increasing on the 8th of Sept.
DH went on Sat., Sept. & ordered our AP's.
Got the "green" slip
Received a call a few weeks later saying the AP's were in
Turned in the "green" slip & received our AP vouchers at the old rate. No problems at all.
Told us to turn in vouchers at a Guest Relations (we'll go to TTC)
The vouchers are the same size & look similar to a regular ticket.

 

[Poohnatic]

Except for a couple of Florida stores, these passes are not kept in stock at the stores as the demand doesn't warrant keeping them in stock. The stores order them, it takes up to two weeks to get them (although it can take as little as 2 days). What all stores get is the green exchange voucher.

DC and WDW have the capability to encode the basic information on the passes (name and address, etc), the stores do not, which is why you may get the character passes if you order them from those sources and you don't from the stores.

Purchasing the passes at the store doesn't impact their sales, because they are not considered store merchandise.

Unfortunately, because the stores and WDW are completely separate business divisions, they don't have accurate information about each other. For instance, guests have been told by the CRO office to bring passes into the disney store to be returned. However, because the stores have no way of checking passes for days used, returns on all passes are prohibited. Guests also have been told that the Disney Stores sell all the hoppers that are sold in the parks, which is also not true. Finally, if you order passes and decide not to take them, that is your prerogative--they can be sent back.

Sorry that some people have had bad experiences. Just like anywhere, there are good employees and bad employees. People who are fully informed and people who don't care to know about anything more than the minimum needed to perform their job.

Hope this info is helpful.

Suzanne