How does an AP Gold Pass get converted to the new AP Structure

[brazzledazzler]

Verbally via my calling the Pass line last night, I was told as long as I had the park reservations linked...that the Gold Pass, which got through Guest Recovery a few months ago and plan to activate November 20, would work for Thanksgiving week. I have also emailed for verification. If it says that they will not honor it, I plan to email Bob Chapek. He may not care, or he may have a minion look at it, but at least I can voice my displeasure, explain that I'm not asking for anything special, only what was sold to me, and see what happens. Please post here a summary of what info you receive.

I called and spoke to a Cast Member in VIP AP Line. I was told that as soon as I activate my Silver Pass in the park (after Sept 8), it would become a Pirate Pass, and all my Park reservations on "block out" dates would be canceled.

I went off on her about this, as we have MULTIPLE DVC trips on holiday weekends. I mean, the first is on Thanksgiving weekend!

She seemed like she wasn't sure she was giving me the right information. She has referred me to the FAQ area of VIP Passholder Services, and they will be calling me back.

My fellow Disney fans and friends, I am without words about this. I understand the new program needs to begin, but people have made vacation plans (some starting as early as NEXT MONTH) on dates that are now blocked out. I mean, the fact Thanksgiving is around the corner----I'm just livid.

I was so excited to join DVC, and right now, I'm really upset.

 

[Sandisw]

We usually travel to Disney for Thanksgiving and have a gold pass. I purchased a gold pass renewal about a month ago (I was able to purchase the renewal because the last day of this year's trip was not covered by our current annual pass). The way I see it, I should be covered by Gold pass blackouts until the end on November 2023 ( when our gold pass renewals will end) and when I renew at that time I will need to buy one of the new passes. I'm looking at it as I bought a Gold pass and Disney sold me a gold pass. I think they should honor all renewal certificates that they sold.
I guess we will see what happens!

I definitely think they should honor any calendar dates that were published when the pass was purchased, which would include Thanksgiving 2021.

However, block out calendars are not yet published for November 2022 and beyond, so I think those dates are fair game.

 

[Chuck S]

I called and spoke to a Cast Member in VIP AP Line. I was told that as soon as I activate my Silver Pass in the park (after Sept 8), it would become a Pirate Pass, and all my Park reservations on "block out" dates would be canceled.

I went off on her about this, as we have MULTIPLE DVC trips on holiday weekends. I mean, the first is on Thanksgiving weekend!

She seemed like she wasn't sure she was giving me the right information. She has referred me to the FAQ area of VIP Passholder Services, and they will be calling me back.

My fellow Disney fans and friends, I am without words about this. I understand the new program needs to begin, but people have made vacation plans (some starting as early as NEXT MONTH) on dates that are now blocked out. I mean, the fact Thanksgiving is around the corner----I'm just livid.

I was so excited to join DVC, and right now, I'm really upset.

Just an FYI, if you email you may want to include a screenshot of the Gold Pass blackout dates for 2021 from the Disney website.

 

[ngl]

I called and spoke to a Cast Member in VIP AP Line. I was told that as soon as I activate my Silver Pass in the park (after Sept 8), it would become a Pirate Pass, and all my Park reservations on "block out" dates would be canceled.

I went off on her about this, as we have MULTIPLE DVC trips on holiday weekends. I mean, the first is on Thanksgiving weekend!

She seemed like she wasn't sure she was giving me the right information. She has referred me to the FAQ area of VIP Passholder Services, and they will be calling me back.

My fellow Disney fans and friends, I am without words about this. I understand the new program needs to begin, but people have made vacation plans (some starting as early as NEXT MONTH) on dates that are now blocked out. I mean, the fact Thanksgiving is around the corner----I'm just livid.

I was so excited to join DVC, and right now, I'm really upset.

This is the response I received yesterday when I called about our Gold Passes. We did the recovery renewal, paid in full, and were going to first activate at Thanksgiving. I was told if we wait until then it will become a Sorcerer's pass. If we go in the park and activate before Sept 8 it will remain under the Gold terms without blackout at Tgiving. I also already had Tgiving park reservations and was told they would be canceled out if I did not activate my Gold renewal before Sept 8. The CM I spoke to seemed pretty knowledgeable (as if he has answered this question a lot!) but who really knows at this point. We planned to get a lot of house "stuff" done this weekend but instead we are heading to WDW tomorrow to literally go in a park for a few hours! (My kids were not that upset, of course!) We only live 1.5 hrs away so we could make this last minute change. I do not know how others could.

 

[brazzledazzler]

Official word (read from a prompt by the Cast member), unless you activate the pass by Sept 8, the pass will automatically convert into the new equal pass (Gold > Sorcerer, Silver > Pirate...) and will have its block out dates. All prior reservations made on block-out dates will be canceled.

 

[brazzledazzler]

This is the response I received yesterday when I called about our Gold Passes. We did the recovery renewal, paid in full, and were going to first activate at Thanksgiving. I was told if we wait until then it will become a Sorcerer's pass. If we go in the park and activate before Sept 8 it will remain under the Gold terms without blackout at Tgiving. I also already had Tgiving park reservations and was told they would be canceled out if I did not activate my Gold renewal before Sept 8. The CM I spoke to seemed pretty knowledgeable (as if he has answered this question a lot!) but who really knows at this point. We planned to get a lot of house "stuff" done this weekend but instead we are heading to WDW tomorrow to literally go in a park for a few hours! (My kids were not that upset, of course!) We only live 1.5 hrs away so we could make this last minute change. I do not know how others could.

We are driving over tomorrow as well, staying at Swan & Dolphin for 1 night (with 2 kiddos), just to avoid the block-outs.

I will be emailing guests.services@disneyworld.com and complaining.

I am LIVID.

 

[ngl]

We are driving over tomorrow as well, staying at Swan & Dolphin for 1 night (with 2 kiddos), just to avoid the block-outs.

I will be emailing guests.services@disneyworld.com and complaining.

I am LIVID.

I guess we will see you there! It is crazy they put us in this last minute position. Understand re starting the new pass system but think we should have had a minimum 90 days to activate. (Of course, should have just grandfathered all ideally).

 

[brazzledazzler]

I guess we will see you there! It is crazy they put us in this last minute position. Understand re starting the new pass system but think we should have had a minimum 90 days to activate. (Of course, should have just grandfathered all ideally).

EXACTLY. They have been very sneaky about this. I can't believe it.

 

[Disneykate605]

I definitely think they should honor any calendar dates that were published when the pass was purchased, which would include Thanksgiving 2021.

However, block out calendars are not yet published for November 2022 and beyond, so I think those dates are fair game.

I don't like your train of thought! Lol

 

[MickeyT]

Interested what the members that drove over to WDW found out.....

 

[dcfromva]

I thought I would report back on my experience.

I purchased a Gold AP voucher on 11/23/2020 so that I could make park reservations for a 30 Sep- 8 Oct 2021 visit.

I activated the voucher on 9/30/2021.
I now have a Disney Vacation Club Member Disney Sorcerer Pass with Disney PhotoPass downloads.

 

[ScubaCat]

I thought I would report back on my experience.

I purchased a Gold AP voucher on 11/23/2020 so that I could make park reservations for a 30 Sep- 8 Oct 2021 visit.

I activated the voucher on 9/30/2021.
I now have a Disney Vacation Club Member Disney Sorcerer Pass with Disney PhotoPass downloads.

Same. I have 3 more gold vouchers before I'll have to deal with the new price structure.

 

[Spartan86]

Same. I have 3 more gold vouchers before I'll have to deal with the new price structure.

View attachment 612823

Just to bust my chops a bit , when did you buy those?

 

[ScubaCat]

Just to bust my chops a bit , when did you buy those?

Haha. I booked a room late July for next spring and called for "early renewal so I could make park pass reservations" for 3 of us. I then reassigned them all to myself and canceled the booking.

Eat THAT, Chapek

 

[clarker01]

I thought I would report back on my experience.

I purchased a Gold AP voucher on 11/23/2020 so that I could make park reservations for a 30 Sep- 8 Oct 2021 visit.

I activated the voucher on 9/30/2021.
I now have a Disney Vacation Club Member Disney Sorcerer Pass with Disney PhotoPass downloads.

This is exactly what I was looking for (and hoping for), thanks. We are going to be in the Orlando area in December and will probably hit Disney Springs to convert our Gold passes to Sorcerers passes before our big trip in May 2022!

 

[Sandisw]

This is exactly what I was looking for (and hoping for), thanks. We are going to be in the Orlando area in December and will probably hit Disney Springs to convert our Gold passes to Sorcerers passes before our big trip in May 2022!

Will you use them in December? If you convert then, it will start the clock on them.

If you wait until May, your official year starts then.

 

[clarker01]

Will you use them in December? If you convert then, it will start the clock on them.

If you wait until May, your official year starts then.

Really? I thought the clock starts when I go thru the turnstiles for the first time

 

[Chuck S]

Really? I thought the clock starts when I go thru the turnstiles for the first time

For regular tickets, yes, on the turnstile. For APs the clock starts when it is activated at Guest Services, when a Gold Pass is changed to a Sorcerer's pass, it is activated.

 

[clarker01]

For regular tickets, yes, on the turnstile. For APs the clock starts when it is activated at Guest Services, when a Gold Pass is changed to a Sorcerer's pass, it is activated.

Wow, thank you both so much, did not know that! I will do it in May!

 

[DMKEDM]

This is a bit disconcerting...I renewed my Gold AP just before Disney announced the new AP structure (for once, got lucky w/timing)....it was way early for my normal renewal window (my AP expires in early December), but I had a Jan 2022 trip booked (which they checked) and needed to do park reservations, so they let me renew...I was at WDW in August and tried to activate my renewed Gold pass while I was there...was told it was too early to activate; that I couldn't activate until a month (or maybe it was 3 months?) prior to expiration of my current Gold AP....so, were any of the people trying to activate for more than 1-3 months from now successful w/activating? More to the point, assuming I can't activate now til I get there in January (at which point my old pass will have expired), will it now be a Sorceror's Pass? And if so, are the only two adverse impacts black-out dates over T-giving and losing "free" Photo Pass? Thanks for any info you can share...